Tribulation
The English word tribulation means great distress and misery. This word is used a number of times in the King James Version of the New Testament to describe a time of great trouble and suffering which is prophesied to come upon the Earth before the Second Coming of Christ. " For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." (Matt 24:21)
"And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Rev. 7:13-14)
According to many prophecy teachers, this is not just referring to an indeterminate time period, but rather to a specific time period they call The Tribulation. The most common speculation, based on comparing prophetic passages in the Bible, is that it will last for seven years. Some of these teachers refer to the whole seven years as not just The Tribulation, but as The Great Tribulation. Others prefer to refer to the first half of the seven years as The Tribulation, and to the second half, when circumstances on Earth become even more horrifying and miserable, as The Great Tribulation. |
