A sincere brother whose view on the rapture is Pretribulational asked this question. Here is what he said: “I personally do not believe in a Prewrath rapture after the Great Tribulation. But I believe in a Pretrib rapture, and place the Great Tribulation within the Day Of The Lord. My question to Prewrath believers is; How come you separate The Day Of The Lord from the Great Tribulation? Is there Scriptural evidence? God bless.”
Here is my response to his question.
This is a very pertinent question, in that, if it can be proven from the Scriptures that the Great Tribulation is not an integral part of the Day Of The Lord, one of the fundamental pillars of Pretribulationism is fatally flawed. The wrath of God occurs in the Day Of The Lord. And the believers are exempt from the wrath of God. So, if the Great Tribulation occurs in the Day Of The Lord which is the wrath of God, and the believers are exempt from the wrath of God, then the believers cannot pass through the Great Tribulation. This is the fundamental pillar of pretribulationism. On the other hand if it can be proven from the Scriptures that the Great Tribulation is not part of the wrath of God which occurs in the Day Of The Lord, from which believers are exempt, it therefore follows that the believers will pass through the Great Tribulation.
The Pretribs teach that the whole length of the 70th week is the wrath of God which occurs in the Day Of The Lord. Some Pretribs teach that the day of the Lord is that lengthened period from the beginning of the 70th week of Daniel to the end of the Millennium. Although Prewrathers do not agree with this definition, it immediately makes it clear that the Great Tribulation cannot be the same as the Day Of The Lord inasmuch as the Great Tribulation does not begin until the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel. How can the Day Of The Lord which is darkness and not light include the Millennium which is Christ’s Rulership Of The Kingdom? “Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?”(Amos 5:18-20). The Day Of The Lord cannot include the Millennium because it is darkness and not light. The millennium is Christ glorious rule over the earthly domain of the Father’s universal kingdom and cannot therefore be part of the Day Of the Lord during which the wrath of God is meted out on the unrighteous wicked.
According to this definition, the Great Tribulation is included in the Day Of The Lord. But this is not biblically accurate because the cosmic and celestial disturbances(the sixth seal) that terminate the Great Tribulation mark the commencement of the Day Of The Lord. Pretribs label the first half of the 70th week of Daniel the Tribulation and the second half the Great Tribulation. These labels fly in the face of scriptures.
There is no scriptural evidence that the wrath of God begins at the commencement of the 70th week of Daniel. The first three and one-half years witness the first three seals of Rev.6. These are the emergence of false christs and the ultimate false christ called the antiChrist(Rev.6:1,2; Matt.24:5; Mk.13:5,6; Luk.21:8,9), then wars, commotions, threats and rumours of wars(Rev.6:3,4; Matt.24:6,7aMk.13:7,8a; Luk.21:9,10), and finally famine, pestilences and natural disasters like earthquakes(Rev.6:12-14; Matt.24:7b; Mk.13:8b; Luk.21:11). Bear in mind that Rev.6 marks the starting point of the 70th week of Daniel, and bears a remarkable resemblance to the Olivet Discourse which it parallels(Matt.24; Mk.13; Luk.21).
Although the antiChrist has sponsored and brokered a peace pact between Israel and her Arab and Islamic neighbours: “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:”(Dan.9:27a), he is not yet known to the world and Israel as the antiChrist. He is veiled. The only ones who know him are believers like us who have learned about him from the Scriptures and members of his inner circle. His unveiling to Israel and the world will await the middle of the 70th week of Daniel when he abrogates the animal, drink, and grain offerings recommenced at the ratification of the peace treaty. “And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,”(Dan.9:27b, cf: Matt.24:9,15 & ff; Mk.13:9,14 & ff; Luk.21:12 & ff; 2 Thess.2:4 & ff). The Great Tribulation does not begin until the antiChrist unveils himself as a dead man come back to life (who had ruled over one of the seven previous Beast Empires) to rule over the revived seventh or Eighth Beast Empire.
