The 2 1/2 years of the Great Tribulation have passed. Devastation abounds. What’s left of mankind is in a panic. Multitudes have been beheaded for embracing Jesus Christ and are asking God “how long” until He wreaks vengeance on their killers. The much-anticipated rapture has not taken place. The Antichrist and False Prophet rule the world with an iron fist. What could possibly be coming on mankind now? We turn to Matthew 24:29 for the answer.

Jesus is speaking to the apostles: “Immediately AFTER THE TRIBULATION OF THOSE DAYS shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” Now return to Revelation 6:12,13 to pick up the narrative: “And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” Now notice what this time of horror is designed to introduce: “FOR THE GREAT DAY OF HIS WRATH HAS COME, and who shall be able to stand?” These earthly and heavenly signs usher in THE DAY OF THE LORD/THE LORD’S DAY/THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE DAY OF THE LORD/THE DAY OF HIS WRATH. The prophet Joel warned about a short time period between the Great Tribulation and the DAY OF THE LORD: “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the  moon into blood BEFORE THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE DAY OF THE LORD COME” (2:31). The Day of the Lord is prophesied more than 30 times in Scripture. Summary: the Great Tribulation comes just before the Lord’s Day; the Tribulation and the Lord’s Day are separated by ominous signs in both heaven and earth.

Contrary to popular church teaching, the Great Tribulation is not God’s doing. This is a period when Satan will pour out his wrath on the earth because he knows he has little time left in which to show his hatred of mankind.

With the opening of the sixth seal John sees the Lord pouring out His anger on sinning man and records what he is watching take place: “And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” Upon seeing this earthly upheaval men hid themselves in caves and dens and begged God to allow the rocks to fall on them. When this fails to happen they cry out to some unknown being to “… hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: ‘For THE GREAT DAY OF HIS WRATH IS COME, and who will be able to stand?'” (Rev. 6:14-17). That Day has arrived; it is time for the seventh seal to be pealed back. But something must take place before the grand opening–the sealing of two groups of people.

“And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, HOLDING (back) the four WINDS of the earth that they should not BLOW on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and He cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying ‘Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, TILL WE HAVE SEALED THE SERVANTS OF OUR GOD IN THEIR FOREHEADS.’ And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand OF ALL THE TRIBES OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL” (Rev. 7:1-4). See White Fields and Replacement Theology. Notice that just before God brings His wrath to bear on sinning man He directs the four angels to wait before blowing their trumpets. The trumpets are WINDS that will BLOW. These winds will cause the seven trumpets to sound. Each trumpet will usher in a terrible series of punishments to be endured by those still living on earth. But all of this is stalled until God can seal His servants. First to be sealed were the 144,000 Israelites. There is yet another group to be sealed before the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord begins.

“After this I beheld and lo, a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands ….” The angel identifies these people for John: “These are they which came out of  the Great Tribulation …. (Rev. 7:9,13,14). They had lived through it and, at its conclusion, had embraced Jesus Christ. And what was sealed in their foreheads? Their Father’s name (14:1). These people, many of whom had been in church all their lives but had rejected God’s Word in favor of Satan’s false gospel. Now they have just seen God’s signs in the earth and the heavens and realize that the message His messengers (including the two witnesses-Rev. 11:3-8) had delivered to them was His Truth. They also realize that what they have just witnessed was His final warning to the world. At this point they understand that the rapture was a hoax sprung on them by the devil. As as result of these realizations a great multitude of them will repent and turn to the Lord in true repentance. For this they are sealed in their foreheads with the name of their Father. To be continued. L.J.

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