The Purpose of the Tribulation

The tribulation serves a dual purpose in the divine plan. It includes a time for preparing an elect people, both Jew and Gentile, and an elect nation (Israel) to enter the kingdom at Christ’s return and also a time of judgment upon the world for its sin and rebellion. As such, the tribulation plays a vital role in preparation for the coming kingdom of Christ on earth.

The preparation of Israel to receive their Messiah

The Old Testament figure of the “refiner’s fire” is one of the metaphors employed to illustrate how God will use this time of great distress to prepare an elect people and nation for entrance into the kingdom. Concerning how God would use this time to purify a people to Himself, it was revealed to Daniel that:

[Dan. 12:10] Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.

This passage reveals three important truths concerning the tribulation period. 1) God will use this time to purify a people for Himself. 2) The wicked will not understand what is happening, and in spite of the intense distress of this period will not repent—a theme echoed repeatedly in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 9:20-21; 16:9,11,21). 3) Those who are wise (i.e., who know and believe the truth) will understand what is occurring. God also revealed to Zechariah that He would use the intense heat of distress to purify Israel as a people unto Himself and thus enable the fulfillment of His promises to their fathers:

[Zech. 13:8-9] “In the whole land,” declares the LORD, “two thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”

It was revealed to Zechariah that one third of the Jewish nation would survive this day of distress, but God will purify that third and they will come into right relationship with God through this great trial. Ezekiel also foresaw the conversion of Israel during this time of distress:

[Ezek. 20:33-38] As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I will rule over you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. I will bring you from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered—with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. I will bring you into the desert of the nations and there, face to face, I will execute judgment upon you. As I judged your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Sovereign LORD. I will take note of you as you pass under my staff, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge you of those who revolt and rebel against me. Although I will bring them out of the land where they are living, yet they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

According to Ezekiel’s prophecy, God will rule over Israel, and He will bring this to pass through a great outpouring of His wrath. Having gathered Israel from the nations, He will execute judgment upon them as He did upon their forefathers in the desert after they left Egypt. He will purge them of unbelief and rebellion, but those that remain will know the LORD. At the conclusion of the tribulation period, though only a portion will remain, God will have purified a people to whom He can fulfill the promises He made to their fathers concerning a land, a kingdom, and a relationship with Him forever.

Judgment upon the world

The other purpose of the tribulation is to execute divine judgment upon the world for its sin and rebellion. While the entire tribulation will be a time of distress, sometime in the second half of the period the day of the Lord will begin, in which God will pour out wrath upon the world (likely beginning at the seventh seal of Revelation). The result will be worldwide devastation; only a fraction of the world’s population will survive to the end of the period.

One might question the fairness of God suddenly executing retribution on this generation. However, several factors must be considered. 1) The generation living at the end of the age will have had more knowledge, more time, and greater opportunity than any preceding generation to respond to God’s mercy; yet their response will be a world-wide rejection of God to a degree that will overshadow the most pagan episodes of human history. 2) Throughout the period, salvation will still be available to anyone who will respond to the grace of God. 3) The spiritual delusion that characterizes the latter part of the period is merely the result of the world’s choice of darkness instead of light, so they will be given over to their desire (2 Thess. 2:9-12). 4) Once the day of the Lord begins, the intensity of divine judgment is directly linked to the intensity of the world’s rejection and hatred of God (cf. Rev. 9:20-21; 16:9,11,21). 5) God’s forbearance shown to past generations, all of which deserved the same punishment, does not exempt the human family from judgment in this final hour. Far from accusing God of injustice, His past forbearance ought to be the occasion for praising His longsuffering and mercy. 6) Those who escaped God’s wrath on earth, in times past, are now suffering the eternal retribution of God; they have not escaped judgment. In the end, every unredeemed person will receive exactly what he or she deserves in full measure, whether that judgment begins in this life, or after death.

Isaiah commented on this judgment when he said,

[Isa. 13:9-13] See, the day of the LORD is coming—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. The stars of the heavens and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.

Notice the details of Isaiah’s prophecy. 1) The day of the Lord will be “cruel,” filled with “wrath” and “fierce anger.” 2) The land (the earth) will be made desolate (empty and unproductive), and its people (sinners) will perish. 3) The light of the stars will not be visible from the earth, and the sun and moon will be dark (likely referring to the obscuration of the earth’s atmosphere by dust and debris). 4) Man in his pride will be humbled. 5) A large percentage of the earth’s population will perish, so much so that men will become more scare than gold. 6) The heavens and the earth will shake (bespeaking great geophysical and astrophysical disturbances).

Concerning the day of the Lord as a time of judgment, Paul says,

[2 Thess. 2:8-11] The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refuse the love of the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

Not only will the wicked refuse to repent of their sin, they will fall into a delusion, believing that the Antichrist is God. This delusion is actually God sent; since they have rejected the only true God and His Son—Jesus Christ—God will send a delusion upon the world so they will believe “the lie,” i.e., that the Antichrist himself is “God” (2 Thess. 2:11 cf. 3-4).

Published at: http://prophecy.biblicalreader.com

Adapted from What the Bible Says About the Future

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