'The Purpose of The Great Tribulation'
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Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:29,30)
"Immediatelyafter the tribulation of those days."
The event described above is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The "tribulation of those days" is the great tribulation.
The coming of the Lord will take place "after the tribulation of those days."
In verse three of the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, the Lord’s disciples asked him, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"
The Greek word used for "coming" isparousia, the same Greek term used for "coming" by the Apostle Paul in I Thessalonians 4:15. Every time Paul speaks in First and Second Thessalonians of the Lord’s "coming" he employs the Greek termparousia. This is important to understand because of the current "any-moment pre-tribulation rapture" heresy that views I Thessalonians 4:13-17 as a special secret withdrawal of Gentile believer in order to avoid suffering.
"What shall be the sign of yourparousia and of the end of the age?" the disciples inquired.
Jesus answered that His coming (parousia ) would not be a secret but would be as the lightning that shines across the sky (Matthew 24:27).
Then the Lord went on to explain thatimmediately following the tribulation of those days there would be awesome signs in the heavens. After that, the nations of the earth would see the Son of Man coming and the elect would be gathered together from one end of the heavens to the other.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:31)
"They shall gather together his elect."
Compare:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (I Thessalonians 4:17)
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, (II Thessalonians 2:1)
The "tribulation of those days" is described in Matthew 24:21 as "great tribulation, such as was not since the creation of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."
The common teaching of today is that the Lord Jesus will descend from Heaven and catch up a so-called Gentile Church to Himselfbefore the great tribulation. This doctrine is not found in the twenty-fourth chapter of the Book of Matthew, which may be the main passage of the entire Scriptures concerning the return of Christ. The "rapture" doctrine as it is taught today is not found in any passage of the New Testament or the Old Testament.
In fact, the "any-moment pre-tribulation rapture" is one of the false "secret appearings" against which Jesus warned us. It is to be rejected by the saints. It is error and leads to further error.
The Christian Church will be on the earth throughout the great tribulation according to the Scriptures. The spirit of humanism has entered Christian thinking, giving rise to the doctrine that God loves the Gentile believers of the wealthy nations of the twentieth century so much more than He does the saints of all other centuries and countries that He is not willing that these favorites of His should suffer to any extent.
The "any-moment pre-tribulation rapture" error apparently was brought forth as a "revelation" in the middle of the nineteenth century.
How unscriptural! How lacking in the realities of history! How self-centered!
God never does anything without a purpose. His purpose often is set forth in the Scriptures.
If God will send great tribulation upon the world there is a purpose for it. Perhaps we can find in the Scriptures God’s purpose in sending great tribulation on the inhabitants of the earth, and also the provisions God has made for His elect during the period of the tribulation.
Let us turn to the Book of Isaiah:
In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain. (Isaiah 4:2-6)
The key to understanding the purpose of tribulation, whether great or small, is the expression, "In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious."