Day of Judgment

John cited the event saying "love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment" (1Jn 4:17). Christ "'came with thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all'" (Jude 15). It develops over time such as "because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God" (Ro 2:5). God will render to every man according to his deeds: to those who . . . obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation" (:6,8) and they will have "tribulation and distress" (:9). Jesus warned, "'For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall. And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short'" (Mt 24:21-22). Ezekiel prophesied, "'One third of you will die by plague or be consumed by famine among you, one third will fall by the sword around you, and one third I will scatter to every wind'" (Eze 5:12). "'Thus My anger will be spent, and I will satisfy My wrath on them'" (:13). Revelation states that "a third of the" (Rev 8:7-9) "earth was burnt up" (:7), "sea became blood" (:8), "creatures in the sea died" (:9) and "ships were destroyed" (:9). Also "four angels . . . were released, so that they might kill a third of mankind" (9:15). Zephaniah prophesied, "'Near is the great day of the Lord, near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the Lord! On it the warrior cries out bitterly. A day of wrath is that day, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom'" (Zep 1:14-15). Jesus prayed for protection for us saying, "'I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one'" (Jn 17:15). The Greek words "tereo ek" mean to preserve out from within. The same words are used in "'I will keep you from the hour of testing'" (Rev 3:10). They were to hurt "only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads" (9:4). The dragon "persecuted the woman" (Rev 12:13) "but the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of its mouth" (:16). Pretribulationists argue that God wouldn't subject his children to his own wrath so will rapture them beforehand. The solution is "to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come" (1Th 1:10).