A Biblical Call to Faith, Dependence, and Bold Witness
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, if you have ever wondered what the final chapter of this age will look like for those who love Jesus, the Scriptures paint a clear, sobering, yet hope-filled picture.
According to post-tribulation theology, the Church will not be secretly removed before the storm. We will walk through the entire seven-year period known as the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21; Revelation 7:14). Yet because of eternal security—the unbreakable promise that “no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28)—every true believer who has trusted in the finished work of the cross is sealed forever. Our salvation is not at risk, but our faithfulness is tested. We are called to endure to the end, and those who do will be saved (Matthew 24:13).
A gentle disclaimer: Rapture theology (the question of when the gathering of believers occurs) is not a salvation issue. Good, sincere Christians hold different views on the timing, and no one can be 100% certain of the exact sequence until the events unfold. What matters most is that we have a solid, biblical overview of the subject so that when these things begin to happen we will recognise the season and know what is taking place. The most important thing is to be ready today — because the rapture will happen, sooner or later. While we do not know the day or the hour, Jesus told us we can discern the season and know when it is near, even at the doors (Matthew 24:32-33).
Scripture knows nothing of a “Gentile Church” existing as a separate entity from Israel. God did not replace or set aside His Old Covenant people. Instead, He faithfully continued with the House of Israel.
The New Covenant was explicitly promised to both the House of Israel and the House of Judah (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Yet God foreknew that the leaders of the House of Judah would reject Jesus as their Messiah. Because of this rejection, they were cut off from the immediate blessings of the New Covenant and dispersed among the nations. This dispersion, however, was never the final word. In mercy, God has promised to regather the House of Judah in the last days—not because of any obedience or faithfulness on their part, but purely for the sake of His holy name (Ezekiel 36:22-24). This regathering began to be fulfilled in 1948 with the rebirth of the modern nation of Israel, but it will not be spiritually completed until the House of Judah looks upon Him whom they have pierced and mourns for Him as for an only son (Zechariah 12:10) at the visible return of Jesus Christ. In the meantime, individual Jews can be saved exactly as Gentiles are saved—by grace alone through faith in the finished work of Christ and the gospel.
Through the new birth, both Jews (from the House of Judah) and Gentiles are grafted into this same New Covenant body, which is the true continuation and fulfilment of Israel. The apostles—primarily Galileans from the territory of the former northern House of Israel—were the first Israelites to recognise Jesus as Messiah and enter into the New Covenant promises. There is only one people of God: New Covenant Israel. Jews and Gentiles together become partakers of all the promises originally made to Israel, now realised under the New Covenant through faith in Jesus the Messiah. We are “one new man” in Christ (Ephesians 2:15), the Israel of God.
The One-World System and the False Peace
The countdown begins when a global government rises—the “beast” system of Revelation 13. Out of the chaos of wars, famines, and natural disasters (Matthew 24:6-8), a charismatic leader—the Antichrist—will broker a seven-year peace treaty.
Daniel 9:27 tells us he will “confirm a covenant with many for one ‘week’”—that is, a covenant lasting seven years—with the many (understood here as the surrounding Arab nations that will enter into a peace agreement with Israel). For the first three and a half years the world will breathe a sigh of relief. Economies will stabilise, conflicts will appear to cease, and many will hail him as the answer to humanity’s problems. This false peace will allow Israel to feel secure enough to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.
Important clarification: The rebuilding of a physical temple in Jerusalem is not a good or positive development in God’s redemptive plan. It is actually a tragic sign of Israel’s continued national rejection of Jesus as their Messiah. Jesus Himself is the true Temple of God made without hands (John 2:19-21; Colossians 2:9). The old sacrificial system pointed forward to Him, and once He offered Himself as the final sacrifice, the veil was torn and the need for a physical temple ended. Rebuilding the temple and resuming animal sacrifices would represent a deliberate turning back to the shadows instead of embracing the reality fulfilled in Christ. This is precisely why the House of Judah, as a nation, will not turn to Jesus as Messiah until the very end—when they look upon Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him as for an only son at His second coming (Zechariah 12:10). Only then will the national blindness be lifted and they be fully grafted back into New Covenant Israel.
But at the midpoint—exactly three and a half years in—he will break the treaty. He will set up the “abomination of desolation” in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15), declare himself God (2 Thessalonians 2:4), and unleash the Great Tribulation in full force. The second half of the seven years is when the real storm hits. This is the time Jesus warned would be so severe that no flesh would survive if the days were not cut short (Matthew 24:22). Even in this dark hour, New Covenant Israel—the Church—will stand as the fulfilment of God’s ancient promises to both houses of Israel.
Why the Church Must Go Through the Great Tribulation
The purpose of the Church remaining on earth during the Great Tribulation is rooted in the heart of God: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise… He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
God loves the world and releases His judgments not only as righteous punishment but also as a final, merciful wake-up call to show unbelievers their desperate need for a Saviour. Because of this unparalleled time of trouble, millions who would never have otherwise turned to Christ will be saved in the last great harvest.
