If you think about it, it's really kind of funny!

I have no idea what brought it to my mind the other day, but out of the blue, I suddenly thought of all the people I know who believe in a post tribulation rapture. I've seen these people singing songs about the rapture and they seemed so sincere and like they longed for it to happen and couldn't wait for it to happen. And that's the ironic and funny part. Funny in an ironic way if you will.

Think about it. If they have any idea of what the Tribulation is going to be like, how in the world can they sing songs like that and long for the rapture??? If we assume that there is no rapture until after the tribulation, that means that anywhere from 75-95% (closer to 95% - I just don't feel like doing the actual math right now) of every single human being alive, will have died a terrible, fearful, and painful death before the rapture happens. By "fearful" death, I mean a death that will have been preceded by a great deal of fear. By "terrible", I mean a death that's not "usual", not dying from disease or old age or even a simple accident. Instead, dying due to something like a horrible world wide earthquake, or a world wide war, or famine, or terrorism, etc. I said "painful" simply because it will be.

Some people seem to live in a fantasy world thinking that the way things are now are a lot like it will be during the Tribulation or at least the fist half of it. But that's all it is, a fantasy! Just think about the judgments that will be happening:

In Revelation 6 we have the Antichrist, world war, famine, death, martyrdom, a world wide earthquake, the stars falling out of the sky to the earth.

In Revelation 8 we have hail and fire falling and burning up a third of all vegetation, a great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea causing all kinds of havoc and death; a third of the sea turning to blood; a third of the sun, moon and stars turning dark and a third less light on the earth, again causing all kinds of havoc.

In Revelation 9 we have supernatural locust type beasts stinging all unbelievers so that the severe pain causes them to want to die, but no matter what they do, they'll be unable to die. If they throw themselves in front of a car, or jump off a bridge, they'll simply add to their injuries and pain, but they won't die and won't become unconscious; an army of supernatural horsemen kills a third of the humans left alive on the earth at this time! Yet another great world wide earthquake and hail, killing more people!

In Revelation 14 we have an angel flying through the air announcing the gospel and that people should worship God and not the antichrist; we have other angels announcing various judgments to mankind so they can never claim ignorance. They'll be visible to everyone and everyone will hear them. Here we see that there will be a great wave of martyrs for Christ and an even worse holocaust for the Jew's then there's ever been in history. That will actually start sometime near the start of the Tribulation and just keep getting worse and worse. Oh, and of course we have the mark of the beast introduced. We also see a bit about Armageddon introduced showing us that the blood of God's enemies will run so deep it will be around 4 feet deep and about 180 -200 miles around!

In Rev 16 we see unbelievers getting awful sores that again cause a tremendous amount of pain, and again won't allow them to die. The entire sea and all the fresh water turns to blood, and all the living things in the water die; The sun begins to literally scorch the earth and this too causes pain and death; Then complete darkness which also causes great pain covers the earth. The Euphrates River dries up.

In Rev 18 we see the fall of Babylon happen in one day, with great violence; again with much pain and death.

And that's just a brief outline and doesn't contain all that will happen, as there's plenty more spoken about the Tribulation in lots of other books too. Plus, I know I left some things out. But surely, that's enough to show that the Tribulation will make the very worst things we've ever known about in history, look like a Sunday Picnic in comparison. In Matthew 24, Jesus tells us outright that if He didn't intervene that not one single human being would survive it! And in Luke 21, He tells us that men's hearts will fail because they'll be so terrified during this time.

Now, knowing all of that, put that together with these people who think the rapture will happen after the tribulation. Imagine them singing those songs and longing for the rapture. Why in the world would anyone in their right mind long for the rapture if they knew those things were going to precede it???? Personally, I'd much prefer longing for death as soon as possible if I believed that! THAT is their blessed Hope???? They "hope" God will put them through pure hell, keep them alive through it all, and then come and get them? Which of course if He did that, He would then have to instantly turn everyone around and have them all return with Him for the second coming, which also makes no sense at all.

