Views on the Tribulation

Dr. Couch, what are some of the views about the seven year tribulation?

ANSWER: There are a bunch of wrong views and then there is the right view, as taught by the orthodox Jews and Christ. And that is, the Messiah comes at the end of the tribulation to establish His earthly one thousand year kingdom Davidic rule on earth. The others are all wrong!

Reading the OT and the Gospels, one can see that the tribulation is an event that will fall upon the world and upon the nation of Israel. The church is never mentioned as going through this horrible period of worldwide wrath. Let's look at some of the views:

Postmillennial Tribulation: The church goes through the tribulation at the end the millennium. The church is the millennium or the kingdom. Walvoord notes: "It is a characteristic of postmillennialism that it does not attempt a literal interpretation of the Tribulation." And, he notes: "As illustrated in the writings of Charles Hodge, the postmil view considers the Tribulation a final stage of trouble for the church just preceding the grand climax of the triumph of the gospel, which is the kingdom."

Amillennial interpretation of the Tribulation. This view does not differ essentially from the postmil view, though it has a different theological context. The present age is regarded as the predicted millennium. The tribulation is said to precede the millennium. The tribulation is already past. Berkhof holds to a future tribulation, placing the fulfillment of Scripture dealing with the tribulation after the millennium.

Premillennial view of the tribulation. This is the correct view and it is consistent with literal interpretation. It is what the OT teaches and the Gospels also. This is what the orthodox Jews have taught throughout the last two thousand years. This is what dispensationalists realized the Bible was teaching when they saw the errors of amillennialism. This is so easy to defend it is not funny!

I have found through the years, however, that there are just a bunch of naysayers who want to deny the most truthful of views. They want to deny premillennialism and the pretribulational rapture of the church. Why? They just want to, though they really cannot defend their view! They hold to what I call the smorgasbord approach to doctrine! They come into the restaurant and see all the good food on the table, but over in the corner is a slop bucket. They gravitate to it rather than the roast beef and salad. They always go toward that which is not right, or is downright dumb! It seems to be automatic in their gene pool! I cannot figure it out!

Satan sees a weakness in the church. He brainwashes many teachers to gravitate to error. They are inspired by him, though they are not indwelt by him.

—Dr. Mal Couch (2/11)

What Is Posttribulationalism?

Dr. Couch, what is posttribulationalism? 

 

    ANSWER:  It is downright stupid, that is what it is! Remember the old joke about the man who hated tigers so badly and had to go to India to shoot one to get his hatred out of his system? Well, there are a bunch of people who will do anything to violate the plain teaching of Scripture about the pretribulational rapture of the church! They just hate with a passion this clear teaching of the Word of God. They will come up with crazy views like the postrrib idea. 

    Posttribers go all over the board mixing Gospel passages with church passages, pulling a verse here and one there. They have no clue of what context-context-context means! For example, many use Christ’s words in John 16:33 to deny the pretribulational rapture. Christ said: “In the world you will have tribulation.” They blindly say, “See, the church is to go through the seven-year tribulation!” They use the “fishing” approach to Bible study, and, the dart board approach as well. They drop a hook into the water and pull up anything that will supposedly help them deny the pretrib view. Also, they blindly throw darts at the wall, and where they stick, that’s what they embrace! 

    If you want the right scope, you need my award-winning volume The Dictionary of Premillennial Theology (Kregel).

    Thanks for asking.

    Dr. Mal Couch