Great Tribulations

In John’s vision of the sixth seal, he described seeing this: “I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands” (Revelation 7:9).  One of the elders asked John, “What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?” John let the elder answer his own questions, who said, “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:13-14).  I believe the answer to the question of “whence came they” was that they “came out of great tribulation,” thus responding not with a specific place but by suggesting that all of these had endured (and remained faithful in) great tribulations on earth.  Making it faithfully through tribulation was a description that apparently applied to all of these dressed in white “which no man could number.”  Tribulation will apparently find and test all true disciples of Christ. 

                 The sixth seal is generally understood to represent the last days, and a few other scriptures confirm the notion that we will have to pass through tribulation in the time directly preceding the Second Coming.  Enoch “saw great tribulations among the wicked” in the day before the coming of the Son of Man (Moses 7:66).  Similarly, in the Olivet Discourse we read these words of the Savior, “And, as I said before, after the tribulation of those days, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven” (JSM 1:36).  In our dispensation the Lord told Joseph about the elect, “They shall be gathered in unto one place upon the face of this land, to prepare their hearts and be prepared in all things against the day when tribulation and desolation are sent forth upon the wicked” (D&C 29:8).  Clearly there will be great tribulations on the earth in the last days, and all of us, righteous and wicked, will be affected by them.  I think the language of John is significant, though, in describing those righteous who “came out of” tribulations.  I see that as an indication that they made it through the tribulations successfully; they were able to endure and remain faithful and ultimately receive their salvation.  Many “pass through” tribulations, but not all will “come out of” tribulations spiritually alive.  For us in the last days our efforts are not spent trying to avoid tribulation, but rather to successfully pass through and come out of them by the blood of the Lamb.  That’s how the people that John saw in the sixth seal made it through, and the power of the Savior will likewise enable us.

                Tribulations, of course, are not reserved only for the last days, and the scriptures seem to indicate that being able to successfully traverse tribulation through the power of the atonement is a requirement for salvation in all generations.  President Joseph F. Smith described the righteous who had died before the Savior’s life this way: “[They] had offered sacrifice in the similitude of the great sacrifice of the Son of God, and had suffered tribulation in their Redeemer’s name” (D&C 138:13).  The Book of Acts describes Paul’s teachings to the disciples on his travels this way: “Exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).  Here the requirement is clear: there is no kingdom of God without tribulation.  In our dispensation the Lord put it this way: “Blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven….  Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes… the glory which shall follow after much tribulation” (D&C 58:2-3). 

                So we trust that no matter what comes our way in terms of persecution, trials, and tribulations in the last days, there will be “great blessings” which follow for the faithful (D&C 58:4).  As the wickedness on the earth continues to increase and as calamities come upon us, we remember the words of the Savior: “See that ye be not troubled, for all I have told you must come to pass; but the end is not yet” (JSM 1:23).  Our safety is in what John described of the faithful that he saw: through the blood of the Lamb.  As the tribulations come upon us, “The power of the Lamb of God” is what will protect the covenant-keepers in the last days (1 Nephi 14:14).