There are three main purposes for the Great Tribulation.
1. To Make an End of Wickedness and Wicked Ones
The first of these purposes is to make an end of wickedness and wicked ones. There are two key passages that express this purpose. The first is found in Isaiah 13:9:
Behold, the day of Jehovah comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
This passage uses the term the Day of Jehovah as a reference to the Great Tribulation and gives its goal in the phrase, to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. The purpose, then, is to destroy wicked ones out of the land. This is further described in Isaiah 24:19–20:
The earth is utterly broken, the earth is rent asunder, the earth is shaken violently. The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall sway to and fro like a hammock; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again.
The closing words of this verse state that the basic reason for the judgments of the Tribulation is that the transgression worldwide shall fall and not rise again. Its purpose is to make an end of wickedness.
2. To Bring About a Worldwide Revival
The second purpose of the Tribulation is to bring about a worldwide revival. This purpose is given and fulfilled in Revelation 7:1–17. In verses 1–8, John describes the means by which God will bring about this worldwide revival, while verses 9–17 portray the results of the revival.
Revelation 7:1–4: the sealing of the servants of our God…a hundred and forty and four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel
Revelation 7:5-8: 12,000 Jews are selected from each of the Twelve Tribes, adding up to a total of 144,000 Jews. It is by means of these Jewish evangelists that God will bring about the worldwide revival and accomplish another goal of the Tribulation.
Following the vision of the 144,000 Jews in the first part of Revelation seven, John saw the results of the ministry of these Jewish evangelists in verses 9–17. John saw myriads and myriads of Gentiles, as well as other Jews who have come to a saving knowledge of the Savior during the Tribulation. By means of the 144,000 Jews, God will accomplish the second purpose of the Great Tribulation, that of bringing about a worldwide revival.
3. To Break the Power of the Holy People
The third purpose of the Tribulation is to break the power or the stubborn will of the Jewish nation. In Daniel 11–12, the prophet was given a vision of what conditions will be like for his people (Israel) during the Tribulation. Then, in Daniel 12:5–7, a question is raised as to how long this period will be allowed to continue: it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
This passage provides a third goal of the Tribulation. It is to break the power or the stubborn will of the Jewish nation. The Tribulation will continue and will not end until this happens. So, from this, the third purpose of the Tribulation can be deduced: God intends to break the power of the holy people in order to bring about a national regeneration.
The means by which God will perform this national regeneration is given in Ezekiel 20:33–38.
Arnold G Fruchtenbaum, Ariel’s, The Footsteps of the Messiah: A Study of Prophetic Events (San Antonio, TX: Ariel Ministries, 2020) pp 181-184
