An Overview of the Tribulation, Part 2

Last week, we talked about the people who will be on planet earth during the Tribulation.

Tonight, we are going to talk about the biblical purposes of the Tribulation. There is so much wild speculation concerning the Tribulation, but the Bible is pretty clear when it comes to the Tribulation because the Bible is clear about the Tribulation’s purposes.

Tonight, we are going to look at the two purposes of the Tribulation.

1. The Purposes of the Tribulation.

A. To prepare Israel for her Messiah.

This is the biggest thing most people miss about biblical prophecy.

The main purpose of the Tribulation is to prepare Israel for Messiah.

Do you remember what the Bible says about the Jews? _________________________

1 Corinthians 1:22 “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:”

If the Jews need signs, they are going to get plenty of them during the Tribulation, and those signs get more obvious as the 7-year period draws closer to conclusion.

I dare say that when most of us think of the Tribulation we think about all the terrible things that happen during that period of time. Those things happen to let Israel know that the Messiah will be coming soon.

Joel 2:30–32 “And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, Blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, Before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered:

For in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, As the Lord hath said, And in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.”

As the events of the Tribulation unfold, those events are signs to Israel that deliverance made possible by the Messiah is near.

Now, I could give you countless references from the Old Testament that clearly show the Tribulation is primarily Jewish in nature.

Deuteronomy 4:29–31 “But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;

(For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.”

Jeremiah 30:7 “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; But he shall be saved out of it.”

Ezekiel 20:36–38 “Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God.

And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me:

I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.”

Daniel 12:1 “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time:

and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.”

Zechariah 13:8–9 “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, Two parts therein shall be cut off and die; But the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, And will refine them as silver is refined,

And will try them as gold is tried: They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: And they shall say, The Lord is my God.”

I could give you many more, but I think these are enough.

When you read about the Tribulation in the Bible, you are going to find many references to events or things associated with Israel.

As examples:

Daniel’s people

False Messiah

Gospel of the Kingdom

Flight on the Sabbath

The Holy Place

The land

Judea

Jerusalem

12 tribes as witnesses

Covenant with the Beast

Abomination of Desolation

The Temple/Sanctuary

The sacrifice and oblation

All of those are references for Israel, and those references should clearly indicate to all Bible students that the Tribulation is primarily for the Jewish people.

There will be a remnant of Israel saved who will enter into the Messianic Kingdom to experience the fulfillment of all of God’s covenant promises.

Do you remember what God wanted Israel to do in the first place?

Deuteronomy 4:5–7 “Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?”

The Jews were to be witnesses to the other nations from the very beginning, but they failed miserably.

During the Tribulation, 144,000 Jews will proclaim the gospel and the coming Messiah and millions upon millions of Gentiles will be saved.

Revelation 7:9 “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;”

As a result, Satan unleashes the fury of hell against the Jews trying to eliminate them once and for all.

Matthew 24:15–21 “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:

Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

Revelation 12:13 “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.”

The dragon is who? _______________ The woman is who? _____________ What is the dragon doing to the woman? _______________________.

The primary purpose of the Tribulation is to prepare Israel for the Messianic Kingdom.

B. To complete the Time of the Gentiles.

Let me share a passage that I read quite often.

Romans 11:25 “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”

Now, I told you this refers to the body of Christ being completed and initiating the Rapture, and that is what it means, but it also making a reference to the time in the future when the Gentile domination of the world will end.

The Gentiles have dominated planet earth since 586 BC when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. That domination has continued through our time, and it will continue through the Revived Roman Empire until the climax of Armageddon which ends the Gentile domination of the world.

God’s fury during the Tribulation is going to be unleashed against the nations of this world and against the wickedness of this world.

Do you know why we are to pray for God’s will to be done earth as it is in heaven? Because the wickedness of this age can only be judged truly by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The nations of this world, including the United States of America, are wicked and ungodly.

Isaiah 26:21 “For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: The earth also shall disclose her blood, And shall no more cover her slain.”

This world is wicked. During the Tribulation, God’s wrath will be poured out against the world’s wickedness and ungodliness, most of which is sanctioned by the governments of the world.

In the United States of America, 62 million babies have been “legally” murdered. In the United State of America, criminals get away with murder. In the United States of America, politicians are corrupt. In the United States of America, many churches are ungodly. America is not a godly nation. Yes, we may sing God Bless America, but it is God who is going to judge America and all other Gentile nations.

When God does judge, the Gentile nations of the world will refuse to repent.

Revelation 9:21 “Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”

Revelation 16:21 “And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.”

Mankind is inherently wicked, and I personally believe, that by the time the events of Revelation 16:21 are playing out, no one will any longer be getting saved. During the first half of the Tribulation, a great number of Gentiles will be saved. In the second half of the Tribulation, a remnant of Israel will be saved. The events of Revelation Chap 16 occur right before the climax of Armageddon. By that time, I believe, the eternal fate of every person on earth will be settled.

As we talked about, all wickedness stems from the rejection of God, and wickedness will get worse and worse the more a person rejects God until finally that person’s heart is totally darkened to the truth of God, and that is exactly what we see in Revelation 16:21.

When man refuses to acknowledge God, he will devise all kinds of evil, and that evil turns into idolatry as all kinds of wickedness is hatched.

Isaiah 59:5–7 “They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, And weave the spider’s web: He that eateth of their eggs dieth, And that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.

Their webs shall not become garments, Neither shall they cover themselves with their works: Their works are works of iniquity, And the act of violence is in their hands.

Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood: Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths.”

Where wickedness reigns, justice cowers in the corner. When wickedness reigns, the innocent are persecuted. Dear friend, wickedness is not a political issue. Wickedness stems from a rejection of God.

The Gentile nations will also be judged for the way they have mistreated Israel.

Jeremiah 25:32–33 “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, And a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day From one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: They shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; They shall be dung upon the ground.”

Revelation 19:19–21 “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.

These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”

The nations of this world have sanctioned anti-Semitism and promoted wickedness, and God is going to take care of it during the Tribulation.

Revelation 18:5–6 “For her sins have reached unto heaven, And God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, And double unto her double according to her works: In the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.”

Romans 12:19 “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

At the end of the Tribulation, the time of the Gentiles will have been completed. The only nation remaining will be Israel, but Israel will not be governed as nations are governed today. Israel will be ruled by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.