Not Destined for Wrath
Part I. Is the Wrath of God the same event as the Great Tribulation? Reassessing the keystone of Dispensational eschatology.
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 6:15-17
Matthias Gerung, “John's Vision of Heaven, Revelation 4:1-11, 5:1-14” (c.1530-32). The Ottheinrich Bible, page 287. The oldest known illustrated translation of the New Testament.
Are Christians destined to suffer the wrath of God during the Great Tribulation? This concern is at the very heart of the pre-tribulation rapture position. Even though not a single eschatological view argues that Christians will suffer God’s wrath, for many this is the cornerstone reason to believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. All Christians, far and wide, must be removed from the earth before God destroys the wicked and everything on the earth with them, typically citing John’s words of comfort to the church of Philadelphia: “I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world” (Revelation 3:10)
But is the pre-tribulation rapture necessary for this to be true? In other words, if the pre-tribulation rapture is not true, must I, and all Christians for that matter, suffer through the wrath of God?
No.
In my last entry, I contended that the order of events described throughout the prophecies of the New Testament detail, very vividly, the following chronology: (1) the Great Tribulation and the Great Apostasy, (2) then the antichrist is revealed, (3) then Christ appears in the heavens, and (4) then He raptures His saints and seizes the wicked and brings the antichrist to nothing. First Christ returns, then He raptures. As He descends, then we ascend. Christ’s return inaugurates both the rapture of the righteous and the wrath of the wicked. It is a twofold judgment. God’s wrath comes after the Great Tribulation.
This caused tremendous difficulty for many of my Dispee kin who hold firm to the belief that the Great Tribulation is the exact same event as God’s wrath. In their view, God’s Tribulation-Wrath must happen before Christ returns, which is why the rapture must happen before the Tribulation-Wrath, to fulfill Paul’s words, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10)
God’s wrath against the wicked is described many times and in many different ways throughout Revelation, with the sixth seal (Rev. 6), the seventh seal and the seven trumpets (Rev. 8, 9, 11), the seven plagues (Rev. 15), and, of course, the seven bowls of wrath unleashed upon the earth (Rev. 16). Dispees hold that these visions all describe the Great Tribulation to come, and we will be raptured before any such wrath descends upon us. But are these descriptions of wrath (or judgment) describing the same event as the Great Tribulation?
I don’t believe so.
The saints will have to persevere through Great Tribulation. But that does not mean that the saints, the remnant of true believing Christians remaining on the earth in the last days, will persevere through the wrath of God.
The wrath of God and the Great Tribulation are two distinct events.
The wrath of God is against the wicked.
The Great Tribulation is against the saints.
Two Wars Waged
Notice that 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 second war is God’s wrath. The first war is Satan wrath (Rev.12:12). Satan’s wrath is the Great Tribulation.
“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. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear: If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.” (Revelation 12:12, 17; 13:5-10)
As Satan wages war against the saints to conquer them, the antichrist (or the second beast), who had “two horns like a lamb” and “spoke like a dragon” (Rev.13:11), “exercises all the authority of the first beast” and “makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast” (13:12). Now, setting aside the timing/identity of the first beast and its image bearer for today, and focus solely on the effects of the antichrist, John highlights that this unholy trinity of sorts causes “those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.” (13:15) The antichrist not only captures Christians, but slays them en mass. After which Christians will not be able to buy or sell goods unless they worship the beast and pledge allegiance to it by receiving its mark (13:16-17). This is all part of the Great Tribulation, “for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (Rev.12:12). God’s wrath comes afterward.
That is why John records that, during this time of tribulation, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” (Revelation 14:9-11)
God’s wrath is in the future tense. His wrath is to come for those who worship and receive the mark of the beast. Notice, also, that His wrath is in conjunction with the Day of Judgment, “tormented with fire and sulfur” (v.10) and “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever” (v.11). God’s wrath is not the same event as the Great Tribulation. That is why John immediately calls for our patient perseverance through the Great Tribulation—it is Satan’s war against God’s children: “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” (Revelation 14:12)
The Tribulation Saints
Those who suffer through severe persecution and hold fast to the truth are not immature Christians—they are devout men of God. That is why Christ forewarns His apostles, “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.” and that “there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.” (Matt.24:9,21-22) If the futurist is consistent with their eschatological hermeneutic, and apply the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13) to the present apostles as well as the future disciples reading Scripture, then let the reader understand that this tribulation passage applies to the apostles as much as it applies to us. You will go through great tribulation.
This same order of events also parallels the description of the two witnesses—whoever they might be. Both witnesses suffer severe persecution and tribulation at the hands of Satan and those who worship him, before they are resurrected and, what appears to be, raptured.
“And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.” (Revelation 11:7-12)
Christians will be persecuted and suffer tribulation from peoples and nations and tongues of “one mind” under the delusion and power of Satan (Rev.17:13,17; 2 Thess. 2:9-12).
“Also it [the beast rising out of the sea] was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” (Revelation 13:7-8)
Angelic Army of Harvesters
It is no coincidence, then, that as soon as the war against the saints ends in Revelation 14, the word saint is never used in a context of enduring wrath. The seven bowls of wrath, which are the seven plagues, is intended for the unrepentant wicked (Rev.15:1, 16:9-10). All saints are spared from God’s wrath. So, what initiates God’s wrath? Well, in Revelation 14, immediately before the wrath of God in enacted, John records Christ’s second coming and a twofold judgement: the rapture of the righteous (vv.14-16) and the wrath of the wicked (vv.17-20).
Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.
Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia. (Revelation 14:14-20)
This is the exact same order of events Jesus described would happen at the end of the age in His Olivet Discourse:
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. 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. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:29-31)
God’s wrath comes upon the wicked in conjunction with the rapture of the righteous, as the sheep are split from the goats, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.” (Matt.25:31-33).
This is also the same order described in Christ’s Parable of the Weeds and the Wheat:
“But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn…. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matt.13:29, 39b-43; cf. 13:24-30,36-43)
As well as His Parable of the Net:
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:47-50)
Christ returns with an angelic army against the wicked to avenge the righteous. According to Christ, the remaining Christian’s of the final hour will witness this event alongside the wicked, and so encourages the reader that when they “see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory…. straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:26-28) Christ returns with vengeance and wrath.
For this reason, then, it seems that all descriptions of the saints suffering through the wrath of Satan is spoken of the in past tense after Revelation 14, during God’s wrath (Rev.17:6; 18:24). The only wrath and war described from Revelation 15 onwards is the wrath of God against the wicked, which seems to be in conjunction with the destruction of the great city, Babylon, “For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.” (Rev.18:8). God’s wrath is a described as a war declared by His second coming in which He conquers the beast and the antichrist, then reigns with His saints for millennia, and then conquers Satan and his worshippers in one last final battle, Gog and Magog (Rev.17:14; 19:11,17-21; 20:7-10). The Day of the Lord is the wrath of God—vengeance is His.
Therefore, the simplified order of events is as follows:
The Tribulation, then Return, then Wrath.
Tribulation ≠ Wrath
Believe it or not, this is the exact same order of events described when Christ opens the seven seals.
Matlock Bobechko | May 30, 2024 – 9:00AM EST
This is well articulated and very helpful. I suppose this is one of those threads through the biblical text that you can’t unsee once you are shown. And I believe that you must be correct. It’s ties up a lot of what I’ve wrestled with over the years. But wow, it’s huge intel.