The Tribulation, Part One

I have taught many times since being here that “the great tribulation” John alluded to in Revelation 7:14 is a tribulation (we could say a pressing in on people of trials and persecution) that spans the entire church age, from the first coming of Christ to his second coming, rather than alluding to a brief period of time (three and a half years or seven years) at the end of this age. Because the view of the tribulation I am setting forth is different than what many of us have heard and previously been taught, I want to defend this understanding in a few blog posts. 

I will set forth eleven reasons why I believe the tribulation spans the entire church age and is not merely a brief time at the end of this age. My goal is to help you see that my understanding emerges from the text of Revelation and from the text of the rest of Scripture and is not forced upon it, and then also to see why our grasp of this view of the tribulation is significant. 

Here are the first four reasons. 

1. Since the book of Revelation signifies with a great amount of symbolism its message (1:1), we should not be surprised that the tribulation would have a symbolic nature to it—especially when it comes to those times when the numbers that so often stand behind the Tribulation (e.g. three and a half years) are used.

2. Since the book of Revelation has a tendency to use numbers symbolically (e.g. 1:4; 4:5; 5:6; 7:4-8), we should not be surprised that the numbers used in reference to the tribulation (e.g. forty-two months [11:2], 1,260 days [11:3], or time, times, and half a time [3.5 years, in 12:14]) are used symbolically. 

3. Since there is strong evidence in Revelation (from the statements in 1:3, 19 that suggest that Revelation is displaying the unfolding of the events of this current age foretold in Daniel and from the recapitulating nature of the book) that its material covers the entire church age and does not focus primarily upon a brief time at the end of this age and then beyond, it makes sense that the tribulation spoken of in Revelation covers this entire age. 

4. One of the reasons that some read Revelation in a manner that tribulation deals only with trials, persecution, discipline, and judgment (the latter on unbelievers) at a brief time toward the end of this age is that they believe the church has been removed from the earth after the material of chapter 3 and so all the subsequent chapters must deal with events in the future, after a future secret rapture of the church. However, Revelation 7 makes the point that the true people of God (the Church!) now consists of Jew and Gentile who believe in Christ. We see this same truth over and over again throughout Revelation 6-20 and so conclude the church is still present on earth. In fact, in this present context of Revelation, what John sees in Revelation 7 precedes the final judgment (and thus the second coming of Christ), which is covered in 8:1-5. It is fallacious to read all the material of Revelation 4-20 as being sometime in the future and focusing only upon a brief time at the end of this age and beyond. 

We will cover the rest of the eleven reasons over the next few days.

Tom