TAKING THE FIRST STEPS TOWARD
UNDERSTANDING THE TRIBULATION
Part 2
by
Douglas R. Shearer
Introduction by Doug Krieger
Part 2 in this 5-part
series by Douglas R. Shearer is directly connected to Part 1 under the same
title – in essence, Parts 1 and 2 are the same article broken down into two
parts for our readership. Parts 3, 4 and 5 are connected and will represent
the second half of the 5-part series.
We again wish to commend this most helpful series centering on our Lord’s Olivet Discourse, as well as other appropriate passages which declare the believers’ posture in the midst of tribulation, persecution and suffering on behalf of Christ—especially, in light of the final hours prior to His Second Coming. Furthermore, the virtual “recovery” of salient texts which highlight both the “rewards” and “losses” accrued to saints if they embrace the path of glory, and eschew the denial of the Son of Man – “for if we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.”
And now Doug Shearer…
Matthew 10 - A Second Interpretive Model
Luke 21 provides an interpretive model that enables us to get a handle on the kind of protection God affords believers undergoing persecution - whatever the setting - including, I believe, the persecution Matthew 24 describes.
Matthew 10 provides a second interpretive model that’s a bit more general in nature. It’s a model that ties together a whole welter of features and principles each of which is linked to the spread of the gospel. Persecution is one of its features, but there’s much more.
The setting for Matthew 10 is Nazareth, north of Jerusalem up in Galilee - about two years before the events of Matthew 24. Jesus is sending his disciples out on their first missionary journey - and the commission, the warnings, and the admonitions Jesus stipulates provide insights we can use in our interpretation of Matthew 24.
Persecution and the spread of the gospel
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves
But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils,
and they will scourge you in their synagogues
Matt. 10:16-17
Persecution always accompanies the spread of the gospel. The two are inextricably linked in the New Testament. They go hand in hand. Whenever persecution arises, it’s because the gospel is being preached. If believers aren’t being persecuted in some form or another, it’s because they aren’t preaching the gospel - notwithstanding their indignant protests to the contrary.
Therefore, the persecution that Matthew 24 describes arises
because believers are faithfully spreading the gospel.
Persecution and the opportunities it affords to witness
And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake...
Matt. 10:18
Persecution affords believers an opportunity to lay out the gospel before leaders and governing authorities. Therefore, we know that the witness - might we say “revival” - taking place in Matthew 24 is penetrating every sphere of society - including the governing elites.
The Holy Spirit empowers believers to witness effectively
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak:
for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaketh in you.
Matt. 10:19-20
The power to witness is the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we know that believers undergoing persecution in Matthew 24 are being imbued with the power and grace of the Holy Spirit - and their testimony is producing far-reaching results.
The spread of the gospel is accompanied by miracles
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead,
cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Matt. 10:8
Signs, wonders, and miracles are given to lend credibility to a believer’s witness. Therefore, we know that the signs and wonders mentioned in Matthew 24 aren’t meant merely to terrify the unsaved and hard-hearted, but to awaken them to God’s power to save - to make them take notice of the gospel and to underscore its credibility. The presence of signs and wonders in Matthew 24 attests to the faithful witness of committed believers - that, indeed, a revival is underway - the “Tribulation Revival.”
The spread of the gospel produces division
And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the
child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them
to be put to death.
Matt. 10:21
For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter
against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
Matt. 10:35-36
The spread of the gospel is linked to betrayal and division within families. It’s linked to separation and alienation. Undoubtedly, however, what we have here is a figure of speech - a kind of synecdoche - where a part of a whole is made to represent the whole. In short, the gospel doesn’t just cause division within families, but within groups in general - among friends and colleagues, within ministries and whole denominations. Therefore, the division described in Matthew 24 is just one more painful repercussion arising from the spread of the gospel - with some Christians remaining true to the faith and their obligation to spread it and others compromising their commitment to Christ and pulling back on their witness - with the one group, the faithless, virulently hostile to the other, the faithful.
God promises intimacy and comfort to believers undergoing persecution for the sake of the gospel
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall
not fall on the ground without your Father.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Matt. 10:29-31
There is no promise here that faithful
believers will be rescued from suffering and death. However, God does promise
to comfort them with his presence and to supply whatever grace they need to
endure the tribulation their witness inevitably produces. Even in the midst of
tribulation, he tells them not to fear - implying that he has cast his mantle
of protection over them - notwithstanding the suffering and even death they
will undergo. Luke’s account of the same event explains why fear is
unreasonable.
And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them who kill
the body, and afterwards have no more they can do.
But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: Fear him, who after he has
killed has power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Luke 12:4-5
Therefore, we’re certainly justified in doubting that the church will be spared in Matthew 24 from what nowhere else in the record of the New Testament or over the course of the last two thousand years of church history she has been spared from - the tribulation that arises from spreading the gospel.
