The timing introduced in the Messiah 2030 can't help bring up the hotly debated topics of Bible prophecy and this is good for those who approach this debate in love. I myself had my perspective changed on many things having my spoon-fed understanding of the end challenged and forcing me to examine how one should interpret scripture and rightly divide the Word of Truth. Even then we see through a glass darkly and I'm sure we all, whether we were right about events or way off, are going to have some surprises as the reality unfolds before us.
To that end I wanted to share what I've found as I think it's a fascinating addendum to the documentaries and the exact day framework of the 70th week of Daniel to further show God's plan for His bride. I look at this kind of information as the meat of the word as opposed to the milk because it requires varied scriptures and topics that can quickly get confusing and a lot of people have a lot of definitions for different buzz words. That's one of the reasons I started my re-education on Bible prophecy by doing a topical study and trying to define the buzz words according to scripture. I try to take the Word seriously, discerning what is literal and what is descriptively associating another theme or element. If I've learned anything, I haven't learned nearly everything so I am always open to revisiting how I have divided the Word of Truth.
God's Wrath vs. Dragon's Wrath
Throughout the Old Testament, God was upset with Israel and those that came against her, warning of consequences and then dishing those out. God was working with the free will of those He created to craft a people who would obey Him and ultimately produce a lineage of people through which His Son could emerge to fulfill the plan of eternal atonement for those who believe. After this was accomplished and Israel dispersed into the nations, things have been fairly quiet in terms of Old Testament interventions from God. His Holy Spirit has been working through His People throughout this span of time, but there is yet a promised time to complete His work with Israel. It is during this future time that God's wrath will be manifest, beginning at the Day of the Lord.
Isaiah 13:6-11
Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
Isaiah 2:12-21
Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
Revelation 6:12-17
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Matthew 24:29-31
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
From scripture it would seem that God's wrath has been contained for a future time when His day of vengeance on the wicked of the world will come at once with great intensity. Furthermore, we have this connection to that day when it suddenly comes like the days of Noah and Lot. (Matthew 24:37-39 | Luke 17:26-30) Moreover, we have Isaiah, John and Yeshua all giving us intertwined clues as to when this will take place.
- Isaiah states because of the fear of the Lord, the proud will be humbled and hide in the holes of the rocks and caves of the earth when God arises to shake terribly the earth.
- John ties this to the sixth seal in Revelation with the signs of the sun, moon and stars when everyone hides themselves in the dens and rocks of the mountains, recognizing the great day of God's wrath (day of the Lord) has come.
- Yeshua further clarifies when this will happen, immediately after the tribulation of those days when the same sun, moon, stars event happens in conjunction with the sign of the Son of man at which time He will send His angels to gather His elect, echoing the promise to escape the wrath of God. Luke 21:36
God's wrath comes when Yeshua comes to gather His bride from the earth. Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica regarding this topic speaking specifically about the day of the Lord coming with sudden destruction and the people of earth not escaping, His wrath is coming on the whole earth. Luke 21:35 But God has not appointed us to wrath, which is to be a comfort to us.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as [do] others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
I believe that the dragon's wrath is more generally evident through both Biblical history as the accuser who is destined for eternal damnation and wants to drag as many of God's creations as he can with him. We've seen it both Biblically and modern life with demonic possession and I believe in the more subtle way. Just as we hear the thoughts of others by them speaking them, so too can thought be the voice of the spirit realm. People can open themselves up to thoughts that are or are not their own and choosing to follow them can destroy their lives or take advantage of others, destroying others' lives in a myriad of ways. Ideas can be planted that can move all of humanity in different directions if there's enough power behind it, and I think we can all recognize the mystery of iniquity has been hard at work in the world.
2 Thessalonians 2:6-10
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [will let], until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: [Even him], whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
However, when it comes more specifically to Bible prophecy, I believe Revelation 12 offers the best view of what the dragon's wrath is and when it starts in earnest. Someone has been holding back the final implementation of the dragon's wrath because I'm sure he would have no problem wiping out all those that oppose him and setting up his own little kingdom where he is worshipped as a god.
Revelation 12:1-5
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and [to] his throne.
He tried at Yeshua's birth to thwart God's plan and we learned in Matthew 2:16-18 how this attempt to devour the child when born was brought about through Herod to kill all mail children 2 and under. Yeshua completed His ministry despite this and after the resurrection was caught up to God in heaven. We see another time yet future where Michael and his angels will cast the dragon and his angels, triggering a period where the dragon will persecute Israel.
