The Tribulation Period

The following is a correspondence where I answered a brother's question on the Tribulation Period. 

My Dear Beloved Brother,

Good to hear from you.I trust His grace is being shed upon you abundantly, and that you have the faith to appropriate it. I think of you often and pray for you and the family regularly. As to the family, I trust the "Birthday Girl" had a good one.

As to your question concerning the Tribulation, I am not the prophetic student I once was. I mean by this, I no longer study the event as much as look for it. In fact on my daily walk this morning I looked up to His heavens and prayed, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus!"

I am sending along with this note three articles I have done on the subject over a period of time. They pretty much explain my position. 

As to Noah and Lot's day I've come to see Our Lord was not speaking mainly of every particular of their day, but of His unexpected coming by many. 

As to "The Last Days," I believe they started in the day of Christ (Heb.1:2). The Dispensationalists make two Last Days like they make two Comings. I believe in one of each.As well as one people, that is one elect, not two. 

The "signs" Jesus and Paul spoke of, many, not all, have always been in Church history. Granted, not as concentrated and universal as they are in our age.

There is a possibility we could be in the beginning of the Tribulation period now, if not, maybe standing before the door. But I am cautious, for in my lengthy lifetime, even before my conversion, such things were discussed and speculated upon. 

To be truthful I really do not know! But as I say in the following articles, I trust I am ready. That is, as ready as I personally know how to be.

Hope this helps answer your inquiry my friend.

An Old Disciple,

rds        

The Blessedness of the Blessed Hope

It is always dangerous to major on minor truths, especially when it concerns the Bible. That is not to say attention should not be given to the latter, but to realize they are sub-heads to the main point. This is particularly true concerning the second coming of Christ. It is not focusing on signs, Anti-Christs, a tribulation period, or Rapture. It is welding our attention on the person of Jesus Christ. The main purpose of the coming of Christ has to do with our union with Him, "So shall we ever be with the Lord." Losing sight of this is to lose the blessing of the Blessed Hope. 

May God keep us from dogmatism when it comes to this future, great historical event; lest we end up in the doghouse at His return. Many have made a novelty of His coming, and the world laughs at both them and Him as a result. Others sacrifice solid scriptural substance for speculation, removing an emphatic period, and replacing it with a question mark. When it comes to the Second Advent, it is fact, not fancy, we are to build this doctrine on. Much of the obscurity surrounding His coming will be made plain with hindsight. Jesus told His disciples, "I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe..." Oswald Sanders writes, "The implication is, we will understand the full significance of prophecy only after it has been fulfilled."

The early Christians greeted one another on the street and in the market place with,"Maranatha," (The Lord Cometh). No more, no less, simply. "THE LORD COMETH! That's good enough for me. How about you?

Suppose It Is All True

Years ago, when I was a pastor, one of our young ladies, a beautiful eighteen year old, newly married, was in a head-on auto collision. It left her paralyzed from the waist down. Loved ones and friends were all praying for her healing, and naturally so. But I felt impressed to prepare her for life in a wheel-chair; “plan for the worse, hope for the best,” so to speak. As I told her, if God allows you walk again, well, we can easily fit that into your daily schedule. But confinement in a chair for the rest of one’s life will not be as simple!

Among Evangelical and Fundamental Christians, there is a popular teaching that the carnal Church of our day will not have to go through any coming sufferings. But what if we find out that “we are no better than our fathers,” that we, too, must experience our “Dark Ages” and “Treblinkas,” what then? As the old adage says, “To be forewarned is to be forearmed.” Years ago I saw a picture that illustrates my point. It was an ox standing between a yoke and an altar. Under the picture was the caption, “Ready for either.” Are you?

 The Question of the Tribulation

No matter what one’s prophetic position, I find most, if not all, hold to the belief that toward the end time, there will be unprecedented dark days, many believe the duration of which will be seven years. I personally have some reservations on this teaching (Matt.24:21-22).

There are basically three popular positions concerning this seven (?) year tribulation period. The first is known as pre-tribulationist; the second group holds to a mid-tribulation; and the last are post-tribulationist.). The pre-trib. teaches all the elect will be taken out of this world just prior to this time of trouble; a secret rapture, if you please. The mid-trib. group say Christians will go through the first half of the trib. and then be caught up. The post-trib. holds that the Church will go through all the Tribulation Period. (We will not discuss the partial-rapture crowd).

The most important question is not which of these three or any other is the right position; the crucial question is: are you and I ready for either? No matter which teaching proves to be the right one? There are people in each of these camps fighting for their particular pet doctrine who are not prepared, even if their position is the valid one. Holding the right position does not guarantee the person holding it is right.

To be forewarned is to be forearmed!

"Our" Almighty God

"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God..."

