Mid Tribulation (Mid-trib)
Last week we did a few of the “hard yards” we looked at the book of Daniel in preparation for today’s look at Mid- Tribulation. Just to remind you, Daniel had two dreams in Daniel 2 and 7 that God tells him are timelines all the way up to the end of the “Age of Gentiles”. The dreams show that at the end there will be 10 Kingdoms ruling, but an eleventh ruler will arise and destroy three of these rulers. This 11th ruler is the ant-Christ. In Daniel 9 we learnt about the 70 weeks or “sevens”, that we showed were 70 weeks of years. In Daniel 9 we saw that Jesus (the Messiah) was killed after the 69 weeks of years, then after this we showed how there is a gap between the 69th week and the final 1 week (of 7 years). This final end of the Gentile age period consisting of 7 years we call, the ”Tribulation”. And for good reason!
Before we do that however keep in mind the purpose of tribulation. Its purpose is for the Jewish nation to repent and recognize the Messiah Jesus. It is not for the Church. Secondly it is to finally deal with Babylon and all it represents, once and for all, ie deal with the demonic realm specifically Satan and the sin of an unrepentant world.
As the end times approaches and as we enter into the last 7 years of tribulation we see in Matthew and elsewhere that there is an increase in major wars, increase in earthquakes, a falling away from the church, Israel as a nation restored and there are increasing famines. But immediately apparent at the start, is that there are 10 world leaders and most importantly we read in Daniel 9, a covenant has been signed with Israel (allowing sacrifice and offering).
This brings us to the Book of Revelation and this signing of a covenant is a marker for the start of Tribulation and the initiation of a series of judgements (Rev 6) that come in three sets of 7.
Firstly the 7 Seal Judgements. (the 7th Seal judgement is the set of Trumpet judgements)
Then the 7 Trumpet Judgements (the 7th Trumpet judgement is the set of Bowl judgements). The last three Trumpet judgements are called the Three Woe Judgements
Then finally the 7 Bowl Judgements
Without going into them at this time we see the following judgements play out
The 7 Seal Judgements (Rev 6/7/8) – we see them very clearly spelt out. Now keep in mind these happen very quickly, certainly within the first 3.5 years as we will see later.
White Horse- we see the rise of the Antichrist coming to conquer (first of the “four Horseman”). He brings apparent peace- possibly by making a Covenant with the Jews?
Red Horse- we see the start of war and bloodshed (World War 3?)
Black Horse- we see the start of very high inflation and economic collapse
Ashen or Pale horse- we see famine plagues and widespread death- ¼ or world dies
We see the souls of martyrs under the altar calling on the Lord to “avenge our blood”
We see the sun, moon, stars and earth are now affected. We see a great earthquake, sun goes black, moon goes red, stars fall out the sky Rev 6:14
14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Dramatic stuff!
Seventh Seal is the set of Trumpet Judgements made of 7 trumpets
So we see the world as we know it has changed dramatically. There are about 8 billion people in the world, so about 2 billion people die!- So no comparison to any plague we have experienced in history- not millions, but billions. And we are just starting- not to mention every island and mountain moved!
Trumpet Judgements (Revelation 8/9) (in order)
Hail and Fire mixed with blood!- 1/3 world burnt AND ALL the grass. If all the grass dies, what do you think will happen to the cattle, sheep, wildlife?
Something like a huge mountain thrown into sea. Third of sea turns to blood. A third of fish die. Third of ships destroyed.
A star falls (name Wormwood- fallen angel)- third of fresh waters become bitter- many die
Sun, moon and starts are struck- one third of each become dark
The start of the 3 “Woe judgements”- In this 1st Woe judgement- Apollyon, a fallen angel sets free “ Locusts” (demons) from the “Abyss. These are not normal locusts- they ignore all vegetation and have the sting of a scorpion. They are also released from the “abyss” so logically they are demons. These demons inflicts severe pain (like sting of scorpions), but do not kill ( all except those sealed by God-the 144,000+ are affected) They do this for 5 months!
