Will Christians go through the Tribulation?
We have all heard different things about the tribulation,
and what is the roll of the Christians during the tribulation. Some say Christians will go through the
tribulation, some say they will only go through the first half of it, and
others say they won’t go through any of it.
We hear lots of different theories from lots of different people, but
let’s take a look and see what God says.
Jeremiah 30: 1 – 7 1) The word that came
to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2) Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel,
saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book. 3)
For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity
of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return
to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. Notice that God declares both the northern
and southern kingdoms of Israel
shall come together and shall possess their land. 4) And these are the words that the Lord spake
concerning Israel and
concerning Judah Israel when
Jacob believed God. It will be the believing Jews that will make up the fleeing
remnant of Israel . They won’t believe that Jesus Christ is their
Messiah though, until after they meet him when they are safely hidden by God.
The Prophet Daniel in chapter 9 starting in verse 24 speaks
of the prophecy concerning Israel
in the last days. 24) Seventy weeks are determined upon thy
people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end
of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most
Holy. The seventy weeks
mentioned here are actually seventy weeks of years or 490 years. God has determined that time upon the nation
of Israel
to purify the world of sin and evil and culminating with the anointing of the
most Holy which is Christ. This is
explained in the next verse. 25) Know therefore
and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to
build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and
threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even
in troublous times. 26) And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut
off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood,
and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. The commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem was issued in
452 BC. Christ crucifixion was in 29
AD. That is when the Messiah was cut
off. That calculates out to 483 years, so there is still 7 years to be
determined upon the people of Israel . Verse 26 tells us that during this last 7
years the “people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the
sanctuary.” The word prince is not
capitalized so we know this is in reference to the antichrist.
In the book of St. John 5:43
Christ foretells his rejection and Israel ’s’ reception of the coming
Antichrist. 43) I am come in my Father’s name, and ye
receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
In the above scriptures it is obvious that the children of Israel will be
going through the tribulation because of their unbelief. They rejected Christ but will receive
another. Christ brings this out in
Mathew 24: 15 – 22 15) When ye therefore shall see the abomination
of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso
readeth, let him understand:) this is the midpoint of the
tribulation where the antichrist goes into the Jewish temple and desecrates it.
16) Then let
them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: 17) Let him which is on the
housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18) Neither let him
which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19) And woe unto them
that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20) But pray ye
that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day: 21) For then
shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to
this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22) And except those days should be
shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days
shall be shortened. Here
Christ is informing the Jews, so they will know when that day comes they need
to drop everything and head for a pre-appointed place God has already prepared
for them.
Another name for this tribulation period is called the wrath
of God. Revelations 6: 15 – 17 15) And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the
rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and
every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16) And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face
of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17) For the
great day of his wrath is come: and who shall be able to stand? God will send Israel through
the tribulation, but will pull out a remnant and save them. But what of the Christians? As you read through these prophecies, there
is no mention of the body of Christ. At
the time of the tribulation, the world has gotten so wicked that God’s anger
finally comes to the full, and he pours out his wrath upon the earth just as he
did with Noah’s flood.
Now let’s look at what God says concerning the body of
Christ, or the Christians. I
Thessalonians 1: 9 – 10 9) For they
themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye
turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; 10) And to wait for
his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered
us from the wrath to come.
Here Paul is talking to the new Christian believers in the church of the
Thessalonians. Commending them for their
faith and turning from idols and putting their faith in Christ, and waiting for
Christ to take us up from this world and deliver us from God’s wrath that is
coming upon the world. At this time,
Paul and also the twelve apostles of Christ in Jerusalem believed that Christ would be
returning in their lifetime. Paul
repeats this in I Thessalonians 5: 9 – 10
9) For
God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus
Christ, 10) Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live
together with him. In I
Thessalonians 13 – 17 Paul explains the
process Christ will use to remove the believing Christians or the Body of
Christ from the earth before the wrath of God ( tribulation) starts. 13) But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have
no hope. 14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them
also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15) For this we say unto you
by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of
the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16) For the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17) Then we
which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,
to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
In the amplified bible when we look at II Thessalonians 2: 3
reads: Let no one deceive or beguile you in any way,
for that day will not come except the (a) apostasy comes first [unless the predicted great (b) falling away of those who
have professed to be Christians had come], and the man of lawlessness (sin) is
revealed, who is the son of doom (of perdition), the footnotes or other interpretations
of the word used in the above verse are:
(a) A
possible rendering of the Greek apostasia is “departure [of the church].” (b) A possible rendering of the Greek
apostasia is “departure [of the church].”
In the other (not king
james) translations of the bible that verse has been translated as a “departure”
and not a “falling away” The departure makes a perfect fit with the
rest of Paul’s teaching on the Church or Body of Christ. The tribulation period is the final 7 years
determined upon Israel ,
not the Church. God will call up the
Body of Christ, then the anti-christ will be revealed upon the earth.
Paul describes that when Christ does call for the Body of
Christ, those Christians who have already died will get their new resurrected
bodies first and they will come down into the clouds with Christ and meet the
Christians that are still alive in the air, where they will receive their new
resurrected bodies also. Then we all go
back up into Heaven with Christ. Paul
further explains this in II Thessalonians 2: 6 – 8. Paul explains that the antichrist shall not
be revealed upon the earth until the Holy Spirit of God is removed. And we know that our bodies are the temple of
the Holy Spirit, so the Spirit is within us.
That being known unto us, we also know that when the Spirit is removed,
we will also be removed with him. 6) And now ye know
what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7) for the mystery of
iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken
out of the way. 8) And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall
consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming:
When the Holy Spirit is removed from the earth and all the
believing Christians, the world will quickly turn against God through Satan’s
deceptions. The antichrist will be
revealed and the vast majority of the earth will follow after him. When God
destroyed the earth the first time with a flood, he gave the people of the
earth ample time to join Noah. When the
time finally came for Noah to enter the ark, God closed and sealed the
door. As the rain began to fall, it
didn’t matter how may people came and pleaded to get in the ark of safety,
there was no mercy shown. No one got
into the ark after God sealed the door.
During the tribulation period though, God is going to show some mercy to
the inhabitants of the earth that refuse to accept the mark of the beast. In
the book of Revelations chapter 7 verses one through 4; between the 6th
and 7th seal of the first round in the tribulation events, God’s ordains
144,000 Jewish believers. Twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel , and
sends them out into the world to minister the gospel of the Kingdom to any who
have not accepted the mark of the beast.
There will be many saved during the few years that follow, but they will
be killed almost as soon as they believe. They will lose their lives here on
earth, but their spirits will go directly to Heaven.
The apostle Paul makes it clear, that the body of Christ
will be delivered from the wrath of God coming upon the earth. Now is the time to examine yourself and make
sure your ready spiritually to meet the Lord in the air. Revelations 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will
keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to
try them that dwell upon the earth.
We also just need to look back in the scriptures and see how
God handled these type events in the past.
God did not allow one drop of rain to fall until he had first removed
Noah and his family. God closed the door
and sealed them in the ark, then, destruction came. When God told Abraham that he was going to
destroy Sodom and Gomorrah ,
he first removed Lot and his family, then,
their destruction came.
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