by Bro Koay Kheng Hin
Lesson 5 - The Great Tribulation
Note: Text in Blue are transcribed from
the Bible Study proper. Text in black are the physical notes given.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-3
1 Now, brothers, about times and
dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of
the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace
and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a
pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
Here it talks about the tribulation. When it begins, the world has a
time.of peace and safety. The beginning is not marked by war. After a while
only you'll realise you're into it.
Daniel 9:27
He will confirm a covenant with many
for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice
and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that
causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.’”
This one week is the 7 year tribulation. It mentions that at the 3½
year period the antichrist will be in the temple.
2 Thessalonians 2:4
He will oppose and will exalt
himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets
himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
Here is where there will be a new temple in Jerusalem.
Revelation 16:12-16
The sixth angel poured out his bowl
on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for
the kings from the East. 13 Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like
frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast
and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are spirits of demons
performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world,
to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
15 “Behold, I come like a thief!
Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may
not go naked and be shamefully exposed.”
16 Then they gathered the kings
together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
Here is the gathering of earthly armies at Armageddon.
These 2 verses forms the backdrop.
Matthew 24:21
For then there will be great
tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this
time, no, nor ever shall be.
This is the great tribulation.
John 16:33
These things I have spoken to you,
that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be
of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
This is the tribulation.
I was wondering how to start
this lesson. So I'll tell you a story.
Yesterday I just watched a movie called the Maze Runner. I enjoyed
the movie. I thought it was a teenage movie so I brought my daughter but I
enjoyed it.
The Bible tells us that after Jesus died, after the first coming, a
time will come:
- Christians will go through persecution and go through the tribulation. Jesus said that we are in the world but not in the world and we will go through sufferings. The flip side is that God heals and God provides. This is the tribulation that have been going on throughout the history of the church.
- A time will come for the great tribulation. That will come with the opening of the first seal. It depicts someone on the white Horse. It depicts a spirit of conquest and this person is the antichrist. Who is he? We spent a whole lesson on him. He will come from Europe and you will realise the war starts with the opening of the second seal. One way to conquer a nation is by war or by deception and persuasion. To conquer without having to go to war. The military behind him will be strong. A military, political and economic power. He will subdue the world. Rev 6:1,2. He will sign a treaty with Israel. In that covenant he will promise security. Then you will have the new temple on which the antichrist will seat on.
After this the seal will start to be reopened. Look at the seal
chart I gave you. These are all of the seven seals and all these will happen
after the antichrist sits at the temple.
After that the trumpets happens. You can again looks at the list.
It's a terrible time and it occurs somewhere between the 5th and 7th trumpet.
This is when he will break the covenant and take over Jerusalem. That is the 3½
year period. That is when the mark comes in for you to buy and sell. It will be
chaotic.
After the 7th trumpet, it's specifically mentions the wrath of God.
That's the 7 bowls. Refer to the chart. This is the final year of the 7 year
period. It is believed it will be less than 9 months. It is where the armies
start to March and he is the instigator.
Revelation 16:12
Sixth Bowl: Euphrates Dried Up
Then the sixth angel poured out his
bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way
of the kings from the east might be prepared.
The river dries up so the army of the East could cross. We know
Russia will be involved. We know Putin is capable of starting a great War. He
has reignited his nuclear arsenal. This is the final battle. We of course don't
know when what will happen. The army will cross the Euphrates and meet at Armageddon. This is were the
whole situation blurs. This will be the greatest armies ever assembled.
Some people will ask where's China. We don't know where's their
alignment but it does look like the U.S. is pushing China to align with Russia.
Here where they meet, the end nears.
Revelation 6:1-2
Chapter 6
First Seal: The Conqueror
1 Now I saw when the Lamb opened
one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a
voice like thunder, “Come and see.” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse.
He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out
conquering and to conquer.
The tribulation ends with the white horse. It begins and ends with a
white horse. Jesus comes in the true white horse.
The tribulation begins from Rev 6 until Rev 19. The tricky part is
we gentiles when we read, what does some of the signs means? I gave you the
narrative but now I want to give you the outline.
We have the seals, the trumpets and the bowls. From theology, what
are we looking at? The first question is are they different or the same? From
Rev 6 to 16, is it just the seals as the background of the trumpets and the
bowls. In other words they intensify what was described in the he seals. Or are
they in chronological order first the seals, then the trumpets and the bowls.
I find them to be in chronological order because sometimes it's good
to read and read about it. Your first reading will tell you it's in
chronological order. It's only when you try to read more into it that you have
the other view.
The second question is whether they are to be taken literally or
symbolically?
In the Bible there is a literal and symbolic frame. The Bible is
interspersed with literal and symbolic narrative. When Jesus said he is the gate, it's
symbolic. Where else when Jesus said to forgive, it's literal.
So how do you know which is which? Sometimes experience counts. At
other times you are guided by the Holy Spirit. As you read the Bible the Holy
Spirit does give revelation but systematic theology makes the process of study
with proper understanding.
Some theologians say everything is literal. You look at seal number
six. Stars fall from the sky. That theologian is probably not a physic teacher.
Our sun is an old star. It's on the red shift. A blue shift star is a young
star. Our star the sun is dying. But it's still red hot. If it comes a little
nearer we're in trouble. The nearest star the alpha centaury is still light
years away, so you can imagine this verse is symbolic.
But when you look at seal number three, the famine is probably real
and not symbolic. So we just have to use our sense to determine if it's
symbolic or literal.
I have found out that the 7 years is an accelerated 7 years in terms
of catastrophes. Events happens very fast. If you look at the chart you'll see
the 7 years of worldwide turmoil.
