WHAT IS THE TRIBULATION? (Part 2 of 2)

Unchanging Faith ❧ Part 24

Selected Passages ❧ Pastor, Dr. John Denney

Sometime ago I heard a story from the early days of the telegraph.  At that time it was the fastest method of long-distance communication.  As the story goes, a young man heard the telegraph office was hiring for a Morse Code operator. When he came for an interview, he noticed that the office was filled with noise and clatter, including the sound of the telegraph in the background. The receptionist instructed him and all the other applicants to wait until they were called to enter the inner office. 

After a few minutes, the young man stood up and walked right into the office. The other applicants were confused as they didn’t hear anybody being called. They assumed the young man went in by mistake and that he would be disqualified.

Within a few minutes, however, the employer escorted the young man out of the office and said to the other applicants, “Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has just been filled.”

The other applicants grumbled, and one spoke up saying, “Wait a minute, I don’t understand. He was the last to come in, and we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That’s not fair!”  The employer said, “I’m sorry, but the last several minutes while you’ve been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse Code: ‘If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.’ None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. The job is his.”  

The Bible says a time is coming when the world is going to be completely caught off guard and left confused by the sudden disappearance of believers from all around the world called the rapture.  Prior to this great disappearance of the Church the world will be filled with all kinds of noise and clatter, as well as the sound of a telegraph busily clicking and clacking away in the background.  People will hear it, but they won’t understand it.  It’ll be little more than just another noise in the background.  

Here’s the way the Apostle Paul describes it. Speaking to believers who understand the message of God’s “Morse Code,” he writes: For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. When people are saying, “Everything is peaceful and secure,” then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape. But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised…(1 Thessalonians 5:2-4, NLT). The day of the Lord’s return Paul is talking about here is when God calls His Church Home in the rapture.  For the world, it will come like a thief in the night; people won’t expect it.  Believers, however won’t be in the dark. They’re going to hear God’s Morse Code and be ready.  Renowned prophecy expert Dr. David Reagan writes: There are so many of these signs today (i.e. Morse Code signals), in fact, that one would have to be either biblically illiterate or spiritually blind not to realize that we are living on borrowed time (David Reagan, 50 Reasons We Are in the End Times, Lamplighter Magazine, June 2009). 

This morning I want us to learn God’s Morse Code so that when we hear it, we’ll understand it and be ready. We’re going to pick up where we left off last week answering the question: What is the Tribulation?  I want to unpack some key topics closely related to the Tribulation like 1) What is Gog and Magon? Who are the 144,000 witnesses? 2) Who are the two witnesses? 3) What is the Great Tribulation? And 4) How close are we to the Tribulation?   

1. What is the Tribulation? The Bible tells us the Tribulation is going a time in which the world is going to experience seven years of the most unimaginable suffering and death it has or will ever know.  Jesus said, There will be greater anguish than at any time since the world began. And it will never be so great again(Matthew 24:21, NLT).  Some wonder if we’re in the Tribulation right now.  I like one man’s response: The Bible makes it clear that what we are experiencing right now is a firecracker compared to the nuclear weapon of the tribulation(Tsarfati, Has the Tribulation Begun? p. 7).  The prophet Jeremiah calls the Tribulation the time of trouble for the nation of Israel, or Jacob’s distress. In all history there has never been such a time of terror. It will be a time of trouble for my people Israel. Yet in the end they will be saved! (Jeremiah 30:7, NLT). This time of trouble will be for the purpose of bringing the Jewish people to a place of trusting the Messiah, Yeshua Hamashia, whom they rejected two thousand years ago.  It will also be a time of God’s unparalleled judgement on the Gentiles for rejecting God (Acts 17:31; 2 Thess. 1:7-8). In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them(Rev. 9:6). More than half of the world’s population will perish due to their lack of faith in God and their rejection of the Lord Jesus. 

How do we know the Tribulation is seven literal years? Both the book of Daniel and Revelation make this clear. Revelation reveals the halfway mark of Tribulation is 1,260 days, or 3 ½ years (Rev. 11:3; 12:6). This is a good place to pause and put a plug in for our Life Group.  Starting Tuesday September 23 we’re going to examine greater detail what the Bible says about Earth’s last days. 

