God permits the Church to pass through the Great Tribulation for several reasons. Since it must take place before the Rapture, it will enable the Church to serve as a witness to all nations through the great sufferings she will endure.

Mark 13:9
But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.

Luke 21:12–13
¹²But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. ¹³And it shall turn to you for a testimony.

It is during the Great Tribulation that the Church will demonstrate to the powers of this world — that is, to the principalities and authorities in the heavenly places — the manifold wisdom of God; the same wisdom that Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, had already demonstrated to them by allowing Himself to be nailed to the cross by them (1 Corinthians 2:6–8). By nailing Jesus Christ to the cross, the rulers of this world — principalities and authorities — thought they were halting the redemptive work of Christ; yet, without realizing it, they were preparing their own defeat (Colossians 2:15). It will be the same with the Body of Christ — the Church — during the Great Tribulation. By persecuting the saints of God to the point of death, these rulers will again believe they are halting the work of Christ upon earth, that they are eliminating the presence of Jesus Christ from the earth; yet without realizing it, once again, it is their own defeat — what we call the Final Defeat — that they will be preparing. In reality, we are not going to die but to fall asleep (1 Thess. 4:13); at our awakening at the glorious return of Jesus Christ, the Lord Himself will equip us with all manner of resources in the heavenly places, and we will descend together with Him to definitively overcome these rulers. This is the Final Defeat.

1 Corinthians 15:22–24
²²For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. ²⁴Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

Revelation 17:14
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

It is during the Great Tribulation that God will refine, purify, and make white His children.

Daniel 11:35
And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.

It is only through the Great Tribulation that the Church will be able to attain perfection — and thus appear holy, without spot or wrinkle, before the Lord Jesus Christ on the day of His coming (Ephesians 5:27).

1 Peter 4:1–2
¹Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; ²That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

It is during the Great Tribulation that the Word and the Name of God will truly be spread to the ends of the earth through the unshakeable faith of the saints — even in the face of death — thereby fulfilling Matthew 24:14. You might ask me how. I would direct you to the triumphant faith of the Christians of Rome and Thessalonica in the face of tribulations (Romans 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 1:6–8). Remember also how the Name of God spread throughout all of Babylon. It was, of course, through the triumphant faith of Daniel and his companions in the face of tribulation.

Daniel 3:28–29
²⁸Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. ²⁹Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.

Daniel 6:25–27
²⁵Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. ²⁶I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. ²⁷He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.

Finally, it is during the Great Tribulation that God will save a great multitude of people from every nation and every language.

Revelation 7:9–14
⁹After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; ¹⁰And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. ¹¹And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, ¹²Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. ¹³And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? ¹⁴And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

There, my beloved, is what the Great Tribulation represents. Know also that passing through the Great Tribulation has nothing dramatic about it.

Romans 14:7–8
⁷For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. ⁸For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.

To discover what the wrath of God corresponds to, let us begin by examining Revelation 14:9–10.

Revelation 14:9–10
⁹And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, ¹⁰The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

By examining these verses, we can already observe that the Great Tribulation is an event entirely different from the wrath of God. In this passage, the Bible informs us that all those who worship the beast or who receive his mark will drink the cup of God's wrath — that is, they will experience the wrath of God. This already allows us to establish that the wrath of God will only come after the era in which the worship and mark of the beast are instituted. Now, we know from the Scriptures (Revelation 13:12, 16) that the worship and mark of the beast will be instituted only during the reign of the beast — that is, during the Great Tribulation. We therefore understand that the wrath of God is an event distinct from the Great Tribulation, for as we have just read, it will only come afterward to punish all those who will have worshipped or accepted the mark of the beast during the Great Tribulation.

We can summarize this passage of Revelation 14:9–10 as follows: verse 9 describes the Great Tribulation, during which the worship and mark of the beast will be instituted — and verse 10 describes the wrath of God, which will fall upon all who worshipped or received the mark of the beast during the Great Tribulation.

