Re: Birth Pangs Update. I’m not sure whether Jack Kelley is still around, but I have a question about the way he presents a view that Rev. 6:12, with the moon turning red and the sun going black, represents the beginning of Daniel’s 70th Week, while the stars falling from heaven per Mt. 24:29 marks its end. What about the stars falling from heaven in Rev. 6:13? How can these events be viewed as separated in time when they are mentioned in consecutive verses as a direct consequence of the opening of the Sixth Seal, and why was the subsequent verse 13 not mentioned in Kelley’s commentary?
Yes, I’m still around. There are two reason these passages can’t be pointing to the same event. First, while both events include falling stars, in Rev. 6:12 John said the sun will turn black and the moon will turn red like blood. In Matt. 24:29 Jesus said both the sun and moon will stop giving their light altogether. My focus was on the mention of the sun and moon in these passages, not on falling stars.
Second, Rev. 6:12 takes place near the beginning of Daniel’s 70th Week and Matt. 24:29 comes after the end of the Great Tribulation, at the end of Daniel’s 70th Week, just before the 2nd Coming.
Some pre-wrath rapture believers try to say the Great Tribulation occurs only during the Seal judgments, but in Matt. 24:15-21 Jesus said the Great Tribulation won’t begin until people see the Abomination of Desolation in the Holy Place.
In Rev. 11:1 John said people will still be worshiping in the Temple. That means the Great Tribulation cannot have begun yet because Daniel 9:27 tells us the anti-Christ will put an end to sacrifice and offerings in the middle of the 70th Week and will set up the Abomination of Desolation then. The Great Tribulation will begin on Earth in Rev. 13, after Satan has been cast to Earth.