Vol.4 No.6

Q. Will God's people go through tribulation or persecution before His second coming?

A. Acts 14:22 gives a condition upon which those who are faithful to God will enter the kingdom of heaven: tribulation. Revelation 12:13-17 depicts the woman-God's church-and her end time remnant enduring incredible persecution from a Devil whose time is running out (Revelation 12:12, 17).

Yet, God through the prophet Isaiah, promises to protect His faithful people in the day of the Devil's wrath: "He [we] shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure" (Isaiah 33:16). In Psalms we are assured, "Only with thine eyes shalt thou... see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord ... thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh dwelling" (Psalms 91:8-10).

Contrary to what some teach about the saints being taken secretly from earth to escape the tribulation, Paul taught that at Christ's second coming, the living saints would be on earth and would be "caught up together with them [the righteous dead] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

The Bible clearly teaches that while God's people experience a great time of trouble or tribulation here on earth before Jesus' return, God will protect them.