Why Is the Tribulation Necessary? Why Do So Many Resist?
The End Times Made Simple
If the End Times is about a wedding, why can’t we just go there now? Why can’t we have a happy ending to all humanity? Why can’t everyone live together with Jesus?
It’s a beautiful thought. It’s what Jesus Himself wants: He wishes that no one would perish, but everyone would repent and turn to Him, to be with Him forever.
But many people have made choices that make this impossible.
Imagine a wedding. Everyone is gathered for the ceremony, the atmosphere filled with love because everyone adores the bride and groom.
But during the ceremony the doors burst open and armed militants storm in. They hate the groom and all his family.
That wedding would be a bloodbath.
It would not be a joyous day if those who hate the groom were allowed in.
If these enemies had set their hearts against the groom and the bride, determined to fight and kill them, there’s only one way to ensure a happy wedding: remove the enemy first. It the enemy commits themselves to hating the groom and killing his people, then that same enemy cannot be allowed around the groom and his bride on their wedding day.
This is the Tribulation: protecting the bride and removing those who hate them, who are determined to kill.
But we have to ask: why are there so many enemies, anyway? Why do so many resist Jesus?
The answer is simple: deception is everywhere — especially in our own hearts.
Jesus is amazing. When we see Jesus truly, He captivates in a way that nothing else does. There’s a reason crowds flocked around Jesus, why His disciples became so devoted to Him, why a few short years of ministry by Jesus turned the entire world upside down, and continue to do so.
Jesus is amazing. He is love incarnate. He has the words of life that no one else can possibly dream up. He is wiser than the greatest philosophers, more brilliant than the deepest thinkers, more loving than the most skilled helpers, more approachable than the most loving grandparents, more protective than the greatest soldiers. Jesus is everything that we love and admire, all wrapped into one Person.
Yet deception is everywhere.
Islam is deceived about who Jesus is, calling Him a mere prophet, someone who never died on the Cross and never rose, someone who might be Messiah but certainly wasn’t God.
Atheists are deceived about who Jesus is, some denying He ever existed, others allowing Him only to be a peasant sage who was blown up into something else long after He died.
Buddhists, Zoroastrians, ancestor worshipers, witches, and so many more are deceived about who Jesus is, seeing Him as anything other than the God He is, the Savior He is, the lover of our very souls.
The scribes and Pharisees were deceived. They saw Jesus face to face, yet they couldn’t see Him clearly:
Then they brought to Jesus a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” (Matthew 12:22-24 NIV).
These scribes and Pharisees watch Jesus do nothing but good. They watch Him heal people continually, even a man held captive by a demon to the point he couldn’t see or speak. Jesus heals him, casting out the demon, opening his eyes, enabling him to speak, and everyone marvels at the miracles on display.
Everything Jesus is doing is unquestionably good.
Yet the Pharisees say “He has a demon!”
How can you see so much good, so much love, and call it evil?
Because deception is everywhere. Especially in our own hearts.
The Pharisees felt threatened. Jesus exposed their duplicity, their love of money, power, and position, when everyone thought they loved God. Jesus challenged their place, as they knew that if He ruled as Messiah, they would lose everything. These Pharisees loved themselves and didn’t want Jesus to take it away.
This selfishness — this pride — deceived them.
Deception often comes from outside. As we’ll soon see, many deceivers will come in the last days, lying about representing Jesus, being Jesus, or knowing when Jesus will return. These lies will take many captive.
Yet many will also be deceived by their own hearts, their own desires.
Instead of seeing Jesus as everything they’ve ever wanted, they will see Jesus as taking away everything they’ve ever wanted, not realizing that Jesus possesses far more than they could ever cling to.
Because they love themselves more than Jesus, they will deceive themselves into seeing Jesus as the enemy.
These are the people Jesus deals with in the Tribulation.
After the Pharisees call Jesus’ spirit demonic, Jesus rebukes them sharply:
“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:30-37 NIV).