God promises to reward believers who remain faithful in their witness
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him
will I confess also before my Father who is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will
I also deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Matt. 10:32-33
God promises to reward believers who witness in his behalf - who choose to do so whatever suffering it entails. The verse here is almost a carbon copy of 2 Timothy 2:12...
This is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
If we believe not, yet he remains faithful: he cannot deny himself.
2 Tim. 2:11-13
...and can be used to explain the meaning of verse 33...
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also
deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Matt. 10:33
2 Timothy 2:11 tells us ...
· 
that anyone who has been justified in
the death of Christ will be raised with Christ into eternal life;
· that anyone who suffers in his behalf - remaining true to his calling whatever anguish it entails - will be rewarded with the privilege of ruling alongside Christ in the Millennial Kingdom;
· but anyone who refuses to suffer with Christ, choosing instead to compromise his witness, will be denied the privilege of ruling alongside Christ.
· that though a faithless believer will be denied the privilege of ruling alongside Christ, he will not thereby lose his salvation. God “cannot deny himself” - meaning God will not go back on his word. The one, salvation, is a gift; the other, the privilege of ruling alongside Christ, is a reward.
That, then, is the meaning of Matthew 10:32-33...
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men,
him will I confess also before my Father who is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men,
him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Matt. 10:32-33
It’s also the meaning of Matthew 10:22...
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake:
but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Matt. 10:22
...this matches exactly a phrase that’s found in Matthew 24:13 and, therefore, sheds light on its meaning there as well...
... he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Matt. 24:13
...that it’s loss of reward that’s at issue, not loss of salvation. And that tells us how much is at stake in the witness and suffering taking place in Matthew 24 - that a believer’s future status in the coming kingdom is being worked out in the choices he’s making on a day-to-day basis - whether to witness faithfully in behalf of Christ or to draw back, choosing instead to lessen his vulnerability by melting into the woodwork.
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Verse 9a - The Tribulation: Persecution
Then shall they deliver
you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you...
Matt. 24:9a
...skips over the start of The Tribulation, when the Treaty of Hell and Death is signed between Antichrist and the leaders of Israel,
And he (Antichrist) shall confirm the covenant with many (the leaders of Israel) for one week (the last seven years of Daniel’s prophecy)
Dan. 9:27
...and jumps smack-dab into the midst of Daniel’s Seventieth Week - describing the persecution that will occur then. It’s unlikely that the persecution verse 9 describes will break out against the church suddenly. That’s because persecution never arises “out of nowhere” - ex nihilo. It requires a specific backdrop - a social milieu that paves its way and then facilitates it. Two preconditions are ordinarily at play:
· a collapse of the cultural norms that ordinarily hold hatred and cruelty in check - a collapse that leaves people disoriented and confused, unable to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil; and, concomitantly,
· some kind of rationale that lends it legitimacy.
And, not surprisingly, a collapse of cultural norms is exactly what verse 12 describes...
And because iniquity shall abound...
Matt. 24:12
Verse 12 tells us that The Tribulation will be marked by rampant (“abounding” - plhqunqhnai) “lawlessness.” What’s implied here is not simply a marginal increase in lawlessness, but a pervasive, far-reaching collapse of ethical norms - the kind of collapse that led to God’s judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah and the kind that Isaiah vainly warned Judah to turn away from just before she was conquered by the Babylonians...
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for
light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Isaiah 5:20
A moral collapse of the nature and scope spelled out in verse 12 is never instantaneous. It always originates in a long-term erosion of the moral order - always beginning with its intellectual underpinning. The superstructure may appear sound and intact for many years, but eventually the disintegration spreads - from the foundation below ground to the edifice above ground - from the “enlightened avant-garde” to the larger community that envelopes it - from university journals and cutting edge, “Greenwich Village” novels and plays to commercially promoted, prime-time television serials.
Once the old moral order is no longer honored at “the street level,” anyone who still clings to it - anyone who dares admit that his life is still governed by a Biblically grounded code of conduct - will be openly mocked - and eventually censured for intolerance and narrow-minded bigotry. And that’s pretty much what has happened here in America over the last fifty years or so - and even more so in Western Europe - especially since the 1970s when postmodern relativism broke into pop culture and completely revamped it.
The stage, then, is set for open persecution - the kind that verse 9 tells us will be a hallmark of the fast approaching Tribulation. All that’s required is a rationale to justify it and a spark to light the fuse.
Verse 9b: Persecution: World Wide in Scope
...and ye shall be hated
of all nations for my name’s sake.
Matthew 24:9b
The persecution described in verse 9 will be world-wide in scope. For some Christians in the Third World it will initially amount to little more than an escalation of what they’re accustomed to - of what they’ve come to expect - though it will soon reach levels that surpass the suffering that even they have undergone - especially after the Abomination of Desolation mentioned in verse 15 - which takes place mid-way through Daniel’s Seventieth Week.
