The Great Tribulation
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
TS: This chapter summarizes 13-23 in which God declared judgment on specific nations.
While the immediate context here may refer to the devastation of Judah following the Babylonian captivity, it seems clear that the ultimate fulfillment will be during the Great Tribulation.
This isn’t a pleasant topic. The Great Tribulation lies in our future. From the whole context of the Bible it will be a horrible time!. Two main things seem to be going on during the Tribulation.
1st it will be a time of unprecedented evil.
The Antichrist will be in charge of a 1 world government and the object of one world religion. Any who oppose this ultimate totalitarian regime will be hunted down for elimination. He controls people through the mark of the beast, which prevents any from buying or selling in the open economy without swearing allegiance to him.
2nd it will be a time of God’s judgment. From natural to supernatural events, God will be pouring out His wrath on the Earth.
RS: Throughout history we have marching toward this time.
The Great Tribulation: what it is
The Great Tribulation: what it is
A. God Himself will lay waste to the entire Earth
A. God Himself will lay waste to the entire Earth
Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
The Lord has always been involved in the world.
The Flood
wickedness and corruption led Him to spare one family and destroy all other humans on Earth
The Tower of Babel
This time the rebellion was different in nature, yet the still rebellion.
God had said to spread out and fill the Earth with people
They didn’t. Instead they settled together and tried build a tower (probably a Zigurat) to reach heaven.
God judged them by confusing their languages and thus scattering them.
In the Tribulation, God will be judging the whole Earth.
B. All people and fallen angels will be judged
B. All people and fallen angels will be judged
And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the Lord has spoken this word.
The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish.
On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth.
They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished.
Judgment is universal and hits all types of people.
Neither rank, wealth, power, nor the lack thereof will be able to deliver from God’s judgment
Our culture has been fanning the flames of class warfare.
The elite “rulers” act like the poor are incapable of working and bettering their situation with “help”.
Their “help” creates dependency
They attack any who oppose their idea and dare suggest we follow a Biblical pattern of working for what we get.
All from the highest to the lowest are equally under God’s judgment.
It is worldwide:
From superpowers to third world countries: ALL will fall under God’s judgment
This context alone demonstrates that this is far more than the fall of nations in Isa 13-23.
C. Very few will survive
C. Very few will survive
Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left.
In the Revelation, many of God’s judgments are described. Several of them mention large groups of the Earth killed and production halted such as trees burning, seas turning to blood, etc.
Currently estimated world population: 8 million
◄ POPULATION REDUCTION & The Book of Revelation►
➥ 1) Seal 4 "Kill 1/4." Revelation 6:8 2 Billion killed! leaving 6 billion
➥ 2) Trumpet 6 "Kill 1/3." Revelation 9:15 Another 2 BILLION leaving 4 billion
➥ 3) 7 Vials of Wrath - "people rarer than fine gold" Isaiah 13:12, Revelation Ch 16 & Zephaniah 1:2-3
How horrific this time will be!
The population is cut in 1/2 by God’s judgment. There will also be other factors killing people. Including other humans!
D. Happiness will no longer exist
D. Happiness will no longer exist
The wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh.
The mirth of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the jubilant has ceased, the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
No more do they drink wine with singing; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
The wasted city is broken down; every house is shut up so that none can enter.
There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine; all joy has grown dark; the gladness of the earth is banished.
Desolation is left in the city; the gates are battered into ruins.
For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.
Judgment and living on Earth will be so difficult that joy will not be found anywhere.
and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more,
Focus will be on survival in a time of unprecedented anguish
There will be no time for the arts and entertainment as survival is the sole goal
There will be no motivation for it either.
E. Evil and treachery will be everywhere
E. Evil and treachery will be everywhere
From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One. But I say, “I waste away, I waste away. Woe is me! For the traitors have betrayed, with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”
Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!
He who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.
Isaiah, who had this revelation, could not praise God at this point due to being overwhelmed by the horrors he witnessed.
The situation for people will be like a hunted animal
Fall in a pit, manage to climb out and end up in a snare.
