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Also see the chapter on the tribulation and the abomination that causes desolation, by Philip Mauro
THOUGHTS ON THE GREAT TRIBULATION
Definition: The word tribulation comes from the Latin tribulatio and means, "great trouble; severe trial; affliction." It is derived from the Latin tribulum, a threshing sledge.
As one reads the prophetic scriptures, there seems little reasonable doubt but that we are living in the period of time designated therein as "the end of the age." The Apostle Paul described himself and the churches of his day as people "upon whom the ends of the ages have come." (1 Cor. 10:11) So they lived at the beginning of the end! Our Lord instructed His followers to "make disciples of all the nations" and promised, "lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age." (Matt. 28:18-20) If the end was in the prophetic sights of the church then, how much nearer to the end must we be at the present moment!
It has become popular in our day to associate with the end of the age a period of intense and awful tribulation -- a time of suffering unprecedented in the history of our age. Many Christians have been led to believe that the Lord has planned for believers a secret escape from this great tribulation. There arose in Christendom, about 150 years ago, a view of Christian doctrine not held before, that the church would be raptured home to glory before the great tribulation would break upon the world. Some who do not believe this doctrine, nevertheless believe in a comparatively short period of tribulation at the end of the age, through which we all must pass. We believe this to be an erroneous and unscriptural view, and present the following alternative for your consideration.
The tribulation does not mean the same thing to all people. When Jesus spoke of the tribulation in the synoptic gospels, He mentioned it in relation to His own people, Israel. He had been teaching in the temple in Jerusalem, and as He emerged from the temple "His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, 'Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down." (Matt. 24:1,2) Later, "as He sat 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. 24:3) It was in reply to these questions that our Lord mentioned the coming tribulation.
In Matt. 24:4-14 Jesus outlines the general conditions that would prevail throughout the age after His departure, and concludes the section by saying, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." Then, at verse fifteen, He zeros in on that specific event that would mark the beginning of that age-long tribulation that would affect His people, Israel, so drastically -- the "abomination of desolation." Had He not warned His people, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!" (Matt. 23:37-39) And now He says, "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place' (Whoever reads, let him understand), 'then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the filed not go back to get his clothes. And woe to those who are pregnant and to those with nursing babies in those days! But pray that your flight be not in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened." (Matt. 24:15-22) Thus He described the desolation that shattered Jerusalem under Titus, the Roman prince or general, in 70 A.D. Note that the description is Jewish. He speaks of "the holy place" (v. 15); "Judea" (v. 16); "the Sabbath" (v. 20). The tribulation of those days would be unprecedented and "shortened" (in intensity) "for the elect's sake" (v. 22). But from that point Jesus went on to warn them about the appearing of false messiahs and false prophets, lest they be deceived by them (Matt. 24:23-26), and showed how His own second coming would be identifiable: "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." (v. 27)
Our Lord then describes the conditions that will accompany His coming, and makes this interesting statement: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days..." What days? The days of Israel's dispersion among the nations -- the days of her tribulation. The tribulation is age-long, and who can say that it is yet over? As Jesus was about to leave His beloved disciples and return to His Father in heaven, He comforted them and said, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:32) So Jesus describes His coming in Matthew 24:29-31: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."