CHAPTER 24
THE GREAT TRIBULATION
The Tribulation is a seven year period of time which immediately follows the Church Age. It is not a separate Age of time, but rather it is a continuation of the Age of Israel. The prophecies of Daniel said God would give Israel a specific amount of time to complete the Age of Israel. But the cross occurred seven years before that time was completed. This was done by God to insert the mystery Age of the Church. But the Old Testament prophecy must be fulfilled, so the Age of Israel will be completed during the seven year Tribulation after the Church has been removed. Jews will accept their Messiah Jesus Christ in great numbers during the Tribulation as their blindness to Him will be removed by the Rapture of the Church and the events which follow, forcing them to see what they had previously missed.
The Tribulation is a time when the human population on earth will be at a peak of evil and hardness in unbelief. During that time God will remove certain restraints on both man and demons, allowing them to take evil to greater extremes than has been allowed during the Church Age when God the Holy Spirit exercises significant restraint on such excesses of evil. Demon activity will be at its highest levels ever during the Tribulation, adding to the mayhem and judgments on earth as demons enter into torturing individuals and deceiving nations in a manner not allowed during the current Age. These several factors together lead to an intense level of judgment on the earth, a level never before seen in all human history. But God's real purpose during the Tribulation is not simply judgment, but rather His grace uses that suffering to convince mankind, and especially Jews, to consider their unbelief in view of an eternity of even greater, unending suffering, so they might change their minds and put their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
Severe judgments and chaos will be widespread as the angelic conflict reaches a crescendo of activity. At that point Satan realizes his doom is very near. For thousands of years God has given Satan the opportunity to prove why he should not be put into the Lake of Fire for all eternity. Satan has tried many things to thwart God's plan, and all have failed. During the Tribulation Satan is at the end of his options, and lashes out in fury. Satan has only seven years until he will be put into prison for 1000 years, and after that the Lake of Fire. The mixture of God's judgments and Satan's fury makes for severe disasters on the earth.
At this point it is worth examining why the Tribulation is a time of such extreme judgment on earth. Why all of this intense suffering, destruction, disaster, and mayhem during such a short period of time? The issue goes back to understanding the Ages of time. In each Age God gives mankind different conditions under which God can demonstrate His grace and fairness, starting with the Age of the Patriarchs, then Israel living under strict laws from the Old Testament during the Age of Israel, followed by a focus on the individual believer during the Church Age, then the intense adversity of the Tribulation which is a continuation of the Age of Israel, and finally the perfect environment of the Millennial Age. Each Age is used to prove certain points in the angelic conflict whereby mankind must choose for or against God's plan under varying conditions and rules set forth by God. God does not have one set of rules for all the Ages. Salvation is always the same, whether looking forward or backward to the Messiah Jesus Christ. But many other issues change as shown by the changes from the Old Testament to the New Testament. And the Millennium will have a new covenant provided directly from the Lord since He will be present on the earth, and that will only be revealed at that time. So also during the period of the Tribulation the rules are not the same as during the Church Age since this is a time which returns to a focus on Israel because it is part of the Age of Israel.
Revelation emphasizes the role of angels during the future times. During the Tribulation man will be caught up in great devastation as Satan makes his final attempt to gain some level of advantage because he knows he is doomed. As his time grows very short he becomes more destructive and loses control of his own demons. Many billions of people will suffer and die as a result of this conflict, and also as a result of their own rejection of Jesus Christ as Savior. The Tribulation is therefore necessary because it will serve as the final battleground for the defeat of Satan. Satan's original coup attempt occurred long before the creation of man when he revolted against God and declared “I will make myself like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:14). Satan's fall resulted in a very long-running angelic conflict in which mankind plays a significant role, and it continues even now although Satan has already been judged guilty and sentenced to the Lake of Fire. For thousands of years God has given Satan the opportunity to prove why he should not be put into the Lake of Fire for all eternity. Satan has tried many things to thwart God's plan, and all have failed. During the Tribulation Satan is at the end of his options, and lashes out in fury. This mixture of God's judgments and Satan's fury makes for severe disasters on the earth.
