Ronald David Bruno
Well-Known Member
There has been Tribulation since Adam and Eve got kicked out of the Garden. But let's be reasonable, there are degrees of Tribulation. You cannot lump it all together.Tribulation has been happening all along. And as a believer in the Harpazo, I would also include a Rapture event coming before the sun is darkened, etc.
The great irony in all of this is that both sides are technically correct. The Harpazo does come after the Great Tribulation *AND YET* the next event that is coming is the Harpazo itself because we are already in the Great Tribulation. Everyone wins... almost.
Let's say your home was broken into by terroists, the thieves rape your wife and daughters and kill them, you fight back as much as you can and loose and they chop your head off. That is as extreme as one can be. But that is one family, not the entire world. That cannot be compared to the Flood when everyone ( tens of millions) except 8 people died. Perspective: "As in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Coming of the Son of Man".
Context is important and in Matthew 24 the disciples asked Him a 3-part loaded question. Unbeknownst to them, His answer would contain different time periods. The first part of the question had to do with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, but most of the other information dealt with His Second Coming, 2,000 years later, including the end of the age. He goes back and forth with His answer - which is what is confusing but this was the style of how Jews communicated. As in Genesis 1, an outline is given, then in chapter 2, details are filled in. So Jesus speaks of wars and rumors of wars, nation against nation, famines, pestilence, etc. Thise details do not describe events of 70AD, when the Roman Empire was dominant, this had to do with a much later time, the times we are now in with many nations at eachother's throats. Then vs. 14 is the key. The gospel will be preached throughout the world to every nation. That didn't happen in the first century ( or any other century), it just got started back then. That hasn't become a reality until our current generation, just recenlty. So then in vs. 15, He goes back to 70AD event and addresses people in Judah.
Do a study on the word abomination. God detests certain activities and calls them abominations. Well, destroying the Holy City of His chosen people was an abomination and desolation followed. I guess you can symbolically refer to Jesus death as an abomination and spiritual desolation of the Jews that followed. Then Jesus returns to modern times and addresses a Great Tribulation.
Now listen, look at the events in the first 4 Seals in Revelation, the four horsemen. What is the result? Death to 25 % of the population of the planet. Does that sound like your average historical times of Tribulation? 2 billion within only a portion of the GT?
Even combining the deaths from WW1, WW2 and every war in the last 200 years you'd only come up with 2-3% death of the population. By the time The Great Tribulation is over ( a 3 1/2 year period) likely over 5 billion will die.
Amils are caught in this symbolic mumbo jumbo. I read a book by someone who was called the Bible Answer Man, Hank Hanegraph. I used to listen to him on the radio. He was good with most commentary - until he got to Eschatology. That book on Revelation was filled with symbolic crap. He was so far away from the literal interpretation. Did you listen to him too?