The Shortened Days
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.” Matthew 24:21-22
The tribulation is a future seven-year period of time when God will finish His discipline of Israel and finalize His judgment of the unbelieving world. It will be a time of trouble on the earth as never seen before. This time is divided in half; the first half of the tribulation shall be full of trouble ending with the entrance of the Antichrist. The second half known as the Great Tribulation will be a time of trouble as never seen before.
“And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” Jeremiah 30:4-11
Israel will experience the first half of the tribulation, afterward they will be taken to a wilderness place that God has prepared for them. While the Antichrist prepares to stands in the holy place (abomination desolation Matt 24:15).
“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.” Matthew 24:31
To be even more specific, when Jesus refers to “the elect” in this text, He is specifically speaking of Israel, his elect people, so that when He refers to gathering the elect from the four winds, He is referring to gathering His people Israel to a wilderness place from the four corners of the earth.
“And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:” Ezekiel 20:35-37
God does not sovereignly control the beliefs and behaviors of the elect, because of their free will; since they might be deceived by the false teaching of these last days, He intervenes to cut those days short.
“But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matthew 24:13
It is also important to understand that when Jesus speaks about being “saved” in this passage He is not referring to justification or receiving eternal life, but to being delivered from death in this time of tribulation. The salvation in Matthew 24 is not about going to heaven but it's about deliverance from physical death during times of tribulation and taken to a wilderness place.
“Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:” Jeremiah 30:7-8
“Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.” Jeremiah 16:14-15
In the Olivet Discourse Jesus tells us that the “Great Tribulation” will begin when we see the abomination that causes desolation. The abomination that causes desolation is the event that occurs when the Antichrist sets himself up in the temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Jesus then describes what will happen during the Great Tribulation, and if that time were not cut short, no one would survive.
“And 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, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Daniel 9:27
From the prophet Daniel, we learn that during this period the saints will be oppressed for “a time, times and half a time” (31⁄2 years) – which is the full span of the Great Tribulation.
“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” Revelation 13:5-7
Is Jesus implying that if the children of Israel were not gathered and moved to a safe place in the wilderness before the end of the 31⁄2 years of persecution “no one would survive.”
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
We mustn’t confuse the gathering with the second coming. The second coming is when Christ shall set up His kingdom on the earth. The gathering is when he shall shorten the day and remove Israel, His chosen people, to a wilderness place during the time of the Great Tribulation.
So let’s review: From the prophet Daniel, we learn that during this period the saints will be oppressed for “a time, times and half a time” (3 1⁄2 years) – which is the full span of the Great Tribulation. He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time (Daniel 7:25). Daniel also indicates that from the “abomination that causes desolation, in the “the middle of the seven” – “until the end” there will be (3 1⁄2 years). This again is the full time of the Great Tribulation.
The scripture indicates in several places that the Great Tribulation will last (3 1⁄2 years) – “a time, times and half a time,” “1,260 days” “forty-two months” and from “in the middle of the seven.” Since we know all Scripture is true, we must find an interpretation in which the persecution will last the full 3 1⁄2 years and also what Christ means that “those days will be shortened.”
When Jesus said, “for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened,” he was expressing that he would remove Israel from the midst of this trouble. Remember according to his word in (Matthew 15:21) I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.” Matthew 24:21-22
The first half of the tribulation will be consumed with war, disease, and persecution for everyone on the earth, but it shall pale in comparison to the second half. Throughout this time one-third of the vegetation will burn, all the sea creatures will die, a third of mankind will die in war, and a great earthquake will shake the world around the same time that hundred- pound hailstones fall to earth (Revelation 8:1–9:21; 16:1–21). In the end, all the armies of the earth will join to fight Jesus as He returns to earth (Matthew 24:30; Revelation 19:11–21). Jesus will destroy everyone who doesn't follow Him.
God established in prophecy that the tribulation will last seven years and the Great Tribulation or "wrath of God," will be the last three and a half years of this period (Daniel 9:27). This passage doesn't mean that He will cut those years short, but that He will remove Israel to a safe place in the wilderness. Those who survive the tribulation—"the elect"—will live in the millennial kingdom with the resurrected and they shall receive glorified bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18; 1 Corinthians 15:21–23; 51–53; Revelation 20:4–6).
The people with glorified bodies will neither die nor sin, but the survivors of the tribulation will be as mortal and human as we are now. They will marry, have families, and die. Although Jesus will reign from Jerusalem, the survivors' children and grandchildren will still have a choice whether to accept Him as their Savior, or not.
After a thousand years, many of the descendants of these tribulation saints will have rejected Jesus. When Satan is released from the abyss, he will build an army to fight against Jesus one more time. The short battle will result in Satan being thrown into the lake of fire forever (Revelation 20:10) and his human followers facing the great white throne judgment where they, too, will be sentenced to hell (Revelation 20:11–15).