Page 75 - Prophetic Word Newsletter Archive 2010

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Before we look at how Jesus is going to “shorten the days” of the tribulation, let me show you why He
cannot merely shorten the number of the days. Here are some of the passages that would become
serious conflicts if Jesus reduces the number of the days:

D A N IEL: R EV ELA T IO N :

“… THEN HE SHALL CO NFIRM A “… AND THEY W ILL TREAD
CO VENANT W ITH M ANY FOR ONE W EEK; THE HOLY CITY UNDER FOOT

BUT IN THE M IDDLE O F THE W EEK FO R FO RTY-TWO M O NTHS.
HE SHALL BRING AN END AND I WILL GIVE PO W ER TO

TO SACRIFICE AND O FFERING… . M Y TWO W ITNESSES,
Dan.9:27 AND THEY W ILL PROPHESY
ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED
“HE SHALL PERSECUTE THE SAINTS OF
THE M OST HIGH… THEN THE SAINTS AND SIXTY DAYS… ”
Rev. 11:2-3
SHALL BE GIVEN INTO HIS HAND FOR
A TIM E AND TIM ES AND HALF A TIM E.” “THEN THE W O M AN FLED INTO THE
W ILDERNESS, W HERE SHE HAS A
Dan. 7:25
PLACE PREPARED BY GOD, THAT THEY
“… IT SHALL BE FOR SHOULD FEED HER THERE
A TIM E, TIM ES AND HALF A TIM E;
AND WHEN THE POWER OF THE HOLY ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED
PEOPLE HAS BEEN COMPLETELY AN D SIXTY DAYS.”
SHATTERED, ALL THESE THINGS Rev. 12:6
SHALL BE FINISHED” D an.1 2 :7
“… THE W OM AN W AS GIVEN
“AN D FRO M THE TIM E THAT … THE W INGS O F A GREAT EAGLE,THAT
THE ABO M INATIO N O F DESO LATIO N IS SHE M IGHT FLY INTO THE WILDERNESS

SET UP, THERE SHALL BE TO HER PLACE, W HERE SHE IS
ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED NO URISHED FO R

AND NINETY DAYS.” A TIM E AND TIM ES AND HALF A TIM E,
Dan. 12:11 FRO M THE PRESENCE O F THE SERPENT.”

Rev. 12:14

In this limited space I am not going to be able to give you any understanding of these verses.
Rather, I just want to make the point that if Jesus significantly reduces the number of these days then
the prophecy itself with its specific day counts cannot be fulfilled. The Word of God is very precise and
exacting. Every “jot and tittle” it contains must be fulfilled (Matt. 5:18).

The use of “a time, times and half a time” is found both in Daniel and in Revelation. It refers to a period
of three and a half years that will take place in the last half of the seven year tribulation. Note in
Revelation it is further clarified as “forty-two months”, which confirms that we are dealing with three and
a half years. You can’t take away a significant number of days and still end up with the prophesied
amount. Note that the covenant Antichrist makes to start the tribulation is specified as “one week.”
(There is ample teaching out there to show how this represents a seven-year tribulation period.) Note
that Antichrist sets up his defiling statue in the temple “in the middle of the week.” That means the
tribulation is divided into two periods of three and a half years each. Daniel 12:11 gives us the exact
number of days that must elapse from the setting up of the Abomination of Desolation until the
cleansing of the temple at Christ’s return. Therefore this day count CANNOT be reduced in number.

I believe that the day counts in Revelation are speaking of the last three and a half years of the
tribulation just as they also do in Daniel. Notice the Gentiles will trample the Holy City of Jerusalem for
“42 months.” This cannot be a prophecy of the first half of the tribulation, but rather logic demands that
it will be trampled until the Second Coming of Christ in which He will set Jerusalem free.

After the Abomination of Desolation, the Antichrist is going to persecute the Jews beyond measure. We
will look at the Scriptural support for that in a moment. God is going to protect a remnant of the Jews
during the last half of the tribulation by putting them in a special place where the Serpent cannot get to
them although he will greatly attempt to do so.

One silly notion I feel I must address is that some patriotic American Christians seek to interpret “the
wings of a great eagle” as being America. This is the same “eagles wings” upon which God brought up
the Children of Israel out of Egypt ( Ex. 19:4). This is not a prophecy about America being the friend of
Israel in the tribulation. The only friend Israel has left in the tribulation is God Himself!