GREAT REVIVAL OR GREAT FALLING AWAY?

There are some who hold to the view that during the tribulation, the seven year period which scripture refers to as Daniel’s 70^th Week, there will be great revival. They believe many will come to a saving knowledge of Christ, possibly as a result of millions disappearing in a rapture that takes place before Daniel’s 70^th Week begins.

This great revival doesn’t seem to jive with what Jesus says in Matthew 24:9,10. These two verses are contained in His Olivet Discourse where Jesus gives instruction and warning concerning the things which will happen during Daniel’s 70^th Week.

“Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another.”

What are they falling away from? The faith! When the world is given the choice to worship Antichrist or die, there will be those who once identified themselves as followers of Christ but will then deny the faith, even turning true believers over to persecution and death! Jesus says their love will grow cold. Love for who? God.

Those who believe there is going to be a great revival during the tribulation, that is, Daniel’s 70^th Week, base it on Revelation 7:9 and 14. Those verses read:

“After these things I (John) looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands…”

Notice they are wearing robes and are holding palm branches in their hands. They have bodies. Notice also that this great multitude is from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.

In verse thirteen one of the elders asks John where this great multitude came from. It is apparent from John’s reply in verse fourteen that he didn’t know.

”And I (John) said to him (one of the elders), ‘My lord you know.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

This group comes out of the great tribulation, that time period of unprecedented affliction against Israel and the elect which starts at the midpoint of Daniel’s 70^th Week and then is cut short by the Lord’s parousia/coming.

Now, if Jesus says that many will fall away during the great tribulation but this huge multitude of Jewish and gentile believers comes out of the great tribulation, what exactly are we to make of this?

Let’s move back two scenes from where John sees this great multitude in heaven. In Rev. 6:12,13 John sees the Lamb break the sixth seal. The sign which signals the end of the age/day of the Lord occurs. (Mt. 24:29, Joel 2:31) The sun goes dark, the moon turns to blood, and the stars fall from the sky which then splits apart. Men cry out for the rocks to hide them from the presence of God and the wrath of the Lamb. After these things John sees in the next scene the sealing of the 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Once the 144,000 are sealed then John sees the great multitude in heaven which comes out of the great tribulation.

Let’s now switch to Mt. 24:29-31. The same cosmic disturbances which occur at the opening of the sixth seal occur here, immediately after the great tribulation is cut short by the Lord’s parousia/coming. What do the angels do who are with the Lord at His parousia/coming? They gather the elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. Mark’s account includes a gathering from the earth. The great multitude of Jewish and gentile believers which John sees in heaven after the sixth seal cosmic disturbances is none other than the elect who are gathered immediately after the great tribulation is cut short by the cosmic disturbances and the Lord’s parousia/coming!

When does Paul say the dead in Christ are raised and those who are alive and remain will be raptured with them? At the Lord’s parousia/coming. (1 Th. 4:15-17) When does Paul say believers will be resurrected? At His parousia/coming. (1 Cor. 15:23) And that’s when believers will also receive their new bodies as well! When does Matthew say the Lord’s parousia/coming occurs? Immediately after the great tribulation, but cutting it short for the sake of the elect. (Mt. 24:22, 29-31)

If Jesus says many will fall away during the great tribulation, doesn’t it make much more sense that this huge multitude out of the great tribulation is the raptured church, the elect, those chosen in Him from before the foundation of the world, both Jewish and gentile believers, those believers who have died in Christ over the last 2,000+ years who will be resurrected at the Lord’s parousia/coming as well as those who remain alive at the Lord’s parousia/coming, His parousia/coming which cuts short the great tribulation?

One last thing, Luke records Jesus asking His disciples in 18:8, “…when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”