I am a pre-trib, pre-mil dispensationalist.  Everyone got that?  Pre-trib means pre-tribulation, or before the Tribulation.  I believe that Jesus is coming to rapture the church (all those who have believed in His name alone to save them) before the Tribulation begins.  We are currently in the Church Age, which is defined as the dispensation, or period of time, beginning in Acts 2 and ending at the Rapture.  We do not know when the Church Age will end, because the Rapture is imminent, which means it can occur at any time.  It is the next major event in God's plan, and nothing else has to happen before the Rapture takes place.  No man knows the hour of Jesus return for the church.

The Tribulation is a seven year period that begins with the Rapture and ends with Jesus' second coming and the Battle of Armageddon.    During this Tribulation period, the Anti-Christ will rise to power, bring the whole world together and defame the name of Almighty God.  Judgments will be poured out on the world, and the majority of mankind will die.  There will be people saved during this time, as Israel finally does what God had always intended it to do: be missionaries to the world.  Revelation 7 talks of the 144,000 witnesses who will proclaim the name of the Messiah, Jesus Christ!  Many people will turn to Jesus as their Savior during this time.  Yet it will be a horrible time on the earth with much death.

Pre-mil means pre-millennium or before the Millennial reign of Jesus on earth.  Jesus will sit on the throne in Jerusalem for 1,000 years of peace.  During this time, there will be true peace on earth, and those who have been saved will rule and reign with Jesus during this time.  This period will be exactly how God had planned earth to be, with no sin or death.  Even the animals will know peace as we are told that the animal kingdom will be vegetarian and peaceful with each other and with humanity.

Dispensational theology in a very brief nutshell is a system of interpretation of God's Word that establishes unity through the focus of the grace of God. We believe that there were different periods of time in which God interacted with humanity in a different way, yet during all of those times, mankind's response must be through faith alone.  Dr. Paul Enns in "The Moody Handbook of Theology" writes, "Dispensationalists arrive at their system of interpretation through two primary principles: (1) maintaining a consistently literal method of interpretation, and (2) maintaining a distinction between Israel and the church."  When dispensationalist look at Scripture, we always take it to be literal, unless it is obviously figurative.  Dispensationalist's always keep distinction between Israel and the church.  Promises made to Israel do not automatically transfer over to the church, and the church has not become Israel.  They are two separate entities.  Israel will again be God's primary force for missions during the Tribulation.  Most dispensationalist's identify 7 dispensations, or periods of time.  I am not going to take the time here to list them out.  But feel free to email me to discuss this further.

Now that we have the theology down (that was the very brief discussion) we can move on to the two things I keep thinking about as I study Revelation.  By the way, I love theology.  I believe all Christians should.  I don't think that all Christians need to be as fanatical as I am about it, but you ought to know what you believe and why.  We all live out our theology, but that is a different discussion for another time.

The two things I keep dwelling on as I read about the Seal Judgments and the Trumpet Judgments and the Bowl Judgments are this: (1) I am so grateful that I will not be here to go through this awful period on earth.  I will have either died or have been raptured (by the way, I am praying for rapture).  I have put my faith in Jesus alone to save me, so I know that I will not experience the Tribulation.  But that leads me to number two.  (2) I am impressed, no, burdened, to make sure that I leave as few people here for that as possible.  I am burdened for those who do not know Jesus who will go through those horrible things and then spend eternity in hell.  I am overwhelmed with the possibility that if I do not tell them about Jesus that no one will, and they will be left here and headed to hell forever.  My cry is this: "Jesus, help me to tell them all.  Help me to reach them.  Help me to be bold."

I pray this is your cry as well.  We are here on earth as Christians for two reasons: (1) to glorify God and (2) to tell people about Jesus.  Let's get on it!