For the first
almost nineteen centuries of the Christian faith most Christians interpreted the
Bible to teach that the end of days tribulation period (tribulation and great
tribulation) will have a total duration of “a time, times, and half a time”
(Daniel 12:7). A “time” being one year, “times” being two years, and “half a
time” being a half a year, or about three and one-half years (rounded) within
the final seven years, the seventieth week of Daniel. Even, John Darby
(1800-1881), the nineteenth century founder of dispensationalism and
pretribulational dispensational premillennialism, held that the duration of the
tribulation period (tribulation and great tribulation) will be as stated in the
Bible for “a time, times, and half a time” (Daniel 12:7).
However, after
the passing of Darby, other dispensationalists gained prominence, one of whom
was Dr. C. I. Scofield (1843-1921). Scofield theorized that the
tribulation period encompasses not just a “time, times, and half a time” (Daniel
12:7), or about three and one-half years within the seventieth week, but all seven of the final seven years. In
his work Prophecy Made Plain Scofield
explains how he arrived at a seven-year tribulation interpretation. He begins by
replying to his own question:
What
will be the Duration of this Period [The Tribulation]? I think seven years. If
you will follow the line of proof I think this can be made clear. The ninth
chapter of Daniel contains a prediction that seventy periods of time, called
“weeks,” must elapse. . . . Then follows the announcement that after sixty-nine
“weeks” Messiah shall be cut off. . . . Each of the sixty-nine [prophetic]
“weeks” up to the crucifixion was seven years long. . . . Between the cutting
off of Messiah at the end of the sixty-ninth week of Daniel and the taking up of
Israel again [the seventieth week], when “the day of vengeance,” the Great
Tribulation, begins. (Scofield, C. I. Prophecy Made Plain: “Addresses on
Prophecy”, Grand Rapids Book Manufacturers, Grand Rapids, MI (1967), p.
130,132).
As you can see,
Scofield makes a statement here that is untrue. He writes, “The taking up of
Israel again [the seventieth week], when ‘the day of vengeance,’ the Great
Tribulation, begins.” The Bible never says the beginning of the
seventieth week (“the taking up of Israel again”) is “when ‘the day of
vengeance,’ the Great Tribulation, begins.” He does rightly state that the
seventieth week will be seven years long, as were each of the previous
sixty-nine weeks, but that does not mean that the tribulation period within the
seventieth week encompasses all
seven years especially when the Bible specifically says it does not (Daniel
12:7, 12).
Scofield
introduced his seven-year tribulation interpretation, it was recognized for what
it was—unbiblical. So it came to be called in the early twentieth century the
Seven-Year Tribulation Theory. Nevertheless, Scofield popularized his seven-year
tribulation view in the notes of his immensely influential Scofield Reference Bible (1909). With
his notes alongside sacred text, his Seven-Year Tribulation Theory seemed almost
divine increasing its acceptability.
According to
the Gaebelein, by the end of World War II over two million copies of the Scofield Reference Bible had sold, and
millions have sold since. The Scofield
Reference Bible persuaded millions of conservative evangelicals to not only
believe that the end of days tribulation duration is seven years, but to also
believe that its substance includes everything that will occur during the final
seven years—from the beginning of birth pains to the terrible wrath of the Lamb
judgments of The Revelation.
Substance of
the Tribulation
Scofield’s new
theory that the end of days tribulation is seven years long and that it includes
the terrible wrath of the Lamb judgments—an awful time when creatures with
stings like scorpions torment people for five months (Revelation 9:5,10)—scared
the living daylights out of Christians! Horrified by being told (wrongly) that
the end of days tribulation period includes the wrath of the Lamb judgments,
frightened evangelicals in droves began to embrace the new pretribulational
dispensational premillennialism; the view that the church will be raptured before the tribulation. (Like most
conservative evangelicals, the author once held this
view).
Thus, Scofield
did not continue with the biblical and historical interpretation of the end of
days Tribulation that its substance will be, as the early church Ante-Nicene
father and Bishop Hippolytus said, “the
tribulation of the persecution which is to fall upon the church from the
adversary [the Antichrist].” (Hippolytus. “The Extant Works and
Fragments of Hippolytus, Part II. Dogmatical and Historical, Treatise on Christ
and the Antichrist,” para. 60,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. V: Translations of
the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325, by A. Roberts & J. Donaldson,
notes by A. C. Coxe, American reprint
of Edinburgh Ed., Eerdmans,
Grand Rapids, MI 1884–1886).
Instead,
Scofield’s Seven-Year Tribulation Theory resulted in a reinterpretation of the
substance of the tribulation from
persecution of the church by the Antichrist to a four-headed monster Tribulation
that included the terrible wrath of the Lamb judgments! Consequently, not only
did Scofield’s theory reinterpret the duration of the tribulation period, it
reinterpreted its substance as well.
That is why the Tribulation is misunderstood today.
Conversely,
early church Ante-Nicene fathers held that the Tribulation and the wrath of the
Lamb judgments are separate events. As Hippolytus (c. 170-236) commented, early
church fathers interpreted scripture to teach that the church will endure “the
tribulation of the persecution” inflicted by the adversary the Antichrist but
will be raptured after the “time, times, and half a time” (Daniel 12:7)
tribulation of persecution at the return of Christ in the sky (Matthew 24:30-31)
and before the wrath of the Lamb judgments begin that will be poured out on the
ungodly left behind in the latter part of the final seven years.
