This section of the Olivet Discourse all sounds very familiar to an event of which Paul wrote, one that is undoubtedly the Rapture of the church, yet one which many commentators say occurs before the tribulation period begins. Consider the following scripture that we examined earlier in this chapter:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord , shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape (1 Thes. 4:13 – 5:3, emphasis added).

Paul wrote of Jesus coming from heaven with the trumpet of God and of believers being caught up “in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” It sounds just like what Jesus was describing in Matthew 24:30-31, what clearly occurs after the rise of the antichrist and tribulation.

Moreover, as Paul continued writing about Christ’s return, he mentioned the subject of when it would occur, “the times and epochs,” and he reminded his readers that they already knew full well that “the day of the Lord [would] come just like a thief in the night.” Paul believed that Christ’s return and the Rapture of believers would occur on “the day of the Lord,” a day when terrible wrath and destruction would fall upon those who were expecting “peace and safety.” As Christ returns to catch away His church, His wrath will fall on the world.

This harmonizes perfectly with what Paul wrote in a later letter to the Thessalonians concerning Christ’s wrathful return:

For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed–for our testimony to you was believed (2 Thes. 1:6-10, emphasis added)

Paul stated that when Jesus returned to give relief to the persecuted Thessalonian Christians (see 2 Thes. 1:7), He would appear “with His mighty angels in flaming fire” to afflict those who had afflicted them, dealing out just retribution. This hardly sounds like what so many describe as the pre-tribulation Rapture, when the church is supposedly caught up by Christ before the seven-year tribulation period begins, and what is normally described as a secret appearance of Jesus and a quiet catching away of the church. No, this sounds exactly like what Jesus described in Matthew 24:30-31, His return at or near the end of the tribulation period, when He catches away believers and pours out His wrath on unbelievers.

Let’s spend some time looking a little more closely at what Scripture teaches about the seven-year Tribulation. How do we arrive at a figure of seven years as being the length of the Tribulation? We must study the book of Daniel, which, besides the book of Revelation, is probably the most revealing book of the Bible relative to the end times.

In the ninth chapter of his book, we find that Daniel is a captive in Babylon with his fellow Jews. While studying the book of Jeremiah, Daniel discovered that the length of Jewish captivity in Babylon would be seventy years (see Dan. 9:2; Jer. 25:11-12). Realizing that that seventy-year period was almost completed, Daniel began to pray, confessing the sins of his people and asking for mercy. In response to his prayer, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and revealed Israel’s future right through the time of the Tribulation to the return of Christ. The prophecy contained in Daniel 9:24-27 is one of the most amazing in Scripture. I’ve quoted it below along with my bracketed comments:

Seventy weeks [these are obviously weeks of years, as we will see, or a total of 490 years] have been decreed for your people [Israel] and your holy city [Jerusalem], to finish the transgression [ possibly the culminating act of Israel’s sins—the crucifixion of their own Messiah], to make an end of sin [ probably a reference to Christ’s redemptive work on the cross], to make atonement for iniquity [ no doubt a reference to Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross], to bring in everlasting righteousness [the beginning of the earthly reign of Jesus in His kingdom], to seal up vision and prophecy [ perhaps a reference to the end of the writing of Scripture, or to a fulfilling of all pre-millennial prophecy], and to anoint the most holy place [ possibly a reference to the establishing of the millennial temple]. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem [this decree was be made by King Artaxerxes in 445 B.C.], until Messiah the Prince [the Lord Jesus Christ] there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks [a total of 69 weeks, or 483 years]; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress [that is the rebuilding of Jerusalem, previously destroyed by the Babylonians]. Then after the sixty-two weeks [that is, 483 years after the decree of 445 B.C.] the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing [Jesus will be crucified in 32 A.D., if we calculate by the Jewish calendar of 360 days per year], and the people [the Romans] of the prince who is to come [the antichrist] will destroy the city and the sanctuary [a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by Titus and the Roman legions]. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. And he [the “prince who is to come”—the antichrist] will make a firm covenant with the many [Israel] for one week [or seven years—this is the Tribulation period], but in the middle of the week [at about three and a half years] he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations [when the antichrist sets himself in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, calling himself God; see 2 Thes. 2:1-4] will come one who makes desolate [Jesus will return], even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate [the defeat of the antichrist by Jesus] (Dan. 9:24-27, emphasis added).

