Checking It Out With The Strong's Greek Dictionary

There are only two Greek words for the words for tribulation:
thlipsis and thlibo.


CONTEXT:


The trib of the disciples of Jesus:


Mat.13: 21; (2) Mat.24: 9; (3) Mar.4: 16-17; (4) Joh.16: 33; (5) Act.14: 22; (6) Rom.8: 35; (7) Rom.12: 12; (8) 2Cor.1: 4; (9) 2Cor.1: 8; (10) 2Cor.2: 4; (11) 2Cor.4: 17; (12) 2Cor.7: 4; (13) 2Cor.8: 2; (14) Phil.1: 16; (15) Phil.4: 14; (16) 1Thes.1: 6; (17, 18) 2Thes.1: 4, 6; (19) Jam.1: 27; (20) Rev.1: 9; (21) Rev.2: 22; (22) Rev.7: 14.


Affliction OF THE ISRAELITES: Heb.11: 25.


Unbelievers: "Seeing it is a righteous thing with God TO RECOMPENSE tribulation (thlipsis) to them that trouble (thlibo) you;.." (2Th 1: 6-7), also Rom.2: 9.


MEGAS (great) thlipsis 3 times: Rev.2: 22; Rev.7: 14; and Mat.24: 21-22.


Rev.2: 22: CHRISTIANS at Tyhatira warned by Jesus that unless they repent of following doctrines of Jezebel, Jesus will throw them into great tribulation – and this is AFTER He had acknowledged their love, faith, patience, service and works


Rev.7: 14: multitude came out of great trib.

In Mat.24: 22: FOR THE ELECT’S sake, the days of “great tribulation” (Mat.24: 21) will be shortened + Mar.13: 19, 24. In Luke 21, Luke uses neither the word thlipsis, nor the word thlibo.

Rom.5: 9 -we are saved from wrath:

“Wrath” (Greek orge): Mat.3: 7; Luk.3: 7; Luk.21: 23; Joh.3: 36; Rom.1: 18; Rom.2: 5; Rom.2: 8; Rom.3: 5; Rom.4: 15; Rom.5: 9; Rom.9: 22; Rom.12: 19; Rom.13: 5; Eph.2: 3; Eph.5: 6; Col.3: 6; 1Th.1: 10; 1Th.2: 16; 1Th.5: 9; Heb.3: 11; Heb.4: 3; Rev.6: 16; Rev.6: 17; Rev.11: 18; Rev.16: 19; and Rev.19: 15.


Wrath (Greek thumos): Rev.14: 10; Rev.14: 19; Rev.15: 1: Rev.15: 7; Rev.16: 1; Rev.14: 8, and Rev.18: 3.



Rev.16 links SIXTH bowl of WRATH with “the Day of the LORD”.


“Birth-pains” leading up to “the great tribulation” are mentioned from Mat.24: 4-8.


Mat.24: 9 begins with the word “then” (Greek: tote – “the time of”). This word used 8 times till v.30, and verses 9-31 are joined by the words “then”, “and”, “for”, “but”, and “therefore” – in fact, it continues like this all the way to the end of Matthew 25, and the context remains the return of Christ and the end of the age throughout.


Great trib the Roman war against Israel (66-70 A.D)?


(“… and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? – Mat.24: 3b). Not recorded by Mark and Luke’s versions (Mar.13: 4 and Luk.21: 7). Should we interpret Matthew’s account “in the light of” Mark’s and Luke’s accounts?



ELECT gathered “IMMEDIATELY AFTER” the days of great tribulation: (Mat.24: 29-31).-


Surely the Word “therefore” in Mat.24: 15 joins what was said before this verse to what follows this verse?


“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then (Greek: tote – “the time of”) shall the end come.” (Mat.24: 14).

“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted (Greek: thlipsis – tribulation), and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.” (Mat.24: 9).




Part of the Church got the words “great tribulation” mixed up with the words “the Day of the LORD”?


“The time of JACOB’S trouble” (Jer.30: 7) and “the great tribulation” (Mat.24: 21-22) TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN?


“At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.” (Deut.17: 6)?

 

I had to delete explanations of the point, or the post would have been too long - was hoping it would be o.k.

