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I responded to the pretribulational tenet that the future seven-year period (i.e. the “70th week of Daniel”) is entirely God’s wrath. I used Jim McClarty’s critique of the prewrath position as my entry point of discussion.
I demonstrated that the seven-year period is divided up into several periods, because Jesus divides it up in several periods in Matthew 24, a passage that McClarty completely ignored. There is the beginning of birth pangs, Antichrist’s great tribulation, and the day of the Lord’s wrath.
I also corrected McClarty’s misrepresentation of the prewrath position, which demonstrated for me that he has not read a prewrath book, otherwise he would not have made these blunders.
I also responded to McClarty’s odd assertion that the Antichrist is not associated with tribulation against believers. I explained that Matthew 24 and Revelation 13 in particular demonstrates clearly that Antichrist is related to tribulation.
Then I covered the pretrib notion that the seals are God’s wrath because it is Jesus that opens them up. McClarity did not provide any evidence for this except his assumption that if Jesus opens them up then it must be God’s wrath. I refuted that by walking through the seals, particularly the fifth, sixth, and seventh seals. The day of the Lord’s wrath will not begin until the seventh seal is opened up—not before it. I also explained the relationship between God’s sovereignty and evil in this world, a biblical concept that McClarty fails to grasp. Satan and God are not independent powers. I am not saying that McClarty believes this, but his pretrib theology is inconsistent on this matter. Satan is under the control of God, even when God gives him permission and latitude to persecute the people of God. God has his good purposes in suffering and it is our hope that God is all-powerful and all-loving and thus we must trust even in the trials of life that God brings into our life.
Links mentioned in the episode:
Do the Seals on the Scroll in the Book of Revelation Express the Day of the Lord’s Wrath? – Ep. 13
