AUG 5

Matthew 24:15-22
Memorise Matthew 13:38-42
“there shall be great tribulation”

WHAT IS THE GREAT TRIBULATION?

Jesus warned that there will come a time “when there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). The Great Tribulation will be a terrible period of time and is referred to in the Scriptures with these 11 other terms: (1) The day of the Lord (Isaiah 13:6-9), (2) The indignation (Isaiah 26:20, 34:2), (3) The day of God’s vengeance (Isaiah 34:8, 63:1- 6), (4) The time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7), (5) The overspreading of abominations (Dan 9:27), (6) The time of trouble such as never was (Daniel 12:1), (7) The seventieth week (Daniel 9:24-27), (8) The time of the end (Daniel 12:9), (9) The great day of His wrath (Revelation 6:17), (10) The hour of His judgement (Revelation 14:7), and (11) The end of this world (Matthew 13:40, 49).

The term “tribulation” speaks of a time of affliction and calamity. It is a time of divine punishment and destruction. The prophet Isaiah described it most vividly, “Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity” (Isaiah 13:6-11).

The prophet Joel gave another terrifying picture, “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations” (Joel 2:1-2). It is indeed a fearsome time, and an event that no one would ever want to experience. The only way we can escape this, would be if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ!

Thought: The judgement of God is rooted in His holiness.
Prayer: Lord, save me from the judgement to come.