The
“Gospel” During the Great
Tribulation
The Righteous Will Live by Faith
___________________________
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The purpose of this
study is to exalt the Centerpiece of
the Great Tribulation, Jesus Christ
and His everlasting gospel. I hope
that this short study will lift some
darkness that currently obscures this
most important subject. What makes
this subject so important is that the
gospel is good news from God and good
news about God. (I should point out
the gospel also contains bad news
from God for those who refuse to
submit to His authority.) In the
coming hours of human extremity, God
will completely reveal the
everlasting gospel. In other words,
during the Great Tribulation, the
gospel of Jesus Christ will be
stripped of human varnish and
denomination ownership. Truth will
shine brighter than the sun at noon
on a cloudless day and truth will
soar high above antagonism and
confusion by the diverse religions of
the world. Everyone will clearly hear
the gospel – yes, even above the
roar and din of overwhelming
destruction and suffering. During the
appointed time of the end, the Holy
Spirit will empower God’s
anointed messengers as never before,
exalting Jesus Christ and His
everlasting gospel with power and
simplicity. (Revelation 7:1-8; 11:3;
Joel 2:28-32)
There is no higher
subject, there is no grander theme
and there is nothing more glorious in
the whole Bible than the
“revelation” of Jesus
Christ. Billions of people have
rejoiced to learn about Him down
through the ages without seeing the
stunning revelation of His Majesty
that is about to take place. Every
born-again Christian knows that
nothing can compare with the joy,
peace and transformation that comes
from knowing Jesus and understanding
the gospel of His kingdom. He is the
King of kings! He is the Lord of
lords! He is the Alpha and Omega! He
is the eternal Sun of Righteousness,
the day Star of humankind! Yet, for
all that He is, His favorite titles
seem to be Son of God and Savior of
man. (John 14:31; John 10:11;
Revelation 5:9) So why is it then,
that when people tell the story of
the Great Tribulation, our Lord and
His gospel are not usually the
centerpieces of the story? Why is the
book of Revelation regarded with so
much mystery, fear, foreboding and
gloom when Revelation is expressly
declared”The revelation of Jesus
Christ which God gave to him…?
(Revelation 1:1) Is it possible that
Christians do not comprehend how
Jesus and His everlasting gospel fit
into the end-time story?
It is absolutely
fascinating to discover how all the
books in the Bible are “directly
wired” into Revelation’s
story, comparable to the electrical
wiring connected to the main breaker
box in my house. All 66 books,
written by 40+ authors over a period
of 1,400 years, connect to the book
of Revelation in ways that reveal
something about the enormous
dimensions of God’s love and His
Plan to save man. No book in the
Bible stands alone; no book should be
excluded from our study. Each book
contributes something essential to
our understanding of the everlasting
gospel. Each book adds color and
detail to an infinite picture that
says something about the Most High
God. However, if I could exalt one
book above the others, it would be
the last book of the Bible. I say
this because I believe we are living
in the final days of Earth’s
history and the message within the
book of Revelation uniquely applies
to the last generation. In other
words, Revelation merits closer
attention because it is the
timeliest.
God
is Love
I have said often in
these studies that the most difficult
idea the 144,000 must convey during
the Great Tribulation will be that
God is love, simply because the
world’s view of what constitutes
God’s love is highly distorted.
Think about it. Revelation describes
many horrible events. Consider a
global scene with people perishing by
the hundreds of millions in great
fires, tidal waves, volcanic
eruptions, contaminated waters,
famines, plagues, wars and other
physical calamities. Consider the
great suffering that every survivor
will experience. Words cannot express
the anguish that will torment every
living person during the Great
Tribulation. No book in the Bible is
more graphic or more depressing than
the book of Revelation, especially if
we focus on the results of
God’s justifiable wrath. So, how
can I say that the book of Revelation
is the most glorious book in the
Bible? I say this because of what God
produces during the Great
Tribulation and what he brings out
of the Great Tribulation!
What do I mean when I
say, “What will God produce
during the Great Tribulation?”
God will enable every person
to have an unmistakable understanding
of Jesus Christ and His gospel.
“What will God bring out of the
Great Tribulation?” God will
save a numberless multitude of people
who supremely love Him and His truth.
(Revelation 7:9,14) Any process that
can produce results like this is
nothing short of amazing –
especially when you consider the
religious and cultural diversity of
this planet!
Basic
Elements of the Gospel
The gospel of Jesus
Christ can be compared with different
levels of algebra. Algebra I contains
introductory ideas. Algebra II builds
upon the foundations established in
Algebra I, so that issues like
quadratic and differential equations
can be studied. Algebra II also sets
the stage for the advanced study of
calculus. The point is that the
gospel is not a “sound
bite” or a flippant
“one-liner” – it is as
wide and deep as the ocean.
(Ephesians 3:16-19) True, you can put
small sample of the ocean in a jar,
but the water in the jar is not the
ocean! Unfortunately, many Christians
have been led to believe that the
gospel is a small matter (the jar of
water) rather than an infinite matter
operating within well-defined
principles and laws.
