The Great Tribulation: A Sign of the Temple’s Destruction

On Tuesday of his final week on earth, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives. He told his disciples about the Temple’s destruction. They asked for a sign pointing to that age-changing event (Matthew 24:1–3).

Jesus answered their request with a straightforward list of signs.  We categorized these signs into preliminary, later, and immediate groups. They move forward in time toward the Temple’s fall.

The “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:20–22)¹ falls into the “later” group of signs. It would set the stage for the fulfillment of Jesus’ Temple prophecy.

We will examine Old Testament prophecies related to this sign. These will emphasize its importance in the Mosaic/Messianic age transition. 
We will also address an interpretive challenge inherent in Jesus’ prophecy.

The “Great Tribulation” In Old Testament Prophecies

To keep our discussion of Old Testament prophecies to a manageable length, we will concentrate on Luke’s name for the “great tribulation.” His account has “For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled” (Luke 21:22). The “great tribulation” and “the days of vengeance” are two names for the same event.

Israel’s prophets wrote about “the days of vengeance.” Their writings confirm a conclusion we reached earlier in our studies (e.g., here): the destruction of the Temple would do two things. First, it would end the Mosaic age. Second, it would complete the series of events—beginning with the birth of Christ—necessary to establish the Messianic age.² Here we will examine writings from two prophets who show this: Moses, regarding Israel’s “latter days,” and Isaiah, regarding the Messianic age. Both deal with the vengeance God would execute upon Israel.

The “Great Tribulation” and the End of the Mosaic Age

About fifteen centuries before Jesus gave the Olivet Discourse, God told Moses about the final vengeance He would bring against Israel. He did so in an interesting manner—he had Moses write a song.

God knew what Israel would do.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? (Deuteronomy 31:16–17)

God commissioned a musical composition to serve a specific role. He commanded Moses:

Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. . . . And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness. (Deuteronomy 31:19, 21; emphasis added).

Moses also named the period for which God designed the song:

For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands” (Deuteronomy 31:29; emphasis added).

What did the song of Moses describe? Here is part of this “latter days” song:

To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left. (Deuteronomy 32:35–36; emphasis added)

Summarizing, God gave a song to Moses to serve as a witness against Israel during her “latter days.”

In perfect agreement with all this, Jesus told his disciples the “days of vengeance” (Luke 21:22) sign would come at “the end of the [Mosaic] age” (Matthew 24:3, NKJV).

The disciples learned Jesus’ lesson well. They applied the song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:1–43) to their generation. They quoted it in several important doctrinal discussions:

1. Deuteronomy 32:21 in Romans 10:19
2. Deuteronomy 32:35 in Romans 12:19 and Hebrews 10:30
3. Deuteronomy 32:36 also in Hebrews 10:30
4. Deuteronomy 32:43 in Romans 15:10 and Hebrews 1:6 (which combines it with Psalm 97:7).³

The disciples also alluded to the song of Moses several times without directly quoting it (e.g., Deuteronomy 32:5 in Jude 1:12 and 1:23).

The disciples believed they were living in Israel’s “latter days” (cf. Hebrews 1:2). Jesus had told them Moses’s “latter-day” sign—God’s vengeance on Israel—would occur before the fall of the Temple. The song of Moses would soon fulfill its purpose.

The disciples also recalled another promise God made to Moses:

I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. (Deuteronomy 18:18–19)

They knew Israel had rejected that Prophet (Jesus) and that God was about to require it of them. Peter announced this to Israel a few weeks after Jesus gave the “days of vengeance” sign (cf. Acts 3:22–24).

The “Great Tribulation” and the Start of the Messianic Age

Isaiah, too, mentioned this sign of the destruction of the Temple. He, however, connected it with the start of the Messianic age. He wrote:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. (Isaiah 61:1–3; emphasis added)

Jesus quoted part of this passage early in his ministry. While standing in his hometown synagogue,

he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. (Luke 4:17–21; italics mark Jesus’ quote from Isaiah 61:1–2)

Why did Jesus stop reading in mid-sentence? God had already fulfilled this part of Isaiah’s prophecy. The Spirit had already anointed Jesus (John 1:32; Acts 10:38). He had already preached the gospel and “the acceptable year of the Lord,” or Messianic Age⁴ (Matthew 4:17; 5:3–5; 11:5; etc.).