When Jesus walked on the earth in human form, He plainly told His disciples that He would depart and then return for them one day. When He did return, He would take them back to heaven with Him (what modern Christians refer to as “the Rapture”). For example, on the night before His crucifixion, Jesus said to His eleven faithful apostles:

Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:1-3, emphasis added).

Clearly implied by Jesus’ words was the possibility of His return during the lifetimes of the eleven. In fact, after hearing what Jesus said, they would have simply assumed that He would be returning for them within their lifetimes.

Jesus also repeatedly warned His disciples to be ready for His return, again implying the possibility of His return within their lifetimes (see, for example, Matt. 24:42-44).

Nowhere in the book of Revelation do we read of the Rapture of the church, and neither to we read of any other appearing of Christ besides the one mentioned in Revelation 19, when He comes to slay that antichrist and his armies at the battle of Armageddon. The Rapture is not written as occurring even then. The resurrection of Tribulation martyrs, however, is mentioned as occurring in that same time period (see 20:4). Because Paul wrote that the dead in Christ will rise at Christ’s return, which is the same time the church will also be raptured, this, along with other scriptures we’ve already considered, leads us to believe that the Rapture will not occur until the end of the seven-year Tribulation, depicted in Revelation 19 and 20.

But there are other views.

Some find the Rapture in Revelation 6 and 7. In Revelation 6:12-13, we read of the sun becoming “black as sackcloth” and of stars falling from the sky, two signs that Jesus said would immediately precede His appearing and His gathering of the elect (see Matt. 24:29-31). Then, a little later in chapter 7, we read of a great multitude in heaven from every nation, tribe and tongue who have “come out of the great tribulation” (7:14). They are not mentioned as being martyrs as is another group just one chapter earlier (see 6:9-11), leading us to speculate that they are raptured rather than martyred—believers who are rescued out of the great tribulation.

It is certainly right to assume that the Rapture will occur sometime soon after the cosmic events depicted in Revelation 6:12-13, simply because of what Jesus similarly said in Matthew 24:29-31. We are given no conclusive indication, however, as to when the cosmic events of Revelation 6:12-13 will actually occur during the seven years of the Tribulation. If the events described in Revelation 6:1-13 are sequential, and if the Rapture occurs right after 6:13, it would lead us to believe that the Rapture will not occur until after the revelation of the antichrist (see 6:1-2), worldwide war (see 6:3-4), famine (see 6:5-6), death of one-fourth of the earth by means of war, famine, pestilence and wild beasts (see Rev. 6:7-8), and many martyrs are made (see Rev. 6:9-11). Certainly all of those events described could occur before the end of the seven-year Tribulation, but they could also describe the entire seven-year period, placing the Rapture at the very end.

Adding some weight to the idea of the Rapture occurring before the end of the seven years is the fact that Revelation describes two sets of seven judgments after Revelation 8: the “trumpet judgments” and the “bowl judgments.” The latter of these two are said to finish God’s wrath (see 15:1). Just before the bowl judgments begin, however, John sees “those who had come off victorious from the beast and from his image and from the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass” (15:2). These victorious saints could have been raptured. On the other hand, they could have been martyred. Scripture doesn’t tell us which. Moreover, we don’t know if 15:2 bears any chronological relationship to the scenes described near it.

Another fact found in Revelation that may add weight to the idea of the Rapture occurring before the end of the seven years is this: At the occasion of the fifth “trumpet judgment” recorded in Revelation 9:1-12, we are told that the stinging locusts will be permitted to hurt only those who “do not have the seal of God on their foreheads” (9:4). The only ones of whom we are told will have that seal are 144,000 descendants of Israel (see Rev. 7:3-8). Thus it seems that all other believers will have to be raptured before that fifth trumpet judgment; otherwise they would not be exempt from the power of the stinging locusts. Additionally, because the locusts will hurt people for five months (9:5, 10), it is thought that the Rapture must occur at least five months before the end of the seven-year Tribulation.

