The Purpose of the Period of Tribulation
When God Finally says Enough is Enough
Predictive prophecy is so replete with information concerning the tribulation that it is difficult to distinguish between the fact, its nature, its purpose, and its content. After analyzing all the material there do seem to be some things that clearly emerge as marking the purpose of this period of time. There is no question but that God's eternal purpose is being progressively fulfilled during this period, and from the prophetic Scriptures dealing with this period seven details suggest themselves.
1. The tribulation period constitutes the consummation of the age. The Scriptures clearly declare that this period is the consummation of the age. Five times in the Gospel of Matthew the word "end" appears (Matt. 13:39, 40, 49; 24:3; 28:20). In each case it is a compound word in the original Greek, meaning consummation [sunteleia]. This word means more than a termination. It describes a consummation where all the lines of development converge at a point into a meaningful pattern. Where there is a commencement, there must be a consummation. Where there is seedtime, there must be harvest. Where there is the root, there must eventually be the fruit. Where there is performance, this will inevitably develop into a pattern.
In a very real sense the tribulation period is the harvest at the consummation of the age (Matt. 13:39). God permitted man to initiate his own program in the beginning; He has been permitting its continuation through the centuries; and in the tribulation period He will permit it to come to full ripeness (Rev. 14:15, 18). This means that sin will reach its fullness, human ingenuity will be directed to human ends, human government will achieve its greatest in separation from God, human religion will turn inward upon itself. It means that every form of human activity apart from God will reach its fullest development constituting that stage that demands the immediate intervention of God (Matt. 13:30, 38-43). When sin reaches its fullness and righteous men are at their fullness Christ will return.
2. The tribulation period provides for the maturation of the sinful nature. As a result of the fall of man in the garden, it was necessary for the Lord to point to the seed of the serpent ("thy seed" - Gen. 3:15). These are "the tares . . . the children of the wicked one" (Matt. 13:38). They multiply and wax worse and worse until the time of harvest (Matt. 13:30; 2 Tim. 3:13). Not until they have developed to that stage of full ripeness for harvest does God intervene in judgment (Matt. 13:39; Rev. 14:14-20).
Through the many millenniums since the fall of man, God has been exercising a certain restraint upon the development of sinful nature. He has been doing this in order that He might accomplish eventually His own eternal purpose. Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit working through the preaching of the word and the influence of God's people in the earth He has slowed the progress toward maturation (Gen. 6:3; 2 Pet. 2:5; Matt, 5:13). At times it has been necessary for God to intervene directly into the affairs of men to break up the terrifying and accelerating descent into sin. He did this at the flood (Gen. 6:5-8), at Babel (Gen. 11:5-8), and at Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:13, 24-25).
The tribulation period will mark the removal of hindrances to the progress of evil. The Spirit of God, in the sense that He exercises a restraining influence through a body of people, the Church, will be caught out at the rapture (2 Thess. 2:6-7). The mystery of iniquity will then increase its speed without the hindering influence of the Church. In the absence of the Church, there is no body of people conserving and promoting the truth, and the great apostasy will then move into high gear (2 Thess. 2:3). This will be stimulated by demonic activity in the teaching of false doctrine (1 Tim. 4:1). Conditioned by this atmosphere, sinful nature will develop swiftly to full maturity.
3. The tribulation period permits the revelation of the great Antichrist of the end time (2 Thess. 2:3-4, 6-8). In this man the mystery of iniquity or lawlessness reaches its fullest development. He is therefore called "the man of sin" (2 Thess. 2:3), or "the lawless one" (2 Thess. 2:8 ASV). "Sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:4), the very nature of which is to regard self as the highest good and the chief end in life. This one "opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2 Thess. 2:4).
This could not take place so long as the true Church was within the world. But once the true restraining forces in the Church were removed at the rapture, this masterpiece of Satan and man of sin could be revealed. The philosophic trends centering in pantheism (2 Peter 3:3-4), the apostasy in the false church (2 Tim. 4:3-4), and the absence of spiritual influence among professing religionists (Matt. 5:13) will contribute to the revelation of the the Antichrist and provide a perfect atmosphere for his appearance.
