Three End Times Signs in Question - Does Scripture Support These?

Are the end times signs of a 7-year tribulation and theories about the days of Noah and an imminent rapture supported in scripture?

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Scrutinizing the End Times Signs

In this series, I have been challenging whether scripture sufficiently supports popular interpretations of significant prophetic signs. While I am not outright rejecting these beliefs, I want to show that they may play out as expected.

The coming times will be times of great deception and delusion. The enemy knows our beliefs and would be foolish not to use them to deceive us. So, let’s critically analyze popular interpretations of prophecy so that we may navigate the coming times with discernment and understanding.

End Times Sign: The Seven-Year Great Tribulation

Will there be a seven-year Great Tribulation?

This belief is almost ubiquitous among end-times researchers, but it is based solely on statutory evidence. Nowhere does the Bible state that the period known as the Great Tribulation will be seven years.

The source of this great tenet of eschatology is Daniel 9:27, which is a prophecy of 70 weeks. As I mentioned in my first post in this series, the interpretation of this prophecy is debatable.

The Masoretic text, produced around 600 AD, is the source of all modern translations of the Old Testament. This text was translated by Jews who did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. So it appears that the Masorite Jews translated certain Messianic prophecies in such a way that pointed away from Jesus as the Messiah. (see postscript on last post)

However, the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament, was translated from a Jewish text around 200 BC. So it does not contain such translational biases.

Daniel 9:27, one of the most specific prophecies about the Messiah, appears to have been subject to the Masorites’ bias. Jesus began his ministry exactly when Daniel 9:27 said the Messiah would come. The Masorites appear to have translated the text in a manner to push back the prophesied arrival of the Messiah. Compared to the Septuagint, they removed a key phrase and confused other phrases.

Unpacking the Prophecy in the Septuagint

The wording (Septuagint) is as follows. “…from the going forth of the command for the answer and for the building of Jerusalem until Christ the prince seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks; and then shall return, and the street shall be built, and the wall, and the times shall be exhausted. And after the sixty-two weeks, the anointed one shall be destroyed…)

Believers in a seven-year Great Tribulation assume that this prophecy leaves one week/seven years unfulfilled.

However, the Septuagint makes it clear that “the times shall be exhausted” when Jerusalem has been rebuilt, and the Messiah comes. The “times” refers to the seven plus sixty-two weeks. And then, “after the sixty-two weeks“, that is, in the 70th week, the Messiah will be destroyed. Thus fulfilling the prophecy.

But this phrase is completely missing from modern translations. This phrase definitively points to Jesus as the Messiah because the times of the prophecy were exhausted with Jesus’ appearance. However, by removing this phrase, the Masoretic text makes the prophecy open-ended. This edit has led to the interpretation of an unfulfilled week.

But are there two to three witnesses that define the period of the Great Tribulation?

Defining the Great Tribulation

The first mention of the term that comes close to “Great Tribulation” is in Daniel 12. This states, “…and there shall be a time of tribulation, such tribulation as has not been from the time that there was a nation on the earth until that time…” (Septuagint)

Jesus appears to reference this scripture, using nearly identical language to describe this period in Matthew 24. “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.“

This reference is significant because Daniel 12 gives us the time period for this great tribulation. Daniel asks one of the angelic messengers, “How long will it be until the end of these wonders?”

The messenger “…swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed.“

A “time” is translated as a year, times as two years, and a half a time as a half-year. So the time of this time of great tribulation is 3 1/2 years.

Supporting Scripture

Scripture solidly established this time period. Daniel and Revelation repeat this phrase in varying units of measure: times, days, or months.

Daniel 7 – “He [the Antichrist] will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.“
Rev. 12:6 “Then the woman [Israel] fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.“
Rev. 12:14 – “But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.“
Rev. 11:2 – “Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.“
Rev, 13:5 – “There was given to him [the Antichrist] a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him“

So the Bible gives us six witnesses on the time period of the Great Tribulation.

My Position on the Seven-Year Great Tribulation

I have significant difficulty subscribing to the belief that the Great Tribulation will last seven years. This position is thinly supported, not meeting the threshold the Bible sets to establish truth. Whereas the Bible solidly confirms a 3 1/2 year Great Tribulation.

This does not mean that the Antichrist will not have influence over a greater period of time. It only means that he will rise to full power and have authority over the earth for 3 1/2 years.

I do not believe it is a coincidence that God will limit the Antichrist’s reign over the earth to the exact time Jesus ministered before the powers of darkness killed him. Just as Jesus was killed in the middle of the 70th week, so shall the Antichrist be destroyed after the same time period.

Conclusion: a 7 year Great Tribulation is not supported by scripture

End Times Sign: The Days of Noah

Prophecy circles often use the phrase “the days of Noah”. Many eschatologists use this phrase as definitive evidence that, like in the days of Noah, the Nephilim will return. If you are not familiar with this term, the Nephilim are the hybrid product of angel and human breeding as described in Genesis 6. But I’ve noticed that when someone uses this phrase, they almost never read the entire scripture in context.

Before questioning the use of this phrase, I want to make it clear that I believe that this forbidden breeding occurred and is occurring today. There is overwhelming evidence of breeding today, as testified by victims of UFO abductions and eyewitness accounts of hybrid encounters. There are royal bloodlines and birthrights that families believe they inherited from their patriarchal gods. However, my argument is not against this phenomenon; it is against using this scripture as definitive proof of this phenomenon.