This ancient angelic conflict therefore comes to a head during the Tribulation, when Satan and his army of fallen angels (demons) will engage in frenzied activities, most simply aimed at chaos and destruction, but also focused on eliminating the Jews to prevent prophecies for them from being fulfilled. Satan is trying desperately to avoid being thrown into the Lake of Fire which is his ultimate end, a judgment already pronounced by God. In the meantime, Satan will use unbelieving mankind in the form of future world leaders (the Antichrist, False Prophet, and others) to help him attempt to achieve his evil goals. This futile quest will result in much disaster, misery, judgment and destruction on the earth during the Tribulation for mankind because of Satan's evil activities. Time is short for Satan, and he is out of options like a cornered animal who lashes out, and he uses unbelieving mankind to help him. So lacking any other viable options, Satan opts for destruction, violence and chaos as his game plan. It is not much of a plan, but it is all he has left at that point. He will focus on destroying Christians and Jews while also trying to destroy the earth itself, since achieving any of those would thwart God's plan to create a Millennial Kingdom on the same earth as He has promised.
Revelation 12:10 “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”
The entirety of human history has been leading up to this final showdown. Acts 2: 34-35: “The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” Jesus Christ is in Heaven at the right hand of the throne of God waiting until the end of the Tribulation when Satan will finally be defeated when Christ returns to earth at the Second Advent. During the current Church Age God the Holy Spirit restrains Satan from engaging in the types of activities which will occur during the Tribulation. Since the Tribulation will be a resumption of the Age of Israel, the restraints by the Holy Spirit will be lifted and the frenzied satanic activities will be allowed for this short period of time, enabling Satan to make his final arguments as to why he should not be thrown into the Lake of Fire. The Tribulation is Satan's last stand. That is why the earth will suffer such destruction as Satan seeks to avoid his certain doom, and he will use evil dictators to carry out his last desperate plans.
The unbelievers on earth at that time will be ready and willing to succumb to Satan's overtures and most will end up actually worshiping Satan through an idolatrous false religion set up by the Antichrist and False Prophet. As God always does, this widespread idolatry and satanic worship will be judged harshly, especially because it will severely persecute His believers. The Antichrist will appear to be a leader on a white horse coming to the rescue, but instead he will be a force for great evil who enslaves billions of people. But early during the Tribulation he will not be seen as a force for evil, and will use cunning speeches and selective warfare to gain his position, and then will assume dictatorship over a ten nation confederation. The last sentence says “he conquers, so that he may conquer”. The demon-possessed Beast-Antichrist conquers so Satan might gain power through him, and Satan sets him up as an idol to be worshiped by mankind.
The last half of the Tribulation will be a time of a total breakdown of society. People who are not believers will engage in a detachment from reality like never seen before. Freedom will be lost in exchange for the power and false sense of security from the State. There will be a worldwide false religion accepted en masse by people refusing to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior. Worshiping the true God will be a crime punishable by death. Good will be called evil and evil will be called good by the degenerate masses. The innocent will be judged as guilty by the State while criminals are declared to be heroes. Crime will be rampant as people prey on each other. Political power will replace individual liberty as all dissent is repressed. Police agencies will be used to enforce political dictates as only those who take the mark of the Beast can engage in economic activity, or buy or sell at all. Failure to have the mark will be a crime. All that is truth will be called false, and the lie from Satan will be deemed to be the truth. The world will be turned upside down. That is because Satan at his core is a liar who promotes only lies, and hates the truth since it is from God.
Satan's false religion will ensnare unbelievers and captivate them with pseudo-glamour, excessive luxury, emotionalism, and lust fulfillment. World leaders will be indebted to this religion for their positions of power. This religious idolatry is a thinly disguised worship of Satan which will reach a pinnacle during the Tribulation, and is one of the main reasons for the extreme judgment which will occur at that time.