“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?”(Rev.13:3-4).
It is at this point that he receives power from Satan to reign over the whole Earth for three and one-half years. “……and the Dragon gave him his power, seat, and great authority.”(Rev.13:2b). “And power was given him to continue forty and two months.”(Rev.13:5b). Forty and two months is the length of the second half of the 70th week of Daniel. This is the length of the period of time allotted to the antiChrist to reign of the whole Earth. In the first half of the 70th week of Daniel, he does not have power to reign over the whole Earth.
He protects Israel in the first half of the 70th week of Daniel. He stations a protection force in the land of Israel to ensure Israel is not attacked by her Arab and Islamic neighbours. Israel enjoys a relative peace while the antiChrist busys himself with conquering the rest of the world for the first three and one-half years of the 70th week of Daniel. He does not also specifically target Christians for genocide during the first half of the 70th week of Daniel because he has not yet declared himself God nor demanded that men worship him. That is not to say that the first three and one-half years will be an easy period and rosy for the believers. It will not be, considering the preponderance of false christs, wars, commotions, rumours and threats of wars, famines, plagues and earthquakes, and the usual hatred of believers by the unbelievers.
Let us for once assume that the Pretrib view is correct and that the wrath of God or the Day Of The Lord begins at the beginning of the 70th week of Daniel, the Great Tribulation does not begin at the beginning of nor does it occur in the first half of the 70th week of Daniel. Nearly all Pretribs concede this point that the Great Tribulation begins at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel. If it begins at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel, why is it synonymous in your view to the wrath of God that begins, according to Pretribs , at the commencement of the 70th week of Daniel? So, you see, there is distinction between the wrath of God or the Day Of The Lord and the Great Tribulation. They do not have the same terminus-a-quo(starting point), neither do they have the same terminus-ad-quem(end point).
The Pretribs would want us to believe that the Great Tribulation is comprehended in the Day Of The Lord, that is, occurs within it. This is false because the Great Tribulation is not concurrent with the Day Of The Lord, neither is it an integral part of the Day Of The Lord, nor does it occur within it. How can the antiChrist kill Christians in the day when God alone is exalted? The Great Tribulation and the Day Of the Lord occur at different times in the second half of the 70th week of Daniel. One is a consequence of the other. The Day Of the Lord is a consequence of and God’s response to the persecution of the saints by the antiChrist during the Great Tribulation. Therefore, the Great Tribulation proceeds the Day Of The Lord. Hear what Prophet Isaiah says about the Day Of the Lord:
“Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?”(Isaiah 2:10-22).
How can the antiChrist arise in the Day when the Lord alone is exalted in all the Earth, achieve world domination, get the majority of the people of the world to worship him and the Dragon(universal mass idolatry) and kill millions and perhaps billions of believers in Jesus Christ? For further elucidation see “Exposition On Isaiah 2:1-22.” Link: https://mtzionheritage.com/?s=Exposition+on+Isaiah.
This is the major problem with Pretrib teaching. They are unable to distinguish the wrath of God in The Day Of the Lord from the Great Wrath Of Satan which is the Great Tribulation. To them, they are concurrent, coincident and simultaneous, but the Scriptures teach otherwise. If the Great Tribulation is part of The Day Of The Lord, then God is responsible for the death of the fifth seal martyrs. This cannot be allowed to stand. The Day Of The lord’s wrath is God’s affirmative response to the plea of the fifth seal martyrs for vengeance.
“And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”(Rev.6:9-11).
This killing of the saints is in progress under the fourth seal which is the Great Tribulation. In the fifth seal God tells the martyrs under the altar in heaven to wait until their fellow believers destined to be killed during the Great Tribulation by the antiChrist and his gang is fulfilled. This killing is concurrent, coincident, and simultaneous with the fourth seal as we have pointed out. This means that the killings here on Earth were still going on at the time the fifth seal martyrs appeared under the golden altar of incense in heaven and made their plea of vengeance to God. The fifth seal is a heavenly scene, a heavenly reflection of the martyrdom of believers who repudiate the authority of the Beast by the rejection of his mark of allegiance. It does not necessarily advance the chronology of the narrative of the Scroll of Revelation.