2nd Woe- 4 fallen angels (demonic realm) are released and one third of mankind killed. There were 200 Million mounted enemy/ demons! If a third of mankind was now killed the death toll so far from the Seal Judgements and the Trumpet Judgements in todays terms would exceed 4 billion people dead!
This leaves the last Trumpet Judgement (or Third “Woe”) which is the 7 bowl Judgements. All of this happens before mid Trib and brings us to the 3.5 year mark, the 1260 days, the 42 months or the time, times and half a time marker.
Right at this point a number of important events take place. Remember, the 7th Trumpet is yet to sound and bring about the 7 Bowl Judgments. And this will be start of the 3.5-year, period of the “Great Tribulation”
So, what do we see happening at mid-trib?
Revelation 11:1-4 The Two Witnesses
11 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. 3 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.”
The Two Witnesses :
We see there are 2 “witnesses” who have great power. We know a covenant has been made with the Jews to offer sacrifices to God. We also see there is a Temple for the Jews and that these two witness have been prophesying for 3.5 years. So logically we can see that as we enter into Tribulation the Jews have a Temple at which they can offer sacrifices. This is another sign we are entering into the last 7 years- end times- there is a Temple for the Jews. Just a few points on these verses
Many people speculate about who the two witnesses are. The bible does not tell us. That’s because we probably don’t need to know. The two, witness to what God is doing. If they didn’t do it we would blame global warming or Donald Trump or the Chinese. But these two point the way to God, and they have power. They can stop the rain, strike the earth with plagues, destroy enemies with fire, but they testify to what God is doing.
The two witnesses are in accordance with
Deuteronomy 19:15 15 One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
So maybe there names are not important at all. By the way this is also good advice to us, not to listen to just one opinion, but get at least two in serious matters?
The fact that there is a Temple for the Jews is significant. They don’t have one right now where they can offer sacrifice, it was destroyed in AD70. But we also read in Rev 11:19 there is a Temple in heaven as well, and in it is seen the “ark of his covenant”
Revelation 11:19 19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.
The Rise of the Beast at Mid Trib.
We see a “beast”, the Antichrist arise from the abyss in Chapter 11. This is the 11th horn. While he was the rider of the “white horse” in Chapter 6. He rises up at mid-trib and kills the two witnesses.
Revelation 11:7-12 7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.11 But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.
A great war takes place in heaven at mid-trib
Revelation 12:1-9 The Woman and the Dragon
12 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
So much here!- but a few points. NOTE these are signs- Satan is not a dragon, or have a forked tail! The reference to the iron sceptre comes from Psalm 2, so we are not talking about the baby Jesus, but a sign of Jesus the Messiah. In the same way, the woman is not Mary but a sign of the nation of Israel. The Sun Moon and Stars a direct reference to what happened in Josephs dream in Genesis- SO, she represents Israel. Catholics take this as being Mary- incorrectly
The reference to “seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads” We learnt in Daniel 7 that there were 10 world leaders. Three were disposed of by the Antichrist/Satan- leaving 7 world leaders/Kings plus the Antichrist still ruling the 10 kingdoms. So, at or by mid trib- 3 Kings of the 10 Kingdoms have been killed and are now in control of Satan and the Anti-Christ. The seven (controlled by the antichrist) are now in charge of the 10 kingdoms
It is in these verse that we learn that Satan deceives or entices 1/3 of the angels (stars) to follow him.
War breaks out in Heaven and Satan is thrown out of heaven. So, the one who accuses is currently in heaven! He is now finally cast out and we read this
Revelation 12:10-11
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:…
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
We too, overcome by the blood of the Lamb and out testimony!
The casting out of Satan at mid-trib could well be the defining moment of mid-trib
Part of Israel flees
We also learn that Israel or part of it flees to a place prepared for it for 1260 days
Revelation 12:6 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
This is the context for Matthew 24:15
15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equalled again.
Micah (2:12-13) says this remnant will be brought together like sheep in a fold. The phrase translated “sheep in a fold” is literally the Hebrew word for a sheep pen The Hebrew word for pen or fold is botzrah There is a place in the wilderness not far from Jerusalem called Botzrah, also known as Petra- so maybe this is the place they flee to? It’s possible. But the remnant of Israel will be protected from the Great Tribulation, to some extent by them fleeing, at mid-trib.
