May 12, 2021
The Tribulation, part two
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21)
We have been considering the opening events of the seven-year period of time the Bible calls the Tribulation. We first find a great time of worship of the Father as the Creator, and the Son as the Redeemer. These events are recorded in Revelation chapters 4, 5 and I would recommend that the reader take time to read these.
The Lord Jesus, appearing as Lamb that has been slain, is found to be the only Person in the universe capable of opening the seals of a scroll that represents the title-deed to the universe.
As He opens each of the seals, an event occurs. The first four seals are known as the ‘Four Horses of the Apocalypse.’ In turn we see a white, red, black and then a pale green horse. The Antichrist on the white horse takes control of this world, and by the end of these revelations, one-fourth of earth’s population has died!
Before we look at the opening of the final three seals, please understand that these events are real. Jesus Christ died as the Lamb of God on Calvary’s cross for your sin. He is now risen and resides in the heavens at the right hand of the Father. He alone can forgive your sin if you will come to Him in repentance and faith.
As the fifth seal is opened (Revelation 6:9-11), we hear the cry of the those who have been martyred for Christ through the ages. This began with the death of Stephen and continues today as Christians are being slain in places like Nigeria. There will be many martyred during the Tribulation time. They cry out for justice from a holy God.
The sixth seal (6:12-14) displays the moving of the heavens: a great earthquake, a mighty wind, the falling of the stars, the sky receding as a scroll. These are all real events, but they are difficult for John to describe with first century eyes. Perhaps he is seeing a nuclear fallout. Perhaps it is a meteor shower. Only time will tell how these events eventually unfold.
The seventh chapter of Revelation provides the first of several interludes. God will seal 144,000 men of Israel during these terrifying days. They will become evangelists for Christ and many will turn to the Lord and away from the Antichrist.
We come to the seventh and last seal (8:1). When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. This is as the silence in a courtroom as the audience awaits with bated breath the announcement of the verdict by the jury. God is giving man some time to contemplate and to repent. God is a just God, but He is also a God of mercy and love. He always gives man time to repent.
And yet, how did men respond to the seal judgments? We read that instead of coming to God, most hide from Him (6:15-17) And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
“The wrath of the Lamb;” truly a paradox—God is holy and He is love.
We will plan to look next at the last 3 ½ years of the Tribulation, the time that is referred to as ‘the Great Tribulation.’