Deacons…serve to care for the physical and financial needs of the church, and they do so in a way that heals divisions, brings unity under the Word, and supports the leadership of the elders. Without this practical service of the deacons, the elders will not be freed to devote themselves to praying and serving the Word to the people. Elders need deacons to serve practically, and deacons need elders to lead spiritually (Mark Dever and Paul Alexander).
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The Time Of Great Trouble

The Time Of Great Trouble

THE TIME OF GREAT TROUBLE

BY R. M. RIGGS

In our consideration of end-time events we must necessarily take note of those things which are unpleasant. The Great Tribulation will be a time of darkness and violence.

“Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night” (Isaiah 21:11, 12). Also the night! It is good news to know that the morning cometh, but it is also true that the night is coming.

In the sermon from Mount Olivet Jesus gave a summary of that night. “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:21, 22).

This was almost a restatement of Daniel 12:1, “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.”

Isaiah also describes it: “Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment” (Isaiah 63:2-4>.

The reaction of the people of the world to this great turn of events is found in Revelation 6:15-17: “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains: and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us; and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

The story of the Great Tribulation can be likened to a military campaign. The great King of kings and Lord of lords has just been given authorization and instruction from His Father to take forcible possession of this earth that has rebelled against Him. After long years of patient invitation to rebels to surrender and repent, and a corresponding time of winning “a people” for His name” (Acts 15:14). He now, at last, completes the number for His bride and decides that the day of grace is past.

As He waited 120 years for Noah’s generation to repent He now has waited thousands of years for these generations to repent. There will be no more delay. The time has come for judgment to begin.

He launches His campaign in dead earnestness. He causes to be killed, with the sword and with hunger and with the beasts of the earth, one-fourth of the earth’s entire population. If that population now stands at 3,000,000,000, one-fourth of this amount would be 750,000,000 people. This number of People are killed in the first attack of Christ upon the world’s wicked citadel.

A little later He looses four deadly and powerful angels who are prepared to slay the third part of the men. One third of the remaining three-fourths of the world is, of course, another 750,000,000 people who are killed by the power of these four angels and their army of 200,000,000 angelic horsemen. Read Revelation 9:15-16. The war is thus progressing rapidly from God’s standpoint with half of His enemies already destroyed.

In Luke 19:14, 27, Jesus predicted that when He returned and dealt with His own servants He would also call for His enemies to be brought before Him and slain. That is exactly what happens during the great tribulation time.

At this juncture the remainder of the world organizes under the leadership of the Antichrist, who opens his mouth in blasphemy against the God that wrought such destruction upon the earth. He decrees that if there are those who will not worship him and his image, they shall be killed. This also will result in considerable slaughter, not at the hands of the conquering Christ but at the hands of the new king of the world.

Toward the end of the three years and a half that the Antichrist is allowed to reign, the Lord sends “a great earthquake” such as was not since men were upon the earth. It is so mighty an earthquake, and so great, that the “cities of the nations fell . . . and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found” (Revelation 16:18-20). One’s imagination can hardly conceive of the terrific world-wide loss of life. Every city, and even every wall, in the whole wide world tumbles down under the shaking of that mighty earthquake. Read Ezekiel 38:20. Hail also falls from heaven in one-hundred pound chunks, and the plague thereof is exceeding great.

At this juncture the Antichrist decides there must be a showdown. He sends his “spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty…. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon” (Revelation 16:14, 16).

The Lord accepts the challenge. Heaven opens and He comes riding forth on a white horse. “In righteousness he doth judge and make war. . . . And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (Revelation 19:11, 15).

The Antichrist and the kings of the whole earth and their armies are taken and destroyed. These armies are slain by the sword of Him that sat on the horse. The Antichrist and the false prophet are cast alive into the lake of fire which burneth with brimstone. This is the great war of the ages from which no soldier will return. Millions of men no doubt shall be marshaled by the Antichrist for this battle, and every last one shall be destroyed by Christ when He comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And every one of the whole world who has taken the mark of the beast shall under the power of His wrath sink into hell. See Revelation 14:9-11; 19:11-21.

The full effect of tee torture and calamity of this tribulation time is not conveyed by a mere citing of the numbers of those killed. There are accompanying plagues and calamities which are horrible torments within themselves.

For instance, fire will fall out of heaven and start tremendous forest fires which will burn up one third of the trees of the earth and all the green grass. An unusual meteor will fall out of heaven which will cause one third of the seas to turn to blood, destroying one third of the earth’s shipping. This will be followed by another meteor dissolving and distributing its poisonous ash upon one-third of the rivers and the fountains of waters. Many men will die of the waters because they are made bitter. Read Revelation 8:7-11.

Possibly the very worst of all the horrors of the tribulation time, even exceeding those that caused such terrific loss of life, will be that period of five months when men are tormented by demon locusts. “Their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall man seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them” (Revelation 9:5, 6). Such horrible torment for five long months will lie sent upon men everywhere so that they will attempt suicide and find they are unable to take their own lives. Death would be preferable to their physical torment, but they are not given their preference. They must suffer without dying.

A grievous sore likewise will be upon all who have taken the mark of the beast. An angel then pours out his vial upon the sea and it becomes as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul dies in the sea. And the drinking water of the rivers and fountains also becomes blood, and men are made to drink it. The sun becomes so exceedingly hot it literally scorches men with its fire. Great darkness falls upon the whole earth for an indeterminate length of time which will be so dense that it causes men to gnaw their tongues for pain. See Revelation 16:2-10.

This description is becoming intolerable. Men will say it just couldn’t happen. But it has already happened on a small scale. In the land of Egypt, as recorded in Exodus, chapters 7 to 11, water was turned into blood. Great sores came upon men. Great hail fell from heaven to destroy all the crops and killed many men. And unusual darkness also was in that land. What happened to one rebellious nation years ago will happen again to one-third of the world as described in Revelation 8, and to the entire world as described in Revelation 16.

In the light of this description, we can very easily believe 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9. “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.”

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