Why do we think there are 7 years of tribulation when there are 3.5?

I really enjoyed this article.  It was very clear.

http://www.whitehorsemedia.com/articles/?d=46

Part 2 is linked at the bottom of the page.

Agreement for peace for  7 yrs ... But with all the "peace and safety in UN agreements" has some of these years already gone by without notice?
Peraonally I feel the war may be as close as a month away.. The fomenting of unrest in Ukraine continues via mercenaries. So does the peace agreement happen just after this small one, late my for war? Fails early on cause of elite infighting then the big one??
Sorry for the double post, went to edit and ended up with 2 due to tablet.. Now I find that the Option button used to delete is no recognized .. So much for deck use!

Agreement for peace for 7 yrs ... But with all the "peace and safety in UN agreements" has some of these years already gone by without notice?
Peraonally I feel the war may be as close as a month away.. The fomenting of unrest in Ukraine continues via mercenaries. So does the peace agreement happen just after this small one, late may for war? Fails early on cause of elite infighting then the big one??

I am thinking any time after Passover. It feels like things are accelerating.

These are good articles, Sixminks.  Thank you for putting them up.

Part 2 clearly brings out many excellent points refuting the 7 year theory that so many - most Christians, in fact - believe. It is a sad commentary on how many actually read the Bible for themselves and study it. Another one is in Matthew 24 when Jesus tells us when we will be gathered or "raptured"

²⁹ 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:
³⁰ 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.
³¹ 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.


I'll tell you this about me. It took me about 40 years to trust Jesus enough and disbelieve Bible scholars who put forth the pre-tribulation rapture to go with His word. I WANTED to be taken out before times got hard, that was my weakness and fear, so I went with the "Bible scholars" and their assessment and put what Jesus said on the back burner of my mind because surely these learned scholars knew more than I, a simple person, knew. I am older and wiser and read for myself these days. No where, NO WHERE, have I found any evidence of 7 years only 42 months and 1260, 1290, 1335 days. (Another day for the discussion of what happens when these days are years and the exact fulfillment that demonstrates). God is amazingly wonderful!


Thank you for the link, I have bookmarked the site and copied some key points down I want to remember.

rev11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

so, these 2 guys witness 3.5 yrs, correct ? are we @ the end of judgment, no. 

rev12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

cause there is still a time, and times +1/2 a time, using scripture, only, looks like 7 yrs...

If the 2 witness are 2 actual men put here to roam around in sackcloth, then I really don't know. They seem to have a 3.5 year ministry. I've seen an analysis that says they are essentially the Jews and the Christians witnessing to an unsaved world but that doesn't address the power to withhold rain and other powers they have. I don't know, good point to bring out, murray leslie. By my accounting they should be appearing any day now. I have a little theory:

Jesus will show up on a Day of Atonement. A 70 year generation from May 1948 leaves us with the last possible Day of Atonement to be the one on September 30, 2017. Subtract 1260 days from September 30, 2017 and you come to April 19, 2014 to begin the 3.5 year tribulation. How will we know it begins? My current opinion is a person will stand up representing the revived Islamic Caliphate out of Turkey and declare... something.

That is my current best guess on the world scene. Been wrong a bunch of times but keep on getting excited to see this show get on the road and have it culminate with YAHshua Jesus arriving back here to set all things right. I am ever so thrilled to know it is all so close then I alternate with fear so many are not saved then I go back to utter joy at the nearness of His arrival; back and forth on this emotional rollercoaster. I am praying for wisdom on these matters - I don't want to miss a thing! I want to be "boots on the ground" for Him and want to hear Him say to me, "well done my child."

Here is part 2 that really speaks to the heart of the matter. I hope it is okay to post it all here, Fair Use and all:

Tribulation Talks
7 Years of Tribulation? Part 2
by Steve Wohlberg

Prophecy-minded Christians all over Planet Earth often engage in a fierce debate about whether Jesus Christ will return for His Church before the seven years of tribulation (the “pre-trib” view), in the midst of the seven years (the “mid-trib” view), or at the end of the seven years (the “post-trib” view). Yet by far the most explosive question few seem to be asking is: Is an end-time "seven-year period of tribulation" really taught in the Bible in the first place?

In 1945, after months of agonizing deliberation, U.S. President Harry Truman finally issued orders to drop two atomic bombs upon Japan in an attempt to end World War II. On August 6, the “Little Boy” fell on Hiroshima. Three days later, the “Fat Man” was released over Nagasaki. Approximately 130,000 people were instantly vaporized. Many heated discussions have occurred as to whether or not it was the right thing to drop those bombs. One thing’s for sure, in the minds of those who made that fearful decision, they believed it was for the ultimate good of America.

Dear friend, it is for the benefit of Christians everywhere that God’s bomb of truth should now be released over what I have come to call, “The 70th week of Daniel Delusion.”