There is no distance in the realm of the spirit. As the saints are being martyred here on Earth, the disembodied spirits and souls are arriving in Heaven. There is a certain number of saints to be martyred under the fourth seal. When that number is reached, God interrupts the Great Tribulation with cosmic and celestial disturbances(sixth seal) and turns the table on the antiChrist and his gang of humanists. The captivity is taken captive, and those who kill with the sword are themselves killed with sword. It therefore follows that the Great Tribulation which is the Great Wrath Of Satan must precede the Day Of The Lord. The wrath of God in the Day Of The Lord is not prejudicial nor extrajudicial. It is not before the facts, but after the facts. God cannot begin to punish men for the sins they have not committed or intend to commit. God cannot begin to punish the unrighteous wicked if they have not first persecuted the righteous saints. Their cup of iniquity must be full before they can be brought to book. God did not evict the Amorites from the land of Canaanan until their cup of iniquity is full, though He had already given the land to Abraham and his descendants for ever with a covenant of salt. “But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”(Genesis 15:16). They must kill the righteous saints in a rage that reaches up to heaven before God can begin to punish them for their evils and pour out His wrath upon them.
Secondly, the wrath of God is preceded by cosmic and celestial disturbances whereas the Great Tribulation is amputated by the cosmic and celestial disturbances. “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:”(Matthew 24:29, cf: Rev.6:12-14). The prophet Joel declared that the Day Of The Lord must be preceded by the darkening of the Sun, Moon, and Stars. “And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.”(Joel 2:30-31). But the darkening of the Sun, Moon, and Stars which inaugurates the Day Of the Lord amputates the Great Tribulation. So, how can the Great Tribulation occur within the Day Of The Lord when the sign given in the Sun, Moon, and Stars which occurs after the Great Tribulation inaugurates the Day Of The Lord? This is an inescapable fact which Pretribs must contend with.
This singular fact alone destroys the Pretrib doctrine of imminence, the fundamental pillar of pretribulationism which states that no prophesied event will precede the rapture. In other words, that the rapture must be signless. If the wrath of God begins at the commencement of the 70th week of Daniel, it therefore follows that the cosmic and celestial disturbances must have occurred before the commencement of the 70th week of Daniel. This is biblically false and unsustainable because the scripture has stated unequivocally in Matt.24:29 that the cosmic and celestial disturbances occur after the [Great] Tribulation of those days. And we have shown from the Scriptures that the Great Tribulation begins at the Middle Of The 70th week when Satan is cast down from the Dark Void and Starry Heavens to the Earth which almost all Pretribs concede.
“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
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. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”(Rev.12:7-9, 12-14).
The three and one-half years spoken of here is the time allotted to the antiChrist to persecute the seed of the woman. It is synonymous with second half of the 70th week of Daniel. The offspring of the woman consist of two groups of peoples, those who keep the commandments of God, the observant Jews, and those who have the testimony of Jesus, the believers in Jesus the Christ. If the antiMessiah is allowed of God to go on killing the offspring of the woman for the whole three and one-half years allotted to him, no offspring of the woman will survive. Therefore, God must of necessity cut short or better still amputate the Great Tribulation. So, the Great Tribulation does not last the entire length of the second half of the 70th week of Daniel. “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”(Matt.24:22). Therefore some believers must be raptured alive, translated to receive glorified eternal immortal resurrection bodies without passage through the intermediate process of death. This is to grant them exemption from the wrath of God in the Day Of The Lord which is about to begin. Apostle Peter wrote: “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:”(2 Peter 2:9). There is no escaping the fact that the deliverance of the righteous from the Great Tribulation by the antiChrist is followed by the judgment of the unjust in the Day Of The Lord.