There are, of course, ways around this logic. Perhaps there are others who are sealed who are simply not mentioned in Revelation’s condensed synopsis. In any case, if this does prove that the Rapture occurs prior to the fifth trumpet judgment, it also indicates that there will be one group of believers who will not be raptured before the release of the stinging locusts—the 144,000 specially-marked descendants of Israel. Yet they will thankfully be protected from being harmed by God’s wrath as it is manifested by those stinging locusts.

The conclusion to all of this? I can only conclude that the Rapture occurs either near the end or at the end of the seven-year Tribulation. Believers need not fear suffering God’s wrath, but they should be prepared for severe persecution and possible martyrdom.

The Millennium is a term that refers to the time when Jesus will personally reign over the entire earth for a period of one thousand years (see Rev. 20:3, 5, 7), which occurs after the seven-year Tribulation. Isaiah foresaw Christ’s governmental reign over the earth almost three thousand years ago:

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called…Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore (Is. 9:6-7, emphasis added).

Similarly, the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that her Son would reign over a never-ending kingdom:

And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end ” (Luke 1:30-33, emphasis added).^[1]

During the Millennium, Jesus will personally reign from Jerusalem’s Mt. Zion, which will be raised in elevation above its present height. His rule will be one of perfect justice for all nations, and there will peace over the whole earth:

In the last days, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways, and that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war (Is. 2:2-4).

Zechariah predicted the same:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I am exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous for her.” Thus says the Lord, “I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of Hosts will be called the Holy Mountain”….Thus says the Lord of hosts, “It will yet be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities; and the inhabitants of one will go to another saying, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts; I will also go.’ So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord.” Thus says the Lord of hosts, “In those days ten men from the nations of every language will grasp the garment of a Jew saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you'” (Zech. 8:2-3, 20-23).

The Bible teaches that believers will actually be ruling and reigning with Christ during those one thousand years. Their level of responsibility in His kingdom will be based upon their faithfulness now (see Dan. 7:27; Luke 19:12-27; 1 Cor. 6:1-3; Rev. 2:26-27; 5:9-10; and 22:3-5).

We will be clothed in our resurrected bodies, but there will apparently be natural people living in mortal bodies who will populate the earth at that time. Furthermore, it seems that the longevity of the patriarchs will be restored, and that wild animals will lose their ferocity:

I will also rejoice in Jerusalem, and be glad in My people; and there will no longer be heard in her the voice of weeping and the sound of crying. No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days; for the youth will die at the age of one hundred. And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred shall be thought accursed….The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain. (Is. 65:19-20, 25; see also Is. 11:6-9).

There are many references to the future Millennium in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament. For further study, see Is. 11:6-16; 25:1-12; 35:1-10; Jer. 23:1-5; Joel 2:30-3:21; Amos 9:11-15; Mic. 4:1-7; Zeph. 3:14-20; Zech. 14:9-21; and Rev. 20:1-6.

Many of the Psalms also apply prophetically to the Millennium. For example, read this passage of Psalm 48:

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mt. Zion in the far north, the city of the great King. God, in her palaces, has made Himself known as a stronghold . For, lo, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together. They saw it, then they were amazed; they were terrified, they fled in alarm. Panic seized them there, anguish, as of a woman in childbirth (Ps. 48:1-6, emphasis added).

When Jesus sets up His administration in Jerusalem at the beginning of the Millennium, apparently many of the rulers of the earth who survive the Tribulation will hear the report of Jesus’ reign and will travel to see it for themselves! They will be shocked by what they see.^[2]

For other Psalms that refer to the millennial reign of Christ, see Ps. 2:1-12; 24:1-10; 47:1-9; 66:1-7; 68:15-17; 99:1-9; and 100:1-5.

^[1] This scripture illustrates how easy it can be to make a wrong assumption about the timing of prophetic events by reading into what scripture actually says. Mary could have easily and logically assumed that her special Son would be reigning on David’s throne within a few decades. Gabriel told her she would give birth to a son who would reign over the house of Jacob, making it sound as if Jesus’ birth and reign would be two seamless events. Mary would never have imagined that there would be at least 2,000 years between them. We also should be cautious of making similar assumptions as we try to interpret prophetic scripture.

