Seven-fold Acknowledgement of the Tribulation Saints (Martyrs):
- “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” (Rev. 6:9-11).
- “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto death.” (Rev. 12:11).
- “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” (Rev. 13:15).
- “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” (Rev. 14:12-13).
- “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, having the harps of God.” (Rev. 15:2).
- “For true and righteous are his judgements: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.” (Rev. 19:2).
- “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgement was given unto them: and I saw souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” (Rev. 20:4).
Commentary: The Bible makes it abundantly clear that the Tribulation Saints are those people that become Christians during the period of the antichrist’s reign on earth, over the seven (7) year period. How do they become Saints in the eyes of Christ? They believe in and accept Christ as their Savior and for the forgiveness of their sins. They do NOT take the mark of the beast or the antichrist. They do NOT worship the beast/antichrist. They do NOT worship his image. They DO witness to the word of God and Jesus. They ARE martyred by beheading for believing in Jesus and witnessing for Him. They DO share in many of blessings and rewards that are also awarded to Christians from the Church Age (at the Rapture/Harpazo and Bema Seat Judgement). There is a very clear distinction between Christians redeemed by Christ prior to the Tribulation period, and those Christians redeemed during the Tribulation period. It is clear that they have to come to a saving grace knowledge of Jesus Christ, withstood the best efforts of Satan/Antichrist/ False Prophet to thwart their salvation, and are beheaded for their belief and witnessing in Jesus Christ.
Paul Rolland| Night Watchman Ministries |The False Prophet Endorses the World’s Worship of the Beast and His Image
Paul Rolland | Night Watchman Ministries | MbS Beheads Tribulation Saints
Salvation During The Seven (7) Year Tribulation
Greg Lauer – Unsealed.org
(article excerpt)
As I indicated earlier, this seems to be the one some people have a hard time dealing with—but Scripture is pretty clear.
At the Rapture, the Church—the temple of the Holy Spirit on earth—will be removed, and as a result Paul’s prophetic words to the believers in Thessalonica will be fulfilled:
7For the mystery of lawlessness already works. Only there is one who restrains [this can be no one but the Holy Spirit] now [i.e. during the Church Age], until he is taken out of the way [at the Rapture]. 8Then the (5) lawless one [the Antichrist] will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the manifestation of his coming;
Paul Rolland | Night Watchman Ministries | Christian Apostasy & (5) Revealing the Man of Sin
(2 Thessalonians 2:7–8 / emphasis & [comments] added)
Notice that this one passage alone tells us that there must be something fundamentally different about the nature of salvation following the end of the Church Age at the Rapture. During the Church Age, we have the Holy Spirit sealed in us and dwelling within us, making us His temple on earth. While His temple is on earth, the Holy Spirit acts to restrain evil—but that comes to an abrupt end at the Rapture, when both the Restrainer and His Container are taken out of the way and He ceases this restraining ministry. But that tells us something important:
That means after the Rapture, salvation is different. You can kiss that sealing and indwelling of the Holy Spirit business goodbye—that’s finished. That’s how the Church is “blessed” (John 20:29), and we’re gone.
After His (and our) departure, it’s not long before the Antichrist is allowed to come to the fore and be revealed as such, which I am inclined to believe officially occurs at the midpoint of the Tribulation at His coming-out party at the abomination of desolation.
Paul Rolland | Night Watchman Ministries | MbS and His Abomination of Desolation
In other words, I don’t see the Antichrist’s “revelation” occurring immediately after the Rapture—I think there is a brief window of time when he rises to his position of global prominence before he is officially revealed for who and what he truly is at the abomination of desolation. (For more, see the following section of an article I wrote 10 years ago entitled “Yes He Can!“)
The Word gives us several unmistakable clues that believers during the Tribulation will not enjoy the same blessing of eternal security that the Church does, and will be responsible for maintaining a faithful witness, rather than letting their spiritual lights go out, so to speak. Here are a couple:
Paul Rolland | Night Watchman Ministries | MbS and His Mark of the Beast Coming Soon ‘666’
12Because iniquity will be multiplied [because evil is no longer being restrained because the Restrainer has been taken out of the way], the love of many will grow cold. 13But he who endures to the end will be saved.
