| Jesus and the End-Time The End-Time in Outline Persecution and Tribulation |
A he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "tell us, when will this be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?" And Jesus answered them, "Take heed that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the sufferings.The only safe assumption for anyone who becomes a Christian is that he will suffer because of it. There are no guarantees anywhere in the New Testament that in this life, on this earth, we will have peaceful, secure, and comfortable lives. Jesus said specifically that the peace he gives is not that which the world gives (John 14:27). It is quite clear, in fact, that tribulation (the name given throughout the New Testament to the extreme trouble that Christians are called upon to endure) is not an event limited to a brief span of years at the close of the age but is the common lot of all who bear the name of Christ. To be sure, some Christians through the ages have seen their suffering as a privilege, but it hurt them just as much as it hurt others. When the apostles were arrested and whipped for preaching the Gospel of Jesus, they rejoiced "that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name" (Acts 5:41). And St. Paul even saw it as something of a gift: "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake" (Philippians 1:29). But whether they liked it or not, they suffered. They identified themselves as sufferers. One of the clues to the meaning of Revelation is in John's introduction of himself at the beginning of it: I, John your brother, who share with you in Jesus the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance" (Revelation 1:9). Christians were not surprised at suffering because they accepted Jesus' assumption about discipleship. "Blessed are you, when men shall revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you on my account" (Matthew 5:11). A fair reading of Matthew 24 shows that Jesus is speaking to the same point and purpose. He wants to prepare his disciples for suffering. He knew they were going to suffer. And they did. From the beginning the story of the Church has been one of persecution and tribulation. It has followed the clear expectation of Jesus and the consistent experience of his apostles. But there is a theory abroad today in some sectors that the Church will not go through the "tribulation." This theory, however, is not based on a plain reading of Scripture but upon the technique of "rightly dividing the word of truth," which was discussed briefly in chapter 1. According to this interpretation, there will be a period of great tribulation just prior to the close of the age. The Church will not pass through this great tribulation, because Jesus will come and take his Church away before it begins. Since I do not adhere to the practice of "dividing the word of truth," finding it a highly speculative means of interpretation,1 and since the theory has become so central to much popular understanding of the end-time, I will briefly show how a plain reading of Matthew 24 does not support it. Then I will proceed with what I believe to be the significance of persecution and tribulation in our understanding of the end-time. 1) In Matthew 24 the gathering of the Church (or rapture) follows the tribulation. Much of the discourse, in fact, details the suffering that the Church will undergo. In our discussion of the close of the age we will see how history must end with the gathering of the Church; those who are not taken in the gathering will not suffer tribulation in history but the judgments of God. Of course, the Church will not suffer the judgments of God, so those who reserve the word tribulation to refer to the judgments of God have no disagreement with me. Such a technical reservation causes confusion, however; the New Testament commonly uses the word to refer to the sufferings of Christians within history. 2) Consistent with this usage, Jesus does not make tribulation a part of the close of the age but a part of ordinary history as it leads up to it. Tribulation is what happens to his disciples in the course of events. They are persecuted, they suffer, they die. Their deliverance is not so much from tribulation as through it. 3) Deliverance from tribulation at the close of the age has no relevance to Matthew 24 as it develops. Not only is such a promise missing, but also if it were included, it would confuse the theme of the passage as it now stands. To a Christian who is already suffering for his faith, the promise of deliverance from tribulation at some unspecified future date offers little consolation. Put yourself in the place of a Christian in Rome during the reign of Nero. You have been arrested because you are a Christian. It is morning. This afternoon you will be herded into the arena of the Coliseum where, for the entertainment of the Romans, you will be torn into pieces and eaten by lions. Now let us suppose that a minister from the twentieth century is transported by time machine to your dungeon. He offers you a message of hope: "Someday in the future (but maybe not for two or three thousand years) the Church is going to be delivered from tribulation." What comfort would that be to you? What tribulation could be worse than that which you are now suffering? For these reasons we look at Matthew 24 realistically. Jesus is speaking about ordinary history, where there are wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, and so forth. He goes into the subject at the request of his disciples, who are looking anxiously for the sign of his coming and the close of the age. What he counsels most is patience. We are not to listen to those who come saying "I am the Christ" and lead