Thirsty4Truth

The Great Tribulation is a time when there will be great deception here on earth. Many false prophets will arise and deceive many. It will be a time of suffering which has not occurred since the beginning of the world, nor will there ever be any suffering so great.

All those who live for God and are not ashamed to name His name will be persecuted, even to the point of death. These are the ones who will not take the mark of the beast, and they will not be allowed to buy or sell.

Then on top of that, there will also be many natural disasters such as floods, tornados, tsunamis, fires, and famines.

So basically the whole world will be suffering, whether you believe in God or not.

Many claim that this great tribulation will take place within the last 7 years of the world, but I beg to differ. The Bible makes no mention of a 7 year tribulation. It does state however that the great tribulation will take place at the end of time. Although things will get much worse, I do believe we are living in the great tribulation time frame right now.

"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;" Revelation 7:9.

"And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, 'What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?'

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'." Revelation 7:13-14.

Revelation tells us that the number of God's people coming out of the great tribulation will be a number which no man can number. If the great tribulation were to only last 7 years, men would be able to count the number of Godly people coming out of it. So the great tribulation has to be a longer period of time. Steven's death could possibly have been the beginning of the great tribulation. (see Acts 7.)

In Matthew 24 Jesus clearly describes what the end of the world will be like. It is interesting to note, that there is one particular topic which He focuses on more than anything, and that is deception.

As a matter of fact, that is His first warning: "Take heed that no an deceive you." Matthew 24:4.

And He ends with the warning in verses 24-26:

"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Behold, I have told you before.

Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not." Matthew 24:24-26.

Are there any false prophets in the world today? Absolutely! Jesus only planted one church, and look at how many there are today. When did these false prophets arise? The Apostle John writes:

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." 1 John 4:1.

First John was written between A.D. 85 and A.D. 90, and there had already gone out many false prophets. Could it be that the great tribulation has lasted for almost 2000 years?

The book of Revelation speaks in symbolic language, and until we study the whole Bible we cannot understand this language; that is why so many people cannot understand Revelation, because they do not read the rest of the Bible.

I once heard a pastor say, "Once we understand the book of Revelation, then we can better understand the rest of the Bible." This is so backwards, we need the Bible to interpret the symbols given in Revelation, and the Old Testament does a very good job at defining the symbols. Once you have studied the Old Testament, you will have an understanding of the symbols used in Revelation and therefore, understanding the book will not be hard.

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass;" Revelation 1:1.

The events in Revelation were to happen in the near future, and once we can understand Revelation we can see that a lot of the things spoken of, have already come to pass. Most people read this book with the preconceived idea that these are all things which are still to come, and that is why the book confuses them so much.

The Rapture

But what about the rapture? Is there not supposed to be a rapture to take God's people home before the great tribulation? The Bible makes no mention of this anywhere. One of the verses that is used to back up the event of a rapture is in 1 Thessalonians;

"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." 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

This verse is talking about the second coming of Christ and the first resurrection. It has nothing to do with a secret rapture.

"But God has not appointed us to wrath, and so the rapture must happen," they say. It is true, God has not appointed us to wrath, (see 1 Thessalonians 5:9), but we can see over and over again in the Old Testament how God saved His people whenever He sent destruction upon a nation or city.

He clearly demonstrated that when He sent the flood, and when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and then again when He sent the plagues upon Egypt.

In Noah's case, God put Noah into an ark and protected him there when He sent the Flood.

Lot and his family were told to leave the city and flee into the wilderness.

But the Israelites remained in Egypt throughout all the plagues, and the last 7 of the plagues did not affect the people of Israel, because God was protecting them.

In the same way, God will protect His people from all the wrath which He will send upon this world.

"And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads." Revelation 9:3-4.

The locusts here have only power to hurt those who do not have God's seal on their foreheads. So God's people have nothing to fear because they will not be tormented by His wrath which is to come.

God has promised to spare us from the wrath, but there is no promise anywhere where God promises to protect us from the persecution of men. This is the persecution that we as a people of God must face, and endure to the very end.

God does not change, He allowed His prophets in the Old Testament to be persecuted and be put to death; Jesus' Disciples, all except John, were brutally martyred. If God allowed the saints of the Bible to be killed and persecuted, why would He change His mind with the saints living in the last days?

Be not deceived

Jesus gave strong warnings against deception in regards to the great tribulation. When we look at the world today we can see that deception is greater today than it has ever been before. There are even people claiming to Jesus Christ himself, and are deceiving many people.

Most churches are set on their doctrines and will not budge when presented with a Bible truth, they refuse to teach the Bible truths because just like the Pharisees, they would rather teach the doctrines of men. (see Matthew 15:9.)

"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying 'Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues'." Revelation 18:4.

We are instructed to come out of these false religions or churches, because God will pour out His wrath upon the false churches. The last part of that verse says, "that ye receive not of her plagues", the plagues are referring to God's wrath.

But how do you know whether or not your church is teaching the truth? You won't know unless you read the Bible for yourself, and make a promise to yourself and to God, that if there are any teachings within the church that do not line up with the Bible that you will leave.

You have to love the truth, and abide by it, no matter what the cost. If you love the truth, you will face persecution, but you will not be deceived.

"Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they may be saved.

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12.

Love the truth, and you will not be deceived.