Tribulation Described In Revelation Series

We continue our study of the “End Times” according to God. Last week we noted from Matthew 24 and Daniel 9 an event known as The Tribulation Period in the future. This event will last 7 years to finish the judgment on Israel which will usher in the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ!

We will look into this Millennial Kingdom next week but today let us look at some of the details of the Tribulation Period according to the Book of Revelation. Please open your Bibles there at the end of your Bibles…

As most of you know, there are many details and imagery in the Book of Revelation which are difficult to understand; remember that John who saw the visions had no idea of technologies of today; how would you explain a helicopter jet to someone when both of you have never seen one before? And so, we will just highlight the main events in our discussion this morning; and note, I do not have anything blank in your notes for this morning. However, I will note some interesting things happening today which are significant to God’s planned future for the world; have a pen available, you might want to be ready to write those down.

Lets first get a background; Read along with me Revelation 1:1-3….

God called the apostle John to write about the future and we will be blessed to study it!

Most of you know that Revelation Chapters 1-3 warns The Church (represented by 7 churches), which applies to us as well. If you have never read those letters before, I encourage you to study them.

In Revelation Chapter 4-5, John is brought to heaven and sees The Lamb, Jesus Christ!

To get an idea of how John wrote the visions, read along with me Revelation 5:11-6:17…..

Let us remember that the future was foretold by Jesus in Matthew 24 and the Prophet Daniel. God speaks of the same future in the Book of Revelation experienced and put in writing by the Apostle John. What was the future that John saw in relation to the Tribulation Period? Remember that the Tribulation Period is a 7 year final judgment on Israel which impacts the entire world. The first of these judgment occurs when the 7 seals are broken from a sacred scroll; in summary we note in Revelation 6, world conquest by ruler, a great world war, famine and economic disaster, one-fourth of the people and living creatures were killed (by today’s population standards, that would amount to 2 billion people!), and gruesome killer earthquakes.

Now, look again at v8… Did you know that even today, you can google animal attacks on humans on a daily basis? And earthquakes? In 2018 alone, over 5000 were killed due to earthquakes. But…how bad was this judgment which will happen in the future?

Read again v15-17….

Now for the sake of out time together, we will not read as much as we did with Chapters 5-6. In Revelation 7, we note God’s promise that the Gospel will continue to be preach by calling on 144000 Jews for Christ! There will be people turning to Jesus Christ (being saved) during the Tribulation Period!

And what do we note in Revelation 8-11: 7 Trumpets for Judgment!

1st Trumpet – one-third of the earth and all the green grass burned up by hail, fire, and blood!

2nd trumpet - third of the sea turned into blood, 1/3 of sea creatures died and ships destroyed!

3rd trumpet - third of rivers to turn bitter, resulting in the deaths of millions.

4th trumpet - one-third less sun, moonlight, and stars, extending the darkness of night.

5th trumpet - hideous demon-like creatures torture people so badly that they “will seek death and will not find it.”

6th trumpet - two hundred million horsemen (demon spirit-like death angels), who kill one-third of the people

7th trumpet initiates the Vial (Bowl) Judgments.

Now, what has been happening today? Wildfires, earthquakes, tsunamis, heat… on an average 60000 people die due to a natural disaster!

God speaks of things falling down from the sky!

Possible destruction from space? Did you know that asteroids 13 feet in diameter hit our atmosphere about every 400 days! Of course bigger asteroids also hit our atmosphere but less frequent for now, and, they are just burning up in our atmosphere. However, about 5000 years ago, a 300 foot asteroid actually hit our earth!

Major Disasters can happen at anytime! God is protecting us for now; but more natural disasters will happen as God releases them!

Revelation 16: 7 Bowls (Vials) of Judgment! Read along with me this Chapter; Revelation 16:1….

Let us summarize the judgments from these 7 bowls: there will ugly and painful sores on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image, sea turned into blood and every living thing in the sea died, rivers and springs of water became blood, the sun seared people with the intense heat , the throne of the beast and his kingdom was plunged into darkness, people gnawed their tongues in agony, the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East, flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake, the great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed, every island fled away and the mountains could not be found, and from the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men.