WILL THE CHURCH GO THROUGH THE TRIBULATION?

Photo by B Smith from the Patio

 

 

152 - WILL THE CHURCH GO THROUGH THE TRIBULATION?

February 10, 1963

Pastor Henry F. Kulp

 

I Thessalonians 1: 9, 10 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

First of all God tells us here how the folks at Thessalonica were saved, they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and wait for His Son from Heaven. So you see, He tells about their Christian life, they are to serve God, and they are to wait for His Appearing in the heavens when the Church will be caught up to be with Him. Then the next thing He reveals to us, that Jesus Christ has delivered us from the wrath to come. There is a wrath, of course, that is going to be in the future—when men will be judged for their sins, and men will be cast into the Lake of Fire. But that is not the picture that we have here in the 10th verse. We are to be saved from the wrath that is to come upon this world.

1/ Not only is there a hell in the future, where all unsaved people, body, soul and spirit will be cast into hell to suffer and be tormented forever and ever, but God says, man will be punished on the face of this earth. God’s wrath will be poured out upon this world, and the people of this world.

2/ It is called the strange act of God

Isaiah 28: 21 For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

Let me show you a picture of the time that is to come upon this earth.

Proverbs 1: 24 - 29 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:

Here God is talking about the people who will live in this day of wrath. People who will bow the knee to the antichrist and receive the mark of the beast. And God said, “I’ve called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand but no man regardeth"—these folks just didn’t care, He says, "Ye have set at naught all My counsel"—in other words, you wouldn’t heed the Word of God, the Bible. Then God says, "I will laugh at your calamity, I will mock at your fear cometh." This is strange, isn’t it? 

This doesn’t sound like I Timothy 1: 15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Christ Jesus coming into the world to save sinners. Here God is doing a strange thing. He is laughing at man’s calamity, He is mocking when they are in fear, and He says, "Your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind," as a tornado. 

Then in Verse 28 He says, Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

Millions will cry out, and beg and call but there will be no answer. Who says, while there is life there’s hope?—not in this hour of the wrath of God. Those who have received the mark of the antichrist, the mark of the beast, will find that it will be too late. There is life, but there is not any hope. Why is all this?

Verse 29 gives the answer— For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:. They wouldn’t heed the Word of God, and they did not choose the fear of the Lord, and now the wrath of God is upon the face of this earth, and the inhabitants will suffer.

3/ Then we have another portion of Scripture which discusses the horrors of the great tribulation, this time of wrath upon earth.

Isaiah 24: 5, 6 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

The earth was defiled under the inhabitants thereof because they transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore, hath the curse devoured the earth. This is just what atomic warfare will do. Defile the soil so that nothing can grow, and notice the people that dwell on the earth are desolate, and the inhabitants of the earth are burned. That does sound like atomic warfare, doesn’t it? And then notice, a few men are left. My mind immediately goes to what Jesus Christ said about this same time.

Matthew 24: 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

Notice, flesh be saved—in other words, people alive. God says there are but few men left.

4/ Let’s get another description—

Micah 7: 2 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.

Here it says during this time the good man is perished out of the earth. There is none upright among men, they lie and wait for blood—they hunt every man his brother with a net. In other words, you won’t be able to trust anyone in these coming days. Treachery and deceit will abound everywhere. He will not dare put your confidence in your most intimate friend. Even the wife of your bosom will betray you. And then it says, a son will dishonor a father, a daughter rise up against her mother, and so forth. And it says, a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. It will literally be hell on earth in this day of wrath.

5/ Then notice, Micah 7: 15 - 17 According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things. The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee.

Here is a crystal clear statement that God will repeat the plagues of Egypt in the coming tribulation. This shows that in the book of Revelation, the plagues there are literal plagues and an awful day is coming upon this earth.

6/ Zechariah 14: 12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

And this shall be the plague wherewith God will smite all the people who have fought against Jerusalem, their flesh shall consume away, while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes and their tongues shall consume away in their mouth. Notice, the Lord will smite the people—those who fight against Jerusalem. Read this verse and tremble—if you are saved tremble for the folks who are going to go through this awful day. If unsaved, tremble because you might be in this awful experience. Flesh will melt off their bones, eyes melt and run out of their sockets —they will literally have liquid eye-balls. Tongues will melt in their mouths. What could be more horrible than the picture that God gives us here?

7/ In this same book Zechariah 9: 12 we have another picture of the day of wrath. Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;

There will be a time when men will be given a chance to turn to God, but not those who have heard the Gospel during this present day and age. And not those who have turned to the anti-christ, because they are eternally lost. But those who have not heard the Gospel in this day, and have not fallen under the sway of the antichrist, have not received the mark of the beast—notice what God says here—turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. In other words, if folks of that day will flee from their false hope and turn to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, He will pour out a double blessing upon them. If they refuse, they will have nothing of mercy, but will have a double of wrath. You can’t play and win in this game, you have to follow God’s rules, it will be double or nothing.

8/ I Thessalonians 1: 10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

But here we have a glorious portion of Scripture. To recognize that we are not going through this day of wrath. God has delivered us from the wrath to come. How do I know this is about this time that is to come upon the earth? Because we are to wait for His Son, and right after His Son appears in the heavens and catches away His church, then we will recognize we are delivered from the wrath to come—so we have not wrath but rapture.

9/ Now let us notice in the 4th and 5th chapters a real minute description of being delivered from the wrath to come. Starting with verse 16 of I Thessalonians 4 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

The Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and then we—now notice—we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with those who have been dead in Jesus Christ. Notice the change in the pronoun in the 5th chapter.

I Thessalonians 5: 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

Where it says, for when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon the, as travail upon a woman, and they shall not escape. Notice the words, they, and the word, them. He is not now speaking of the same people as He did in the 4th chapter. He is not talking about the saved. He is talking about the unsaved or those who are alive when the rapture takes place.

10/ But now you go back to the 2nd verse For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

He says, you yourselves, the saved people, know perfectly that the day of the Lord—that is this day of wrath—this tribulation—shall come as a thief in the night. So the rapture must be before the day of the Lord. The word, but, in the first verse of the 5th chapter is a real key.

11/ Notice what they will be saying when this day starts. Peace and safety—and then sudden destruction. They shall not escape, but they have been appointed to wrath, but we are not here, because we have not been appointed to wrath. Therefore, we are to comfort ourselves as we read in verse 18 of the 4th chapter, Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

12/ These words, peace and safety, are beginning to ring throughout the world, aren’t they? And they will come to great climax right after the church is removed. If you go back to the book of Daniel, you will see that peace will be the keynote of the beginning of the tribulation, this day of wrath.

Daniel 8: 23 - 25 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

For by peace shall this man destroy many. This is the man who will control the communistic nations of the world, and this is the Assyrian, the rod of God who will bring peace upon the world. This can possibly be Nikita Khrushchev, or it can be one of the successors who will offer this false peace to the world, but we should not be fooled by all this for we know that the wrath of God is coming and all who go into this day will not escape, but praise God we have been delivered from this wrath.

13/ I Thessalonians 5: 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

But let us—now it is a change from them, or they, but us—in other words those who are saved, or are of the day be sober—in other words, it means just the same as it does in the Greek—not to be intoxicated, and we are so prone to be intoxicated—not by liquor, but by life—by the stimulants of this world, by its glamour, by its pleasures, by its attractions, and we are not to be intoxicated with this world, but we are to wait for the Lord from heaven and look for His Appearing in the Heavens.

AMEN

Ref: 02/10/1963 / 152 - WILL THE CHURCH GO THROUGH THE TRIBULATION? / 08/23/2022