^[2] From looking at other scriptures, it seems that the Millennium will begin, not only with believers populating the earth, but with unbelievers as well (see Is. 2:1-5; 60:1-5; Dan. 7:13-14).

Let’s begin by considering the 24^th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, a section of Scripture that is foundational in regard to the events of the end times and the return of Jesus. Coupled with the 25^th chapter of Matthew, they are known as the Olivet Discourse, because those two chapters are the record of a sermon Jesus delivered to some of His closest disciples^[1] on the Mount of Olives. As we read it, we’ll learn about many events of the end times, and we’ll consider what Jesus’ disciples, those to whom His discourse was addressed, would have concluded about the timing of the Rapture:

And Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. And He answered and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matt 24:1-3).

Jesus’ disciples wanted to know about the future. Specifically, they wanted to know when the temple buildings would be destroyed (as Jesus had just foretold), and what would be the sign of His return and the end of the age.

Looking at it in retrospect, we know that the temple buildings were completely demolished in 70 A.D. by general Titus and the Roman armies. We also know that Jesus has not returned yet to gather the church to Himself, so those two events are hardly simultaneous.

^[1] Mark 13:3 names four who were present: Peter, James, John and Andrew. Incidentally, we find the Olivet Discourse also recorded in Mark 13:1-37 and Luke 21:5-36. Luke 17:22-37 also contains similar information.

Later in that same letter, Paul wrote:

Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him , that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come (2 Thes. 2:1-2).

First, note that Paul’s subject was Christ’s return and the Rapture. He wrote of our “gathering together” to Him, using the identical words as Jesus used in Matthew 24:31, when He spoke of the angels who would “gather together” His elect from “one end of the sky to the other.”

Second, note that Paul equated those events with “the day of the Lord,” just as he did in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 – 5:2. That couldn’t be more obvious.

Paul then continued:

Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed , the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God (2 Thes. 2:3-4, emphasis added).

The Thessalonian Christians were being somehow misled that the day of the Lord, which according to Paul must begin with the Rapture and the return of Christ, had already come. But Paul plainly stated that it could not come until after the apostasy (perhaps the great falling away of which Jesus spoke in Matt. 24:10) and after the antichrist declares his deity from the Jerusalem temple. So Paul clearly told the Thessalonian believers that they should not expect Christ’s return, the Rapture, or the day of the Lord, until after the antichrist’s declaration of deity.^[1]

Paul next describes Christ’s return and His subsequent destruction of the antichrist:

Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he may be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved (2 Thes. 2:5-10).

Paul stated that the antichrist will be brought to an end “by the appearance of His coming.” If this “appearance” is the same as His appearance at the Rapture mentioned just nine verses earlier (see 2:1), then the antichrist will be slain at the same time that the church is gathered to meet the Lord in the air. Corroborating with this is the record of Revelation chapters 19 and 20. We read there of Christ’s return (see Rev. 19:11-16), the destruction of the antichrist and his armies (see 19:17-21), the binding of Satan (see 20:1-3) and the “first resurrection” (see 20:4-6), in which believers who were martyred during the seven-year Tribulation come back to life. If this truly is the first resurrection in the sense that it is the first general resurrection of the righteous, then there is less doubt that the Rapture and Christ’s wrathful return occur at the same time as the destruction of the antichrist, as Scripture plainly tells us that all those who have died in Christ will be bodily resurrected at the Rapture (see 1 Thes. 4:15-17).^[2]

^[1] This dispels the theory that Jesus’ words in the Olivet Discourse only have application to Jewish believers who are born-again during the Tribulation because all those who were born again before the Tribulation will supposedly be already raptured. No, Paul told the gentile Thessalonian believers that their Rapture and return of Christ would not occur until after the antichrist makes his declaration of deity, what occurs in the middle of the seven-year Tribulation.

^[2] Some say that this resurrection spoken of in Revelation 20:4-6 is actually the second part of the first resurrection, the resurrection that occurred during Christ’s first return at the Rapture. What warrant is there for this interpretation? If the resurrection of Revelation 20:4-6 is actually a second resurrection, why wasn’t it called “the second resurrection”?

