What exactly is a Tribulation Saint? As you read your Bible, this might help you to avoid confusion. There are three types of saints in the Bible. (1) Old Testament Saints - they died believing in the coming of the Messiah, (2) the Church Age Saints or us, we live and die here or await the rapture that is coming for us, as members of the church, the brides of Christ, the church here, (3) the Tribulation Saints are to die for Jesus. There is no rapture promise for them because it has already taken place. They must die.
We must live for Christ as living sacrifices like Romans 12 tells us, but the Tribulation Saints must die for Jesus Revelation 13, tells us their mode of death. It tells us that they will be beheaded for their faith in Christ. It's happening now everyday but it's going to happen during the Tribulation period against the Tribulation saints who are called to die for Jesus. Those are the saints who must die for the testimony of Christ. If you want to know more about that, read Daniel 7 beginning in verse 18 but specifically verse 21, Daniel chapter 7 will tell you all about the Tribulation Saints who must lay down their lives for the testimony of Christ. Makes you wonder why some people would put off that decision to accept Jesus into their life. They might miss out on the rapture and have this to look forward to for waiting to make that choice.
A life worth living for is a life that lives beyond death. Believers will be justified in eternity. That is great news!
Revelation 6:10 ~ " They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"
This is a time when God's wrath will be given over the the judgment of the earth. We already know how many times we look around at the stuff going on in our lives or in the lives of the world and wonder how much longer before God comes to judge the wrong that seems to go on without any judgment. The time is coming. The Bible says that God will judge the earth in righteousness. That is why He is the Savior. We have to be saved from something in order to have a Savior!
These here that are sacrificed at the hands of an unbelieving world, are none other than the Tribulation saints. The Bible says that there will be a group so big that gets saved during that time, that no man can number them, and you might wonder how that happens if the church is removed during the rapture? How will the gospel be preached? The Lord has His ways.
(1) The testimony of the witnesses. This will play on the minds of people that these people were willing to die for Jesus. (2) The preaching of the two prophets that will come out of Jerusalem, that we will study later, (3) the witnessing of the 144,000. If you are a Jehovah's witness and are reading this today, you have been lied to. They believe that the first believers of the Jehovah witnesses movement were the 144.000 that get to go to heaven. If you are the 144,001, you don't get to go, you go to annihilation land and cease to exist. That is no where in the Bible. But here is the bigger problem, the Bible says that out of each of the 12 tribes of Israel, will produce 12,000 from each tribe. They are Jews. If you are a Jehovah witness today, and you're one of the 144,000, what tribe are you from? And don't forget to have to be Jewish. The Bible says in future studies into the book of Revelation, you have to be a man. A male who is a man. I have to make that distinction now a days with the way things are going, especially in California. You have to speak Hebrew, according to the Bible, and you have never been with a woman. You are a virgin! There has to be 12,000 from each tribe, so that totals 144,000, you got to a man, you got to be a virgin, you have to be Jewish and you have to speak Hebrew. You've been lied to by Charles Russel. That is called a cult.
God will get the word out through the 144,000. I've got another theory. When we get raptured, do you realize how many Bibles will be left behind? Do you have a Bible at your house? You get raptured and your Bible is sitting there at home wide open! Bibles will be found. Think of all the Gideon Bibles in hotel rooms everywhere! I believe more people will be reading the Bible during the Tribulation period than they do now. People are going to wonder what happened. Read the book. All the answers are in the Book!
In looking back at verse 10, in Revelation, we also learn that the believer will never die. Jesus says if a man believes in Him, he shall never die. For those of us that believe, Christians, that is why we have this title because we follow Christ, and by the way, if you are not following Christ, you are NOT a Christian. If you don't adhere to His teachings, you are not a Christian. If you adhere to them, you are labeled as a Christian. The Bible says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Some people believe that if you are dying by some long drawn out process like cancer or persecution, we are bound by death. As a Christian, the moment your body stops existing in this life, in an instant you are in the presence of the Lord. Which means as the Scriptures say, that we pass from death to life. Which means if you get hit by a truck today, choke on a burger, or die of cancer, the moment that it happens, you are in God's presence! Do you understand that? We will not be held by the grave!