In today's perspective when you hear famine you'll find that it may
be natural causes. But the most common is by man especially because of war.
Food production is replaced by military needs. You will also have a global
economic meltdown. Just imagine if there's a war you can forget about your shares. It will be upheaval in nature.
Everything that has been mentioned has happened before at one time
or another in history.
Matthew 24:3-18
The Signs of the Times and the End
of the Age
3 Now as He sat on the Mount of
Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these
things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the
age?”
4 And Jesus answered and said to
them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name,
saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars
and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must
come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and
earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 “Then they will deliver you up to
tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's
sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate
one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And
because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who
endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be
preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will
come.
The Great Tribulation
15 “Therefore when you see the
‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the
holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in
Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to
take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back
to get his clothes.
This is a summary of the seals. The beginning of the tribulation. It
is also an interpretation of false prophets. With the false christ there will
be false prophets to lead you into a false perception of Christ.
I believe in the pre-trip so the church would have been raptured. So
only the shell of the church remains. So what is this shell? A one world nation
will need an organisation system. The Catholic Church is one such organisation
and it will need to be reformed or reworked. Please don't say I quoted that the
Catholic Church is left behind. The Christians in the Catholic Church would
also be raptured.
The shell of the Catholic Church is an organized church that will be
subject to the deception of the false christ. They will be open to the
antichrist.
He will not come to suppress Christ. He will come to supplant
Christ.
In the pre-trip and post-trip there are two pitfalls. In the
post-trip, people will ask you where are you going to find believers to enter
the kingdom. In the pre-trip, they will ask if the church is raptured who the
antichrist will persecute? The Rapture does not remove the Bible so there will
still be new believers after the Rapture.
The great
tribulation is a period of unprecedented suffering and catastrophe occurring on
earth just before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It is worldwide in scope
and of an intensity that has never been seen before. During this seven-year
period of the Great Tribulation, the inhabitants of the earth will have a sense
that the world is coming to an end. The great tribulation begins when the
Antichrist as the leader of a federated states of Europe signs a peace treaty
with lsraeI (Dan 9:27), with the guarantee that it will protect Israel from its
enemies and allow Israel a sense of security and the favourable conditions to
rebuild the Temple and institute once again the sacrifices, offerings and rites
of Judaism in the new temple(2 Thess 2:4). This revealing of the Antichrist is
depicted in the opening of the first seal (Rev 6:1-2). At the time that the
Antichrist reveals himself, he will come as a man of peace and good will,
obtaining the trust of the nations by persuasion and deception. He thereby
gains control over nations, 'conquering" them and bringing them under his
influence in order to establish a one world system over which he will be the
head. However he will be opposed right from the beginning by Christians that
have been saved after the Rapture (pre-tribulation view). He persecutes these
Christians to the extent of killing them. The series of seven seals(Rev 6:1-17,
8:1-5) that are opened as recorded in the book of Revelationdepicts the first
year of the great tribulation. Affairs take a turn for the worst as wars break
out, famine occurs and natural disasters increase both in frequency and
intensity. The opening of the seventh seal is followed by the sounding of a
series of seven trumpets(Rev 8:6-9:21,11:15-19), bringing on a more intense
series of catastrophes. Sometime during the sounding of the trumpets (most
likely the fifth trumpet), the tribulation enters the three and a half-year
point. At this point, the Antichrist reneges on its treaty with Israel and sets
himself in the temple(Matt 24:15,2 Thess 2:4), thereby desecrating it, and
demands that everyone worship him. The persecution of Christians intensifies.
At the same time, the nations began to rebel against the Antichrist. During
these last months of the tribulation, the seven bowls of the wrath of God(Rev
15:1 - 16:21) are poured out. The most intense suffering and unimaginable
catastrophes in both nature and humankind occur. The nations of the East raise
up armies that cross the Euphrates River and meet the armies of the Antichrist
at the Plain of Esdraelon, the area around the mountains of Megiddo(Dan
11:44-45, Rev 16:12-16). The seven year great tribulation ends with the Second
Coming as Jesus comes down from heaven with his heavenly army to completely
defeat the armies of the earth in the battle of Arm aged don (Rev 19:11-16).
Rev 6:1-2
Now I saw when the Lamb opened one
of the seals; and I heard one of the living creatures saying with a voice like
thunder/'Come and see." 2And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who
sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering
and to conquer.
Questions
1. Who
are the 144,000 sealed servants of God mentioned in Rev 7:1-8 ?
2. Are we
really living in the "end times"?
The question is how do we know. You may say there's more earthquake
more than any other time. That's circumstantial. You may say there are more
wars or diseases than ever before but are you sure? Europe had the black death
and one third of the population died. Do we have that sort of disease now?
False prophets, last time also have. So it's something to think about.
If you tell your friend there
is war and false prophets, it has happened throughout history. If you also me I
believe we are living in the end times. There are two things that have not
happened in history as mentioned in the Bible.
Matthew 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will
be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end
will come.
The ethnic groups to be reached is still going on. When the last
ethnic group is reached, Jesus will come. We are right now in an unprecedented
period where every nation have been touched and most ethnic group have been
reached. Only God will know when all is reached. It's unprecedented because now
there are translations for almost all ethnic groups.
Matthew 24:15
“Therefore when you see the
‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the
holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),
That is about the new temple. 1.1 million Jews died during Roman
times. The Jews were then scattered. There is no time in history where you can
envision a new temple. The Jews were scattered. But in 1948, Israel became and
nation and it looks possible. The Jews are now looking at building the new
temple. And all these is unprecedented.
These are two clear indication so if you ask me the answer will be
yes.
No comments:
Post a Comment