The Four Major Categories of Tribulation Judgments: Explanation

(Read Part 21)

God veils the 28 judgments, which we will examine, in symbolic language that requires the faithful student of the Word of God to follow the instruction to:

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Tim. 2:15)

Four Categories of Judgments

The chart provides a very cursory look at the basic flow of those 28 major judgments contained in four specific categories of judgments.

The four main categories of tribulation judgments are the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments, the thunder judgments and the bowl judgments. The judgments become progressively harsher during the seven-year period. Jesus discussed the progressive nature of the tribulation judgments in His powerful, prophetic instruction to His disciples in the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24-25).

Jesus revealed several of the judgments that will take place during the beginning of the seven-year tribulation and then states that they “are the beginning of sorrows” (Matt. 24:8).

Consider His words in Matthew 24:4-8:

And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

Matthew likens the tribulation judgments to the very difficult process of a mother getting ready to give birth. Now let me be perfectly clear. I have never given birth, nor will I ever give birth. However, I have been with my precious wife as she went through the process of delivering our three children. The first part of labor, so I am told, starts out with very uncomfortable contractions. The contractions build in intensity and frequency over the birthing process. If the mother decides to forgo the drugs available to make the delivery less stressful to the body, then the brave woman will dramatically experience the full effects of the building labor pains. After the mother goes through the entire labor process, her pain and discomfort slowly turn to joy and rejoicing as her newborn baby is placed in her loving arms.

So shall the tribulation judgments progress. The seal judgments will build into the trumpet judgments. The trumpet judgments will progress in intensity into the thunder judgments. The thunder judgments will culminate in the catastrophic, powerful bowl judgments. Where is the beautiful birth of the baby at the end of the judgments?

The seven-year tribulation period births the coming of the Awaited One, Jesus the Messiah. Jesus Christ will burst forth from the sky and “His feet will” touch down “on the Mount of Olives” (Zech. 14:4; cf. Acts 1:12). The third temple period will come to a dramatic halt, and the “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev. 19:16) will inaugurate His millennial kingdom on earth (Rev. 20:1-6).

We will expand upon this distinctly dispensational doctrine of the birthing process of Jesus Christ’s theocratic millennial kingdom in the coming articles.

Here we stand; we cannot, and must not, be moved from this distinctive dispensational doctrine.

(Read Part 23)

Dr. Richard Schmidt is the founder of Prophecy Focus Ministries, having previously served as a pastor and church planter. His love for the prophetic Scriptures resulted in writing a doctoral dissertation on a dispensational perspective on the mystery church age existing between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel. Dr. Schmidt offers seminars on a variety of prophetic topics to local churches and conferences. We are very excited to involve him as a contributing author to Dispensational Publishing House.