By Dr. Ed Hindson
World Prophetic Ministry
Q. Why do you say that there will be saved people alive at the end of the Tribulation? Doesn’t salvation come by martyrdom during that period?
A. No, salvation during the Tribulation comes the same way as it does now – by faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. At that time, though, there will be more pressure to conform to the world and its government by the Antichrist. At the midpoint of that period, he will go into the Temple of God and demand to be worshipped as God (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). His religious leader, the False Prophet, will have an image of the Antichrist set up and demand that everyone worship it as well. Those who refuse to do so will be marked for execution:
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed,” (Revelation 13:15).As a part of the worship of the Antichrist, people will be compelled to take his mark in order to buy and sell (Revelation 13:16-18). This will place further hardship on those who refuse to do so. But those who take the mark will be committing their allegiance to the Antichrist, and against God, and will be sealing their fate in the Lake of Fire forever (Revelation 14:9-11).
It is true that many, and perhaps most, who refuse the Mark of the Beast because of their faith in Christ will be killed. Revelation 6:9-11 and 7:9-17 speak of this multitude. But the Antichrist will not be able to round up every last one of those who oppose him. We know that at least 144,000 Jews will survive, as they will have the seal of God upon them (Revelation 7:1-8). We also know that there will be some saved Gentiles who emerge from this period as well. If this were not the case, the Judgment of the Nations (Matthew 25:31-46) would be irrelevant, because there would be no people among the “sheep nations” still alive to stand judgment successfully and proceed with our Lord into the Millennial Kingdom.
Related Links
Japanese Robot Talks Like A Human - Tech Crunch Populating the Millennium - BPB (Thomas Ice) Revelation 13:15 - SpiritandTruth.org (Tony Garland) Saints in the Tribulation? - BPB (Ed Hindson)