Jesus did not connect Isaiah’s “day of vengeance” to the Messianic age in the synagogue of Nazareth. Instead, he waited until the last week of his ministry—perhaps only three days before his crucifixion—to do so. Then, in the Olivet Discourse, he completed his reference to Isaiah 61:1–3. Isaiah’s “day of vengeance” prophecy would serve as one sign for the destruction of the Temple.

Both Isaiah and Jesus, therefore, connected “the day(s) of vengeance” with the start of the Messianic age.

This was a sign the disciples had requested for the destruction of the Temple. Their request (Matthew 24:3), Jesus’ response (Luke 21:22; cp. Matthew 24:21), and Isaiah’s prophecy (Isaiah 61:1–3) agreed with one another. This sign would both end one age (the Mosaic) and contribute to the start another (the Messianic).

A Challenge From the Text

Did Jesus mean the “great tribulation” before the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 would be the greatest of all time? He said, “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 24:21).

In a word, the answer is “yes,” but this is a qualified “yes.”

Jesus was using hyperbole or exaggeration, a figure of speech “when more is said than is literally meant.”⁵ Hyperbole emphasizes the significance and importance of the thing exaggerated.

Milton Terry, a respected authority on Biblical interpretation, said Jesus’ “language . . . may be regarded as hyperbolical”⁶ in this place. A little reflection will convince us this is true.

Interpreting language like this in a literal fashion makes the Scriptures contradict themselves.

A passage from the prophet Joel illustrates this point: “the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand . . . there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations” (Joel 2:1–2; emphasis added).

If Joel meant literal locusts would cause this calamity—as some commentators think,⁷ even though the text mentions none!—his prophecy would contradict an account of another plague. Centuries earlier, Moses had said: “And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, . . . before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such” (Exodus 10:14; emphasis added). Two locust plagues cannot both be the greatest of all time.

If, as other writers think,⁸ Joel was describing how literal (human) armies would invade Israel, then Jesus contradicted him. Jesus’ “great tribulation” sign involved invading armies, too (Matthew 24:21; cf. Luke 21:20). The army invasion of which Joel spoke and the one of which Jesus spoke cannot both be greater than any other.

Either way of interpreting Joel’s words—as regarding locust or armies—results in a contradiction if we ignore hyperbole.

Another example involves Moses’ description of the suffering in Egypt: “And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more” (Exodus 11:6; emphasis added). This tribulation and the one of which Jesus spoke in the Olivet Discourse cannot—in literal terms—both be the greatest of all time.

Again, Solomon was a wise king. God said, “I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee” (1 Kings 3:12; emphasis added). Does this contradict the description Jesus gave of himself as being “greater than Solomon” (Matthew 12:42; emphasis added)? Yes, if the Scriptures are using literal language. We have a tool, however, that allows us to accept both statements as truth.

Hyperbole removes all the apparent contradictions in our examples.

We should recognize that Jesus used this well-established figure of speech to describe the “great tribulation” sign. It would be of the severest magnitude. Our Lord’s language conveyed this truth to the disciples in an impressive manner.

We should not allow a misguided literal interpretation to force this “great tribulation” sign out of its original context—the destruction of the Temple.

Conclusion

Jesus foretold the destruction of the Temple. The disciples asked for a sign of the end of the (Mosaic) age and the parousia (Messianic-age presence) of Christ (Matthew 24:1–3).

The prophets had connected the “days of vengeance” (or “great tribulation”) with both the “latter days” of the Mosaic age and the start of the Messianic age. Jesus used this sign to tell his disciples the time for fulfillment had arrived (Luke 21:22).

Roman armies invaded Israel from the North in AD 66. They inflicted “great tribulation” for three and one-half years. Then, in AD 70, they destroyed the Temple. The following chart shows the fulfillment of Jesus’ “great tribulation” sign:

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1. The “later” signs do not fall into the neat groups shown here. Both the “ abomination of desolation” and “false prophets” signs occur during the “great tribulation” period. Our grouping is for analysis purposes only.
2. As our logo shows.
3. Per Philipps, H. David. Old Testament Quotes in the New Testament. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009.
4. William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Gospel of Luke (Baker Academic, 1980), 254.
5. E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible Explained and Illustrated (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1968), 423.
6. Milton S. Terry, Biblical Apocalyptics: A Study of the Most Notable Revelations of God and of Christ (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1988), 235.
7. Robert H. Gundry, The Church and the Tribulation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973), 90.
8. John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments (Paris, AR: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1989), 6:462.