Cold Steel and Fisherman,
How often do you pray that your flight not be in winter?
How about not on a Sabbath?
Are you taking precautions so that you/your wife won't get pregnant?
What mountains have you decided to run to?
The
synoptics support that the tribulation Jesus spoke about would be a
local event that would be experienced by the generation then living.
Mat
24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation,
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand
in the holy place,
(whoso readeth, let him understand
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the
mountains:
Mark 13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of
desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing
where it ought not,
(let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea
flee to the mountains:
Luke 21:20 And when ye shall see
Jerusalem
compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let
them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that
are in the countries enter thereinto. 22 For these be the days of
vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled in the
holy place. 23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
Albert
Barnes comments:
"Standing in the holy place - Mark says, standing where it ought
not,” meaning the same thing. All Jerusalem was esteemed “holy,”
Mat_4:5. The meaning of this is, when you see the Roman armies
standing in the holy city or encamped around the temple, or the Roman
ensigns or standards in the temple."
Very little is
ascribed the word holy
in the gospels. God, Jesus, the city and it's temple uniquely
qualify. God's holy presence in the temple remained until the death
of Christ, when the temple veil was ripped from top to bottom (i.e.
from above) exposing the fact that God's holy presence was removed
and the temple desolate as Jesus ominous prophetic pronouncement
indicated. (see Matthew 23:38)This act of God symbolized the
permanent removal of God's presence accompanying the nations
rejection of their messiah; Israel's greatest loss made this the
worst unrepeatabe disaster possible for Israel. The complete physical
destruction of the holy temple (as a witness to the nations) ratified
this divine rejection for the entire world to see for all time... to
which the Dome of the Rock and the wailing wall continue to
attest.
The great tribulation being a one-time,non-repeatable
event in history; a fairly local event affecting the Jews (this people) in and around Jerusalem
and ultimately leading to their death or dispersion
among the nations.
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the
mountains: