I feel its time for an update, but I’m not sure what to write. There are so many things coming at me, begging for my time. I continue to write my book on TheTribulation—that I think is the most important for me, that God wants me to do. All my writing of books I feel are given to me by the Lord, so I feel good about it. I couldn’t imagine writing any book that was not given to me, or led of the Lord.
I am also reading The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left, by Dinesh D’Souza. I found it at Half Price Books. It’s a topic that I am really interested in, understanding who is lying, and exposing so much evil—finding the roots of evil in the world. It almost seems that some people see glamor and glory in evil works and genocide, etc.—the Hitlers, the Mussolinis, the Lenins, and so many more. Now we are seeing the evil craziness of Putin.; Satan is definitely behind it and in it.
I won’t go into it, but I’m fighting my own demons; depression, temptations, regrets, etc. But each day is new; with His mercies that more than match each trial and trouble. His mercies are new every morning!
It’s such a sad reality, what is happening in Ukraine. It’s president and so many of its people are so bold and fearless, and I pray for them. And the Russian people are now seeing what kind of a leader they have. Eyes are being opened to truth. I pray for all people everywhere that the Holy Spirit has touched, that those convicted would let Him in. He stands and knocks at their heart’s door. Won’t they let Him in?
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 word “tribulation” best fits under this category, and its literal meaning is “to press,” as to press grapes; it also carries the meaning, to be afflicted, and burdened. Besides the word tribulation, seven other words in the following passages fit under this heading: trouble, distress, misfortune, testing (or trial), gloom, darkness, and desolation.
Deuteronomy 4:30 (ASV)
When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, in the latter days thou shalt return to Jehovah thy God, and hearken unto his voice:
This is no doubt referring to when Israel, at the very end of the Tribulation, sees Jesus coming in the clouds and they mourn over their rejection of Him and repent (read Zechariah 12:10).
Jeremiah 30:7
Alas! for that day is great,
There is none like it;
And it is the time of Jacob’s distress(trouble, ASV),
But he will be saved from it.
Though the Tribulation is meant for all unrepentant sinners, it is especially meant for Israel, to compel her to repent.
Joel 2:1-2
Blow a trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm on My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
For the day of the Lord is coming;
Surely it is near,
2 A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness.
As the dawn is spread over the mountains,
So there is a great and mighty people;
There has never been anything like it,
Nor will there be again after it
To the years of many generations.
(see also Amos 5:18, 20)
The people in Joel’s day are familiar with the darkness and gloom of a locust plague. Here the prophet uses this well-known plague and drought to warn of the future Day of the Lord when something like locust will invade the earth, but they will be more destructive and demonic (Joel 2:4-11; Rev. 9:7-9).
Obadiah 12-15
“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.
14 “And do not stand at the fork of the road
To cut down their fugitives;
And do not imprison their survivors
In the day of their distress.
15″For the day of the Lord draws near on all the nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you.
Your dealings will return on your own head.
This is a warning and a prophecy to all nations that mistreat and curse Israel. The warning began way back in Abraham’s day when God declared, “And the one who curses you [Israel] I will curse” (Gen. 12:3). So here Obadiah gives a warning to the enemies of Israel not to rejoice and gloat over their calamity, or loot their wealth, etc. Because if they do, those things “will be done to you.” Hence, the Tribulation will be for some the penalty for mistreating Israel.
This verse, and verses 14-18, seem to point to the near fulfilment when Babylon subdued Judah, but also to a far fulfillment involving the entire earth in the Tribulation.
Matthew 24:21
For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall.
Revelation 7:14
And I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
These ones were saved during the tribulation, were martyred for their faith, and are here in heaven.
Revelation 3:10
Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth.
Here is God’s promise to this Philadelphia church, and also to all believers of all times, that He will keep us from the “hour of testing,” which is meant as the Tribulation. Hence, God has not destined His church for wrath—either for the Tribulation wrath or for eternal wrath (1 Thess. 5:9).
In this second category we are focusing on all the things that will bring personal suffering, pain and misery. Certainly, God’s purpose for this is to cause sinners to repent. And for many it will work; for as we see in the fifth seal, many will be martyred for their faith. Then also, just as Jesus returns, when they see Him, the entire nation of Jews (those who are spared) will repent and be saved.
