There’s a couple of points I’d like to make as I begin to sort out the study about ( Tribulation ). First of all, no man can teach spiritual lessons and, that about anything. People with a desire to help other people spiritually are simply vessels that seek to be used of God’s spirit. As I write and allow God to speak through me; it”s God’s Spirit that must be the one that reveals truth to you. God’s Spirit within me, seeks to reveal truth to me. In order for any person to be able to discern my teaching or, any person’s teaching then, that person must have the same Spirit within their hearts. That spirit reveals ( truth ) or deception to every believer.

The second point I’d like to make is about ( patience ). I’ll show you some verses to make this point:

( 2 Peter 1:4-7 ) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. ( 5 ) And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue: and to virtue knowledge: ( 6 ) And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; ( 7 ) And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brother kindness charity.

The word ( patience ) is found in that line of things we must add. I appears to me that the statement ( add to your faith ) would be the point a person is born again. Once we are saved, we begin to gain spiritual knowledge. The act of growing and understanding brings all these things into what it takes to truly understand and, see the spiritual things we desire to know answers to, such as ( Tribulation ).

Therefore, as I get into the teaching of this subject, we must lay a biblical foundation to be able to completely understand ( Tribulation ) or any other subject. In the process of doing that; it takes patience to watch it biblically unfold.

WHAT IS TRIBULATION ANWAY ?

Tribulation is a specific period of time that is set in scripture. It is one of at least seven that I see. When we speak of ( Tribulation ), we are speaking of a period of ( seven years ) or somewhere close to that time frame. You might ask me why I say that. Well, the Bible says this about that period of time.

( Matthew 24:22 )

And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

It appears here that it’s possible that ( these days ) might be less than ( seven years ). However, we could also say that ( seven years ) is shortened; as in, not going on longer that that.

The basic point here is that ( Tribulation ) is one of the periods that we can see a distinct period of time. There is one other that also has a distinct period of time, we’ll get to that a little later. There is also one period of time that reveals the approximate time that Christ will be born, we’ll see that as well.

The other periods that we will be looking into, actually, we have no idea how long they were in years or, how long it will be. Do you remember the scripture:

( Matthew 24:36 ) But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven but my Father only.

If we seek to understand ( Tribulation ) we must see the other ( periods of time ) and, what will bring about ( Tribulation ) . Not only that but, why it is coming and, to whom it is coming.

To show what ( Tribulation ) is let’s go to:

( Daniel 9:1-2 )

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; ( 2 ) In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the numbers of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

What Daniel was seeking was a more definite understanding of what was revealed by the prophet Jeremiah. Daniel said he understood by books the number of years. As a student of God’s word I like seeking the understanding of a man that understands; such as Daniel. Luke also said this same thing, concerning another subject all together.

( Luke 1:1-3 )

Forsomuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, ( 2 ) Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word: ( 3 ) It seened good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus.

( Luke also wrote the ( Book of Acts ).

I write these things just to lay a founmdation for any person that is seeking to grow spiritually and, to understand all about ( Tribulation ). I realize that it’s very little said in ( Luke or Acts ) about the subject other than prophetical statements. However, in seeking to understand, any person can also study beyond what I might teach here.

According to Daniel, ( Tribulation ) is a period of ( seven years ) that has to do with the ( Nation of Israel ). In order to see this we will dig a little deeper in:

( Daniel 9: 24-27 )

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make and end of sins, and to reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. ( 25 ) Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem unto the Messiah the prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. ( 26 ) And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall came shall destroy the city and the sancuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. ( 27 ) And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice of the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consumation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

With these verses in mind and, seeing that these scriptures are basically in the middle of the sequence of Biblical time; I’d like to use a verse of scripture to use as my baseline. I’ll be seeking to build a timeline of events and lay out each time and way God the Father seen fit to end each section of time. I’ll be starting tomorrow with a verse in:

( Hebrews 1:1-2 )

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, ( 2 ) Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

If you will notice, he says here that God; at sundry times and in divers manners. He says, he sopke to theit fathers. This whole thing, scripture we see is speaking of the Nation of Israel. It has nothing to do with we, as Gentiles. In other words, he’s not talking about the ancesters of Gentiles such as my father or yours but, the generations of fathers before the people of Israel that were living at that time. Now, as I make that statement, and we go all the way back to Adam and Eve, they were neither Jew nor Gentile, they were just people but, it all starts with them.

So. let’s just call this one of the (Sundry times) he speaks of in (Hebrews 1). We can also say it is the first sundry time. Most people know about creation and Adam and Eve. They also know that God instructed them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We all know that they did partake of the fruit of that tree. Therefore. what happened to Adam and Eve once they had sinned? They we cast out of the garden. When Adam and Eve left the garden, let’s look at a verse of scripture here to set an agenda.

