Tribulation Saints Vs. The Church

I just listened to your MP3 series on Revelation chapter 7-9. In part 4 you talk about the Tribulation Martyrs serving Jesus in the temple etc, but they would not receive the reward that the Church does, being co-heirs with Christ. Can you go further into this?

Q. I just listened to your MP3 series on Revelation chapter 7-9. In part 4 you talk about the Tribulation Martyrs serving Jesus in the temple etc, but they would not receive the reward that the Church does, being co-heirs with Christ.

I had never seen this before while reading Revelation until you mentioned it. Can you explain why you think this is so? So basically what your saying is that as soon as the Rapture happens anyone who believes after that point is not really part of the Church but is classified in another group. (Kind of like Israel is a separate group)

Can you go further into this?

A. The church was born on Pentecost and disappears in the rapture. Just as Old Testament believers aren’t part of the Church, neither are Tribulation believers. And a careful reading of Rev. 7:9-17 shows that the destiny of these believers is much different than the Church.

They’re specifically described as serving God in His Temple, a role never ascribed to the Church, and there’s no mention of them ever ruling and reigning with Christ as is the Church’s destiny.

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians clearly portrays the church as an entirely new and unique race of human, different from any other, and with a future designed to show just how far God can go in lavishing His grace upon us. As Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.” We don’t hear anywhere near enough on this subject from the pulpit.

But once Daniel’s 70th week begins, and God’s supernatural power is once again put on display for all to see, belief in Him will be as much by evidence as by faith, like it was in the Old Testament. Believing in what you see is not as commendable to God as is believing what you don’t see, hence the different destiny of Tribulation believers.