Many however, even after all their suffering, will not repent, but will continue to blaspheme God (Rev. 16:21). For them the distress and trouble and anguish, even the darkness and gloom and desolation of the Tribulation will be God’s judgment on them for their sins. Here are a few samples from the actual Tribulation.
And he opened the bottomless pit; and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. 3 And out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth; and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 And they were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.
Revelation 16:2 (the first bowl)
And the first angel went and poured out his bowl into the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore upon the men who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.
Revelation 16:8-9 (the fourth bowl)
And the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun; and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were scorched with fierce heat;
There are three great purposes for the Tribulation: 1) to prepare Israel for her Messiah; 2) to bring judgment on all unbelievers and unbelieving nations; and 3) to bring salvation to the repentant lost.
To Bring Salvation to The Repentant Lost
This has to be included as one of the Tribulation purposes, mainly because of the great many people who will be saved out of it, and also because God always desires that man be saved no matter how and where that happens. The prophet Joel declared, “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Joel 2:32).
Now there seems to be evidence of two different Tribulation revivals: one, mostly toward the beginning of the Tribulation and another at the very end of the Tribulation.
The earlier revival is divided into two groups. The first group (Revelation 7:1-8) are no doubt all Jews, 144,000 of them, 72,000 from each of the twelve tribes. And the second group (Revelation 7:9-17) consists of “a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.” This group, as recorded here, has been martyred and are now “standing before the throne and before the Lamb [in heaven].” They have come out of the great Tribulation and they have been given new glorified bodies. Verse fourteen states, “And they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” And then in verse 16 and 17 we read…
“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes.”
We don’t know exactly how this revival will be set off, but I am guessing that it will be due to the miracle of the Rapture of the church and also to the realization of the horrors of the coming wrath of God.
Now it may be assumed that this countless group are all Gentiles, but I’m not sure of it. I think most of them will be Gentiles; however, I don’t think we can rule out the possibility that a few will be Jewish. The Scriptures do not give us any indication one way or another.
Though I think most will be saved toward the beginning of the Tribulation, I also think that the work of salvation will continue to happen all through the seven years, as they hear the consistent preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and also of the two Jewish witnesses and the angels. Most of these will be martyred, but some will survive and be blessed to go into the Millennial kingdom alive.
But I think the greatest number of people who survive the Tribulation and are saved will be Jewish. This will occur at the very end when Jesus appears in the sky. This is the later revival. As I stated earlier, two-thirds of them will die in the Tribulation, but one-third of them will be left alive and will be saved (about 10 million of them; I am taking the literal view that “all will be saved”).
Here in Zechariah 13:8-9, and 12:10-11, are the details of that conversion.
Zechariah 13:8-9
“And it will come about in all the land,”
Declares the Lord,
“That two parts in it will be cut off and perish;
But the third will be left in it.
9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are My people,’
And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.'”
Zechariah 12:10-12
“And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born. 11 “In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
Here also is the record from Matthew’s gospel.
Matthew 24:29-31
“But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, 30 and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31 “And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
“His elect” here consists of all glorified and unglorified people in world history who will be ushered into the millennial kingdom. And a big part of that elect group will be those unglorified, saved Jews who come out of the Tribulation. Many of those will be those who will serve Him in the new millennial temple (see Ezekiel 40-48).
There are three great purposes for the Tribulation: 1) to prepare Israel for her Messiah; 2) to bring judgment on all unbelievers and unbelieving nations; and 3) to bring salvation to the repentant lost.
To Bring Judgment on All Unbelievers and Unbelieving Nations
This second purpose falls close behind in rank to the first; for all of the Tribulation is full of the judgments of God. We will look at a few key passages that describe God’s judgment, with a few comments (bold text for emphasis).
Deuteronomy 30:7
And the Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.
Here we see a very early promise of judgment on unbelievers, but more specifically on Israel’s enemies.
Isaiah 13:9-12
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.
10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash forth their light;
The sun will be dark when it rises,
And the moon will not shed its light.
11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil,
And the wicked for their iniquity;
I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud,
And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.
12 I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold,
And mankind than the gold of Ophir.
