 Has the tribulation already happened? Well, in a word, no. There's always a great interest in the end time, particularly the tribulation if there is a tribulation. There are those that believe that we are right now in the tribulation and there are those that believe the tribulation occurred sometime in the past. Most of those who hold to that view would say that it happened around 70 AD. Well, before we go into if it happened, let's first look at what is the tribulation. The first time we hear about this, it's called Jacob's Trouble. And so in Jeremiah 30, verse six, this is a prophecy from Jeremiah. And he says that ask now and see if a male can give birth. Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman and childbirth? In other words, the time is so troublesome, so excruciating, even the men are bent over. And why have all the faces turned pale? Alas, for that great day, there is none like it and it's time of Jacob's distress. But he will be saved from it. That part right there is very important. As a matter of fact, vitally important to understand what the tribulation or Jacob's trouble is. The key to understanding when the tribulation is right, if it's happened, what it is, is also to see what are some of the elements, some of the things that are gonna have to happen in the tribulation. So let's go back to it and in verse eight, it says it shall come about on that day, the day of Jacob's trouble, the tribulation. And that'd mean a specific certain day, one day, but the day meaning of time, declares the Lord of hosts that I will break his joke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds and strangers will no longer make them slaves. Now he's speaking, obviously he's speaking towards Israel as well, but they shall serve their Lord, their God and David, their King whom I will raise up for them. Well, clearly that has not happened yet. For fear not, O Jacob, my servants, declares the Lord and do not be dismayed, O Israel. For behold, I will save you from afar and your offspring from the land of their captivity and Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease and no one will make him afraid. So that part clearly has not happened. We simply look over to the Middle East and look at Israel and we see right now that Israel is not at ease. Matter of fact, notice what he says in verse 11, for I am with you, declares the Lord to save you, for I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you, only I will not destroy you completely. So Israel will be saved out of this and those nations that come against him, they will be destroyed. Well, I think it's pretty clear to see that that hasn't happened yet and to get further indication of what's gonna happen, let's see what's gonna happen according to Jesus. Jesus is the one after all who is going to declare or is gonna come back and declare this at the very end. In Matthew 24, 21, he says there will be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Now, there are those that want to say that 70 AD was the great tribulation. There's a couple of problems with that. One, we've seen worse. We've seen worse of what happened with Israel and 70 AD even after that. Somebody can say what's happened of recent note, what's happened with Hamas and Israel. Some would even point to the Holocaust. There have been times that are worse and I suspect that there will be even worse times since this is not the tribulation. It could not be. How do I know so? Well, continue to read verse 22. He says unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. Well, is that to say that all of the elect or the sake of the elect was saved at that point in time? So even now, we can kind of see that it's probably unlikely. Matter of fact, highly unlikely that it would have occurred in 70 AD and then even more to the point, could it be happening now? We'll get to that in a second. We're going back to it. Let's go to verse 27. For just as lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Now, interestingly enough that a lot of people tend to forget that with the tribulation, after that is going to be the coming of the Son of Man. That's vitally important. So had it been 70 AD, within the Son of Man would have been here. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. Verse 29, but immediately after the tribulation of those days, which is how we know that the tribulation was not at that time, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not keep its light and stars will fall from the skies and powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then, now even if you want to take this as a metaphor as that this is not really, this is more of a figure of speech, not literal, the problem is what he's going to say next and the whole point of the tribulation. He says, then the Son of Man will appear in the sky and then all of the tribes of the earth will mourn. That has not happened. Matter of fact, it's not even happening now. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky. Now, those who might want to set up the tribulation is now got a couple of problems there, but one of those is to say that immediately after the tribulation, then the Lord is going to come. And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds and one end of the sky to the other. That has not happened. So it could not have happened in 70 AD. Now, I want you to pay attention to what he says that Daniel has stated that we have to go back and look at as well. In verse 15 of Matthew 24, Jesus says, therefore when you see the abomination of the desolation which was spoken through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, then those who are in Judea must leave the mountain. So at that point in time, we're going to see what Daniel spoke about. Well, what did Daniel speak about? So let's go back to Daniel chapter nine. We won't start in 24. This is where he gives his 70-week prophecy. The first 69 weeks deals with Israel. I believe the last seven is also going to deal with Israel. As a matter of fact, we're going to look and see that it absolutely does deal with Israel. And this tribulation time, there's a seven year period, three and a half years, relatively peaceful. The last three and a half years are going to be chaotic and are going to be very dangerous for Israel. Notice what he says. And he will make a firm covenant. This is the lawless man that Daniel was speaking of or that's been prophesied to Daniel. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week. That's the last week that's left to come, the last seven. And notice what he says, but in the middle of the week or the middle of the seven year period, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grant offerings and on the link of abomination will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate. So this lawless person, this anti-crisis, we speaking of is going to make this covenant, but it's going to break it in the middle of the seven years, the middle of the week. In three and a half years, he's going to do so. Now, how we can also know that it's not happening now is because when this happens, when this lawless one shows up, he will not have been revealed until after the restrainer has been taken away. And so Paul says in 2nd Thessalonians chapter seven, verse eight, he says, for the mystery of the lawlessness is already at work, only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way, then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end the appearance of his coming. Now, whoever you think the restrainer is, if you think it's the church, if you think it's the Holy Spirit, if you think it's the Holy Spirit in the church, whichever it is, whatever you're understanding of who the restrainer is, clearly the restrainer hadn't been taken away whether it be the church, whether it be the Holy Spirit, I think it's the Holy Spirit in the church or the church. And so once that takes place, then he shows that, well, we're still here. If you think it's a church, if you think it's the Holy Spirit, same thing. The restrainer, whoever you think it might be, is clearly still here, hadn't been taken away. And so this lawless person is gonna make a covenant, then break the covenant in the middle. So that takes place during the tribulation when it gets very bad. As a matter of fact, as she just says, a time that we have never seen before. So it'd be pretty difficult for anyone to say that the tribulation has occurred. When will it occur? We don't know. He's given us the signs that's gonna happen at his coming, at the tribulation, because immediately after the tribulation, there are these things that have to happen. There are things that have to coincide. Israel will be saved from it. Israel will be punished in it, but will be saved out of it. And then the Son of Man will come. All of the elect will be gathered. None of those things have happened yet. And so it'd be difficult to say. Even if a person wants to spiritualize or allegorize, say that it's not literal. Even if a person didn't wanna take a literal interpretation of that, it would be difficult to say that those things have happened. And so to say the tribulation has happened, no. Some will say yes, but if you think about what's happening in some of these countries, even Israel right now was happening in some third world country, was happening in some places like certain parts of China or North Korea, they are certainly going through a tribulation, but it's not the great tribulation. And we cannot say that the way to escape the tribulation is to come to America or to come to some better place. No, that doesn't fly. That's not a good way of looking at scriptures. And it doesn't make any sense. The only way to escape the tribulation or one way to escape the tribulation is to come to America as though America is the great safe haven. No, that's not it. The tribulation, my friends, has not happened. Fortunately, we've got time for those who have not placed their faith in Christ so we can still evangelize and prepare people like know that his day is coming. How soon? Don't know, but he's at least one day closer than yesterday than he was before. Amen.