A lot of people mix up the “tribulation” and the act of God pouring out his wrath onto the nations.
“God’s wrath” and the “tribulation” are two entirely separate things.
Here’s the difference.
The Tribulation is all about men persecuting and doing horrible things to other men.
God’s wrath, on the other hand, is all about divine judgement being leveled on the enemies of God.
The Tribulation is an ACT OF MEN while God’s wrath is, well, an ACT OF GOD.
One is carried out by the enemies of God towards the people of God while the other is carried out by the spiritual enemies of God towards the enemies of God.
So again, we see the Biblical principle of SEPARATION being played out here.
Now for those who are harboring some pre-trib notion, I hate to rain on your party, but the Biblical pattern since the book of Genesis is that God’s chosen do NOT escape the tribulation that will be brought upon them by evil men.
We can see from the Scriptures that God’s chosen are not always protected from evil earthly rulers.
Many believers to this day are martyred for their faith.
Look at what Hitler and his minions did to God’s chosen, and with the cooperation of the Christian church I might add.
To me, it is incredulous to think that believers are going to escape the tribulation brought about by evil men.
Let’s not forget that pretty much every one of the New Testament writers died a horrible death and persecution against believers remains in full swing to this day.
Unfortunately, we’re told that things are going to get much worse until HASHEM feels it’s time to step in and intervene.
Fortunately, the one thing believers will be spared is God’s destructive outpouring of His 21 judgements upon the earth.
Those who are in fellowship with the Lord will NOT be treated to God’s wrath.
Hence, at my current level of understanding (and I could be wrong), this is how I believe things are going to play out in the end times.
In the I believe not too far future, persecution against believers and evil on the planet is going to reel completely out of control and then when it gets so bad to the point where it will seem like it can’t get any worse, I believe it is at that point God is going to step in and begin pouring out His wrath upon the enemies of God.
Now this I can’t say for sure but it is either as soon as God begins pouring out His wrath on the planet or soon after that I believe the true believers will be whisked away.
Here’s another point where I feel many will disagree with me.
Starting on YOM TERUAH (the Day of Trumpets), I believe the 21 judgments mentioned in the book of Revelations are going to occur in quite a rapid succession boom, boom, boom, …. and then end a mere 15 days later on SUKKOT (Feast of Tabernacles).
Why do I believe this?
Because if it didn’t occur this way, IT WOULD GO AGAINST THE ESTABLISHED BIBLICAL PATTERN OF HOW THE OTHER GREAT EVENTS CONCERNING THE MESSIAH TRANSPIRED!
Yeshua was killed on Passover.
The next day, he went into the tomb on the Feast of Matza.
He was resurrected from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits.
50 days on SHAVUOT (Pentecost), the Holy Spirit manifested itself in power.
Think about it.
All of these events occurred one after another in the same year!
Is there any reason to think that the prophetic fulfillment of the Fall Feasts is going to be stretched out over multiple years as some teach?
I am pretty confident that the yet to be fulfilled Fall Feasts will be fulfilled in real time within a set period just as the Spring and Summer Feasts were fulfilled!
Hence, I believe all of these pre-trib end times doctrines popularized by books such as the Left Behind series are WRONG and require a heck of lot of allegory and Scriptural gymnastics to make them work.
And you know, there’s only ONE REASON why people who teach their end times doctrines can get away with what they teach and fool so many others.
The reason is simple.
It is because they have relegated the Torah to the outer limits of infinity in terms of importance and relevance for the believer today.
Once you throw the Law and Prophets into the trash and deem the Old Testament as no longer relevant, you have effectively abolished all of God’s patterns THAT ARE ONLY ESTABLISHED IN THE TORAH!
These patterns are the CONTEXT for even being able to understand the New Testament.
A Bible without the Torah is like a hamburger without beef or a tuna sandwich without tuna.
I think you get the idea.
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN LEVITICUS CHAPTER 24
The Whole Bible is all about Israel, the land and it’s people. What was the church established for……
I agree with you totally. Been listening to Monte Judah with loin and lamb and he lays it out very succinctly. He also talks about the “Greater Exodus” where the believers escape after the Passover following the desecration of the alter occurs.
Amen.