Those Days Will Be Shortened

[Last Daze]

• For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.  Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.  Matthew 24:21-22

This passage is speaking of the time when the man of sin wages war against the saints for forty-two months.  The forty-two months have been decreed and will not be shortened.  It is the time of great tribulation that is shortened.  If the unfettered persecution of the saints were allowed to continue for the full forty-two month duration, no flesh would be saved.  In order to understand how those days are cut short, we need to look at the word that's translated "for the sake of."

dia 
dee-ah' 

A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through (in very wide applications, local, causal or occasional).

The days of unfettered persecution, or great tribulation, are cut short through the elect.  Who are the elect?  And how do they cut short those days?  When Matthew 24:29 is compared with Revelation 6:12, we see that the great tribulation ends when the sixth seal is opened.  This is also the time when God's judgment / wrath begins.  God's judgment is brought about through the plagues which are attributed to the two witnesses.  We also see that after the sixth seal is opened that the 144,000 are sealed.  We don't know exactly what the 144,000 do but they just so happen to come on the scene at that time.

It's possible then that the great tribulation is brought to an end through the plagues.  People will be more concerned with their own welfare than they are with persecuting the saints.  And those who choose to reject the mark and the image might find refuge among the 144,000.  

Just something to consider because cutting short the great tribulation for the sake of those who were martyred as a result of it just doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

[Steve Conley]

Greetings to all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

Last Daze, in context, it is the days of unprecedented violent persecution (great tribulation) that are shortened for the sake of the elect. It is the elect who are being violently persecuted and killed. Jesus is saying that if He didn't come to provide salvation (deliverance, rescue) before the Beast's 42 months are complete no believer would be left alive upon the earth. The Beast is granted 42 months that He will prevail over the saints as seen in Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 13:5-7. However, the Beast's persecution of the elect (those that are Christ's) is over when Christ appears at His parousia, resurrects the dead in Christ, and catches up those of us who are alive and remain together with the resurrected unto Himself in the clouds.

The elect have nothing to do with ending this period of unprecedented violent persecution unless one considers that we can affect the rate at which we are slain during this period forcing the Lord to rescue us before all of us are killed.

Both Christ and Paul taught that some believers would escape death altogether. These would be changed and caught up in the rapture and therefore not experience death.

Joh 11:23  Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
Joh 11:24  Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Joh 11:25  Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Joh 11:26  And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Jesus will come to bring us rest and begin to tribulate our persecutors before all of us are slain. How many will there be that remain? I don't know. Jesus said:

Luk 18:8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

It is God's plan that not all believers die at the hand of the Beast. That is why He must shorten the period of persecution yet still allow Satan and the Beast he empowers the full 42 months. Those Israelites who are hidden, protected and fed in the wilderness (Rev 12) will remain upon the earth through the 42 months, but those in Christ will be raptured away from the earth following the sun, moon, and stars going dark which announces Christ's arrival and continuing presence.

Mat 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

I believe the translation is as it should be.

Glory be unto Jesus Christ

[Diaste]

16 hours ago, Last Daze said:

Just something to consider because cutting short the great tribulation for the sake of those who were martyred as a result of it just doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

Me either. It would seem the act is the cutting short and it's for the sake of the prophecy to save some alive. That's the casual aspect, through cause of keeping the elect alive to fulfill, 'we are who alive and remain'.

[Last Daze]

19 hours ago, Steve Conley said:

Last Daze, in context, it is the days of unprecedented violent persecution (great tribulation) that are shortened for the sake of the elect. It is the elect who are being violently persecuted and killed. Jesus is saying that if He didn't come to provide salvation (deliverance, rescue) before the Beast's 42 months are complete no believer would be left alive upon the earth. The Beast is granted 42 months that He will prevail over the saints as seen in Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 13:5-7. However, the Beast's persecution of the elect (those that are Christ's) is over when Christ appears at His parousia, resurrects the dead in Christ, and catches up those of us who are alive and remain together with the resurrected unto Himself in the clouds.

