In the Great Tribulation,
Are Believers
Saved from experiencing Tribulation
or
Saved from the Wrath of God?
And is this "saving" by means of a Pre-Trib Rapture
of all the believers,
or some other form of "Escape" or "Protection"?
Part of the misunderstanding of the End Times comes from
thinking of the Tribulation period as being
when the "Wrath of God" is poured out.
When in fact that is only what occurs at the very END.
Perhaps only lasting 30 days or less.
If we look at
the 7th Trumpet
and
the 7 bowls of wrath
We see that these are clearly poured out on the ones who have rejected God,
and are "with" the antichrist.
Taking a closer look at these passages,
in
Revelation chapter 16,
Verse 1,
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels,
"Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth."
In Verse 2,
a sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast
and those who worshiped his image.
In Verse 3,
the bowl is poured on the sea
In Verse 4,
the bowl is poured on the rivers and springs of water
In Verse 8,
the bowl is poured on the sun,
and power was given to him to scorch men with fire.
In Verse 10,
the bowl is poured on the throne of the beast,
and his kingdom became full of darkness;
In Verse 12,
the bowl is poured on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up.
Finally
Verses 17 - 21 we read,
"Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air,
and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven,
from the throne,
saying, "It is done!"
And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings;
and there was a great earthquake,
such a mighty and great earthquake
as had not occurred since men were on the earth.
Now the great city was divided into three parts,
and the cities of the nations fell.
And great Babylon was remembered before God,
to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.
Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
And great hail from heaven fell upon men,
each hailstone about the weight of a talent.
Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail,
since that plague was exceedingly great."
We need to look more closely at the actual words WRATH and TRIBULATION in context.
Let us look at the Four verses I've heard used,
to see why they are NOT talking about Christians
being spared the time of the Great Tribulation.
I Thessalonians 1:10 we read,
and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead,
even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Romans 5:9 we read,
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
I Thessalonians 5:9 and 10 we read,
For God did not appoint us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who died for us,
that whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with Him.
II Thessalonians 2:7 and 8 we read,
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work;
only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
And then the lawless one will be revealed,
whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth
and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
I do not believe this means the Church or the Holy Spirit ( in believers ).
That is just the theory many will present, but there is no scripture to back this up.
Besides, the Holy Spirit will still be around and working through the Two Witnesses, and the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation.
There is "something" holding back Satan
and the deception that the Beast and False Prophet will use
to control most of mankind living upon the Earth
during the last 42 months before the glorious return of Christ.
Please note that no reference is made in these verses as to the method
( or HOW )
the Church is to be exempted from the divine wrath,
whether it be removal or protection.
So let us not ASSUME
it requires a Pre-Trib Rapture of the Church.
Besides these 4 verses,
I have heard what is called
Symbolic evidence -
similar stories of God saving
or protecting people during times of destruction.
I find that there is a lot of
Symbolic evidence
to support that God can protect his people
from the wrath that will come upon mankind.
Examples include but not limited to:
Noah and his family did not leave the planet during the year long Flood event.
They were protected in the Ark
that God told them how and why to build.
And the plagues of Egypt affected the Egyptians,
but the children of Israel were protected from them.
Rahab was protected when the walls of Jericho came crashing down.
She did not have to be removed in order to be protected from the fate that came upon the rest of the people in the city.
So, God has shown He can protect His elect,
at the same time as pouring out wrath
or judgement on the unbelieving ones.
A further stretch to make a case for a Pre-Trib Rapture,
Is that some want to use the old ceremony for a Jewish wedding
as an analogy for Christ and His bride,
but it's not scriptural,
and therefore proves nothing.
John 14:3 and 4 are used to connect the analogy,
but the passage says NOTHING about when He is coming back for us,
only that He promised He would.
Logically there is a flaw in this idea
that a Pre-Trib Rapture is required to save us from wrath,
Because,
Even if ALL the Believers were Raptured at the beginning,
guess what.. new "believers" will be around IN the TRIBULATION period.
And therefore subject
( exposed )
to the "wrath" believers are supposed to be "spared" from.
If that is what the previously mentioned verses were talking about.
But they are not.
It is simply a misunderstanding of the words, wrath and tribulation.
And ignoring other verses on the topic.
My main "point" is that the Wrath of God is the final bowls
( lasting a very short period of time at the end of the Trib ),
and God can "protect" the few remaining believers
from these "plagues",
just as he did the children of Israel in Egypt,
and
The real "wrath of God" that believers are spared from is the Second Death
( for those not found written in the Book of Life )
who will suffer the wages of sin
( Death, Destruction, or Perish in the lake of fire )
at the great white throne judgement.
And we ( believers )
will enjoy the gift of everlasting life.
Romans 6:23 we read,
For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In conclusion:
We need to realize that Tribulation has been going on for the last 2,000+ years,
and that word is used in reference to believers over 40 times in the New Testament.
As Jesus clearly tells us
In John 16:33
These things I have spoken to you,
that in Me you may have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation;
but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
The "Great Tribulation" is a specific 3 1/2 year period at the very "end"
just prior to the return of Christ
to rule and reign for 1,000 years on Earth.
And it is upon His visible return,
that we are to be resurrected
or if living at that time,
to be changed in a twinkling of the eye.
For more on that,
please check out some of my other posts and videos.
