THE GREAT TRIBULATION

I have said in my earlier blog that the correct method to understand the bible where signs and symbols are used is to let the bible interprets the bible - for the bible indeed interprets itself. The prophetic book of Daniel and the Lord Christ's explanation of the Olivet Prophecy in  Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 explains much of the frightening spectre which will follow in the final stages of this church age before His Return to rule the world together with the resurrected saints who are members of the true church of God.

The opening of the fifth seal gives an overview of the coming Great Tribulation - a period of two-and-half-years of suffering in all of human history, when Satan unleashed his fury on mankind one last time before giving up his throne to the Lord Christ. Such cataclysmic events have been prophecied in many books of the Old and New Testaments. The Apostle John was in the spirit (Rev 4:2) when he witnessed all these heavenly previews of future events, much like he saw the vision of events of the close of this age as all the seven seals were opened one after another.

When the fifth seal was opened, John saw the souls of those who were slain cried for justice (Rev 6:9). This is a symbol of all the martyrs who were slain right through the dark period of the Middle Ages and of the future martyrs yet to come during the Great Tribulation (Rev 6:11). Symbolically, they were to wait in their sleep (rest) till the prophecied number of martyrs of lukewarm Christians who later repented are fulfilled! The Lord Christ prophecied this in Matthew 24:9-10.

The large majority of Christians in this end-time are Laodiceans, luke-warm Christians who are busy doing their own things, including many churches busy with their 'churchy stuff ', but all done in the name of God! Many are deceived and fallen into wrong doctrines and practices. Only the sufferings and persecutions of the Great Tribulation will awaken them towards repentance. Even then, only half will truly repent (Matthew 25: 1-12) and pay a heavy price with the cost of their lives (Rev 3:18).

The Great Tribulation will also be a time of war - probably World War III - famine and diseases together with great deception as symbolised by the Four Horsemen of the Apolycapse (Rev 6:2-8). The world is so deceived that they will see the false Christ as the true Messiah and the real Christ as the false Messiah, ultimately fighting Christ at His Return! Most clergymen are so confused that they cannot see and understand the true gospel of the kingdom of God that Christ was sent by the Heavenly Father to preach to the world (Matthew 4:17; Mark1:14-15; 16:15; Luke 4:43). The merciful God has commanded the true church to 'prophecy again'  in this end-time (Rev 10:11) of all the truth because only the truth will set the people free from the clutches of the great deceiver. Many wrongly presume that the true gospel is only Christ death on the cross, when in reality it is the one and only way to the kingdom of God (salvation and eternal inheritance) which all true believers must first seek and find (Matthew 6:33).

 Christ sacrificial death on the cross is a means to an end - the end goal is the reconciliation of all human beings to God the Father through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ with the cancellation of the death penalty for all those who believe in Christ and believe Him, including the gospel He came to preach! The end of it all is to enter the kingdom of God  (John 3:3-7) as a son of the Heavenly Father. This can only happen through resurrection by being born again in the first resurrection (the better resurrection - Hebrews 11:35) to immortality at the last trumpet (1 Cor 15: 50-55) to become a divine member of God's Royal Family for all eternity! (Romans 8:29; 1 John 3:2,9). There has to be a new creation (supernatural birth) because flesh and blood CANNOT enter the kingdom of God. Sadly, most people simply don't get it because the counterfeit movement (part of the Babylonian Mystery - Rev 17:5) of this world has so blinded the masses (2 Cor 4:4; Rev 12:9). Many are sincere but they are sincerely wrong!

The people of the largely English speaking world in USA, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are modern day descendants of the 'lost ten tribes' of Israel. The Great Tribualtion will also have a major impact upon them as well as the Jews of Israel and elsewhere who are descendants primarily from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Since bible prophecy is often dual, the A.D.70 destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army is a fore-runner of another similar event to occur as stated by the Lord Christ in Luke 21:23-24 , 'And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled'.  Much of the prophecies in the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations are in reference to the later fulfilment of the Great Tribulation.

In the Olivet Prophecy, Jesus Christ told His close disciples as recorded in 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.' Since the first century AD, the true gospel has not being preached in earnest as it was largely hidden to be mistaken as the church and saying the sinner's prayer in the hearts of men. But the time has come for all the truth to be revealed in this end-time as the period of time the prophecies were sealed is now over (Daniel 12:9). All who have ears, let them hear and be wise so as to understand (Daniel 12:10).