HOW LONG IS THE TRIBULATION PERIOD?

Introductory Disclaimer

I am strongly Premillennial. That is what lies behind the name “Kingdom Alert.” I believe strongly in a pre-trib rapture and a literal restoration of Israel. I believe Jesus Christ will one day, soon, reign forever on the throne of David in Jerusalem (on earth, not in the sky or Heaven). I believe in interpreting the prophecies literally (e.g. intermediate, secondary fulfillments or applications do not overthrow the primary, literal fulfillments). I say these things because I realize that this article will be somewhat controversial and some people do not have the time (or patience) to read slow enough; and I certainly don’t want to be misunderstood if it can be helped. Some may find some refreshing light in this article and will perhaps be able to resolve some “problems” with the prophecies they have been chewing on for some time. Others might feel that any attempt to tighten the nuts and bolts (and perhaps remove a few screws, altogether!) of traditional dispensationalism is to compromise and begin the slippery slope into “progressive dispensationalism,” or something worse. But I believe the loose screws were perhaps the reason that men such as T.T. Shields, A.W. Pink, etc. converted from dispensationalism to amillennialism. I hope to show, by quoting many foundational dispensationalists and premillennial futurists of the past, that they themselves never held to many of the narrow views that have almost paralyzed the study of the Bible’s prophecies in these days. But let’s first give some background for this study.

The Background for this Study

In September of 1999, I finished a detailed study of the Book of Isaiah in our church. In our weekly, mid-week Bible studies we pray, sing and give praises for 30 minutes (7:00pm – 7:30pm) and then begin our study of the Word of God. Our studies last an hour and a half (7:30pm-9:00pm). It took 88 weeks of such studies to finish the whole Book of Isaiah. That is a lot of hours, especially since at least 8 hours went into the preparation for each of these studies. I learned much from that whole study of Isaiah. I learned that when I finally got to the end I needed to go back and start it all over again and add the things I discovered along the way! We hopefully grow as we teach. God forbid that we become so proud that we never grow and change when we should. Putting things in print makes it harder for many teachers to retract or amend their doctrines. Many may want to give the impression that they have never been wrong. But we know they were not orn “saved.” Therefore, they were not always right about everything! It certainly is no fun to have to change things. That’s why I have taken so long to continue a study in print that I began a few years ago. I know it is so complex that I will probably have to pick up many puzzle pieces that only appear to “fit” in the present time. But if I wait until I feel comfortable with harmonizing every aspect of the prophecies, I am afraid I would first have to fully understand the whole Bible. And I don’t think that is going to happen in this life! So I have decided to begin throwing some of this deep stuff out to you, and I ask the patience of the reader if I must alter or retract some details in the future. Let’s now deal with some changes I had to make after studying Isaiah.

7 Year Trib Age Too Short!

One of the main things I learned was that the popular, dispensational framework (i.e. a 7 year Tribulation period, ending in Armageddon, and immediately followed by the Millennium) is much too narrow to hold the multitude of prophecies given in the Old Testament. I was certainly humbled as I discovered that the Tribulation age (measured from the pre-trib rapture to the setting up of the Millennial Kingdom) was more complex than I had ever imagined. I was encouraged to discover that hundreds of premillennial, dispensational, futurist commentators had caught a glimpse of this complexity over a century ago. This was back when the average prophecy books were much larger and contained weightier content than many books we find today. In studying Isaiah, I discovered numerous, apparent discrepancies when trying to harmonize its passages with Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel and Zechariah, etc. Since the Bible is perfect and infallible, I knew the problem must be that my own prophetic outline was too narrow. I found that, not only must the Tribulation age be expanded past the 7 years, but I long suspected that there had to be some kind of “mystery age” (a mystery, at least to me) in the midst of the Tribulation period, but before the Millennium. To make a long story short, I found that not only is the Tribulation age (after the rapture) much longer than 7 years, but the time period before the Millennial Kingdom contains a maze of complexities. [Note: by "tribulation age" I mean the time from the rapture to the start of the Millennial Kingdom. I understand that there is a specific period limited to only 3.5 years called the "great tribulation."]