Biblical Study of Revelation 15:1–8

Verse 1
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

What does this first verse teach us? This verse 1 of Revelation 15 speaks of seven angels holding seven plagues; and it teaches us that it is through these seven plagues or vials that the wrath of God is manifested and fulfilled — this is the first thing. Secondly, we know that during the Great Tribulation, many people — Christians — will be killed: beheaded or burned alive because of the Word of God or their refusal to worship the beast and his image. If therefore, as some teach, the Great Tribulation is the wrath of God, then in what sense could being beheaded for the sake of God or His Word be a plague or a vial? In what sense could being burned alive for the Name of God be a plague? The Great Tribulation — in which many Christians will be killed by the Antichrist — is distinct from the wrath of God, which will be manifested through the seven plagues. Furthermore, we know that the manifestation of God's wrath through the seven plagues is described in chapter 16 of the book of Revelation; and nowhere in that description does the Bible attribute the beheading of Christians or saints by the Antichrist to any one of those plagues. The Great Tribulation is not the wrath of God.

Verses 2–4
²And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. ³And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. ⁴Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

What does the Bible teach us here? These verses 2 to 4 of Revelation 15 speak of those who had gotten the victory over the beast and his image and the number of his name — in other words, of those who were killed by the Antichrist, or those who come out of the Great Tribulation. And where are they? They are standing upon the sea of glass. Let us read Revelation 4:6 to understand this more fully.

Revelation 4:6
And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

The sea of glass is before the Throne of God — therefore in heaven. That being so, all these people who have overcome the beast, or who come out of the Great Tribulation, are in heaven before the Throne of God. And what are they doing before the Throne? Verses 3 and 4 give the answer: they are worshipping God with their harps. And what happens after this?

Verse 5
And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:

After the worship in heaven of those who have overcome the beast, the Temple of God in heaven is opened. And what happens after the opening of the Temple of God in heaven?

Verses 6–8
⁶And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. ⁷And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. ⁸And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

After the opening of the Temple of God in heaven — which was preceded by the worship of those who come out of the Great Tribulation — the seven angels holding the seven plagues through which the wrath of God is fulfilled come out of the Temple. What does this mean? It means that at the moment when those who have overcome the beast and his image and his mark are in heaven, upon the earth the seven angels holding the seven plagues — emblems of the wrath of God — will pour these seven plagues upon all those who worshipped the beast and his image and accepted his mark. This is confirmed by chapter 16, which immediately follows.

Revelation 16:1–2
¹And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. ²And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

The Bible never contradicts itself! Let God be praised for His Word! This passage even helps us better understand that the wrath of God will serve only to punish all those who worshipped the beast and his image and accepted his mark during the Great Tribulation. We can clearly see that the first bowl — or plague or vial — of God's wrath is poured out upon all those who worshipped the beast and received his mark; the mark and worship that will be instituted during the reign of the Antichrist — that is, during the Great Tribulation. If therefore, as people believe today, the Great Tribulation corresponds to the wrath of God, then this chapter 16 of Revelation would make no sense at all. Let us understand this: behind the Great Tribulation, it is the devil who is at work through the Antichrist (Revelation 13:7); whereas the wrath of God is God Himself acting in order to punish sinners and the wicked.

All of these passages give us a clear understanding of the Great Tribulation and the wrath of God; through these passages we can clearly see that the wrath of God will arise after the Great Tribulation. To conclude this section on the wrath of God, let us retain that the Church is spared from the wrath of God through the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 1:10) — but is appointed to the Great Tribulation (Revelation 13:7).

Biblically speaking, the Third World War corresponds to the event connected to the sixth trumpet, described in Revelation 9:13–18. According to this text, this Third World War will begin in the Middle East, it will be nuclear, and it will kill a third of mankind — that is, more than 2 billion people based on the current world population. In the aftermath of this war, the whole earth will be in great desolation; and it is then that the Antichrist will appear, playing the role of peacemaker and man of peace — and the whole world will receive him.

1 Thessalonians 5:3
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

After being accepted by men, the Antichrist will seek to change the laws and the times — which will lead to the persecution of the saints of God.

Daniel 7:25
And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

From this perspective, one can already draw up a brief chronology of events:

In a word, the Battle of Armageddon will serve to neutralize the beast — the Antichrist — together with his confederates.

Revelation 19:19–21
¹⁹And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. ²⁰And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. ²¹And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Revelation 17:14
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

CONCLUSION: Let us therefore retain that, biblically speaking, the Great Tribulation is an event entirely distinct from the wrath of God, from the Third World War, and from the Battle of Armageddon. While the Church is delivered from the wrath of God — through the Rapture — she is nonetheless appointed to the Great Tribulation (Revelation 13:7).

Proverbs 8:8–9
"All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge."

May the Lord bless you!