THE GREAT TRIBULATION
There are different opinions of the great tribulation. Probably the most popular one is described by Dr. Merrill Younger of Dallas Theological Seminary. I quote in part from his bible dictionary, page 1117, published by Moody Press. “There is a period of unparalleled suffering which, according to premillennial eschatology, will precede the establishment of the future kingdom of Israel.”
Dr. Unger is partly right. However, the apostle Mark tells us in Mark 9:1 RSV:
Jesus said unto them, “Truly, I say unto you, there are some standing HERE who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
In Matthew 24:15 KJV, Jesus confirms that the starting of the kingdom is now, and is the same time as the abomination of desolation, as stated by Daniel. Dr. Unger’s statement that these things spoken by Jesus and Daniel will precede the future establishment of the Kingdom of Israel is not supported by scripture. The kingdom is spiritual. It started at Pentecost and will continue until the end (Matthew 28:20 KJV). There is nothing in these scriptures that supports a future physical Israel. Nor does the name antichrist appear in the scriptures.
We have now established that the tribulation started at the cross. The kingdom started at Pentecost, and it is a spiritual kingdom. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50). The Millennium is a physical period, opposed to the kingdom being spiritual (Ibid, Millennium) and also started at the cross. (This writer uses the “cross-time period” and considers that it includes the time period from the anointing of Jesus to Pentecost.) So the tribulation started at the cross and will continue to the end, which is the final judgment. Let’s consider the interim time period. Revelation 7:9-13 KJV tells us about a great multitude of saints in white robes. A condensed scriptural version will suffice to give us the information that we require as follows:
“Who are those clothed in white robes, and from whence have they come? “ I said to him, “Sir, you know,” and he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
To summarize, we can safely say that according to the scriptures quoted, the tribulation started at the cross. It will last to almost final judgment. The spiritual kingdom of God also started at the cross (Pentecost) and is eternal. The millennium started at the cross and will end at the final judgment. Additional saints are continually being added to the kingdom. When they physically die, they are in their white robes in heaven.