The 21 judgments of God’s wrath that occur in the Trib, start at Rev 6:1-2, and they end at Rev 16:21.
The seal judgments occur in Rev 6; the trumpet judgments occur in Rev 8 - 9 and Rev 11:15 and the bowl judgments occur in Rev 16.
Rev 11:2-3 occur just before the midpoint (Matt 24:15). In Rev 11:2-3, two time periods begin: 42 months and 1,260 days. They run concurrently and each lasts 3.5 years. Since those timeframes begin just before the midpoint, there are 3.5 years of activity that precede them. The first half of the 7-year Trib features the seven seal judgments and the seven trumpet judgements. The first seal is opened in Rev 6:1-2, and the seventh trumpet occurs in Rev 11:15. The bowl judgments begin and end in Rev 16. It is very close to a 7-year timeframe in which all of that occurs.
The 42 months of Rev. 11:2 match up with Luk. 21:23b–24. Both describe Jerusalem being trampled underfoot by the Gentiles for a certain length of time. They are known as the times of the Gentiles. The times of the Gentiles lasted until the fullness of the Gentiles came in (Rom. 11:25). The times of the Gentiles (Luk. 21:23b–24) are the same as the great tribulation (Mat. 24:21). They are taken from the same part of the Olivet Discourse. All the other statements of the Olivet Discourse match up. Some are left out. They were just two different ways of explaining the same period of time in the future.
Imagine "the times of the Gentiles" of Rev. 11:2, where the fullness of the Gentiles came in, lasting only 3 1/2 literal years—your great tribulation. It would take a thousand years or more for the fullness of the Gentiles to come in. That's why the day-year principle is applied to the 42 months. Which explains why the 42
months were differentiated from the 1,260
days of Rev. 11:3. The two witnesses couldn't possibly prophesy for 1,260 years. The Jews were "coming in" from the time of the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian captivity, again from Yeshua Hamashiach's ministry to the Muslim conquest of the Levant, and again from the Israeli Declaration of Independence until today. Their "times" were from 1539 to 609 BC, AD 26 to 637, and 1948 until today—1,618 years. It's only fitting that the Gentiles would get 1,260 years, as opposed to 3 1/2. Of course the times of the Gentiles were just a generalization of the times, so there were Jews being saved during the Gentiles' times and there were Gentiles being saved during "the times of the Jews."
The great tribulation/times of the Gentiles lasted from the abomination of desolation (Dome of the Rock) until the Israeli Declaration of Independence—1,260 years. There are no other qualifying abominations of desolation that match a 3 1/2-year or 1,260-year time period with significant events at either end of their timeframes.
The seven seals were already fulfilled. Rev. 1:3 says, "Blessed is the one who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it; for the time is near." Revelation was written around AD 95.
Soon afterward, Trajan (r. AD 98–117) was a successful soldier-emperor who presided over one of the greatest military expansions in Roman history, during which, by the time of his death, the Roman Empire reached its maximum territorial extent. He was the rider on the white horse—the first seal.
The 2nd through the 4th seals were different aspects of the Crisis of the Third Century.
The second seal was the frequent civil wars which devastated the Roman empire from AD 193 to the 3rd century.
"From the beginning of the Principate there were no clear rules for the imperial succession, largely because the empire maintained the facade of a republic.
"During the early Principate, the process for becoming an emperor relied on a combination of proclamation by the Senate, popular approval, and acceptance by the army, in particular the Praetorian Guard. A family connection to a previous emperor was beneficial, but it did not determine the issue in the way a formal system of hereditary succession would. From the Julio-Claudian dynasty onwards there was sometimes tension between the Senate's preferred choice and the army. As the Senatorial class declined in political influence and more generals were recruited from the provinces, this tension increased.
"Whenever the succession appeared uncertain, there was an incentive for any general with support of a sizable army to attempt to seize power, sparking civil war. The most recent example of this prior to the Crisis was the Year of the Five Emperors which resulted in the victory of Septimius Severus. After the overthrow of the Severan dynasty, for the rest of the 3rd century, Rome was ruled by a series of generals, coming into power through frequent civil wars which devastated the empire (Wikipedia)."
The third seal was the economic depression which the empire faced from AD 235 to 284.