Do you see "the elect" of Matt 24:22 as a reference to those who are Christ's?  Those who are made immortal at His return?

If so, then that includes saints from at least the first century onward depending on your understanding of what it means to be Christ's.  How is an early end to great tribulation of any benefit to all of the dead in Christ?  If you see "the elect" only as those in Christ who are alive and remain, what do you base that on?  There's nothing in the text that says that or indicates that such is the case.  It should say something like "for the sake of the remaining elect" to indicate a subset of those elect but it doesn't.

That's why "through the elect (2 witnesses and 144,000)" makes more sense to me.

[Last Daze]

10 hours ago, Diaste said:

Me either. It would seem the act is the cutting short and it's for the sake of the prophecy to save some alive. That's the casual aspect, through cause of keeping the elect alive to fulfill, 'we are who alive and remain'.

So, it should read "for the sake of fulfilling prophecy" those days are cut short?

[Diaste]

No. But not for the sake of the martyred, for the sake of the living elect in GT, in fulfillment of prophecy; for, "we who are alive and remain".

That's not quite right. The 5th seal martyrs ask for vengance. So, cut short for them also.

Edited November 26, 2018 by Diaste

[WilliamL]

Many things taken for granted in the above posts I believe are in error. Much of it has to do with a misunderstanding of when the 1260 days/3-1/2 times/42 months take place. Here is an excerpt from my latest post on the Prophecy Club forum.

 

In brief, Daniel 12:11 has been mistranslated, leading to this common but incorrect understanding, which I held myself:

"Daniel 12 is pretty explicit in its language that there are 1,290 days after the abomination is set up."

That is the understanding that follows from the standard translation. Here is the correct translation, with explanation:

Literal translation of Daniel 12:11-12

And from the time the daily/continual service has been caused to be taken away and/even to the placing of an abomination of desolation: 1290 days. Blessed/happy is the one who earnestly waits, and comes/attains to 1335 days.

“has been caused to be taken away”: Hophal Perfect 3ms of the verb סור [soor]. Hophal stems express causative action with a passive voice. Perfect tense means completed action (past, present, or future, here obviously being future).

“and/even”: the Hebrew conjunction vav, ו. It usually is translated “and,” but also can mean “but, or, even, yet, when.”

“to the”: ל This is the Hebrew preposition lamed, which means “to” or “for.” It has been omitted from the translations of nearly all versions of the Bible. Of the many versions I have consulted, it is found only in Youngʼs Literal Translation. Normally, this preposition would have a Shewa vowel pointing [ ְ  ] underneath; but in this case it has a Qamats [ ָ  ] underneath, which signifies that it includes within it the definite article “the,” the Hebrew letter ה . So this is to be read, “to the placing of an abomination of desolation…”

“placing”: This is the correct translation of the Infinitive Construct of the verb root נתן [naw-than´], which means “to give, put, place.” An infinitive is a verbal noun, here being “placing.” The standard translation – “is set up” – distorts the meaning of the verb and the phrase.

The addition of the preposition “to” significantly alters the understanding of the text. The standard translation is rather ambiguous about the relationship of the 1290 days to the two acts:

1) the ending of the daily religious ritual, and

2) the placing of an abomination of desolation. But the inclusion of the simple preposition “to” indicates that the first act begins the 1290 days, and the second act concludes the 1290 days: “from the time of the [removal] even to the abomination of desolation: 1290 days.”

The literal translation indicates that the 1290 days precede the Abomination of Desolation. In contrast, the 1260 days until “the end of these wonders,” during which period “the hand [power] of the holy people [shall be] completely shattered/scattered,” does not begin until their flight into the wilderness, which occurs after the Abomination of Desolation. Dan. 12:1; Matt. 24:15-16, 21

 

For the long explanation, see my last two blog posts, The 1290 and 1335 Days of Daniel 12:11-12,  and  The 1260 Days. Each is about 3 pages long. I strongly recommend that those interested in this topic print them out and study them out.

