The Different Dispensation Tribulations

The Different Dispensation Tribulations

The sign, we do not know what it is. It is not Jesus for it is the "sign of the Son of man" (Matt. 24.30). It's likely not the cross, since the cross was almost 2000 years ago. So what is it? We don't know. The Bible doesn't say. All we can say is the sign at the end of the Tribulation is that it must be something supernatural and mysterious, and all the tribles of the earth shall see it "in heaven." The 12 tribes refers to the tribes of Israel as Matthew 24.4-31 is speaking relating to the Jews, whereas Matthew 24.32-Matthew 25.30 is speaking about the body of Christ.

Note, the gathering spoken of in Matt. 24.31 is not the rapture of the church because (1) parousia has already past at the beginning of the Tribulation and near the end at the start of the 7th trumpet, and rapture is within the scope of parousia; (2) this is a gathering together (erchomai, v. 31) (see Deut. 30.3-5) of the elect of Israel scattered among the nations and called back (Is. 43.-5-7) from the 4 corners of the earth even from the far east (Is. 49.9-13), and hence it has no conneciton with parousia; (3) if it were indeed parousia it would be totally foreign to the meaning of the preceeding passage: which are for Jewish tribes which shall mourn and weep (Zech. 12.10-14); (4) by it pointing the Jews it agrees with Matt. 23.37; (5) at the "trump of God" (1 Thess. 4.15-17), the Lord would come to the air to meeting the saints in the air (1 Thess. 4.15-17) so that the trumpet sounding in v.31 pertains to Jewish gathering after the church is raptured; and (6) the context proves to concerning the Jews.

IF all of us believers to be raptured after the Great Tribulation, then our waiting would not be a waiting for Christ but for the Antichrist, since the latter must come first.

We know there is three different kinds of tribulations (read through the 8 points below to see 3 of them)...

"And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (7.14).

Rev. 7.14 The phrase “the great tribulation” is not the Great Tribulation of three years and half duration.

The reasons are as follows.

(1) At the earliest, the Great Tribulation should commence at the sounding of the “woe” trumpets, the first of which is the fifth (8.13, 9.1a). Yet in 7.9 is an intimation of a rapture having taken place before the seventh seal. Some of these people must have arrived at the throne without passing through the time of the “woe” trumpets.

(2) The Great Tribulation cannot begin before Satan is cast down to earth. Satan will be cast down at the sounding of the fifth trumpet (9.1); and before the horrible situation of the 42 months prevails on earth (13.5), the man child is already raptured to the throne (12.5). Though this man child may not include all the people referred to in 7.9, nonetheless we dare say that it embraces a part of that great multitude.

(3) As soon as the seventh bowl is poured, the kingdom arrives. During the kingdom age we do not see the temple in heaven, instead we see the temple on earth as described in Ezekiel. Who will have the time and opportunity to serve God during the Great Tribulation? Yet in 7.15 clearly states that God’s servants serve Him day and night.

"Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them" (v.15).

(4) There cannot be so many people saved at Great Tribulation. Since the great multitude mentioned in 7.9 is said to have come out of the great tribulation (7.14), this great tribulation must be different from that which comes at the fifth and sixth trumpets.

"These are they which came out of great tribulation" (7.14).

(5) According to 11.1, there are those who worship in the temple of God in heaven. Aside from the people cited in 7.9, where can there be found any who worship God in heaven? For at that time the Great Tribulation as predicted in the book of Revelation has yet to begin. In the new heaven and new earth, no temple is seen (21.22) because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are the temple thereof. (God and the Lamb form the center of the new city. Following the mentioning of the temple of God in 3.12 are found the words “he shall go out thence no more”, for the simple reason that God and the Lamb are the temple in the new heaven and new earth.)

(6) The Bible expressly says that there are believers who do not pass through the Great Tribulation (for example, Luke 21.36 and Rev. 3.10).

(7) Suppose these people mentioned in 7.9 did in fact pass through the Great Tribulation of three and a half years; then they must have died at the time when the temple is trodden underfoot by the nations. But according to what is given in 11.2 it is impossible to include the church therein. So how can it be held that the multitude cited in 7.9 comes out of the Great Tribulation of three and a half years?

"But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty [and] two months" (11.2)

(8) The Great Tribulation of three years and a half spoken of in Revelation is especially related to the Jews. Both Daniel 12.1 – “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and that time thy people shall be delivered . . . “ – and Matthew 24.16-18 depict particularly the situation of the Jewish people. God’s primary purpose is to make use of the Great Tribulation to deal with the Jews. “The time of Jacob’s trouble” spoken of in Jeremiah 30.7 manifestly points to the Jews. But in the book of Revelation reference is made to the subject of tribulation several times in connection with the church, such as in 1.9 and 2.9-10,13. According to John 16.33 tribulation seems to be the earthly portion of the church for she must pass through a prolonged duration of sufferings.

Accordingly, this tribulation may also be described in the same way as Revelation 7.14 itself literally does in the Greek original, namely: “the tribulation the great” of these past 20 centuries. The great tribulation cited in Revelation 2.22 is very different from that of 7.14, nor is it the same as that of the three and a half years mentioned elsewhere in Revelation. (The words “through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God” in Acts 14.22 has reference to the common experience those who enter the kingdom of God will share on earth.)

Why do we see after the tribulation of the saints of the past 20 centuries and the Great Tribulation, then also a tribulation at the end of the millennial kingdom?

"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom [is] as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet [are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Rev. 20.7-10).

The reason this happens again is because (1) to prove the dragon can never repent, (2) to unveil the hidden sins of men, and (3) to show the good pleasure of God. Because during the millennium there are two classes of people there can be those deceived: (1) The Jews - They "shall be righteous" (Is. 60.21); and (2) The good nations (Matt. 25.34-40,46)-the bad nations are slain (Rev. 19.21) in the Great Tribulation. The sheep nations inherit the kingdom.

Although during the millennium there are these two classes of people, the Jews hold a much higher position than do the nations for Jesus will be reigning from the temple on earth. These nations still beget sons and daughters. Isaiah 65.20 mentions death, thus indicating that sin still exists even during the millennial kingdom-to-come. Zech. 14.17 speaks of people who will still refuse to listen and worship God. That's why the Lord and His Christians shall rule the nations with an iron rod, that is, by force and subjugate the people. Whoever disobeys will instantly be broken. Whoever acts evilly will be immediately destroyed. Satan can easily deceive the people when he is temporarily realeased. The "camp of saints" "being armies in heaven" (19.14) they only camp temporarily on earth during the millennium. Encampment is something transient, for the millennial kingdom will pass away. "The beloved city" is the city where the Jews live. Being in such a high position, they are to be envied and therefore attacked from Gog and Magog (do you want more details on this?)

The various wars and trials and tribulations between Rome and the Church are all covered in the events of the tribulations of this century (Rev. 7.14) and which are summed up in Revelation 6, the secretive seals which are broken open and precede the rapture of the church at first rapture (Rev. 7.9). God works from these general events to the more specific shorter time frame of the trumpets of the Tribulation itself lasting 7 years: the last week consummation of this age. If you would like I could go into great detail comparing how the seals period of the past 20 centuries is not the trumpets that follow.

What then is your sin? Is it not the denial of a coming Tribulation when God says 1/3 of the people of the earth will die (Rev. 9.18) and an army of 200 million machines (v.16) will amass in the middle east, likely over oil. May I say if you are not expecting this you will be caught up in the sins of the world since Rev. 20.3 says the nations will not be deceived in the millennial kingdom, yet they are still deceived today, thus concluding the good nations are not in the millennial kingdom yet.

God bless.