7 Years of Plenty Followed by 7 Years of Famine

Famine in the Hebrew Scriptures is symbolic of the Tribulation

Famine, especially a seven year famine is a prophetic type of the seven year Tribulation period that will immediately precede the coming of Christ. But Pharaoh’s dream has another aspect that is not precisely detailed in any other biblical description of the Tribulation: seven years of abundant harvest. But will there be seven years of abundance that will precede the Tribulation period of the Last Days? I say yes.

The seven years of good harvest in Pharaoh’s dream allowed Joseph to save and prepare for the seven years of famine. If there is to be seven years of abundance just before the Tribulation, it is obviously to be a time of preparation, a period of grace to prepare the saints for the terrible events to come.

Seven years of abundance

But is this time of abundance to be a spiritual period of abundance, a great opportunity for evangelism, discipleship, and church growth, or primarily an economic boom? The answer may be both. Today the world is more open to preaching of the Good News of Christ than at any other time in history. There is also a broad prosperity and a cultural similarity around the world that is unprecedented in history. Radio, TV, Internet and cell phones have made communicating the Gospel almost ubiquitous. Advanced, mechanized agricultural techniques have created an abundance of food in most countries of the world. Even China, which many academic “experts” predicted could not possibly feed their billion plus population, can easily feed their growing numbers under capitalism, even though millions starved to death there under socialism just decades before.

We can probably expect that the seven years of plenty prophesied in Pharaoh’s dream may include both an unprecedented numbers of people coming to Christ as well as an opportunity to strategically prepare for the famine and other dangerous aspects of the Tribulation. It may be a seven year period of grace that the Lord will give the Church and Israel to prepare, while the carnal world remains oblivious to, “the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”Revelation 3:10.

Food will be the currency of the Tribulation

Some may save millions of dollars in banks and investments or hoard millions in gold, but they will be worth little if food cannot be bought at any price. “A quart of wheat for a day’s wage… and do not damage the oil and the wine,” is declared at the opening of the third seal in Revelation 6:6.

The average day’s wage in a western country is about $150 a say. A single farm truck full of some 200 bushels of wheat will be worth about a million dollars during the Tribulation. The average person will work all day just to make enough to have something to eat that day; the bare subsistence of a socialist economy. Like Stalin did in the Ukraine, the world will be starved into submission.

Walk into any supermarket today and it is hard to imagine with all the shelves stuffed with every conceivable type and variety of food product, a world where just the bare essentials: bread, wine, and oil will be hard to come by. But the third seal of famine comes on heels of the second seal of war. The devastating war at the beginning of the Tribulation will destroy much of the manufacturing, agricultural, and distribution infrastructures in the world. America will be no exception. Our isolation as a land mass will not protect us this time. Either a civil war, the takeover by a socialist tyranny, or an outright defeat in a world war will ruin our ability to produce food for the third most populous nation in the world. Even today, radical governments like Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea are making evil alliances against the U.S. and Israel, working to bring about our destruction just as the Nazis, Fascists and Japanese did during World War II, and the Marxists did during the cold war. Our enemies within are also endlessly scheming to criminalize Christianity and replace our democratic government with an anti-Christian totalitarian socialist regime.


Biblical principals of obedient preparation

• Joseph was given 7 years of plenty to prepare for the 7 year famine. He stored up 20% of all of Egypt’s abundant harvest for 7 years against the 7 years of prophesied famine.
• Noah was warned to prepare food and enter the ark 7 days before the flood began.
• Rahab was warned 7 days before the 7 day battle of Jericho to make plans to save her family.
• The Shunnamite woman was warned by Elisha of an immanent 7 year famine.
• Israel was promised abundant crops before the land was rested on the Sabbatical Year.

By instruction only
These types of preparation were to be made only at specific times and only under specific instruction by the Lord. Hoarding food and wealth in normal times as a substitute for trusting God is clearly condemned in the Scriptures.


Using the seven years of plenty to prepare for the Tribulation

We can look back in American history and see other boom times: the roaring twenties, the post-war boom of the fifties, and the tech boom of the nineties. Many people used these prosperous times to borrow money and buy things they didn’t really need like big houses and expensive cars, as if the prosperity would last forever. The world will likely do much the same thing as this last period of economic good times occurs. But the believer who is familiar with the prophetic Scriptures should use it to prepare for the world-shattering events predicted to take place during the seven year Tribulation.