Cosmic and celestial disturbances precede the Day Of The Lord’s wrath(Joel 2:31). And the the wrath of God begins after the rapture which all Pretribs concede. In the debate whether the Great Tribulation occurs in the Day Of The Lord or independently, the sign given in the Sun, Moon, and Stars is a great divide, a watershed as it were. The Great Tribulation cannot be comprehended or occur in the Day Of The Lord if it is amputated by the sign given in the Sun, Moon, and Stars which precedes And heralds the Day Of The Lord.
Thirdly, our brother Apostle Paul in his second epistle to the Thessalonians wrote: “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”(2 Thessalonians 1:3-10).
First, our brother Apostle Paul thanked God for their(Thessalonian Christians’) exceedingly growing faith in the Lord and their love toward one another. Second, Apostle Paul and his companions in the ministry are proud of the Thessalonian Christians for their faith and patience in the face of persecutions and tribulations which they endure. Third, he stated that their commendable faith and patience(endurance in the face of affliction, trial, trouble, temptation etc) in the face of persecutions and tribulations is a manifest token evidence of the righteous judgment of God in order that they may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which they also suffer. In other words it was necessary for them to go through these persecutions and tribulations in order to manifest God’s righteous judgment. Fourth, because God is righteous, He will payback tribulation(singular: which means it is specific, that is, the wrath of God, from which believers are exempt) to those who trouble the Thessalonian believers. This is the only place in the whole of the Scriptures where the wrath of God is described as tribulation to the unrighteous wicked.
Fifth, that God will give the Thessalonian believers REST with us, that is, with all believers who suffered persecutions and tribulations at different times in the history of the Church, and ultimately during the Great Tribulation which begins at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel. Sixth, this REST will be granted us(all believers) when Christ is revealed from Heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus the Christ. When is Christ revealed from Heaven to take vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel? Is it not after the Tribulation of those days when He appears in the heavens, dispatches His angels to gather the saints from one end of heaven to the other(for the saints are not appointed unto His wrath) and to punish the unrighteous wicked who know not God and obey not the gospel? If this REST is given the raptured saints at Armageddon, it therefore follows that the raptured saints must wait for seven years after rapture to receive this rest according to Pretrib rapture teaching inasmuch as Armageddon occurs in the 30-day Reclamation Period of the Kingdom after the end of the 70th week of Daniel. Seventh, those who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus the Christ shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.
Eighth, this punishment shall be meted to the unbelievers when Christ shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all those who believe in Him. When shall Christ come to be glorified in the saints and to be admired in those who believe? Is it not when the saints are raptured? “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. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”(Matthew 24:29-31). Why are all the tribes of the Earth mourning? Is it not because God is about to punish them for their evils? What is that other than the wrath of God in the Day Of the Lord? Will the saints partake of the punishment of the wicked who know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus the Christ? No: for God has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus the Christ(1 Thess.1:10, 5:9).
Fourth, the Scriptures make distinction between the wrath of Satan and the wrath of God. When Satan is cast down from the heavens with his fallen evil angels, he comes down to the Earth with great wrath.
“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 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 12:7-12).
He possesses the antiChrist, gives him his power, seat and great authority to act on his behalf(Rev.13:2). This is when the Great Tribulation begins which is the manifestation of the Great Wrath Of Satan. Those who refuse the mark of the beast are the target of antiChrist’s Great Tribulation. They are mostly believers and a few unbelievers in Jesus Christ who are nonconformist nuts. It will take a great deal of inner fortitude to resist the antiChrist because he is a dead man come back to life. “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”(Revelation 17:8).
On the other hand, the wrath of God in the Day Of The Lord is directed against the antiChrist and his gang, and all unrighteous wicked. The unbelievers are the children of wrath.
“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”(Ephesians 2:1-3).