(Matthew 24:12–13 / emphasis & [comments] added)
Jesus is talking about the Tribulation period preceding His return at the Second Coming, and He is referring to people who have come to faith in Him during that period. He says they will have to “endure to the end to be saved”—in other words, they will have to maintain a faithful witness to maintain their spiritual condition. And it won’t be easy, either. In fact, legions will be martyred for their faith (these are the folks showing up in heaven in Rev. 7:9–17).
Paul Rolland | Night Watchman Ministries | MbS Beheads Tribulation Saints
Another place where this theme of “enduring to the end to be saved” is touched on is right after the sixth bowl judgment is released, and things are getting gnarly as the world approaches the climax of the Tribulation:
15Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his clothes, so that he doesn’t walk naked, and they see his shame.
(Revelation 16:15 / emphasis added)
Clothes are a reference to one’s spiritual condition, and keeping them on and not being found naked here means to maintain one’s spiritual relationship with God through obedience and maintaining a faithful witness. And the thrust of the verse is clearly that during the Tribulation, some will and some won’t.
Finally, as I discuss in depth in my last article, the Parable of the 10 Virgins and the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 both serve to characterize the nature of the Sheep and Goat Judgment, where Gentile survivors of the Tribulation who got a sufficient taste of God’s grace and mercy to at least enable them to refuse the mark of the beast and survive the Great Tribulation stand before Christ, but only those who maintained a faithful witness to the end (the sheep) are granted entrance to the kingdom. The others (the goats) ran and hid when the going got tough, and are denied entrance.
The bottom line is this: During the Tribulation, salvation will take its most harrowing form. One might also say its most tenuous. Legions of people will respond to the gospel, largely through the preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists God seals early in the Tribulation to take the gospel to the post-Rapture world. And many of those who come to faith in Christ will be martyred. But others among them, who manage to avoid being beheaded, will have to maintain a faithful witness under great duress all the way through the bowl judgments and the final conflict at Armageddon to the bitter end in order to gain entrance into the kingdom.
Put…the stones…down: Just to be clear, I have not forgotten that God knew before the foundation of the world who would be saved and who would not. That is 100 percent true according to Scripture. So understand that when I seem to convey that a Tribulation survivor’s salvation isn’t a “done deal” until that person passes muster at the Sheep and Goat Judgment, I’m speaking from our point of view—not God’s. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isa. 55:9), and all events for all time are spread out before Him like a panorama. I’m not talking about an omniscient God’s sovereign knowledge—I’m talking about how it appears to our little three-dimensional pea-brains here on earth.
This is no doubt one reason why after the third angel flies around the earth in Revelation 14:9–12, proclaiming that everyone who takes the mark of the beast will suffer the wrath of God, we have this:
13I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.'” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their works follow with them.”
(Revelation 14:13 / emphasis added)
This is just before the outpouring of the bowl judgments, the final and most devastating round of judgments of the Tribulation. In verse 13, God makes no secret of the fact that it’s going to be so bad that those who “die in the Lord” from that point on will actually be blessed. In other words:
The final round of God’s judgment on a world that has shaken its fist in His face will be so devastating that for those in the Lord, it will be a blessing to die and not have to suffer through it.
If only people could see the terrifying hole they are digging for themselves when they casually pooh-pooh the gospel and blow off the decision to trust Christ for their salvation now, during the Age of Grace when it’s easy. It breaks my heart to see people get so distracted by the fleshly foolishness that the world spews out that they give no thought to a holy God who loves them and sacrificed the life of His beloved Son to save them.
Yes, He loves us, and that’s why He
wants to save us…enough to sacrifice
the life of His perfect Son to do so.
And saving us is what salvation is all about—regardless of the parameters associated with any given era.
Summary:
Pre-Church salvation required faith in God’s promise of a coming Redeemer, faith demonstrated by the shedding of the innocent blood of animals, and later by obedience to the Law of Moses and all the stipulated animal sacrifices that effectively covered their sin until the promised Redeemer arrived.
Church Age salvation requires only belief in faith in Christ’s perfect work of atonement for the forgiveness of sin, and nothing else. The resultant sealing by and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, however, produces a changed life from which Spirit-led works are able to flow naturally. The Bible makes it clear that our salvation is not contingent on such works—they simply give evidence of it.
Post-Church salvation will also require belief in faith in Christ’s perfect work of atonement for the forgiveness of sin, but these people will not enjoy the blessing of eternal security as did members of the Church. Unlike Church Age believers, these people will have to demonstrate a faithful witness to maintain their salvation under great persecution. Some will and will enter the kingdom, and some won’t and will be denied entrance.