"Internally, the empire faced hyperinflation caused by years of coinage devaluation. This had started earlier under the Severan emperors who enlarged the army by one quarter, and doubled the base pay of legionaries. As each of the short-lived emperors took power, they needed ways to raise money quickly to pay the military's "accession bonus" and the easiest way to do so was by inflating the coinage severely, a process made possible by debasing the coinage with bronze and copper.
"This resulted in runaway rises in prices, and by the time Diocletian came to power, the old coinage of the Roman Empire had nearly collapsed. Some taxes were collected in kind and values often were notional, in bullion or bronze coinage. Real values continued to be figured in gold coinage, but the silver coin, the denarius, used for 300 years, was gone (1 pound of gold = 40 gold aurei = 1,000 denarii = 4,000 sestertii). This currency had almost no value by the end of the third century, and trade was carried out without retail coinage (Wikipedia)."
The fourth seal was the natural disasters which the empire faced from AD 249 to 262.
"From 249 to 262, the Plague of Cyprian devastated the Roman Empire to such a degree that some cities, such as the city of Alexandria, experienced a 62% decline in population. These plagues greatly hindered the Roman Empire's ability to ward off barbarian invasions but also factored into problems such as famine, with many farms becoming abandoned and unproductive (Wikipedia)."
The fifth seal was the Diocletianic Persecution from AD 303 to 313.
"The Diocletianic Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. In 303, the emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rights and demanding that they comply with traditional religious practices. Later edicts targeted the clergy and demanded universal sacrifice, ordering all inhabitants to sacrifice to the Roman gods. The persecution varied in intensity across the empire—weakest in Gaul and Britain, where only the first edict was applied, and strongest in the Eastern provinces. Persecutory laws were nullified by different emperors (Galerius with the Edict of Serdica in 311) at different times, but Constantine and Licinius' Edict of Milan in 313 has traditionally marked the end of the persecution (Wikipedia)."
The sixth seal was the terror which the empire faced from AD 363 to 380.
"The Galilee earthquake of 363 was a pair of severe earthquakes that shook the Galilee and nearby regions on May 18 and 19. The maximum perceived intensity for the events was estimated to be X (
Very destructive) on the European macroseismic scale. The earthquakes occurred on the portion of the Dead Sea Transform (DST) fault system between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba (Wikipedia)."
"The 365 Crete earthquake occurred at about sunrise on 21 July 365 in the Eastern Mediterranean, with an assumed epicentre near Crete. Geologists today estimate the undersea earthquake to have been a moment magnitude 8.5 or higher. It caused widespread destruction in the central and southern Diocese of Macedonia (modern Greece), Africa Proconsularis (northern Libya), Egypt, Cyprus, Sicily, and Hispania (Spain). On Crete, nearly all towns were destroyed.
"The earthquake was followed by a tsunami which devastated the southern and eastern coasts of the Mediterranean, particularly Libya, Alexandria, and the Nile Delta, killing thousands and hurling ships 3 km (1.9 mi) inland. The quake left a deep impression on the late antique mind, and numerous writers of the time referred to the event in their works (Wikipedia)."
A total solar eclipse occurred in the Roman Empire on 7 June AD 373. A total lunar eclipse occurred there on 20 April 376.
"Then the kings of the earth and the eminent people, and the commanders and the wealthy and the strong, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the sight of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to stand (Rev. 6:15–17)?'"
The result was the Edict of Thessalonica. "The Edict of Thessalonica, issued on 27 February AD 380 by Theodosius I, made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire. It condemned other Christian creeds such as Arianism as heresies of "foolish madmen," and authorized their punishment (Wikipedia)."
The seventh seal was the 1,645+ years between the sixth seal and the first trumpet.
Imagine all 21 of God's judgments occurring within the matter of 7 years. What an awful time to be alive. I don't think anyone could survive it! It would be bad enough for just 7 of his judgments to occur within your lifetime. And what a wake-up call that would be. The six seals occurred in the Roman Empire between AD 98 and 380. The seven trumpets could happen any time. Hailstorms have gotten worse and 2019 was supposedly "The Year the World Burned (Washington Post)." The seven bowls of God's wrath will happen after the rapture of the church.
What are you, pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib?
