The Other World Series
The Coming World Tribulation
Lesson II
Matthew 24:29-30
(29) Immediately
after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon
shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers
of the heavens shall be shaken:
(30) And then
shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Revelation 1:7
(7) Behold, he
cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they [also] which pierced
him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because
of him. Even so, Amen.
We read in Matthew 24:29-30
“Immediately after the tribulation
of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken: And then shall appear the
sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the
earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in
the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
Revelation 1:7 states,
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”
We believe the event
described in Revelation 1:7 is the same event described in Matthew
24:29-30. Both verses are telling us
about the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.
Now if this greatest event
of all events is to take place “immediately after the tribulation” as
stated in Matthew, then it follows that this great tribulation must come
immediately before this Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
We are fully convinced from
Scripture that Christ is coming. That He
is coming back to earth again. And as
His First Coming involved many linked events, so will the Second Coming.
The announcement of the
birth of John to Zacharias and Elizabeth, as recorded in Luke chapter one, was
the first event of a series of events connected with the first Coming of
Christ. And we believe the rebirth of
the Nation of Israel was the first event to herald the soon Second
Coming of Christ. The final sign will be
world tribulation.
Never has the world faced
problems, since Christ came the first time, as it is facing today.
There has always been
trouble in the world but
Matthew 24:3
(3) And as he sat
upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him
privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and
what [shall] be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Matthew 24:21
(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.
In Matthew 24:3, the
Disciples asked Jesus, “What shall be the sign of thy Coming and the end of the
age? His answer in a word was
“Tribulation.”
If we have read our Bibles
correctly, this Tribulation is a specific period of time: a time of heretofore
unseen trouble. “Great Tribulation such
as was not since the beginning of the world (earth) to this time, nor ever
shall be.” (Matthew 24:21). The
Tribulation will stand out in great contrast with this age of Grace. It will be marked out and distinct from
everything in the past “such as was not” and when it comes nothing will ever
come to earth like it again. “Nor ever shall be.” To make this age any part of the Tribulation
is to mix grace with law.
We must keep a clear
distinction between this predicted Tribulation (singular) and the tribulations
(plural) promised to all believers. By
way of example: John 16:30 “in this world ye shall have tribulation”. That has no reference to the coming Great
Tribulation. For tribulation for the believer from the hands of ungodly men is
one thing and tribulation for the world from the hand of God is another.
Daniel 12:1
(1) And at that
time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth
for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as
never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time
thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the
book.
Jeremiah 30:7
(7) Alas! for that day [is] great, so that none is like it: it [is]
even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
Zechariah 13:8
(8) And it shall
come to pass, [that] in all the land, saith the LORD,
two parts therein shall be cut off [and] die; but the third shall be left
therein.
(9) And I will
bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is
refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I
will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my
God.
Daniel (Daniel 12:1)
foretold a “time of trouble such as never was…”. And in Jeremiah 30:7, it says, “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even
the time of Jacob’s trouble;…”.
In our day, during the years
of Adolf Hitler, the sons of Jacob suffered the death of six millions of their
number. At that time approximately one
third of the Jewish people perished. We
believe that history was but a shadow of what is ahead. For Zechariah 13:8 fortells a day when “two parts therein shall be cut off and
die; but the third shall be left therein.” According to verse nine of the same chapter,
that one third shall call on the Lord.
Romans 10:13 tells us that “…whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved.”
Romans 10:13
(13) For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
One fact we gather from
history is that when
The nineteenth chapter of
the Book of Revelation describes, in detail, the Second Coming of Christ. Thus chapters twenty through twenty-two
outline events that will take place after Christ returns. Based on the statement in Matthew chapter
twenty-four verses 29-30, that Jesus will return immediately
after the Tribulation, we must conclude that the events
described in Revelation chapters six through eighteen are events during the
Tribulation.
The Tribulation will be the
time when the Anti-Christ will be revealed.
