VARIOUS MUSINGS ON THE 'TIMELINE'

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the comments on the 'bowl judgments'. As you say, unfortunately all we can do is speculate; at least for now.

I wanted to back up for a moment to the 'SIGN'. Actually I was noticing that only Matthew mentions the SIGN. Lets look st something here:

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: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
(Mat 24:29-31)

First of all, we have the great tribulation. According to my timeline, I understand this period to be the 3.5 days (to be interpreted as years) that the Two Witnesses lie dead in the street.

Then we read that 'immediately' after those days the sun will be darkened, the moon not give her light, etc.

Now here's one thing I think we must consider. Jesus said that the days of the tribulation would be shortened; if not, no flesh would be saved. This is done on account of the elect. I do not believe he means that the earth's population would be in danger of being wiped out, but that the elect themselves might be wiped out. For their sakes these days of great tribulation would be shortened.

In what way are these days shortened? It seems to me that this cannot mean that the period will be less than 1260 days. The scriptures themselves cannot be broken. This seems to indicate, at least to my mind, that the ability to persecute Christians will in some way be significantly reduced before the entire 1260 days runs its course. The fact is, we are not told in exactly what way these days of tribulation are shortened.

Then we read that immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun is darkened, the stars fall, etc. I am not sure that we are to understand this literally. This was common Hebrew phraseology and the disciples would understand it as such. This seems to mean that iniquity has run its course to the point where truth is squelched and the judgment of God is about to fall. Of course there could be no better description of such a situation as that God's two witnesses have layed dead in the street for 3.5 days (years) and not put into graves, while the world in general rejoiced at their demise.

Then appears this SIGN, and then AFTER the sign the tribes see Jesus coming. The SIGN is NOT that they see him coming. That is not how I am reading this. There is some SIGN before he comes.

As you know, I equate whatever this sign is with the two witnesses being 'taken to heaven'. The problem is, I don't have any idea what the sign is. But since the world sees the two witnesses ascend into 'heaven' and since this sign appears in 'heaven' I have to believe that the sign is literally going to be in the sky above us, and that whatever it is will scare a great many people.

As we know, at this same 'hour' there is a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city falls.

After all this, which then is still technically under the sixth trumpet, they will see Jesus coming with power and great glory as he sends the angles with the sound of a great (seventh) trumpet to gather the elect.

I believe at this point the elect are called to 'meet the Lord in the air', where they will remain until the bowls are pured out. After this they descend to the earth at Armegedon.

I know we've discussed all this.. just trying to get all down in writing.

--David