As we have seen, the entire 7-year theory is based on Daniel 9:27, which says:

Quote :

He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease… (Daniel 9:27 KJV ).

This may shock you, but historically, the vast majority of well-respected Bible scholars have not applied Daniel 9:27 to a seven-year period of tribulation at all. Neither have they interpreted the “he” as referring to a future antichrist (as many do today) . Instead, they applied it to Jesus Christ.



Notice what the world-famous Bible commentary written by Matthew Henry says about Daniel 9:27: “By offering himself a sacrifice once and for all he [Jesus] shall put an end to all the Levitical sacrifices.”(1) T hus Matthew Henry applied Daniel 9:27 to Christ, not antichrist. Another famous commentary written by British Methodist Adam Clarke says that during Daniel 9:27’s “term of seven years,” Jesus Himself would “confirm or ratify the new covenant with mankind.”(2) A nother dusty Bible commentary reveals: “He shall confirm the covenant—Christ. The confirmation of the covenant is assigned to Him." (3)
Here’s one more statement from a book called, Christ and Antichrist, published in 1846 by the Presbyterian Board of Publication in Philadelphia. On page 2, under Recommendations, are endorsements from many Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist ministers, including an official representative of the Southern Baptist Convention. (4) Commenting on the final week of Daniel 9:27, that ancient volume states:

Quote :

…sometime during the remaining seven, he [the Messiah] was to die as a sacrifice for sin, and thus bring in “everlasting righteousness.” Here are allusions to events so palpable, that one would think, the people among whom they occurred, could not possibly have misapplied the prophecy. (5)

Okay, here we go. The following ten points provide logical and convincing evidence that Daniel’s famous 70th week has no application to any future seven-year tribulation at all. Rather, this great prophetic period was definitely fulfilled nearly two thousand years ago.

1. The entire prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 covers a period of “seventy weeks,” or 490 years. Logic requires that “seventy weeks” refers to one consecutive block of time, in other words, to seventy straight sequential weeks. There is no example in Scripture (or anywhere else!) of a stated time period starting, stopping, and then starting again. All biblical references to time are consecutive: 40 days and 40 nights (see Genesis 7:4), 400 years in Egypt (see Genesis 15:13), 70 years of captivity (see Daniel 9:2), etc. In Daniel’s prophecy, the “seventy weeks” were to begin during the reign of Persia and continue to the time of the Messiah.
   
2. Logic also requires that the 70th week follow immediately after the 69th week. If it doesn’t, then it cannot properly be called the 70th week!
   
3. It is illogical to insert a 2,000-year gap between the 69th and 70th week. No hint of a gap is found in the prophecy itself. There is no gap between the first seven weeks and the following sixty-two weeks, so why insert one between the 69th and 70th week?
   Note: If you told your child to be in bed in 70 minutes, you obviously would mean 70 consecutive minutes. What if five hours later your fully awake son said, “But dad, I know 69 minutes have passed, but the 70th minute hasn’t started yet!”? After receiving an appropriate punishment, he would be swiftly sent to bed.
   
4. Daniel 9:27 says nothing about a seven-year period of “tribulation,” a “rebuilt” Jewish temple, or any “antichrist.”
   
5. The stated focus of this prophecy is the Messiah, not the antichrist. After the Messiah is “cut off” (referring to Christ’s death), the text says, “And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.” I n the past, this has been consistently applied to the destruction of Jerusalem and the second temple by Roman armies led by Prince Titus in A.D. 70. 11
   
6. “He shall confirm the covenant.” Paul said “the covenant” was “confirmed before by God in Christ” (Galatians 3:17). Jesus Christ came “to confirm the promises made to the fathers” (Romans 15:8, emphasis added). In the King James Version, Daniel 9:27 doesn’t say “ a covenant” or peace treaty, but “ the covenant,” which applies to the New Covenant. Nowhere in the Bible does the antichrist make, confirm, or break a covenant with anyone. The word “covenant” is Messianic, and always applies to the Messiah, not the antichrist.
   
7. “He shall confirm the covenant with many. ” Jesus Christ said, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many… ” (Matthew 26:28). Behold a perfect fit! Jesus was quoting Daniel 9:27 specifically.
   
8. “In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” After exactly three and a half years of holy ministry, Jesus Christ died on the cross, “in the midst of the week [in the middle of the seven years].” At the exact moment of His death, “the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom…” (Matthew 27:51). This act of God signified that all animal sacrifices at that moment ceased to be of value. Why? Because the Perfect Sacrifice had been offered!
   
