Sep 092013
 

Do you believe in a Pre-tribulation, Post-tribulation or none of the above?

What is The Great Tribulation and what is its purpose?

According to the word of God, the Bible, (1) The Great Tribulation is a coming

seven year period when God’s wrath is poured out upon the whole earth, its

effects will only be upon those without faith in Jesus.

Believers will be spared as they were in Egypt where there were no plagues in the land of Goshen where the Jews lived. The blood sprinkled on the door posts symbolized the coming sacrifice Jesus would provide at the cross with the shedding of his own blood. For without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22).

After the Fall of Adam and Eve mankind inherited a “sin” nature a separation from God, their (2) spirits became unable and unwilling to seek God’s fellowship, the heart (spirit) became desperately wicked.  “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? Jeremiah 17:9 NLT. Today is a repeat of those days as Jesus said it would be with men being “Lovers of selves” and good being called evil and evil called good.

They began to worship the Creation rather than the Creator, God let them go their own way until the human race only did evil and thought evil continually, this brought God’s first judgment in the form of a worldwide flood. Only Noah, his wife and family along with the animals were spared by God’s grace. When you see a Rainbow it is God’s sign and promise that he will never again flood the earth! So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies Romans 1:24 NLT. Do we not see these things taking place in our day?

(3)Mankind once again through their evil nature and their leader Satan have done much evil.  Jesus said they would be like the people of Noah’s day oblivious to God’s anger and hatred of their sinning and his great wrath to be revealed in The Great Tribulation.

Will the Church go through The Great Tribulation and what is the Rapture?

(4)(4A)The Church will not go through The Great Tribulation for they are not appointed to wrath but salvation through Christ.(5) The purpose of this tribulation is to punish the unbelieving wicked for their sins for God is angry with them continually.

Did you know that two of God’s people were raptured in the Old Testament?

They were Enoch and Elijah, Enoch was translated directly to Heaven, Elijah

was taken to Heaven in a Fiery Chariot both never experienced death.

Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. Genesis 5:24 NASB.

As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire appeared, drawn by horses of fire. It drove between the two men, separating them, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven. 2-Kings 2:11 NLT. The name Elijah means “My God is Yahweh” both these men pleased God in their devotion to him. This is the case with the Church the Body of Christ, Jesus tells them the Father loves you because you love me. Every Christian is an exact duplicate of Jesus and thus they will be spared from God’s wrath. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is ( 1-John 3:2 NASB).

Those with faith in Jesus are not sinners in God’s sight, the Father (6) punished Jesus instead for their sins.

The Rapture of the Church is shown in Revelation 4:1 when John is shown a door open in Heaven and told to “Come up here”. After this the Church is no longer mentioned in the whole Book of the Revelation, this is because they are in Heaven.

The Rapture of the Church was explained by the Apostle Paul in the Book of 2-Thessalonians; Paul writes that the Holy Spirit who is restraining all the sin that man is capable of doing. When he is taken away all Hell breaks loose, being every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, when he goes we go to, that’s the Rapture of the Church before The Great Tribulation. During The Great Tribulation there will be Tribulation Saints in place of the Church, these are those saved by the Jewish Evangelists from a converted state of Israel, they will preach the Gospel of Christ to the whole world. Many of those who come to Christ through the preaching of the Evangelists will be martyred, beheaded for their faith in Jesus. In the Book of Revelation they are the souls crying out to God to avenge and punish those who dwell on the earth for their deaths. They are told to rest for a while, God’s punishment was coming, and The Great Tribulation was drawing near.  Jesus spoke of it in Matthew 24:22 and said that unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God’s chosen ones. This indeed is The Great Tribulation but the Lord limits it to seven years for the sake of his chosen ones.

It will be God’s Angels who will pour out God’s punishment on the earth during The Great Tribulation. (Revelation 8 & 9).

I cannot understand those who believe the Church will go through The Great Tribulation, what would the purpose be? For over 2000 years the Church has suffered persecution, torture and death for their testimony of Jesus, they are his Bride, his Mystical Body and he is coming for them “In the clouds” unseen by those on the earth. They will be “Caught up” to be with the Lord. They will escape from The Great Tribulation. As I have previously written, this moment was pictured in the Book of Revelation as an open door in Heaven with a voice like the sound of a trumpet saying; “Come up here”(Revelation 4:1).  It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 1-Corinthians 15:52 NLT.

If anyone believes in a Post-Tribulation please show me any evidence of the Church existing during The Great Tribulation, after Revelation 4:1 they are never mentioned again.

They were caught up to heaven and will return with Christ to deliver Israel from all their enemies. They and all the Saints, Old Testament, the Tribulation Saints will live and Reign with Christ during his 1000 year Kingdom on the earth. To God be the Power and Glory forever, Amen.

(1) For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? Revelation 6:17 KJV.

(2) But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Genesis 2:17 NASB.  Note this death had two parts, the first was a spiritual Death, their spirit was alive but lost the ability to fellowship or communicate with God, in this sense it was dead. The second was a literal physical death of the body, without sin they would have never seen death.

(3″And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: Luke 17:26 NASB.

(4 & 4A) “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world. Revelation 3:10 NLT. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 1-Thessalonians 5:9 NASB.

(5) God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. Psalm 7:11 KJV.

(6) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Romans 4:8 KJV.

I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life John 5: 24 NLT.

 

 

Author Ken

September 2013

 Posted by at 7:13 pm

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