In this passage God shows us how he will judge the unbelieving and proud sinners. He will first terrify them with earthquakes and cosmic disturbances. Then he will exterminate most of them; he will make them scarcer than pure gold.
Isaiah 24:19-22
19 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.
21 So it will happen in that day,
That the Lord will punish the host of heaven, on high,
And the kings of the earth, on earth.
22 And they will be gathered together
Like prisoners in the dungeon,
And will be confined in prison;
And after many days they will be punished.
Here we have revealed to us judgment on the earth, and also judgement on the evil angels and on humans. Verse twenty-two describes the judgment of angels and humans. I believe the gathering together “like prisoners in the dungeon” is what happens after death. They (evil angels and humans) will be held in a place of holding until the final judgment, called the Great White throne judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). This place of holding I believe is described for us in Luke 16:19-31, where we have the story of the rich man and Lazarus. So, it appears that the holding place is full of torments, and they will be tormented even before they come to the final and eternal judgment of hell.
Jeremiah 25:32-33
Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Behold, evil is going forth
From nation to nation,
And a great storm is being stirred up
From the remotest parts of the earth.
33 “And those slain by the Lord on that day shall be from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, gathered, or buried; they shall be like dung on the face of the ground.
Here is described for us the tremendous evil on the earth in that day; it will spread from nation to nation. And the Lord’s anger and judgment will come quickly in response, and there will not be any time to lament them, gather them or bury them. They will lie there to rot, and the rotting bodies will be as dung spread over the earth.
Zechariah 13:2
“And it will come about in that day,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.
Here we have the prophecy that all idols, false prophets and unclean spirits will be removed from the earth. This will happen during the fires of the Tribulation; all evil will be removed and cleaned off the earth to make room for the coming kingdom of Messiah Jesus.
Matthew 25:31-46
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ 41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they themselves also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
This passage describes the judgment of those who are alive immediately after He returns and before His millennial kingdom. It is often called the judgment of the nations. I would say that the judgment here is the sentence, where He says, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” But I don’t believe they go directly to the Lake of Fire. I think they will go to that holding place where the rich man is. Then after the millennial kingdom is over, they will appear at the Great White Throne judgment seat and be sentenced again and cast into the Lake of fire for eternity.
Revelation 3:10
‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth.
The “hour of testing” is referring to the Tribulation, the 7-year period when God’s divine wrath is expressed as seals, trumpets, and bowls.
There are three great purposes for the Tribulation: 1) to prepare Israel for her Messiah; 2) to bring judgment on all unbelievers and unbelieving nations; and 3) to bring salvation to the repentant lost. In this post we will deal with the first purpose.
To prepare Israel for her Messiah
This is probably the most primary purpose—that God would use His wrath to prepare Israel by tribulation, and thus to cause them to repent of their rebellion against Him. And I suppose the most well-known passage that declares by decree how Israel will come to repentance is Daniel 9:24.
According to this six-point decree and prophecy through the angel Gabriel, “Seven weeks [or 490 years] have been decreed for your people and your holy city…” The first two promises by decree are…”to finish the transgression [and]; to make an end of sin…” we will stop there because, out of the six, these two have most to do with how God brings Israel to repentance.
The first decree, “to finish the transgression,” is focused on some specific transgression. What would that be? Down through the years Israel has committed many sins, as we all have; but the transgression inferred here is obviously their sin of the rejection of Christ as their Messiah. All that will come to an end. Miraculously, God will break them during the Tribulation. They all at once will repent and turn to Him.
We don’t know in detail how it will happen, but we do know that two-thirds of the Jews will die during the horrors of the Tribulation (Zech. 13:8-9); and then, when Jesus comes, and they see Him, they will recognize Him as their Messiah and turn to Him (Zech. 12:10).
The second decree, “to make an end of sin,” will be all on God’s part, but it will nonetheless be the result of the bitterness of the Tribulation. Hence, as Ezekiel 36:25-29 describes it, He will cleanse Israel from all their filthiness and their idols; and He will give them a new heart and a new spirit.
In addition to this decree in Daniel, there are several other Old Testament prophecies of how God will prepare Israel for her Messiah. Here are three of the more prominent ones, with a few comments.