The more I thought about it, seeing in my minds eye those people singing those songs like that, it became clear to me that their understanding of God's Word wasn't even logical, much less scriptural! I felt so sorry for them, and thanked the Lord that although they may not understand it, they too will be long gone before the Tribulation starts. It gave me a very clear view of how Satan blinds even Christians about God's Word when they rely on either other people or their own intelligence instead of the Holy Spirit's guidance and teaching, or when they don't study His Word daily with Him as He commands us to. It's also a embarrassing that they tell unbelievers this garbage, because it gives those unbelievers a very legitimate reason to think that Christians are fools; for who in their right mind would thank a God who told them that He was going to put them through all of that????

No, our sins have already been judged and the sentence carried out on our precious Lord. He suffered the consequences for us so we wouldn't have to. God's wrath is coming against those who have not been saved, not against us, and praise Him, He's promised to keep us from that wrath!

It doesn't surprise me though that things like that are being taught. Many people teach all kinds of "reasons" why the church will supposedly go through the tribulation and unless you understand the purpose of the Tribulation and God's revealed plan for Israel and His plan for the Church, it can sound reasonable. That's what happens when we use our human reasoning though.

See, once you understand that the Tribulation is all about Israel and a return to the last 7 years of the age of the law, you realize too that the Church has no business being here then anyway. It wouldn't make any sense for us to be here. That's another thing that people don't understand. Many people think that everyone that's ever been saved or ever will be saved, is part of the Church - the body of Christ, and that's simply not true according to the Bible. Everyone who's ever been saved or ever will be saved, has been saved by Faith, but not everyone is a member of the body of Christ, the Church. God has a different plan for the Church and for the faithful remnant of Israel. All of the Jew's saved before Christ came the first time are part of God's plan for Israel. They are not part of the Church. All the the Jew's saved after the rapture and during the Tribulation, will also not be part of the church. They will be part of God's plan for Israel. Don't get me wrong...both plans are wonderful and awesome and good, they're just different. And we will all be together, both Israel and the Church, but our inheritances are different and will be according to the plan we are part of. Of course the one part of our inheritances that is the same is that we'll all enjoy heaven together, so it's not going to be real obvious except perhaps during the Millennium.

We tend to see everything as being about us, but it's not. In fact, the Tribulation is all about Israel and has little to do with the Gentiles (or non Jew's) at all except as far as how they will treat the Jew's during the Tribulation and whether or not they'll be saved.

When Jesus came the first time, He came to offer the Jew's the Kingdom - what we call the Millennial Kingdom. But they refused to recognize Him as their Savior. (which of course He knew they would do) Individual Jew's were saved, and started the Church, but the nation itself, refused Him. If they had accepted Him, acknowledged Him as their Savior, then Jesus still would have had to die as the perfect sacrifice, but after His resurrection, instead of starting the Church, He would have set up the Millennial Kingdom that they so much sought after. Because they didn't accept Him, they lost it all. At least for a time. They were set aside, the age of the law was interrupted, put on "hold", and the Church was begun so that the Lord could offer His salvation to all of us. One day, as the prophets foretold, Jesus will take His Church away from this earth, so He can continue the Age of the law for it's last 7 years. During the Age of the law, just as before, God's focus will be on Israel. The purpose of the Tribulation will be to bring the Jew's to the realization that Jesus is their Messiah and save a remnant of them so that God can then fulfill all the promises He made them in what we call the Old Testament. All those promises will be fulfilled during the Millennial Kingdom.

I was totally astonished when I finally took the time to study this all for myself. I was astonished because of how vast and grand God's plans are, and I know that I was only getting a small sampling of them through what His Word was saying. It also astonished me because by understanding all this, it opened my eyes to "why" so many other things were true in scripture. It was like this was the framework of a jigsaw puzzle and once it was in place, all the other pieces just fell into place. It still amazes me to reflect on it!

The bible tells us that more and more will teach and suggest lies until there won't be many left that believe that the rapture happens before the tribulation like the Bible says. They'll even say that the timing of the rapture isn't all that important as far as what we believe, but that's a lie too, for it affects our understanding of everything else the bible says. We've talked before about how the pre-trib rapture will become more and more "unpopular" and even hated, by Christians. But then when you read 2 Timothy 3:1–5 about how Christians are going to act, it makes sense I guess. Sad though.

Romans 5:9 —Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! *
Romans 5:10 —For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! *
Romans 1:18 —The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
1 Thessalonians 1:9–10 —for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, *and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. *
Revelation 3:10 —Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. *
Psalm 91:8 —You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. *
1 Thessalonians 5:9–10 —For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. *He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. *