WHERE ARE WE IN TIME

A Sermon Series on Prophecy & the End Times

BEYOND THE SERMON

THE GREAT TRIBULATION

Deep Study Notes  |  Personal & Group Use

Daniel 9:24-27  |  Jeremiah 30:7  |  Isaiah 2:12  |  Mark 13:19-20  |  Revelation 6-19

Covington Community Church  |  All Scripture: New International Version (NIV)

📖  How to Use This Document

This Beyond the Sermon guide is designed for personal devotional study or small group discussion.

Each section deepens a theme from Sunday's message with additional scriptural cross-references, Hebrew/Greek word studies, historical context, theological notes, and reflection questions. Work through at your own pace — one section per day or as a group over several weeks.

01  WORD STUDY — KEY TERMS OF THE TRIBULATION

Understanding the original language unlocks layers of meaning that English translations can flatten. The terms Scripture uses for this period are precise — and each reveals something about God's character and purpose.

Hebrew Terms

Hebrew Term	Transliteration	Meaning
et tsarah (עֵת -צָ-רָה1 )	'et tsarah	Time of distress / trouble — Dan. 12:1; Jer. 30:7; most specific OT term for the Tribulation
Yom YHWH ( יוֹם (8יה-וָה	Yom YHWH	Day of the LORD — appears 19x in OT prophets; divine intervention with judgment and redemption
tsarah (צָ-רָה- )	tsarah	Trouble, anguish, affliction — root of 'Jacob's trouble'; pressure so severe it forces response
shavua (שָׁבוּ :עֵ- )	shavua	'Seven' — unit in Dan. 9; 70 shabuim = 490 years; the 70th shavua = the Tribulation
shiqqutz shomem ( (D שָׁקּוּץ שָׁA 1מֵם	shiqqutz shomem	Abomination of desolation — 'detestable thing that horrifies/lays waste'

Greek Terms (New Testament)

Greek Term	Transliteration	Meaning
thlipsis megale	thlipsis megale	Great Tribulation — 'thlipsis' = crushing pressure; Matt. 24:21; Rev. 7:14
orge	orge	Wrath — deliberate, settled indignation; righteous judgment, not emotional rage; Rev. 6:16-17
anomos	anomos	Man of lawlessness — 'without law'; recognizes no authority above himself; 2 Thess. 2:3

02  DANIEL 9 IN DEPTH — THE MATHEMATICS OF PROPHECY

Daniel 9:24-27 is arguably the most precise predictive prophecy in all of Scripture. It predicts the coming of Messiah and gives the exact number of years. Sir Robert Anderson's The Coming Prince (1895) calculated the 69 weeks to the very day of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

The Structure of the 70 Weeks

Daniel's 70 'sevens' are weeks of years — each 'seven' = 7 years. Total: 490 years in three segments:

• 7 weeks (49 years) — rebuilding of Jerusalem under Nehemiah and Ezra
• 62 weeks (434 years) — the silent period leading to Messiah
• 1 week (7 years) — the 70th week, still future: the Tribulation

📐  The Mathematics: 69 Weeks to the Triumphal Entry

Start date: Decree of Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem — March 5, 444 BC (Neh. 2:1-8). 69 weeks x 7 years x 360 days (prophetic year) = 173,880 days. 173,880 days from March 5, 444 BC = April 6, AD 32 — the exact date of Palm Sunday. The prophetic clock paused at the crucifixion. The Church Age is the parenthesis between week 69 and week 70.

The Covenant That Opens the 70th Week

Daniel 9:27a (NIV)  (NIV)

"He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.'"

Key study notes:

• 'He' refers to 'the ruler who will come' (v.26) — a future Roman-lineage world leader, the Antichrist.
• 'Confirm a covenant' — not necessarily a peace treaty; possibly a religious or political agreement granting Israel security and temple access.
• 'With many' — likely includes Israel and surrounding nations; may be a broad international compact.
• This covenant's signing marks Day 1 of the Tribulation — the starting gun for the final seven years.

Why Is There a Gap Between Week 69 and 70?

1. The Church was a mystery hidden in OT times (Eph. 3:4-6; Col. 1:26-27). The Church Age was not visible to Daniel.
2. Other prophetic gaps exist — e.g., Isaiah 61:1-2, where Jesus stopped mid-verse in Luke 4:18-19 before 'the day of vengeance,' indicating a gap between his two comings.
3. The 70 weeks are specifically 'for your people [Israel] and your holy city [Jerusalem]' (Dan. 9:24).

The Church Age is a pause in God's program with Israel.