1. Gog and Magog. Another important prophetic event that will take place before

the Tribulation or shortly after it begins is Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38-39). God speaking to the future ruler Ezekiel refers to as the prince of Rosh declares:  A long time from now you will be called into action. In the distant future you will swoop down on the land of Israel, which will be enjoying peace after recovering from war and after its people have returned from many lands to the mountains of Israel (Ezekiel 38:8). God says a long-time form Ezekiel’s day Gog, the prince of Rosh and Magog, referring to the surrounding Arab nations of Russia, will one day conspire to secretly invade the nation of Israel shortly after they are recovering from war and after its people have returned from many lands. God said this 2,500 years ago! After Israel lost her status as a nation in 135AD, no one believed this prophecy would ever happen.  But 1,813 years later on May 14, 1948, the impossible happened – Israel became a nation once again.  Since that time Jews from around the world have been returning to their homeland just as Ezekiel foresaw.  Now, for the first time in two-thousand years (2006) there are more Jews in Israel than anywhere in the world.  Russia and the surrounding Arab nations share a common hatred for Israel that is growing.  What is amazing is that less than one-hundred years ago this prophecy could not have been possible. Israel has only been a nation for 77 years.  I mentioned last week Russia is intentionally supplanting Christian churches in Ukraine with Islamic Mosks in order to rid the country of Christianity.  The late professor Jon Mark Ruthven writes in his book The Prophecy That’s Shaping History: Great events in history often gather their momentum and power long before they are recognized by the experts and commentators of world affairs.  Easily, one of the most neglected and powerfully galvanizing forces shaping history in the world today is the prophecy of Gog and Magog.  Why do I say this? Because if we’re listening, we can hear God’s Morse Code. God is telling us we’re very close to the time of the Tribulation. 

1. 144,000 witnesses.  During the Tribulation God is going to raise up what are known as

144,000 witnesses. God is going to unleash a 144,000 Billy Grahams on the world. And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel(Revelation 7:4, NAS).  They are going to be God’s bondservants with a special seal on their foreheads distinguishing them as belonging to God (Rev. 14:1).  Just to be clear, they are not the 144,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Nor are they the Church.  They will represent the tribes of Israel, 12,000 from each tribe (Rev. 7:4).  God is going to unleash 144,000 fearless evangelists to proclaim the Gospel around the world.  This will be like releasing 144,000 Billy Graham’s! They are going to reveal the heart of God to save people even while God is pouring out His wrath on Earth. Revelation 7:9 indicates they will be so effective that a great multitude which on one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and all tongues will come to Christ (Rev. 7:9)!

1. Two prophets. During the second half of the Tribulation God is also going to raise up

two powerful witnesses who will minister specifically in Jerusalem during the city’s darkest hour.  John is told in Revelation 11, I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth(Revelation 11:3). Just as Satan will have two witnesses (Antichrist and the False Prophet), so God will raise up two supernatural witnesses to counter Satan’s minions. Satan, his two underlings, nor all the world will be able to stop them or silence them.  They’ll have the power to withhold rain, turn waters into blood, and strike the Earth with plagues.  If anyone who tries to stop or harm them, fire will flow out of their mouths devouring their enemies (Rev. 11:6). They’ll prophesy for 1,260 days (3 ½ years).  At the end of those days, God will allow them be killed. The whole world will see them. CNN, NBC, MSNBC (now MS), and every news channel around the world will broadcast their dead bodies for all to see. Their bodies will lay in the streets for 3 ½ days.  The world will throw a party giving each other gifts.  Many have tried to figure out just who the two witnesses will be.  Some say Moses and Elijah or Enoch.  No one knows.  Whoever they are, everyone will know when they show up.  