9. “For the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate.” “The abomination of desolation” (see Matthew 24:15) is not a simple subject, yet we know that Jesus clearly applied this event to the time when His followers were to flee from Jerusalem before the destruction of the second temple in A.D. 70. In a parallel text to Matthew 24:15, Jesus told His disciples, “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies [Roman armies led by Prince Titus], then know that its desolation is near ” (Luke 21:20, emphasis added). The disciples did “see” those very events. Because of the “abominations” of the Pharisees, Jesus told them, “See! Your house is left to you desolate” (Matthew 23:38). Thus Gabriel’s statement in Daniel 9:27 about Jerusalem becoming “desolate” was perfectly fulfilled in A.D. 70.
   
10. Gabriel said that the 70-week prophecy specifically applied to the Jewish people (see Daniel 9:24). During the period of Christ’s public ministry of 3 1 / 2 years, the Master’s focus was largely upon “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:6). After His resurrection and then for another 3 1/2 years, His disciples preached mostly to Jews (see Acts 1-6). After that second 3 1/2 -year period, in 34 A.D., the bold Stephen was stoned by the Jewish Sanhedrin (see Acts 7). This infamous deed marked the then-ruling Jewish leaders’ final, official rejection of the gospel of our Savior. Then the gospel went to the Gentiles. In Acts 9, Saul became Paul, the “apostle to the Gentiles” (Romans 11:13). In Acts 10, God gave Peter a vision revealing it was now time to preach to the Gentiles (see Acts 10:1-28). Read also Acts 13:46. Thus approximately 3 1/2 years after the crucifixion— and at the end of the 70-week prophecy given f or the Jewish people—the gospel shifted to the Gentiles exactly as predicted in Bible prophecy.
    

The explosive evidence is overwhelming! Point by point the events of Daniel’s 70th week have been fulfilled in the past. These eight words found in Daniel 9:27: “confirm…covenant…many…midst…sacrifice…cease… abominations…desolate” all find perfect fulfillment in Jesus Christ and early Christian history.

In the words of that 1846 Presbyterian publication,

Quote :

The seventy weeks of Daniel therefore, have certainly ended many centuries ago. We are not to look to the future for the fulfillment of these predictions. We must look to the past. And if to the past; where is there one who can have any adequate claims to being the subject of these prophecies, but Jesus? He, and he only can claim them; and to him they most certainly refer. (7)

Quote :

…one would think, the people [the Jews] among whom [these events] occurred, could not possibly have misapplied the prophecy. (

But they did. In fact, one major reason why the Jewish nation as a whole failed to receive its Messiah was because its scholars misinterpreted Daniel 9:27. They failed to see Jesus Christ as the predicted One who would die in the midst of the 70th week! Amazingly, the exact same thing is happening today. Sincere Christian scholars are now misapplying the very same prophecy.

The entire “seven-year period of tribulation” theory is an end time delusion, a massive mega-myth. It may even go down in history as the greatest evangelical misinterpretation of all time. The whole concept is like a gigantic bubble. Once Daniel 9:27 is correctly understood and the sharply-pointed pin of truth is inserted, “Pop goes the seven years!” It’s a fact: There is no text in the Bible which teaches a “seven-year tribulation.” If you hunt for it, you’ll end up like Ponce de Leon searching for the mystical Fountain of Youth, but never finding it.

The current debate and tremendous confusion over pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib is really a smoke screen of the enemy to hide the real issue. What is the real issue? We’ll find out when we study what the Book of Revelation truly teaches about Israel, Babylon the Great, and Armageddon.

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7 years is correct,the last half is called the "great" tribulation

right now,and during the first half of the 7 year tribulation....the devil can go into heaven and accuse the brethren.....but in the middle of this period,satan is cast down to earth and cannot go into heaven and accuse the brethren....and he has great wrath...and sets the mark of the beast into motion to destroy people

it doesn't matter how many peace treaties are made....only the one that's made when the two witnesses come to earth is the 7 year treaty the Word tells us that starts the 7 year tribulation time....these two witnesses destroy people who oppose them by fire out of there mouths....then when satan is cast down in the middle of this 7 year tribulation/peace treaty period....satan kills them,and they lay in the streets for 3 days...then God says out loud for all earth's population to hear...."come up hither".....now a great fear comes over all those who do not believe in the Word....now begins the last half of 7 years

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I mean no disrespect to any of God's kids.  I have been a student of the end times for 30 years.  I have read and reread Daniel 9:27 and I know that I know that I have been shown there is no 7 years of tribulation.  There is a peace treaty that is a  seven year agreement but it will not last.  this treaty is not the "new covenant" ushered in by Jesus; not the covenant mentioned in Daniel 9:27.  I pray that like some other teachings we have been fed that God would open all the Watcher web site members' eyes to not think we know it all.  Remember the book of Daniel will be "opened" in the end times.  We will begin to understand.  So keep your mind and eyes open for a new clarity.

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Ive been a vessel of the Holy Ghost for 30 years and 4 months.....and counting