By: Randall E. Pickens, Sr.
Many confuse the tribulation saints with the saints of the Church Age. We will examine scriptural proofs of these unique “Tribulation Saints”?
The Church Age and Tribulation saints are two distinct groups or “unique”. The scriptures give us clues to the time of their presence in the earth and in heaven that clearly are the differentiating facts. The two primary events being what we call the Rapture prior to Jacob’s Trouble and then the 2nd Coming event to occur at the close of the tribulation period. These events are separated by years.
The Bible indicates that a great number of people during the tribulation will place their faith in Jesus Christ. In John’s vision of heaven, he sees a vast number of these tribulation saints who have been martyred by the Antichrist: Rev 7:9, “There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. Remember, the Antichrist can’t even be revealed until the close of the Church Age, 2 Thes 2:3-7 so these saints referenced here are coming out of the Tribulation period not the Church Age. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands”. When John asks who they are, he is told clearly, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (verse 14). This clearly identifies these saints as “martyrs” from the tribulation period! Rev 20:4
The tribulation will be a time of great trouble for the wicked and the Jewish people in general, because of God’s judgments. It will also be a time of great persecution but salvation for the believers—or saints Rev 13:7. Daniel saw the Antichrist “waging war against the saints and defeating them”Dan 7:21. Of course, the saints’ eternal salvation is secure: Daniel also saw that “the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom” Dan 7:22, Rev 14:12-13.
The tribulation saints will hear the gospel from several possible sources. The first is the Bible; there will be many copies of the Bible left in the world, and when God’s judgments begin to fall, many people will likely react by finding a Bible to see if prophecies are being fulfilled. Who knows, some may actually read this article and realize the error of their ways! Many of the tribulation saints will also have heard the gospel proclaimed from the two witnesses Rev 11:1-13. The Bible says these two individuals “will prophesy for 1,260 days [three and a half years]” (verse 3) and perform great miracles (verse 6). And then there are the 144,000 Jewish witnesses who are redeemed and sealed by God during the tribulation Rev 7:1-8. Immediately following the description of their sealing in Rev 7, we read of the multitudes of tribulation saints who are saved from every corner of the world (verses 9–17).
The tribulation saints will serve their Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of desperate surroundings. Faithful to the end, many of these believers will die for their faith. But in their death, they overcome; “They overcame [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” Rev 12:11. And God will reward them: “He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” Rev 7: 15-17.
We praise the Lord that the great day of trouble will also be a great day of grace. Even as God is meting out His just punishment on an unbelieving world, He will be restoring Israel to faith and extending grace to all who believe, both Jew and Gentile. God has always been in the business of saving His people, and that salvation will still be available during the tribulation period. However, why would anyone risk eternity. The “great” tribulation will be terrible! Don’t wait until then, receive Jesus now. John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
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