(Genesis 3:24)

SO HE DROVE OUT THE MAN; AND PLACED AT THE EAST OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN CHERUBIMS, AND A FLAMING SWORD WHICH TURNED EVERY WAY, TO KEEP THE WAY OF THE TREE OF LIFE.

There’s a lot we can teach here but, since we are looking into Tribulation and building a trail to that time,; we’ll leave all that alone and try to stay on course. Niow, I’m going to say some things here that I can’t prove but at the same time I believe it’s important to stop and consider these things.

We just seen to end of one of God’s (sundry times) and a (divers manner). From this point on God will be dealing with mankind in a different manner. As a matter of fact, how would it be now that the tree of the good of the knowledge of good and evil is off limits to every other person? This is one of the things I’d say will use some thought as I teach it but, I believe that all the way from this point up until the flood of Noah; man could see those Cherubims and that flaming sword that God had placed at the east end of the Garden of Eden. You don’t have to believe that but, I think it has merit and even a purpose.

As we leave the garden; let’s look at one other event that took place just before they had to leave. The bible tells us that God would come down in the cool of the day and fellowship with Adam. However, once Adam and Eve sinned, they hid themselves from ther voice of God. Because of this, God took the skin of animals and make them a covering that they might still be able to fellowship with him. We also see this in:

(Genesis 3:21)

UNTO ADAM ALSO AND TO HIS WIFE DID THE LORD GOD MAKE COATS OF SKINS, AND CLOTHED THEM.

Here we see sacrifice, the shedding of blood and, it was performed by God himself. However, we must realize that both Adam and Eve had to be willing to receive that blood sacrifice. The grace that God had offered. We can relate this to the body of Jesus Christ and God offering himself in a body of flesh for the sins of the world. Up until this point, God came down in the cool of the day and talked to Adam and Eve. Let’s read that verse.

(Genesis 3:8-9)

AND THEY HEARDTHE VOICE OF THE LORD GOD WALKING IN THE GARDEN IN THE COOL OF THE DAY: AND ADAM AND HIS WIFE HID THEMSELVES FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD GOD AMONGST THE TREES OF THE GARDEN. (9) AND THE LORD GOD CALLED UNTO ADAM, AND SAID UNTO HIM, WHERE ART THOU?

Do you see here that the Lord God is doing the seeking but man is running, hiding from him? That same Lord God calls out to every man today by his Spirit and is still seeking to offer each person that same saving grace. Do you realize that once we leave these verses; the next time we see God speak it’s to Noah as it concerns Noah’s Ark? Therefore, from the gate of Eden until Noah, how did man know anything as it related to the Lord God?

To the best of my understanding and according to the years we can read in scripture it was about two thousand years from Adam until Noah. As we see in scripture, when God formed Adam, he breathed into him the breath of life. He gave Adam a (God Consciousness). That same consciousness was within the being of every person born from Adam to Noah. It’s also within every person that has ever been born.

These things I say to point out some things we must see spiritually. As far as I can tell, other than the fact that Adam and Eve now had to work by the sweat of their brow to eat, nothing else changed in the world other than the fact that children were born. I stated that I believed that men could see the Cherubims and flaming swords at the entrance to the Garden. I bleieve that; for instance, when Cain was born to Adam, he might have asked Adam, what is that? At that time Adam had the opportunity to share the grace of God with his son cain and every other child he had born unto him.

That brings us to the next (divers manner) that God used to speak to the heart of man.

CONSCIENCE

This is the definition of this word: an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behavior.

Let’s also look at this word:

CONSCIOUS

This is the definition of this word: aware of and responding to one’s surroundings; awake.

After Adam and Eve left the garden; it was left up to the conscience of every person to guide the things they did. That conscience is in a person simply because of a God Consciousness that was placed in man from the very beginning. Another way to put it is that (that consciousness) is the only difference between us and animals we might say.

It’s a lot of things we could argue about but have no real proof of between Adam and Noah but the one thing we can say for sure is that if God was to be known once they left the Garden, then the knowledge of him would have to come from the lips of Adam and Eve because they were the only two people that had ever heard his voice or knew of his saving grace. When you put the conscience of man, the consciousness of God, the ability to see the flaming sword and Cherubims and a willingness of both Adam and Eve to tell of God’s saving grace then we can see how God works on the conscience of men.

As we end this section we see that both Adam and Eve lived in complete innocence, that untile they had eaten the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Once they ate that fruit, they needed to be redeemed and God provided a way for that to happen.

I truly believe that every thing that was created from the beginning remained the same all the way up until the flood. However, the innocence of man was gone! When we consider that and, the fact that there was no law at all at that time, the only thing man had to direct him was his God Consciousness to even consider do the righteous things as he lived. As we consider this; I’d like to asked a question. What is it that drives you to treat people with respect or, to seek to live righteous? To try and make my point here, I’ll use Adam and scripture to do so.

