We face human persecution and slaughter, but The Tribulation is God’s wrath, which if you’re a christian you have been saved from;which is why I believe in a pretrib rapture.
Please see my post 18. Christians around the world are already going through major tribulations. Biblical level tribulations. I am confused as to what makes some Christians think they will be exempt.
Well said.
“...but The Tribulation is God’s wrath...”
Uhhh, no. Let’s take a look at a “map” of Revelation, and let me skip to the beginning of the judgments of God:
In chapter 5, Jesus Christ is handed a scroll with seven seals, and the blessings and declarations pronounced over Him at that time indicate that the scroll document’s all that Jesus purchased by His blood at Calvary; it is, in effect — the Title Deed to all Creation, to the Earth and to all mankind.
In Chapter 6, Jesus begins opening The Seven Seals on that scroll, and as each Seal is opened, monumental judgments are unleashed:
1 - world conquest
2 - war
3 - famine, global economic collapse
4 - disease, death
5 - outcry of the martyrs
6 - epic cataclysm (earthquake, sun blackened, blood moon, stars falling, sky ‘rolled up like a scroll’ islands and mountains displaced)
[Chapter 7 interjects parenthetical backstory about a special group of 144,000 from among the tribes of Israel.]
7 - Silence in Heaven, preparation of the Seven Trumpet judgments to be released upon the Earth because of the prayers of the saints. (Rev. 8:1-5)
So, out of the 7th Seal are released the Seven Trumpet judgments beginning in Rev. 8:7.
1 - hail and fire mixed with blood burn 1/3 of the earth, including 1/3 of the trees and all the grass.
2 - “a blazing mountain” strikes the oceans destroying 1/3 of all sea life, and 1/3 of the world’s shipping.
3 - “a blazing torch” strikes and poisons 1/3 of the fresh water supply
4 - sun and moon dimmed by 1/3 and 1/3 of stars darkened
At this point there are three more Trumpet Judgments to come, and each of these last are so much more sever that they are called The Three Woes
5 - The First Woe: The Abyss Unlocked releasing the locust hordes of The Destroyer; a plague of stinging locusts and the curse of not dying (Rev. 9).
6 - The Second Woe: Releasing The Angels of The Euphrates and their army of 200 million to slay 1/3 of mankind
[Here, Chapter 10 through verse 14 of chapter 11 provide a parenthetical reprieve from the cavalcade of judgments, and give some detail on an angel and a little scroll, and a pair of witnesses.]
7 - The Third Woe: “The Last trumpet” Announcing The Second Coming of Christ and the Outpouring of The Wrath of God
[Revelation 12 through 14 again take a parenthetical tour of other things relevant to what is going on amid the opening of the Seals and the sounding of the Trumpets.]
The account of the Seventh Trumpet concludes in Rev. 11:19 and this verse appears in expanded detail in Revelation 15:5 (seeing the Tabernacle of The Testimony standing open in Heaven) to 16:21 (the Great 100-pound Hailstorm). It is here that we see — included at the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet — the release of the Seven Bowls of the Wrath of God (Rev. 16).
1 - painful sores upon those with The Mark of The Beast
2 - sea turned to blood killing all life in it
3 - fresh waters turned to blood
4 - sun scorches the Earth (God’s “global warming”)
5 - the beast kingdom plunged into darkness
6 - Euphrates runs dry, false sings released to draw all kingdoms to Armageddon
7 - worldwide earthquake, islands vanish, Great Hail
Some have noted the similarities between geological upheaval of the Sixth Seal, the Seventh Trumpet, and the Seventh Bowl of Wrath and suggested that this may indicate that they all some at the same time as one concurrence. It’s not necessarily so, but worth considering.
[Revelation 17 through 19:10 interject the description of Babylon, its final fall, a great lament, and the response from Heaven.]
So, we come to Revelation 19:11 and The Return of Christ heralded by the Seventh — and Last — Trumpet is described. The trumpet sounds, the dead rise, and we who are alive and remain are changed and gathered to Him (ref. I Cor. 15:51-52; I Thess. 4:16-17), and He comes upon His white horse to judge with justice, and to make war, followed by the armies of Heaven.
Seals and Trumpets are God’s JUDGEMENT — NOT God’s wrath. Judgement has a redemptive aim, and The Church will be there before, during, and after each event pointing to Scripture saying, “This is that which was written,” exhorting the lost to at last repent and be saved.
It is the Bowls of God’s Wrath that are not poured out upon all. As with God’s outpouring of Ten Plagues upon Egypt, He sheltered His people from His wrath, and so shall it be again, according to the verse you referred to, I Thess. 5:9 “For God has not destined us for wrath...”