Revelation 12:7-13
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, [ye] heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man [child].
So there is a distinction between God's wrath and the dragon's wrath, which may seem obvious but is important to clarify for moving on to define the term tribulation. God's wrath is on the dragon and his people while the dragon's wrath is on God's people. The dragon hates Israel because they have been chosen as God's people explicitly, whether in the temporal existence they have come back to God or they will before the end.
Tribulation
I hear the buzz word 7-year tribulation all the time, which I had accepted at one point when teachers with much greater understanding than I told me that was the case. It's typically something that is generally associated with the 70th week of Daniel to get the 7 years, but how is that period associated to "tribulation?" Wanting to get to the bottom of defining this term, I did a simple word search. I should note that while I don't know what my personality would be if I was born in centuries past, I really appreciate the power of the digital age and the diligent keepers of God's Word have given someone impatient like me the ability to do a word search so simply.
John 16:33
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
We are told to expect tribulation generically and we all know through history it's been there as the mystery of iniquity has been working to destroy God's people. However, the tribulation in question as related to the 70th week of Daniel is something quite different. There are four passages that define a time as being unparalleled. Logically if all three are unparalleled, then they are all the same time.
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.
Jeremiah 30:4-7
And these [are] the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? 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.
Matthew 24:15-22
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Mark 13:14-20
But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter [therein], to take any thing out of his house: And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. For [in] those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.
We see the time of Jacob's trouble, when Michael, who stands for the children of Daniel's people at a time concerning Israel and Judah when the abomination of desolation takes place, which is a decidedly Jewish event. These are all the unparalleled time that is cut short and where Israel is saved out of it.
Daniel 9:27
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make [it] desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
As Daniel and Yeshua point out, the abomination of desolation is to pivotal point in the future that defines the revealing of the man of sin. (See also 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4) This explicitly places the unparalleled tribulation in the midst of the week, meaning the contextual definition for the tribulation could not be seven years and given that this tribulation is centered around the dragon's wrath against God's people and that starts at the abomination of desolation, it can only last for 3 1/2 years or 42 months according to Revelation 13:1-8, Daniel 7:25, and Daniel 12:5-7 because at the end of that period, the dragon is bound for 1,000 years and his proxies are cast into the lake of fire.
But we have a further division of this 3 1/2 year period as defined in several places. When Yeshua was laying out the end to the disciples, He spoke of a shortening of this unparalleled time for the sake of the elect, presumably because if He didn't intervene the dragon would be able to find and kill all those who didn't bow to him.
Matthew 24:22
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Going back to Revelation we find the second period of the dragon's wrath after Israel in Judea is no longer accessible to him. We see Israel is actively taken from the face of the dragon and protected for 3 1/2 years from the dragon. It is at this point that the unparalleled time of Jacob's trouble for Israel in Jerusalem and Judea transitions to a global persecution of Israel and those with the testimony of Christ.
Revelation 12:14-17
And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Yeshua, immediately after describing the unparalleled time of Jacob's trouble focused on Israel in Judea that is cut short, states when the signs of the sixth seal will take place, immediately after the unparalleled tribulation of those days. And tied to that is the catching away of the elect.
Matthew 24:29-31
Immediately after the tribulation of those days (Matthew 24:15-28) shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
The tribulation of the saints is the wrath of the dragon focused first on Israel in Judea, which is the time of Jacob's trouble that is cut short, then extended for the remaining 3 1/2 years of his power. That remaining period of time, Israel is protected from the dragon because they were saved out of that cut short period. The signs of the sixth seal then come immediately after this cut short period, not the entire tribulation, since Yeshua is defining the unparalleled time of Jacob's trouble and not the entirety of the dragon's wrath. Revelation 12 further defines the split for us.
Taking all this into account, I find the account of Revelation 6:12-8:6 to be a striking parallel to what we should expect given all this at this transition time from the unparalleled tribulation that is cut short for the sake of the elect.