Without the Church present to preach the gospel, how then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? (Romans 10:14). The Church — New Covenant Israel — must remain as salt and light, empowered by the Holy Spirit, so that the final witness can go forth to every nation before the end comes.
The Mark of the Beast: Total Economic Control
During this intensified period, the Antichrist and the False Prophet will roll out the ultimate control mechanism: the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:16-18). No one will be able to buy or sell—food, medicine, fuel, housing—without it. The system will be linked to worship of the beast. For believers who refuse the mark, the world’s supply chains will slam shut. This is not a distant sci-fi scenario; it is the prophesied reality that will test the Church’s dependence on God like never before.
Divine Provision: Just Like Israel in the Wilderness and Elijah in the Famine
Here is where the miracle of post-tribulation faith shines. God has never left His people without provision when they trusted Him completely. Remember the children of Israel (the twelve tribes, later divided into the House of Israel and the House of Judah)?
For forty years in the desert they ate manna every morning, drank water from the rock, and “their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet swell” (Deuteronomy 8:4; Nehemiah 9:21). Total dependence. Daily miracle.
The same pattern appears in the life of Elijah (a prophet to the northern House of Israel). During a multi-year famine, God commanded ravens to bring him bread and meat twice a day, and later a widow’s jar of flour and jug of oil never ran dry (1 Kings 17). The Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever. In the Great Tribulation, many believers—now part of New Covenant Israel—will experience supernatural provision—food appearing, resources multiplied, clothes and shoes preserved—just as in the wilderness. We will be totally dependent on our heavenly Father, not on banks, governments, or global markets. He who fed millions with five loaves will feed His remnant again.
The Church’s Final Assignment: Preach the Gospel to All Nations
Even while hiding, fleeing, or trusting God for daily bread, New Covenant Israel (the Church) will not be silent. Jesus gave us the marching orders right in the middle of His Olivet Discourse:
“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). The Great Tribulation is not a time of retreat; it is the final harvest.
The Holy Spirit will pour out power from on high in a Joel 2:28-32 measure. Believers will be “endued with power” (Luke 24:49) just as the early Church was at Pentecost—only greater. Signs, wonders, healings, and bold proclamation will explode across the globe. The two witnesses in Jerusalem will prophesy with fire from heaven (Revelation 11). The 144,000 sealed servants (drawn from the tribes of Israel, now representing New Covenant Israel) will proclaim the gospel. Countless ordinary believers, empowered by the same Spirit, will lead multitudes to Christ even as the world rages.
Many sinners—from the House of Judah, the House of Israel, and the Gentiles alike—will be saved in this last great awakening and grafted into New Covenant Israel. Revelation 7 shows a “great multitude that no one could count” standing before the throne, having come out of the Great Tribulation. The blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will overcome the dragon (Revelation 12:11).
Persecution, Martyrdom, and Eternal Security
Not every believer will escape physical harm. The Scriptures are honest: many will be betrayed by family and friends, hated by the world, and put to death for their faith (Matthew 24:9-10).
The beast will be given authority to wage war against the saints and to overcome them (Revelation 13:7). Some believers will be imprisoned, tortured, or beheaded for refusing to worship the beast or take his mark (Revelation 20:4). Yet because of eternal security, not one true believer will be lost eternally. Even those who are martyred remain safe forever in the arms of Jesus. Their deaths are not a loss of salvation but a powerful testimony that sows seeds for the final great harvest. While some believers will experience miraculous divine protection—like the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace or Daniel in the lions’ den—others will glorify God through their deaths. In either case, every genuine believer—Jew or Gentile now one in New Covenant Israel—is eternally secure in Christ.
The Climax: Jesus Returns and the End Comes
After the tribulation of those days, the cosmic signs will appear: the sun darkened, the moon turned to blood, stars falling (Matthew 24:29; Joel 2:31). Then, “they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).
Here is the clear post-tribulation rapture sequence: At Christ’s second coming the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet 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, and so we shall always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Christ comes first for the dead in Christ (raising them in resurrection glory), and then He comes with them to gather those who are alive in Christ. This is one single, visible, glorious event at the end of the Great Tribulation—not seven years earlier (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3). The angels will gather the elect “from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other”—the full company of New Covenant Israel. Jesus will judge the nations, cast the beast and false prophet into the lake of fire, bind Satan, and establish His millennial kingdom. At that time the House of Judah will look upon Him whom they pierced and be fully restored as part of New Covenant Israel.
A Final Word of Encouragement
If you are reading this and you know Jesus as Lord and Savior, take heart. The same God who sustained Israel for forty years, who fed Elijah by ravens, who multiplied oil for the widow, and who raised Jesus from the dead will sustain you. Your salvation is eternally secure, but your calling is to endure, to preach, to trust, and to overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony.
The Great Tribulation is not a time to fear for those who are in Christ—it is the final proving ground where New Covenant Israel shines brightest before the King returns. Keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Stockpile the Word of God in your heart, stay filled with the Holy Spirit, and remember: He who promised is faithful. He will provide. He will empower. And He will come back exactly as He said.
“Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
Maranatha.
— A fellow servant looking for the Blessed Hope
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