Tribulation: Past Or Future?

TRIBULATION: PAST OR FUTURE?
There are a number of passages in the Bible that speak of the onset of a great tribulation that is to take place prior to the return of Christ. A few of these passages will serve as representative samplings: For thus says the LORD,
“I have heard a sound of terror,
Of dread, and there is no peace.

6 Ask now, and see
If a male can give birth.
Why do I see every man
With his hands on his loins, as a woman in childbirth?
And why have all faces turned pale?

7 Alas! for that day is great,
There is none like it;
And it is the time of Jacob's distress,
But he will be saved from it. (Jeremiah 30:5-7).

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), 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. (Matthew 24:15-17). For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. (Matthew 24:21).

One of the things that we must do when looking at prophecy is ask ourselves if the prophecy in question has already been fulfilled. In this case, I want to suggest that it has been fulfilled quite literally. And furthermore, it has been fulfilled twice. The first time took place in the year 168 B.C. During that time, an invading king named Antiochus Epiphanes came down from the north and committed great atrocities against the Jews, forbidding them to read the Scriptures or to circumcise their children or to observe the Sabbath day. He even went so far as to have a statue of himself erected inside the Temple with orders that it be worshiped by all on pain of death. This was the “abomination of desolation” which Daniel prophesied of in Daniel 11:31.

However, Jesus told His disciples that it would happen again (Matthew 24:15 cited above; Mark 13:19). Sure enough, in 66 A.D. the Jews in Jerusalem rebelled against the Roman empire. The following war lasted 7 years. In 70 A.D. Jerusalem was taken and the Temple was again trodden underfoot by Gentile soldiers. This time, the Temple was destroyed and a great carnage ensued. However, the last resistance did not fall until the year 73 A.D. when the Romans took Masada, only to find that the last remnant of 930 Jews had committed suicide rather than be taken captive. Is there still a future time of tribulation? I do not know. But I do know that Jesus said to His disciples that “in the world you have tribulation” (John 16:33 - notice the present tense). Indeed, the history of the church has been a history of tribulation.