03  JACOB'S TROUBLE — GOD'S REDEMPTIVE PURPOSE FOR ISRAEL

'Jacob' is the covenant name for Israel — the name of struggle, given before God renamed him 'Israel' (one who wrestles with God). The use of Jacob in Jeremiah 30:7 is deliberate: this is Israel in her ultimate wrestling, pressed to the point of finally crying out to her Messiah.

Jeremiah 30:7 (NIV)  (NIV)

"How awful that day will be! No other will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it."

Zechariah 13:8-9 (NIV)  (NIV)

"In the whole land, declares the LORD, two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.'"

Three Purposes of Jacob's Trouble

1. TO BREAK ISRAEL'S SELF-RELIANCE — The nation that rejected its Messiah will exhaust every human resource. The pressure is designed to bring Israel to the end of itself (Hos. 5:15; Zech. 12:10). — Hos. 5:15
2. TO BRING NATIONAL REPENTANCE — Romans 11:26 promises 'all Israel will be saved' — the nation in its remnant form. The Tribulation is the crucible through which that salvation is forged. — Rom. 11:26
3. TO FULFILL THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT — God's promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

are unconditional. The Tribulation ends with Israel in her land, her Messiah reigning in Jerusalem. — Gen. 17:7-8

Zechariah 12:10 (NIV)  (NIV)

"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child."

🕍  Theological Note: Israel and the Church Are Distinct

The Tribulation is called 'the time of Jacob's trouble' — not the time of the Church's trouble. This distinction is foundational to understanding the pretribulational rapture. God's program with the Church (the Body of Christ) and His program with Israel run on parallel tracks. The Rapture transfers the Church to glory so God can complete His unfinished business with Israel in the 70th week.

04  THE FEASTS OF ISRAEL — GOD'S PROPHETIC CALENDAR

Leviticus 23 records the seven moedim (appointed times) of the LORD. The Hebrew word moed means 'a fixed time,' 'an appointed meeting,' or 'a rehearsal.' These feasts are God's advance announcements of His redemptive acts in history.

The Spring Feasts — Fulfilled in Christ's First Coming

• PASSOVER (Pesach) — Nisan 14. Christ crucified on Passover. 1 Cor. 5:7: 'Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.'
• UNLEAVENED BREAD (Chag HaMatzot) — Nisan 15-21. Christ's sinless body in the tomb. No leaven = no sin (1 Cor. 5:8).
• FIRSTFRUITS (Yom HaBikkurim) — Day after Sabbath of Passover week. Christ raised as 'the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep' (1 Cor. 15:20).
• PENTECOST (Shavuot) — 50 days after Firstfruits. The Holy Spirit descends; the Church is born (Acts 2). Torah was also given at Sinai on Shavuot.

Between Pentecost and the fall feasts there is a gap of roughly four months on the agricultural calendar. This gap foreshadows the Church Age — the season between the Spirit's coming and the fall feasts' fulfillment. We live in this gap.

The Fall Feasts — Awaiting Fulfillment

• FEAST OF TRUMPETS (Rosh Hashanah / Yom Teruah) — Tishri 1. 'Teruah' = a shout, a blast. Associated with ingathering and resurrection. Most pretrib scholars see this as foreshadowing the Rapture — the last trumpet, the shout, the catching away (1 Thess. 4:16-17; 1 Cor. 15:52).
• DAY OF ATONEMENT (Yom Kippur) — Tishri 10. National confession and cleansing.

Prophetically foreshadows Israel's national repentance at the end of the Tribulation (Zech. 12:1013:1; Rom. 11:26).

• FEAST OF TABERNACLES (Sukkot) — Tishri 15-21. Celebrates God dwelling with His people. Points to the Millennial Kingdom when Christ reigns on earth. Zech. 14:16 confirms all nations will celebrate Sukkot in the Millennium.

🗓️  The Feasts and the Tribulation Side-by-Side

Feast of Trumpets -> Rapture (opens the 70th Week) Day of Atonement -> Israel's redemption at

Tribulation's end Feast of Tabernacles -> Millennial Kingdom (God fully dwelling with man)  Just as God fulfilled the spring feasts to the exact day, the fall feasts will be fulfilled with equal precision.

05  THE 70TH WEEK — DETAILED TIMELINE

The Tribulation is a precisely defined seven-year period. Scripture gives multiple time markers: 'one week' (Dan. 9:27), '1,260 days' (Rev. 11:3; 12:6), '42 months' (Rev. 11:2; 13:5), and 'a time, times, and half a time' (Dan. 12:7; Rev. 12:14) — all referring to the same 3.5-year periods using different units.

