Wrath, War, What Is It Good For?

Absolutely something! Part II. Is the Wrath of God the same event as the Great Tribulation? Reassessing the keystone of Dispensational eschatology.

Aug 20, 2024

“And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.”
– Revelation 13:5-7

In my last two entries, Is the Rapture Real? and Not Destined for Wrath, I have used the clear passages of Scripture to elucidate and interpret the unclear passages of prophecy, and showed that Scripture very thoroughly and plainly teaches the order of events at the end of the age: (1) the Great Tribulation and the Great Apostasy, (2) then the antichrist is revealed, (3) then the sign of Christ appears in the heavens, and (4) then Christ seizes the wicked and raptures the saints and and brings the antichrist to nothing. First Christ returns, then He raptures. As He descends, then we ascend. Christ’s return inaugurates the wrath of the wicked and the rapture of the righteous. It is a twofold judgment.

This order is articulated further in Revelation where there are two wars waged: One against God and His saints, the other against Satan and his worshippers. Satan wages war first and conquers the saints (Rev. 11:7-8, 12:17, 13:7, 19:19), then God wages the war and conquers Satan (Rev. 17:14, 19:11, 20:7-10). The first war is Satan wrath (Rev.12:12). The second war is God’s wrath (Rev.19:11). Satan’s wrath is the Great Tribulation. God’s Wrath is judgment of the wicked, and comes after the Great Tribulation.

Great Tribulation ≠ God’s Wrath

In this entry I focus explicitly on the book of Revelation, which I believe strengthens the order of events plainly presented in the Gospels and Epistles. It really does seem inescapable, to me at least, that the order of events described by Christ in His Olivet Discourse is the same order described by John when Christ opens the seven seals, particularly the fifth, sixth, and seventh seal—with a slight twist—it is Revelation, after all, should we even be surprised?

Let’s get to it.

Victor Vasnetsov, “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” (c.1887). Oil on canvas.

There is a cosmic war afoot. A war between light and darkness, between rulers, authorities, and principalities, between the spiritual forces of good and evil in the heavenly realm. We were called by Christ to enlist for battle. We should not be shell shocked, then, to discover that one of the primary themes, if not, the central theme of John’s Apocalypse is conquest—wrath, vengeance, and war. Christ declares to each of the seven churches, over and over again: “To the one who conquers” He will grant salvation and celestial royalty (Rev. 2:7,11,17,26; 3:5,12,21), which corresponds to the final declaration in new Jerusalem, the new heavens and new earth, “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” (Rev. 21:7) John’s whole vision vividly illustrates the on-going war between Satan and God. Satan conquers the saints physically, “Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them” (13:7) but fails to conquer them spiritually, for “they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” (12:11) Through persecution, tribulation, and martyrdom, and their steadfast faith in the power of Christ’s atonement, the saints conquer Satan (Rev 15:2). The book ends with Christ conquering Satan and his anti-christ(s) once and for all. This is vitally important for understanding the difference between God’s Wrath and the Great Tribulation.

Fifth Seal is Tribulation

When the fifth seal is opened, John describes the slain saints who suffered persecution and are eagerly awaiting the looming wrath of Christ against the wicked. Christ responds that they must wait until the remaining fellow Christians are martyred in the way that they were martyred:

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (Revelation 6:9-11)

This is a description of the tribulation, one that is on-going until the number of Christians is complete. First consider the parallel passages that correspond to verse 11, “until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete.” First consider Christ’s prophecy directly aligns with this order, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake…. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matt.24:9,13-14) And then consider, as something else to chew on, Paul’s eschatological marker that a “partial hardening has come upon Israel until” the gospel is proclaimed across the world and “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Romans 11:25; cf. Deuteronomy 4:30).

The body and bride of Christ, fellow servants of God, the Church, will suffer varying degrees of persecution and tribulation as a mother going through birth pains (Matt.24:8-9). When a mother is in labour, her contraction pain is subtle, fluctuating between moments of pain and relative normality, escalating in frequency and intensity and pervasiveness. As the child progresses closer to birth, the contractions also progressively worsen, becoming more intense and more frequent and more pervasive. The same applies, here, with the tribulation of the Church. Christians will suffer through progressive birth pains of trials, tribulation, and persecution until the very end, which will increase in frequency, intensity, and pervasiveness until Christ returns (Matt.24:8-14,21,29-31).

What does this mean?

It means that the tribulation has been underway since Christ ascended, and will continue until Christ returns. It seems that John acknowledges this fact, too:

“I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus” (Revelation 1:9)

John uses the definite article ho to describe the tribulation in the present tense. John is going through the tribulation!

How?

While the tribulation was well underway, at John’s time it was only the beginning of birth pains, waiting for the future Kingdom to be born. This fits the bill, in my opinion, considering John was mandated by Christ to “Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.” (Rev.1:19) John records what had already come to pass and the current state of affairs at his time, and then zeros in on the very end of the age. Revelation is not all future. But this causes difficulty for interpretation if you believe God’s wrath is the Great Tribulation. If John is a “partner in the tribulation”, which is still happening right now as we speak, then the tribulation cannot be God’s wrath.

