I have heard people say that it is a global tribulation because Jesus said “everyone will hate you because of me”.

Matthew 24:9

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.

Hence they say it’s way in the future.

I have always argued that Jesus was referring to the apostles as in “everyone will hate the apostles because of Jesus”. Hence its in the past.

I received a word from the Lord personally today. This is what he said.

I want us to note these verses first.

John 17:20-21

Jesus Prays for All Believers
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

You would note here John records for us Jesus’s prayer for all the believers. Notice the words “them alone” are actually referring to the apostles. The rest of the believers are referred to “those who believe through their message”.

So he could not have been talking about all believers when he said this and he said this before he turned to pray for the other believers in verse 21. Let’s look at the verses before that.

John 17:14
I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

“The world has hated them”. This “them” therefore could only mean the apostles. It’s not a world wide tribulation.

The word “world” here does not mean the whole world but the system. That’s what “I am not of the world” means.

It’s AD70. That’s when the end of the “world” happened.
~Simon Yap