God's Ultimate Judgement On Earth-The Tribulation

Hello everyone. Thanks for checking out this week's version of The Mixblog as we continue looking at "The End Times" at The Mix on Tuesday nights (The Mix is the high school youth ministry at Whittington Church). We are in the middle...well actually getting close to the end...of a huge teaching series we have been calling "Alpha & Omega". We looked at the beginning of the earth and humanity as we know it during the "Alpha" portion of the series, and now we are looking at the "Omega"...the end of the world and humanity as we know it, according to the Bible. This week, we talked about the period during the end times known as "The Tribulation" period.

As we talked about a couple of weeks ago, the end times basically will be kicked off by the rapture of Christians to Heaven (see the Oct 22 Mixblog). Once this takes place, the earth will immediately enter into a 7 year period of time often referred to as The Tribulation Period...which might not be strong enough words! It will be 7 years of absolute destruction and catastrophe on planet earth, brought about by God Himself. These "judgements" will crescendo over the 7 year period and will climax at a point when the earth will basically be left in shambles. Lets talk about why God would want to do this...

• The tribulation will be part of the process of God putting an end to sin once and for all.



• In addition, God will destroy this "sin-damaged" earth that we live on.



• This period of time will be very instrumental in drawing God's chosen people (the Jews) back to Himself.



• This period will pave the way for the final destruction of Satan and the ushering in of God's Kingdom on earth
  
  

Basically, God will go through a process of removing what is here so He can start over with perfection. And the cool part of it is, if you are a Christian, you will get to experience that perfection! But more on that in a couple of weeks...

This period of judgement or tribulation, will come about in 3 phases that are described in the book of Revelation...three sets of seven judgements, so 21 judgements in all. These judgements are described all thoughout the book of Revelation so for the sake of space in this blog, we will link to lots of different sections of scripture for you to read at your own pace. But described below is a BASIC, shorthand description of what those judgements will entail. You will notice right away that many of these judgements seem like they come right out of a science fiction movie! But this is no fiction. God, who created the natural world with it's natural laws, has always reserved the right to operate outside of those natural laws if He chose to. He has done this thoughout history in various ways so it shouldn't surprise us that He will do it during the end times as well. Again, reading about these judgements for yourself in the book of Revelation is the best way to find out more about them. So on to the first set of judgements...

THE SEVEN SEAL JUDGEMENTS: Revelation 6

1. 1st Seal: The rider on the white horse...the coming of the antichrist



2. 2nd Seal: The rider on the red horse...war across the world



3. 3rd Seal: The rider on the black horse...famine (lack of food)



4. 4th Seal: The rider on the pale horse...death (1/4 of the earth's population dies)



5. 5th Seal: A massive martyrdom of Christians..."a great multitude that no one could count"



6. 6th Seal: Earthquakes, volcanic activity, meteors shower the earth



7. 7th Seal: Silence in Heaven for "about half an hour"...initiate the next series of judgements

THE SEVEN TRUMPET JUDGEMENTS: Revelation 8 & 9

1. 1st Trumpet Judgement: Hail & fire mixed with blood...1/3 of the earth, 1/3 of the trees and all green grass burned up



2. 2nd Trumpet Judgement: A "Huge mountain all ablaze" is thrown into the sea...1/3 of the sea turns to blood, 1/3 of the sea creatures die, 1/3 of the ships in the ocean are destroyed



3. 3rd Trumpet Judgement: Meteorite called "Wormwood" hits the earth...1/3 of all the rivers and springs turn bitter (Many die from the bitter water)



4. 4th Trumpet Judgement: 1/3 of the sun, moon & stars turns dark, 1/3 of the day and 1/3 of the night without light



5. 5th Trumpet Judgement: Smoke from the Abyss darkens the sun and the sky...locusts with the ability to sting like scorpions torment non-believers for 5 months



6. 6th Trumpet Judgement: 200 million mounted troops kill 1/3 of all mankind with fire from their mouths



7. 7th Trumpet Judgement: Angels and 24 elders around the thrown in Heaven praise God...this initiates the next series of judgements

SEVEN BOWL JUDGEMENTS: Revelation 16

1. 1st Bowl Judgement: Painful sores on everyone that has the mark of the beast



2. 2nd Bowl Judgement: Entire sea turns to blood...every sea creature dies



3. 3rd Bowl Judgement: Rivers and fountains turn to blood



4. 4th Bowl Judgement: Sun scorches people with fire and sears them with intense heat



5. 5th Bowl Judgement: The "Kingdom of the Beast" plunged into total darkness...possibly the city of Babylon



6. 6th Bowl Judgement: Euphrates River dries up



7. 7th Bowl Judgement: The most severe earthquake in history occurs and 100 pound hailstones fall from the sky
   

As you can tell, by the time these 21 judgements are completed, the earth will be an absolute mess and on the brink of total destruction in every way. Think about it...no grass, no sea life, all the water has been turned to blood (imagine the putrid stench of dead animals and plants and the rotting blood itself!), most if not all buildings and structures have been leveled (earthquakes, meteors, 100 lb hail stones, etc), at least 1/3 of all the trees are gone (probably means a lack of oxygen on the earth), and at least 1/2 of the earth's population is dead! Life as we know it on planet earth would no longer exist! I think the term "Tribulation Period" doesn't quite cut it!

But we have to remember a couple of things. First, those of you reading this who are Christians..who have turned your lives over to Christ...won't have to endure this! We will already be with God! Secondly, this is all very necessary in order for God to establish His Kingdom here on earth in absolute perfection. He has to remove what's broken before He can replace it. This Tribulation Period will culminate at the end of the 7 year period with the physical return of Jesus Christ to planet earth to take care business once and for all and begin to establish God's eternal Kingdom. So check back next week and find out more about the "story"! Thanks for reading.

-Bob