Tribulation Saints - Revelation 7 Series

G.K. Chesterton once said, “Whenever you remove any fence, always pause long enough to ask yourself the question, ‘Why was it put there in the first place?’ Howard Hendricks says, “You are I are living in a time when fences are being removed all around us. America is playing a dangerous game with her destiny, removing fences that were put there for a reason. Fences that were put in place for our own spiritual protection. Fences for our national character. Fences for our families. Fences for the church of Jesus Christ. Fences that were built on the nature and character of God. And we are now trying to remove them.”

What we are reading in the current framework of Revelation are the events that will take place during the Great Tribulation. As a review we’ve already studied several parts:

John’s Rapture in Chapter 4

-The Scene in the Throne Room of Heaven

-The emergence of the Lamb that was slain

-The receiving of the scroll and the worship of the Lamb

-The opening of the first 6 of the 7 Seals on the Scroll

-Seal One - White Horseman

-Seal Two - Black Horseman

-Seal Three - Red Horseman

-Seal Four - Pale Green Horseman

-Seal Five - Martyrdom of Saints

-Seal Six - Global Upheaval and cataclysm

Now we come to a pause before the 7th seal is opened.

When I was in the State Troopers we took boxing to improve our fighting skills. If you’ve ever boxed before you know that the padding on the ends of the gloves does more to protect the knuckles of the person hitting than those who are being hit. It was during a sparing session that I got clobbered by three rapid punches before I could get my wits about me to block. The most reprieve I had was the milliseconds in-between the punches! But I used those milliseconds to practice a defensive technique called OODA-Loop. Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. As a result, I was able to guard myself, reposition for a more devastating attack than I was receiving, and ultimately win the round.

The Great Tribulation will be a time of trouble that will make the WWII holocaust pale in comparison. This is known as the “Time of Jacob’s Trouble.” (See Jer 30:7) Jeremiah 30:6 describes it in terms of the pains of childbirth, indicating a time of agony. But there is hope for the people of Israel, for the Lord promises He will save them. Even though this is “the time of Jacob’s distress” (NASB), and even though “in all history, there has never been such a time of terror” (Jeremiah 30:7, NLT), God will deliver His people.

In Jeremiah 30:10–11, the Lord references the blessings that will come after the “Great Day of the Lord” or “Time of Jacob’s trouble: “‘I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid. I am with you and will save you,’ declares the Lord.”

Like Jeremiah, Jesus described the tribulation as a unique time of suffering, speaking of “great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again” (Matt 24:21) The Lord also used some of the same imagery as Jeremiah.

?6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. (Matthew 24:6–8 ESV)

Paul, too, described the tribulation using the simile of birth pains:

?3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:3 ESV)

This event follows the rapture and the removal of the church in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18.

These “birth pains” are described in detail in Revelation 6—12. One purpose, maybe even the main purpose, of the tribulation is to bring Israel back to the Lord (Jeremiah 30:22; Hosea 6:1–2; Zechariah 12:10).

The time of Jacob’s trouble demonstrates that God keeps His promises, judges sin, and saves those who trust in Christ. In the end times, God will pour His judgment on a wicked world, and this seven-year tribulation, from Israel’s point of view, is the time of Jacob’s trouble. In this time, God purges His chosen people of the wicked and unbelieving, but “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls” (Joel 2:32; cf. Romans 10:13). After that time of Jacob’s trouble is a time of peace, as the Lord Himself sets up His kingdom on earth for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1–6; cf. Isaiah 11).