Thursday, November 6, 2008
Revelation 7:14 "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation."
THE TRIBULATION OF GOD'S SAINTS
In the vision of the saints standing before God's throne, the people dressed in white are described as those who have come out of the great tribulation. What is the great tribulation? Some have taught that shortly before the End there will be a 7-year period of extraordinary suffering when earth's inhabitants will undergo terrible calamities. Before this happens (so it is claimed) Jesus will whisk His believers off of earth in a so-called rapture. Closely associated with this bizarre teaching is the notion that Jesus will return to earth and reign with His believers in a perfect world for a thousand years. But this is false teaching. The Bible teaches clearly that Christians are called upon to suffer many things for Jesus all the way up to the End, just as He suffered the cross en route to heavenly glory. Some, for example, will endure physical distress, imprisonment, and death for the Lord (as was the case with early Christians). More often for Christians today it means suffering the world's ridicule for believing the Bible is God's true Word, for loving Jesus, and striving to walk in His ways. For Christian young people it may mean being put down by peers for not going along with the crowd in sinful amusements: "Well, aren't you a fuddy-duddy!" Then there are the crosses the Lord calls on all Christians to bear as people living in a sin-torn world, along with unbelievers, in the form of emotional stress and bodily infirmities. All these are part of the great tribulation of God's saints which will continue unabated to the End.
In the midst of these sufferings, however, Jesus cheers us with His promise to sustain us along the way: "Though I do not promise to keep you FROM tribulation, I will lead you surely and safely THROUGH tribulation." He comforts our hearts by reminding us that the tribulations we experience along life's path are badges of honor that mark us as belonging to Him who suffered THE great tribulation of the cross in our behalf to make us His own for time and eternity. The same Savior will at last bring us out of all the tribulations of this life to the place of perfect peace in heaven.