The point is that the words

distress/suffering/persecution/trouble/affliction/tribulation found in our English-language Bibles are translated from only two Greek words: thlipsis and thlibo - thlibo only appears twice, in the context of the trib of Christians at the hand of unbelievers, and 27 out of the 29 references to thlipsis in the Greek N.T are in the same context. The only two exceptions are Rom.2: 9 and:

Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation (thlipsis)to them that trouble (thlibo) you; And to you who are troubled (thlibo) rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, (2Th 1: 6-7) - also the only verses where the word thlibo comes up.

Since all the other references to tribulation (thlipsis) in the Greek N.T are in the context of the trib of Christians at the hand of unbelievers, and since two of the only three references to MEGAS (great) thlipsis (tribulation) in the Greek N.T (see my post) are in the same context, and since the the days of the great trib are said in Mat.24: 21-22 to be shortened for the elect's sake, it is highly unlikely (contrary to the teaching of a great many churches) that the great trib refers to the wrath of God which will come upon the world at the time of the world's judgment - since "Armageddon" or "the Day of the LORD" are found in the context of the 6th and 7th bowls of wrath - not in the context of "megas thlipsis" (Great Tribulation).

I'm definitely not going to argue with the Dr's reply to my post, but I'll agree to disagree about what he says about there being more than one resurrection at the end of this age:

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." (1Cor.15: 22-23). One resurrection at the end of this age - after the great trib of the disciples of the Lamb, at the last trumpet, immediately before the "day of the LORD". "The first resurrection" is clearly portrayed as the resurrection of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus (Rev.20: 4-5). But this has been debated without end, so I'll drop it after this - because it also depends on whether or not one believes in a literal millennium.

 

Thanks very much for taking the time and trouble to reply to my thread, Dr Ketchum. I'll be thinking about what you said, bearing in mind the last words of my signature, - but in the mean time, as I said, I'll agree to disagree with you on that one - as long as we'll both be laughing our heads off in heaven together one day!

 

Thank you, Ed. But can you point out to me in which one of the verses you've quoted above, the word "thlibo" appears in the context of the wrath of God being poured out upon the world, or the tribulation of the world at the hand of God?

Just Andrew.

 

"

I beg you pardon, Pastor Larry. I should have made the point a long time ago. I think the New Testament seems to be using the words thlipsis and thlibo (no matter which English words are used to translate these words) and the words megas thlipsis in the context of things that happen to Christians at the hand of unbelievers and the authorities of an unbelieving world - not in the context of what is eventually going to happen to those unblievers, and to that unbelieving world, at the hand of God - what happens to them is described as "wrath", and "the Day of the LORD". And I think the words used in the Greek New Testament are as important as the ideas those words seek to convey.

For the above reason I believe (despite the fact that I would prefer not to believe it) that (the) "Great Tribulation" the New Testament talks about, will be the final and greatest wave of tribulation the saints will endure at the hand of this world - and it will occur in the middle of the final seven-year period, immediately before the wrath of God begins to be poured out upon the world as a result of that great tribulation they have brought upon us.

Rev.13: 7 says, "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations." (see also Dan.7: 21).

"The beast" has made war with the saints a number of times in the past (such as in the days of Nero and of the Reformation) - but did not overcome them. We are also told that "the beast that rises from the bottomless pit" will make war with "the two witnesses" of the Lamb, overcome them and kill them (Rev.11: 7).

When I ask why the Lord will allow such a thing, I notice that in rev.2: 18-22, the Lord Jesus warned the Chrisians at Tyatira that unless they repented of following the false prophetess Jezebel, He Himself would throw them into megas thlipsis (great tribulation), then I notice that in Mat.24: 21-22, the Lord stated that the days of the great tribulation (megas thlipsis) would be shortened for the elect's sake. Then I notice that in Rev.7: 14, John saw a multitude which had come out from the great tribulation and had whashed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, and in Rev.20, those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus lived again and reigned with Him, in what John called the "first" resurrection - but this is quite evidently the first resurrection subsequent to the resurrection of Christ, since Paul said,

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." (1Cor.15: 22).

Andrew