NOV 5

Matthew 24:15-22
Memorise Matthew 13:38-42
“there shall be 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 (Daniel 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 is by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ!

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