Talk 2. The Great Tribulation Series

In Revelation 7, John sees ‘a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” An elder asks John, ‘Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?’ John replies, ‘Sir, you know.’ The elder then tells John, ‘THESE ARE THE ONES COMING OUT OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION.’

What is this great tribulation? That’s what we’re going to try to understand today. I’m going to try to answer five questions.

* What kind of tribulation will it be?

* Will it be bad?

* Will Christians be spared?

* When will it happen?

* What is the purpose of it?

We’ll get going soon. But first, let’s pick up on what’s happened so far. We started our series, ‘Revelation: the Hard Parts’ two weeks ago. We’re focusing on the hard parts of Revelation, the chapters in the middle of the book which talk a lot about God’s wrath and his judgment.

Two weeks ago, we looked at Revelation 4 and 5.

In Revelation 4, John had a vision of a throne room. We are not told, but it looks as though a court has convened.

In Revelation 5, John sees a scroll in the hand of the one who sat on the throne. That looks like a judgment. John sees a lamb, Jesus. Jesus takes the scroll. And the heavenly court bursts into a song of praise.

In Revelation 6, Jesus, the Lamb, opens the first of the seven seals on the scroll. As soon as he does so, a representative of the heavenly court instructs four horsemen. The riders go out, bringing with them conquest, war, famine, and death. The riders are not evil. They are sent out by order of the heavenly court. They are under God’s control. The rider on the black horse holds a pair of scales in his hand. The riders are in the business of delivering justice.

But something else is happening, something the riders don’t do. After the sixth seal, ‘there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth.’

People on earth realise that things are not looking good for them. They hide in caves and among the rocks of the mountains, and call to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’

Note the phrase ‘THE GREAT day of their wrath.’ This isn’t just an average day of God’s wrath. People on earth will know that this is the GREAT DAY of God’s wrath.

Just as an aside, there are lots of ‘greats’ in Revelation. There’s the great tribulation. There’s the great city, Babylon. There’s the great dragon, Satan. There’s also the great eagle. There is the great wine press of the wrath of God. There is the great day of God the Almighty. There is the great prostitute. There is the great supper of God. Finally, there is the great white throne. In Revelation we see lots of things in their ultimate form.

In Revelation 7, John has a vision of 144,000 people being ‘sealed’ by having a mark on their foreheads. The seal is to protect them.

This is the point we have reached. John then sees ‘a great multitude that no one could number … clothed in white robes.’ They have come out of the great tribulation.

Let’s now come to our questions.

WHAT KIND OF TRIBULATION WILL IT BE?

We might think that the great tribulation is the result of the four riders going out, bringing with them conquest, war, famine, and death. That is what happened in the previous chapter. Everyone, including Christians, will suffer.

But at the same time as people are suffering from the actions of the riders, Christians are suffering from attacks on them. This isn’t something the riders are doing. The four horsemen are God’s agents of justice. Their goal isn’t to kill Christians.

We can see this in Revelation 6:9. It says, ‘When he’ (that is, Jesus) ‘opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”’