Our soul will immediately go to be with the Lord, and these bodies or space suits designed for earth will go into the ground, awaiting the Resurrection when the rapture happens! Think about that, if you die today as a believer, you will not be bound, locked up in some dark room, the grave will not hold us. As the room begins to darken around you as you're saying goodbye to your friends and loved ones, you won't have to worry what happens next or where you will be going. The Bible says, "to be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord." In an instant, our last breath here is our first breath in heaven! That is the most wonderful news to any believer! Why are you NOT believing in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? The Bible says, "these things have been written so that you might know you have eternal life!" Our eternal life begins the moment we breathe our last breath here.
Do you have a seat reserved in heaven just for you? There is a way to get that reserved and that is to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, as your Lord and Savior. The believer will never die the death. Our body stops breathing and we go into the presence of the Lord. A life worth dying for is a life that continues on with others forever. A life with Jesus Christ is guaranteed! Notice what was given and what was said to those Tribulation saints - believers during those seven years.
Revelation 6:11 ~ "Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed."
Take notice of the words "white robes" it is different from what the church wears. The church does not simply have white robes, the church the Bible says, is given fine, white linen, marital gowns or a wedding dress. The Tribulation saints are given white robes, notice the difference. Life with Jesus is guaranteed. The white robe, is a declaration given to the believer of their purity. The Bible says "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." So then how can we be made pure? The Bible says "that we are washed by the water of the Word of God."
Notice that the robes are given to them. Do you read that anyone could buy a robe? You can't buy them. Those of you that have given your lives to Jesus, you know that you are dressed for eternity when it comes to forgiveness regarding sin. You know it. You sense it. I am not stressing feelings, but you know that you have been accepted. What a great feeling to know that you are accepted by God. Based only on the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The Bible tells us that we will be in heaven with our brothers and sisters forever. Jesus Christ and this life He offers is guaranteed.
The verse goes on to say that they were told to "rest a little while longer." These means that they didn't have time to rest on earth, but rest has now been given to them. They are told to wait. Why? Because there is still time left in the Tribulation period, and other believers must die at that time. I am a firm believer that the church will be spared all of this and be raptured according to 1 Thessalonians 4, as promised by God. Life with Jesus makes perfect sense.
Revelation 6:11 ~ "Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed."
These means that God knows exactly how many believers will die during the Tribulation period and when that last person is in heaven, that will be the conclusion of it. The word "completed" is a very powerful word. We know that the Bible says that the blindness of the nation of Israel from the gospel until the fullness of the Gentiles is completed and then God will deal with Israel again. There is an exact number of believers in the church age that God knows and when that last person comes to Him, that is it, then the rapture of the church will happen. Don't you want to know who that last person is so you could go witness to him.
Jesus has come to give us hope. A hope that makes perfect sense. That is why Jesus Christ came, to take us to heaven. To show us back to God. He taught us that we can't make it on our own. Jesus came to show us that we can't do anything to get to heaven. We can't live a perfect life. We were never made to do that. We are simply made to trust in Him and what He did for us. He lived a perfect life and met the requirements of God's law, so we would never have to be held back in the grave.
The Bible says that hell was created for Satan. The sensation of those who live there are alone, falling forever, flames of heat that never kill, worms that gnaw on you forever, but realize that this was never created for man. Those who wind up in hell will be those who choose to not accept Jesus.
Those who accept Jesus spend an eternity in heaven. Those who deny Him will make that choice to spend an eternity on their own terms, and will wind up in hell. Those who accept Jesus will spend their eternity in heaven forever with Jesus based solely not on what we do, but what He did to restore that right relationship between us and God. To remove sin from our lives through forgiveness by the blood of Jesus that washes us clean. We can't do anything to earn this right. Not living a great righteous life, doing kind deeds but only by accepting the free gift of having putting their faith in Jesus is the ONLY way. Not through faith in Mohammad, Buddha, or any other false god that the world offers you. Only faith in Jesus Christ and what He did is the ONLY WAY!
Why would anyone want to gamble with their eternity? Are you going to wait it out and see how it goes? You're gambling. You can be sure of eternal life, not guess. Don't you want to know that if you were die today where you would wind up? Jesus didn't die for you to guess where that will be.
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