...and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate...
Dan. 9:27
Verse 10 - Betrayal
Verse 10 describes a “separation”
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Matt. 24:10
...that will take place among Christians as open persecution begins to break out: two groups will arise within the Christian church - and begin to oppose and break away from each other. It’s an event that our interpretive model - Matthew 10 - clearly predicts.
· One group will insist on “reasonable” accommodation with “the powers that be” - an accommodation they hope will lessen their vulnerability to persecution and reduce their marginal status.
· The other group, however, will remain faithful - rejecting any concessions and boldly testifying to the historic truths of the Christian faith - that God has sent Jesus Christ into the world to liberate men and women from the power of Satan and deliver them safely into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son...
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and
hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son...
Col. 1:13
...that there is no other gate leading to salvation - that Jesus alone is the way...
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 14:6
Once again, it’s exactly what our interpretive model (Matthew 10) calls for. And because there’s little doubt that the genesis of the separation described in verse 10...
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray
one another, and shall hate one another.
Matthew 24:10
...can be traced back to the “Birth Pangs of the Messiah” described in Matthew 24:7-8, it’s perfectly reasonable to look for indications of it abroad in today’s culture. And, indeed, those indications abound - with more and more main line denominations being torn asunder by conservative/liberal splits - denominations that for decades have managed to cobble together fragile settlements uniting their conservative and liberal wings. The Episcopalians, the Presbyterian Church USA, the Lutherans, and the United Methodists - all are suffering from defections mounted by conservative congregations unwilling to renounce the traditional dogmas of the church in favor of a postmodern relativism that transforms the biblical text into whatever their liberal biases call for - whether it’s abortion, premarital sex, ordination of flagrant homosexuals, gay marriage - whatever.
Verse 11 - Deception - Charismatic Leaders
Verse 11 tells us...
And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many.
Matthew 24:11
Once again, what’s described here in verse 11 - the rise of false prophets - can be traced back to the “Birth Pangs of the Messiah” - the era leading up to The Tribulation and characterized by horrendous political, cultural, economic and military turmoil. And that’s to be expected: during times of pervasive and unrelenting turmoil, self-proclaimed messiahs invariably emerge - promising deliverance and peddling false hopes. And although the focus of verse 11 is false Christs arising within the Christian community, the same will be occurring among the unsaved as well - political and military charlatans vowing to rectify the ever mounting social and economic ills plaguing the world.
One of those charlatans will be the Antichrist - who will initially promise peace - a promise that will prove irresistibly appealing to a world rent by political, economic, and military conflict. He’s the horseman of the first seal in Revelation 6 - and he rides forth with a bow but no arrows in his quiver - symbolizing his intention to use non-violent means to acquire political power - at least initially. He will cultivate a reputation for successfully negotiating an end to conflicts - and will eventually use his skills and reputation to draft a peace settlement (i.e., a “defense pact”) in the Middle East - The Treaty of Hell and Death.
And he (the Antichrist) shall confirm the covenant with
many (the leaders of Israel) for one week...
Dan. 9:27
Verse 12 - Waning Love
Verse 12 goes on to say...
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Matthew 24:12
Two points need to be noted here...
· The word “abound,” as we’ve already noted, means multiplied - which tells us that iniquity will not merely increase marginally, but on a vast scale - indicating, a widespread moral collapse; and,
· because the original Greek includes the article “the” (ton), the phrase “the many” should be translated “the majority” - meaning the vast majority of believers will compromise their faith and pull back on their witness.
What we’re told here in verse 12 is what very few of us are willing to face up to - a heart-breaking tragedy: the majority of believers will fall away - meaning they’ll refuse to rally to the cause of Christ - they’ll try lessening their vulnerability by abandoning their witness.
Verse 13 - Endurance and Reward
And that brings us to verse 13...
But he who shall endure
unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Matt. 24:13
Here again we have the same promise we highlighted in Matthew 10...
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will
I confess also before my Father who is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men,
him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Matt. 10:32-33
...a passage of scripture that we interpreted in light of 2 Timothy 2:11-13 - which tells us that what’s at issue is not salvation and damnation, but reward and loss of reward.
This is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
If we believe not, yet he remains faithful: he cannot deny himself.
2 Tim. 2:11-13
What we have here is a prototypical pattern - a cultural archetype found in both the Old and New Testaments; indeed, it’s “common coin” not only in scripture, but throughout secular literature as well: those who serve their Lord most faithfully in warfare - who draw up alongside him when others pull back - who not only pledge their loyalty, but follow through with their pledges - they become their Lord’s “band of brothers” - regardless of the status into which they’re born. They are, in a very real sense, “knighted” - meaning they’re lifted to the status of “Lords of the Realm” and are accorded the inestimable privilege of ruling alongside him.