Deuteronomy 4:27-31
And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where the Lord shall drive you. 28 And there you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. 31 For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.
Here we see that Israel’s suffering through trails began quite early (with their dispersion, beginning in 722 B.C.); and so, He was working on them very early, preparing their heart. And then, much later, during the bitter days of the Tribulation, He will cause them to return to the Lord and to listen to Him.
Jeremiah 30:7-11
‘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.
8 ‘And it shall come about on that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off their neck, and will tear off their bonds; and strangers shall no longer make them their slaves. 9 ‘But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
10 ‘And fear not, O Jacob My servant,’ declares the Lord,
‘And do not be dismayed, O Israel;
For behold, I will save you from afar,
And your offspring from the land of their captivity.
And Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease,
And no one shall make him afraid.
11 ‘For I am with you,’ declares the Lord,
‘to save you;
For I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you,
Only I will not destroy you completely.
But I will chasten you justly,
And will by no means leave you unpunished.’
The day of Tribulation is called the day of Jacob’s distress (or trouble), referring to Israel. In this future time God will bring them through terrible distress in order to discipline them and to save them. In the end they will serve the Lord their God and Jesus Christ their king during His millennial kingdom (the reference of David here is a reference to Christ who is in the line of David).
Zechariah 13:8-9
“And it will come about in all the land,”
Declares the Lord,
“That two parts in it will be cut off and perish;
But the third will be left in it.
9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are My people,’
And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.'”
During the terrible Tribulation, two-thirds of Israel will die, but one-third will survive. And God will bring them through the fire of the Tribulation in order to make them pure just as gold and silver is refined and purified by fire.
As I see it, there are three great purposes for the Tribulation: 1) to prepare Israel for her Messiah; 2) to bring judgment on all unbelievers and unbelieving nations; and 3) to bring salvation to the repentant lost.
1. To prepare Israel for her Messiah.This is probably the most primary purpose—that God would use His wrath to prepare Israel by tribulation, and thus to cause them to repent of their rebellion against Him. And I suppose the most well-known passage that declares by decree how Israel will come to repentance is Daniel 9:24.
According to this six-point decree and prophecy through the angel Gabriel, “Seven weeks [or 490 years] have been decreed for your people and your holy city…” The first two promises by decree are…”to finish the transgression [and]; to make an end of sin…” we will stop there because, out of the six, these two have most to do with how God brings Israel to repentance.
The first decree, “to finish the transgression,” is focused on some specific transgression. What would that be? Down through the years Israel has committed many sins, as we all have; but the transgression inferred here is obviously their sin of the rejection of Christ as their Messiah. All that will come to an end. Miraculously, God will break them during the Tribulation. They all at once will repent and turn to Him.
We don’t know in detail how it will happen, but we do know that two-thirds of the Jews will die during the horrors of the Tribulation (Zech. 13:8-9); and then, when Jesus comes, and they see Him, they will recognize Him as their Messiah and turn to Him (Zech. 12:10).
The second decree, “to make an end of sin,” will be all on God’s part, but it will nonetheless be the result of the bitterness of the Tribulation. Hence, as Ezekiel 36:25-29 describes it, He will cleanse Israel from all their filthiness and their idols; and He will give them a new heart and a new spirit.
In addition to this decree in Daniel, there are several other Old Testament prophecies of how God will prepare Israel for her Messiah. Here are three of the more prominent ones, with a few comments.
Deuteronomy 4:27-31
And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where the Lord shall drive you. 28 And there you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. 31 For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.
Here we see that Israel’s suffering through trails began quite early (with their dispersion, beginning in 722 B.C.); and so, He was working on them very early, preparing their heart. And then, much later, during the bitter days of the Tribulation, He will cause them to return to the Lord and to listen to Him.
Jeremiah 30:7-11
‘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.
8 ‘And it shall come about on that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off their neck, and will tear off their bonds; and strangers shall no longer make them their slaves. 9 ‘But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
10 ‘And fear not, O Jacob My servant,’ declares the Lord,
‘And do not be dismayed, O Israel;
For behold, I will save you from afar,
And your offspring from the land of their captivity.
And Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease,
And no one shall make him afraid.
