Tag Archives: nature of the Tribulation

The Overall Nature of the Tribulation

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You have seen the nature of the Tribulation in four different categories: a day of destruction and disaster, a time of trouble and distress, a day of vengeance and wrath, and a time of fear and terror. However, we need to be mindful that all of the different categories will be present and intermixed in all of the Tribulation. Also, know that many of the horrors will be present at the same time, overlapping each other.  While there is a great earthquake, causing great fear, at the same time people will be suffering from malignant sores, and also from the pain of scorpion stings. And while many are sick and dying from polluted and poisoned water, they may also be suffering from the terrible heat of the sun.

And then, besides the pain of the body, there will be a deep-down anguish of soul caused by isolation and aloneness, and the loss of friends. This inner pain and despair may be what Zephaniah was trying to describe (in Zeph. 1:15).

A day of trouble and distress,

A day of destruction and desolation,

A day of darkness and gloom,

A day of clouds and thick darkness,

And then, I think there will be a great inner suffering caused by a sense of guilt, and from disappointment one may feel about his life. And I suppose this inner suffering will be heightened as the wrath of God comes upon the earth, as they will be more aware of their sins and their pending punishment. Isaiah 2:19 says,

And men will go into caves of the rocks,

And into holes of the ground

Before the terror of the Lord.

Also, in Isaiah 13:6-9 it says,

Wail, for the day of the Lord is near!

It will come as destruction from the Almighty.

7 Therefore all hands will fall limp,

And every man’s heart will melt.

8 And they will be terrified,

Pains and anguish will take hold of them;

They will writhe like a woman in labor,

They will look at one another in astonishment,

Their faces aflame.

9 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,

Of course, those who repent of their sins will have their anguish eased by the forgiveness of God. But those who do not repent, but continue in sin and to blaspheme God out of a hardened heart, God will give them over to a depraved mind (Rom. 1:26-28); and their pain and misery will continue on and on.

Furthermore, it is quite clear from Scripture that the pain and trouble of the Tribulation will get progressively worse from judgment to judgment. The trumpet judgments will be of greater intensity than the seal judgments, and the bowl judgments will be of greater intensity and destructiveness than the trumpets. It is hard to imagine such great Tribulation, but we must believe it. There is no way to get around it, to explain it away. It will happen.

Lastly, I must say something about the devastation that the Tribulation will cause on the earth. I suppose many don’t think about it, or dismiss it. But Scripture seems to emphasize it over and over. Isaiah 24:1 says, “Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface, and scatters its inhabitants.” And He does this by both natural means and supernatural means, as He brings great earthquakes and volcanoes and fire and wind and falling stars and demons! It will be so terrible that mountains will be moved, or will disappear (Rev. 6:14, 16:20), and cities will fall (be destroyed). And I think most of the earth will be unrecognizable. It will be torn apart by earthquakes, devastated by high winds (hurricanes and tornados) and hail, and burned by fire everywhere.

I know that many (or some) will survive it somehow, somewhere; but I think, for the most part, the earth will be laid waste.

The Nature of the Tribulation: A Time of Fear and Terror

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In the following passages the words fear, terror, dread, and tremble in bold indicate to us how those on the earth greatly feared the Tribulation—mainly because they knew it came directly from the great wrath of God.

Isaiah 2:19

And men will go into caves of the rocks,

And into holes of the ground

Before the terror of the Lord,

And before the splendor of His majesty,

When He arises to make the earth tremble.

Isaiah 13:6-9

Wail, for the day of the Lord is near!

It will come as destruction from the Almighty.

7 Therefore all hands will fall limp,

And every man’s heart will melt.

8 And they will be terrified,

Pains and anguish will take hold of them;

They will writhe like a woman in labor,

They will look at one another in astonishment,

Their faces aflame.

9 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,

Cruel, with fury and burning anger,

To make the land a desolation;

And He will exterminate its sinners from it.

Jeremiah 30:4-7

Now these are the words which the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah, 5 “For thus says the Lord,

‘I have heard a sound of terror,

Of dread, and there is no peace.

6 ‘Ask now, and see,

If a male can give birth.

Why do I see every man

With his hands on his loins, as a woman in childbirth?

And why have all faces turned pale?

7 ‘Alas! for that day is great,

There is none like it;

And it is the time of Jacob’s distress,

But he will be saved from it.