The Antichrist’s authority steps up to the next level
Revelation 13:2-4
2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”
So the” Beast”, the Antichrist is killed. You don’t have a fatal wound if you don’t die! But, he is then resurrected! God permits Satan to indwell the body of the Antichrist bringing the man back to life for the remainder of the Tribulation. This is why he is called the Antichrist- he opposes everything that God is and he is also resurrected! He is the counterfeit of Christ! The dragon now fully indwells the Antichrist for the next 3.5 years
Revelation 13:1-9, v5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life
This is the moment when the Antichrist becomes the ruler of the world at mid-Tribulation. So, the Antichrist stops Jewish sacrifice in the Temple because he claims such sacrifices are no longer necessary because they now worship him! This is confirmed in Matthew
Matt. 24:15 “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.
But then a second beast is revealed!:
Revelation 13:11-18
11 Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.
So the first beast was the Antichrist and we now have a second beast which John also calls in Revelation 16:13 the false prophet. And so we have the complete counterfeit of the Trinity, the Antichrist, the false prophet and Satan.
This second beast, the False Prophet, makes an animated image for people to worship the antichrist and Satan. People are killed if this is not done. Many churches today display icons of the resurrected Christ, and all false religions depend heavily on icons and figures
People are also marked on the right hand or forehead- no mark means you cannot buy or sell (“His number is 666”) Everything escalates from this point- authority and control by the antichrist and the ensuing plagues, called the Bowl judgements
So Satan, the great counterfeit, mimics God once again by developing his own counterfeit the mark for unbelievers And those who take the mark will be protected from Satan’s wrath and will be allowed to buy and sell. But those who refuse the mark will be killed (later in Revelation 20 we learn they are killed by beheading)
“Numbering a name is a Jewish way of turning a word into a mathematical quantity. It starts by assigning a numerical value to each letter in the Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew alphabet uses 22 characters but they aren’t numbered 1-22 Instead, the numbering scheme begins with 1-10, then moves to 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, then ends with 200, 300, & 400So by adding up the letters in a person’s Hebrew name, you can arrive at a single value. For example, if we add up the Hebrew letters associated with Jesus’ full name and title (Jesus the Messiah), we arrive at 749
Keep in mind this system only works with Hebrew names, so the Antichrist’s name (whatever it will be) must be written in Hebrew. Once it is translated into Hebrew, then someone who knows Hebrew could calculate the number of his name. When his name is calculated, John says it will add up to 666. The number 6 in Scripture is the number of fallen or sinful man. And in Hebrew writing, to double a number means “more” and to triple a number means “most”. So 666 is the most sin or the most sinful man, and of course he is the world’s most sinful man because he is indwelled by Satan. Only the world alive at mid-tribulation will be able to perform this calculation and confirm the identity of the Antichrist “
So really we wont know who the Antichrist is until he arrives. There are many names that could add up to 666. And then only if we translate his name into Hebrew and then add up the numbers. So we have to wait!
So in mid-trib we Satan showing us that he is the biggest counterfeiter of all time:
We see him as the dragon acting as the god of the world and the unseen power behind everything.
He raises up a beast, the Antichrist, to serve as the focus of the world’s worship
He causes the death and resurrection of the man to convince the world that the beast is a christ
Then he is raises up a second beast whose purpose is to lead the world to worship the Antichrist
Moreover, the false prophet “seals” the Antichrist’s followers with a mark indicating their faith in the Antichrist. Just like the Holy Spirit does with us.
The 7th Trumpet is the set of Bowl Judgements-which then follow mid-trib
Bowl Judgements
Painful sores on those with the mark of the beast.
Sea turns to blood and all creatures in it die.
All the rivers and springs become blood.
Sun becomes very hot and people are scorched by intense heat
The kingdom of the beast is plunged into a painful darkness
The Euphrates becomes completely dry
So mid-trib is a very significant point when a great deal happens and sets the scene for the final 3.5 years, before Jesus arrives and defeats Satan.