11 ‘For I am with you,’ declares the Lord,
‘to save you;
For I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you,
Only I will not destroy you completely.
But I will chasten you justly,
And will by no means leave you unpunished.’
The day of Tribulation is called the day of Jacob’s distress (or trouble), referring to Israel. In this future time God will bring them through terrible distress in order to discipline them and to save them. In the end they will serve the Lord their God and Jesus Christ their king during His millennial kingdom (the reference of David here is a reference to Christ who is in the line of David).
Zechariah 13:8-9
“And it will come about in all the land,”
Declares the Lord,
“That two parts in it will be cut off and perish;
But the third will be left in it.
9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are My people,’
And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.'”
During the terrible Tribulation, two-thirds of Israel will die, but one-third will survive. And God will bring them through the fire of the Tribulation in order to make them pure just as gold and silver is refined and purified by fire.
2. To bring judgment on all unbelievers and unbelieving nations.This second purpose falls close behind in rank to the first; for all of the Tribulation is full of the judgments of God. Again, we will look at a few key passages that describe God’s judgment, with a few comments (bold text for emphasis).
Deuteronomy 30:7
And the Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.
Here we see a very early promise of judgment on unbelievers, but more specifically on Israel’s enemies.
Isaiah 13:9-12
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.
10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash forth their light;
The sun will be dark when it rises,
And the moon will not shed its light.
11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil,
And the wicked for their iniquity;
I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud,
And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.
12 I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold,
And mankind than the gold of Ophir.
In this passage God shows us how he will judge the unbelieving and proud sinners. He will first terrify them with earthquakes and cosmic disturbances. Then he will exterminate most of them; he will make them scarcer than pure gold.
Isaiah 24:19-22
19 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.
21 So it will happen in that day,
That the Lord will punish the host of heaven, on high,
And the kings of the earth, on earth.
22 And they will be gathered together
Like prisoners in the dungeon,
And will be confined in prison;
And after many days they will be punished.
Here we have revealed to us judgment on the earth, and also judgement on the evil angels and on humans. Verse twenty-two describes the judgment of angels and humans. I believe the gathering together “like prisoners in the dungeon” is what happens after death. They (evil angels and humans) will be held in a place of holding until the final judgment, called the Great White throne judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). This place of holding I believe is described for us in Luke 16:19-31, where we have the story of the rich man and Lazarus. So, it appears that the holding place is full of torments, and they will be tormented even before they come to the final and eternal judgment of hell.
Jeremiah 25:32-33
Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Behold, evil is going forth
From nation to nation,
And a great storm is being stirred up
From the remotest parts of the earth.
33 “And those slain by the Lord on that day shall be from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, gathered, or buried; they shall be like dung on the face of the ground.
Here is described for us the tremendous evil on the earth in that day; it will spread from nation to nation. And the Lord’s anger and judgment will come quickly in response, and there will not be any time to lament them, gather them or bury them. They will lie there to rot, and the rotting bodies will be as dung spread over the earth.
Zechariah 13:2
“And it will come about in that day,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.
Here we have the prophecy that all idols, false prophets and unclean spirits will be removed from the earth. This will happen during the fires of the Tribulation; all evil will be removed and cleaned off the earth to make room for the coming kingdom of Messiah Jesus.
Matthew 25:31-46
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ 41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they themselves also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
This passage describes the judgment of those who are alive immediately after He returns and before His millennial kingdom. It is often called the judgment of the nations. I would say that the judgment here is the sentence, where He says, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” But I don’t believe they go directly to the Lake of Fire. I think they will go to that holding place where the rich man is. Then after the millennial kingdom is over, they will appear at the Great White Throne judgment seat and be sentenced again and cast into the Lake of fire for eternity.
Revelation 3:10
‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth.
The “hour of testing” is referring to the Tribulation, the 7-year period when God’s divine wrath is expressed as seals, trumpets, and bowls.
3. To bring salvation to the repentant lost.This has to be included as one of the Tribulation purposes, mainly because of the great many people who will be saved out of it, and also because God always desires that man be saved no matter how and where that happens. The prophet Joel declared, “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Joel 2:32).
