Great Tribulation is regarded as a seven-year period of judgment on the earth. The church is viewed as either being raptured prior to this judgment, or as being on earth for part of it, or as living through the entire Tribulation and surviving victoriously through persecution. Note that this text seems to support a “post-tribulation” rapture. That is, if the “great tribulation” in verse 21 is the seven-year period of judgment, then verses 29–31 indicate that Christ’s coming and the Rapture are “immediately