Pre-Wrath, Post-Trib Summary

What takes place during the first five Seals of Revelation 6 is the same sequence of events prophesied in Matthew 24:5-14: 1) false messiahs and prophets, 2) internecine wars, 3) food scarcity and famine, 4) earthquakes and other chaotic events, and 5) persecution of believers.

Some believers will be killed during this time of the Great Tribulation: these are the saints of the 5th Seal "slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held." Rev. 6:9 = Matt. 24:9

Then comes the 6th Seal's heavenly and earthly cataclysms = Matt. 24:29, which come "immediately after the Tribulation."

Then comes Christ in the clouds to gather up his elect = the Rapture, while being seen by every eye (Rev. 1:7), which causes all the unbelievers to mourn, and to flee and hide in fear. Matt. 24:30-31; Rev. 1:7, 6:15-17; Is. 2:10-11, 19-21

At that time, after the Rapture of the Church and during the unbelievers' fear, the Great Tribulation has been completed, and "the great day of [God's] wrath came/has come." Rev. 6:17. But "God did not appoint us [the elect] to [His] Wrath" (1 Thes. 5:9), so we've been taken outta here just before. [A great deception is promoted by those who teach that the Tribulation and the Wrath are the same thing: Scripture makes a clear distinction between the two.]

Now at this same time, there is a third group, those of Israel who also see Jesus in the clouds, realize that he is their Messiah "whom they pierced," and therefore demonstrate their repentance and faith in him when they "mourn for him like one mourns for his only son." Zech. 12:10ff.

The very next event is Rev. 7:1-8, which continues on from the earthly perspective of Rev. 6, and tells us of the 144,000 Israelites who are sanctified/sealed in their foreheads "on the earth." Who are these but repentant Israelites of Zech. 12:10? For them, it is too late to be raptured, because they were not among "those who were ready" when the Bridegroom came. Matt. 25:10

Then John's view is shifted to heaven, and he is shown 'those who came out of the Great Tribulation' (Rev. 7:14), being those just raptured, "standing before the throne and the before the Lamb, clothed with white robes." Rev. 7:9 These fulfill the promise of Luke 21:36: "Watch, therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things [of the Great Tribulation] and to stand before the Son of Man."

Revelation 8 - 19 then tell us what will come upon all who were not ready for the Bridegroom: they must go through the time of God's Wrath, which includes both the Trumpets and Bowls, during which there will be believers on earth who will be martyred by the Beast. They will arise in the Rev. 20:4 resurrection, after Christ has descended to earth (Rev. 19) and defeated the Beast and kings of the earth.