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!