Basic preparation in the seven years before the Tribulation
1. Receive Christ through faith, become born-again, and have assurance of salvation
2. Continue in Bible study, prayer, evangelism and fellowship with other believers
3. Use 20% of your income each of the seven years to store food; think tons, not pounds
4. Strive for financial independence; favor gold, silver and trade goods over paper currency
5. Buy land with a reliable water supply to grow all your own food
6. Become skilled at self-sustained living; growing food, making fuel and electricity
7.. Become knowledgeable about first aid, medical emergencies, and disease control
8. Be prepared for wars, famines, disasters, pestilences, persecution and rampant crime
9. Make contingency plans for moving quickly to another location if your family is in danger

Strategic Preparation

Preparing for the Tribulation strategically may be even more important than preparing food and supplies. What would the Jews of Europe had done if they had known what Hitler and the Nazis were planning? First they would have warned each other, then they would have probably left the countries the Nazis took over. During the Tribulation there will undoubtedly be places that will be safer than others. Understanding that the political powers of the world will weave a web of lies and deceit in order to destroy all opposition will be important to staying out of situations that will mean certain death. Don’t let yourself be manipulated, fooled, or led into vulnerable situations where you have no control over what happens to you and your family.

Spiritual Preparation

Being born again, having a close relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, having assurance of salvation; and developing a strong faith, an effective prayer life, involvement in evangelism, and a good grasp of the Scriptures will be essential to endurance and fruitfulness during the challenging years of the Tribulation. It will be a time of great deception, with intense pressure to capitulate to the apostasy that so many churches will succumb to. Many Christians today are being led astray by the false teaching of an invisible, pre-Tribulation Coming. There are two clear warning in the Scripture about this: Matthew 24:25-27 and II Thessalonians 2:1-4. The Lord gave us a very comprehensive description of the Last Days with specific instructions to follow, to help us stay strong in faith and resist the deceptions and dangers we will encounter. Knowing and heeding His prophetic Word will prove to be the key to prospering spiritually in the darkest days of history.

Instructions to the Tribulation Church, “Behold, I have forewarned you.”

We can list specific verses of Scripture to instruct the Elect during the Tribulation
1. “See to it that no one misleads you.” Many false prophets and teachers will come in His name to mislead many. Matthew 24:4
2. “They will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name...Many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another...But the one who endures to the end will be saved (physically by the Rapture).” Matthew 24:9,13, 16
3. “When you see the Abomination of Desolation ...standing in the Holy Place...then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.” Jews in Israel should flee. Matthew 24:15-22.
4. The coming of the Son of Man will be like the lightning that flashes in the east and is seen in the west and “Every eye will see Him,” not just believers. Reject those who teach an invisible or secret return of Christ. Matthew 24: 27, Revelation 1:7.
5. “But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:36.

Caution about getting involved with Apocalyptic groups

There are a lot of Post-Tribulation and End of Days groups who claim to be Christian or Evangelical but many push some very erroneous teachings and practices. Some of them are even dangerous. When dealing with any ministry, group, or individual who claims to be Christian, make sure to get a clear statement of their teachings and beliefs and make sure it spells out sound Evangelical doctrine. Groups that push legalism and denial of eternal security seem to be common among Post-Tribulation adherents. Avoid all racist, anti-Semitic, authoritarian and para-military type organizations, especially those that condone violence or criminal activity. Avoid any person or group that claims to have some exclusive insight, authority, anointing, prophetic office or only true Church claim. Some groups that check out doctrinally can still have some very harmful personalities or practices among them. For an good example of a statement of faith see Shared Beliefs.


Dates for the Tribulation and Second Coming

• 2016 summer : Beginning of the 7 years of plenty

• 2023 summer: Birth pains begin, First Seal opened, 7 year Tribulation begins

• 2026 winter: Abomination of Desolation, beginning of the “Great” Tribulation

• 2030 SUMMER: APPEARANCE OF CHRIST AND THE RAPTURE

• 2030 fall: Second Coming of Christ (permanent) to restore Israel

Also read: 2030 and the Second Coming

See the Chart: Timeline of the Last Days According to a 2,000 Year Church Age


Summary

There is good Biblical reason to believe that the Tribulation will be preceded by a seven year period of plenty. The seven years of plenty that preceded the seven years of famine in the story of Joseph, as well as other instances of instructions to prepare for impending tribulation type events in the Hebrew Scriptures all establish a biblical principal of a period of preparation according to Divine Instruction. The Lord Jesus pointedly stated “Behold, I have forewarned you,” so the Church, as well as every believer, should consider themselves under His clear instruction to be alert, informed, prepared and prayerful about exactly that which will transpire during the Tribulation so, “...that you may have strength to escape all these things that are

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