The Great Tribulation, then, is simply the end of labour pains, the final moments before birth—new Jerusalem. The fifth seal, then, appears to specifically describe the tribulation from beginning to end until the full number of Christians is complete.

Sixth Seal is the Penultimate Sign of Christ’s Wrath

After the tribulation, Christ returns. When Christ returns, God’s wrath is thrusted upon the wicked—His army descends for battle. This order of events is spoken by the prophet Joel (Joel 2:1-11, 28-32), who is later quoted by the apostle Peter evangelizing to the Jews about the beginning of the last days (Acts 2:17-21). Peter applies Joel’s prophecy to his time as well as the second coming of Christ: “the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (vv.20-21, emphasis added)

The sun turning black and the moon turning red, so to speak, is prophetic imagery for not only His first coming but explicitly His second coming—Maranatha!—Jesus uses these same word pictures in Matthew 24 to describe what will take place before His return, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” (v.29, cf. Mark 13:24-25) This is the second last sign right before the final sign: “Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (v.30, cf. Mark 13:26)

There are numerous signs evidentially leading up to the end of the age, which is Christ’s return—such as the intensification, frequency, and pervasiveness of birth pains: persecution, trials, tribulation, apostasy, demonic activity, false miracles, false prophets, false christs, et cetera—but the specific formula of (a) the sun turns dark, (b) the moon turns dark, and (c) the heavenly powers fall and shake, encapsulates the penultimate sign. The final sign, then, is “the sign of the Son of Man”, the descending presence of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the day of the Lord when the righteous will see him face-to-face with our own two eyes, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.” (Revelation 1:7; cf. Job 19:27)

It is no coincidence, then, that the sixth seal also uses the same apocalyptic word pictures in the exact same order, but from the vantage point of the wicked attempting to hide themselves from the presence of Christ and His coming wrath:

When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:12-17)

This also parallels the prophet Joel’s vision. As I said before, Peter’s applies his prophecy as a sign that the last days have begun at Pentecost. But, what is very important to consider, is that Peter only quotes a portion of Joel. Several verses before, Joel describes the day of the Lord in the same order John describes the sixth seal:

The earth quakes before them;
    the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
    and the stars withdraw their shining.
The Lord utters his voice
    before his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
    he who executes his word is powerful.
For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome;
    who can endure it? (Joel 2:10-11)

The parallels, here, are too striking to ignore. Joel 2 describes a great heavenly army descending upon the wicked at the coming of the Lord, who is the Christ. The Day of the Lord is the day of God’s wrath: “Who can stand? Who can endure it?”

Not unsurprisingly, during the time of Satan’s wrath as the antichrist religion is moving into full swing, a parallel idiom is used by Satan’s army, those who have the mark of the beast: “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” (Rev.13:4)

The sixth seal is the penultimate sign of Christ’s return.

The sixth seal as the second last sign before Christ’s return also adds precedent for why the sixth seal directly parallels Christ’s return and swift judgment of the wicked in Revelation 19—the most iconic Second Coming text in the book—let’s compare:

Then the kings [in Greek, basileus] of the earth and the great ones [megistan] and the generals [chiliarchos] and the rich [plousios] and the powerful [ischyros], and everyone [pas], slave [doulos] and free [eleutheros], hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Rev.6:15-16)

Now compare who hides from God’s wrath to who receives God’s wrath:

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings [basileus], the flesh of captains [chiliarchos], the flesh of mighty men [ischyros], the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men [pas], both free [eleutheros] and slave [doulos], both small [mikros] and great [megas].” (Rev.19:17-18)

Even though the ESV translates the words differently into English, such as captains and generals, in Greek the list is nearly identical to the sixth seal with negligible differences. It doesn’t take a New Testament scholar to figure out who is seeking death in the sixth seal passage: Everyone who unrepentantly participated in Babylon and received the mark of the beast (Rev.13:16; 18:3,9,11)—kings, generals, mighty men, rich and poor, slave and free, small and great, and the merchants who were the “great ones of the earth” (18:23). The wicked of the sixth seal are the same wicked worshippers of the dragon, the unrepentant sinners of Babylon, the members of Satan’s army who bear the mark of the beast, who “will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them” (Rev.17:14).

And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth [cf. Rev.17:2,12-13] with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army [cf. Rev.16:14-16]. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. (Rev.19:19-21)

But there are stronger parallels in the sixth seal passage than what meets the eye. The sixth seal mentions that all the wicked on this Day will desire death rather than to see “the face” of Christ and endure the wrath of God.

[Everyone] hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (vv.15-16)

The wicked hide their faces from Christ’s face, and is then described as one with eyes like a “flame of fire” (19:12) upon His triumphal return. The prophetic imagery of Christ’s descending to earth in the flesh on a white horse to conquer the wicked clarifies their desire to hide themselves from His visible presence.

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. (Rev.19:11-16)

Now, why would these dragon worshippers desire to hide themselves in caves and under the rocks of the mountains, enclosing and protecting themselves from what appears to be vertical assault? And why would they call the mountains and rocks to fall on them (Rev.15b-16a)? Christ’s wrath descends from above; a fate worse than death—the celestial birds—the spiritual creatures of darkness and the demonic forces of judgment, I presume:

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”… And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. (Rev.19:17-18,21)

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