Great Tribulation

In Christian eschatology, the great tribulation (Greek: θλίψις μεγάλη, thlipsis megalē) is a period mentioned by Jesus in the Olivet discourse as a sign that would occur in the time of the end. At Revelation 7:14, "the great tribulation" (Greek: τῆς θλίψεως τῆς μεγάλης, literally, "the tribulation, the great one") is used to indicate the period spoken of by Jesus. Matthew 24: 21, 29 uses tribulation (θλίβω) in a context denoting afflictions of those hard-pressed by siege and the calamities of war.

In the futurist view of Christian eschatology, the Tribulation is a relatively short period of time where everyone will experience worldwide hardships, disasters, famine, war, pain, and suffering, which will wipe out more than 75% of all life on the earth before the Second Coming takes place. Some Pretribulationists believe that those who choose to follow God, will be raptured before the tribulation, and thus escape it.

According to Dispensationalists who hold the futurist view, the Tribulation is thought to occur before the Second Coming of Jesus and during the End Times. In this view the Tribulation will last seven prophetic Hebrew years (lasting 360 days each) in all but the Great Tribulation will be the second half of the Tribulation period (see Matt 24:15 and Matt 24:21 showing the Great Tribulation is after the Abomination of Desolation, which marks the midpoint of the Tribulation).

In this view, this seven-year period is considered to be the final week of Daniel's Prophecy of Seventy Weeks, found in Daniel chapter 9. It is theorized that each week represents seven years, with the timetable beginning from Artaxerxes' order to rebuild the Second Temple in Jerusalem. After seven weeks and 62 weeks, the prophecy says that the messiah will be "cut off", which is taken to correspond to the death of Christ. This is seen as creating a break of indeterminate length in the timeline, with one week remaining to be fulfilled.

...
Wikipedia