What is the end times tribulation?

Answer

The tribulation is a future seven-year period when God will finish His discipline of Israel and finalize His judgment of the unbelieving world. The church, comprised of all who have trusted in the person and work of the Lord Jesus, will not be present during the tribulation (Got Questions Ministries takes a pretribulational approach to eschatology). The church will be removed from the earth in an event called the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-53). In this way, the church is saved from the wrath to come “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,”, (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

Throughout Scripture, the tribulation is associated with the day of the Lord, that time during which God personally intervenes in history to accomplish His plan (see Isaiah 2:12; see Isaiah 13:6-9; Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1-31; 3:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:2). It is referred to as “tribulation . . . in the latter days” “When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;”, (Deuteronomy 4:30, ESV); the great tribulation, which refers to the more intense second half of the seven-year period “for then shall be g

Great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. », (Matthew 24:21); “a time of distress” «And at that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. », (Daniel 12:1); and “the time of Jacob’s trouble” «Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. », (Jeremiah 30:7, NKJV). And we have this description of the tribulation that accompanies the day of the Lord:

“That day will be a day of wrath—
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of trouble and ruin,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness—
a day of trumpet and battle cry” (Zephaniah 1:15-16).