The Tribulation Story: A Story You Need to Read About A Time You Need to Escape

By Greg Hinnant

describes in clear, chronological order the unforgettable people and events of the Tribulation, seven years biblically prophesied to complete Israel’s and the world’s histories (Revelation 6-19).
This unique, biblical epic offers striking contrasts: monstrous despots and heroic believers, fearful judgments and rapturous rescues, false prophets and true witnesses, filthy harlots and pure brides, hell’s worst and heaven’s best⸺a titanic, relentless struggle between God and Satan through human agents unresolved till the last hour of the last day. For seven years the world will experience increasingly frequent and intense birth pangs until, at last, a new, enduring, righteous world order emerges reborn from the ashes of the old—the visible kingdom of Jesus Christ! On this earth! For a thousand years!
But before that warm, brilliant Son-rise, cold, dark wonders are predetermined, so unprecedented, so shocking, so outsized, so fantastic they seem utterly incredible. Yet, oracles of God, they are utterly credible, certain, and near.
With signs of the times everywhere, with its clear biblical instructions for spiritual readiness, is extraordinarily timely. And compelling! It will grip your attention and keep you reading until you fully understand the Tribulation and how to escape it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
• Release date: Jun 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781662901072

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INTRODUCTION

T HE T RIBULATION S TORY describes unforgettable people and events that appear on the world’s stage during Daniel’s 70 th week of years, the seven years God has decreed to complete Israel’s and the world’s histories.

This story’s primary biblical evidence is found in Revelation 6-19, though, as we will see, many other biblical texts supplement it. Understanding Revelation 6-19 is vital to understanding John’s apocalypse because these chapters are the heart of it and the primary reason it is controversial. Indeed, take them away and Revelation becomes a simple, straightforward book. Chapter 1 describes John’s vision of Jesus on Patmos in AD 95. Chapters 2-3 record Jesus’ messages to the churches of Asia. Chapter 20 gives information on Jesus’ millennial kingdom. And chapters 21-22 portray the eternal state. There is no difficulty interpreting these chapters.

But there is great difficulty in understanding precisely how the many actors and actions described in Revelation 6-19 interact. They are adequately described but without any explanatory narrative or clear chronological sequence. So, understanding The Tribulation Story, which orders and explains these unordered, unexplained chapters, is vitally important. Understand the Tribulation and you understand the Revelation.

Since Revelation gives only limited information about the Tribulation period, we are left to interpolate, or add the probable and the possible to the prophesied to help fill out the story—yet without resorting to biblically unsubstantiated fiction. In this book I have distinguished what is written from what is conjectured, asserting the former and only suggesting the latter.

The Tribulation period is unique. It is an inspired epic saga offering striking contrasts: monstrous despots and heroic believers, fearful judgments and rapturous rescues, false prophets and true witnesses, filthy harlots and pure brides, Satan’s worst and God’s best, hell’s imitations and heaven’s visitations, Israel’s severest persecution and her sweetest victory. It describes a titanic, relentless, back-and-forth struggle between God and Satan through their respective agents unresolved till the last hour of the last day. At core, the Tribulation is a time of worldwide travail, with its inescapable birth pangs becoming more frequent and intense with every passing moment until, in the end, a new, enduring, righteous world order emerges reborn from the ashes of the old—the visible kingdom of Jesus Christ! On this earth! For a thousand years!

But before this warm, brilliant Son-rise, Revelation decrees cold, dark wonders must come, wonders so unprecedented, so shocking, so outsized, so fantastic they seem utterly incredible to our rationalistic minds. Yet, oracles of God, they are utterly credible, certain, and near. And God revealed them so we could understand them. And get ready!

All prophecy is for preparation. God gives glimpses of the future throughout the Bible to prompt us to prepare for it—seriously, thoroughly, immediately. It is imperative that we understand Revelation 6-19 so we will ready ourselves and others to escape not part or most but all the Tribulation’s dark horrors (Lk. 21:36). To facilitate this vital spiritual readiness, this work offers some very practical biblical instructions in the Epilogue and Appendix. Please give them a prayerful, thoughtful reading so their application of this revelation may lead you into preparation, not the Tribulation.

Here, then, is a story you need to read about a time you need to escape.

Part One

THE TRIBULATION

Prologue

THE TRIGGER

MILLIONS INSTANTLY GONE Worldwide! newspapers and Internet headlines will blare! Or, They Said This Would Happen!" may be the lead story of editors inclined to admit rather than deny the obvious. What will be so obvious and newsworthy?