Zephaniah 1:18

Neither their silver nor their gold

Will be able to deliver them

On the day of the Lord’s wrath;

And all the earth will be devoured

In the fire of His jealousy,

For He will make a complete end,

Indeed a terrifying one,

Of all the inhabitants of the earth.

Luke 21:25-26

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Revelation 6:15-17

And the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”

The Nature of the Tribulation: A Day of Destruction and Disaster

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The nature of the Tribulation can best be revealed by examining the various Tribulation Scripture passages (both Old and New Testament) to see what words are used to describe it. In my research I found about thirty passages and an equal number of words (in the NASV). And I thought it best to combine them; I came up with four different categories to explain the Tribulation: a day of destruction and disaster, a time of trouble and distress, a day of vengeance and wrath, and a time of fear and terror. In this blog we will cover the first category.

A Day of Destruction and Disaster

In the Scripture passages below, I found the following five words that fit under this heading: destruction, calamity, devastation, disaster, and shaken. Notice that I put these words in bold to emphasize them. Notice also that there are a few other descriptive words in these passages (from other categories), indicating that the Tribulation is full and intermixed with every kind of horror.

Deuteronomy 32:35-36

‘Vengeance is Mine, and retribution,

In due time their foot will slip;

For the day of their calamity is near,

And the impending things are hastening upon them.’

36 “For the Lord will vindicate His people,

And will have compassion on His servants;

When He sees that their strength is gone,

And there is none remaining, bond or free.

This passage (above) is prophesied for the nation of Israel. God’s vengeance is coming in the Tribulation to bring calamity on the unrepentant wicked; but His vindication (forgiveness) and compassion are coming for the righteous. These will either be saved and raptured before the Tribulation, or saved sometime during the Tribulation; in that case they will either be martyred and spared from His wrath, or God will put His seal of protection on them.

Obadiah 12-13

“Do not gloat over your brother’s day,

The day of his misfortune.

And do not rejoice over the sons of Judah

In the day of their destruction;

Yes, do not boast

In the day of their distress.

13 “Do not enter the gate of My people

In the day of their disaster.

Yes, you, do not gloat over their calamity 

In the day of their disaster.

And do not loot their wealth

In the day of their disaster.

These words of destruction and disaster are a warning and a prophecy for all evil nations. Just as they gloat and rejoice over Israel’s calamity and disaster, the same will be done to them in the Tribulation. As verse fifteen declares, “For the day of the LORD draws near on all the nations. As you have done [to Israel], it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head.”

Isaiah 24:1-6

Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface, and scatters its inhabitants. 2 And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. 3 The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the Lord has spoken this word. 4 The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. 5 The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.

These words look forward to the Day of the Lord—the Tribulation, of which the prophet Isaiah has already spoken more specifically in chapters 13-23. Here, and also in chapter 13:1-16, it is clear that His judgments will include the entire earth. The entire earth will be “laid waste and completely despoiled.” All its inhabitants will be scattered and few will be left alive.

Isaiah 24:19-20

The earth is broken asunder,

The earth is split through,

The earth is shaken violently.

20 The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard,

And it totters like a shack,

For its transgression is heavy upon it,

And it will fall, never to rise again.

Here we see quite a vivid picture of how earthquakes will shake the earth during the Tribulation. The prophet compares its shaking to the stumbling walk of a drunkard and to a flimsy old shack being tossed around.

Joel 1:15

Alas for the day!

For the day of the Lord is near,

And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

Joel, like an evangelist gives a warning to his own people, the Jews, that God’s judgment is near and they must repent.

Luke 21:25-26

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

1 Thessalonians 5:2-4

 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

In summary, these passages indicate the destructive nature of the Tribulation. And the words in bold help us to picture what will happen to the earth. The earth will be destroyed, devastated, and “completely laid waste” (Isa. 24:3). It will happen through war and killing, but even more by the supernatural acts of God through earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and by dramatic celestial disturbances. All these things we know will happen, because they are recorded for us in the book of Revelation by way of the seals, trumpets and bowl judgments (Rev. 6-16). Here are a few samples of the more dramatic occurrences.

Revelation 6:12-14 (from the sixth seal)

And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14 And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

Revelation 8:8-9 (from the second trumpet)

And the second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood; 9 and a third of the creatures, which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.

Revelation 16:18-21 (from the seventh bowl)

And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. 19 And the great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.