In a singular sense, the seed planted by Satan in the beginning (Gen. 3:15) will be realized in this one individual of the end time. Just as the seed of the woman was fully personalized in the true Christ, so the seed of the serpent comes into full manifestation in the Antichrist. There is also a larger seed among whom he appears and by whom he is received. For his "coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a [Grk.-the] lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thess. 2:9-12).
4. The tribulation period exposes the confirmation of men in wickedness. Consummation not only includes maturation of sinful nature, and the revelation of the man of sin, but all this includes the exposure of the fact that men have become confirmed in sin, incorrigible in nature, incapable of change, and are therefore ripe for judgment. Not until the tares come to full maturity is the inner nature and character revealed (Matt. 13:30). In external appearance the tare resembles in every way the true grain. But once it has come to full ripeness, it is demonstrated that it is absolutely empty. It is the same way in the spiritual area. The children of the wicked one are able to put on every outward resemblance to the true children of the kingdom. But in the time of harvest it will be revealed that they are absolutely devoid of any divine nature.
The confirmation of sinful nature will be revealed in their response to temporal judgment during the tribulation period. Exposure to suffering from demon spirits, the gods whom they have been worshipping, results in the refusal to change their minds concerning the objects of worship and to depart from their wicked deeds (Rev. 9:20-21), In the midst of calamity wicked men are not repentant of mind nor remorseful of spirit, but angry (Rev. 11:18). Being scorched with great heat, men "blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory." (Rev. 16:9). And though they experience such darkness that "they gnawed their tongues for pain", [yet they] "blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds" (Rev. 16:10-11).
This incorrigible condition reveals the fact that wicked men are ripe for final judgment. "The harvest of the earth is ripe" (Rev. 14:15). It is now time to "gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe" (Rev. 14:18). They must be "cast . . . into the great winepress of the wrath of God" (Rev. 14:19), where "the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation" (Rev. 14:10), will be experienced forever. Confirmation in sin reveals the fact that God is justified in delaying no longer his judgment upon the wicked. They have reached that stage in development where there can be no change of nature, and they are therefore fit subjects for incarceration in the lake of fire. This fact explains in part why God has persisted up to this point in longsuffering toward mankind. He has waited until there was no longer any possibility for salvation (2 Pet. 3:9, 15).
5. The tribulation period results in the preparation of a people for the kingdom. This is twofold. On the one hand there is the preparation of a Jewish remnant to enter the kingdom. On the other hand there is the salvation of a Gentile multitude to populate the kingdom. This feat will be accomplished under the most adverse circumstances.
During the seventieth week God turns again to deal with His people Israel (Dan. 9:24, 27; Rev. 11:1-2). His purpose is to bring about the conversion of a great remnant. This He accomplishes in two ways. On the one hand God sends two witnesses among his people with the message of the gospel (Rev. 11:3; Matt. 24:14). Their message and methods suggest that they are Moses and Elijah (Rev. 11:4-6; Mal. 4:4-6). These men are protected from all harm during the days of their ministry. Surely these leaders in ancient Israel would have tremendous influence among Jews of this period. It seems quite likely that through their ministry, during the first three and one half years of the tribulation, 144,000 of them are saved and sealed (Rev. 7:1-8; 14:1-5).
As a result of the salvation of this company of Jews, they turn from allegiance to Antichrist, which was agreed upon with Israel at the outset of the seventieth week (Dan. 9:27). This produces a growing concern in the Antichrist, the killing of the two witnesses in the middle of the tribulation (Rev. 11:7), and the launching of the greatest persecution against the people of Israel the world has ever seen (Dan. 12:1; Matt. 24:21). This affliction causes many Jews to flee to the wilderness for protection (Mark 14:14-19). In this they are enabled of the Lord (Rev. 12:6, 13-14). As a result of the increasing severity of persecution from Antichrist, at last this people cries out for the coming of the Messiah, and they shall say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matt. 23:39). At Christ's coming, when the siege of the nation’s reaches its height against Jerusalem (Zech. 14:1-4), "the spirit of grace and supplication" (Zech. 12:10) will be poured out upon the remnant and a great company will be saved at once (Isa. 66:8).