Now there seems to be evidence of two different Tribulation revivals: one, mostly toward the beginning of the Tribulation and another at the very end of the Tribulation.
The earlier revival is divided into two groups. The first group (Revelation 7:1-8) are no doubt all Jews, 144,000 of them, 72,000 from each of the twelve tribes. And the second group (Revelation 7:9-17) consists of “a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.” This group, as recorded here, has been martyred and are now “standing before the throne and before the Lamb [in heaven].” They have come out of the great Tribulation and they have been given new glorified bodies. Verse fourteen states, “And they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” And then in verse 16 and 17 we read…
“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes.”
We don’t know exactly how this revival will be set off, but I am guessing that it will be due to the miracle of the Rapture of the church and also to the realization of the horrors of the coming wrath of God.
Now it may be assumed that this countless group are all Gentiles, but I’m not sure of it. I think most of them will be Gentiles; however, I don’t think we can rule out the possibility that a few will be Jewish. The Scriptures do not give us any indication one way or another.
Though I think most will be saved toward the beginning of the Tribulation, I also think that the work of salvation will continue to happen all through the seven years, as they hear the consistent preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and also of the two Jewish witnesses and the angels. Most of these will be martyred, but some will survive and be blessed to go into the Millennial kingdom alive.
But I think the greatest number of people who survive the Tribulation and are saved will be Jewish. This will occur at the very end when Jesus appears in the sky. This is the later revival. As I stated earlier, two-thirds of them will die in the Tribulation, but one-third of them will be left alive and will be saved (about 10 million of them; I am taking the literal view that “all will be saved”).
Here in Zechariah 13:8-9, and 12:10-11, are the details of that conversion.
Zechariah 13:8-9
“And it will come about in all the land,”
Declares the Lord,
“That two parts in it will be cut off and perish;
But the third will be left in it.
9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are My people,’
And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.'”
Zechariah 12:10-12
“And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born. 11 “In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
Here also is the record from Matthew’s gospel.
Matthew 24:29-31
“But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, 30 and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31 “And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
“His elect” here consists of all glorified and unglorified people in world history who will be ushered into the millennial kingdom. And a big part of that elect group will be those unglorified, saved Jews who come out of the Tribulation. Many of those will be those who will serve Him in the new millennial temple (see Ezekiel 40-48).
I usually have a few New Year’s resolutions. Not this year. I guess I’ll just let the Lord lead me. Here are some things happening with me.
Getting over covid. I never got very sick. I had a very low-grade fever, some weakness, some chills, a general lack of desire to do much, and a cough that at first made the muscles in my chest really hurt. I think that’s about it. I still have a cough. I’m sure it will linger for a while.
Reading Pilgrim’s Progress. I have had a couple copies of the book and have read maybe half of it. For some reason I never really got into it. This time I’m more into it—I have more patience now to read it. It’s actually quite fun. It’s one of those very old books written in the 1600’s that was very popular in its time, but not so much in these days. The author, John Bunyan also wrote about eight other books.
My writing on the Tribulation. I’ve been writing about the Tribulation and I’m also blogging through it. It is a biblical study. I’m always very slow at writing. I don’t spend more than one-half an hour each day with it. And most of that time is spent in reading and research. But it’s all quite fun for me. I just keep plodding along. I’m just now finishing a chapter on personalities in the Tribulation, and next I will start writing on the seals, Trumpets, and bowls. For those chapters I want to write more than what is written in Revelation—to expand it as much as possible. It will be a challenge. I don’t want to make it fictional, but maybe just put some imagination into it. I at least want to do some extra reading on it, and then offer my thoughts.
The way of the country and the world. I admit I am not very good at seeing what is happening in the world prophetically—seeing how things are falling into place. But there are some people who are very good at it, people who have studied biblical prophecy. So, I will keep listening to those people—most of them agree together, and that is conformation that they are on track. It is easy to see how in the last couple of years things are on track with the coming new world order and the Antichrist, how Biden is being used, and how Satan is using this recent covid thing to move evil things into place. Yes, Biden has been used dramatically to reduce and take down our country (USA): to make us less energy independent, to weaken our boarders and open us up to all invaders, to reduce our freedoms with illegal mandates, to destroy our economy by insisting that we must “build back better” (into the green new deal). I see the “black horse” coming (Rev. 6:5-6)!
