In prophetic teaching, there is too much regurgitation and sometimes not too much critical thinking and examination that accompany presentation. One speaker or presenter will restate what he has obtained from others, accepting it at face value, and not re-examining it for himself. I want to deal with one such issue. This is NOT a criticism of anyone. I apply all this to myself.
We get told the 7–year Tribulation period gets broken up into two phases of 3.5 years each, often called the beginning of sorrows and the Great Tribulation. The people who hold this view draw the dividing line somewhere around the middle of the book of Revelation and relegate the first three and a half years as the beginning of sorrows. They have the Great Tribulation beginning with the two witnesses in chapter 11, and some claim the coming of the Antichrist and False Prophet in chapter 13 at the start of the Great Tribulation. They hold to Antichrist making his appearance in chapter 13.
The Lord spoke about these birth pains (“sorrows” – KJV, “birth pangs” – NASB, and “birth pains” – ESV).
“You will be hearing of WARS and rumours of wars. See that you are not frightened for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end, for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be FAMINES and EARTHQUAKES, BUT ALL THESE THINGS ARE MERELY THE BEGINNING OF BIRTH PANGS” (Matthew 24:6-8).
The Church is raptured in this verse – “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first VOICE which I had heard like the sound of a TRUMPET speaking with me said, ‘COME UP HERE, and I will show you what must take place after these things’” (Revelation 4:1).
The Antichrist (Man of Sin; Man of Lawlessness) is not revealed to the world in Revelation 13; that chapter, along with a couple of others in this book, is parenthetical. The Church is raptured to heaven, and then follows the mighty worship of the Lamb in chapters 4 and 5. Before chapter 6, the world is in a post-Rapture confusion, and how long this lasts, we do not know, but I feel the time is short because someone will rise to take control to bring it all together.
That someone is in these verses – “I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, ‘Come,’ and 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” (Revelation 6:1-2). That is the coming (more the “revealing” or “declaration”) of Antichrist, the world ruler. He comes in Revelation 6:1-2. He bursts on the scene after the Rapture.
We must compare the verses from 2 Thessalonians here. This is an important passage.
“Now we request you, brethren, WITH REGARD TO THE COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST AND OUR GATHERING TOGETHER TO HIM” (2 Thessalonians 2:1).
“that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that THE DAY OF THE LORD has come” (2 Thessalonians 2:2). [The Day of the LORD is the playing out of the last things, especially the judgments of God, most of which are covered in Revelation, and are in fulfillment of large areas of the Old Testament prophetic books.]
“Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come UNLESS THE APOSTASY COMES FIRST, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction” (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
The very first thing that must be noted is the context, and that is THE RAPTURE, VERSE 1. In verse 3, this word “apostasy,” about which I have written often, means a departure of location, not a falling away of faith in the churches, though that happens in this Laodicean period of the last days. It does not mean church apostasy of faith in this context! This is another example where what someone said is accepted without critical examination.
Kenneth Wuest (the great Greek scholar) points out that the word “apostasia” is derived from the root verb, “afistami,” which means to remove, withdraw, depart, go away, etc. Of its 15 occurrences in the New Testament, it is 11 times translated “depart” (as in leaving, nearly always location), and Wuest accordingly argues that the substantive must mean “departure,” and since the Greek text has the definite article [ἡ = The], then a PARTICULAR departure is in view [THE departure]. The argument for that is comprehensive, and that departure is the removal of the Church. The Church is translated to heaven. So, the word should not be translated as “apostasy,” but DEPARTURE (of the Church). That makes the passage very clear.
These are the 15 references to the use of the Greek word “apostasia”:
Luke 8:13; Luke 13:27; Luke 2:37; Luke 4:13.
Acts 12:10; Acts 15:38; Acts 19:9; Acts 22:29.
2 Corinthians 12:8; 1 Timothy 6:5; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 2:19; Hebrews 3:12. Of course, 2 Thessalonians 2:3, and one other I don’t have right now.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 plainly teaches that Antichrist (the man of lawlessness; the son of destruction) appears after the Rapture, and it is that event that is holding him back, and holding back the full outbreak of lawlessness in the world. The conclusion is that his revelation to the world is very close after the Rapture. He is the first seal. Of course, the Holy Spirit goes with the Church, and it is He who is the Restrainer.
When Jesus spoke about the birth pains, the specifics in the Matthew verses are war, famine and pestilences represented by earthquakes. They are the second, third and fourth seals of Revelation 6. They match perfectly. Those who say there is no intervention of God in the beginning of sorrows are wrong. It is not a huge intervention of judgment, but God still has His hand on the events in His permissive will. If you want to look into this further, refer to the article of mine – “Matthew 24 and Revelation 6 in Parallel.” https://www.raptureready.com/2020/07/07/a-serious-look-at-matt-24-rev-6-in-parallel-part-1-of-2-ron-ferguson/
Note that in Revelation 6:4, these words are written regarding the red horse: “and to him who sat on it, it was granted TO TAKE PEACE FROM the earth,” and the question is, “Who grants this?” Although Satan loves war and death, in this case, the Lord takes the peace away (or allows it to be taken away). In Revelation 6:8, with the ashen/pale/sickly horse, we read, “Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth,” and the question is, “Who grants that authority?” Again, in the will of God, the Lord grants that authority under His permissive will. What we have considered is the beginning of the birth pains.
