PASTOR, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, OTEGO, NEW YORK

TRIUMPH THROUGH TRIBULATION

II. THE GREAT TRIBULATION IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

WITHOUT attempting an exhaustive survey of Old Testament passages that speak of the Great Tribulation, I would mention a few that are said to refer to it.

Deuteronomy 4:30-31 “When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto His voice; (For the Lord thy God is a merciful God); He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He sware unto them.”

It is said that this is the first clear delineation of the coming Great Tribulation to be found in the Old Testament. The words, “in the latter days,” serve to identify it.

Jeremiah 30:7 “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.”

Many have identified this passage with the Great Tribulation and with good reason, for the unparalleled degree of suffering ties in with our Lord’s description of the Tribulation as a time when suffering will be at its zenith. It is instructive to note in verse 24 that “in the latter days” the suffering of the Jews will provoke deep thought.

It would seem that at the end of the age there will be an unequaled attempt to exterminate the Jews but, as Jeremiah says, it will prove abortive, for Israel will be saved out of this time of trouble. God will preserve a remnant that will come through the fire unscathed, even as the three Hebrews went through the fiery trial of Nebuchadnezzar. We find confirmation of this in Revelation 7:1-8 where we are told that destructive forces are to be held in check until God has sealed 144,000 (very likely a symbolical number) from the twelve tribes of Israel. Dr. Harry Ironside in his Not Wrath But Rapture says in this connection that this period is the time of Jacob’s trouble, not the time of the Church’s trouble. He says the Church is having its time of trouble now. But, let us ask, what is there to hinder both the Church and Israel being in trouble at the same time? If Jacob is not having trouble now, as we think of the millions of Jews in Europe that are being slowly or suddenly exterminated, who knows what trouble is?

Daniel 12:1 “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.”

The unprecedented character of the trial here set forth clearly identifies this with the Great Tribulation. As in Jeremiah 30:7 it is said that Israel will be saved or delivered out of it.

Dr. Ironside mentions Isaiah 13:6-13 as a passage that refers to the Great Tribulation. The events in that passage are said to take place at the Day of the Lord, which I believe can be proved to be not the Tribulation at all but rather the time of the manifestation of divine wrath at the coming of Christ. This passage speaks of certain cosmic signs in sun, moon, and stars, and if one reads this in the light of Matthew 24:29 which says that these take place “immediately after the tribulation,” one will not be likely to confound Isaiah 13:6-13 with the Great Tribulation. Scofield confirms this by referring to Revelation 19:11-21 as a parallel passage.

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