An Interpretation of Matthew 24-25 (Part 16)
Dr. Thomas Ice
"for then there will be a greattribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world untilnow, nor ever shall."
-Matthew 24:21
In the previousinstallment I surveyed some of the biblical teaching on the greattribulation. It will not come as asurprise to most of you that many do not see the tribulation as a yet futuretime. Historicists and preteristsbelieve that much, if not all of the tribulation has already occurred. Therefore, if one denies the futurityof the tribulation then it produces a great distortion of biblical prophecy.
Historicism
Historicismteaches that the events of the tribulation, as noted in the book of Revelation,have been occurring throughout the entire 2,000 years of the current churchage. Historicist, Steve Wohlberg, says, "Historicism is the belief that theprophecies of Daniel and Revelation find fulfillment throughout the historyof Christianity."
The historicistscheme will not work if the prophetic events of the tribulation are takenliterally. Historicists have toallegorize many details of biblical prophecy in order to make their systemappear to explain Scripture. Forexample, they turn 1260 days (Rev. 11:3; 12:6) into 1260-years, the antichristis not a person but the papal system of Roman Catholicism and entities likeangels (the three angelic witnesses of Revelation 14) turn out to be humanswhat have lived in the past during the current church age. Historicists generally regard thebelief that the tribulation and most Bible prophecy still awaits a futurefulfillment as a Roman Catholic plot implemented by the Jesuits in thesixteenth century.[2] Historicism says that we are in thetribulation now, even though most of it has already passed. Such a view is not supported byChrist's explanation of the great tribulation in Matthew 24.
Preterism
Modern preteristsgo even further than historicists and say that the entire time of the tribulationis totally past and that it was entirely completed by a.d. 70. Preterist, Dr. Kenneth Gentry says, "I hold that the Tribulation occursin our distant past in the first century; . . . I hold that the Tribulation closes out the Jewish-based, oldcovenant order, and establishes the new covenant (Christian) order as theconclusive redemptive-historical reality."[3] "This statement of Christ isindisputably clear-and absolutely demanding of a first-century fulfillment ofthe events in the preceding verses, including the Great Tribulation (v. 21),"
What does he meanby "prophetic hyperbole"? Dr.Gentry cites Exodus 11:6, Ezekiel 5:9; 7:5-6, and Daniel 9:12
Asfor Exodus 11:6, the focus here is specifically on one country, which is thenation of Egypt. Furthermore, theverse is not saying that what happened with the ten plagues was the worstjudgment that Egypt will ever experience and, therefore, the correlationbetween 14 million and 55 million is irrelevant. The text is saying that there was not such a great cry inall the land of Egypt in the past, nor will there be such a great cry in theland of Egypt in the future. Theemphasis is not on the judgment itself but on the Egyptian response to thejudgment. The first-born son ofevery Egyptian family died, but the remainder of the family was spared, soevery single family was affected. In the tribulation, there is no need to assume that every family will beaffected and, furthermore, rather than merely one or two members of the family,whole families might be destroyed; and if whole families are destroyed, therewill be no one to mourn for that particular family. Another point is the Bible says that one quarter of theworld's population will be destroyed, but mentions the world population ingeneral and does not apply that exactly twenty-five percent of the Egyptianpopulation will be destroyed. Inother words, whether we speak of twenty-five percent or seventy-five percent ofthe earth's population destroyed, most of it is among the nations outside ofthe Middle East and, therefore, will not effect Egypt to the same degree as itwould affect, let's say North America or Europe. Therefore, there might be a lot less death in Egypt thanthere would be elsewhere, and it still might be less than those who died in thetenth plague. In other words,Exodus 11:6 simply does not present such a great problem.
Finally,concerning Ezekiel 5:9-10, . . . There are two implications. The first implication is that what happened in a.d. 70 was far more severe than what happened in 586 b.c. That point is true. But the point of Ezekiel 5:9 is that God, in this case, is going toperform a judgment of the type that He has not done before and will not do again,and the type of judgment was that one third will die by plague and famine, onethird will die by the sword, and one third will be scattered to the fourwinds. It did not happen that wayin a.d. 70, and it will not happenthat way in the tribulation. WhatEzekiel is describing is something that happened uniquely in the Babyloniandestruction of Jerusalem when the inhabitants were equally divided into thirdswith two thirds dying in two different ways, and one third surviving but underdivine judgment were scattered. Nosuch three-fold division equally happened in a.d.70. Even the tribulation where itdoes mention in Zechariah 13:8-9 that two thirds will die and one third willsurvive, it does not say that the two thirds will die in an equal two halves bysword and by famine. Furthermore,the remaining surviving third is not under divine judgment and remainingsurviving third is not under divine judgment and scattered, but rather, theyare saved and regathered. So,Ezekiel's words can be taken as literally true; what he said did happen toJerusalem and was unique to the Babylonian destruction.
