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great company of those out of every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues who are converted after the removal of the Church, and who pass into the Great Trib ulation, but are faithful, and are caught up before the end of the Tribulation. That they are not the Church is evident from the fact that in the Millennium their blessed ness is to be here on earth while the bless edness of the Church is in heavenly glory. Furthermore, a distinction is drawn between them and the elders who are in heaven,' and these elders in the various mentions of them in Revelation stand for the saints who have been translated before the Tribulation, and who were already in heaven wherr this other company came up out of “the Great Tribu lation.” In the second place, another consideration makes it perfectly clear that according to the teaching of Scripture that the Great Tribulation will not precede the coming of of Lord to receive the Church to Himself, namely, we are repeatedly exhorted to be watching, looking and ready for our Lord’s' return (see Mark 13:34, 35, 36; Luke 12: 35, 36; Matt. 25 ¿3, 24, 42, 44). The return of our Lord therefore must be an event that as far as we know, may occur at any mo ment. tWe cannot be watching and looking for an event that we know cannot occur for seven or even three and a half years. We were once talking with the one who did more than anyone else to circulate among believers in America the teaching that the Church must pass through the Tribulation, i. e., Dr. Nathaniel West. We made in our conversation with him this point, that if this were true, we could not be watching and looking for the Lord’s return. His reply, somewhat brusquely made, was, “No psychological impossibility at all; no phy- chological impossibility.” But it is a psy chological impossibility. If there is any event, or series of events of which we know, that must precede the coming of our Lord, we cannot expect His coming until that event or series of events has taken place. It is true that there are events that must occur before He comes to the earth with His
ulation though ‘there is mention of the de struction of Jerusalem (Luke 21:20-24) and as there is no mention of “the Great Tribu lation” there is no mention of the “Abomi nation of Desolation.” It is evident from all these passages that the Tribulation is the time of God’s chastening judgments upon Israel when the Church times are over, and preceding the time when the Messiah once rejected comes again to save His people. Further than this, we have a picture in the Book of the Revelation of things that go on here on earth during the Tribulation times, and the Church nowhere appears in this picture, the messages to the churches closing at chapter 3 :22, and the Church rep resented in heaven beginning with chapter 4. Further still, the Tribulation comes in connection with the manifestation of the Man of Sin and his power and we are dis tinctly taught that this Lawless One cannot be revealed until the restraining power be taken out of the way (2 Thess. 2:6-8). The words translated “until he be taken out of the way” literally translated would read “until he (or “it”) become out of the midst." Now whether we take this restraining power to be the Church, or the Holy Spirit, or whatever it may be, it certainly is con nected with the Church and cannot be taken out of the midst until the Church is taken “out of the midst,” and makes it clear that the Church will be caught up before the Man of Sin is revealed and the Tribulation begins. It is very evident from all this that the Scriptures distinctly apply the Tribula tion to the Jews and as distinctly exclude the Church. There is another passage which correctly translated evidently refers to the Great Tribulation (Rev. 7:9-17). The correct translation of a part of the fourteenth verse is, “These are they that came out of the Great Tribulation (not as in the Au thorized Version “great tribulation” with out the definite article, “the”). The refer ence then is evidently to “the Great Tribu lation,” but those who are pictured as ■com ing up out of it are not the Church, but a
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