Hi John and Doves,
I have been reading many articles on how this earth has a final 7 years of tribulation after the rapture has happened. I have read some very clever articles written by numbers people who swear by their logic. I have also read many articles that incline toward a great tribulation period of 1,260 days after the rapture. Also by clever, reasonable people. Around and around it goes - back and forth, back and forth. I know which knowledge I lean toward - simply because it makes the most sense. I pray for wisdom every day.
One pro '7 year trib' writer has recently posited that the 7 year trib looks to ending in 2029 now. Huh! So - 11 years after the modern state of Israel has turned 70 years old? In what world does that make any sense? Is there anywhere in scripture that even hints at that number? 11 whole years AFTER Israel has served her allotted 70 years back in the Holy Land? Not to mention that our world is now a very dangerous place. Most countries are being run by insane megalomaniacs who are armed to the eyeballs with nuclear weapons. I seriously struggle to see the logic. The human race will not survive the current madness for another 7/8 years. But, that seems to be by-the-by for the strict 7 year tribulation folk. The same thinking purports that a man-made 3rd Temple will be built in which, 3.5 years later, will be supplanted by the AC.
I digress. The main point is what has seemingly slipped under the radar. The Jewish people suffered 7 years of intense persecution under the Nazis. Israel has COMPLETED 70 years of being back in the Holy Land. Under the auspices of the Fig Tree parable, it's reasonable to recognise that the vineyard owner agreed to giving the barren fig tree another year after the fruitless 3 year inspection. Which brings us to the year 2022. 4 years after Israel has completed her 70 years of being back in the Holy Land. If you add the 7 years of Nazi murder where 6 million Jews were massacred, to the 70 years since 1948 to 2018 - we get a total of 77. Add another 4 years for the Fig Tree parable and we get the total of 81. Will the numbers guys please help us out here?
Right now - Israel is being threatened with an imminent Psalm 83 situation. The aggressive build-up on the borders of Russia/Ukraine are sounding the harbinger of Ezekiel 38. The Covid thing ain't going away either. It's an absolute mess - politely speaking!
To those who insist that Daniel 9:27 is speaking of the AC and to those who insist - vociferously - on a 7 year tribulation after the rapture - I have several asks. I ask with respect and a genuine need to know. How do you explain the 7 year Holocaust (in the timeline)? How do you explain the 73 (soon to be 74) years that Israel has been back in the Holy Land? Do any of these years cover the last 7 year tribulation you are insisting upon? Or do you truly believe that the years of Grace between 70AD until now, are purely for the church? That anything that has happened to the Jewish people, in these same years, doesn't count?
Garry B has put forward many puzzle pieces to defend his belief. I have done the same, to a lesser extent. I have yet to hear any proper logic for a future 7 year tribulation other than complicated semantics that can be argued either way. We are nearly 4 years over the 70 years timeline for Israel. How do you explain the 70 years Israel has already completed? Where, in Daniel or anywhere else in prophecy, does it say that Israel is destined to spend a 70 year "testing" period in the Holy Land - plus another 4 years for the Fig Tree parable -plus another 7 years after that? Not to mention the 7 years spent being murdered in Nazi concentration camps? Where do these things fit?
I am sure we are all fed up with the arguments over the minutiae of scriptural semantics. Please share the logic. We are told that we all see through a glass darkly and are assured that things will be revealed toward the end. Instead of digging ones heels in over entrenched understanding - isn't it time we all reason together?
In Jesus' precious Name.
Fay