Abraham was the first person God ever appeared to (Adam heard His voice). It occurred, as A.W. Pink writes, "in his old age, when nature's force was spent and death was written on the flesh." It is at this time in his life El Shaddai, the all-sufficient God, makes a promise to this aged saint. A promise that was impossible to fulfill apart from God's mighty power. As someone has so aptly said, "When God is getting ready to preform the impossible, He takes an impossible man or woman and crushes them." Both Abraham and Sarah could vouchsafe this truth.

It is when "all hope is taken away," God does His best work. During such times, we are to "hope against hope"; for "He is our hope." This was not only true in Abraham's case, but in other lives also, Job being one. The old patriarch, in his boxed-in predicament, refers to God no less than thirty-one times as, "The Almighty."  It's said of the former, we are to "follow in his steps," and of the latter, to take as an, "example." Therefore, their "Almighty God" is ours also. As Jesus said, "I ascend unto...to my God, and your God."

To believe He is "Almighty God," brings a deep, settling peace and assurance to one's soul. To see this All-mightiness accomplished in the lives of others is nothing short of awesome amazement. But to personally experience Almighty God working on my behalf, well, that is joy unspeakable and full of glory! O, blessed be our God, who, as Oswald Chambers says, "Has power to create new things in an old world."

"Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints."

I Don't See It That Way

"Except a man be born again, he cannot see..." I do no injustice by not finishing our text, for its truth runs from Genesis to Revelation. Every man born of a woman is born spiritually blind. It is not that he will not see; he cannot see. He was born with his spiritual eyes wide shut, so to speak. Jesus taught, man has two sets of eyes, physical and spiritual, "The seeing, see not," He tell us. They see but they don't see.

We hear much today about having a spiritual relationship with God, while little or nothing is said about the new birth. It seems the latter has been dropped from the Christian's vocabulary. But it is impossible to have the first of these without experiencing the second. Nothing is more pathetic or pitiful than watching professing Christians grope their way along at noonday as blind men and women, while all along thinking they see clearly and are part of the Kingdom of God.

The infamous statement by these counterfeit professors, "I don't see it that way," is proof positive they've never experienced the touch of Christ, along with His glorious words, "Receive thy sight." Strange, is it not? those saintly primitive Christians could see it; the Spirit-filled  Church Fathers could see it; our godly grandparents and parents could see it; but these carnal, worldly, pseudo-Christians just don't see it the way the rest of us do. A second birth would give them second sight. Then they would  see clearly!

Jesus said, " What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight."

Women Warriors

Nothing so impresses me as to see a woman who, as Louis L’Amour, the Western writer says, “you can ride the river with.” That is, one who will stay the course, who has sinew of soul. Or as old Dr.Bob Jones Sr. used to say of such, “They have intestinal fortitude.” 

The Bible writes of “Women Warriors,” not whiney women. It records for us the mighty feats of such heroines as: Jael, her only weapon being a hammer and nail against the enemy; Deborah, the prophetess and judge of Israel, who was at the forefront of their army because a man refused to go-it-alone; and who does not highly regard  those courageous women Saul hauled off to prison; also, let us not forget Priscilla, along with her husband Aquila, who was willing to lay down her neck for Paul.

These women all had a “meek and quiet spirit,” as their blessed Lord, who was “meek and lowly in heart.” Notice, it was an inner quality, it did not change the women’s outward temperament and personality. How beautiful they are, these women warriors adorned in the whole armour of their Captain, the Lover of their souls. Look at some of them with me: Madam Guyon, as she lies in a filthy prison for her testimony; Elisabeth Elliot, who stayed on ministering to the Auca Indians after they killed her beloved husband; Amy Carmichael, fighting her battles from a sickbed, with just her mighty pen in hand; and my most blessed friend, Tina Green, who is a true warrior in a wheelchair!

“Let her sleep for when she wakes she will move mountains.”

(Napoleon)

Canes, Crutches, and Other Things

All of us stumble and fall from time to time, no matter how careful we may be. Most of these times we simply dust ourselves off and continue on. But if it is a bad sprained ankle, or even worse, a broken leg, then we must use certain means to maneuver. These helps manifest themselves either in things or people.

And so it is in the Christian life. The best of us can, and do, fall. David tells us a good man following the Lord can fall. And his son, Solomon, says, a just man can fall numerous times. As in the physical realm, some spiritual falls are more severe than others. At such times it is necessary to use the means God provides, so that we can still get around till we are mended. These canes, crutches, and other things come in different forms, shapes, and sizes, but all are meant to sustain us until we’re back on our feet.

There is always a twofold danger during these crisis times. The first is not to accept any help at all, thinking we can still make it on our own, in spite of the handicap we have incurred. This is spiritual pride. The second pitfall is depending on that thing or person indefinitely. This is spiritual presumption. Gods order is, to use your “walkin’ stick” till your strengthened, then to discard it with respect and thanksgiving. After that, you’re to walk on your own. And don’t forget, up the road the Lord may use you as a temporary crutch to help some limping pilgrim along life’s way.

Feeling Our Way Along

“...like the blind...we grope (feel) as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night...” We speak of “blind faith,” but faith has good eyesight; in fact, it’s 20/20. It’s when one goes by their feelings that it indicates darkness in their life.

