Hello John and Doves,
There have been several letters to Doves over
the years about this 80th year, following 1948. We are
certainly past any way to calculate a 7 year trib IF we
continue to look at Psalm 90:10 as prophetic in conjunction
with the 'birth' of Israel as a nation in 1948 and "this
generation shall not pass..."
There are several things we can look at - the
length of the Tribulation period, the length of a
generation, the start of the count for the last
generation.....
One thing we can look at is the length of the
Tribulation period:
I have written letters in the past about a 3.5
year Tribulation period. I've presented many reasons
for thinking this.
Top among those is no mention in The Revelation
of any treaty being broken mid-Trib - for something that
important to actually start the Great Tribulation - surely
that would have been mentioned! Right? There is no
mention of the Antichrist making a treaty with anyone in The
Revelation and no mention of breaking any treaty. So
why has this tribulation 'tradition' continued for so
long? (one verse in Daniel, actually)
And then we have a 1260 day time period
mentioned 5 times in The Revelation. So how do we make
that 7 years? Which 1260 day time periods do we add
together to make 7 years? How about string them all
out one after the other and have 5 time periods of 1260
days? At some point, people have added two of them
together, and then added the other three together to make 7
years. (Assuming that the Trib starts with one of these 1260
day counts and ends with it.) So why wasn't John just
told 2520 days? Was he told 'five times' because the
Lord knew we would somehow come up with a 7 year long
tribulation time period and He wanted to get through to us
that it's really only 3.5 years long? ??
We are going to have to start ignoring
something we considered prophetic in our understanding if we
are going to get a "seven year tribulation period" to
fit. And using one verse in the book of Daniel to make
a treaty broken in the middle of a "week" of years, coming
up with a 7 year long tribulation period is looking pretty
worn out...when the entire book of The Revelation doesn't
even mention a treaty, breaking a treaty or give a 2520 day
long time period - from start to finish of the Tribulation.
Something has to change.
I just find it awfully 'coincidental' that
Jesus' ministry was 3.5 years long (and I'll add - I believe
it was exactly 1260 days long), that He confirms the
covenant with many for one week - but in the middle of the
week He ends the sacrifice and offering - Jesus is the last
Passover lamb and the curtain to the Holy of Holies is rent
in two. Jesus came during the Seventy Week prophecy of
Daniel...His 3.5 years of ministry MUST fit somewhere in
those Seventy Weeks. And in an important place.
I believe He fulfilled the first 3.5 years of the last week
and that there are only 3.5 years left - the Tribulation
Period. The time period after He was cut off is the
time of the Church age, the time of Grace...and when that
time is over...that last 3.5 years of that last 70th week
can commence.
The difference between this
3.5 year Tribulation and the 7 year Tribulation is that
the first half of the 7 years - the "peaceful" time of the
Tribulation, until the Antichrist breaks the treaty"..is
there is no treaty thus no peaceful 3.5 year time
period...it goes right into The Great Tribulation - no 3.5
year of relative calm (or a preparation time) before
moving into The Great Tribulation.
That said, several here have also written about
Jesus fulfilling half of the last "week" of Daniel - the
70th week. Leaving 3.5 years in a final Tribulation
period. This would certainly explain why Jesus'
ministry was exactly 1260 days long (we know he started his
ministry in the fall and it ended in the spring - 3 plus
years.) And because Jesus was given an exact time
period to start and complete His ministry, it's not far
fetched to say the day count was exactly as planned.
And "1260 days", "a times, time, half a time", and "forty
two months" is a perfect match to the last days John wrote
about in The Revelation. Jesus ministry (1260 days)
plus Tribulation time period (1260 days) = the 70th week.
And looking at the 'breaking' of a treaty with
the Antichrist sacrificing a pig on the altar of the newly
built Third Temple - well, it just doesn't fit with the
Gospels.
Where does this come from?
I'd like to refer to Luke 21 and Matthew 24
where Jesus is talking to His disciples on the Mount of
Olives:.
Matthew 24:15-18 So when you see
standing in the holy place ‘the abomination of
desolation', as described by the prophet Daniel (let the
reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee
to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop
come down to retrieve anything from his house. And let no
one in the field return for his cloak.
