Unto the Thousandth Generation: The Evangelical Importance of an Eschatology that Embraces Suffering for Christ

Contrary to popular belief, eschatology drives, or at least affects in large measure, one's evangelical beliefs and efforts. We will argue, a resurrection will occur at Christ's second coming, in which all the dead will be raised up. This resurrection will coincide with the return of Christ and the end of the world, and will precede the final judgement. A prominent error in the church, which correlates to and is driven by rapture theology, presents us with a separate saving program for the ethnic nation of Israel, leading many Christians, in large measure, to fall short in their evangelistic efforts to Jews. The purpose of this study is threefold: First, to confront issues like these with biblical truth and demonstrate from biblical studies, Church history and systematic theology that the phrase "Great Tribulation" is a technical term referring to the end time trial which as already been set in motion by Christ's first advent and will culminate with His second advent; second, to argue that God has a providential purpose for tribulation, and third, to demonstrate the manner in which John's 'tribulation-kindom-endurance' triad forms a paradigmatic structure in the Apocalypse, Christ's end times discourses in the gospels as well as the Pauline corpus.