The Great Tribulation
While this title has been popularized
during the past century and a half by the pre-tribulation rapture theory, which
also tagged it with the traditional 3-1/2 year time period, the fact of the
matter remains, the Bible does not explicitly indicate an exact length of time
for ‘the tribulation, the great one’ as stated in the Greek text of Revelation
7:14. This is the only place in the Scripture where the article translated ‘the’ appears before the words ‘great tribulation’. In this passage the
elder uses the article because he is looking back upon the completed time
period called ‘The great tribulation’.
The Lord Jesus refers to this time of
great tribulation in Matthew 24:21 pointing out that it will be ‘Shortened’ or literally cut off ‘For the elect’s sake’, with the elect
here referring to the saints as the elect are referred to again on two other
occasions in this passage (v.24, 31). The word in the verb form translated ‘tribulation’ was used by those before
the time of the Lord Jesus Christ, to mean ‘to press’ (as grapes), which was
‘allied with affliction’ [Thayer’s Lexicon]. The Lord used it in Matthew 3:9
where it is translated ‘throng’
indicating the activity of pressure from the multitude that ‘Heard what great things He did, came unto
Him.’ (Matthew 3:8) He also used it to indicate ‘A compressed way, i.e.
narrow, straitened, contracted, Matthew 7:14 [Thayer]
The vast majority of over (50) times the
verb and noun are found in the N.T., they refer to the suffering of great
pressure, tribulation, affliction, torment and persecution, stemming from
religious persecutors, against the saints, the people of God with at least (40)
references demonstrating that it is the lot of God’s people to ‘Suffer
tribulation’. Yes, we are promised to be delivered from God’s future wrath (I
Thessalonians 1:10, 5:9), the Day of the Lord, but, as Foxes Book of Martyrs
records, the saints of God have been persecuted and killed as a matter of
course in history past which is continuing through the present day.
And, this suffering and persecution will
continue throughout the age in which we live and will only increase and
intensify as the end of the age draws near, finally coming to a close when the
saints are miraculously rescued by the rapture when the Lord Jesus Christ comes
in the clouds and takes them home to be with Him. (I Thessalonians 1:10,
4:13-18; 5:1-10) Statistics reveal that there were more Christians killed for
their faith in the Twentieth Century than in ALL of the nineteen previous
centuries combined. Therefore, in reality, the time of affliction when ‘They shall deliver you up to be afflicted
and shall kill you’ (Matthew 24:9) as described by the Lord Jesus Christ
has already begun, for the start and escalation of martyrdom in the last
century is proof that many Christians across the planet have already been
suffering ‘Great tribulation’ to the
MAX!!
The Lord also used the word chosen/elect
in Matthew 20:16 and 22:14 in the familiar ‘Many
are called but few (are) chosen’ passage again referring to the saints. He
utilized this word when referring to all those chosen of God in Luke 18:7: ‘Shall not God avenge His own elect who cry day and night unto
Him?’ This word is used a total of (23) times in the New Testament with (3)
referring specifically to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, (17) referring to the
saints, (2) references to the church, and (1) referring to angels.
In Matthew 24 it is used to refer to the
saints, the chosen of God, who are being shown mercy by their Father, the
Ever-loving Husbandmen and Sovereign Caretaker of the Branches, doing just what
He promised, shortening this their most intense time of trouble (v.21), warning
them not to believe the deception (v.24), and finally in (v.31) the very gathering
of the elect when He rescues them from Satan’s Wrath (Revelation 12:12) by
rapture bringing them home into His presence with the Lamb, the Lord Jesus
Christ. (Revelation 7:9-17). So, if the Lord is going to cut short this time of
trouble in His mercy, just how long do the saints have to endure this
unparalleled time of affliction? The answer depends on just when it begins, and
according to the text in Matthew 24:9 the affliction begins right after the
period the Lord designated ‘The beginning
of sorrows’ (v.8).