Thesecond implication is his statement under point 4: "The flood was obviously a greater tribulation." This is true as far as tribulation ingeneral. However, here we aredealing specifically with the Jewish people and Jerusalem. The focus of the flood was not on theJewish people, since Jewish history had not begun as yet. Nor was the focus on Jerusalem sincethat city had not existed yet. TheNoahic flood destroyed the world in general and was the worst flood that everwas or will be. But Ezekiel'sprophecy focuses specifically on the Jewish people and Jerusalem which was notor will not be destroyed by flood. And while God will once again destroy the mass of humanity, according toIsaiah 24, it will no be by means of water but by means of fire.
So,none of these "problems" that Gary DeMar is presenting are in any sense a greatproblem. They are all solvable ifwe remain with their own context and we move carefully through the actual wordsand to what they are referring.[8]
These issues arenot a problem if one follows the context that governs the words of thesepassages. It is quite clear thatif the plain meaning of the text is allowed to stand then a first centuryinterpretation is precluded. Preteristsmust revert to sophistry in order to say why the text does not mean what itsays so they can suggest a meaning in support of their view. Interestingly, they tend to only takethis approach with given passages that do not appear to support their thesis,but take verses plainly that appear to support their views, even when figuresof speech are embedded in the text. No, the great tribulation has not yet happened, but the world is nowbeing prepared for this future time (2 Thess. 2:6-7).
The Book of Daniel
InMatthew 24:21 Christ speaks of a yet future time that will be the worst time inthe history of the world for the Jewish people. Nevertheless, He will deliver those who come to faith in Himas their Messiah from this terrible time (Matt. 24:31). These things must take place in orderthat God's plan for history to work out issues of good and evil. How do we know this? Matthew 24:21 is a quote by Jesus fromDaniel 12:1.
The entirecontext of Daniel 12 provides further information about what Christ has said inMatthew 24:21. Daniel's responseis not surprising to the revelation of the tribulation as we see in Daniel12:8: "Asfor me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, 'My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?'" This is often a question that comesinto our mind when we read of the events of the tribulation. God's answer through the angel is asfollows: "Andhe said, 'Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed upuntil the end time. Many will bepurged, purified and refined; but the wicked will act wickedly, and none of thewicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.'" (Dan.12:9-10)
God'spurpose of the tribulation, especially the great tribulation (last three and ahalf years), is to purge out those unbelieving Jews through the events of thistime and to bring to faith the elect Jewish remnant. We know that the events described in both Matthew and Danielhave not yet in the past lead to the mass conversion of the Jews as thesepassages indicate. That theconversion of the Jews is yet to occur, no Christian would doubt. Since the tribulation precedes andgives rise to their conversion, there is no doubt that it too lies in a timefuture to our own day. Maranatha!
(To BeContinued . . .)
Endnotes
[1] Steve Wohlberg, The AntichristChronicles: What Prophecy TeachersAren't Telling You! (Fort Worth: Texas Media Center, 2001), p. 86. (Italics original)
[2] See Steve Wohlberg's chapter called "The EvilEmpire of Jesuit Futurism," in The Left Behind Deception: Revealing Dangerous Errors About TheRapture And The Antichrist(Coldwater, MI: RemnantPublications, 2001), pp. 58-74.
[3] Kenneth L. Gentry Jr. in Thomas Ice and KennethL. Gentry Jr., The Great Tribulation: Past or Future? (GrandRapids: Kregel, 1999), p. 12. This is a book in which Dr. Gentry andI debate whether the tribulation is past or future. For a more extensive rebuttal of many aspects of thepreterist position see Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice, editors, The End TimesControversy: The Second ComingUnder Attack (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2003).
[4] Gentry, Great Tribulation, pp. 26-27.
[5] Gentry, Great Tribulation, p. 52.
[6] Gentry, Great Tribulation, pp. 55-56.
[7] Gentry, Great Tribulation, p. 56.
[8] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, personal letter to Thomas Ice, dated September16, 1994.