HOW CLOSE?
PART 5: Great Tribulation Events
When we look closer at this seven (7) year period, the first 3 ½ years are known as the “Tribulation”. The second half is noted as the “Great” Tribulation. Why?
The consequences of the ‘Bowl’ judgments in the great tribulation are far more destructive and costly. Why?
God will have removed His grace and protection (His Spirit) from earth’s inhabitants with the Rapture.
The ‘grace’ of God in His Spiritual ‘power’ holds at bay expressions of evil, corruption, and mankind’s inhumanity under tutelage and guise from the ‘prince of this world’, Satan.
Satan has been allowed free rein and influence over the earth since his fall. A coming removal of His grace will leave everyone left alive (or “Left Behind”) to absorb revenge and retribution in the antichrist’s kingdom.
Continuing its presence, death and destruction across the world have increased with the growth of humanity’s population. Records and data reveal that changes in our world and environment have taken an increasing toll. This fact has been particularly evident since the end of World War II. As global advancements in industry and technology have fueled growth and innovation, so too has progress heightened inequality.
Jesus Himself made note of this in Matthew 24, declaring the End Times would be reminiscent of pregnancy’s ‘birth pains'. Similarly, the frequency and intensity of global human, environmental, and cosmological change have been recorded since 1948. Historical records and data bear this out. (Matthew 24:8)
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus also declares “Last Days” or “Great” Tribulation years (“Wrath of God”) as a time of destruction never before experienced in the history of mankind. Given our knowledge of humanity’s history of suffering, this statement alone should be enough to alert us to what lies ahead. (Matthew 24:21)
These 3 ½ years of the Great Tribulation should be avoided at all costs. Period.
The Bowl judgments faced and endured by those alive in these Last Days will be beyond belief or comprehension. Yet most of those still alive will resist turning to the Lord. (Matthew 24:12)
They will have aligned themselves with Satan’s apprentice, the antichrist. Those who choose this worship alignment will be confronting ‘fallout’ from these Bowl judgments.
The first five (5) Bowls of God’s wrath include;
Five (5) months of unbearable festering sores on those who have the ‘mark of the beast’.
Poisoning of the seas.
Poisoning fresh waters.
Scorching heat so intense that people will feel as if their skin is on fire.
Darkness. With each succeeding judgment, the intensity and discomfort will make people wish they were dead.
Join me next week for Part 6 of this quick-read series.