Will we have to go through the tribulation?

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God."

(Revelation 16:1 NASB)

Note the words “the wrath of God.” If you do not know my blog and how I think, then may I make something clear? This time that is coming upon the earth, often called the day of the Lord, is not tribulation; it is the time of wrath. Tribulation, as Jesus put it, is a way of life for the believer.

Even my mother asked me, will we have to go through the tribulation?

Because I see events already upon us that look and sound like aspects of God's wrath during the seven-year period, it would be easy to say we are already there, but as of this date, 4/24/24, the rapture of the church has not happened, and the world is not in the time of wrath yet. 

Add to this the testimony of a young Jewish boy. Jewish only by nationality at the time of his testimony, he died and went to heaven. He claimed to have spoken extensively with Jesus – the Messiah and came back to life. As he was questioned by the rabbis, one of the things he said was that we are in the last seven years. 

I could take that information seriously, I could dismiss it, or I could compare it with what I see around me.

What is the obvious problem with that?

Jesus took all the wrath upon himself on the cross,

Isaiah 53:4-5 NASB Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. (5) But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.

And we, being in Christ, are not destined for wrath.

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 NASB (9) For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, (10) and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.

And, 

Romans 5:9 NASB Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

All the wrath we see during this time period is meant for the nations and Israel in general for rejecting him.

Allow me to explain something. We are only looking at three people groups in the world today: the Jews, the Nations, and the Church.

Once the church is caught up to be with the Lord, there will only be those unbelieving (at that moment) Jews and the nations. The nations are a broad spectrum ranging from those we claim were unreached to those who live in ignorant or blatant rejection. (This includes many who currently attend churches.)

Romans 1:18 NASB For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

Did you ever notice this aspect of verse 18 before? It says, "the unrighteousness of "men" who suppress the truth..." The rabbis admonish attendees to stay away from Isaiah 53 and the writings of Daniel the prophet. Why? Because these writings speak of a truth they do not want the Jews to know and accept.

And, 

John 3:36 NASB "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

 If God opened the windows of heaven and poured out his wrath upon the earth, wouldn't that mean that the church is receiving his wrath as well? 

And that is not right when I look at scripture.

What other explanations are there?

While it is evident to me that the removal of the church from the earth triggers God's wrath upon the earth (Consider Lot and how the angels were restrained from bringing God's wrath upon the towns, such as Sodom and Gomorrah, until they removed Lot and his family to safety), there is little that tells us plainly when the church will get caught up. 

But we have not been left in the dark, nor are we unintelligent concerning when this will take place because there are clues if we are willing to heed them: 

Matthew 24:32-34 The parable of the fig tree. 

1 Thessalonians 5:1- 5 But you, brothers, are not in darkness, that the Day should overtake you like a thief. 

Matthew 13:10- 13 Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven,

While the previous three passages do not tell you precisely when they give you the freedom to play in the ballpark. Here we are in August of 2017, and Israel is seventy years old. Seventy was a common biblical estimation for a generation. Besides that, if I look at Israel as the fig tree, then it is easy to see that it is in full bloom and filled with fruit. There is a generation associated with that fig tree, and we have the covenant, called God's Word, telling us that the generation that witnessed Israel becoming a nation will not pass away without seeing the return of the Messiah for His bride - the church. Folks, we are right there.

2 Thessalonians 2:6-9 NASB (6) And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. (7) For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. (8) Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; (9) that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,

Sure, circumstantial evidence is mounting, and we can see that, but I can see many things happening as we speak. 

Just within the first three seals of Revelation chapter six are things that are happening all around us.

Revelation 6:2-6 NASB I looked, and behold a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. (3) When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come." (4) And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another, and a great sword was given to him. (5) When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come." I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. (6) And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine."

If I look at the first rider, it rides a white horse.

The white horse is symbolic of peace, and yet the rider has a bow in his hand, in opposition to peace, but you noticed that he has no arrows. This rider is representative of an entity that presents itself as peace, but its motive is war. Islam adequately fits that description, for while they present themselves as the religion of peace, they are anything but peaceful.

The second rider removes peace from the earth.

Have you watched the news lately? 
Sick of the looting, pillaging, and raping of Sweden's women, someone started burning Mosques in Sweden; Islamic terrorists have, in recent months, blown up the Belgium airport and a hotel in Indonesia. At the time of this writing, we were in the midst of presidential campaigning here in America, but who do we have to deal with? Trump supporters, who seem to be a bunch of violent, racist fools, while the group Black Lives Matter has openly stated we will bring violence to the streets of America if Trump is elected.

And thirdly, that loaf of bread that I can remember paying a quarter for is now as much as $4.25.

The general idea is that food is becoming expensive and, in many cases, inedible. As an addendum, Venezuelans are starving to death as their dictator refuses aid shipments.

Another example of that evidence was the idea that the beast was thought to be exclusively a Middle Eastern phenomenon by some. 

Just a few years ago, I would have told you that America would not be touched by Islam's terrors. But that is not the case anymore, as we have Al Qaeda training camps in the United States that are feasible threats to American targets.

Is it possible that what we see in the sixth chapter of Revelation is not the wrath of God? 

Maybe. By the time you get to verse eight, it sure seems like it.

Revelation 6:8 NASB I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death, and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

But who is keeping count of the number of people in the Middle East, Sudan, Nigeria, and Kenya, all slaughtered by Islamic-related groups; how many have died, as verses 9-10 describe?

Revelation 6:9-10 NASB When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; (10) and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

What's my point? Things are not that crystal clear, are they?

If God sees fit to time events as He pleases, then how do we keep the timing? 

You see, even that gets muddy as we wanted a clean delineation that allows us to say, see, I told you so. But that is not our job. Our job is spelled out in the second chapter of Titus:

Titus 2:11-13 NASB For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, (12) instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, (13) looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

We are to be looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. 

Grab hold of that for a moment. 

Believers will tell you that under grace, we have no ordinances, or perhaps another way of stating this, commands to restrain us. 

This sounds like some explicit instructions to me: 

• Deny ungodliness and worldly desires, 
• live sensibly and righteously, 
• and look for the appearance of Jesus.

So, though you may be up to your neck in machete blades, you are NOT in the tribulation because the church is still here. 

We anxiously await for His call to come home, then the real wrath will come. If you get the sense that it will be a horror show after the rapture comes, you are correct, and that is why I am writing to you.