Saved from the Tribulation

 1 Thessalonians 1:10 tells us to wait for Jesus to rescue us from the coming wrath. I believe scripture teaches that the Church will not go through the Tribulation. This verse is one of the reasons why. Jesus will rescue us from the coming wrath, not to help us persevere through it, as scriptures promise during the present age. Titus 2:13 separates the end of the Church Age and the end of the Tribulation by mentioning two different events: the Blessed Hope and the Glorious Appearing. If the Church goes through the Tribulation, that is not much of a blessed hope.

Again, it is important to clarify what is meant here. I'm not saying that Jesus promised to save us from all the troubles of life. If you're alive, and I'd say it's a pretty good guess that you are if you are reading this, then you know that no one is promised a life free from trouble. The Bible says we shouldn't be surprised or shocked when we go through testing like walking through fire (1 Peter 4:12). Jesus promised that we would have difficulty, persecution, and suffering (John 16:33). During that same message, Jesus said that He wasn't asking his Father to take His disciples out of the world but to keep them safe and protect them from the evil one (John 17:15). So then, how can I say that he will take us out of the world before the Tribulation when He prayed we wouldn't be taken out of the world?

It's because the Tribulation is not about persecution. It will be a time of unequaled persecution as has never been seen for people who come to Christ after the Rapture, but that's not what it is about. The Tribulation is about the wrath of God being poured out globally on an unbelieving world. And as I pointed out at the beginning, 1 Thessalonians 1:10 says we will be delivered from God's future wrath. Jesus said that the Great Tribulation would be of a kind that hasn't taken place from the beginning of the world until then and never will be again. He said that no one would survive unless those days were limited (Matthew 24:21-22). Thankfully, the Glorious Appearing of Christ will limit those days. But this tells us that the seven-year period the Bible describes before His return is no ordinary time of suffering or persecution.

Some would say that we don't deserve to be delivered from God's wrath. Based on our ability to be righteous on our own, those objectors would be right. But we don't earn salvation either. It is a free gift offered to all who will accept the grace by God by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). So why should any deliverance we are blessed enough to receive be any different? God deals with us based on His wrath before coming to Christ and based on His grace after our salvation. So we will be saved from the Tribulation because God is good, not because of ourselves. Jesus himself promised it to the Church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3:10. The seven churches represent not just the churches of that day but seven periods throughout church history. And the church of Philadelphia represents the faithful church that would exist up until the time of the Rapture. Jesus said that the faithful church patiently obeys him despite persecution. Therefore, he will protect us from the time of Great Tribulation and temptation that will come upon the world to test everyone alive. There is no condemnation awaiting those who truly belong to Christ (Romans 8:1). The Bible says we will be saved from ALL of God's wrath that is to come (Romans 5:9)! God didn't intend for us to suffer his wrath but rather to possess salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:9). All Christians will suffer, but suffering and being under God's wrath are very different!

The Church is mentioned 17 times in Revelation 2-3 during the letters to the seven churches that describe the Church Age. Then in Revelation 4:1, the Apostle John saw a door standing open in Heaven. In his ears, he heard a voice ring like a trumpet. The voice, belonging to Jesus, told John to come up to Heaven to show John what must happen in the future. Now John is in Heaven, where he sees the multitudes worshiping. Who are those multitudes, if not the Church? And why isn't the Church mentioned again on Earth throughout the Tribulation chapters (Revelation 6-18)? I have an idea. It's because the Church is not here during that time. We will be in Heaven!