By Oluwole Josiah
In modern Christian eschatology, the Great Tribulation is a period of time of severe religious and material peril, a system imposed by a dictator with intense spiritual and political power, who would rule the earth with terror and hold the earth in a Gulag.
The theory speculates that people will not be free to practice their beliefs in God and to be able to buy or sell, they would need a mark, (the mark of the beast) which is a number 666, and by accepting that number and using it souls will be damned. This Great Tribulation is in reference to the prediction of our Lord Jesus Christ in Mathew 24:21, 29, detailing the afflictions that would befall the people by siege and the calamities of war.
Many Christian preachers still believe that the Great Tribulation that would be occasioned by a great Antichrist is still in the future, an epoch that would usher in the final return of Christ. This theory also has the rapture( ( the secrete disappearance of believers from the earth to heaven) living behind the sinners to face the Tribulation. This teaching also curiously add that people might still be saved by their own blood should they refuse to accept the mark of the beast and die in the process. Although this addition is completely strange to scriptures, it is a well acceptable stopgap to this doctrine. This Futurism of the Great Tribulation is certainly the most popularly aspect of the Christian eschatology.
However, without delving into the details of other elements of the tribulation doctrine, it suffices to say that the the Great Tribulation referred to by Jesus Christ in Mathew 24 has already taken place, having happened in AD 70 when Roman legions laid siege to Jerusalem and destroyed its temple.
You will note that Jesus sought to answer three questions, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus did not also answer these questions in a particular order.
This tribulation only affected the Jewish people rather than all mankind.
Jesus’ warning in Matthew 24:34 that “this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” is instructive in understanding this prophecy. tied back to his similar warning to the Scribes and the Pharisees that their judgment would “come upon this generation”, that is, during the first century rather than at a future time long after the Scribes and Pharisees had died. The destruction in AD 70 occurred within a 40-year generation from the time when Jesus gave that discourse.
It is not difficult to see that the judgment on the Jewish nation was executed by the Roman legions, “the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet.”
Since Matthew 24 begins with Jesus visiting the Jerusalem Temple and pronouncing that “there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (vs. 3), there is nothing in Scripture to indicate that another Jewish temple will ever be built. This is because that itself will negate the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross of Calvary and take us back to the period of shadows, prophecies and the law, when in actual fact, Jesus came to bring to light and fulfil all the prophecies and laws.
The prophecies were all fulfilled on the then-existing temple that Jesus spoke about and that was subsequently destroyed within that generation.
The account of Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian of the “extremities” that befell the Jews during the AD 70 siege vividly captured all the elements of the prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ and those who failed to flee when they saw the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place as spoken of by Daniel, were caught up and locked up in the siege.
In conclusion, the Great Tribulation has passed and true believers are simply awaiting the second coming of Christ our Lord. Jesus talked about the signs of His coming and we already have seen them and even worse. The world is degenerating morally at a faster rate by the years. Jesus had asked a prophetic question: when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? This question was not answered by anyone. We are watching the erosion of faith and the elevation of human reasoning and Antichrist notions everywhere.
The Antichrist is already here. Apostle John told us it is a spirit. 1 John 4:3. While you are deceived thinking the Antichrist is on his way, behold he has been with us for so long deceiving men in different garb and working signs and wonders in the name of Jesus Christ. Many already have his marks and because they do not understand the symbolisms of scriptures they cannot see that they have been branded.
Let us awake to righteousness and stand for God in this present sinful and ungodly world. For the Master will come and many will be caught unawares.
