What event starts the Tribulation?
According to Daniel’s prophecy, the Tribulation starts when the Antichrist signs a seven-year treaty with Israel. That covenant inaugurates Daniel’s 70th week, a seven-year period also called the time of wrath and vexation. The signing opens the seal judgments, with the final three and a half years being far worse than the first.
Les explains that this final seven years, Daniel’s 70th week, is primarily the Tribulation. It opens when the Antichrist signs the seven-year treaty with Israel, as shown from Daniel chapter 9. That signing begins the opening of the seals. Les notes the first three and a half years are bad enough, but they will be nothing like the last three and a half. All through Scripture, this seven years is divided three and a half and three and a half, forty-two months and forty-two months. Revelation’s sequence includes seals, trumpets, bowls, persons, and woes.