Tribulation vs Wrath

–

Is there a difference between times of Tribulation, and the time of Wrath?

–

My Views:

Tribulation is trouble. Jesus said we would face tribulation, but the scriptures also state we are not appointed to wrath.

This is survivable, but there will be martyrs.

Matt 24:9, 13

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved

–

Day of the Lord (Wrath of God) is a time of vengeance against God’s enemies.

It is not a time of chastising any saints.

It is a time of slaughter, and no one will really survive it.

–

All the saved Jews and Christians are gone before then.

The only ones around are the sealed 144,000 who give glory to God while the wrath of God hits.

There is no repentance during the WRATH, so there is no chance of salvation now.

Rev 16:11  And [they] blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

–

What is the “day of the Lord?”

http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=day+of+the+lord&t=KJV&sf=5

–

So the events are different.

–

Tribulation is brought on by the wickedness of man and the activities of the devil.

–

Wrath is God’s time to destroy the wicked.

Timing and Dividing of the 2 times

The 6^th seal – Sun, moon and sky described

Rev 6:12-14

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 casts her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

–

Joel 2:10

The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:

Timing of the Wrath Period – after the 6^th seal

The 6^th seal comes before the WRATH.

–

Act 2:20

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

Joel 2: 30-32
And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

–

2 Pet 3:10

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

–

When does Jesus show up to take all believers?

After the tribulation at the 6^th seal, when the wrath is announced as

having come.

Matt 24 : 29-31

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:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

The elect here are not the wicked. They are reserved for wrath.

–

The apostles had asked when will all these things be, and when will he return (for them)?   (Matthew 24)

They were more interested in when trouble would start for them, and when Jesus would come back to rescue them.

See  where Jesus answers them by describing the events of the 6 seals, and how he will come at the 6th one:

Tribulation in Matthew and Revelation

They were not interested in what Jesus was going to do to the wicked.

–

This return event for Jesus is the same as in 2 Thessalonians

1 Thess 4: 16-17

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

–

The conflict with the “One Taken” parable

Luke 17:36-37

Two [men] shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body [is], thither will the eagles be gathered together.

–

The parable of the one taken, one left behind is NOT given a timeframe as to how it fits into the Seals, Trumpets and Vials “schedule,” or scenario.

So, there is no rapture of the wicked into the air for eagles to kill them described in Revelation.

–

Once the wrath starts, at the end of Rev 6, there is no “eagle” activity mentioned.

By then, much of the animal and plant life has been destroyed.

If it is to happen, it is more likely earlier on, while animal life is still around.

–

Since it is not described as a specific event, then it may, or may not, happen during the 4^th seal of death, when many die for various

reasons.

Rev 6:8

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

–

Any wicked taken, would leave behind the saints, who would still be in danger at the 5^th seal, time of martyrdom.

–

Some saints / Christians will die.

–

Some may endure to the end, to the 6^th seal, when Jesus says he will

come to gather his elect.

–

Most of the wicked are reserved for the time of wrath, except for

some who will die beforehand.

–

–

^{See also}

Tribulation in Matthew and Revelation