End-Time Insights

In the first chapter of First Thessalonians , Paul anticipates the Letter’s main subjects, including the tribulation of believers, Christian hope, and the “ arrival ” of Jesus when, as God did for the three Jewish exiles in the Book of Daniel , he will rescue his people from “ wrath .” Moreover, he will resurrect the righteous dead, and “ meet ” his assembled saints as he descends from Heaven. On that day, his disciples, both the living and the dead, will “ obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ .”

The terms “ tribulation ” and “ wrath ” are  NOT  synonymous in Paul’s letters or the  Book of Revelation . “ Tribulation ” is what the disciples of Jesus endure for his sake. “ Wrath ” is the horrific fate that awaits the wicked at the final judgment. In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul writes that God did not appoint them to “ wrath .” Yet, in the same letter, he states that believers are destined for “ tribulation .”

The proclamation of the Gospel reveals two forces at work in the world - “righteousness” and “wrath,” and they will produce two very different results - “salvation” for some, and “destruction” for others. In the end, “righteousness” will produce salvation, resurrection, and New Creation for those who embrace the Gospel, but the coming “Day of Wrath and God’s righteous judgments” will mean condemnation and destruction for the men and women who reject the “Good News” announced by Jesus and his Apostles.

In Revelation, wrath refers to the final judicial sentence of God on His enemies. Tribulation is what the church endures .  The “ wrath of God ” is  NOT  synonymous with “ tribulation ,” and it is identical with the “ plagues ” unleashed by the three series of “ seals ,” “ trumpets ,” and “ bowls of fury .” And despite the devastation of these plagues, impenitent men do not repent. “ Wrath ” refers to the sentence of God on His enemies.

The sixth seal ushers in the Day of the Lord, the time of wrath upon the inhabitants of the earth and all the Lamb’s enemies  –  Revelation 6:12-17 .  The opening of the sixth seal causes celestial and terrestrial trauma as the “ day of wrath ” dawns. It is nothing less than the “ great day of the wrath of God and of the Lamb .” Men of every rank panic in terror, but their every attempt to hide from the impending “ wrath ” is in vain. There is no escape, for no one can “ stand ” before the “ Lamb and the throne. ”