Bible Questions Answered:
How do we know that tribulation time has not already started, many people think we are in the tribulation.
Dafne/ Rome Italy
Bible Answer:
No, we are not in the tribulation, and we know this because of what God's word tells us.
Bible Text:
II Thessalonians 2:1-12 NLT
1 Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet Him.
2 Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us.
3 Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction.
4 He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.
5 Don’t you remember that I told you about all this when I was with you?
6 And you know what is holding him back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes.
7 For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the One who is holding it back steps out of the way.
8 Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath of His mouth and destroy him by the splendor of His coming.
9 This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles.
10 He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the Truth that would save them.
11 So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies.
12 Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.
The Apostle Paul warned the Thessalonians …
II Thessalonians 2:2,3 NLT
2 Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us.
3 Don’t be fooled by what they say...
Will there be those who think the “time of Jacobs trouble,” has started? Oh, yes, there were in Paul's day, and there will be in ours.
Well, how can we know? The Apostle then goes on to list ways to know whether that day has started or not.
II Thessalonians 2:3 NLT
“...For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction.
True we do live in a day of great rebellion, and sin, but the man of sin, the lawless one, the Anti-Christ has “not,” been revealed, and won't be until the church of Jesus Christ has been taken away.
Luke 21:36 KJV
Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.
I Thessalonians 1:10 KJV
And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
I Thessalonians 5:9 KJV
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
II Timothy 4:18 KJV
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 3:10 KJV
Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
II Thessalonians 2:6-8 NLT
6 And you know what is holding him back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes.
7 For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the One who is holding it back steps out of the way.
8 Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed...”
Although our day is sinful and mixed with lawlessness, and yet what the Apostle is describing is chaos.
Total sinful, lawlessness, complete chaos, is being held back by someone and that someone is God the Holy Spirit.
Are Christian people still in the world? Yes, then the tribulation, has not, begun.
Are there still Christian churches doing the Lords work? Yes, then the tribulation, has not begun.
Are there still Christian Missionaries, preaching and teaching the Word of the Lord? Yes, then the tribulation has not begun.
Is evil, and sin, still being held back, in laws in our land by Christian people? Yes, then the tribulation has not begun.
Has the Anti-Christ, been revealed? No, then the tribulation, has not begun.
Tribulation, a time of lawless turmoil, begins with the revealing of the Ant-Christ.
7 For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the One who is holding it back steps out of the way.
No, there is no place in creation, where God is not. Our God is omnipresent.
No, the Holy Spirit, who is God, will not be yanked off the face of the earth!
Thee office of the Holy Spirit will change, that is, He will no longer “restrain,” Satan, and his evil forces in their lawless regime.
Today, unaware to us, is the fact that the Holy Spirit of God, wages war against the powers of Satan, on our behalf.
Isaiah 59:19 KJV
When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
Matthew 12:28 KJV (Christ said, the Spirit of God, has power over powers of Satan .)
But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.
As true as all these things are, yet also true is it, that the moment of our Lord's secret coming for His people is drawing near, very near.
Matthew 24:27,36 KJV
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Luke 12:40 KJV
Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
Luke 21:34-36 KJV
34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.
Philippians 4:5 KJV
Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
I Thessalonians 5:2 KJV
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
Hebrews 10:37 KJV
For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
James 5:8 KJV
Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
Revelation 3:11 KJV
Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Revelation 16:15 KJV
Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Revelation 22:20 KJV
He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