1) Sixth seal is opened with the signs of the sun, moon and stars
2) An angel with the seal of God tells the four angels who will hurt the earth and sea to wait
3) The 144,000 of the 12 tribes of Israel are sealed, presumably protected in the wilderness or heading there at this time
4) An innumerable multitude is seen in heaven that came out of great tribulation (Matthew 24:21)
5) Seventh seal is opened with 1/2 hour of silence in heaven
6) Seven angels are given the seven trumpets (This should clarify that the seals, trumpets and bowls are not all speaking of the same events, even though some may have some similarities. Not until the seventh seal is opened do the angels even have the seven trumpets to blow)
7) An angel with a golden censer offered with the prayers of the saints, fills it with the fire of the altar and casts it to earth
8) The first angel sounds the trumpet
We see in concert with Yeshua's shorthand of the events of the end, a clear flow of matching events detailed for us where immediately after the time of Jacob's trouble is cut short and Israel is taken to a place prepared for her to protect her from the dragon, the wrath of God is held back to seal the 144,000 of Israel. They are currently protected from the dragon and will be refined through the fire of God's wrath until they accept Yeshua.
At the same time after the sixth seal and before the wrath, we see the results of the gathering of the elect from the four winds as they stand in heaven.
Given that the antichrist is given power through the dragon for 3 1/2 years and Israel is protected from the dragon for 3 1/2 years, it would seem that the time of Jacob's trouble is a very short time of around a month. This does have the assumption that the end of Israel's protection in the wilderness lines up with the end of the 70th week of Daniel, placing the abomination of desolation and the start of the time of Jacob's trouble about a month before the exact middle of the 70th week of Daniel and therefore the day of the Lord and the sudden destruction beginning at about the exact middle of the 70th week of Daniel.
This whole period from the abomination of desolation to the coming of the Lord and our gathering to Him appear to be labeled as the days of the Son of man by Luke. We see first a warning not to expect the Son of man on the earth, echoing the warnings of not following false christs and hinting at the deception of the man of sin, followed by how He will actually arrive, from the sky like lightning and followed by destruction.
Luke 17:22-30
And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see [it]. And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after [them], nor follow [them]. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one [part] under heaven, shineth unto the other [part] under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed [them] all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
The framework of the 70th week of Daniel as I understand it from scripture can be applied to the conclusions of the Messiah 2030 documentaries to get a general idea of when to expect some events. The exact day prophecies provide the framework with which certain events will happen. For instance, if we tie the exact middle of the 70th week to Yom Teruah on 9/27/2030, then we would expect that to be around the time Israel is protected in the wilderness and the bride is caught up to be with the Lord, followed very shortly by the destruction of the wrath of God. Around 30 days before that, 8/28/2030, is when I would expect the abomination of desolation to take place and about 3 1/2 years before that would be the start of the 70th week of Daniel on 4/16/2027. These are assuming a 360 prophetic year of 12 30-day months, but I'm open to variances I'm not smart enough to sort out.
I started looking at the timing of the 70th week of Daniel in relation to 2030, Nisan 14 is on April 21, 2027, the feast of firstfruits would then be on Nisan 18, Sunday, April 25, 2027. This is the day of the month Yeshua was resurrected, perhaps marking the closing of the first 69 weeks after the firstfruits of the first resurrection completed the plan of atonement for God, conquering death. It would seem appropriate for the start of the 70th week picking up on the same day almost 2,000 years later.
Adding 1,260 days to that is Tishri 9, October 6, 2030 and at dusk is Yom Kippur. If the 120th Jubilee falls on 2030, then it would be on 10 Tishri or October 7, 2030, this is Yom Kippur and 9 days after Yom Teruah. In the framework, this would mark the exact middle of the 70th week and the end of the time of Jacob's trouble as Israel is being or has been taken to the wilderness and protected, the 144,000 sealed and the catching away of the bride before the wrath of God begins.
Leviticus 16:29-34
And [this] shall be a statute for ever unto you: [that] in the seventh month, on the tenth [day] of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, [whether it be] one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: For on that day shall [the priest] make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, [that] ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. It [shall be] a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever. And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office in his father's stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, [even] the holy garments: And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.
Leviticus 25:8-10
And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth [day] of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout [all] the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
Adding 2,520 days, which would be the end of the 70th week, is March 19, 2034, 14 days after Purim, celebrating the deliverance of those living in Persia from complete destruction. Not really an exact match, but perhaps as Israel is brought out of the wilderness into the promised land soon after this holiday, it will be on their mind that God has delivered them from complete destruction and into the land promised with Yeshua reigning as promised.