The January 6 findings. This is all ridiculous. Very soon now a panel of 300 witnesses will reveal their findings about the January 6th “insurrection.” But it is all so bios. It will all be testimony against trump—an effort to take him down and reduce his likelihood of getting re-elected and even jailed. But there will be no testimony about how Trump tried to get National Guard to come; and there will be no testimony about how Nany Pelosi did nothing to get the National Guard. And there will be no testimony about how Antifa was involved—nothing. All testimony will be directed against Trump.
We can’t be sure when the Antichrist will be Satan inspired to the point where he will know who he is and what he will do; but it seems to me that when he begins to work toward world peace, and especially peace with Israel, that that may be the point at which Satan starts to inspire him in his thinking. We know that he won’t be fully possessed and controlled until the midpoint of the Tribulation, but it could be that for a time, at certain points along the way that he will be Satan inspired, even if he is not fully aware of what Satan will want him to do. Here are a few ways in which he will demonstrate world peace and peace with Israel.
1. After the Rapture he may try to comfort the world by bringing a logical explanation of the disappearances. And he will no doubt agree with the top new agers.
2. He will bring a hearty endorsement of the new global religion, and this will be seen as the best way to draw people together in peace.
3. He may take credit for Israel’s success over the Muslim’s failed invasion of Israel in an effort to move the world toward him as a hero and as Israel’s champion. We don’t know how he will manage this, but with today’s fake news in the media, we know that any evil thing is possible.
4. He will make plans and put himself in charge of building the third temple. This will most certainly stir the hearts of most Israelis and they will see him as a hero of peace for Israel and for the world.
I think the signing of the 7-year peace covenant will certainly be tied to his promise to help Israel build their temple. And I think it will guarantee a peace for Israel as they reinstate their worship in the temple without Muslim conflict.
Now we know that the peace plan will be broken in the middle of the week (after three and one-half years), but nonetheless, all that this man will do in terms of world peace for Israel and for the world will be a sign that the beginning of the Tribulation is coming soon; and as soon as he signs that peace agreement, that will be the beginning point of the Tribulation (Dan. 9:27).
It’s that time of year when I see muskrats on the lakes.
Time Off
I’m getting over a month off from my painting work. I’m loving it! I feel I deserve some days off after forty years in the business. Painting is hard work, especially those ceilings. Today I’m getting my hair cut and meeting with my son at Olive Garden to celebrate his birthday and just to see him.
Reading Beyond Biden
This book, by Newt Gingrich is quite good and well documented. He is so smart and really on top of things—for his age. It’s nice to have a book like this to get accurate information about what’s happening in America and what we need to do about it. I’m learning so much about wokeism and related subjects. Newt also Has a lot to say about getting people back to work and off of welfare. And you know, he did that when he was the Speaker.
My New Book: The Tribulation
As is always the case, I learn so much by writing. I am really enjoying writing this book. I work on it every day—about forty-fiver minutes a day. In this book on the Tribulation, I am concentrating only on what I know to be true from the bible, and will focus on the Tribulation itself—that is, all the suffering of the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls. I am not going to worry about the order of things or to spend much time on things I don’t understand. I am just going to emphasize strongly those things that are clearly laid out in Scripture; and that the Tribulation is definitely coming soon for whose who are not saved!
Publishing
I’m a self-publisher and I suppose that’s the way it will stay. But I’ve been thinking lately that I need to make some changes. I love writing, but I hate all aspects of publishing; selling, marketing, all of it. So, I have been praying hard on it and looking over all my options. There are so many self-publishing companies I could use, or to do it myself. I’m feeling quite upset over it all and need to calm down and trust the Lord. He reminded me two days ago of a verse, Romans 8:32: “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things.” A wonderful verse. God gave His Son to die for me. How will He not also give me all things. That is, God will certainly give me everything that He wants me to have, everything that is good—good for His purposes and also good for me. So, if I keep trusting Him and follow His will, He will set me up with whatever He wants me to do as far as all this publishing nonsense. Oh, I still have a bad attitude about it. Hopefully, He will change that too.
Stephen Nielsen 