Why would God allow Christians to be killed during the Tribulation, when the Tribulation is coming as judgment upon the world?
This is the hard to grasp. Why would God allow the Beast to be both the judge of the world and the persecutor of the church?
Under the Roman empire Jesus was born and died a Roman execution death. It was the persecution of the church afterwards that caused the church to expand and grow. During the Tribulation the church will suffer persecution again but this persecution will usher in the second coming of Jesus and the destruction of the earth.
There are two Biblical reasons why Christians being killed during the Tribulation falls in line with Biblical teachings and why God would allow the Tribulation Martyrs to be killed.
For the seventh trumpet and the final woe to occur the believers will need to be gone, why? Because if one righteous person remained on the earth God would not destroy it or more specifically I should say ten..
The book of Daniel tells us that the end occurs when the power of the holy people is crushed. Daniel 12:7 states:
7 Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.
It is God’s policy that if one righteous person were left on the earth he would not destroy it.
God created the earth as a place that men and women would have fellowship with Him, when the last person who seeks God is gone the purpose for the earth ends. This lines with Abraham’s discussion with God that if ten righteous were left in the City would God destroy it and the answer is no. This was referring to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The dialogue that Abraham had with God is in Genesis 18:16-33.
I heard it taught once that when the Rapture occurs the Holy Spirit is taken out of the earth and for this reason the Tribulation could begin because all of the believers are gone. This is not true because the Spirit is at work during the Tribulation and there are believers during that time. It is not the Church’s removal that allows the Tribulation to begin. It is the church’s removal that ends the dispensation of grace and this is one event lined with another that I discuss in my Magi report that marks the end of the age of Grace and begins the final dispensation, which is focused on Israel and the Jews.
The significance of the persecution and martyrdom is that when the power of the holy people is crushed the final judgments that culminate in the destruction of the earth can begin. We see this in several passages. Daniel 12 tells us that there are 1290 days from the abomination of desolation until the end. Revelation 11 Tells us that the two witnesses prophesy for 1260 days and after this the third woe and the seventh trumpet is coming.
We also see in Revelation 12 the woman (Israel) protected in the wilderness but her protection is for 1260 days, the same time frame that the two witnesses warn the world. The two witnesses dead bodies lie for three and a half days and they resurrect before everyone. This coincides with the three and a half year ministry of Jesus and the timing of his resurrection.
The Antichrist as a false Christ also has a three and a half year reign from the day he establishes his being a deity in the temple.. We see God tell those murdered in Revelation 6:11 “that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.” This completion takes place on the 1260th day and within days of this date as the two witnesses resurrect back to heaven. During this time the Antichrist successfully destroys the remaining believers. When he successfully murders the remaining believers there will either not be any righteous or there will be under ten righteous walking the earth. Notice again the number 10 of the 10 days of Tribulation. If ten are left the seventh seal would not launch or the final woe.
I heard it taught once that when the Rapture occurs the Holy Spirit is taken out of the earth and for this reason the Tribulation could begin because all of the believers are gone. This is not true because the Spirit is at work during the Tribulation and there are believers during that time. It is not the Church’s removal that allows the Tribulation to begin. It is the church’s removal that ends the dispensation of grace and this is one event lined with another that I discuss in my Magi report that marks the end of the age of Grace and begins the final dispensation, which is focused on Israel and the Jews.
The significance of the persecution and martyrdom is that when the power of the holy people is crushed the final judgments that culminate in the destruction of the earth can begin. We see this in several passages. Daniel 12 tells us that there are 1290 days from the abomination of desolation until the end. Revelation 11 Tells us that the two witnesses prophesy for 1260 days and after this the third woe and the seventh trumpet is coming.
We also see in Revelation 12 the woman (Israel) protected in the wilderness but her protection is for 1260 days, the same time frame that the two witnesses warn the world. The two witnesses dead bodies lie for three and a half days and they resurrect before everyone. This coincides with the three and a half year ministry of Jesus and the timing of his resurrection.
The Antichrist as a false Christ also has a three and a half year reign from the day he establishes his being a deity in the temple.. We see God tell those murdered in Revelation 6:11 “that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.” This completion takes place on the 1260th day and within days of this date as the two witnesses resurrect back to heaven. During this time the Antichrist successfully destroys the remaining believers. When he successfully murders the remaining believers there will either not be any righteous or there will be under ten righteous walking the earth. Notice again the number 10 of the 10 days of Tribulation. If ten are left the seventh seal would not launch or the final woe.
There are 30 days unaccounted for and in these thirty days or within them because remember Daniel tells us there are 1290 days until the end, within these 30 days, the seventh seal and the final woe occurs, which includes the battle of Armageddon, the sun darkening, the moon turning to blood, the great earthquake which levels every mountain and worldwide tsunamis sink every island. The earth rotates off its axis and the stars fall from the sky and pummel the earth to pieces. All of this cannot occur with just ten righteous left walking on the earth.
Consistent with Scripture is another teaching. When God brought judgment onto the nation of Israel, the nations who invaded who God used to judge Israel for its sin were punished as well for their actions against Israel. We see this with the Antichrist and his government. The Antichrist and the false prophet are thrown directly into the lake of fire.
In Revelation we see power in the deaths of the Tribulation Saints:
For they overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto death. While the Tribulation Saints must die for the final judgments to take place they will have conquered death like Christ and through his blood they overcome death and defeat Satan who can take their lives but not their souls. When the number is complete of the brethren being killed, and they are completely crushed, and annihilated, the world will finish to be judged and in part on account of their deaths.