4 Kingdoms Revived

In the last part of 1999, I wrote an article showing that all four kingdoms of the Book of Daniel (i.e. Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome) must be revived in the Tribulation period. The popular view is that only the 4th kingdom (Rome) will be revived. Those that hold this view do not think that the 4th kingdom must exactly duplicate and endure for the whole history of the former Roman kingdom. They hold that it will last only 7 years (or 3.5 years). I hold that ALL of the four kingdoms will be revived (Dan.8:17,19,20, 21, 23, 25, 7:17) . But, in the same manner, I do not think that these kingdoms must endure the whole time period of their predecessors. Nevertheless, it would be absurd to try to fit 4 kingdoms, one after the other, in a 7 year period!

Some Consequences of Embracing a 7 Year Tribulation Age
By trying to hold to only a seven year Tribulation period, I have seen many, otherwise strict dispensationalists, attempt to “dump” various prophecies into this age before the rapture. You will see many dispensationalists do this with Daniel 8 and especially Ezekiel 38 and 39. They also do it with much of Matthew 24. This ends up lending support to the post-trib view (Irvin Baxter, Ladd, etc.) and greatly blurs the ages. In much the same manner, some dispensationalists are reading the present restoration of Israel into various OT prophecies that refer to a Tribulational or Millennial restoration. I certainly think that the restoration of Israel in 1948 was significant! But only in the sense of “stage-setting” for Tribulational prophecies. It is not a fulfillment of any certain prophecy concerning restoration or re-gathering. These prophecies deal with various restorations and re-gatherings in the midst of the Tribulation age, and also at the start of the Millennium. My point is that these teachers would not feel such a need to “borrow time” from this present age before the rapture, if they did not restrict themselves to only a 7 year Tribulation age. Teachers who otherwise believe in strict, literal interpretation, are often found resorting to symbolism, simply because they have too short a Tribulation age to make certain prophecies work literally.

Premillennial/Dispensational Teachers from Earlier Generations on the Length of the Period from the Rapture to the start of the Millennium

Clarence Larkin in 1919:
“But I hear a protest. How you say can we be expecting Jesus to come at ‘any moment’ if the city of Babylon must be rebuilt before He can come? There is not a word in Scripture that says that Jesus cannot come and take away His Church until Babylon is rebuilt. The Church may be taken out of the world 25 or even 50 years before that.” (“The Book of Revelation,” p.162)

George N.H. Peters in 1884:
“…writers now generally attribute to this introductory manifestation a period of seven years, of forty years, and of (thirty and forty conjoined) seventy years. (Considering the events to follow the Advent before the overthrow of Antichrist…the longer periods are preferable….We…make the interval [between the two stages of the Advent] not less than seventy-five years, and the seven years we date only from the time that a covenant is made by Antichrist with the Jewish nation. The interval…must be lengthy seeing that in it we have a renewed proclamation of the Gospel, the partial restoration of the Jews, the development of the Antichrist with the ten horns, the fall of Babylon, etc..” (“The Theocratic Kingdom,” Vol.2, pp.315, 709)

Joseph Seiss in 1865:
“The second coming, like the first, is complex and distributive, extending through a variety of successive and diverse scenes, stages, events, and manifestations…Just what length of time will intervene between the first and sudden catching away of the watching and ready saints, and the final overthrow of Babylon and Antichrist, we may not be able precisely to determine; but I am fully persuaded that it will be a goodly number of years. Antichrist reigns for a full week of years, – that is seven years,- three and a half as the friend and patron of Israelitish people, and three and a half as the great Beast…How many years those seals and the six trumpets may consume we are not informed, but we have every reason to believe that they may be counted by tens, if not by scores…Forty years, at least, perhaps a whole jubilee period of fifty years, or even a full seventy years, answering to the period during which the judgment was upon Israel for its sins…” (“Lectures on the Apocalypse,” pp.161, 162)

Robert Govett (1813-1901):
“The Presence [i.e. invisible presence of Christ in the heavens from the time of the rapture till the end of the Tribulation period] must last at least four years, and may last forty or fifty.”

