How do the two halves of the Tribulation compare?
The seven-year Tribulation is divided into two equal halves of three and a half years, or forty-two months each. The first half will be bad enough, but it is not the wrath and vexation; the last three and a half years are far more severe.
Les teaches that this seven-year period is Daniel's 70th week, also called the time of wrath and vexation, or primarily the Tribulation. It opens when the Antichrist signs the seven-year treaty with Israel, as shown in Daniel chapter 9, and that signing begins the opening of the seals. The first three and a half years are not so much the wrath and vexation as the last three and a half. They will be bad enough, but they will be nothing like the last three and a half. All through Scripture this seven years is always divided three and a half and three and a half—forty-two months and forty-two months. Thus the halves are equal in length, but the second half is far more severe.