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Summary
- The Tribulation is a time of suffering many Christians expect just before Jesus returns, and the version most of us have heard lasts seven years.
- Those seven years come from the one “week” left over in Daniel 9:27, which dispensational evangelicals read together with Matthew 24 and Revelation.
- The Assemblies of God teaches that the Church will be taken up before the Great Tribulation, while the Coptic and Greek Orthodox expect Christ to come after it.
- Catholics look for a last trial of the Church before Christ’s one return and set no seven years, and the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod says all Christians endure tribulation until the last day.
- Some read the great tribulation of Matthew 24 as fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70.
- Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses each teach a great tribulation still to come, in their own order of events.
- Methodists say the Tribulation is not in their doctrinal standards, and many other churches have no official teaching on it and speak only of Christ’s return.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture is quoted from the King James Version: Daniel 7:25, 9:24–27 and 12:1; Matthew 24:15–22, 29–31, 34–36 and 40–42; Luke 21:20; John 16:33; Acts 14:22; 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and 5:9; Revelation 1:9, 2:20–22, 7:9–14, 11:15, 13:5 and 20:2. Word counts are ours, from the Project Gutenberg King James text.
- Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.25 and 5.30; dates from the Catholic Encyclopedia.
- The Shepherd of Hermas, Book I; Catholic Encyclopedia, Hermas.
- Eusebius, Church History, Book III; Catholic Encyclopedia, Eusebius.
- Augustine, City of God, Book XX; Catholic Encyclopedia, Augustine.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 668–677.
- Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Did You Know: The Truth About the Rapture.
- Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States, Questions and Answers: Tribulation and Rapture.
- Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Frequently Asked Questions: Doctrine, and Commission on Theology and Church Relations, A Lutheran Response to the Left Behind Series (2004).
- Assemblies of God, The Rapture of the Church (1979).
- United Pentecostal Church International, The Coming of the Lord (2005) and Articles of Faith.
- Dallas Theological Seminary, Doctrinal Statement.
- Faith Pulpit, Faith Baptist Theological Seminary, Reviewing Five Rapture Positions, Part 1.
- Got Questions Ministries, Midtribulationism and Tribulation saints.
- Pre-Trib Research Center, Liberty University, The Rapture in Pseudo-Ephraem.
- Apologetics Press, Matthew 24: Will There Be a Tribulation?, Who Are These People? and Mission, History, and Beliefs.
- Seventh-day Adventist Church, Fundamental Belief 25 and the General Conference statement How Seventh-day Adventists View Roman Catholicism (1997). A commentary, not a church statement: The Trouble with the Time of Trouble, Adventist Review (2022).
- Jehovah’s Witnesses, What Is the Great Tribulation? and The Watchtower, 15 July 2015.
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith—Matthew and the Guide to the Scriptures: Signs of the Times, Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
- United Methodist Church, Ask The UMC: the second coming.
- Episcopal Church, Book of Common Prayer 1979, Catechism.
- Westminster Larger Catechism, OPC text; Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Question and Answer on millennial positions.
- United Church of Christ, Heidelberg Catechism.
- Church of the Nazarene, Articles of Faith.
- Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Faith and Message 2000.
- Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), The Church for Disciples of Christ (1997).
- The Lausanne Covenant (1974).
- The Salvation Army, Handbook of Doctrine.
- Mennonite Church USA, Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, Article 24.
- Evangelical Friends Church Mid-America Yearly Meeting, Faith and Practice.
- Churches of Christ: Who are the churches of Christ and what do they believe in?
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