The Daily Word of Righteousness

After the Tribulation of Those Days, #9

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 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. (Matthew 24:37-41—NIV)

In the above passage you will see clearly the distinction between the great tribulation and the outpouring of the wrath of God. The wrath of God is poured out after the coming of the Lord.

Can you see from the above how the wrath of God is ready to fall as soon as the Lord calls His elect to Himself? This is not the great distress triggered by the blasphemy of Antichrist but the Divine wrath.

We find this same pattern in First Thessalonians. After telling us about the coming of the Lord, in Chapter Four, Paul goes on to remind the Thessalonians that at the onset of the Day of the Lord the wrath of God will fall on the world because of sin.

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. (I Thessalonians 5:3—NIV)

The victorious saints will not be caught by surprise. They are as the five wise virgins who have their lights burning and are ready to go to the wedding.

Not only will the victorious saints not be troubled by the wrath of God, they will be administering it. The saints will follow the Lord Jesus on the white war stallions and execute judgment on those who have been disobedient to God.

Those hardest hit by the wrath of God will be the hypocrites in the Christian churches.

Noah and his sons built the ark over a period of one hundred years. During this time you would think the people who saw the ship being built would ask questions. Perhaps they did, but they went right on eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Eating and marrying are not sinful in themselves. The idea is they were not preparing themselves for the flood.

So it is today. The believers are conducting business as usual. But those whom the Lord is warning are building an ark, so to speak, because they know stupendous events are at hand—great shakings that will remove from the Presence and blessing of God all except the most consecrated, the most diligent.

I think the purpose behind the "rapture" heresy is to give the believers a sense of careless confidence such that they are not seriously preparing themselves for the days of calamity Jesus warned us about. If you speak of the approaching age of moral horrors and of judgment on America, the Evangelical response is, "Why concern yourself? We won't be here."

To be continued.