HOWEVER, there is a huge change with the sixth seal in chapter 6 –
“I looked when He broke THE SIXTH SEAL, and there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.
“The kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and FROM THE WRATH OF THE LAMB FOR THE GREAT DAY OF THEIR WRATH HAS COME, AND WHO IS ABLE TO STAND?’” (Revelation 6:12-17).
The Tribulation period is the pouring out of God’s wrath in penalty against the sin of mankind – accumulated and present. The direct, full wrath of God begins with the sixth seal and continues from that point and into chapter 19. In chapter 8 you have hail mixed with blood burning up a third of the earth; in chapter 8, there are the terrible judgments of Wormwood; in chapter 9 there is the great demonic release from the bottomless pit; also in chapter 9 we see the demonic army of 200 million. The Great Tribulation is well and truly on.
From the above, the time of birth pangs, sorrows, lasts until the 5th seal, and the 6th seal in Revelation 6:12 is the start of the Great Tribulation. And that is not halfway through at all. BUT please note what follows here.
I want to look at these Matthew verses – “PRAY THAT YOUR FLIGHT may not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath, for then THERE WILL BE A GREAT TRIBULATION such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall” (Matthew 24:20-21).
PLACING THAT IN CONTEXT, those two verses are parallel to Revelation chapter 12, which is the flight of the Jewish saints into the wilderness. The Great Tribulation on the world is no worse after chapter 12 than before it. The term is used because that is how it is going to be AGAINST THE JEWS. The most persecuted people on earth for 3,000 years have been the Jews in tribulation, and for the Jewish saints of the Tribulation, THIS WILL BE THE GREAT TRIBULATION FOR THEM specifically from Revelation 12 onwards. HOWEVER, the Great Tribulation for the world has already been raging on Earth since Revelation 6:12.
“Then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. At that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many, and because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold” (Matthew 24:9-12).
This description in that Matthew passage 9-12 centers on the Jewish believers in the Tribulation. As for all the Gentile nations, there will be believers there who also will have a hard time because they refuse the mark of the beast, and a lot of these will be faithful unto death. Context again! These are the ones who are described here in these verses for the 5th seal in a FORWARD LOOK for the remaining years of the Tribulation (the Tribulation martyrs):
“When He 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, 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?’ There was given to each of them a white robe, and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer until the number of their fellow servants, and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, should be completed also” (Revelation 6:9-11).
This call for vengeance upon their enemies is a fully correct move. These are the days of wrath and judgment, so what they request is the right thing to do. In the Church age, it is not correct to call for vengeance on our enemies (Matthew 5:44; Romans 12:19). Incidentally, that is one proof that the Church is NOT in the Tribulation.
You will see that the Lord did not rebuke their request for vengeance; they were told to wait for a little while for that to happen. This is absolute, certain proof that these people have nothing to do with the Church. THE CHURCH IS NOT IN REVELATION AFTER CHAPTER 4 (more exactly, after Chapter 3). Therefore, the Church has no part in the Tribulation, but the opposite is falsely taught by an increasing number of people. We are not destined to wrath! Christ delivers us from the wrath to come! Christians will have no part of it; no part in it.
“and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
“God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
I believe these people who trash the Rapture (the Pre-tribulation Rapture) are in danger of missing out on the blessing of this verse, and I speak of the crown of righteousness – “In the future there is laid up for me THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS which the Lord, THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE, WILL AWARD to me on that day, and not only to me, but also TO ALL WHO HAVE LOVED HIS APPEARING” (2 Timothy 4:8). If you don’t love Christ’s coming, you have no crown of righteousness.
Remember that Noah was lifted up above the wrath of God on the earth (taken out of it before it began) and returned to the earth after it had all finished. The Church will be taken up before the wrath begins and will return to Earth with the Lord at the Second Coming.
God’s wrath could not fall on Sodom and Gomorrah UNTIL Lot was removed (taken out of it before it began). This verse is spoken by one of the angels – “‘Hurry, escape there FOR I CANNOT DO ANYTHING UNTIL YOU ARRIVE THERE.’ Therefore the name of the town was called Zoar” (Genesis 19:22). The judgment could not happen until Lot was removed, taken away, even though he was reprobate in many of his ways. Neither can judgment start in the Tribulation until the Church is removed.
To sum all this up, I have tried to explain the division between the time of sorrows/birth pangs and the Great Tribulation. Other things have been incorporated also. I hope it was not confusing. Please just don’t accept what is told you at face value, as one just copies another, but independently study the word of truth, matching Scripture with Scripture.
The Lord bless those who look forward to His coming.