The Tribulation
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THE RUINING OF GOOD WORDS AND THE EPICENTER OF CRAZY
Amid a bounty of red-capped toadstools, psychedelic peace signs, and long-haired hippies, the word “gay” lost its mirth and merry undertones morphing into the new moniker for sodomy in the 1960s. This same kind of word assassination has taken place today changing common sense words like mother into “birthing-person” or cold-blooded murder into “women’s health”. If I had to guess one of the top job skills on Satan’s resume, I might be inclined to say word-shifting, but that is the topic for another blog. For now, let it suffice to say that good words often lose good meaning and when that happens "the crazy" ensues.
In the evangelical world, our little rotten apple hasn’t fallen far from Babylon’s big tree. Instead of mythologizing what a woman is to fit a transgender agenda, we have mythologized what a tribulation is to fit a left-behind storyline. And, as a result, a century and a half of Christians have become necessarily confused by what Jesus meant in His Olivet Discourse. Today, we want to continue unraveling this mangled cord and share a sober Biblical view that reclaims this forgotten Biblical word.
“Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name” - Matthew 24:9
A BRIEF WORD ON OUR METHODOLOGY
To begin, I will not be gratifying the popular seven-year super-cycle of future cataclysmic phenomena as a viable option for what this word means. The Bible tells us not to answer a fool according to his folly and taking that approach would certainly be akin to groveling in the eschatological pig slop. Further, we will not be citing newspaper articles about Israel, hunting down red heifers, or treating isolated Bible passages like bread crumbs in a forest leading us to grandma's house. Or, however, those metaphors go.
In this blog, we will look at the words that are on the page, ask some common sense questions, assume a very helpful body of data that has been covered in previous episodes and blogs, look at some Scriptures that prove the point, and provide a Greek reference on the side to make sure we sound really smart. To that end, let us gayly begin.
THE MEANING OF WORDS
The first word of importance in this sentence is “they”. In this context, “they” does not refer to a youtube social influencer's ever-changing pronouns, but to a specific group of people. That group is not a 21st-century cohort of liberal American God-haters, but a first-century cadre of Jewish and Gentile God-haters who were scattered throughout the Roman empire.
Remember, Jesus is educating His disciples on when their temple would be destroyed. He is helping them understand what signs they are going to see that will accompany this event and showing them how it will change the course of redemptive history (See Matthew 24:1-3). Jesus is not lapsing into a moment of temporary ADD to harangue about a future seven-year tribulation that was irrelevant to His disciples. He is appropriately warning them that “They” will be beaten, bruised, killed, and persecuted. He is telling them what they will soon be facing in their service to Him.
Second, the next very technical word we must understand is “you”. In this sentence, “you” is not referring to “us” or some future audience of post-moderns who will rip this passage clear out of its context. “You” meant the very disciples Jesus was speaking to since that is how conversations work. Think about it, when you are looking right at the person you are speaking to, answering specific questions they directed at you, and then pull “you” out of your repertoire of available words, the only conceivable reason for doing that would be if you were talking to them and about them. In this scene, Jesus is talking to His disciples about a tribulation they will face in their lifetimes. This point is essential for us to grasp.
Third, knowing this, we must understand what the word “tribulation” means if we have any hope of understanding what Jesus is saying. According to our really smart Greek lexicon, the English word for tribulation comes from the Greek word “θλῖψις” (Th-lip-sis). Instead of a plague-filled future septennial, the word means troubles or trials that will inflict distress, and suffering on men (See the following passages where the word θλῖψις is used: Matthew 13:21; Mark 13:19; John 16:33; Acts 11:19; 14:22; 20:23; Romans 5:3-5; 8:35; 12:12; 2 Corinthians 1:4, 8; 7:4; Philippians 4:14; Colossians 1:24; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 3:3-4; 2 Thessalonians 1:4; Revelation 1:9). This is precisely what Jesus was prophesying over His disciples and this is exactly what happened to them in the years ahead.
THE LABOR MOTIF
Now, before citing some examples of tribulation from the New Testament, I want to share a brief reminder about the Labor motif that is found within this chapter. Like a woman in labor, the birth pangs will begin with a certain level of intensity. Then, as time moves along, the pain from her contractions will inevitably grow in magnitude and frequency as the pregnancy nears its terminus. In much the same way, the signs Jesus has been forecasting begin with increasing intensity until everything Jesus predicted comes true (Matthew 24:8).
So far, we have looked at signs like earthquakes and famines which increase in intensity from the time Jesus is raised in AD 30 to the downfall of Jerusalem in AD 70. We have also shown how the proliferation of false prophets and messianic figures only became worse as the hour drew nearer to the fall of the city. Now, we will look at how the sign of persecution and tribulation went from bad to worse in the Church’s first forty years of existence.