As we look at this, do you realize that both Adam and Eve both were compleyely righteous on the eyes of God. And, as I make that statement, even Adsam was still right with God after Eve had bitten the fruit. I asked the question, what drives you to treat people with respect or, to seek to live righteous? If, when you answer that question it simply involves (keeping the law) then, we have a problem. So, let’s look at Adam.

(1 Timothy 2:13-14)

FOR ADAM WAS FIRST FORMED, THEN EVE. (14) AND ADAM WAS NOT DECEIVED, BUT THE WOMAN BEING DECEIVED WAS IN THE TRANSGRESSION.

As we consider (tribulation) we must realize that God’s complete word is all about being able to see spiritual pictures as they unfold. The very first way that God dealt with man was in innocence. As soon as Eve bit the fruit (being deceived) it’s very possible that she was still in innocece but, Adam knew very well all that had just transpired. To answer the question I asked, it all must be because of love that motivates our actions and not law. That would be both, our love for people and, our love for God the Father.

Let’s start this with this verse in:

1 Timothy 2:14

AND ADAM WAS NOT DECEIVED, BUT THE WOMAN BEING DECEIVED WAS IN THE TRANSGRESSION.

I believe that Adam loved his wife and therefore he willingly ate the fruit knowing that if he didn’t he would be separated from his wife for eternity!

We can teach a lot here but I can see here how (innocence) came to an end at that time. As we move forward it will no longer be innocence but man will have the knowledge of sin in every heart from this time forward.

I mentioned that I believe that people, starting with the children of Adam and Eve could possibly see the Cherubim and flaming sword at the entrance to the Garden of Eden. This would be a chance for ADAM and Eve to share their spiritual stories with their children and also an opening for every believer up until Noah to share their experience with God the Father.

It’s the very same as with our conscience. We will only be governed by our conscience to a small degree and often, not at all. When Adam and Eve lived in the garden in innonce, they had one law to live by. However, as we move now to a time when people are left up to their conscience to guide them, they have no law at all. As they left the garden; only Adam and Eve knew anything about the grace of God or anything concerning God period. Thye they begun to have children it was up to them to say things that would relate to God and his grace and, then it became to sole responsibility of each person to allow their conscience to help them do what was right.

(In my opinion) every way that God chose to deal with man simply taught man what would not work. When we consider innocence; it’s not much difference in Eve and any children born today. Eve and each child is first of all flesh and we all are weak through that flesh. Even when we instruct children in things not to do, the weakness of their flesh will always tempt them to al least try it.

As we look at the prospect of conscience, I’d like to make this point. We always here about the tree sons born to Adam and Eve. Cain, Abel and Seth. However, if we study in Genesis we can see that Adam and Eve had many children..

AND THE DAYS OF ADAM AFTER HE HAD BEGOTTEN SETH WERE EIGHT HUNFRED YEARS: AND HE BEGOT SONS AND DAUGHTERS;

Genesis 5:4

The responsibility to teach all those children was on the shoulders of Adam and he wife. However, all they could do was share truth just as we do today. It was still up to the individual to decide whether they would seek to know God or live a life that was all about themselves. We can tell by the time we get to Niah that the majority of people went the way of self and simply forgot God because of all the people that we see even mentioned in Genesis only eight of those people entered the Ark of God’s security.

In all these things we point out, we’re heading toward a time we call (tribulation). We see that God dealt with Adam and Even in innocence. Thyen as they left the garden it became conscience. Now we know from scripture that man left to his conscience to guide him is not wise because a man’s conscience can be seared with a hot iron.

1 Timothy 4:2

SPEAKINGING LIES IN HYPOCRISY HAVING THEIR CONSCIENCE SEARED WITH A HOT IRON.

In my spiritual walk and study, I can see how God used each way that her dealt with man as a teaching point to show us what we could not depend on in our lives and to bring us to the point of simply placing our faith in his mercy and grace alone. Up until this point we see that we can’t depend on our innocence to guide us, nor can we depend on our conscience.

As we study through this you will notice that after Adam and Eve left the garden, God never spoke again until we see where he instructs Noah concerning the Ark. In my personal opinion there were possibly many people that in the last few years just before the flood that helped Noah and his family build the Ark. Those people died out one by one until it was only Noah’s family that were left to finish the work.

I also believe we are now living in the period of time just before the (tribulation period) that we are teaching about. AS we move forward in this time, we, once again can see fewer and fewer people that are actually seeking the truth that concerns Jesus Christ and salvation.

As we leave this segment, we will be looking at the next way God used to deal with mankind. That period will extend from the day the Ark settled back to dry land up until God gave Moses the law.

We’ll call the next segment (Human Government).

Marshall Clayton

2 Timothy 1:7

Marshall Clayton

2 Timothy 1:7