Paul Rolland | Night Watchman Ministries | MbS Beheads Tribulation Saints
After the Church is removed at the Rapture and Phase 2 is complete, however, Phase 3 is a whole new deal. Now, stop and think: People during the Tribulation will be those who witnessed the Rapture—God’s greatest supernatural intervention in the affairs of man since His Son walked the earth two thousand years ago. Then they will witness what they openly acknowledge is God’s mighty hand moving in judgment (Rev. 6:16–17).
Not exactly small potatoes.
Also, keep in mind that many of those who come to faith in Christ during the Tribulation will be people who casually blew off the message of the gospel their entire lives, in spite of having that message so readily available that they had to make a conscious effort to turn from it. Good News?? They will be those who have allowed the pleasures and the pressures of the world to completely distract them from the Greatest News in the history of the universe, and thoughtlessly lived their lives blindly accepting whatever load of satanic schlock the world dished out to them.
Unlike “those who have not seen, and yet have believed,” these people will only be shaken from their spiritual stupor by overt displays of God’s power and presence. They’re gonna see w-a-y more than they bargained for.
As a result, a holy, just, loving God is justified in requiring more from these people in securing their salvation and a place in His kingdom. With the Holy Spirit relocating His base of operations back to heaven after the Rapture, that sealing and indwelling business will be a thing of the past. God will make them understand the foolishness of their choices prior to being plunged into the judgments of the Tribulation, and countless legions of such people will respond to the gospel message and at the end of the Tribulation will be saved and will enter the kingdom, glory to His name!
I think it is important for us to have a clear understanding of the particulars of salvation, both in our own era of the Church Age as well as before and after the Church Age. That’s because I am convinced that when we do, we can’t help but cultivate a deeper appreciation of God’s nature, and here’s a tip:
He’s not Santa and He’s not the Grinch.
He is a supremely loving, infinitely holy, and perfectly just Creator God—the Righteous Judge and a loving Heavenly Father, and the differing parameters of salvation in these three different eras amply reflect that fact. And even more importantly for us now as Church Age believers, it helps us gain a deeper appreciation of the unsearchable riches and blessings we have in Christ!
And that, in turn, can only cause us to cultivate a deeper and more profound love for our Lord and Savior, who shed His blood on a cross at Calvary so that we could be saved, have His perfect righteousness imputed to us through faith, and be eternally reconciled to the Father.
And, at least in our case…
Remain that way until we hear the sound of a trumpet.
Greg Lauer — 2023/#5
But how can they call on him (Jesus Christ) to save them unless they believe in him (Jesus Christ)? And how can they believe in him (Jesus Christ) if they have never heard about him (Jesus Christ)? And how can they hear about him (Jesus Christ) unless someone tells them?” Romans 10:14
In His Service,
Night Watchman
Paul Rolland
Night Watchman Ministries
Make Your Decision for Christ NOW!!!!!!! Time is Up!!!!!!!
Jesus Christ’s Offer of Salvation:
The ABCs of Salvation through Jesus Christ (the Lamb)
A. Admit/Acknowledge/Accept that you are sinner. Ask God’s forgiveness and repent of your sins.
. . . “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23).
. . . “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10).
. . . “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8).
B. Believe Jesus is Lord. Believe that Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be; that He was both fully God and fully man and that we are saved through His death, burial, and resurrection. Put your trust in Him as your only hope of salvation. Become a son or daughter of God by receiving Christ.
. . . “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:15-17). For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13).
C. Call upon His name, Confess with your heart and with your lips that Jesus is your Lord and Savior.
. . . “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10).
. . . “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (John 1:8-10).
. . . “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (John 2:2).
. . . “In this was manifested the love of god toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” (1 John 4:9, 14-15).
. . . “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:8-10).
. . . “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).
. . . “Jesus saith unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6).
. . . “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” (Romans 1:16).
. . . “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts: 4:12).
. . . “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth for there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:4-6).
. . . “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
. . . “But as many as received him, to them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12).
True Church / Bride of Christ Spared from God’s Wrath:
Romans 5:8-10. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
Romans 12:19. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 1:10. And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 5:9. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Romans 8:35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Jeremiah 30:7. Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
Revelation 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
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