Is the Tribulation Stage Being Set?

We know that the stage is being set for the end time events or Tribulation period, it's the timing that remains unclear at this time. There are those that feel it could happen at any time, or that there are still things that need to happen in order to put the clock in motion as some might say. All we can know for sure is to be prepared for the signs we see happening all around us, that simply can't be ignored any longer.

Jesus, Himself, told us to be watching, to be prepared for His arrival for He would come like a thief in the night. He even instructed up who are wise in a parable many can understand.

Matthew 24:32-34 (NIV) ~ "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened."

Jesus illustrated the signs of the end times, pretty clearly, but the only one who will know the exact moment it will happen is only God. Not even Jesus is in the know about this event.

Matthew 24:36 (NIV) ~ "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, not the Son, but only the Father."

Jesus warned however that it would be as clear to us that are watching as the signs of knowing that Christmas is coming, when all the decorations begin to arrive in our retail stores in November. It is just as clear to us believers who know what to look for. Not only what they are, but an increase in how much they are happening and how intense it is.

For those of us living in California, we live in a state of preparedness, not knowing when the "Big One" will rock our state. We know that there will be a small progression in intensity as it grows worse in the shaking and rolling motions, we only hope, each time it happens, it isn't the One!

We see the recent beheadings of Christians all over the world with growing frequency, and yet nothing is being done to stop it. Did you realize that in 2002, an estimated 361,000 Christians have died by the hands of persecutors simply for their faith? 81% of those at the hands of Muslim Terrorists and it is increasing? I believe the world is getting a glimpse of what will be happening in the Tribulation period for Christians, call it a trailer of things to come.

This is definitely NOT the place you want to be when Jesus comes back for his church, in what believers call the rapture.

Matthew 24:40-44 (NIV) ~ "Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill' one will be taken and the other left. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." 

1 Corinthians 15:5154 (NIV) ~ "Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will should, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: Death has been swallowed up in victory."

1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 (NIV) ~ "According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord , will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

Notice a couple key words, believers who have died in their faith, are simply referred to as asleep. That is, their soul and spirit have departed from their body on their final breath here and now reside in heaven. The dead in Christ, are simply our earthly shells that will be transformed from this place and reunite with our spirits in heaven in their resurrected form. Those of us that are still alive, go both in spirit and in a twinkling of an eye will be changed into our resurrected bodies. We will never see death. Only those who died without Christ are referred to as dead. The words caught up, in Latin is rapturo which means snatched away, where we get the word rapture from.

There are some that argue that believers will have to go through some of the Tribulation period, or all of it, but I believe the Bible clearly argues against that.

1 Thessalonians 5:9 (NIV) ~ "God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ."

So watch for the signs, be ready and be prepared.

1 Thessalonians 5:2 "For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape."