Do God’s people live through the coming tribulation or are they raptured before the tribulation?
The experiences of ancient Israel were examples given by God for His people living at the close of time. Just as Israel was delivered from Egyptian bondage after the plagues, so God’s church will be protected through the plagues and be delivered from the hand of the oppressor (I Corinthians 10:11; Psalm 91; 46). Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego entered the flames when they refused to yield to the universal death decree of Babylon’s King. In those flames God miraculously delivered them. Their death-defying faith faced the flames (Daniel 3:16-28). He comes as a thief after the plagues (Revelation 16:15). What sense would it make to declare “Behold I come as a thief after six plagues are already poured out” if He had already come as a thief before they were poured out? Revelation 15:8 emphatically declares “No man can enter the (heavenly) Temple until the plagues are completed. II Thessalonians 2:1-3 makes it plain that the anti-christ is revealed before Jesus comes and is destroyed by the