The best known example in the
Old Testament - though certainly not the only one - is David’s thirty seven
“mighty men” of valor - who, despite the hardship and suffering it entailed, rallied to David’s side against the
Philistines - and then went on to rule with him when h
e became king (2
Samuel 23:8-39 and 1 Chronicles 11:10–47).
Shakespeare’s Henry V is one of the best examples found in secular literature. Who can possible forget the lines Shakespeare gives Henry V to speak in Act 4, Scene 3?
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today who sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us on Saint Crispin’s day.
Henry is saying that anyone who rallies to his cause - who dares shed his blood alongside him in battle - will be made a Lord of the Realm (“this day shall gentle his condition”). It’s exactly what Paul is telling us in Philippians 3:11-14.
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection (exanastasin) of the dead.
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I
follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of
Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize (brabeion) of the high calling of God
in Christ Jesus.
Phil. 3:11 -14
Paul doesn’t doubt that his salvation is secure. He isn’t saying there’s a possibility he’ll miss the resurrection to eternal life. He knows he has been fully justified in the blood of the Lamb - and that his justification is an unconditional gift - wholly unrelated to any merit on his part.
Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law?
of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law.
Rom. 3:27-28
What Paul is striving toward is the prize (brabeion) - the reward that God promises to anyone who serves him faithfully - who doesn’t draw back when faced with hardship and suffering. It’s the same word he uses in 1 Corinthians 9:24.
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the
prize (brabeion)? So run, that ye may obtain.
1 Cor. 9:24
A prize requires effort on the part of the recipient; a gift, on the other hand, requires nothing but the taking on the part of the recipient. Paul isn’t speaking here about the gift; he’s obviously speaking here about the prize - the prize that God awards believers who remain faithful - who stand alongside him in spiritual warfare - who don’t draw back in the face of adversity: the prize of ruling alongside him in the coming kingdom - of becoming one of Christ’s “band of brothers” - of being invited into the special circle of intimacy Christ reserves for his “mighty men of valor.” That’s what Paul is talking about in Philippians 3:11-14.
The word for resurrection in verse 11 is not the word Paul normally uses: exanastasin; it’s anastasin. The prefix ex (ek) means out of - implying that...
· within the resurrection of the justified (raised to eternal life - a gift),
· there’s a second “resurrection” (a second “raising up”) of the faithful justified to the status of co-ruler with Christ (raised to reward).
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Verse 14 - The Tribulation Revival
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a
witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Matt. 24:14
The “gospel of the kingdom” is the “gospel of God” - meaning the “gospel of salvation” - though for many years scholars sought to distinguish between the two. Most scholars today, however, acknowledge that the term “gospel of the kingdom” is nothing more than a metonymy - a figure of speech that substitutes one word or phrase for another that conveys essentially the same meaning, but less offensively. Much like a euphemism. Why a metonymy? Because the Jews were always reluctant to use the word “God” for fear of profaning the “ineffable name.” So instead of saying or writing “the kingdom of God,” they would say or write “the kingdom of heaven.” And it’s the same here: instead of saying or writing “the gospel of God” - meaning the gospel of salvation - the good news of God’s redeeming grace - they would say or write “the gospel of the kingdom.” And that is what’s at issue here in verse 14: a revival - the scope and nature of which will dwarf all past revivals.
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number,
of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the
throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in
their hands...
Rev. 7:9
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, Who are these arrayed
in white robes? and where do they come from?
And I said unto him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are they
who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Rev. 7:13-14
It’s only during The Tribulation that
the gospel will be preached to all mankind – it’s only then that every man,
woman, and child will be reached. It’s not that first the gospel will be
preached throughout the world – reaching into its every nook and cranny; then
comes The Tribulation; and finally the Second Coming. The correct sequence
is...
· first The Tribulation;
· then the gospel is preached throughout the entire world, reaching its every nook and cranny;
· then the Second Coming.
More souls will be redeemed during The Tribulation than at any other time in human history. The Tribulation will spark a world-wide revival, “The Tribulation Revival.” And why? The answer is obvious: persecution will have purged the church of all the dross. She will be rid of both the false and the faithless. Those who remain will be passionate and totally “sold out” - holding back nothing. And the same will be true for those added: they too will have counted the cost - and will bring to the cause of Christ a zeal and commitment formed and molded in the cauldron of fire - and the more who are martyred, the more the gospel of salvation will spread. The description Tertullian gave of the early church will once again ring true: “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
The Tribulation is God’s last call to mankind; it’s not a time of wrath only; it’s a time of grace, a final call to repent and be saved. Let’s commit ourselves to preparing for it even now - so that when it occurs, we’ll be ready. May God grant us all the honor of being “knighted” for faithful service and awarded access to his glorious “band of brothers.”
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Contact Doug Shearer at: “shearer@newhope.to”