The 144,000 — Who Are They?

Revelation 7:3-4 (NIV)  (NIV)

"'Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.' Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel."

• 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel — a literal, Jewish remnant sealed for divine protection.
• Rev. 14:4 describes them as 'purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb' — the first wave of Israel's national salvation.
• Their Spirit-empowered ministry almost certainly accounts for the 'great multitude from every nation' coming to faith in Rev. 7:9.

06  THE THREE JUDGMENT SERIES — REVELATION 6-16

The judgment sequence in Revelation 6-16 is not strictly linear — the seventh seal contains the trumpets, and the seventh trumpet contains the bowls. They are nested, progressive, and escalating.

Are the Judgments Literal or Symbolic?

1. The Exodus plagues — which the Tribulation judgments mirror closely — were literal (water to blood, darkness, hail, death). God uses natural phenomena as instruments of judgment.
2. John consistently describes what he 'saw' (Rev. 6:1, 8:13, 9:1) — eyewitness observation language, not allegory.
3. The specificity of fractions (1/3, 1/4) suggests precise divine measurement, not symbolic approximation.

10.Jesus cited the Tribulation alongside the literal Flood and Lot's escape from literal Sodom (Luke 17:26-30) — comparing it to historical events treated as historical.

⚠️  God's Wrath Begins With Seal 1 — Not Later

Some argue the Church could experience early Tribulation since God's wrath doesn't begin until later. However, Scripture shows divine wrath begins with the very first seal: Rev. 6:16-17 says the wrath of the Lamb has 'come' at seal 6, looking back on what already unfolded. The Lamb opens every seal (Rev. 6:1). The Church is explicitly promised exemption from 'the wrath to come' (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9; Rev. 3:10).

07  THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION — HISTORY & PROPHECY

The 'abomination that causes desolation' has a partial historical fulfillment and an awaited prophetic fulfillment. Understanding the historical type illuminates the coming antitype.

Historical Type: Antiochus IV Epiphanes (168 BC)

• He erected an altar to Zeus Olympios in the Holy of Holies.
• He sacrificed a pig on the altar — the ultimate defilement.
• He banned Jewish religious practice under penalty of death.
• This 'abomination' is referenced in Daniel 11:31 — but Jesus' words in Matthew 24:15 place the ultimate fulfillment in the future.

The Future Antitype: The Antichrist (Mid-Tribulation)

Matthew 24:15-16 (NIV)  (NIV)

"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."

• Jesus spoke of it as still future — 'when you see' — decades after Antiochus had already acted.
• He references Daniel's specific language, pointing to the full prophetic context of Dan. 9:27.
• Paul's description in 2 Thess. 2:3-4 of the 'man of lawlessness' sitting in 'God's temple' is still future to Paul's time.

🏛️  The Temple Must Be Rebuilt

For the Antichrist to desecrate the Temple, there must be a standing Temple in Jerusalem. There has been no Temple since AD 70. The existence of movements today actively preparing Temple vessels, priestly garments, and architectural plans is one of the most significant signs that the Tribulation may be near. The Third Temple is not speculation — it is a prophetic requirement.

08  THE WEDDING FEAST OF THE LAMB — HEAVEN DURING THE TRIBULATION

While earth endures the worst seven years in history, heaven is hosting the greatest celebration in eternity. The concurrent nature of these two realities is one of the most striking contrasts in all of Scripture.

The Sequence of Heavenly Events During the Tribulation

11.THE BEMA SEAT (2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 3:12-15) — Every believer appears before Christ for evaluation of their earthly service. This is not judgment for sin — that was settled at Calvary — but assessment of stewardship. Rewards (crowns) are given or withheld.

12.THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB (Rev. 19:7-8) — Christ (the Groom) is united to His Bride (the Church). This echoes the Jewish wedding tradition: the groom fetches his bride, takes her to his father's house (John 14:2-3), and there the wedding takes place privately.

13.THE MARRIAGE SUPPER (Rev. 19:9) — The public celebration follows. This may extend into the Millennial Kingdom — the great feast of the ages.

💍  The Ancient Jewish Wedding — A Perfect Type of the Rapture

In ancient Jewish custom: (1) The father selected a bride for his son. (2) The groom paid the brideprice (mohar). (3) The groom returned to his father's house to prepare a place. (4) Only the father knew when preparations were complete — 'No one knows the day or hour.' (5) The groom came for his bride with a shout and a trumpet blast. (6) A seven-day celebration in the father's house followed.