The Pharisees think they’re dealing with a present-day issue, but Jesus jumps straight to the End Times.
On the Day of Judgment, when Jesus returns, everyone will have to give an account for all they’ve spoken. Many things will be forgiven, even blasphemy against Jesus, but anyone who has blasphemed the Holy Spirit of God will not be forgiven.
The Tribulation will sort these people out, sorting the wheat from the chaff.
You will know who has blasphemed the Holy Spirit by the fruit their life produces. A bad tree produces bad fruit. Those who have blasphemed the Holy Spirit will oppose Jesus and terrorize His people, seeing them as demonic, just as the Pharisees saw Jesus.
Jesus warned:
“The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.” (John 16:2 NIV).
The deception is so strong — and the fruit of blasphemy so evident — that those who kill the followers of Jesus will believe they are serving God as they murder.
This is how they saw Jesus. The scribes and Pharisees genuinely believed they were serving God by killing God in the flesh. While they blasphemed the Holy Spirit of God who dwelt in Jesus, they called Jesus Himself a blasphemer for claiming to be God.
Deception twisted them around so completely that they stared God in the face and couldn’t recognize Him.
These are the people who will suffer the wrath of God in the Tribulation.
The harshness of the Tribulation will sort the wheat from the chaff. Those who can be saved, will be saved.
God will pour out His judgment on all who can’t be saved, on all who refuse to be saved, on all who oppose Jesus and everyone who is called by His name. God will pour out His judgment as a warning to others to avoid this path and as judgment to all who chose to walk it.
Everyone will get what they have chosen.
Jesus is the Author of life, joy, peace, happiness, love. He is the source of everything good. “Do not be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from Above” (James 1:16-17 NIV).
If every good thing is from Jesus (and it is), then cutting yourself off from Jesus severs you from every good thing.
God will give them every chance. His power will be seen clear as day.
As clearly as healing a demon-possessed man, so that he can see and hear.
Yet those who are determined not to see won’t. Seeing, they will not see, and hearing, they will not hear (Matthew 13:13-15, spoken the same day that the Pharisees blasphemed the Holy Spirit).
Yet the Tribulation is not horror and judgment alone.
Through it, Jesus gathers His bride.
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”All the angels were standing around the throne and around the eldersand the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:
“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”
I answered, “Sir, you know.”
And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great Tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore,
“they are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne
will shelter them with his presence.
‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,’
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’” (Revelation 7:9-17 NIV).
All of these people — this countless multiple from every tribe, tongue, and nation — are those who died during the Tribulation, those who were killed by the forces of the enemy.
They gather around the Throne of God, at peace and wearing white, like a bride on the day of her wedding.
The death they suffered wasn’t the end. It delivered them Home. By it, they avoided the worst of the judgments, those that target specifically the ones who have set their hearts against Jesus. The enemy, who thought they were serving God by killing His people, instead delivered Jesus’ bride home to Him, those who were not with Him already.
A great many of the people in this multitude chose to believe in Jesus during the Tribulation. Immediately before this passage, Jesus commissions 144,000 evangelists, 12,000 from each tribe of Israel, all of whom go throughout the world, sharing the good news of Jesus. Many hear them, accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and soon perish to the bloodthirsty forces of the enemy.
Yet death did not destroy them. They found themselves face-to-face with the One they placed their trust in, standing radiant around His Throne, all of them victorious in Jesus’ own victory, never again to fear death.
When Jesus returns, they will return with Him, setting foot once again on the earth they left in death, now living forever in bodies that are unkillable.
The fire of the Tribulation is harsh. It burns up those who set themselves against Jesus.
Yet that same fire refines those who choose to follow Jesus, refining them as gold and silver are refined, becoming more and more radiant and glorious the hotter the fire rises.
It’s all about Jesus.
Jesus is endlessly glorious. And all who place their hope in Him will become like Him, for we shall see Him as He is, going from glory to glory ourselves.