TEXT: REVELATION 11: 16- 19 16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,

17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art , and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and reigned.

18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. (KJV)

There are several necessary things to understand descriptions about the end time, and it seems that the important one among them is to distinguish tribulation from judgment.

When we read Revelation, we find many kinds of extraordinary phenomenon in heaven and earth that are very complicated to confuse us. One of the reasons is because we do not distinguish tribulation from judgment but mix them up.

But the Bible writes to distinguish clearly tribulation from judgment as below.

a) The people who do the will of the Lord meet with tribulation of which peak is great tribulation of three and a half years. Martyrdom also arises at that time. At that time those God’s people who are attached to this world do not necessarily meet with tribulation. Rather, they will be at ease in peace and security. It will the time to them as, “the time of doubtful cults to be disposed of and of Christ’s righteousness to be shown.”

b) The time of judgment comes immediately after the completion of seventy weeks said by Daniel finishing the three and a half year tribulation. It is the time when the God’s people who are attached to this world are judged. They will make themselves sinners to participate in the martyrdom. These three and a half years mean the last week of the seventy weeks. God is patient with sins of brothers until seven times seventy (seventy time seven = seventy weeks). And, the judgment will not be executed during this period. But, conversely, when these seventy weeks completely finish, the judgment begins.

We can clearly understand the division between tribulation and judgment, when we think of the days of Jesus.

a) The Period of three and a half years ministry of Jesus is the type of the great tribulation age. Lord Jesus and His disciples went through persecutions and sufferings as was said, “The Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” They were sought their lives by the chief priests and scribes and encountered the tribulation time.

b) But, the Jews, the God’s people, who persecuted Lord Jesus and His followers as Peter, John and others were met judgment of God later.

Lord Jesus said on Matthew 23: 36, “Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.” He said about the specific generation as, “This generation.”

One generation in the Bible is forty years. And surely as the Lord said, Jerusalem was besieged by the Roman army and all the people were destroyed to none just forty years after the crucifixion of the Lord in A. D. 70. It is said that many Jews who tried to escape but were captured were killed and crucified. It is also supposed that the Christians had left Jerusalem to fear the persecutions according to the Bible and were not met this judgment.

It is some saying of God that the fall of Jerusalem was not done thirty nine or forty one but exactly forty years, a generation, after the crucifixion of the Lord. They were judged like exactly said by Lord Jesus, “All these things shall come upon this generation.”

Have you understood that tribulation and judgment in the Bible are totally different?

Well, the days of Lord Jesus are the type of and the sign for the end time. Therefore, things happened in the days of the Lord will be rehearsed in greater scale like this in the end time.

In short, there will be great tribulation to the God’s people attached to the Lord, the tribulation age, and later, the judgment on the God’s people who persecute them.

These are the main subjects among the prophecies on Revelation and others, and if we do not grasp them, we will be confused in the interpretations. And, the reason why we do not understand the Revelation well is that they are mentioned in mixture to make us feel confused. Some of the Divisions are written as below.

(Tribulation)

REVELATION 6: 9, 10, 7: 13- 17 9 When he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

7: 13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (KJV)

(Judgment)

REVELATION 6: 15- 17, 11: 17- 19 15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, in the rocks of the mountains,

16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

11: 17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art , and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and reigned.

18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. (KJV)

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Tribulation is linked to the God’s people who are attached to the Lord, and the judgment to the God’s people to this world.

One thing clear about the end time is that we, Christians living in the end time, will be met with either tribulation or judgment.

It is human feeling not to be met with tribulation or judgment, but the Bible says either one will come upon all though in different degree. And, if we live godly in this world, we will not be able to escape from persecution or tribulation. For, it is written as below.

2 TIMOTHY 3: 12 Yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. (KJV)

The same can be said to the end time. Therefore, do remember that those who now suffer tribulation for the Lord and the Word will be blessed as they receive glory in the latter days.

Let’s do the will of the Lord in the end time.

End.