Purposes for the Tribulation are not applied to born again believers, for they are already redeemed from the wrath of God through the blood of His Son. “YAHSHUA personally rescues and delivers us out of and from the wrath which is coming and draws us to Himself…for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first, then we, the living ones who remain, shall simultaneously be caught up along with [the resurrected dead in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so always we shall be with the Lord” (I Thess. 4:26-27). The purposes for the Tribulation are to make an end of wickedness and wicked ones. Those are the ones who have not believed in YAHSHUA. They stand condemned already, for they remain in sin and in their wickedness. Only by means of the great tribulation will wickedness be purged and the wicked ones destroyed. The Prophet Isaiah confirms this purpose: Behold, the Day of the Lord (tribulation) comes, cruel with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it (Isaiah 13:9). He continues in chapter 24, called the “Little Apocalypse.” The earth is utterly broken, the earth is rent asunder, the earth is shaken violently. The earth staggers like a drunken man, and shall sway to and fro like a hammock; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again. The Day of the Lord is another name referring to the great Tribulation.
Another purpose of the great Tribulation is to bring about a revival worldwide. In time of His judgment, God will provide a way for men to repent and be saved through the work of evangelism by the 144,000. These young men will come from the Jewish nation. Due to the fact that the Jews have been scattered all over the world, they will know the language and tradition of countries and will be able to communicate to the world without a problem. The gospel will then be spread to the entire world. They are going to be sealed with God’s protection not to suffer His wrath, so to be able to accomplish His Purpose. Revelation 7: 2-4 reads: Then I saw a second angel coming up from the east and carrying the seal of the living God. And with a loud voice he called out to the four angels who had been given authority and power to injure earth and sea, saying, Harm neither the earth nor the sea nor the trees, until we have sealed the bond servants of our God upon their foreheads. And I heard how many were sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel: there were 144,000. They are 12,000 of each of the twelve tribes of Israel. They will be the ones who will fulfill the prophecy found in Matthew 23:1-4: And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come. Note that the end of all things will not take place until then. The Gospel will be preached to all nations during the time of the tribulation, when the 144,000 will be active in evangelizing the world, and not the Church of Christ, because she will no longer be in the world. Nowhere in the Bible is found where the Church will be left for that purpose. If that were the case, the church of Christ would have been sealed as well. We read in Revelation 7: 9-17 the result of their work of evangelism: After these things I saw, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands; and they cry with a great voice, saying, Salvation unto our God Who sits on the throne, and unto the Lamb… and one of the elders answered, saying unto me, These that are arrayed in the white robes, who are they and whence came they? And I say unto him, My Lord, you know. and he said to me, These are they that come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. In this passage it is obvious to see the link after these things connecting to the cause and effect relationship between the first and the second part of chapter seven of Revelation.
The third purpose for the Tribulation will be to break the power of the holy people (Israel) (Daniel 12: 7b). The duration of the tribulation will be “time, times and a half.” The power of the Jewish people must be broken, for them to be saved. God will break the hardness of their hearts; He will give them a new heart, a heart of flesh that will call on Him. God will use whatever means he can to bring back His people to Him. They will be God’s people once again and God will be their only and true God. The Prophet Zechariah so prophesized: “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined and will test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will hear and answer them. I will say, It is My people; and they will say, The Lord is my God (Zech. 13:9).
Throughout the Old Testament we read how God dealt with the stubbornness of Israel from the time that they left Egypt. He expressed His frustration to Moses by saying, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Before his death, Moses so prophesized about Israel: Give ear, O heaven and I will speak; and let the earth hear the worlds of my mouth. My message shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the light rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb…Israel have spoiled themselves. They are not sons to Him, and that is their blemish- a perverse and crooked generation! They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, not to God- to gods whom they knew not, to new gods lately come up, whom your fathers never knew or feared… (Deut. 32). In the New Testament we read the words of YAHSHUA warning them of judgment for having rejected Him: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who continue to kill the prophets and to stone those who are sent to you! How often I have desired and yearned to gather your children together as a hen her young under her wings, but you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken! And I tell you, you will not see Me again until the time comes when you shall say, Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord! (Luke 13:34-35). Israel’s stubbornness will finally be dealt in a way that will cause them to return to their God in repentance and contrition of spirit; their power will be broken; no one to turn to, only to their God.
The great Tribulation is the wrath of God upon Israel and upon all those who reject Him, but not upon His church!
Light from the Word 