We can see that unbelievers are the children of wrath. When we were unbelievers, we were the children of wrath. Now that we are born from above, we are no longer the children of wrath, and the wrath of God no longer abides on us. If believers go through the Great Tribulation, and the Great Tribulation is the wrath of God, or part of the wrath of God in the Day Of The Lord as the Pretribs teach, it therefore means that the wrath of God abides on the believers. But it is explicitly stated in the scriptures that the believers are exempt from the wrath of God(1 Thess.1:10, 5:9). It is also equally clearly stated in the scripture that the present heavens and Earth are reserved unto fire in the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”(2 Peter 3:7). No truly born again follower of Jesus will be on Earth in the Day Of The Lord. It is a horrible period of time on Earth when God pours out His wrath on the unrighteous wicked who know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus The Christ. The present Heavens and Earth being on fire shall melt with fervent heat.
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”(2 Peter 3:10-14).
It therefore follows that the Great Tribulation is not part of the wrath of God in the Day Of The Lord because believers will be here on Earth during the Great Tribulation. There is no escaping the fact that some believers will go through the Great Tribulation because the antiChrist will make war with the saints and overcome them. “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”(Revelation 13:7). Call them whatever you will, “tribulation saints” or “those left behind.” What is means is that the Great Tribulation is not part of the Day Of The Lord’s Wrath because some believers must of necessity pass through it; and believers are not appointed to God’s wrath.
The wrath of God in the Day Of The Lord is a recompensation, a payback to the unbelievers for their persecution of the saints during the Great Tribulation. So, it must occur after the Great Tribulation. You cannot punish a man in anticipation of a crime he is yet to commit. They must trouble us during the Great Tribulation in order that God may trouble them during the Day Of The Lord. “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens 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 that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”(Revelation 6:12-17). The Day Of The Lord is preceded by the breaking of the sixth seal which is cosmic and celestial disturbances that interrupt the Great Tribulation.
The breaking of the sixth seal signals the wrath of God in the Day Of The Lord. When it happens, all the inhabitants of the Earth will know that God is about to punish them for their evils. That is why they will wail(Matt.24:30; Rev.1:7). Is it at Armageddon they will mourn? No. At Armageddon, they have resolved to fight to finish, even though they will not prevail. They will run to hide and seek nonexistent refuge under the rocks and the mountains at the breaking of the sixth seal which signal cosmic and celestial disturbances which are preludial to the Day Of The Lord. They will know that the wrath of God is about to begin and who is able to withstand it? When the wrath of God in the Day Of The Lord begins, no one shall be a able to stand, not even the antiChrist and his gang of humanistic evolutionists. Therefore, there is no way the Great Tribulation can occur in the Day Of the Lord. The wrath of God is not hazy and nebulous. It is clear and distinct from the wrath of Satan. Even the great wrath of Satan, the Great Tribulation is not hazy and nebulous either. It is also clear and distinct also from the wrath of God and from every previous persecutions and tribulations of the sons of God. The object of Satan’s wrath is the believer in Jesus the Christ who repudiates the authority of the Beast by refusal to bow to his image, and refuses to give him allegiance by refusal to take the mark of the Beast. The object of God’s wrath is the unbeliever who rejected the love of God freely offered in Jesus the Christ to all mankind and persecuted the saints of the Most High. They have shed blood; therefore God shall give them blood to drink, for they are worthy.
The wrath of God begins in Rev.8:1 at the breaking of the seventh seal. It consists of the trumpets and the bowls(Rev.8-20). But remember that Rev.10-14 are parenthetic and do not advance the chronology of the Scroll Of Revelation. They contain flashbacks and periscopes on previously discussed events and highlights on the dramatic personae in the scroll of Revelation. Because the saints are exempt from the wrath of God, they must be taken away, evacuated from the scene of God’s wrath in the Day Of The Lord before it begins(Rev.7:9-17). The 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel who will be God’s representatives on Earth in the absence of the Church after the rapture must be sealed in order to protect them from the wrath of God in the Day Of The Lord(Rev.7:1-8).
Avraham Shallom.
Mt Zion Heritage Ministries 