Notice, He did not say that this time of ‘Great tribulation’ was going to start
when the ‘Abomination of desolation’
was seen standing ‘In the holy place’
(v.15), no, the Lord in chronological sequence is describing how the events are
going to unfold during the time just before the end of the age. ‘The abomination of desolation’ marks
the beginning of the final period, and does not necessarily begin this time of
unparalleled tribulation. The saints are already being martyred around the globe
as indicated in (v.9) showing the time of worldwide trouble through (v.14). Then,
the focus turns to the nation of Israel in (vs.15-28) which will be the
epi-center of the Antichrist’s activity when the affliction rises to the max,
or as in the Greek ‘mega’ indicating the maximum suffering as martyrdom of the
saints rises to its zenith.
Then, the Lord in His mercy steps in and
calls a halt to this horrible escalating carnage which is being produced by the
wholesale beheading (Revelation 20:4) of multitudes of His saints by the
Antichrist. At that time the martyrdom of the saints (Revelation 6:9-11) will
increase substantially on a worldwide scale by the radical Muslim religious
fanatics. It increases in intensity from the mid-point of Daniel’s Seventieth
week resulting from the Antichrist’s abomination set up in the Temple, thereby
declaring himself to be God. Then, it
will be politically correct to kill Christians as political/religious fervor
will rule and ‘heads will roll’ the likes of which will cause the open bedlam
of guillotine executions in the French Revolution to pale in contrast to the
ferocious and unmerciful killing of the saints of God!
The Lord in Matthew 24 outlines the course
of history which we have seen unfolding over the past few centuries: First of
all in (v.1-3) the setting is given with the Lord preparing the scene as the
disciples Andrew, Peter, James and John are asking Him (1) ‘when’ question and
(2) ‘what’ questions concerning the Lord’s ‘coming
and of the end of the world [age]’. The Lord Jesus Christ answers them with
precise chronological accuracy beginning in (v.4-8) with the ‘beginning of sorrows’ showing them that
the first event to occur will be deception from those saying ‘I am Christ’ which began and is continuing
to accelerate with the 19th century influx of the major cults and
the false doctrine concerning the end of the age.
A cursory glance at history reveals that
the majority of the major cults came into being during this time: The Jehovah’s
(false) Witnesses, The Mormons, i.e. The Church of the Latter Day (false)
Saints, The Christian (false) Science Movement, The Seventh Day (false)
Adventists, and the teaching of The Pre-Tribulation (false) Rapture Theory. The
‘beginning of sorrows’ continues and
the 20th century brings about the period of increased ‘Wars and rumors of wars’ with ‘Nation rising against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom’ (WWI, WWII etc.) and now as we have entered the 21st
century we are experiencing the increasing occurrence of ‘Famines [40 countries], pestilences [Aids, Ebola virus, SARS, Avian
flu, Swine flu] and earthquakes [Increasing in number and magnitude] in divers
places. All these are [only] the beginning of sorrows.’ (v. 4-9)
While there have always been elements of
deception in the Church and those claiming to be Christ (the false pope), and
war is a never-ending fixture in the history of man, with starvation, disease,
and earth tremors continuing to be evidenced as
‘The ages roll’, the underlying point of this message is this, God is
presently conditioning the planet for His return and the Day of the Lord, and as the past two centuries
indicate, along with the trend of the third, He is on the threshold of heaven,
for we certainly expect His return in our lifetime!
Therefore, as we presently witness the
continuing rise of Islam, which is fast becoming the future world religion,
having already begun beheading the people of God thereby adding to this
progressive, end of the age ‘Great
tribulation’, should we not as God’s servants cry the alarm to a massively
deceived Church population? It is high
time we awake out of sleep and move to ‘Arm
ourselves likewise’ (I Peter 4:1) so that we can faithfully face this
ever-increasing persecution and through the indwelling power of the Spirit of
Christ bring many sons to glory?
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