Isaac made a terrible decision in his life when he went by feeling, because of the dimness of his eyes. And what of sightless Samson? What a sorry spectacle, as he feels (gropes) for the pillars before a laughing world.

God has given each believer spiritual eyesight. We need never to grope through our spiritual life as though we had no eyes of faith to see with. Feelings are fine as they fall in with the third rank, following the first two ranks of fact and faith.

Faith is your spiritual optic. Puritan

A Prerequisite to Martyrdom

"And he [Matthew] left all, rose up, and followed him [Christ]." Matthew was one of Jesus' original twelve disciples. He was a publican, a despised tax collector. Tradition tells us he died by the sword, by decapitation, a missionary martyr in Ethiopia. Such stalwart saints are not swept up in an emotional moment of time in some revival or missions conference. No, this type sits down first and counts the cost.

I call your attention to our text. Notice,the two acts of rising up and following the Master were physical; but the decision to forsake all was an intellectual one. Before any action there was first a mental choice. I personally believe the one great reason so many professing Christians do not follow through is because they never thought it through! This is proven out by the words, "But I never thought it would be like this."

It might be a good thing if some of us would sit down and re-think spiritual decisions we're about to make, those which we have put little or no real thought into. A call to preach, the school you'll attend, the mate you're about to marry, the job you're ready to accept, the place you're moving to. These and other important choices need to be thought and prayed through. It is the wise man or woman who, if need be, stops before they start. For some things you'll never be able recover from once you've started down that road. 

Christianity is a serious business, therefore it calls for serious thinking!    

Divine Drudgeries

“...common things.” As you read your Bible, you become aware that our Lord has an affinity for common things, though many of us must confess to having a dislike for them. We read in the New Testament of a common people, a common faith, a common salvation, and a common temptation. To be sure, God is the Creator of the common.

Ordinary water poured into common water pots is turned mysteriously into that which makes glad the heart. Unlearned and ignorant men become ambassadors. From uncultured lips, mighty arguments are presented, and a common meal is changed into a Sacrament by the God who can transform the common into the uncommon.

And, since He is the same today as He was then, this glorious ministry of transformation continues on. He can, and does, still turn the humdrum things of life into burning bushes. The only condition necessary to make the common to shine is to put the Light of the World into them.

Life’s drudgeries become delights, when Deity is put into them.

Paul's Developing Faith

Paul did not start off with a great faith, as some might believe, but rather it developed through the years. He never achieved the mountain moving faith we all desire. We see this from his statement, “[If] I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,” But he never attained unto that stage. Nor did anyone else in scripture that I can find. It will be true of our Lord at His Second Coming, but was not so during His earthly ministry.

The truth is, no saint begins his or her Christian life with the faith that he or she ends it with; that is, if they are normal Christians. Our faith grows as we grow in the Lord. As we become more acquainted with the object of our faith (Christ) our confidence in His Word grows. The order seems to be, at one time we had “no faith,” then we moved on to a “little faith,” hopefully, we will advance to, “great faith,” and who does not want to end their life with it being said of them, they possessed “so great a faith.”

The Bible principle in any and all things seems to be, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” We need to use the little faith we have to remove the mole-hills that lie before us, then we can move on to greater accomplishments down the road.

“Christ’s naked Word unsupported by external evidence is sufficient warrant for our unwavering trust.”

John 4:46-53

(J. Oswald Sanders)

The Worth of Waiting

“My soul, wait thou only upon God”; “On thee do I wait all the day”; “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage”; “Wait patiently for him”; “Wait on the Lord, and keep his way”; “I will wait upon the Lord”; “We have waited for him”; “Blessed are all they that wait for him”; “They shall not be ashamed that wait upon thee”; “The Lord is good unto them that wait for him”; “It is good that a man should...quietly wait…for the Lord”; “Wait on God continually.”

In spite of inspired texts such as the above, I must confess, it is still difficult for me to wait. Yet this is one of the great secrets of the overcoming life. When we wait for God, we show Him our helplessness. Saul lost a kingdom because he could not wait. It seems that our spiritual watches are always five minutes fast. I think it would be wise in most of our cases, to set them back.

Christians in the Bible, who were used and blessed of the Lord, knew what it was to wait for God. Here are a few who found waiting worthwhile: David waited for his kingdom; Joseph, to be set free; Moses, to be used; Zacharias and Elizabeth, for a child; John the Baptist, for the call of God, and our precious Lord Jesus, for the OK from Heaven to begin His earthly ministry. In each case, it was worth the wait.

Two Scriptures, both found in the Book of Hebrews, have proven to be a great comfort and help to me through the years. One is found in chapter six, verse fifteen, speaking of Abraham. The second is in chapter ten and verse thirty-six, speaking to the Christians of Paul’s day (and ours). “And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise…” “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”

"To lengthen my patience is the best way to shorten my troubles." (Old Puritan)