In the Face of Tribulation

Once I got into the study of the Book of Revelation I had to confront my fear on end times. But you cannot study the Book of Revelation and end times without having to come face to face with one very big doctrine – The Rapture. Of course it is the main premise for the whole Left Behind series. God raptures all the believers up to heaven and everyone else is left to deal with the onslaught of His wrath.

At first as I read the series and did my poking around on the internet I saw mostly the theory that the church is raptured up, God pours out His wrath, then Jesus comes back to judge everyone else, then brings His kingdom to reign on earth for 1000 years – Also known as “Dispensational Premillennialism“. So I thought that it was true and that was that. I wasn’t really too aware of the other thoughts on the subject. I did know it came down to “pre-tribulation”, “mid-tribulation” and “post-tribulation”. It’s a lot to try to keep straight, especially when you are barely getting your footing in your walk with Jesus. It seemed like I needed to pick a camp and stick with it though, so it seemed safe to go with the “pre-tribulation” line of thought and be good. I mean, who doesn’t want to believe in that? You get taken up to heaven by God before He pours out His wrath? And get to spend 7 years living in the light and glory of God? Well I was all for that one!

But as I began to study more about Eschatology something began to bother me about the whole rapture thing. It just seemed to good to be true. When had God ever just taken all the Christians out of tribulation before? Or even the Jews? From what I have seen in the Bible persecution of those that follow the one true God is a common theme throughout. And it is not a norm to just rapture up those faithful to Him. Of course the Book of Revelation has a lot of detail of what God’s wrath will entail, and it does sound quite frightening. So it would be easy to think that a loving God would never make His children have to go through anything so horrific.

I went back and forth quite a bit on the whole thing. There is a whole lot of very convincing arguments for the theory of a pre-tribulation rapture. Yet still, something about it just did not sit right with me. I wanted to believe it, but should I just let the ideas and interpretations of man direct and guide me?

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.‘”
 Matthew 4:4

Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters,  not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come.  Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3

I think God wants us to really wrestle with the things we read in the Bible. He wants us to think deeply and seek with all our hearts for the truth in His words. It helps us to grow and learn and really understand what the Bible says in a personal way. That way we can really connect with Him. It’s absolutely amazing. Yet we don’t really want to wrestle with it. We want to pick it up and read it and understand it so we can move on with life. We package God’s Word into neat little devotionals so they are easy to digest and apply to our daily lives. I’m not against devotionals – I love them, but we have to be careful not to put God’s Word in a box – to confine Him to cute little books that just give us small bites that are easy to chew.

And much like Jacob who wrestled with God in the desert, we too need to take that hard journey and wrestle with Him. And that is what I did for months. I prayed and ask God for wisdom and guidance in the matter. I had conversations with people I respected because I wanted to know what their opinions were. I read Revelation and read articles of opinion on it. The one thing that really struck me the most was a letter I read from Corrie Ten Boom. In it she talks about persecution and being ready for it, because many Christians outside of the United States have already experienced it, and are still experiencing it today. Tribulation can come at any time, and it doesn’t have to be the “end times”. Corrie Ten Boom would know, because she lived through World War II and was imprisoned during that time in a Nazi concentration camp. She lived through tribulation with no advance warning or preparation that it would ever happen. The only thing that got her through her time of tribulation was Jesus Christ.

In this letter that Corrie writes, she quotes a Bishop from China –

“We have failed.
We should have made the people strong for persecution,
rather than telling them Jesus would come first.
Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution,
how to stand when the tribulation comes,
– to stand and not faint.”

That is what really struck me about this letter. You see, I didn’t even know who Corrie Ten Boom was when I read this. In fact it was months and months before someone would hand me a biography of her life and I would get to know first hand of her tribulation. But there it was in my face a fact that I could not deny. If we continue to tell ourselves that Jesus is going to come and rescue us from the Great Tribulation, then what will happen if we actually have to live through it?

Imagine being faced with denying Christ or death? After living a life feeling safe that we will be resting quite comfortably in heaven instead of meeting tribulation head on, how would we react to such a thing? I think many of us would indeed deny Jesus to save ourselves. And that is a very scary thought. More so than the thought of living through tribulation.

I don’t think we should fear Tribulation, or death, or persecution. I don’t think we should spend our time worrying about what will happen to us or our loved ones, or whether or not we are going to have to suffer for our faith or live through the end of the world as we know it. I also don’t think we should sit comfortably in feeling that we will avoid any tribulation and be rescued from it.

We should be aware.We should study God’s Word and prepare for persecution of any kind. Persecution and tribulation are just a part of life and will come to us, even if it is just a small-scale. But they are real and they exist. And most of all we should trust. Trust in the One who created us and loves us enough to die for us. Trust that He is our strength and He will give us exactly what we need in every situation, whatever that will be. He has a plan for each one of us, and it is perfect.

Will God rapture all the Christians out of the world before He pours His wrath out on it? I don’t really have the answer to that, but there is one thing I have the utmost confidence in. It is this:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33