A Post-Tribulation Perspective Rooted in Eternal Security
For nearly two centuries the Western church has been lulled to sleep by the popular teaching of a pre-tribulation “secret” rapture—that believers will suddenly vanish before any real trouble begins. But Scripture never describes a secret, invisible coming of Christ to remove the church.
On the contrary, Jesus Himself declared that His return will be unmistakably visible to the entire world: “For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:27). “Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him” (Revelation 1:7). At that moment, “every knee will bow… and every tongue acknowledge” that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11).
There is no secret rapture. There is one glorious, public, cosmic appearing of the King of kings after the tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31). When He descends with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). The whole world will witness this. Unbelieving humanity will see the graves burst open, the skies filled with glory, and millions of living saints transformed and taken up. Some, in that moment of undeniable revelation, will cry out in repentance and be saved. Tragically, many more will harden their hearts even further, just as Pharaoh did when he saw the signs in Egypt (Revelation 16:9, 11, 21).
This is not a message of fear but of hope, purpose, and ultimate victory. The seven-year tribulation (Daniel’s 70th week) is not God’s wrath poured out on His Bride; it is the final refining fire for the Church and the last great harvest of souls before the Kingdom comes in fullness. Here’s why the Church had better be ready to endure—and even embrace—this hour.
1. Tribulation is God’s Appointed Means to Mature and Unite His Church
Right now, in this final hour before the great tribulation, the Spirit of God is sounding a clear trumpet call of repentance across the earth: “Return to My original pattern for My Church!”
He is calling us to repent for abandoning the Pentecost-order of gathering (1 Corinthians 14:26-40) and for quenching the Spirit through centuries of man-made tradition. He is calling us to repent for rejecting the full fivefold ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers that He gave “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13).
These ascension-gift ministries are being restored in our day precisely so the entire Body can once again operate in the gifts of the Spirit with power and anointing. When apostles and prophets lay true foundation, when evangelists stir the fire of harvest, when pastors and teachers nurture and disciple, the whole church is released into utterance gifts (prophecy, tongues, interpretation), revelation gifts (word of knowledge, word of wisdom, discerning of spirits), and power gifts (faith, healings, miracles). Only then does every member become an active priest who ministers to the Lord and to one another.
The 1 Corinthians 14 gathering is the environment in which these gifts flourish: “When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.” Two or three speak in tongues and another interprets; two or three prophesy and the others weigh carefully what is said; teachings, psalms, and revelations flow as the Spirit wills. No one sits as a passive spectator. Every joint supplies, every member participates, and the living Head, Jesus, is free to manifest His presence and power through every vessel.
For centuries the church replaced this living, participatory Body with an unbiblical clergy-laity system: one man on a platform delivering a monologue while the royal priesthood sits mute in rows. This is not the church Jesus is building. This is why we are weak, divided, and powerless before the storm.
God is now commanding repentance and restoration. Return to the 1 Corinthians pattern. Welcome back the Ephesians 4 fivefold ministry. Only then will the Body be built up in love, united in faith, mature in character, and clothed with power from on high—ready to stand and to overcome in the darkest hour.
2. The Greatest End-Time Harvest Requires a Purified and Empowered Church
Jesus said, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). That final proclamation will not be carried by spectator-Christians or by lone-star ministers.
It will be carried by a restored, fivefold-equipped, every-member-functioning Body moving in the full manifestation of the Spirit’s gifts.
Revelation 7 shows a great multitude “that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language” coming out of the great tribulation, having washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. These are tribulation converts—millions who will only come to the end of themselves when every human system collapses. They will be won by a Church that walks in demonstrated power, where prophecy pierces hearts, healings confirm the word, and the corporate anointing of a unified Body makes the gospel irresistible.
3. The Tribulation is NOT the Wrath of God on the Church
This is crucial. 1 Thessalonians 5:9 says, “God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The wrath we are exempt from is the final, undiluted wrath poured out in the seven bowls at the very end (Revelation 16).
The seals and trumpets are judgments on a rebellious world and the kingdom of the Antichrist, but they are not the wrath that believers are promised deliverance from.
Jesus prayed, “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). God will protect His people through the tribulation—sometimes miraculously, sometimes by giving dying grace to martyrs whose spirits go immediately into His presence (Revelation 12:11; 20:4).
Eternal security is never in question. Once you are truly in Christ, nothing can separate you from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39).
4. The Church Will Operate in Unprecedented Power
Those who endure to the end with faith will boldly proclaim the everlasting gospel to every nation, tribe, language, and people (Revelation 14:6).
The two witnesses, the 144,000, and countless believers will move in the spirit and power of Elijah and Moses. Signs, wonders, healings, and resurrections will accompany the word (Mark 16:17-20; Joel 2:28-32)—flowing most freely in gatherings where the restored fivefold ministry has equipped the saints and the 1 Corinthians pattern has released every member to function.
The same Holy Spirit who empowered the early church under Nero will anoint a last-days church under global persecution. The blood of the martyrs has always been the seed of the church—and never more than in this final hour.
Get Ready, Beloved
The pre-tribulation “secret rapture” teaching has produced a generation of sleepy, self-focused Christians who think they will escape hardship. But Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Today the Spirit is saying, “Repent and return—return to the fivefold ministry, return to the 1 Corinthians gathering, return to My power flowing through every member.” Only then will we be ready.
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Until You come, may we repent, may the fivefold gifts be restored, may every priest minister in the gathering of the saints, and may we be found faithful—loving not our lives even unto death, preaching the gospel with signs following, and shining as lights in the darkest hour the world has ever known.
Maranatha!
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