TOPIC:“The Tribulation - Will the Church Go Through It?”
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:Matthew 24:21
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the
world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
The Bible clearly predicts that sometime in the future at the end of this age, the Church age, there will be a time of unparalleled suffering and unprecedented trouble which will come upon the entire earth. It will be a time of revolution, starvation, pestilence, persecution, martyrdom, earthquakes, and blood-shed this world has never before experienced.
It certainly is not possible within the scope of this message to set forth in detailed fashion all of the events which will take place throughout the Tribulation period. Such an attempt must be done in a series of messages. But there are some facts about the Tribulation which demand our attention. Let's consider three of them.
I.
Think, first of all, of the DURATION of the Tribulation. We read: “For then shall be great tribulation.”
The Tribulation will start at the Rapture of the Church and will last until Christ returns with His Church to set up His millennial Kingdom. It will continue for seven years. This seven-year period according to the Word of God is divided into two equal parts of three and one-half years each. While the whole seven-year period includes the Tribulation, the Bible speaks of the second half of it as the Great Tribulation. The Apostle John writes of this period as lasting “forty and two months,” in Revelation 11:2 and 1260 days in Revelation 12:6 which both equal three and one-half years. Daniel writes of it as one week in Daniel 9:27. The Bible gives more information about the last half of the Tribulation as compared to the first half of it.
II.
We have considered the duration of the Tribulation, let us now turn our attention to the DETAILS of the Tribulation. Some insight into this can be found in the words of verse 22: “and except those days should be shortened there should no flesh be saved.” This points out just how terrible the Tribulation will be for those upon the earth at that time.
We need to understand it will be the darkest period in the history of the world. The writers of the Bible viewed the coming Tribulation as a period of great danger. . . .