Billy Sunday in 1913:
“It is supposed that the Tribulation will cover a period of seven years. It might be seven hundred years; but it cannot be less than seven years.” (“The Second Coming”)

A.G. Tilney in 1938:
“The resurrection period may well last 40 years…”
(“The Dawn”)

James R. Graves in 1887:
“Commentators are not agreed as to the length of this [Tribulation] period. Some think it is indicated by the time that elapsed between the translation of Enoch and the flood…” (“Dispensational Expositions of the Prophecies of Christ”)

E.W. Bullinger (1837-1913):
“…after the church is caught up…these seven years may be the Telos or last seven of some thirty or forty years…These events may occupy a similar period of thirty-three years for ought we know; and if to these we add the seven years of the last week of Daniel we have a period of forty years.” (“Commentary on Revelation,” pp.348, 249)

In perusing the writings of many modern dispensationlists, increasingly I am finding the words “at least” added before the “7 years.” Perhaps others are starting to suspect that the 7 years are only a part of a larger period.

Other Scriptures that Argue for a Longer Tribulation Age than 7 Years

Ezekiel 29:10 Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of EGYPT utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.
11 NO FOOT OF MAN shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
12 And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate FORTY YEARS: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.

Ezekiel 32:7 And when I shall put thee out [i.e. Egypt], I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.

It is obvious that the above Scriptures in regard to Egypt have never been totally fulfilled in past history. Such events could only be imagined in light of modern weapons, etc. Those that wisely argue the rebuilding of Babylon (based on the same type of desolation prophecies mentioned here in Ezekiel 29) should likewise hold to a future 40 year desolation of Egypt! It is therefore obvious that the Tribulation age must be long enough for this event to fit. Wilbur Smith (“Egypt in Biblical Prophecy”) was forced to call the number “40″ symbolic. B.W. Newton, recognizing that nothing in history can be found to fulfill this prophecy, is forced to assign it to the first 40 years of the Millennium (even though the desolation comes about through war – see 29:8). Both Ironside and Gaebelein admit they cannot find it in history, and ignoring the literal details, simply trust that there was indeed some time in past history when it was fulfilled. Newton’s idea could solve the problem if it could be harmonized with other Scriptures that show that Egypt will be blessed in the Millennium. However, Ezek.32:7, with the dreadful signs in the sun and moon, hardly sounds like the glorious Millennium. Furthermore, in Ezek.29:5 it describes carnivorous beasts. This certainly does not sound Millennial (Isa.11:6, 65:25, Rom.8:21).

But we are left with many other prophecies that equally argue for a Tribulation period longer than 7 years.

Matthew 24 and a Consistent Futurist Interpretation

Matthew 24:6 And YE shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that YE be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
15 When YE therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
34 Verily I say unto you, THIS GENERATION shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

It would be a much more consistent, literal interpretation to believe that the “you” who sees the “beginning” of sorrows, has the opportunity to also endure until the end of the whole age. This means the period would not endure longer than a generation (40, 70 or 100 years. etc.) Yet, it certainly would appear to be a stretch to say that the entire period is only limited to 7 years. Jesus told the same men that they had the opportunity to escape “all these things” (Luke 21:36). The “all” includes both the beginning and the latter part of the period. Although one might make a secondary application of the Olivet Discourse to the events in the 1st century, the only way for every word to make sense is to apply it to the age after the rapture (Lk.21:36, Rev.3:10, 2 Thess.2:7, etc.).

The Four Additional Kingdoms of Daniel 8

Daniel 8:19 And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be.
22 Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, FOUR KINGDOMS shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.
23 And IN THE LATTER TIME OF THEIR KINGDOM, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.

These four kingdoms are not the same as those mentioned in Daniel 2 and 7. These are four kingdoms out of which the 4th kingdom of Daniel 2 and 7 arises. Nevertheless, certainly there must be more than seven years for these kingdoms. They must have a “latter time.” In 1849, B.W. Newton (“Prospects of the Ten Kingdoms”) noted:

“These four kingdoms must be revived. And the Antichrist will afterwards arise as a Little Horn…”

The final kingdom does not suddenly appear. It arises out of the four kingdoms that arise out of the third Grecian kingdom. It is conceivable that this could all happen in one generation. But it is hard to imagine it all in a 7 year time frame.

Conslusion

My main point in this article is to show that an extended Tribulation age allows some extra room to “work” the many prophecies that appear cramped and smothered in the “7 year” box. This protects literal interpretation. I pray this study has challenged the reader to dig into the prophecies and live holy in light of the soon coming of Christ!

KAU #97p.2 (1-18-01)