Daily WATCH! Volume 3 Issue 9 Tuesday, July 8, 2003

Survival During the Desolation (Tribulation)

To an unbeliever the above title to this series of articles would suggest lunatic nut cases at the very least and militant religious radicals in the extreme. But to a true believer in Jesus Christ, who understands what is about to come upon the world, it is a signal to prepare for what will become hell on earth!

Jesus Christ gave his believers a command to watch for his coming.
As we see the storm of the desolation period approach should we prepare for it or just wait and trust God? What can we expect to happen? Who will be affected? Can I expect to survive and does it really matter if I die or not? How should I prepare?

The article below is the second installment of a series of articles addressing the exploration of the topic of surviving tribulation as a Christian. If you missed the first article you can find it by using the Daily WATCH Archives link to the left.

What can we expect to happen in the desolation (tribulation)?

By Randy Loudenslager

How can we prepare unless we understand what it is we are preparing for?

Let us start defining what is ahead by calling it what the Bible refers to it as. Many well meaning Christians have called the last days or end-times of this age the Great Tribulation. This term is technically correct for there will be great tribulation indeed! But, it is a term not used by the Bible to specifically name this period of time. The use of this term has caused great harm in the understanding of prophecy by God's people and it is widely misused by many false prophets. The correct term is 'the desolation.' Jesus referred to Daniel's use of the term to describe the same events.

One of the greatest errors of using tribulation rather than desolation is that many have taught that this period will last for seven years. This is simply not true. Daniel showed us that the first 3.5 years would be relatively peaceful (at least for Israel) under a seven year 'covenant' with the antichrist (Covenant with Death, Isaiah 28:14). In the middle of the seven years the antichrist causes an abomination by presenting himself as God in the temple. This abomination causes and starts the desolation period. Thus we know that this period of desolation before Jesus Christ comes back will last three and one half years. Understanding the term desolation rather than tribulation we can more readily understand what the end-time prophecies have to say.

How bad is it going to get?

What does Jesus say those last 3.5 years will be like? Matthew 24:15-22 tells us,
"So when you see standing in the holy place `the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel--let the reader understand--then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak.
How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
As you can see this time of distress will be greater than any in history! Greater than both World Wars! Greater than the Great Depression! Greater than any we can recall! It will be so difficult of a time that God will actually have to intervene or the elect will be wiped out! He will end it with the return of Jesus Christ who will rescue the faithful through resurrection from his wrath.

We know that it will be unequaled in its severity and it will last 3.5 years. We know that it will start when the antichrist ascends the throne on Mount Zion. What will happen to make this time so bad? The very word 'desolation' aptly describes this time. Israel has suffered desolations in her past for rebellion against God. After her last desolation it took the land almost two thousand years to recover and almost as long for the Jews to come back to claim what was left! Scripture tells us that Israel will suffer even greater desolation at the hands of the antichrist and the world, but it also tells us that God will pour out judgments on the earth and man will ravage the earth through wars that will cause most of the world to become desolate as well!

What happens during a desolation?

Great and unthinkable famine! Drought that causes the ground to become cracked and hard like iron! Great rivers and lakes dry up! Horrific diseases will spread unchecked even by modern medicine! Great armies will swarm over the land leaving only scorched earth and death in their wake!

But wait, there will be more!

God included other judgments on the earth. The sun will become so hot that it will scorch the skin of man. Celestial bodies will slam into the earth heaving massive amounts of rock and soil into the atmosphere that will make the days seem like night! The oceans will toss violently to and fro, no doubt leaving great devastation along many coastlines. Great earthquakes, unlike anything experienced by man before, will destroy entire regions and cities!
Remember, these things will come as a consequence for man's wickedness on earth.

Special Protection

True believers in Jesus Christ who stand firm to the end are actually spared from the judgments that come through God's angels. This doesn't mean that they won't go hungry or thirst or experience the misery of earth, but supernatural pestilences and plagues will not touch the saints because they are marked by the Holy Spirit. Likewise the remnant of Jews who remain faithful to God will be passed over when these various judgments strike. They will be marked on the forehead by the angels as belonging to God.

The suffering of the saints will occur at the hands of men. The world will turn against the faithful and persecute them. Most will be imprisoned and/or killed by Satan's faithful.

What then?

When earth's vitality is spent and mankind is on the threshold of self-destruction then God will intervene. But God's intervention will not be welcomed by the wicked. Jesus Christ will be seen coming swiftly on the clouds of a storm! He will resurrect his faithful chosen ones and then unleash the complete devastation of God's wrath upon the rest of mankind! He will send forth consuming fire from his mouth while earth-splitting quakes will level mountains and thrust up valleys! Hail stones of 100 pounds each will pulverize the surface of the earth. These things will happen as Jesus Christ takes his kingdom from Satan by force! The last day of this age will be the day of God's wrath and it will be the first day of a new age and the kingdom of Jesus Christ!

Believe it or not!

There will actually be mortals who will survive! They will be very few in number. They will probably be those who are smart enough to prepare for worst case scenarios - - survivalists if you will. The Bible shows these people coming out of hiding from underground! No doubt from personal bomb shelters and the like. These people will be given a reprieve and will repopulate the earth over a thousand year period. The immortals, the resurrected saints, will rule over them during this time. Make no mistake, the mortals will be allowed by the LORD to survive, but many of today's privileged class and government elite will be hunted down by Death and will not escape, even if they take a space shuttle to the space station or a submarine to the ocean's depths.

A true believer's focus during the desolation

"He who stands firm to the end will be saved." Matthew 24:13.