The Bible is clear that the Church, those who are elect, will not be here on Earth when God pours out His wrath on the wicked.
1Th 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The important thing is not to confuse the "Great Tribulation" with the “Wrath of God”.
The Great Tribulation is a period of great turmoil provoked in the world by Satan, his angels, the Antichrist and his regime trying to impose their tyranny upon all the peoples of the world, but focusing in destroying Christianity, as Christians are the greatest danger to the worship of the coming Antichrist so persecuting the Saints & killing those who will oppose them is their goal.
As a matter of fact, the Christian Church has always suffered persecution, but there is a strong wave of “anti-Christianity” growing strongly in the western world where Christianity has enjoyed certain peace this last century. Nevertheless in many countries in Asia & Africa, Christians are being heavily persecuted & martyred on daily basis, so they are facing tribulation already. The next link is an expose of this. https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/january/christian-persecution-2021-countries-open-doors-watch-list.html, it is very interesting to note that the stronger the persecution, the stronger the believers in Christ become.
Now the “Great” Tribulation will begin in the middle of the last 7 years, before the final total restoration of the Kingdom of God on Earth, 7 years, a week of years prophesied in Daniel 9:27 & 11:31-35.
Dan 9:27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the weekhe shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate (and on a corner of the altar desolating abominations NKJV), until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
Dan 11:31-35 And forces will stand from him, and they will profane the sanctuary, the fortress, and shall remove the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the desolating abomination. And he will ruin by flattery those who do evil against the covenant. But the people who know their God will be strong and do exploits. And those who understand among the people shall teach many; yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by exile, and spoil, for days. And when they stumble, they shall be helped with a little help, but many will join them, with hypocrisy. And many of those who understand shall stumble, to refine and purge them, and to make white, to the time of the end. Because it is still for the appointed time.
These passages in Daniel are those which Jesus mentioned in the book of Matthew chapter 24. Because I wrote more extensively on these passages in another publication, here I am only pointing briefly to two of the topics covered in these prophecies, both mentioning first the setting of the “Abomination of Desolation”, & secondly the timing when that will happen which is in the midst of the week mentioned, the middle of these 7 years which leaves 3 ½ years of duration for the Great Tribulation.
So Jesus said… Mat 24:15 Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand). 21For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
From verses 24:16-28 Jesus describes the Great Tribulation, & He says in verse 22 And unless those days should be shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. The “Elect” are of course Christians, as those without Jesus are under wrath … Jn 3:36 He who believes on the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him.
Then Jesus continued saying … 24:29-31“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.And then the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory.And He shall send His angelswith a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
As you just read, “after the tribulation” Jesus will send his angels, whom will gather His Elect & take them up to the heavens. See that is the “Rapture”...
1Th 4:16-18 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
The period of “Great Tribulation” is also alluded on the following passages, as we read under the fifth seal that the martyrs for the Word of God, are told they have to wait until those Christians that have not yet been killed for the Gospel’s sake, will also be martyred like they were in times past.
Rev 6:9-11 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
Then in Revelations 13, we see the Antichrist making war against the Saints. The only Saints there are, are those whose sins have been washed away by the Blood of Jesus, & those are only true Christians, there are none others, anyone not receiving the Love of God, after having received the good news of the Gospel and rejecting Jesus as Lord of his life, is going to Hell. How would the Antichrist make war with the Saints if the Lord would take them to Heaven? This is how the number of their fellow servants and their brothers will be completed, under the persecution of the Saints by the Antichrist system.
Rev 13:6-7 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to him, to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation.
As we see, this period of war against the Elect & their martyrdom is during the Great Tribulation, towards the end of it we see...
2Th 1:5-10 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering, since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when He comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.
See, when the Lord Jesus is revealed in the heavens with his angels, the suffering Saints will be granted relief & He will inflict God’s vengeance to those who who refused the Gospel.
The Wrath of God, which begins to be poured out just as Jesus rescues the chosen ones, as we read in several passages. Described in Revelation 15-16 & culminates with the Battle of Armageddon in chapter 19 where Jesus' armies regain the whole Earth.
When the sixth seal is opened we see the very same scene we read in Matthew 24 describing the coming of the Lord to rescue the Elect after the Great Tribulation. If not, who are the elect that Jesus’ angels take to Heaven? if they had already be taken to Heaven before.
Now in the next passage we read about the day when the Wrath of God begins...
Rev 6:12-17 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
There it is, the Great Day of the Wrath of God comes right after the Sun becomes black, the Moon doesn’t give her light, the stars fall from the heavens, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. As we see in that passage of Revelations 6 the same description of Matthew 24 which tells us that after the Tribulation... the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its brightness, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, then, we the Elect will be caught up to heaven, while the wicked run for refuge under the mountains and rocks in terror because they will realize that the King of kings, Jesus is coming and they themselves proclaim the great day of His wrath is come. See, the Wrath of God was already prophesied in the Old Testament, & it was referred to as “The day of Yahweh” here some of the passages where we find it...
Joe 2:30-32 I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. It will happen that whoever will call on Yahweh’s name shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as Yahweh has said, and among the remnant, those whom Yahweh calls.
Zep 1:14-18 The great day of Yahweh is near. It is near, and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of Yahweh. The mighty man cries there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements. I will bring distress on men, that they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Yahweh, and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.
Isa 2:19-20 And people shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.
Okay, hopefully if you are a Christian, you will realize that it will be a privilege to be here during the Great Tribulation, since the men of God suffering persecution will only receive greater rewards in the Kingdom…
Please remember Dan 11:31-35 the people who know their God will be strong and do exploits…they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by exile, and spoil...
Just in case you’ve heard pastors that argue that “the people who know their God” are the Jews, according to the Bible if you don’t have Jesus, you not only don’t know God, but you are under God’s Wrath as well as mentioned above…
1Jn 2:22-23 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He who denies the Father and the Son is antichrist. Everyone who denies the Son neither has the Father. The one who confesses the Son also has the Father.
More on the blessings of persecution…
Mat 5:10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
It is important to realize that just before the battle of Armageddon, Rev 19:11-21, when Jesus descends to Earth accompanied by His Heavenly Army, wipes out the armies of the Antichrist, and where the beast and the false prophet are cast into Hell, the signs in the sky, such as the sun and moon being darkened, when the stars fall from the heavens, etc., are not present, since that happened before the rapture of the Church which was at the beginning of the Wrath of God, which culminates with the battle of Armageddon.
Rev 20:4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
I pray that the above Bible passages have been a blessing to you, please don’t hesitate to write & ask questions, in case you have them.
God is raising a powerful End Time Army, believers empowered by the Holy Spirit who will give their all to reaching those who are still waiting for the true Gospel, hopefully you are one of them. In case you doubt it, just let God know you are available & willing to give Him your all.
Blessings… Alejandro
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