Can you help me understand the difference (if there is one) between the anti-Christ’s wrath, Satan’s Wrath, God’s Wrath, and the Great Tribulation? I heard someone say the Church will be here for the anti-Christ’s wrath and Satan’s wrath but not God’s wrath. I thought Satan’s wrath was the same as the Great Tribulation. Doesn’t the Rapture come before the Great Tribulation? I’m really confused about these terms.
First, let’s clarify that only the terms Wrath of God and Great Tribulation are used in the Bible. It tells us that Daniel’s 70th week is divided into 2 halves and ends with the 2nd Coming. The first half really has no Biblical name, but the 2nd half was named by Jesus. He called it the Great Tribulation, and said it would begin with the Abomination of Desolation (Matt. 24:15-21).
Some people define the seal judgments of Rev. 6 as the wrath of anti-Christ although there’s no Biblical justification for this. In fact in Rev. 6:16-17 the kings of the earth will declare that the great day of God’s wrath has begun. They can only be referring to the seal judgments because the other judgments of Daniel’s 70 week will not have started yet.
In the Book of Revelation, the Great Tribulation begins on Earth when the anti-Christ is indwelt by Satan after his expulsion from Heaven (Rev. 13). Various references in Revelation identify its duration as 1260 days, or 42 months or 3 1/2 years, all equivalent periods of time beginning in the middle of Daniel’s 70th Week. The term wrath of Satan was taken from Rev. 12:12 and Rev. 12:17 where Satan’s expulsion is described and is simply a reference to the Great Tribulation.
As we saw above, the Wrath of God will have begun by the end of Rev. 6. And Rev. 15:1 says it will conclude with the Bowl Judgments. The 7th and final bowl judgment is poured out in Rev. 16:17 and its effect is described in Rev. 17-18. In Rev. 19 we see the concluding battle for Planet Earth and the Lord’s return, and in Rev. 20 the Millennium begins. Therefore the Wrath of God covers all of Revelation from chapter 6 thru chapter 19.
A number of references promise that the Church will be removed from the time and place of God’s wrath (Romans 5:9, 1 Thes. 1:10, Rev. 3:10). In short, there’s no Biblical support for the claim that the Church will see the wrath of anti-Christ and Great Tribulation/wrath of Satan but not God’s wrath, nor could such a thing happen since they run concurrently.