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the rapture of the true church will have occurred. In that miraculous moment, the bodies of deceased Christians along with living Christians all over the world will be supernaturally caught away by the Holy Spirit to be forever with Christ (1 Cor. 15:49-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18). The sheer numbers departing will be staggering—tens, perhaps hundreds of millions of people, maybe more, here one minute, gone the next. Of all nations, races, tribes, and families. From every socioeconomic class. From every denominational and nondenominational church. From a broad spectrum of theological perspectives. The healthy and infirm. Ministers and laymen. The famous and anonymous. The educated and illiterate. The successful and unsuccessful. Free citizens and suffering prisoners. Children and adults. Teenagers and retirees. Their one common link?

They will be members of the true, bride church: born-again believers in Jesus Christ, walking closely with Him, obeying His Word, seeking to know Him deeply, discharging His great commission, examining themselves daily, patiently enduring their tests, faithfully fulfilling their callings, and expecting Him to catch them away as He promised (Jn. 14:1-3). Now, in less than a second, they’re gone. Struck silent, remaining Christians and the whole world will be in a state of shock. And instead of abating within a few hours or days, this acute stress disorder will be sustained.

Reasons for The World’s Sustained Shock

There are four reasons that the world’s post-rapture shock will be sustained. Let’s examine them.

First, before the translated Christians leave this world, they will repeatedly confess their confidence that they will do so. Their electrifying escape in the rapture will confirm that their confession, though scorned as idiocy by many, was real and credible and their mocking critics wrong. This reality will be reinforced daily as survivors visit places where they used to live, work, recreate, or worship with these departed Christians and remember their godly lifestyles and loving exhortations and warnings of things to come.

Second, it is very likely the graves of the departed in Christ will be opened. When Jesus died, God used an earthquake to open the tombs of selected righteous Jews near Jerusalem (Matt. 27:52). After Jesus’ resurrection, many of these dead Jews rose and appeared to many living Jews in Jerusalem (27:53). This largely overlooked miracle is a preview of the resurrection of the righteous, the first part of which occurs in the rapture (1 Cor. 15:49-53). Seeing these millions of opened graves, many survivors will be unable to deny an all-powerful God has done this—suddenly, simultaneously, worldwide!

Third, massive search efforts will be launched in all nations just as Enoch’s and Elijah’s peers searched frantically for them after their translations (2 Ki. 2:16-17; Heb. 11:5). But they will all come up empty. Not one translated Christian will be found! Stupefied, many survivors will resort to strange and unsubstantiated conjecture. One source proposes some may claim these millions of missing Christians have inexplicably defied physics and slipped off into the theoretical fourth dimension. Others may claim aliens have abducted them, perhaps the same aliens who, as some atheistic scientists claim, seeded complex life on earth eons ago!

Fourth, the sudden removal of a vast number of faithful, highly productive Christians from the world’s workforce will be economically devastating, especially in lands with higher concentrations of Christians. In those nations, of which America will surely be one, sales will abruptly fall off. Production will first halt, and then crawl along while millions of jobs are slowly filled with new, less-productive employees. Or things may get far worse, as our world’s already highly integrated economies and financial markets reel from these sudden blows. Stock markets may crash and economies and currencies fail. Logistics may be disrupted, leaving entire nations lacking sufficient fuel, food, medicines, or other essential materials. Threatened by anarchy and looting, many nations may declare martial law and enforce strict curfews.

Shaken to its core, this proudly self-sufficient, God-denying, Christ-rejecting world will be unable to do anything but stand still in a state of unprecedented global shock. Surely for more than a day. Maybe weeks. Possibly longer. The Scripture doesn’t state how long this incapacitating trauma will linger.

Unable to cope, leaders will first resort, as Adam’s stunned children often do, to denial. As cited above, wildly unfounded departure conspiracy theories of every shape and size will go viral on the Internet. But whichever story prevails, this bald truth will remain: Jesus’ devoted followers are gone, as He promised and they predicted. Any other version of events will ring as ridiculously hollow as the story Jewish leaders circulated after Jesus rose, namely, that Jesus’ disciples stole His body by night as the guards slept—and later claimed they had seen while sleeping (Matt. 28:12-13)! Any reasonable person will see the unreasonableness of these no-rapture claims.

Rapture deniers won’t shelter long in their refuge of lies, because even more powerful jolts will be coming. And soon!

More Jolts and Labor Pains—After The Trigger!

The rapture of the church will be just the first in a series of disruptive jolts that send this world into seven years of unbroken social travail known as the Tribulation. During those years not one but three more groups of Jesus believers will be caught away to heaven just as the church was!