The Apostle Paul
became annoyed with the Hebrews
because they would not move on to
“Algebra II.” He wrote, “In
fact, though by the time you ought to
be teachers, you need someone to
teach you the elementary truths of
God’s word all over again. You
need milk, not solid food! No one who
lives on milk, being still an infant,
is acquainted with the teaching about
righteousness. But solid food is for
the mature, who by constant use have
trained themselves to distinguish
good from evil. Therefore let us
leave the elementary
teachings about Christ and
go on to maturity, not laying again
the foundation of repentance from
acts that lead to death, and of faith
in god, instruction about baptisms,
the laying on of hands, the
resurrection of the dead, and eternal
judgment.” (Hebrews
5:12-6:2, italics mine) If Paul were
alive today, I wonder what he would
say about the current condition of
Christians and their understanding of
the gospel.
Three
Important Points
The way the gospel
will be presented during the Great
Tribulation will be as it has always
been, only on a much grander scale.
God has always used a specific person
or remnant group to accomplish His
purposes. During the tribulation, God
will choose and empower 144,000
ordinary people from every religion
and culture to do the job. To be more
specific, one religious body will not
present the gospel during the Great
Tribulation and for the most part,
neither scholars nor “men and
women of letters” will present
the gospel either! God looks within
the heart (1 Samuel 16:7, 17:10;
Jeremiah 29:13) and He will choose
144,000 humble messengers that will
come from all nationalities and
faiths! Many people may question how
this diverse group will present only
one gospel! How will God accomplish
this? In every nation, there are
people who love God with all their
heart, mind and soul. These people
are living up to all they know to be
true. These are His sheep. (John
10:16; Romans 2:14,15) Once God
presents the “book of
truth” to such people (Ezekiel
2:3-3:4; Revelation 10:8-10) they
will rejoice to understand the
gospel! (Matthew 13:23) God will then
empower them to preach to their
respective nations. (Hebrews 8:10-13;
Joel 2:28-32; Matthew 24:14) The
world will listen because God will
stop the daily affairs of the human
race with His judgments. (Isaiah
26:9,10; Revelation 8 and 9) As a
result of God’s intervention, a
numberless multitude will receive
salvation. Think about it. God is
going to save to the utmost and
redeem people from every religion and
nation!
Two
Problems
Before we get into the
elements of the everlasting gospel, I
would like to present two important
points for consideration:
- Most
Christians believe their
church has the correct
interpretation of the gospel.
(This is the reason the
Christian community is so
divided – each church is
convinced of the certainty of
its position. Many churches
use prophets or authorities
outside the Bible to confirm
their claims.) Regardless of
denomination, church leaders,
pastors and church members
all believe their version
of the gospel will be
preached to all the world and
evangelicals are doing
everything within their power
to accomplish “the
impossible.” I say
“the impossible”
for two reasons: First, the
majority of people living on
Earth have not heard any
portion of the gospel after
2,000 years of promotion.
According to figures released
by the American Bible
Society, it is currently
estimated that more than 3.5 billion
people have never heard of
Jesus Christ! Second, the
population of Earth is
growing faster than people
sharing the gospel can reach.
Yes, through the miracle of
radio and TV, the gospel is
being preached in remote
places, but the problem is
not reaching remote places!
Radio and TV may beam the
gospel to every nation, but culture
and religion prevent most
people from giving the gospel
fair consideration.
History
confirms that it is almost impossible
for one man to prove the superiority
of his religion over that of another
man. One cannot count the number of
“holy wars” fought in the
name of God. Figures show that less
than 5% of the world’s
population change religions. Can
Moslems convince Jews of the
superiority of Islam? Can Catholics
convince Hindus that Catholicism is
right? Can Mormons convince
Jehovah’s Witnesses that
Mormonism is correct? No, the
likelihood of change in each example
is slim to none. It is heartbreaking,
but true – when it comes to
religion, most people cannot
objectively consider another point of
view if they have already embraced a
particular religion. Religion usually
starts in the cradle and whatever
religion a person is born into, that
is the religion they die out of. The
question is, will God allow people to
perish because two men cannot agree
with each other? No. God intends to
present the gospel to every person
and in a setting where each person
may fully consider His offer of
salvation. To do this, God must and
will break down religious barriers by
sending a series of devastating
judgments.
B.
During the Great Tribulation, God
will tear down the enormous loyalty,
trust and confidence that each person
places in his or her religion and
religious leaders. This tearing down
(disillusionment) will be painful and
sad (and many will curse God out of
deepest bitterness), but this
terrible experience will enable Jews,
Protestants, Catholics, Mormons,
Jehovah Witnesses, Hindus, Moslems
and everyone on earth to consider the
everlasting gospel for what it really
is. (Revelation 10:10,11) God will
open everyone’s mind by a
powerful and overwhelming course of
events that no one can deny. God
will put all people on a level
playing field. The light of His Truth
will illuminate the pompous, arrogant
claims of religious leaders and
religious systems. (Zechariah 13:7-9)
Sadly, the pride of their hearts will
be revealed. In stark contrast, the
144,000 will present the everlasting
gospel in simple, but powerful terms.
Blazing truth will shame the darkness
that is protected in the name of
religion with the same clarity that
daylight defeats darkness. In this
environment, everyone will have an
opportunity to (a) hear the gospel;
(b) make a decision (for the truth or
stand against it); (c) have their
resolve about their decision tested
by persecution; and (d) ultimately be
sealed or marked according to their
decision. In this manner, the
everlasting gospel will be preached
to every man, woman and child on
earth and each person will have a
fair chance to make an intelligent
decision about it.
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