The question, Will the saints be in the tribulation ? suggests itself to every one who is occupied with the hopes of the Church of God and the prophetic declarations of Scripture as to the close of this earth's painful and laborious history. Personal anxiety suggests it on one hand, and on the other it connects itself intimately with the gravest and most vital points of prophetic inquiry; or rather, of the true character of the Church of God and its condition at the close.

I cannot, in the space allowed me here, enter at large into the declarations of the Old Testament as to a remnant, nor of the New as to the Church. But a short answer to the question itself will help to throw light on the points I allude to, and on the rapture of the saints. I purpose adding a development of the true force of 2 Thess. 1:, 2:, so often introduced in the discussions which have arisen on these subjects.

And first, as to our being in the tribulation :How do I know there will be a tribulation ? I must get some revelation of it. He who would place the Church in it will answer me, I am sure the Scriptures are clear on the point. There will be at the close a tribulation, a time such as there has never been, till the Lord's coming brings deliverance. What, then, are the scriptures which tell us that there will
be such tribulation ? I am not aware of any other direct ones than these :-Jer. 30:7 ; Dan. 12:i; Matt. 24:21; Mark 13:19 (Luke does not speak of it, nor of the abomination of desolation); to which we may add the more general passages of Rev. 3:10; 7:14. The first four passages do effectively prove that there will be a time of tribulation such as never was since there was a nation, or, as it is expressed in Mark, "such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created, neither shall be." The passages from Revelation apply, we shall see, to a wider sphere than the preceding ones; but as they speak of a great tribulation, I have, of course, quoted them. There will be, then, a tribulation.

The other part of the question still remains :Shall we, who compose the Church, be in this tribulation ? The answer to this question must be sought in the passages which speak of the tribulation itself.

The first of them, Jer. 30:7, is as clear as possible in announcing those to whom it applies. "It is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be delivered out of it." This time, then, of trouble, such as never was nor will be-so that there cannot be two-is the time of Jacob's trouble. Nothing can be clearer or more distinct. The whole chapter may be read, which sets it in the clearest light. It is not merely that Jacob will be found there, but when it is said,"alas ! for that day is great, there is none like it," the trouble spoken of is Jacob's trouble.

The next is Dan. 12:1:This is also positively declared to be of Daniel's people. The whole prophecy is the description of what is to happen to Daniel's people in the last days (Dan. 10:14). Michael, also, will then stand up for that people (comp. chap. 10:21), and, as Jeremiah had said, they will be delivered (that is, the elect remnant – those written in the book). Daniel's testimony then is also quite clear. The tribulation is the tribulation of Daniel's people.

But this is the rather important because it carries us at once to Matthew, the Lord Himself declaring that He speaks of this same time and same event, using the terms of Daniel and referring to him by name as well as to the statements of the passage. (Comp. Matt. 24:15 ; Dan. 12:11.) But all the language of the passage in Matthew confirms this. Those who are in Judea are to flee to the mountains. Those who are on the housetop are not to come down to seek anything, The abomination which causes desolation stands in the holy place. They are to pray that their flight may not be on the Sabbath. False Christs and false prophets are to seduce with the hopes cherished by the Jewish people. All is local and Jewish- has no application to hopes which rest on going to meet Christ in the air. What is in question is, "flesh " being "saved " (1:e., life spared on earth). Mark relates evidently to the same event and almost exactly in the same terms.

Thus these four passages, which speak of the unequal ed tribulation, apply it distinctively to Jacob, Jerusalem, and Judea, and the Jews, not to the Church. It is entirely another order and sphere of things from the Church, and professedly so.

There are two passages which, as I have said, are more general:Rev. 3:10 and 7:14. Do these, then, apply to the Church ? The language of Rev. 3:10 is this :" Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from* the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them which dwell on the earth."*Greek, "out of."* That is, when the Church is addressed, it is with a declaration that she will be kept out of that hour which shall come to try others.

Thus far, then, the testimonies of Scripture declare that the unequaled tribulation is for Jacob ; and when the time of temptation is spoken of in addressing the Church, it is to declare that the faithful shall be kept out of it.

Rev. 7:14 may seem more difficult ; still it bears witness to the same truth. For the heavenly kings and priests (that is, the elders who have represented them from the beginning of the second or strictly prophetic part of the book) are professedly another class of persons, who have not come out of the great tribulation. One of these elders explains to John who those are, who have come out of great tribulation, as another class of persons from themselves. One of them asks John, Who are these who are arrayed in white robes, etc. ? John refers to him, and the elder then explains. That is, the crowned elders are quite a different class from them; so that, while admitting the passage to be obscure in certain points, it is clear in this:in giving us the elders and those who came out of tribulation as two distinct classes. The crowned elders are not at all represented as having been in it, but as pointing out others as having come out of it. Every element of the description of these persons confirms this distinction.

Another passage, Rev. 12:, while not using the term tribulation, yet speaking of the epoch at which it is to happen, strongly confirms this same truth. When Satan and his angels are defeated by Michael, he is cast out and comes down to the earth, having great wrath, knowing he has but a short time, and persecutes the woman. Now, what is the effect of this most important event on those who can celebrate its bearing ? That the trial of the heavenly saints is ended, and that of the inhabiters of the earth and the sea just about to begin in its most formidable shape, because Satan is cast down there. The language is this :"Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night, and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea," etc. Now I do not say that this is the moment of the rapture, for I think that is included in the man-child's being caught up. But I say this, that at the moment of the commencement of the great rage of Satan for the three times and a half, the entire deliverance of the heavenly saints from his power, and their definite triumph is celebrated; that is, they are not exposed to that last time of Satan's rage. This chapter, then, confirms, in the fullest way, the exemption of the Church from the last and dreadful time of trial. I am satisfied that the whole teaching and structure of the Revelation confirms the same truth; but this would evidently lead me into too large a sphere of inquiry. We have found that the passages which speak of tribulation first apply it directly to the Jews on one side, and then exclude the Church from it on the other. I do not see how such a point as this could be made clearer by Scripture. J. N. D.

(To be concluded in next number.)