THE INFANT CHURCH IN TRIBULATION
Like all good evangelicals, I affirm that life begins at conception in the womb. Yet, the joy of a plus-signed pregnancy test will soon come with morning sickness, foot aches, hormone imbalances, and forty weeks of discomfort and bloating, all eclipsed by the tremendous pain of human life moving her way down the birth canal to make her appearance known. In much the same way, the church was conceived at the resurrection of Jesus Christ and grew rapidly during those first 40 years of gestation. But, it wasn’t until the great pains associated with the downfall of Mosaic Judaism that she was thrust upon the world, as the only way to know and approach the one true God, Yahweh. In this prophecy, Jesus gives signs that will cover the whole forty-year period, but like labor will increase in intensity as the event draws near.
For instance, Jesus told the disciples, even before He went to the cross, that they would soon be arrested, betrayed, persecuted, murdered, and handed over to Jewish synagogues where all these abuses would take place (Matthew 10:17-25; 23:34-37). Jesus even warns the disciples that a future hour would come when the murder of Christians will be viewed as religious piety by the apostate Jews (John 16:2). Those tribulations would begin in a matter of days from the crucifixion.
For instance, not many days after that first Pentecost, the apostles were arrested by the Jews for teaching about Jesus in Jerusalem (Acts 4:1-3). After being released from prison, they were jailed again just one chapter later (Acts 5:17-20). On this occasion, an angel from the Lord helped them escape so that they could go on preaching Christ in the city. That day of preaching caused the apostles to be arrested a third time, whipped the same way Jesus was whipped before He was crucified, and released with injuries and scars that would cling to their bodies for a lifetime. This was the beginning of their tribulations.
Soon, the Jews would take to murdering Christians in the street as they did with Stephen (Acts 7:54-60). They would send young zealots like Saul of Tarsus as hitmen to find, arrest, and even kill believers who were hiding in various cities (Acts 8:1-3). When one of those hitmen converted to Christianity, the Jews sought to have him murdered as well (Acts 9:23-25). The book of Acts even calls this a period of “great” persecution (Acts 8:1), or maybe one might be tempted to call it a “great tribulation” for the church.
The wanton violence the Jews were inflicting caused many in the early church to scatter to places outside of Judea and to take homes throughout the Roman world (Acts 11:19). This was not true for the majority of the apostles and early church leaders, however, who stayed in Jerusalem in order to preach the Gospel and warn the city to flee the wrath that Jesus prophesied. This decision, while from the Lord, would cost them dearly. James, one of the most important early leaders, was brutally murdered by Herod, who saw that killing Christians would please the Jewish masses (Acts 12:1-3). This same fate would have happened to Peter as well, had God not sent an earthquake and angel to deliver him from his cell on death row (Acts 12:4-11).
As persecutions heated up for the apostles in Jerusalem, the converted Paul was divinely tasked with taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, using local Jewish Synagogues in various towns as a base of operations. At the beginning of Paul’s ministry, many of the Jews and Gentiles believed the Gospel, but a significant portion of the Jews lied about him and whipped up the crowds in opposition to him (Acts 13:44-52). In Iconium, the frenzy was so intense that Paul was almost stoned and needed to flee to surrounding towns in order to continue preaching (Acts 14:1-6). At this point, the Jews followed him, stoned him, and left him for dead in the streets (Acts 14:19). When Paul awoke from that brutal beating, he went immediately and encouraged his companions telling them:
“Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” - Acts 14:22
This pattern of Jewish-inspired pandemonium and tribulations continued throughout Paul's ministry (See Acts 17:5-8, 13; & 20:3, 23). As he was returning to Jerusalem in Acts 21, a young believer named Agabus prophesied that he would be arrested, bound, and delivered over to the Gentile if he went back to that city (Acts 21:11-14). When Paul determined to go anyway, he was violently beaten by the Jews in the city and by the providence of God was spared death by Gentile arrest (Acts 21:31-36). Later, when the Jews whipped up a crowd into a fury, the Romans in panic and confusion viciously scourged Paul to appease the Jews (Acts 22:22-24).
During the latter portions of Acts, Paul is being transported by the Romans to the city of Rome to stand trial before Caesar, for the seditious crimes the Jews were accusing him of (e.g. Acts 24:5-9). Along the way, Paul writes letters to various churches which acknowledge the peculiar degree of tribulations and sufferings that Christians were undergoing.
For instance, Paul tells the Roman Christians to praise the Lord in the midst of their tribulations (Romans 5:3-5), because tribulations cannot separate them from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35). Instead of fearing the tribulations they were going through, they were exhorted to preserve through them with hope because this kind of living honors the Lord greatly (Romans 12:12).
To the Corinthians, Paul counseled them to bless the ones who persecute them, to endure the tribulations they were facing with joy (1 Corinthians 4:12), so that they could encourage other beleaguered saints who were being persecuted as well (2 Corinthians 1:4). In this, Paul does not pretend the tribulations they were enduring were light or easy (2 Corinthians 1:8; 4:8-12; 12:10). He only promised that God would bring joy to them in their suffering (2 Corinthians 7:4).
