9 After 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;
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

These were not taken before the tribulation began, as seen in the highlight, they came out of the tribulation.

15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

 Verse 16 and 17 shed some possible light on the multitude of people sitting before the throne and perhaps how they arrived.  Hunger, thirst, sunlight, heat, and the final part of verse 17, God will wipe away the tears from their eyes.  This may imply that their final days were not peaceful, in later studies we will address verses that are more specifically applied to the saints during the tribulation.  The saints, with possible the exception of a few who go into hiding, do not receive the mark which will provide a tracking method, and who become survivors in the wild, will be persecuted and done away with before the pouring out of the wrath of God, which comes during the second half of the events of the 7th seal.

The persecution of the Christians may begin immediately after the events of the 6th seal, possibly the third world war.  The tribulation has begun as the 144,000 of God's elect have been sealed.  The beast will make war on the saints and will prevail, how?  How can anyone kill masses of people and do so successfully?  Look at Germany pre WWII, the Jews were cut off from communication.  If you were Jewish and worked for a newspaper or radio station, you lost your job.  They were moved into neighborhoods, their voice was publicly silenced, and the government demonized them by saying they were incestuous, dirty, inferior, abusive within their own families, etc.  The public was told this repeatedly, and the voice of the Jews was not heard, it was not allowed to be heard.  I'm sure they had propagandists, I don't know for a fact but they could have had girls going on the air posing as Jewish girls and confirming they had been molested by their own family members. These are the tactics tested and proven effective.  As pressure develops against the Christians, they will probably tighten up their groups, many people may even move into churches in family units where they can feel comfortable talking and sharing God without the fear of being arrested.  It is hard to imagine happening in the United States, but imagine if you can a church full of people, women and children included, being surrounded by the government military weapons, Helicopters, tanks, sharpshooters, etc.  All their communication lines cut off so they cannot reach out to the rest of the world.  Then government specialists publicly, daily, and repeatedly informing the public that these people have reacted in a hostile manner, the leader of the church perhaps declares himself to be God, there is incest and immorality going on, and especially the children, being abused and molested.  When you hear this over and over as the Germans did to the Jews, and no response comes from those accused, the public at large will believe it, and many will even rejoice when they see the church being burnt to the ground.  This is hard to believe, especially in America where we have freedom of religion, and our government acts only in our interest.  Where foul language is approved for TV, Radio, and movies, but God and Jesus Christ are condemned.  Where the Ten Commandments are removed from our court rooms, prayer is removed from our schools, prison ministry programs are being attacked as being against the constitution, but a crucifix of Jesus can be photographed in a glass of urine and receive funding from the Foundation for the Endowment of the Arts.  Where our Pledge is being attacked for using the term, one nation under God, and the list goes on.  It is just hard to believe that this would even happen in this country.  God's word however tells us that Christians will be persecuted, the beast will prevail, and if Gods word says it will happen, then it will happen, no matter what you believe or what you want to happen.

Revelation 8 >