Judgments will be so universal that when you escape 1 you get caught in the next.
It is a series of inescapable traps!
God will be judging from heaven as the windows of heaven are opened
In Noah’s day, it was a flood.
Then it will won’t be a flood, but a series of judgments
Earthquake
and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.
The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
Earthquakes, Asteroids, Change in Sun’s output
And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne,
and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.
Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.
The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.
Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”
F. The Earth will stagger like a drunkard
F. The Earth will stagger like a drunkard
The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken.
The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again.
2 other pictures are given to wrap up the situation in the Great Tribulation
Though the Earth is viewed as strong and dependable: God reveals it is NOT
Earth staggers like it is drunk and shakes like a rickety shack in the wind.
It is possible that with all that is happening (Earthquakes and asteroids), it is likely that the rotation and revolution of the Earth will change adding to the difficulties on Earth.
Even if this is just an illustration, it is fitting. Everyone left on Earth will be staggering at the events which are occuring on Earth.
The Great Tribulation- Why it occurs
The Great Tribulation- Why it occurs
The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.
The Earth is judged for the same reason all judgments have happened.
People have violated God’s law
transgressed the laws and violated the statutes
Just like The Flood and tower of Babel, the coming judgment is due to the people of Earth breaking God’s law.
Our world is quickly running away from God
Evil is corrupt and grows more rampant all the time
We see the reality daily:
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Our culture has gone from this:
John Adams, 2nd U.S. President and Signer of the Declaration of Independence
"Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God ... What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be."
--Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Vol. III, p. 9.
To:
Today, politicians reference the Bible and misquote it or outright condemn it.
They love to tell us (Christians), how we should apply it:
love everyone (yet they mean call nobody to repentance)
They label those of us who believe and practice God’s word as bigots and extremists
Sounds like terrorists doesn’t it?
1 specific example: We now are in a month where sin is celebrated as “Pride”. In fact, 2 weeks in a row now in Dallas, gay bars are having children story hours and times with Drag Queens!
Instead of pride, what they really need is to have God’s perspective on this and repent!
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
All of us sin. I don’t care what you sin is, when we celebrate it and parade it we are guilty of Romans 1:32
our culture slid from saying living by the Bible is all the rule of law we need to giving approval to people who practice sin as a lifestyle!
May God have mercy upon us!
They also have broken the everlasting Covenant
covenant with Abraham
Far more than just a nation formed
A Messiah (Jesus) promised
faith in Him will bring salvation
The ultimate violation and worse sin of all is rejecting God’s freely offered salvation.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
All who put their faith in Him have everlasting life and be welcomed home to heaven.
Those who don’t will hear the most tragic words in history
And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Which will you hear?
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
One major event isn’t mentioned in this passage, the rapture. At some point in our future, Christ is coming to call His people home. There is debate as to exactly where that falls in the grand timeline. Many say it happens before the events we have discussed today, or pre-trib. Others say it happens in the middle just before the wrath really ramps ups, pre-wrath/mid-trib. Still others, see it as post-trib. It happens at the end just before Armageddon (the final battle). Our own doctrinal statement of our church and the Baptist Missionary Association list these concepts about timing as non binding. While the timing is debatable, the fact of the Rapture is NOT.
Those who believe we enter the tribulation and possibly must endure to the end are peppering to outlast it. They are storing food, building bunkers, etc. Their hope is to be self-sufficient and able to hide from the forces of the Anti-christ.
I’m all for being prepared to live through calamitous times. We have storms, pandemics, power failures, food shortages, massive inflation, etc. and have already enduring those in our recent past and continue to have some of those. Furthermore, even if the rapture is pre-trib, the Earth is moving toward it and governments and culture are getting more totalitarian and against God. We don’t know how much we must endure before the tribulation begins.
However, when it comes to spiritual issues, our relationship with God is the key to survival.
I believe the simplest and most obvious answer is the Rapture happens BEFORE God starts pouring out His wrath (seals, bowls, trumpets, etc)
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
In the meantime, we look for Christ to come take us home, not the Great Tribulation
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
The real question today is:
Are you ready?