For then shall be great tribulation.

by Alejandro Roque Glez.

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

(Matthew 24:3-51)

The Lord reveals here the future he had announced to us through his prophets in the course of centuries.

This is a prophecy where Christ tells us what would happen since his departure until the End Times. It has passed since then nearly two thousand years and today we have the advantage of observing astonished perhaps, the unequivocal clarity with which spoke the Son of God about that future. He knew, as being the Verb of God, what he was saying during the years of his ministry (around 32 AD); and today, in 2015, we found that his statements were clear and precise, speaking on behalf of his––our––Holy Father (Jn 5:20).

His disciples––overwhelmed to see and hear his wisdom––begged him: “Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the world?” (v.3).

Let us examine some of his predictions in these quotes framed of chapter 24.

A- “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (v.4-5).

This has been fulfilled to the letter. Since then the world, from age to age, has been filled with false prophets (v.11). Many have been posing as Christian leaders sent from God, other messiah liberators, or philosophers who bring the supposed truth and explanations to the existence and future. They have deceived whole crowds desperate in their daily misfortunes.

The human is very unstable in his/her ways.

No wonder the Begotten of God warned us that freedom is a benefit that comes with the knowledge of the Scriptures, directly bound to the personal effort of wanting to shake those dark spiritual chains which oppress us. He said: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn 8:32). However, it seems that homo-sapiens never have been very interested in pulling off the yoke of ignorance.

Sometimes people just want to quench and satiate their intellectual thirst of literary, historical or scientific events; others only care about how to cure their daily wounds (forgetting their eternal destiny) and enjoy the ups and downs of transient and hopeless passions that only fill the thirst like if they were small glasses in the middle of a vast desert; pretty much loaded with such ignorances, mediocrities, disappointments and superstitions.

If you do not let God to enter into the chamber of your life, then he will not force your lock.

We are in the days when a ‘greater liar’ soon to be recognized in the international arena, one that rubs shoulders with the elites which do not know and the Scriptures catalogue him as the Antichrist (2 Thess 2:3-12). This individual––who is already breathing and walking––is close to be displayed on the intercontinental stage disguised as the great peacemaker, dissipater of the world crises; self portrayed as benefactor of the poor and needy who follow him, friend of the homeless (whom he would serve as a false god); and seeker of peace (Dn 11:21).

B- “And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (v.6-8).

While mankind has always known wars, evidently the Lord was referring here to major disasters and higher magnitude conflicts; ultimate expression of which––because of their firepower––have been cataloged as historicals: First (1914-1918 AD) and Second (1939-1945 AD) world wars.

These were wars that took place in the last century which we recently left behind and that killed millions of people either directly involved in war or under the effects of famines, pestilences and diseases. They unleashed an exterminating firepower never before imagined in human history, confirming to us about the End Times are at hand, and once left the Sixth Millennium of human existence, the Seventh brings us––as prophesied––the last and Third World War which will have devastating consequences over the entire planet.

Read related notes in the author’s interpretation of the Book of Revelation.

Likewise––once Christ pronounced these sentences––history has experienced an increase in numbers of earthquakes, and at the end of the twentieth century occurred 50% of all together, and in our current century XXI they seem not resting in peace. The ground shakes so tired of filth, disappointments, and deceptions. Its soil vomits anger and warnings (Lv 18:25). This, along with the wars and conflicts between nations that continue, and have resulted––foretelling things to come in large scale––in decayed areas impoverished by famine, plagues and pestilences. You do not want to be part of what is coming, so terrible that Jesus himself said that unless those days were shortened, no flesh could be really be saved (v.22); with eternal consequences.

C- “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and you shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake” (v.9).

The history of the Church––or more exactly––the Christian People of all the earth, has been written in blood and sufferings. Sometimes caused by ignorance of the Word of God, sometimes by joining Caesar (22:21). In occasions by letting themselves to be flooded by fanaticisms and false doctrines which have turned them aside from the knowledge of the Truth, or at least blinding each one from the possibility of understanding the complete panorama of existence and the Divine Plan.

The little children of God have been slandered and persecuted because of secular and religious tyrants, by dictators dressed in green and white. The freedom which Christians have proclaimed in God’s name has never been liked by tyrants and dictators who have reared their face in this world; subjugating whole crowds, hoping and deceiving them with fanciful stories disguised as triumphalist doctrines.

Christian people have been given to the beasts and public entertainments––since Roman times––torn by lions, crucified for not cohabiting with paganism, and sometimes massacred by others, which in the name of Christ, removed the Holy Scriptures from circulation, and led to the deaths of hundreds and thousands who refused to be corrupted by ecclesiastical or papal decrees.

