A Prophetic Overview of the Tribulation

A Prophetic Overview of the Tribulation Period

By Prophet Jacob R. Blandford

There are two books of the Holy Bible I know of that are types of the tribulation period: they are Job and Lamentations. The tribulation period is a time of seven years on earth where God Almighty will pour out His judgments upon a Christ-rejecting world. Yet during this time many Jews will be saved and tried (see Zech. 13:9). They will receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. According to the Book of Revelation, there will be 144,000 Jewish evangelists and two powerful witnesses that will lead this revival. The prophets foretold (in many places in the Holy Scriptures) that the Jews would return to their homeland: and we’ve seen that come to pass in our lifetime. The Bible also predicted that not long after the return of the Jews to their homeland (Israel), then would begin the golden age of the Messiah’s kingdom here on earth (the fulfillment of the Lord’s Prayer [see Matt. 6:10; Luke 11:2]), headquartered in Jerusalem (see Jer. 3:17; Matt. 5:35), with Jesus Christ ruling on the throne of David (see Luke 1:31-33) and the new temple built according to the specifications in Ezekiel’s vision (see Ezek. 40-48) (see also Amos 9:11; Haggai 2:9). The term for this reign is the ‘Millennial Kingdom’ and we get it from Rev. 20 because a “thousand years” in mentioned six times in that chapter. For example: the prophet Isaiah saw this golden age in Is. 11 and 35. But back to the tribulation period (the time right before the Messiah’s arrival), this time is called by the prophet Jeremiah “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7) and Jacob is Israel (see 2 Kings 17:34), so Jeremiah is referring to the nation of Israel which was formed again in 1948. This period is also known as the last week in Daniel’s prophecies called ‘Daniel’s seventieth week’ (see Dan. 9:24-27). A “week” is seven years according to Gen. 29:27-28, and Jewish tradition tells us the same: that’s how you interpret the prophecies in Daniel 9. This is the time period the Lord Jesus Christ referred to in Matthew 24:21 and Mark 13:19. Note: this is the time of the world and the Jews—not the church—the church is evacuated before the tribulation at the Rapture of 1 Thess. 4:16-18 and 1 Cor. 15:51-52. The church appears in the first three chapters of Revelation, but after the “Come up hither” of Rev. 4:1, the church is nowhere to be found while God is pouring out His judgments in chapters 6-18. Not until the marriage supper of the Lamb, and till the Lord comes back in Rev. 19 do we see the church again in the Book of Revelation. Plus, there are several Pauline passages that say the Christian church age saints aren’t allotted to “wrath” (Rom. 5:9; 1 Thess.1:10, 5:9); and the book of Revelation mainly, in the meat of it, covers the tribulation period which is said to be the time of “the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev. 6:16). God will judge the nations during this time because of their demonic spirits of antichrist and anti-Semitism. There are many passages in the Old Testament that foretell of God punishing the Gentile nations at the end at Armageddon (ex. Judges 5; Psalms 2, 18, 68, 83, 110; Is. 2, 13, 34, 63, 66; Jer. 25; Ezek. 38, 39; Dan. 2; Joel 2, 3; Hab. 3; Zeph. 3; Zech. 14; Mal. 4). Christ’s ministry on earth was for three and a half years. God will also allow the Antichrist to have his ‘ministry’ on earth for three and a half years too. These three and a half years are the second half of the tribulation period known at the ‘great tribulation’ (again see Dan. 9:27). These three and a half years or 42 months are mentioned often in Biblical prophecy: see Daniel 7, 9, 12, James 5, and Revelation 11. The general or catholic epistles in the New Testament (Hebrews–Jude) deal with the tribulation Jews. They’ll read in Hebrews 8 a quotation of Jeremiah 31 which foretells of their conversion as a whole nation. Then in James 5 (and by the way, James 1:1 says the epistle was written to “the twelve tribes”,) the Holy Spirit mentions the return of the Lord (v. 7) (this is the Second Advent), then He mentions Elijah’s 42 months (v. 17), and the patience of Job (v. 11)—isn’t that interesting? The Book of Job is exactly 42 chapters long: and deals with hardships, sufferings, and Satanic persecution—exactly what the nation of Israel will face in the tribulation. Lastly, the 42^nd chapter of Job says “the LORD turned the captivity of Job” (v. 10)*, and then Job was blessed with a recompense of double (a type of the restoration the nation of Israel will receive [see also 2 Kings 8:1-6]). Next, in the book of Jeremiah we see the nation’s temple destroyed in chapter 52, and then the nation goes into captivity (Babylonian exile). [Note: in the future the third temple will also be destroyed after the Antichrist sits in it (see 2 Thess. 2:3-4). This event is called “the abomination of desolation” and begins the great tribulation.] What follows the 52 chapters of Jeremiah (13x4=52 and there are 52 cards in a deck) is the next book Jeremiah wrote: Lamentations. This book describes a horrible time of sorrow, wrath, and desperation. Yet right after the last chapter of Lamentations, we come to Ezekiel 1, where the Lord shows up in all His glory with the cherubims—what a picture of the King of the Jews, the long-awaited Jewish Messiah—none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself—returning and rescuing the Jews from annihilation and genocide at the end of the tribulation at His Second Advent! (see 2 Thess. 1:7-10) Then will be fulfilled what the Apostle Paul predicted, “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Rom. 11:26). That is the Second Coming or Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ which Saint John the Divine saw in Revelation Chapters 14 and 19. Wow! ‘Come Lord Jesus, come!’ In Jesus Christ’s name I pray, Amen.

¶ In this brief article I’ve only referenced and cited a FEW of the prophetic verses of Scripture found in the Holy Bible—scholars estimate that 1/3 of the Bible deals with prophecy: mainly concerning THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM. That’s the main theme of the Holy Book.

¶ The Lamentations of Jeremiah is a picture of the Tribulation period. Lamentations and Job are similar. Lamentation ends with the LORD showing up in Ezekiel 1. And Job ends with the happy/blessed man and the King on Zion’s hill in Psalms 1 & 2. You have a “blessed” man in the first verse of Psalm 1 and you have a “blessed” man the in the last verse of Psalms 2. Compare Job 1:1 with Lam. 4:21—that’s where the Jews will be during the Tribulation... in the rock city of Petra in Edom.

¶ *The “captivity” being turned at the end of Job’s tribulation is a picture of the restoration of Israel after the Tribulation. Job’s “captivity” being turned is a fulfillment of the Israeli captivity being turned, which by the way, is predicted by Moses in Deuteronomy 30:3 and David in Psalms 14:7, 53:6, 85:1, 126:1, 4.