day is seen to be the termination of the
tribulation, which is previously described in that book. This period of
tribulation is, therefore, to come before the Kingdom Age, and to be
ended by the glorious appearing of Christ, the King.

Again, the tribulation is to come after the true Church has been
removed; for it should be remembered that the true believers are to be
saved _out_ of the "hour of trial which shall come upon the earth to try
those that dwell therein" (Rev. 3:10), (the believer, being a citizen of
the heavenlies is, therefore, not included among those who dwell in the
earth). This aspect of the Lord's return is often misunderstood. He
comes first, not to the earth, but into the air to meet His Bride and
gather her to Himself; both those that are sleeping and those that are
awake: "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead
in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:
and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (I Thes. 4:16, 17). This phase of
his coming is, and has been, imminent since the promises of his return
were given; and it is for this particular preliminary event that the
Church is taught to hope and pray, for it will be the time of her
rapture and blessedness. As has been before stated, the utter
dissolution of humanity is latent in the unregenerated heart (Rom.
3:10-18), and its own tribulation only awaits this removal of all Divine
restraint. It is, therefore, both Scriptural and reasonable to conclude
that tribulation will instantly begin upon the earth after the first
aspect of the return of Christ when He comes _for_ His Church.

Thus it may be seen that this period of unsurpassed trial upon the
earth, when the blasphemous claims of Satan and man are to be proven and
God's testimony is to be vindicated, is bounded by the two events in the
Second Coming of Christ: when He comes _for_ His saints (I Thes. 4:16,
17), to gather to Himself His heavenly people, and when He comes _with_
His saints (Rev. 19:11-21) to be the complete fulfillment of all the
covenants of God with His earthly people.

The actual duration of this period is marked off in Daniel 9:24-27:
"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to
finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make
reconciliatio