The author encourages those experiencing tribulation by directing them to the joy that Christ holds out to believers.

The author continues on the topic of millennialism and here criticizes the dispensationalist view, that the current age is a kind of a parenthesis, a period made necessary by the failure of the Jews to come to Christ at his first coming. This view further states that when Christ comes for the second time, the Jews will have been evangelized and come to faith, and there will have been a period of severe tribulation.

What did the early church believe about the second coming or return of Christ? This paper explores the views of the ante-Nicene fathers on this topic and touches upon the conditions of his return, the result of his return, personal preparation for his return, relationship to the first resurrection, tribulation, etc.

Eschatology is a present reality that should shape the life of the church. Beale argues that the origin of the office of elder is partly related to the inauguration of the latter-day tribulation. This article discusses this inauguration of the tribulation in some detail, and also takes a look at the motivation for godly living during these end times.