Doesn't God's wrath occur throughout the entire 70th Week period?

Ted’s Response:

I used to share the same view, although I no longer do. Actually, Revelation 6:17 ("For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?") is one of the verses that always puzzled me when I embraced the Pre-trib view. It always had sounded to me then, as it does now, that God's wrath will be imminent at that point, not that it already has taken place. It is not because of the events of Seals 1-5 that people will so terrified of God that they will seek to hide from Him after the opening of Seal 6.

If God's wrath had been being poured out upon the earth before that time, the people of the earth would have run and hid long before that point. It is not until after the opening of the 6th Seal, with the onset of the clear and distinct signs caused by God in the sky above (Revelation 6:12b,13), and with the appearance of God on His throne (6:16)—viewable, I believe, by everyone on earth—that people will have no doubt that God is exceedingly angry and is ready to dispense His wrath upon the earth. This wrath will not have yet occurred; it will be about to occur.

Here is an analogy. A couple plans to get married, so many preparations take place—sending out of invitations, buying the wedding dress and the tuxedo, choosing the wedding participants, decorating for the reception, etc. A friend of the couple observes everything that is going on; however, it is not until the actual wedding day, walking into the church, that he says to himself, "The day of their wedding has come." That certainly does not mean that the wedding already has been taking place prior to that day, but rather that all of the preparations are about to culminate in a marriage ceremony; and he knows that he will be (not already has been) a witness of the wedding about to happen.

Similarly, once everyone observes the distinct signs in the sky, different from anything that ever has taken place in human history, and including the observation of Jesus in earth's atmosphere, they will know that the wrath of God is about to be doled out upon them. It is only then that they will run and hide in utter terror.

Something else that never made sense to me was how Jesus, being "lambish" as He is opening the seals, could at the same time be in a state of rage, dispensing His wrath upon the earth. That always seemed completely incongruous to me, and of course it still does, because I do not believe He will be being actively wrathful while He passively is opening the seals of the scroll (until he opens the 7th Seal).

The events described after the openings of Seals 1-5 will be, primarily, a result of Satan's increasing intervention into world affairs, with governments fighting, changing, and collapsing relatively quickly, along with an escalating persecution and killing of Christians and Jews. With everything in such chaos, it will be very difficult or impossible to curb great famines and plagues, which will get completely out of control. During this period, I believe that God gradually will remove His protective hand from the earth, and natural disasters, such as great earthquakes, will become more and more commonplace.

Here is one more point (although I have others). Those people who will be slain and their blood shed after the opening of the 5th Seal are saved believers (who have not yet been raptured), and they will cry out to God to judge the inhabitants of the earth and to avenge their blood:

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" (Revelation 6:9,10).

See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer (Isaiah 26:21).

[He has sent me] to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn... (Isaiah 61:2).

For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion's cause (Isaiah 34:8).

For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come (Isaiah 63:4).

God's judgment of the earth will not already have taken place, nor even yet have begun, during the events of Seals 1-5. It will be imminent with the opening of the 6th Seal, and it will commence after the opening of the 7th Seal. The souls of saints, killed during the Great Tribulation, will cry out for God to avenge their blood by judging the inhabitants of the earth.

Consequently, when God hears this cry, He will respond with vengeance (which has the same root as avenge), on behalf of the saints and of Israel (which will devastated throughout the Great Tribulation period), during the subsequent Day of the Lord's vengeance or wrath (Isaiah 34:8, 61:2, 63:4; Revelation 6:17). The Trumpet Judgments will be the first wave of God's wrath, and the Bowl Judgments will be the final wave of His wrath.