many astray. Rather, we are to wait with patience for the conclusion God himself has prepared for history. In the period of waiting the Church confronts her fate. It is unpleasant. "They will deliver you up to tribulation," Jesus told his disciples. The disciples will be hated by all nations for the sake of Christ; they will be betrayed by some of their own people' some of them will lose their love for Christ. These experiences are not limited to the close of the age. They belong to the first century, to our century, and to every century in between. Yet, in the midst of tribulation, the Church does its work. "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come." It covered the Roman Empire in the lifetime of the apostles, and it is still being preached today; persecution and tribulation do not stop it. "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed:" (2 Corinthians 4:8, 9). Persecution-the enmity of the world for the Gospel, expressed in torture, murder, and slander-is but one of three aspects of the tribulation in Matthew 24. The others are the desecration of the temple and the appearance of the false prophets. Normally we think of the climax of a process as coming near its conclusion; yet in a sense the desecration of the temple is the climax of the tribulation, even though it occurs early in the history of the Church. So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; let him who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his mantle.Jesus uttered this prophecy in or near A.D. 29. It was fulfilled in A.D. 70, when the Roman general Titus destroyed the temple and the city of Jerusalem. Probably the event had already occurred by the time Matthew recorded the prophecy of Jesus, since he adds the instruction "let the reader understand." If the reader had special understanding that the original hearers of Jesus lacked, it was probably because the event of which Jesus had spoken was already past. The destruction of the temple was climax to the tribulation because it marked the end of the temple and of the city as sacred places. Again and again the Church would attempt to settle down and adopt a theology of place; but that was forever taken from her when the sacred place of Israel was destroyed. She henceforth would be a pilgrim people who, like Abraham, "look for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Hebrews 11:10). That city is not to be found in the present geography of the world. The flight from Jerusalem, more than anything else, marks the Church as being not at home in the world. It has no security or safety under the sun. And whenever the Church becomes too much at home in the world, it loses something of its character as the body of Christ, "afflicted in every way, but not crushed." The Church has a home, but it is not here. Our headquarters are in heaven, so when persecution and tribulation drive us from our holy places, we still are not homeless. We look for a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Because of that the Church is more permanent than its persecutors, the heavenly city more permanent than Jerusalem or the Rome that smashed Jerusalem. The tribulation cannot be sustained by the world. "For the sake of the elect those days will be shortened." Wickedness and cruelty are always temporary. If it is helpful to think in literary terms, then one can say that the cross is the climax of history and the desecration of the temple is the climax of the tribulation. The cross is the victory of God. The desecration of the temple is the meaningless victory of his enemies, for they can only destroy an empty place-a place vacated of purpose when Jesus was crucified and the veil of the temple was rent in two (Matthew 7:51); they cannot destroy his people. The final aspect of the persecution and tribulation is the appearance of the false prophets. "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect." What is wrong with the false prophets is not their sensationalism but their falseness. They claim to know the date and time of the coming of the Son of Man; any such claim is the sign of a false prophet, and Jesus warns us specifically not to believe it. No one is going to have "inside knowledge" about the return of Christ; we will all know it at once, "for as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of man." Sensationalism is the attraction of the false prophets, but "signs and wonders" are no proof of the truth. We must all remember the earlier warning of Jesus that an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. Finally, Jesus encourages endurance to the end. The victory is certain because it is already won, but the enemy is still active and it is possible to surrender to him. SO we can be tested. We can suffer. We do not know how much any of us might be called upon to suffer, but we will find endurance difficult if we believe that we, unlike the saints before us, will be delivered from suffering. We are part of the history of the Church; we are in the process of fulfilling Matthew 24. We do well to expect the worst. 1 See Charles Caldwell Ryrie, The Basis of the Premillenial Faith, Loizeaux Brothers, 1953, pp. 143-145, for a summary of the reasons why the Church should not go through the tribulation. Each must be persuaded in his own mind whether this kind of use of the Bible is appropriate; for example, Ryrie cites (without quoting) 1 John 3:3 and Titus 2:13 as references to the rapture. Yet both passages refer to the appearing of Jesus, not to the gathering, or rapture, of the Church. It is the hope of seeing Jesus that is the purifying hope in 1 John; it is the appearing of Jesus that is the blessed hope in Titus. » Next Page — The Close of the Age » Table of Contents » Home |