When Paul described life as a Christian in the first century to the Corinthians, he said:
23 Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; - 2 Corinthians 11:23-26
To the Philippians Paul thanked them for sharing in his afflictions (Philippians 4:14). To the Colossians He taught them purpose in their afflictions (Colossians 1:24). To the Thessalonians he reminded them that they received the Word in great tribulations (1 Thessalonians 1:6), were destined for great tribulations (1 Thessalonians 3:3-4) and were beaten by the Gentiles in the same way Paul had been beaten by the Jews (1 Thessalonians 2:14-15). Paul was even overjoyed when Churches endured violent beatings well (2 Thessalonians 1:4) because it demonstrated their worthiness to enter into God’s newly inaugurated kingdom (2 Thessalonians 1:5).
To the Hebrews, the author suggested that suffering was vital to their sanctification, as they follow Jesus outside the gates of the old Jerusalem and seek with Him the true Jerusalem that is above (Hebrews 13:13-14). For those who remained inside of Jerusalem, James encouraged them before his death to remain patient under trial until the judgment coming of Christ against the Jews (James 1:2-4; 5:7), which he told them was imminently near (James 5:8-9).
To Timothy, Paul adjures him to suffer well, joining with Paul in his sufferings (2 Timothy 1:8-12; 2:3), while remembering that the Lord is sovereign (2 Timothy 3:11) and that all who desire to live a godly life will face tribulations (2 Timothy 3:12).
To the persecuted Christians, the ones forced to leave Jerusalem and scatter throughout the Roman empire, Peter reminds them that suffering was their God-ordained purpose (1 Peter 2:20-23) and that they ought not to be surprised when it happens to them (1 Peter 4:12) and to Christians scattered throughout the Roman world (1 Peter 5:9). It was Peter, among the other apostles who heard the Lord make these promises and now years later He could offer firm convictions of encouragement for them to endure.
Finally, among that crowd of original apostles who heard the Lord’s prophecy in Matthew 24, John would claim to be a fellow partaker in the tribulations Jesus predicted (Revelation 1:9). And, he would deliver a personal message from Jesus to those who were suffering, saying:
‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. - Revelation 2:9-10
EXTERNAL RECORDS OF TRIBULATION
Before concluding, I would like to share two incidents from history that demonstrate the ferocity by which the early Christians were slaughtered. In 41 AD, eleven years after the crucifixion and resurrection, the last and final Herod, named Agrippa, rose to prominence and was named “king of the Jews”. In order to gain favor with his Jewish constituents, Herod seized upon the Christians, killing numerous followers of Christ between the years 41 and 44 AD, until God struck him with a plague that killed him (Acts 12:20-24). Among those Christians that died was James, the earliest leader of the church in Jerusalem, and almost Peter who escaped by divine providence.
This three-year period of ferocious persecutions led to a widespread evacuation by Christians from the city of Jerusalem and their resettling in various other cities throughout the empire. Of the cities they settled in, Rome seemed to be the most common option, which turned out to be fatal for many of the earliest Christians. This was because a large population of Jews resided in the city at that time and the Caesars tended to make decisions with them in mind. According to the Roman historian Tacitus, it was reported that the Jews in the city persuaded Nero to use the Christians as scapegoats for a fire that He started. Tacitus tells us:
“...To get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Chrestians (a Roman misspelling of “Christian”) by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.” - Tacitus, Annals 15.44
CONCLUSION
After Jesus rose from the dead in 30 AD and until 41 AD when Herod Agrippa came to power, Christians were being arrested and murdered by jealous Jews all throughout Judea and Jerusalem. In 41 AD, Herod centralized power around Himself and organized the persecutions against Christians to disturbing proportions. To avoid genocide, the earliest believers fled to cities all throughout the Roman world, where Jews were ready and willing to persecute them there as well. To top it off, Nero, like Herod, engaged in the systematic killing of Christians by the most inhuman means available to him.
When pain-averse modern Christians refuse to share the Gospel, refuse to go to church, and would rather sip chai lattes than see Jesus’ Kingdom advance, I take great offense to that. When we spend all our intellectual capital trying to discern when that great tractor beam in the sky will rescue us from first-world sufferings, I take great offense at that. To hold such a myopic and uninformed view requires an utter ignorance of our history and it dishonors the countless men and women who suffered, bled and died so that we could bear the same name they suffered for. Jesus promised awful tribulations for our fathers and mothers in the faith and those awful tribulations came on them in full.
Furthermore, the reason the church of Jesus Christ is still standing strong today is that a generation of rock-hard believers endured ultimate sufferings with great joy and great hope, turning the world upside down with their great faith. Instead of kicking up our feet and being repulsed by discomfort, I am praying this generation of Christians will learn from our elders, get ice in our veins, and turn this world upside down for Christ once more. They probably will not kill us for doing so, but we should give them every reason to want to.
Until next time, thank God you were not born during the first forty years of the church, serve Jesus well while you still have breath in your lungs, and pray that you would get to see the church grow as it did back then. God bless you all and thank you for reading long articles about eschatology.
-Kendall
