The Tribulation and the Day of God’s Vengeance
What is often confused by faithful Bible believers is the 3½ years during which the Beast will rule over mankind and the day of God’s Wrath when He will judge the world with fire and destruction.
“3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. 4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) — 9 then The LORD knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before The LORD. 12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, 13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children,” 2 Peter 2:3-14.
Just before that day — of Wrath and Vengeance — The Children of God (Sons and Daughters of God) will be meeting with The LORD in the air and so we shall be for always with The LORD.
However, during the 3½ years that the Beast will hate and persecute and suppress the saints, many will be pushed into a corner or killed.
“He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time,” Daniel 7:25.
The Two Witnesses
“Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. 3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. 5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. 6 These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire. 7 When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9 Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. 10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth,” Revelation 11:1-10.
The beast or the Antichrist shall not turn against all those (also many believers!) who he will entice to take upon their hand or forehead his number without which they will not be able to buy food or anything else. He will let them live under his 3½ year reign.
It will be “the saints” during this very same time that he will go after seeking to overcome them. That is the clear message of these scriptures.
“It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation,” Revelation 13:7.
Yet on earth there will be a place of refuge for them (the saints) where they — just like once the prophet Elijah at the brook Cherith (Krit) — will be fed and taken care of during the 3½ years.
Just like God instructed Noah to build the Ark, before the day of His wrath was released over the world of those days and by which the believers were saved on earth!
“12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” 13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ,” Revelation 12:12–17.
The End-time Church in that way will be protected and sanctified, just like the early New Testament-believers (who lived in the world in independent communities) as described in the Book of Acts, where the believers shared and owned all things together in loving communities living daily with The LORD and each other.
These Community-like farms and places of refuge will work out the inner state of the End-time believers — being holy and totally prepared to meet their Bridegroom after the terrible 3½ years of “Beastly Reign” over the world!
During this time the land of Israel will be the safest place on earth during those days of tribulation.
“Thus says The LORD of hosts: ‘In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you,” Zechariah 8:23.
Hallelujah!
All of Israel will be saved and as the prophet Jeremiah prophesied already at that time: no Israeli will say to another Israeli “know The LORD your God” for they will all know Him, just like the Apostle Paul also writes in Roman 11:32,
“For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.”
“33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says The LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know The LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says The LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more,” Jeremiah 31:33-34.
So from a Biblical point of view, the safest places on earth for the End-time Church will be these two:
Israel and the self-supporting communities as described above in the Book of Revelations 12:12–17.
What a different perspective is all this from what generally is being taught to the Body of Christ.
~ Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center
Newsletter of January 13, 2020.
Republished with the kind permission of Author Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director of International Christian Zionist Center.
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Amazing. Thank you.