1. What is the Great Tribulation? This is the second half of the Tribulation in which God’s wrath is going to intensify to the point where no one will survive unless He cuts those days shore. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short(Matthew 24:22).  
2. How Close Are We to the Tribulation?  One of the words many prophecy experts keep using is “convergence.”  Meaning, we’re seeing the convergence of many signs coming together faster than at any other time in history.  The Bible tells us before the Tribulation the world will experience what Jesus called are birth pangs (Matt. 24:8).  The closer His return the greater the birth pangs.  What are some of those birth pains?  Jesus notes three: False prophets, wars and rumors of wars, famines and earthquakes. 
3. False prophets. Many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead

many(Matthew 24:5).  Dr. David Jeremiah recently pointed out that a report on CNN noted there are more sites devoted to religion than to porn.  The world is witnessing a great increase in the pursuit false Christ’s.  Dr. Jeremiah writes: Never in human history has there been such a proliferation of religious information. Closely related to the increase of false prophets is the sign of apostasy. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first (2 Thessalonians 2:3).  Dr. Andy Woods writes: Apostasy is the specific scriptural sign given indicating that the church is nearing the completion of her earthly mission.  

1. Wars and rumors of wars. You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars 

(Matthew24:6).  Currently, there are more than 56 ongoing conflicts worldwide.  This is the highest number since World War II, according to the 2024 Global Peace Index (GPI). These conflicts involve 92 countries that are engaged in hostilities beyond their own borders, marking the highest level of international involvement since the GPI’s inception.  In addition to this, it is thought there are more than 100 global “low intensity conflicts” taking place.  If you look at a colored map of the world of all the major and minor wars, conflicts and skirmishes, it looks like the most of the world is on fire with wars and rumors of wars (Wikipedia, List of ongoing armed conflicts, June 27, 2025). 

1. Famines & earthquakes. In various places there will be famines and earthquakes

(Matthew 24:7).  It’s not surprising with everything else happening that famines and severe food shortages are increasing globally as well.  In 2024, more than 295 million people across 53 countries and territories experienced acute levels of hunger, an increase of 13.7 million from 2023, marking the sixth consecutive year of rising food insecurity. The number of people facing catastrophic levels of hunger reached a record high, and the prevalence of acute food insecurity stood at 22.6 percent of the population assessed, the fifth consecutive year above 20 percent (Brave, Famine trends rising). 

Earthquakes also appear to be on the rise according to experts. The National Earthquake Information Center now locates about 20,000 earthquakes around the globe each year, or approximately 55 per day.  They say this is not because there are necessarily more of them but because of improved detection technology as well as global warming gives the perception that earthquakes are on the rise. Some debate this, saying earthquakes are on the rise.  In fact studies have noted a slight elevation in the rate of magnitude of 8.0 and higher since 2004. But, they say, this increase is not that significant. 

None of these things are unique to history.  Jesus is not saying these things would be unique, but that they would grow in frequency and intensity around the world.  They are not the prophecies of the Tribulation itself, they are the birth pangs preceding them.  Prophecy experts call them “stage setting” as though you’re setting in a theater waiting for the curtain to be drawn and the play to begin.  While you’re waiting, you can hear the sounds of the stage being prepared.  That’s what we’re hearing today.  Stage setting has been true for the hundred years since Israel became a nation.  This was God’s super sign that told the world the Tribulation is near.  A word that is being used to describe the growing number of signs is: “convergence.”  More signs are happening at a faster rate of speed.   

Renowned prophecy expert Dr. David Reagan tells the story of a sharing at a prophecy conference in Orlando Florida in the early 90’s with an elderly man named Elbert Peak.  Dr. Reagan says Mr. Peak was in his 80s at the time and had been assigned the topic “The Signs of the Times.”   He began his presentation by observing, “Sixty years ago when I first started preaching, you had to scratch around like a chicken to find one sign of the Lord’s soon return.”  He paused for a moment, and then added, “But today there are so many signs I’m no longer looking for them. Instead, I’m listening for a sound — the sound of a trumpet!” 

Let me close our time by asking – Can you hear the sound of God’s telegraph clicking?  I do believe we are living on borrowed time.  We can see the Tribulation looming on the horizon.  God has not left us in the dark.  The question is, are you ready?  God has been patiently calling and waiting. He wants everyone to come to know Him (2 Peter 3:9).  God gives us one of two options: great joy or great judgment.  The choice is ours.  He offers us great joy, the joy of God’s complete forgiveness, love, and hope if we put our faith in Jesus Christ.  We can look forward with complete confidence to Christ’s return.  But if we reject God’s joy, we’re choosing His judgement. The choice is ours.