The End May Be Much Than Nearer Than We Think

Chapter 1. Unanswered Questions About the Tribulation {131 words}

In my first three months as a Sunday School teacher, I was assigned to teach the Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation. I did not expect the Epistles of John to be difficult because the concepts in those Books are fairly well understood and accepted by all. But in the Book of Revelation, I thought that I might have more of a challenge. As I prepared for the first lesson in Revelation, Chapter One, I determined that I would try to avoid the traps of illogical thinking and that I would try to present the entire book from beginning to end in a clear, logically consistent manner. It was an ambitious goal, and time would prove that it was not to be.

As soon as our study began and I proceeded to examine the available reference material, I encountered my first problem. I found that there are several widely accepted methods for interpreting the Book of Revelation. Worse than that, though, was that all but one of them was new to me, and I could not prove or disprove any of them. My personal belief is that the Tribulation is a future event, which is the Premillennialist view, so I tried to teach the class mostly from that point of view. However, with so many other interpretations to choose from, I felt far from easy and secure as I taught.

Of all of the interpretations, I was particularly disturbed by the Preterist view. This view teaches that the Book of Revelation is past tense to our generation and was written to the early Church in about 400 AD during a time of intense persecutions among Christians. According to the Preterists, the events which are recorded in the Revelation actually occurred about sixteen hundred years ago, and even though I did not want to deny my beliefs and accept that interpretation, I found many Bible scholars who did accept it to be true. Therefore, I knew, as I studied, that if the Preterist View is correct, than much of the Bible doctrine which I had been taught and had come to believe would no longer be valid. With so much at stake concerning this view, I continually searched, during the class's study, for evidence concerning this and the other various interpretations of the Book of Revelation in order to determine the truth.

For the first sixteen chapters, the class study went very smoothly, and I felt satisfied that I had been able to remain consistent without contradicting myself. I had not yet been able to prove or disprove the Preterist View for interpreting this Book, but I still felt comfortable with the Premillennialist interpretation and with the overall progress of the class study. However, as we got into the seventeenth chapter, more problems began to come, and my already uneasy satisfaction was replaced by total dismay.

In Chapter Seventeen, we were studying about a woman who had upon her forehead the inscription, "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH," and after much research, I could not find any satisfactory information about her identity. Many of my references had been shaky on earlier portions of the Revelation, and I was not comfortable with them now. I studied the works of still another Bible commentator, whom I highly regarded, and I was also dissatisfied with his thoughts about this mysterious woman in Chapter Seventeen. Among all of the different opinions and the different interpretations which I had found, I could not find any explanation about this woman that I felt would be consistent with our previous studies. So, as anyone can see, I had worked myself into a corner, and I ended my lesson being very dissatisfied about my inability to understand these complex things about the Tribulation.

In the days that followed, I continued to search for the identity of the woman in Chapter Seventeen. I spent much time going through previous lessons trying to put everything into its proper perspective. I also spent much time in prayer and in meditation trying to gain a deeper understanding for these things. And finally, I searched for more information. I would not allow myself to stop searching for the answers to questions which I thought should be answered.

Our class had not made a verse by verse study of Revelation, Chapter Thirteen, so I went back and conducted my own private study of this important chapter. As I read, many things were revealed to me which our class had not even talked about. I was able to learn that the Roman Empire, if you accept the Premillennial view, will be resurrected as a kingdom power during the Tribulation. In addition, I was able to observe as the Antichrist moved onto the scene and exerted his power, and I was able to watch as the economics of the Tribulation were forced upon the people of the earth with the "Mark of the Beast." All of this new knowledge from Chapter Thirteen was good to learn, but it still did not help me to identify the woman in Chapter Seventeen. When I put all that new knowledge gained from Chapter Thirteen with what I had already learned about the Tribulation, however, I was able to find a satisfactory answer to one of my earlier questions.

From my private studying of Chapter Thirteen, I was able to prove to my own satisfaction that the Preterist view for interpreting the Book of Revelation is not valid because it is not consistent with the character of God. The Preterist view is accepted by many people, but the Holy Spirit convinced me that it is wrong! In Chapter Thirteen, the Antichrist is seen to oppress the people and to literally force them into submission to him. I began to connect that picture in my mind with certain other events that had occurred in some of the earlier chapters of the Book of Revelation, and there was a big disconnect.

I recalled the events of Jesus releasing the seals of judgment upon the earth (Revelation, Chapter Six), of the angels issuing further suffering upon the people of the earth by blowing the seven trumpets (Revelation, Chapters Eight and Nine), and of the pouring out of the seven vials (Revelation, Chapter Sixteen). As I thought upon these events, a single vision became clear. I could see in my mind that the people on the earth during the Tribulation time will be bombarded from above by God and also from below by the Antichrist. At first, I considered that maybe these were people simply caught in the middle of the eternal struggle between God and Satan, but as I studied and prayed over these portions of Scripture, I became convinced that these people had actually made themselves to be the enemies of God. Their torment from above was not an accident. God had planned it, and He was controlling it!

With both the persecution of the early Church and the torment and suffering during the Tribulation, it is important to note the identity of the victim and the identity of the persecutor. The torment and persecution inflicted upon the early Church was caused by the Roman Empire. Those persecutors were acting as agents of the devil, so in that situation, the people's suffering had not been caused from above by God. During the Tribulation, we clearly see that the persecution is coming from above first, and later it is coming from below. Just from noting the identity of the persecutors, it is apparent that the Book of Revelation is talking about a different time and battle than the persecution of the early Church.

However, when we note the identity of the victim, the difference between the two times is clearly seen. In the persecution of the early Church, the victim is the beloved bride of Jesus Christ, while in the Tribulation, the victim is an enemy of God. As we watch Jesus and his angels, acting on behalf of God, release the seals, blow the trumpets, and pour out the vials to the earth from above, one must have the feeling that if Jesus is doing these things to the early Church, His bride, as the Preterist view says, then He must be something similar to a wife beater. Since we know that Jesus is not a wife beater or a bride beater, we must conclude that the Preterist view is incorrect. More importantly than just disproving the Preterist View, though, this discovery allows us to state that the events of the Book of Revelation deal mostly with the future of the world and not with the past of the Church.

My individual study of Revelation, Chapter Thirteen, gave me the thinking necessary to disprove the Preterist View and to conclude that the Revelation is a future event, but it did not help me to solve my most immediate problem about the identity of the woman in Chapter Seventeen. As I pondered further over her identity, I was reminded of other similarly puzzling questions which had arisen during our class study.

When we had studied Chapter Four, the approximate place in the Book of Revelation where the Rapture is said to occur and the Tribulation begins, again according to the Premillennial view, I never saw a clear division between the two. I know that other portions of the Bible give information about the Rapture and the Tribulation. But in the Book of Revelation, I had expected some additional information, and I did not find any. There was no clear statement expressing why the earth would have a Tribulation, and that bothered me. Plus, another disturbing observation centered around the lack of involvement of Israel in the Tribulation. I had always heard that Israel would be a focal point around which the Tribulation would revolve. But in our study, I had not found any such evidence.

With all of those questions on my mind, I left the Book of Revelation knowing that my learning was not complete and that it would not be complete until I learned some more answers about the Tribulation.