Jesus says they will SEE this
abomination taking place in the Temple - from their fields,
from their housetops? How would that even be
physically possible?? if the AC does something in the
Temple. This just doesn't add up if one believes the
AC sacrifices a pig on the altar or declares himself to be
god, or ??
The 'holy place' referred to here is Jerusalem,
and 'the abomination of desolation' is Jerusalem
surrounded by armies. People can not see the AC
committing an act of abomination in the Temple from their
field or from their house top - but they can see an army
surrounding Jerusalem!
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John are parallel gospels;
this is what Luke says about Jesus talking with His
disciples on the Mount of Olives, I refer to Luke
21:20
Luke 21:20-22 But when you see
Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that her
desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee
to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let
those in the country stay out of the city. For these are
the days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is
written.
And as for Daniel:
Daniel 9:26,27
26 26And after three score and
two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself:
and the people of the prince that shall come shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof
shall be with a flood, and to the end of the war
desolations are determined.
27And he shall
confirm the covenant with many for one week:
and in the middle of the week he shall cause the
sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the
overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate,
even until the consummation, and that determined shall
be poured on the desolate.
The "7 Year
Tribulation" interpretation is that 'he' of verse 27 is
referring to the prince of verse 26 - assuming this prince
is the AC - and the AC makes a covenant for one week or 7
years - thus the 7 year Tribulation period.
The 'catch'
comes with who is the subject in verse 27. The
Messiah or the AC?
I believe it
is the Messiah that confirms the covenant - "But this
shall be the new covenant I will make with the people of
Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will
put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their
hearts. And I will be their God and the will be My
people." This is what Jesus was doing during his 3.5
year ministry to the people of Israel.
His death
fulfilled "in the middle of the week he shall cause the
sacrifice and the oblation to cease" - He was the last
Passover lamb and the curtain was rent in two. This
would explain His ministry of 3.5 years. Not four
years, not eight years, not two years - exactly 3.5
years. His ministry started in the fall and ended in
the spring, 3.5 years later. I believe that Christ's
ministry was EXACTLY 1260 days long.
And Daniel
said the covenant is confirmed for one week.
He does not go on and say that it is broken...it is
confirmed for one week. For the entire 70th
week! Jesus did this. For that entire last
70th Week to fulfill the prophecy in Daniel. This
covenant was not prophesied to be broken - according to
Daniel. This was God's covenant with Israel - through His
Son, Jesus. Only the sacrifices and oblations
ceased...no more were they needed. No more blood
offerings. No broken covenant.
Luis wrote, "One is beginning to surmise that
the Count of the Shemitah Jesus started back in 28 AD is an
Off-Set of the current Sabbath or Shemitah Cycle by 3.5
years. This being the exact length of days Jesus had
for His earthly ministry. Or in other words, the 2nd
half of the complete 7-year Sabbath Cycle Jesus started is
like in suspended animation, all this time since His death,
burial, and resurrection. And? The Shemitah
Clock will only then re-start as the Antichrist picks it up
after the Ratpure. This would account for the "off
set" in the 3.5 year discrepancy. So, in other words,
the Rapture can still happen before that time. But the
start of the Tribulation day-count would be 3.5 years
out. Now realizing that the Tribulation Period did not
start on Rosh Hashanah of 2022 as many thought and
calculated, or that it did not start exactly at the start
oft he present Shemitah Cycle. But it still can with
the year."
The other thing we can look at is changing
the length of a generation. Many people have
considered that. Is it 70 years, 80 years, 100
years, or a 120 years? That's a possibility.
We could also look at changing the start date
for a generation. Some have done that saying Israel
didn't really become a nation until 1949. That's a
possibility.
So we can see that something has to
change!
If one goes with Jesus fulfilling the first
half of the last "week", then the 2nd half should start
around Passover - I've written about this many times before
- that the prophetic clock stopped when Jesus was on the
donkey - He wept and said they missed Him...and so now
everything changes. I think He meant that now the rest
of the last week of Daniel can not be completed. The
Seventy Weeks were to "finish the transgression, and to make
an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity and
to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the
vision and prophecy and to anoint the most Holy."
Daniel 9:24 This was the prophecy....it stopped
because Jesus was 'cut off', crucified. And now...the
Age of Grace.
