THOSE ALIVE AT THE TRIBULATION WILL BE IN ONE OF FOUR GROUPS

 Bernard Pyron

Zechariah 13: 8-9 is an authority for the teaching that during

the Tribulation the apostate Christian church will be divided

into three groups. One third, or one group, will go through

the fire of the tribulation, repent from being in false doctrines,

and the Lord will accept them. Two-thirds, or two groups, will

not repent and turn from false doctrines and they will be cut off.

"And it shall come to pass, [that] in all the land, saith the LORD,

two parts therein shall be cut off [and] die; but the third

shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through

the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will

try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and

I will hear them: I will say, It [is] my people: and they

shall say, The LORD [is] my God."

Ezekiel 5 has three larger groups of the Church plus that few in
number which Ezekiel metaphorically is told to bind in his skirts.
(Ezekiel 5: 3). We can say that the three larger groups in
Ezekiel 5 are the scorpions, serpents and the Multitude. The few
are the 144,000 of Revelation 7 and 14.

Revelation 9: 15 and 9: 18 say that one third will be killed

during the Sixth Trumpet Judgment. This is the one third in

Zechariah 13: 9 who come through the fire of the Tribulation

and turn from apostasy to the truth of Christ. But for that

they will be caused to die by the group called the serpents

(Revelation 9: 19.

The three main players in the Trumpet Judgments of Revelation

9 are the Multitude (Revelation 7: 9), the scorpions (Revelation 9:

10) and the serpents (Revelation 9: 19). There is a much smaller

fourth group that will have a role to play during the Tribulation.

An important part of the role that will be played by the

144,000 is described in Daniel 11: 33, "And they that

understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they

shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, [many] days."

Those that are to fall by the sword as the Multitude who will first

be taught by the 144,000, those that understand. Then, the Multitude

will have the truth and I believe are part of the group addressed in

Daniel 12: 10, which says "Many shall be purified, and made white,

and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked

shall understand; but the wise shall understand."

There will be a time when the 144,000 will be sealed (Revelation
7: 3) to prepare them
to go through the Tribulation - the Trumpet Judgments, etc -
without falling victim to the scorpions and serpents. There will
also be a time when each member of the kingdom of God, the Church,
will enter into one of the three groups, the scorpions, the
serpents or the Multitude.

Right now those in the kingdom of God could make a choice to avoid
being in any of these three groups, the Multitude, who are to be
persecuted, and the scorpions and serpents who are to do the
persecuting. "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision:
for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision (Joel 3:
14).
Evangelists like Billy Graham used to quote this Scripture, not
really interpreting it to refer to making a decision near to the
beginning of the Tribulation, which is
the day of the Lord.

If a person turns now to seeking the truth and surrenders
to Christ, gives up theologies for Scripture and studies the Word,
couldn't he or she become a member of the 144,000 when they are
sealed rather than become part of the Multitude?

There is a third Scripture that presents different groups
within the kingdom of God using the sowing of seeds as the
metaphor. Its Isaiah 28: 24-25. Fitches and cummin seem to be
some kind of condiments. Lets
look at the grain, the wheat, the barley and the rye.

In Israel, there were the wheat, barley and rye harvests.
The barley harvest came earlier in the year. Exodus 9: 29-32
shows that the hail ruined the barley crop in Egypt because
"the barley was in the ear;" it was already well along to maturity
at that time. "But the wheat and the rye were not smitten: for
they were not grown up (Exodus 9: 32). Now look at Leviticus 23:
5-11. Verse 5 deals with the Passover which is the 14th day of the
First Month. The seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread starts
on the 15th day of the First Month. The seventh day of the feast
of unleavened bread is an holy convocation in verse 8. And in
verse
10 they were to bring a sheaf of the firstfruits to the priest who
waved the sheaf before the Lord.

Revelation 14: 4 says the 144,000 "...were redeemed from among men,
being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb." The barley
in Isaiah 28: 25 represents the 144,000 while the wheat, which is
called in Isaiah 28: 25 "the principal wheat," is a larger harvest
than the barley harvest. The Multitude is a much larger group in the
Tribulation than the 144,000 since the Multitude will number in
many millions of people.

But what about the rye in Isaiah 28: 25? Could the rye represent
still another group within the kingdom of God? Revelation 3: 4
says in the Church in Sardis "Thou hast a few names even in Sardis
who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with
me in white: for they are worthy."

Is Revelation 3:4 on the few in Sardis who will walk with Christ
in white a prophecy. Certainly it is. Sardis is said to be
a dead church. Revelation 3: 1 says "I know thy works, that thou
hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." Some even in this
dead Christian group are to walk with Christ in his righteousness.
Are these members of the 144,000 or another group who are also
worthy enough to escape the persecution of the locusts and serpents
in the Tribulation?

Luke 21 is a parallel to Matthew 24 on the Tribulation. In Luke
21: 36 we have the promise that "Watch ye therefore, and pray
always, that ye
may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall
come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." This applies
to the 144,000, and it may also apply to another group found worthy,
called the rye in Isaiah 28: 25.
Bernard