The end of the Millennium marks the beginning of what Bible scholars refer to as the “Eternal State,” which begins with a new heavens and new earth. Jesus will then turn everything over to the Father, according to 1 Corinthians 15:24-28:

Then comes the end, when He [Jesus] delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For “He has put all things in subjection under His feet” [Ps. 8:6]. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He [the Father] is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. And when all things are subjected to Him [the Father], then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all.

Satan, who had been bound for the duration of the thousand years, will be released at the end of the Millennium. He will then deceive those who are inwardly rebellious toward Jesus but who have been feigning obedience to Him (see Ps. 66:3).

God will permit Satan to deceive them in order to reveal the true condition of their hearts so that they can be rightfully judged. Under his deception, they will gather together to attack the holy city, Jerusalem, intending to overthrow the government of Jesus. The battle won’t last long because fire will come down from heaven to consume the surrounding armies, and Satan will be cast permanently into the lake of fire and brimstone (see Rev. 20:7-10).

That future gathering for battle is foretold in Psalm 2:

Why are the nations in an uproar, and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed [Christ]; “Let us tear their fetters apart, and cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury; “But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My Holy mountain.” “[Jesus now speaks] I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord; He said to Me, ‘Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, Thou shalt shatter them like earthenware.'” Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence, and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way. For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

Jesus continued:

“But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” (Matt. 24:29-31).

The images of this section of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse would have been familiar to the Jews of His day, as they are images right from Isaiah and Joel that speak of God’s final judgment at the end of the world, what is often referred to as “the day of the Lord,” when the sun and moon will be darkened (see Is. 13:10-11; Joel 2:31). Then all the world’s inhabitants will see Jesus return in the sky in His glory, and they will mourn. Then Jesus’ angels will “gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other,” indicating that believers will actually be caught up and gathered to meet Jesus in the air, and it will all happen at the sound of “a great trumpet.”

Again, had you asked Peter, James or John at this point in the Olivet Discourse if Jesus would return for them before or after the time of the antichrist and the great tribulation, they would have certainly replied, “After.”

The prophet Daniel revealed that the antichrist will actually take a seat in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem during the midpoint of the seven years of tribulation and proclaim himself to be God (see Dan. 9:27, which we will study later). It is this event that Jesus had in mind as He continued His Olivet Discourse:

“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 let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; let him who is on the housetop not go down to get the things out that are in his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babes in those days! But pray that your flight may not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath; for then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall.^[1] And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short” (Matt. 24:15-22).

This is a more specific elaboration concerning the tribulation Jesus had spoken of earlier (see 24:9). When the antichrist declares that he is God from Jerusalem’s temple, unimaginable persecution will break out against believers in Jesus. In declaring himself to be God, the antichrist will expect everyone to acknowledge his deity. Consequently, all true followers of Christ will immediately become official enemies of the state to be hunted down and killed. That is why Jesus said the believers in Judea should flee for the mountains without any delay, praying that their escape not be hindered for any reason.

My guess is that it would be a good idea for believers all over the world to flee to remote places when that event occurs, as it will probably be one that is televised around the globe. Scripture tells us that the whole world will be deceived by the antichrist, thinking he is their Christ, and they will give him their allegiance. When he declares himself to be God, they will believe him and worship him. When he speaks blasphemies against the true God—the God of the Christians—he will influence the entire deceived world to hate those who refuse to worship him (see Rev. 13:1-8).

Jesus promised eventual deliverance for His own people by “cutting short” those days of tribulation; otherwise “no life would have been saved” (24:22). His “cutting short” those days for “the sake of the elect” must be a reference to His delivering them when He appears and gathers them in the sky. Jesus does not tell us here, however, how long after the antichrist’s declaration of deity that deliverance will occur.

In any case, we note once more that Jesus left His listeners that day with the impression that they would live to see the antichrist declare his deity and wage war against the Christians. This stands in contrast to those who say that believers will be raptured to heaven prior to that event. If you had asked Peter, James or John if Jesus would be returning to rescue them prior to the antichrist’s declaration of his deity, they would have responded, “Apparently not.”

^[1] If the rapture of the church occurs at this precise point in the seven-year Tribulation as some say, there would be no need for Jesus’ instructions for believers to flee for their lives because they would all be raptured.