One of the problems that we are seeing here is that there are a lot of Christians who are more-or-less quite ignorant of the OT (and there are a lot of Jews who are quite ignorant of their own Scriptures--the Tanakh--our Old Testament). ALL of the Bible must be accounted for in any scheme of systematic theology. It perfectly harmonizes when properly understood--under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (it's primary author). As an example, an ancient teaching of Judaism is that there would be TWO messiahs--Messiah Ben Joseph and Messiah Ben David. One was to be the "Suffering Servant" of Isaiah 53 (the rabbis during our Christian era "re-interpreted" Isaiah 53 to read it as Israel being the "Suffering Servant" which produces an absurdity). They simply could not fathom a Messiah who came twice--but it is all there in Scripture for us to ponder. If you study the OT prophets, you will see that there are a number of prophecies which have not yet been fulfilled--almost all of them having to do with the time of the End. It is unthinkable that they would not be. Humans lie--God does not. If He says something is going to happen, then it will. All prophecies which have been fulfilled have been fulfilled literally. Let's stop with the spiritualization that is necessary to sidestep the implications of various prophecies. Christians should definitely be wary of adding to or taking away from the Book of Revelation just because it says something they don't like.
In the time of the End, (also known as the Day of the Lord) it is God who sends judgment on the heathen nations for their egregious sin and abominations (they are storing up the "wrath of Almighty God and the Lamb"). Please tell me: Why wouldn't Christians be exempt from God's judgment? The sin of Christians has already been judged at the Cross and they are covered with Christ's righteousness--we are "not appointed to God's wrath". Yes, Christians have ALWAYS been subject to persecutions inspired by Satan. Jesus warned us that would be the case. But what Satan means for evil, God means for good. Persecution has been the most severe form of "refining fire" and the Church has almost always grown during times of persecution. It has kept us from becoming flabby and Laodicean and will exist right till the moment the Church is taken out of this world. It has been estimated that there have been 70,000,000 Christian martyrs in the two millennia of the Church. There are approximately 100,000 Christian martyrs per year--mostly in Muslim countries and there were many millions killed in communist countries in the past. But, frankly, that is a "drop in the bucket" compared to the kind of numbers mentioned in the Book of Revelation when the wrath of Almighty God and the Lamb is poured out on those who belong to the world and especially those who take the Mark of the Beast. The "time of Jacob's trouble" will be a reality during the lead-up to the Millennial Kingdom. It will be notable for the enormous number of mass casualties.
I am not a "Dispensationalist." Their schemes tend to be quite rigid and they try to fit everything into specified periods of time that match their fascination with numbers. Having said that, I think that God predicts specific numbers of days, weeks, months and years that impact mankind. God exists without regard to time for Himself. Time means nothing to One who is eternal; it was obviously created for the sake of mankind--particularly mortal man (see Genesis 6:3). Our sun, the moon and the stars were created as celestial "time pieces" to mark time for us (see Genesis 1:14-15) God certainly didn't need them to illuminate the earth as Scripture tells us that He will eventually do away with them and illuminate the enormous New Jerusalem (a 1,400 mile cube) with His light alone.
Prophecy is always tied to the times of men--even the time of the End. There is an ordered sequence to the events of the Book of Revelation. Our clue is that John says, "And then," over and over when describing those events. There is evidence that time will continue even into the Eternal State, as the Tree of Life is said to bear a new fruit crop "each month". But time will cease to hold us in its grip any longer--we will truly be free of time restraints.