[Steve Conley]

On 11/26/2018 at 3:12 PM, Last Daze said:

Do you see "the elect" of Matt 24:22 as a reference to those who are Christ's?  Those who are made immortal at His return?

If so, then that includes saints from at least the first century onward depending on your understanding of what it means to be Christ's.  How is an early end to great tribulation of any benefit to all of the dead in Christ?  If you see "the elect" only as those in Christ who are alive and remain, what do you base that on?  There's nothing in the text that says that or indicates that such is the case.  It should say something like "for the sake of the remaining elect" to indicate a subset of those elect but it doesn't.

That's why "through the elect (2 witnesses and 144,000)" makes more sense to me.

Greetings to all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

Last Daze, in Matt 24 Jesus begins to provide details of the major sign of His coming (parousia) in verse 9. The sign is the unprecedented violent persecution of the elect. He continues describing it right up until He says it ends when the sun, moon, and stars go dark heralding His return in verses 29-30. This unprecedented persecution (great tribulation) begins with the abomination of desolation and will be focussed upon the elect. From Daniel, Paul, and John we know that the persecutor is the Beast and his followers. This time of great tribulation for the elect will be business as usual for those that follow the beast. They will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, buying and selling, planting and building while we are being persecuted unto death. We will be cut off from our respective societies, not being able to buy nor sell, and we will constantly be under threat of beheading, if caught, after refusing to worship the Beast and take his mark. Jesus said that those who endure to the end shall be saved. Paul said the church would find rest from persecution when Christ is revealed. Paul also said that not all believers would die physically, but that those who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord would be changed and caught up to be with Jesus. Daniel recorded that those people of God who will experience the unprecedented period of trouble, would be delivered out of it.

Clearly, not all the saints will be killed during the great tribulation. However, Jesus emphasizes the severity of it saying that if it was not shortened none of the elect would physically survive. The Beast's time of power is not shortened, just his ability to persecute the church. When we are raptured he cannot persecute any of us anymore.

Glory be unto Jesus Christ

Edited November 28, 2018 by Steve Conley

[Last Daze]

On 11/25/2018 at 6:03 PM, Steve Conley said:

The Beast is granted 42 months that He will prevail over the saints as seen in Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 13:5-7. However, the Beast's persecution of the elect (those that are Christ's) is over when Christ appears at His parousia, resurrects the dead in Christ, and catches up those of us who are alive and remain together with the resurrected unto Himself in the clouds.

How can the beast wage war for 42 months when there is no one left to wage war against?

If you agree that the 42 month duration is not shortened, and Christ comes for those who are His in the rapture before the end of the 42 months, then who is the beast waging war against for the duration?

That's why it makes more sense to me that the time of great persecution of the saints is shortened through the activities of the elect (2 witnesses, 144,000) rather than for the sake of the remaining elect (those who are Christ's) through the rapture.

8 hours ago, Steve Conley said:

The Beast's time of power is not shortened, just his ability to persecute the church. When we are raptured he cannot persecute any of us anymore.

If there's no one left to persecute, doesn't that effectively shorten the 42 month war against the saints?  No saints, no war.

[JustPassingThru]

Here's something else to think about...

With the increase of violence, the rapid decline of moral values, the absolute arrogance of so many that have to have it their way in these last days, just to mention a few, ...how about the "days being shortened" means that a second of time, which "we" use to measure time, is no longer the same value as it was 10, 20, 50 years ago, the time value of a day is shorter than we "experienced" before, those of you that are older, is not the time "passing" much more quickly than it did 50 years ago? 

Just my 2 cents, not saying it's correct, ...just thinking, the math is still the same, just the values of the numbers have been changed, did not Einstein say Time is Relative, ...nothing is impossible for God.