Q/Comment
In reaction to your Prophetic Language web page at http://www.endtimesmadness.com/PropheticLanguage.html
I disagree. It is written that Christ returns immediately after the tribulation and since Christ has not returned then the tribulation did not occur. The tribulation is a future event as well as the return of Christ.
A
You have to know your Hebrew idioms (figures of speech, expressions, etc.). Jesus specifically says that people who were alive at the very moment He was doing His three-year ministry would not die until He "came on the clouds of heaven." Now, the "coming on the clouds of heaven" does not mean Jesus is literally going to ride in on a cloud. It's an ancient Hebrew expression meaning that God is going to come in divine judgment (sometimes used to refer to judgment upon God's own people, specifically the wicked). Jesus made two bold statements when He said He was going to be the one "coming on the clouds of heaven" when He stated this to the Sanhedrin. First, Jesus was telling the Sanhedrin (the Jewish priests who denied He was the Messiah) that because He would be the one coming on the clouds, that He was God. Second, by referring to the "clouds of heaven" figure of speech, He was telling them, "I will be coming in judgment." I suppose a proper modern-day phrasing would be, "there's gonna be a storm coming."
So, for the sake of my argument, let's take the presupposition that the tribulation was indeed instigated during that 42 month persecution under Nero. Suspend your disbelief for a moment, and just for a moment think "the 42 month persecution happened from 65-68 AD." You say that for that to be true, Jesus would need to make His return (or at least a return) soon after. I also showed above that Jesus wasn't literally saying, "I am going to ride in on a cloud," but rather, "As God I am going to bring forth judgment." However, just as God brought judgment upon His own people, the unrepentent sinners in the past (such as the Babylonians destroying Jerusalem as tools of God's judgment), that's what Jesus is saying also. In that case, the 42 month persecution happened about 65-68 AD. Jesus' "coming on the clouds" (divine judgment) took place between 68-70 AD, and just as God used the Babylonian armies as His tools for judgment to destroy Jerusalem and the temple, so did God use the Roman armies as His tools for judgment to destroy Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. I would definitely say that that is "soon after."