What Jesus says in context is this. “But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.”

Unpacking the Days of Noah Phrase

In context, it is clear that Jesus’ message is that when He comes to bring his faithful home (the rapture), people will be living normally and not expect the calamity about to come. Just like the days of Noah, people will be carrying on their lives. But as soon as He takes His righteous ones away, God will pour out His wrath.

Luke 17:26-36 reiterates this point when Jesus also described the days of Lot. In Lot’s story, God rescued this one righteous man and then brought His wrath upon Sodom and Gomorrah.

So, it is clear from the context of this phrase that Jesus was not explicitly describing the return of the Nephilim. But could there have been a connotation to using this term?

The people of that age were familiar with the Nephilim and knew God flooded the earth on their account. So, I imagine that when Jesus used the phrase “the days of Noah,” the audience would think of the Nephilim. So it is possible that Jesus was conveying a secondary meaning to the words He chose.

Even so, this phrase alone does not stand as definitive proof that the Nephilim will return at the end of this age. So, is there supporting scripture that would establish this position?

The Seed of Men

Some point to Daniel 2:43. In Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, we learn that Babylon is the first kingdom in the dream. Looking back through history, most commentators believe Medo-Persia is the second kingdom, followed by Greece and then a fourth kingdom generally believed to be Rome.

This scripture describes the fourth kingdom as a mixing of iron and clay and states that “they will combine with one another in the seed of men…“

The seed of man is an interesting phrase. Some researchers tie this into the seed prophecy of Genesis 3:15 when God told Even that her seed and the seed of the serpent will be at enmity. They take the position that “they” must be non-human and will mix with the “seed of men“.

However, “they” is only used in some translations. The words “they will” comes from the Aramaic word havah, which means to come to pass. “They” is added to certain translations, such as the King James version. However, other translations, such as the NET version, translate it differently: “so people will be mixed with one another.”

As I’ve stated before, we cannot take a phrase out of a larger body of scripture and interpret it stand-alone. We must look at the phrase in context. In reading Daniel’s interpretation of the dream, there is no indication that the kings to come include a race of angel-human hybrids. Interpreting the phrase “the seed of men” seems to be taken out of context and is solely speculative.

So, though I agree that these events are occurring today, it is indeterminable whether these scriptures were intended to prophesy this phenomenon.

Conclusion: It is indeterminable whether The Days of Noah refers to the return of the Nephilim

End Times Signs: The Imminent Rapture

The Struggle

I have heard several times that we will know when the end times begin because the first thing that will occur is the rapture of the saints.

Proponents of this point to the writings of James and Peter to show the expectation that they expected Christ could return at any time. To their point, we should live as if Jesus could return tomorrow.

Jesus uses two parables to teach this same principle in Mark 13. However, in the parable of the olive tree, Jesus first taught that there will be signs to let us know the time is approaching. Then in the parable of the doorkeeper, He explained that we will not know the appointed time, “whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning.”

Jesus later revealed more information about the end of this age than James and Peter received. James and Peter did not have Paul’s writings to the Thessalonians detailing revelations he received from heaven about the rapture. And these apostles were all dead by the time that John received his revelation about the end-times contained in Revelation.

Simply stated, we have more information to draw from on this topic than these writers of the Bible. The principle they taught is still valid today: Christ is coming soon, and we should be prepared for His return at any time. However, God has given us a sequence of events to allow us to discern when the appointed time draws near.

My Position on the Imminent Rapture

In Genesis, the accounts of Noah and Lot establish the pattern of a rescue of the righteous from God’s wrath. Daniel, Joel, and Matthew establish the paradigm of the signs of the day of the Lord preceding a “rescue,” “escape,” or “gathering“. And, in Revelation 6 we see the same signs of the Day of the Lord followed by a great multitude of people in heaven who had come out of the Great Tribulation in Revelation 7. So it is clear that there will be recognizable signs before the rapture.

Could these events happen soon? Yes. But before the rapture, we know from Revelation that the horsemen will first ride across the earth, Christian persecution and martyrdom will increase, and the signs in the heavens and earth of the coming wrath of the Day of the Lord will appear.

These signs will precede the rapture, not because God can’t rapture the saints at any time, but because He has revealed to us the sequence of events of the end of this age.

Conclusion: The belief that the rapture could happen at any moment is incorrect.

Hold on Loosely to Certain End Times Signs

It is very easy to take events we want to believe will happen and find scriptures to support the position. But this is extremely risky. Doing so creates false expectations and opens the door for delusion. The easiest way to spot this practice is if someone refers to a scripture without including the text around it to understand the context of the scripture. Atheists do this all the time to try to discredit the Bible. We must do better than this.

To establish a position, we must first digest a prophecy’s meaning in context. Then, search for other scriptures that, in context, support the position. God has revealed much to us about the end of this age, but He has not revealed everything. A good example of this is in Revelation 10. In this chapter, an angel instructs John not to write down what the seven thunders said but to seal them up. Some things will remain a mystery until they are revealed.

In knowing that, we should stand firm on scriptures in a context that is supported by two to three other scriptures. If the scripture doesn’t meet that threshold, it is fine to speculate but not to grasp mere speculations as the revelation of what is to come.