Jesus knew He would not wrap up the whole 70th
week while He was here...they would sing Hosanna to Him and
then He would be crucified. There was going to be a
"break" in the last 'week'.
So for this to happen, and the Fall High Holy
Days fulfilled - the Tribulation Period should start in the
Spring. Passover, 1 Nisan, or the day Jesus rode the
donkey into Jerusalem (10 Nisan)...then 3.5 years later, the
Fall High Holy days will be fulfilled. Yom Teruah -
the Second Coming, battle of Armageddon; Yom Kippur - the
opening of The Books; Sukkot - celebrated by annual trip to
the Temple to worship God during the Millennium.
This would leave the Rapture wide open for any
day before the start of the Tribulation. Next up -
from now until Nisan, 2023.
So the Rapture could happen this year, maybe on
the anniversary day of the start of the Flood - 17 Cheshvan.
We know there are not that many Christians in
the Middle East/Israel...so the disappearance of people
during the Rapture won't affect those countries very much -
it would be devastating to Christian countries - this would
probably result in Israel not having any allies show up in
the Gog and Magog war....and if it happens, say, weeks or
months before the Tribulation begins...no need to mention it
in The Revelation. The Rapture is not for the
Israelites - they have Jacob's Trouble in their future.
It's pretty easy to count and fit that 1260
days from the Spring time period to the Fall Feasts.
Some are exactly 1260 days. Depending on the method of
counting, inclusive or not, etc. The prophetic months
are 30 days long. 1260 days is 42 months.
I heard one prophecy teacher say that the
Tribulation Period HAS TO BE seven years long to get
everything to happen and be fulfilled - it just wouldn't fit
a time period less than seven years. Well, if the
first 3.5 years is relative 'peace' then his 3.5 year Great
Tribulation has just about as much going on in it as a 3.5
year total Tribulation time period has! So that
reasoning doesn't stand up.
I have often wondered over the years why so
many Bible prophecy teachers just accept the seven year
tribulation time period. Based on that one verse in
Daniel - where 'he' could be the evil prince that destroyed
Jerusalem or The Messiah. They pick apart and argue
over everything else...but the length of the Tribulation
stays the same. Maybe it's time to look at what the
Bible tells us about that too. And get some discourse
going.
I'm writing about this because there have
been letters about what happens when our 7 year
tribulation time period doesn't fit the prophecies we
consider important for telling us where we are in
prophecy. Well, here we are. We either have to
ignore some of the prophecies OR rethink the way we
understand those prophecies.
So as I see it, something has to change.
The seven year length just doesn't fit with other
prophecies. We could change the start date of a
generation...but start from where? What is as
important as Israel becoming a nation again (the fig tree
blooming)? And changing the length of a generation, at
this point, could put the Tribulation out another twenty or
forty years! I truly doubt the world can make it
another 5 years! On the other hand, a 3.5 year length
is doable. If starting with 1948 + 80 years = 2028 -
we have up to spring 2025 with a 3.5 year Tribulation.
Just my thoughts on this for now....
But looking at what's going on in the world
today...can the world make it to 2025? From what I'm
reading for the U.S. and Europe - both are at Defcon 2
now.
"DEFCON2, or Fast Pace, is a red colored
condition level similar to a 'red alert' warning level
status. Defcon 2 means we are at the next step to war
or a nuclear threat. During this alert level the
United States Armed Forces are ready and prepared to ship
out in 6 hours time or less, hence the name "Fast Pace"."
Defcon
2, Fast Pace Or Red Alert Level
I'm not seeing God stopping this or even
slowing this headlong flight towards nuclear war.
By looking at a possible start date of the
Tribulation, we can narrow down the time period of the
Rapture. The length of the Tribulation is certainly
not a 'salvation issue', but we are told so much about it
and given day lengths, etc in The Revelation - and most
importantly there is even a special blessing for those who
read and hear of this prophecy! And we are admonished
to heed (keep) the things which are written in it! So
it's important for Christians to read, hear, and study this
book.
"Blessed is he that readeth, and they
that hear the words of the prophecy, and
keep those things which are written therein
for the time is at hand." Revelation 1:3 (So we
are encouraged to read about this book.)
I believe the Rapture is in our near
future...any day ....maybe on the anniversary day of the
Great Flood.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
Maranatha!
Chance