First, Israel’s Tribulation harvest, a vast number of Jews and Gentiles converted to Christ by the evangelism of 144,000 Jewish evangelists (Rev. 7:1-8), will be caught up to God’s throne just before the mid-point (7:9-16). Second, soon after the mid-point, Christ will personally visit the 144,000 (14:1) and escort them to heaven (14:2-5). Third, in the (Great) Tribulation’s final days, God’s two Jewish witnesses will be raised from a horrific death and taken up alive into heaven as their rabid enemies look on in furious disbelief (11:11-12). Therefore, those angrily denying the rapture of the church need only wait, watch, and learn. Before the Tribulation ends, they will witness four human translations to heaven—abundant irrefutable evidence they are wrong! But, more than a testimony refuting doubters, the rapture of the church will be a necessity.

Every explosive device has a trigger mechanism of some kind. A hydrogen bomb, the most powerful explosive device known to mankind, is detonated by an atomic explosion. It takes atomic fission to create atomic fusion. It will be the same with the Tribulation, the most powerful explosion of trouble this world will ever see. The church’s translation will trigger the world’s travail.

As already stated, it will launch a season of sustained shock, a period of terrifying uncertainty, lingering chaos, and the stoppage of all normalcy, as the economies, travel, and government services of all nations will be temporarily suspended due to the sudden absence of millions of Christians worldwide. However long this season of sustained shock, one thing is sure: it will give Antichrist, also called the beast, a satanically possessed, obsessively proud, antisemitic western leader, time to seize control of a yet-unidentified ten-nation western federation that will be a symbolic revival of Roman culture and power. He will then begin a three-and-a-half-year quest for complete global domination and, after gaining it, rule the world for the next three-and-a-half years.

As we will see in chapter two, this seven-year Tribulation period will begin when this western leader initiates (or renews) a seven-year peace pact between his federation and Israel (Dan. 9:27).

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Recapping, the rapture of the true church, the bride of Christ, will bring the world to a complete standstill. And it will stun surviving Christians and the professing church! Why? Only faithful, abiding Christians will be taken in the rapture, while carnal Christians and unbelievers will be left behind to endure at least the first half of the Tribulation. (See the Epilogue and Appendix.) And while the world is standing still, Antichrist will stand up!

The world stood still on August 6, 1945, upon hearing America had used the first atomic bomb in warfare over Hiroshima, Japan. It will stand still again, motionless and speechless, when news outlets worldwide flash Jesus’ devoted followers—gone! But this will only be the beginning, the atomic event that triggers the main event, God’s hydrogen bomb, the seven-year Tribulation and all its judgments.

Let’s examine what the Bible says about the Tribulation.

Chapter One

THE FIRST SEAL

THE EARTH’S EXPLOSIVE, confusing seven-year Tribulation will begin with a simple, quiet, heavenly release. Some wonder, When will Antichrist, whom John calls ‘the beast,’ appear as a rising political figure in the west? The answer is simple.

When Christ releases him! After John’s sudden transport to heaven, which represents the sudden translation of the church (Rev. 4:1-3), he first witnesses all heaven fervently worshiping God the Father and God the Son (Rev. 4-5). Then the Son, or Lamb who had been slain, steps forward to take a book (scroll) from the Father filled with events predetermined to occur over the next seven years: He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne (Rev. 5:6-7). Seven centuries earlier the prophet Daniel foresaw and inscribed the same scene (Dan. 7:13-14). As the Lamb receives thunderous praise and regal acclamations from innumerable saints and angels, He begins opening the seven Seals of this book—the original Tribulation Story which this book only seeks to interpret—each of which releases a divine judgment upon earth.

None of these judgments can begin on earth until Jesus breaks the first Seal in heaven. John described this dramatic moment:

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and . . . behold, a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

—REVELATION 6:1-2

Unsealing the First Seal

Jesus will open the seals to God’s Tribulation Story scroll physically in heaven when the time for its fulfillment comes. But we need to unseal it spiritually now on earth so that by receiving full insight into its inspired message we can live daily in unshakable reassurance and hope of a divinely predestined future. So, let’s unseal the first Seal spiritually (Rev. 6:1-2).