(7) After seven days, the couple was presented publicly.  Christ paid our bride-price with His blood. He has gone to prepare a place (John 14:2-3). The Father knows the hour. The Rapture is the shout and trumpet. The seven-day celebration mirrors the seven-year Tribulation. The Second Coming is the public presentation.

Revelation 19:7-9 (NIV)  (NIV)

"Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear... Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!"

09  THE SECOND COMING — HOW THE TRIBULATION ENDS

The Tribulation ends not with a political treaty or human resolution, but with the physical, visible, glorious return of Jesus Christ to the earth.

Revelation 19:11-14 (NIV)  (NIV)

"I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns... The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean."

The First Coming: humility — a manger, a borrowed tomb, a crown of thorns. The Second Coming: glory — a white horse, blazing eyes, many crowns, armies following. The one who was pierced now wears the wounds as badges of conquest.

The Rapture vs. the Second Coming — Key Differences

10  REFLECTION & DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

💬  For Personal Study or Group Discussion

Take time with each question. Some are observational (what does the text say?), some interpretive (what does it mean?), and some applicational (what does it mean for me?). Honest wrestling with Scripture is the goal.

On Daniel & the 70 Weeks

1. Daniel 9:24 lists six things God intends to accomplish through the 70 weeks. List them. Which have already been fulfilled, and which still await the 70th week?

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2. Why do you think God embedded such precise mathematics into this prophecy? What does that precision tell you about the nature of Scripture and the character of God?

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On Jacob's Trouble & Israel

1. Zechariah 13:8-9 says two-thirds of Israel will perish and one-third will be refined. How does this passage shape your understanding of God's justice AND His mercy operating simultaneously? _______________________________________________________________________________________

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2. Romans 11:25-26 speaks of the 'hardening in part' of Israel until 'the full number of the Gentiles has come in.' How does Israel's story in the Tribulation motivate your personal evangelistic urgency? _______________________________________________________________________________________

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On the Feasts

1. The spring feasts were fulfilled precisely at Christ's first coming. How does this track record affect your confidence that the fall feasts will be fulfilled with equal precision?

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2. We live in the 'gap' between Pentecost and the Feast of Trumpets — the Church Age. How should this awareness shape the way you live each day?

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On the Judgments

1. Revelation 16:9 says that even under the bowl judgments, people 'cursed the name of God... but they refused to repent.' What does this reveal about the nature of sin and the necessity of the new birth? _______________________________________________________________________________________

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2. The three judgment series are nested within each other. What does this escalating structure suggest about the pace of God's patience giving way to justice?

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On the Wedding Feast

1. While the Tribulation unfolds on earth, the Church is at the Wedding Feast in heaven. How does this truth affect your perspective on suffering and injustice you see around you now?

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2. The Church is described in Revelation 19:8 as 'given' fine linen — 'the righteous acts of the saints.' What acts of faithfulness are you weaving now that will make up that garment?

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Personal Application

1. Is there someone in your life who does not know Christ and would face the Tribulation? Write their name below and commit to praying for them. What is one specific step you could take to share the gospel?

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2. The Tribulation is called Jacob's Trouble because it ultimately leads to Israel's salvation. How does knowing God has a redemptive purpose behind even severe suffering change how you view difficulties in your own life?

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11  RECOMMENDED FURTHER STUDY

Key Scripture Passages to Read This Week

• Daniel 9:20-27 — The full context of Gabriel's vision
• Daniel 12:1-13 — The time of trouble and resurrection
• Jeremiah 30-31 — The Book of Consolation; Jacob's trouble and the New Covenant
• Zechariah 12-14 — Israel's restoration and the Second Coming
• Matthew 24 — The Olivet Discourse (Jesus' own Tribulation teaching)
• 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 — The man of lawlessness
• Revelation 6-19 — The full Tribulation narrative

Topics for Deeper Exploration

• Dispensationalism and the distinction between Israel and the Church
• The pretribulational rapture: biblical arguments pro and con
• The nature of God's wrath (orge vs. thumos) in Revelation
• The Temple Mount and Third Temple preparations today
• The Jewish roots of the New Testament — feasts, covenants, and typology

📚  Suggested Reading

The Coming Prince — Sir Robert Anderson (Daniel 9 mathematics) Things to Come — J. Dwight Pentecost (comprehensive eschatology) Armageddon, Oil and the Middle East Crisis — John F.

Walvoord The Feasts of the LORD — Kevin Howard & Marvin Rosenthal Rose Book of Bible Charts,

Maps & Time Lines — Rose Publishing (visual reference)

"He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."  — Revelation 22:20 (NIV)

Covington Community Church  |  Where Are We In Time Series  |  All Scripture: NIV