Update: The Tribulation Revealed in the Book of Revelation
If the Church is not going to be raptured, what will happen in the end times?
This update is a summary of my Substack: The Tribulation in the Book of Revelation. In this series, I argue that Jesus appeared to the Apostle John to reveal the answer to the above question. He reveals things in this vision that are not found anywhere else in the Bible. If you are interested in reading this series, begin here.
Summary
Since the last of the New Testament writers finished writing to the churches almost 30 years before the Book of Revelation was written, they would not have included in their writings the additional things Jesus revealed to John about the Great Tribulation in the book. Consequently, based upon what they wrote, especially what was reported in the Gospels, a tradition has formed about the Second Coming of Christ that does not reflect the additional information that John reported. Because of this, most in the Church today believe that they will be raptured before the Great Tribulation begins. However, Jesus revealed to John that, rather than leaving the earth before it begins, they will stay here and He will secretly come to them to empower them for a Great harvest that will begin during the Great Tribulation. That will prepare the way for His visible Second Coming at the end of the pouring out of the vials of His wrath.
A third Great Awakening
Just as the resurrection of Christ happened on the third day after His crucifixion (1 Cor 15:4), this secret coming to His Church will also happen on a third day:
Hosea 6:2 (CHV) After two days He will revive us. In the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight.
Some believe that the third day is referring to the third millennium after the birth of the Church on the Day of Pentecost. It will begin with a Third Great Awakening that will lay the groundwork, for what some believe, is a Seven Mountain Mandate that will prepare the way for the Second Coming of Christ.
It represents the last of the three great feasts of Israel
Every year, Israel was commanded to celebrate three major feasts in Jerusalem. Each feast figuratively represented the complete work of Christ:
Feast of Passover - Jesus was sacrificed on the cross as the passover lamb.
Feast of Pentecost - He baptized His disciples with the Holy Spirit after He was resurrected from the dead.
Feast of Tabernacles - According to the vision of the trumpets, He will fulfill this feast when He appears to His Church at the end of the tribulation.
Misperceptions
Without an understanding of this last feast, many have mistaken a number of New Testament references about the secret appearance, as the Second Coming of Christ. For example:
Ephesians 3:10-11 (CHV) To the intent that now, the manifold wisdom of God might be revealed by the Church to the principalities and powers in heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Colossians 3:4 (CHV) When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory.
Titus 2:13 (CHV) Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:18-19 (CHV) For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God.
1 Peter 1:3-5 (CHV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 (CHV) And to those 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 those who do not know God, and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will 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 those who believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
Further difficulties
Misperception about Christ’s secret appearance in Scripture has been further complicated by two additional mistaken concepts:
Many believe that the Church will be raptured.
But in His parable of the Wheat and the Tares, Jesus taught that it is the wicked who will be raptured at the end of the age, not the Church:
Matthew 13:38-43 (CHV) The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world (age); and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world (age). The Son of man will send forth his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom everything that causes sin, and those who commit lawlessness; and will throw them into a furnace of fire where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Because of misdirection, most do not see that the rapture of the wicked is currently happening in our world today and that a great harvest (Rev 14:15-20) is taking place right now on the earth (see my article: Autopsy of the New World Order here). Could it be that the righteous are about to shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father?
They also believe that the Rapture will happen before the Great Tribulation begins.
However, Jesus revealed in the vision of the seven trumpets that it will be just the opposite. It does not happen before the tribulation begins but at the blowing of the last trumpet at the end of the tribulation:
Matthew 24:29-31 (CHV) Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of man in heaven will appear and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Mark included the earth in his account:
Mark 13:27 (CHV) And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
No matter how bad things become in our world, those who believe in the Rapture must deny that whatever is happening today is not the tribulation that Jesus described in Matthew 24 because that cannot not begin until after the Rapture occurs.
What is supposed to happen when this secret appearance occurs?
Aside from the New Testament passages listed above, there are Old Testament passages that also describe what will happen. Again, many have assumed that these prophecies are referring to what will happen at the Second Coming of Christ instead of when He secretly appears to His Church before that:
Numbers 14:20-21 (CHV) And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to your word: But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
Isaiah 2:2 (CHV) And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.
Daniel 7:26-27 (CHV) But the judgment will sit, and they will take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, will be given to the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
Malachi 3:1-2 (CHV) Behold, I will send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple (Father’s House), even the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, he shall come, says the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when He appears?
Mal 4:2-3 (CHV) But you who fear my name the Sun of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings. You will go forth leaping like calves from the stall and you will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day that I will do this, says the Lord of hosts.
Haggai 2:22 (CHV) I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those who ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.
Zechariah 9:14-17 (CHV) And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GOD shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar. And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land. For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.
Why has the Church not understood this for 2,000 years?
It has been hidden in plain sight:
Luke 18:31-34 (CHV) And taking the twelve, he said to them, See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise. But they did not understand any of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
It would be sealed until the end:
Danial prophesied that the Church would not understand it until the time of the end:
Daniel 12:9-10 (CHV) And he said, Go your way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked will understand; but the wise will understand.
Jesus said that mystery of God would not be fully understood until the last trumpet is blown at the end of the Great Tribulation:
Revelation 10:7 (CHV) But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as he has declared to his servants the prophets.
The Church has traditionally assumed that the Mystery was complete in Christ but, without understanding the vision of the trumpets, they missed that it will not come in its fulness until Christ completes it through His Church in the last days.
Jesus spoke about it in His parables:
Matthew 13:34-35 (CHV) Jesus spoke all these parables to the multitude. He did not speak to them without a parable that it might be fulfilled that was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things that have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
Paul explained it in his letters:
Ephesians 3:8-12 (CHV) This grace is given to me, who is less than the least of all saints, that I should preach among the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, that has been hidden in God from the beginning of the world, who created all things by Jesus Christ. To the intent that now, the manifold wisdom of God might be revealed by the Church to the principalities and powers in heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In whom we have bold, confident, access to God, by the faith of Jesus.
1 Corinthians 2:7 (CHV) But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom that God ordained before the world, to our glory.
A blind nut finds a squirrel
Jesus said that the Mystery of the Kingdom of God can be known:
Mark 4:10-11 (CHV) And when he was alone, those who were with him, along with the twelve, asked him about the parable. And he said to them, To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God.
Satan undeniably would not want the Church to understand what the prophets foretold about his ultimate demise in the last days. So he has focused all of his efforts over the centuries, to keep it hidden. Since he knew that he could not stop what is coming, he would try to minimize push back to his kingdom:
Genesis 3:15 (CHV) And I will put hostilities between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. You will bruise his heel, but He will bruise your head.
He knew that it would be impossible to completely control the narrative over the centuries, so he turned up the volume of complication and amplification to create noise that would drown it out. Consequently, many today now have spiritual tinnitus. They have become convinced that the end times is so complicated and they no longer even try to understand the Book of Revelation.
But with this I conclude
Why would Jesus have told us to keep what is written in the Book of Revelation if it is impossible to understand:
Revelation 1:3 (CHV) Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things that are written in it: for the time is at hand.
How can we keep it if, as so many believe, we really can’t know for sure what it means?