And because he will be against Christ and especially the Jews, it will
be a time of martyrdom. It will also be a time of great disturbances in the heavens and the earth,
earthquakes such as have never been seen before.
During the Tribulation there
will be greatly increased Devil and Demon activity. And during a very brief period of years over
half of the world’s population will be killed.
It does not take much faith
to believe that trouble is coming to this world. Here are some newspaper headlines which I
have on file.
“World crisis
looming”
“Population—must
we wait for global catastrophe?
“World population
sets problems.”
“Population boom
shattering society, study warns; little grain left for animals if population
keeps growing.”
“Short of
miracles, development will never catch up with population growth.”
“In the long run,
the problem of one country is the problem of all”.
In other words, the problem
of population growth, which has now reached some 6 billion, is a world problem.
As the population increases,
one can easily see that food production will soon face another crisis. Twenty years ago “The European Community
spent $330 million to deliberately destroy more than two million tons of fruit
and vegetables to defend high prices paid to farmers”. Such action will not be over-looked by the
Creator. Jesus predicted famines and
much of the world’s population already goes to bed hungry.
It seems to me we have been
seeing bizarre climatic conditions around the globe. Who controls the weather? Certainly not man! And very quickly, weather conditions can
alter food production. The pollution of
our air and water are subjects we hear about almost daily. And then we have reports about super
rodents. As people increase with the
increase of human waste and garbage, we can expect the rat and mouse problem to
increase with it. Already leaders are
asking, “Is the World in the grip of a crisis?
Are we facing a major catastrophe?”
Twenty years ago James Reston quoted Harlan Cleveland as having said of
the world “an enormously complex place, with nobody in
general charge - leaderless, dangerous, uneconomic, unjust, and
ungovernable.” Those words seem more
up-to-date now than they did then.
Over the years I have
gathered the following facts about this Great Tribulation that will surely
come:
It will be a time of great
trouble (Matthew 24:21-22), as never before in human history.
Matthew 24:21-22
(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.
It will be a time of great
wrath, spoken of in Revelation 6:17; 12:12 and 6:1.
Revelation 6:17
(17) For the
great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Revelation 12:12
(12) Therefore
rejoice, [ye] heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for
the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Revelation 6:1
(1) And I saw
when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of
thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
It will also be a time of great
judgments (Revelation 14:9-10).
Revelation
14:9-10
(9) And the third
angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and
his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
(10) The same
shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without
mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire
and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the
Lamb:
It will be a time of great
destruction (Revelation 6:8; 8:9-10; 9:18 and 11:13).
Revelation 6:8
(8) And I looked,
and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell
followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the
earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts
of the earth.
Revelation 8:9-10
(9) And the third
part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third
part of the ships were destroyed.
(10) And the
third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it
were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the
fountains of waters;
Revelation 9:18
(18) By these
three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by
the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
Revelation 11:13
(13) And the same
hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in
the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were
affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
It will be a time of great
punishments (Isaiah 13:9-11; Revelation chapter 16).
Isaiah 13:9-11
(9) Behold, the
day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land
desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
(10) For the
stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the
sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her
light to shine.
(11) And I will
punish the world for [their] evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I
will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and
will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
Revelation 16:1
(1) And I heard a
great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and
pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
It will be the time of great
vengeance (Isaiah 61:1,2).
Isaiah 61:1,2
(1) The Spirit of
the Lord GOD [is] upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good
tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to [them that]
are bound;
(2) To proclaim
the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to
comfort all that mourn;
Romans 2:5
(5) But after thy
hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the
righteous judgment of God;
Men today are damming up the
wrath of God (Romans 2:5) and in the Tribulation that dam will break! Thank God, believers have not been appointed
unto wrath but unto salvation from wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9) by Rapture.
1 Thessalonians 5:9
(9) For God hath
not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
It is a very careless
reading of history to claim, as some do, that the pre-tribulation Rapture originated
with Margaret Donald in 1830 We believe
it, not because of a 15-year old girl, but because we see it plainly taught in
the Scriptures.