Not Wrath But Rapture: Will the Church Participate in the Great Tribulation?

THE careful student of the prophetic Scriptures cannot fail to observe that in both the Old and New Testaments, the Spirit of God directs attention to a time of very special trial involving the pouring out of divine wrath upon men, known as “the great tribulation,” “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” “the coming hour of temptation,” “the day of the Lord,” and also designated by other striking terms. This specific period of judgment is clearly distinguished from the ordinary trials and tribulations to which the people of God have been subjected in all dispensations, and which are promised to the Church of God at the present time. “In the world,” said our blessed Lord, “ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” “We must,” declares the Apostle Paul, “through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God,” and speaking for all right-minded saints, he can say, “We glory in tribulation.” So long as Satan is the god of this world and saints of the Most High are in this scene, it cannot be that there will be other than trial and tribulation to face. This arises from the very nature of things. The world as such is opposed to everything that is of the Spirit of God. The Christian’s trials arise therefore from the adverse circumstances through which he is passing, like Israel of old journeying through a waste and howling wilderness. More than this, there is the direct opposition of the enemy: “All they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” But there is one character of tribulation that God’s children in this age will never have to know, and that is exposure to divine wrath.