Unbelievers will generally refuse to believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. They become further hardened against God. They prefer to worship Satan's religious systems of empty deities, money, immorality, human power, sorcery, drug addiction, human sacrifice, and resort to violence and general human degeneracy of all forms. The Tribulation forces each person to choose between God and total degeneracy. As the end nears, only the most hardened unbelievers remain since demon armies will have killed all other unbelievers. The earth will have a hard-core set of degenerate unbelievers who remain at the end.
Believers during the Tribulation will not shrink from death, and many will be martyred as a result of Satan's fury on the earth and their refusal to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ or take the mark of the Beast. God allows this martyrdom as a testimony, but He will also judge harshly those who kill His believers.
A series of seven Trumpet Judgment target the earth's basic resources of food, water, and other essentials, taking them away as judgment for extreme evil on the earth, which quickly squeezes the food supply to the brink, and starvation accelerates. The cumulative build-up of disaster upon disaster maximizes the intensity of the suffering. Even though the entire world will suffer hardship, the unbelievers are specifically targeted and the believers are generally delivered even though the times will be extremely difficult for all. But those believers who depart from their faith and take the mark of the Beast will not be protected. The Trumpet Judgments are mixed in with seven Bowl Judgments which will intensify their effects, and the Bowl Judgments prepare the way for Armageddon.
As the end of the Tribulation nears, Satan will use his two emissaries the Beast-Antichrist and the False Prophet to stir up war emotions among the kings of the earth and bring the whole world into one final battle. He will be mad with rage and lash out in total fury. The stage is set for Armageddon, which is the last battle of the Tribulation, and the return of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 16:16 “Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.”
Jesus Christ will surprise the armies of the world gathered to battle one another at Armageddon, which is in northern Israel. At the end of the Tribulation Jesus Christ returns to claim His rightful possession, the earth, at the Second Advent of Christ. Jesus Christ will return to earth, deliver His people who are under siege, destroy the unbeliever armies massed in Israel including at Armageddon, put Satan and all fallen angels into jail until His Millennial reign is complete, remove all other unbelievers who remain on earth, finish the actions needed to start the Millennium, and then assume His rightful place as ruler of the earth during His 1000 year reign.
Matthew 24:27 “For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. 29 Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ 30 Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven [after total darkness]. And then all the peoples [unbelievers] of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect [dead Old Testament and Tribulation believers resurrected] from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
The satanic actions described in Revelation which will occur during the Tribulation cannot happen during the current Church Age because the Holy Spirit restrains and prevents such extreme demon activities. God has rules for what can happen during each Age, and those rules must be obeyed by Satan under threat of imprisonment, as has already occurred with other fallen angels. As we have noted, God puts up with Satan's nonsense, but only within limits. But during the short time of the Tribulation those limits will be expanded for a purpose, so the Holy Spirit removes His protection from the earth to allow Satan to have additional latitude during the waning days of his ancient revolution against God, which will be in its final chapter. God gives Satan every opportunity to make his case that he should not be thrown into the Lake of Fire, but of course he will fail. Then after the Tribulation is over, he will be put into prison in the Abyss, a location we previously discussed as being one of the four compartments of Hades:
Revelation 20:1 “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.”
Michael the Archangel puts Satan into the Abyss, along with all other fallen angels. He will have waited a long time for this day, and this privilege belongs to him. Recall that many demons had been previously imprisoned in the Abyss before the creation of man for unspecified violations of God's rules during the angelic conflict, and they were released during the Tribulation and tortured and killed many people on the earth. Satan and the fallen angels will not be put into the Lake of Fire yet. They are removed from the remainder of human history except for one final revolt against God, which will occur 1000 years later and just before Satan and all fallen angels are finally put into the Lake of Fire which was prepared for them before man was created (Matthew 25:41). Satan will have lost his rulership over the earth and will be imprisoned for 1000 years and all fallen angels along with him. For Satan, it is all over but one last revolt. But for 1000 years he will be in prison, along with all fallen angels.
Perfect environment is only possible in the absence of Satan and his fallen angels. Once they are all removed, the earth can be healed by Jesus Christ and the Millennium can begin. We will now look at that final Age which will play out on the current earth before it is destroyed and replaced by a new universe.