John saw a rider on a white horse, which symbolizes regal status or, in today’s terms, that of a head of state. In antiquity, white horses were reserved for kings and nobles (Est. 6:8-11). Since horses were military mounts and pulled chariots, this rider is also a warrior. White further symbolizes righteousness. So, this rider appears righteous, like the righteous One, Jesus, who appears later in Revelation riding a white horse at His climactic return to earth (Rev. 19:11). So, this rider looks Christlike, but he’s not. Some have described him a dark prince on a white horse. This counterfeit Christ hopes to deceive the undiscerning, spiritually blind, biblically illiterate masses, who don’t know the true Christ, by making himself look like the real anointed One. This overt imitation suggests Antichrist will publicly claim to be the true Christ, or genuine messianic figure, just as Jesus warned in His teaching on the Tribulation (Matt. 24:4-5, 24). Significantly, John did not state this rider was Jesus! Yet when introducing the second white horseman later in Revelation, John clearly identified Him as Jesus by using multiple titles very familiar to his readers: Faithful and True, The Word of God, King of kings, and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:11, 13, 16; see 17:14; Jn. 1:1, 14).

So, we see two reasons this rider on a white horse released by the first heavenly Seal cannot be Christ. First, Christ, the Lamb, is in heaven releasing this character on earth! The two cannot be one person. Second, when later seen returning to earth in glory and power, the true Christ is redundantly identified.

Thus, we conclude this rider is Antichrist. The single crown given him represents:

• A VICTOR’S CROWN, indicating God, for His higher purposes, will give Antichrist victory in his subsequent military conflicts against many nations, even Israel (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 13:7)!

• A RULER’S CROWN, indicating God, for His higher purposes, will give Antichrist new (or newly increased) political power as a head of state just as the Tribulation is beginning (Rev. 17:12). In John’s day, not only victorious athletes but also Roman emperors wore such wreath-crowns.

By contrast, John later described Jesus as having many crowns (Rev. 19:12), representing His victories over the world, the flesh, and the devil (Lk. 4:1-13; Jn. 16:33) and His present supreme kingly authority in heaven and in earth (Matt. 28:18).

The bow Antichrist holds symbolizes the military resources at his command, which will be formidable (Rev. 6:2). Antichrist goes forth conquering, and bent on conquest (6:2, Phillips), or to win many battles (NLT).

Now, with the triumphant church safely in heaven and the terrible tribulator loosed on earth, the Tribulation may unfold.

Comfort Amid Chaos

The first Seal reveals three comforting truths to keep us calm, cool, and collected as we ponder the chaos that follows.

First, the first Seal reassures us the church will be in heaven, safe and worshiping around God’s throne, before the Tribulation begins. These translated overcomers are represented by John, an overcomer himself who experiences a sudden rapture-like transportation to heaven (Rev. 4:1-3). They are also symbolized by the twenty-four elders, who are seen worshiping around God’s throne, already crowned, enthroned, and wearing white robes which signifies they have been examined at Christ’s Judgment Seat and given rewards He specifically promised overcomers in His previous messages to the churches (Rev. 2:10; 3:4-5; 3:18, 21).

Second, it shows us Christ is in absolute control of the entire Tribulation and everyone and everything in it. We use our hands to control things; whatever we grasp, hold, and use is in our control. By holding the scroll in His hands, the Lamb shows us its characters and contents are also in His hands, or personal control (Rev. 5:7; 6:1). As the world’s Coherer (or Sustainer, Col. 1:17), Christ has from the beginning held all history together on its predestined prophetic path and will continue doing so even in the seemingly out-of-control Tribulation. It is He (the Lamb) who personally releases Antichrist to run his course. So, Satan’s beast is on Christ’s leash! He is able to do only what Christ permits him to do, say only what Christ permits him to say, and live only as long as Christ permits. What a comfort this is to our hearts as we begin examining this uncomfortable story. Never for one moment during this seven-year saga of sadness will things be out of Jesus’ personal heavenly management—which tells us however evil and destructive things may get, Christ will turn them for the good of His people in the end. For we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28, NAS). Specifically, the good end He will bring is His kingdom on this earth for a thousand years—with Satan bound (Rev. 20:1-6)!

Third, this reveals God’s fathomless omniscience and omnipotence and confirms He is the Predestinator. Before this world existed, our heavenly Father knew this great travail would fall on Adam’s sinful race and His heavenly scribes, the angels, recorded every detail in the scroll John saw in the Lamb’s hands. Indeed, not only our paths as believers but also those of unbelievers, whom God foreknew would reject His Son and grace, are marked out ahead of time. Thus, even events that appear random to us are in fact scheduled by God and therefore providential.

These three truths permeate us with undisturbable peace as we ponder this disturbing period of unrelieved trouble worldwide.

God’s Purposes in the Pain—and Satan’s!

God never allows or initiates anything without a purpose. Do we know why He will permit this painful time of