In the last epoch we left behind Marxist dictatorships which wanted also to remove and erase everything about the worship of the true God, by persecuting and exterminating. Marxism continues to cleverly regenerate in a thousand ways and still remains for us to face the vile Antichrist, who per moments will be able to concentrate in himself all these dire and diabolical qualities we have described, under a single fist and power (Dn 11:36). His devilish ego will lead to the manipulation of lying wonders (2 Thess 2:3-4); cheating with false prodigies to millions of unsuspecting unwary creatures breathing under our sun, and even with the intention and mission to confuse God’s elects (v.23-25).

D- “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (v.12).

How much realism the Lord used here in order to describe what would be the world in this day previous his Second Coming! That is the world of today: cold, uncaring, embraced to an evil only comparable to the ones during Noah’s days after the Flood (Gn 6:5-8). Spiritual and physical deaths: deaths and more deaths.

Suffice is to review the news originating from all nations of the world, full of fantasies, manipulations, scandals, lies, impositions, murders, drugs, theft, disasters, sodomy, wars and impoverished continents. The human bewilderment flowers everywhere, even when they try to hide it with announcements and empty promises. No wonder the Antichrist will take advantage of this, and so to deceive mankind––along with their leaders––offering ‘vivifying’ formulas; as a doctor wanting to support a patient of generations under an artificial life and operated by technology.

In those days of Noah (v.37-39) evil increased to so much exasperating limits that God determined to fray and end with all such carcinogenic humanity infested in the likeness of today (Is 24:3-6). At that time they did not believe Noah, a preacher of righteousness, when he built the ark (Gn 6:14-22), and warned about the near cataclysm and imminent destruction approaching to them (v.39). Today––in the name of the Lord––we tell the world that its Judgment Day is approaching as well. They believe everything is fine and we are just playing a guessing game, and they tease, and cook in their minds the ingenuity that God does not exist (or exists abstractly), or He has no anger or punishes evil. Listen, dear reader, Word of the Holy One, the sovereign Abba: And it shall come that “when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes on them, as travail on a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thess 5:3).

E- “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come.”

The Gospel was born in Bethlehem, and today there is no corner of the world where there has not arrived a Bible, regardless whether they believed it or not.

When Christ spoke these prophetic words, about 32 AD, he was giving a logical measurement for us to be able––this Final generation––on having an idea of when we would be close to the end of the world and epoch (v.3) as known today; and back then, when the Christian Era just began.

Today, in the year 2015, and thanks to the advancement of science together with technology multiplication as it was foretold by the prophet Daniel (Dn 12:4), the Christian Gospel has been brought to all known nations. There is no nation which has not reached a Holy Bible, a missionary, a radio or television station, or a child of God preaching the Good News (1 Tim 3:16); and not to mention the scope of the Internet that spreads everywhere.

F- “When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoever reads, let him understand)” (v.15).

While this prophecy watched toward two different times (Lk 21:20-24), beginning with the then imminent destruction of Jerusalem’s city and the Temple by the Romans, which we know happened in 70 AD (see note to Mt 22:2-14); it goes further ahead mainly to the End Times, now very near; and that is why the Lord warns us that suffering would be the most intense in recorded history: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (v.21).

And we know the world has suffered even more afflictions than those underwent by the Jews in 70 AD, when Titus, son of the Roman emperor Vespasian besieged the city and destroyed the Temple; therefore, he is referring here to the End Times.

Following this reasoning, let’s continue to a more detailed examination of what Jesus prophesied then.

“When you therefore shall see… stand in the holy place” (v.15); it means, here we are first confirmed that the Temple of Jerusalem will be rebuilt again, “cleansed” (Dn 8:14), at the End of Time, when these events are either imminent (see notes to Ezekiel chapters 40-48 in the book of the author entitled: ‘Major Prophets of the Old Testament’). Similarly, this places us in the Third World War on those days, when this world will suffer much and focusing its main stage in the territory of Israel and the city of Jerusalem under a devastating conflict.

The world––now very near––will be experiencing sad days, and as it approaches the Second Coming of the Lord,the sufferings and distresses shall grow. In the war which will originate on the territory of Israel and covering the entire planet (Rev 16:12-16),the blood will flow so that the birds of prey (Ez 39:17-20) will have an unexpected feast... “For wherever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together” (v.28). Then in the days immediately leading up to the Lord’s coming , God will take part in combat and such world war (Rev 6:8-17); beginning with a massive earthquake which will devastate the planet and large cities will fall down like a house of cards (Rev 16:18-21),along with natural disasters of different sources. Then we are told that: “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” (v.29).

(Also read the writings titled: 'The Prophet Ezekiel: Gog, Magog, and the Third World War', next to 'Prophet Daniel: The Last Four Empires of Mankind')

(What will life be on our planet once the Lord fulfills the promise of his coming? If interested, you can read it in the form of a literary narrative, recreated in the author's book entitled: 'The King Victorino').

[These and other New Testament prophecies are explicatively compiled in the author's book entitled: 'The Four Prophetic Gospels;' in print and digital editions] 

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