The multitude of Gentiles saved during this period is concentrated during the last three and one half years. The order in which two companies appear in the New Testament leads to the conclusion that the Jews saved during the first three and one half years of the tribulation become the preachers during the last three and one half years. In Revelation 7, the saving and sealing of the 144,000 Israelites comes first (Rev. 7:1-8). Then the unnumbered multitude of Gentiles comes last (Rev. 7:9-17). They are said to come out of the tribulation, the great one (vs. 14). This describes the last three and one half years. Revelation 14 records a similar order: the 144,000 in Rev. 7:1-5, with the Gentile multitude in vs. 6, Matt. 25 also follows the same pattern. In Matt. 25:1-13 there is the account of the wise and foolish virgins. These refer to Jews, and the wise to the saved. Then appears the multitude of Gentiles in Matt. 25:31-46, the sheep being the saved.
Though the saved Gentile multitude of Revelation seven suffers martyrdom, thus indicating that the persecution of Antichrist is enlarged to include Gentiles as well as Jews, the sheep of Matt. 25 do not suffer death. Antichrist is powerful, but not all powerful, so his grandiose plans fail of complete fulfillment, and this because God, "for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days" (Mark 13:20). "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25:34).
With these two saved companies of people, living Israelites and living Gentiles, the millennial kingdom will be populated. In these two companies of the saved God makes a new departure during the period of the kingdom in order to the fulfillment of His eternal purpose.
6. The tribulation period manifests the indignation of the Lord against the Gentile nations. "The hour of trial . . . is to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth" (Rev. 3:10). But it will be concentrated on the Gentile nations for complicity with Antichrist against the people of Israel. This will also include apostate Jews who have defected to Antichrist.
The indignation of the Lord is upon all nations (Isa. 34:2) to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity (Isa. 26:21). This is especially exhibited in their rejection of Christ and their reception of the Antichrist, "If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation" (Rev. 14:9-10), "For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" (Rev. 6:17).
The occasion for God's indignation against the nations is their treatment of the Jews, "For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land . . .Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head. . . . Let the heathen be wakened, and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about" (Joel 3:1-2, 7, 12),
In order to accomplish His indignation against the Gentiles, God permits demonic forces to gather the nations of men to the Battle of Armageddon (Rev. 16:12-16). They not only assemble against the Jews who have retreated to Jerusalem for their last stand (Zech. 14:1-4), but under the leadership of Antichrist they are determined in some sense to do battle against the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Rev. 17:14; 19:19; Ps. 2:1-3). This provides sufficient reason for the Lord in His fury to wield the sword of His mouth and tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God (Rev. 19:15).
7. The tribulation period concludes with the demolition of all satanic forces. The satanically energized human geniuses who head the mass rebellion of mankind at the end of the age are taken and cast alive into the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20). The brilliance of Christ's coming exposes the colossal delusion that has been perpetrated on mankind. This renders the Beast and his accomplice, the false prophet, inoperative. His legions desert him (2 Thess. 2:8). Then by His almighty word Christ casts these two into the lake of fire without the benefit of formal evaluation.
The massive legions under the direction of Antichrist are destroyed by the sword which proceeds from the mouth of Christ (Rev. 19:21). The slain provide a feast for the fowls of the air (Rev. 19:17-18). From this point the Lord moves out to the very ends of the earth. The angelic hosts sever the wicked from the just and cast them into Sheol-Hades to await resurrection (Matt. 13:49-50). And in addition, all things that might in any way offend are gathered and thrust out (Matt. 13:41).
Last of all, that creature who is responsible for the entrance of sin into the world and the calamity that has followed, Satan, is taken and incarcerated in the bottomless pit for a 1000 rears (Rev. 20:1-3). The sentence was passed upon him at the cross (John 12:31), and now the first movement in the infliction of the penalty takes place. God is not quite through with him yet, so the final step in administering the permanent penalty is delayed till the end of the thousand years (Rev. 20:7, 10).
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