Will believers be protected during the Tribulation?
Believers will be present on earth during the great tribulation and will suffer real persecution, even martyrdom, but Scripture teaches that God protects His people from His own wrath, even while judgment falls on the ungodly around them.
Scripture is plain that the Church will be on the earth during the reign of the Antichrist and the time of the mark of the beast. Matthew 24:9-14 warns that believers will be delivered up to affliction, hated for Christ's name, and some will be killed, while false prophets deceive many and iniquity abounds. Revelation 6:9-11 shows souls slain for the word of God and their testimony, and Revelation 13:7-10 says power was given to the beast to make war with the saints and overcome them. This tribulation is described as a time of testing, purging, and proving the faith and patience of God's people, not a time when they are hidden from the world but a time when they are the light exposed for others to see.
At the same time, a clear distinction is made between the great tribulation, which is persecution and affliction coming upon the saints, and the wrath of God, which is His vengeance poured out on the wicked. Paul states plainly, "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:9). The wrath is not the trials, wars, or persecutions men bring on each other, but the specific judgments and plagues that come from heaven upon those who dwell on the earth.
Even while judgment is being executed on the ungodly, Scripture shows that God is able to preserve His own people in the very midst of it. Just as He severed the land of Goshen from the plagues in Egypt so that His people would not suffer the swarms of flies (Exodus 8:22-23), so He is able to protect His people even during the outpouring of end time judgments. Zephaniah 2:2-3 calls the meek of the earth to seek the Lord, righteousness, and meekness, so that they may be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. Second Peter 2:9 affirms this pattern directly: "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished."
So believers are not promised exemption from tribulation, persecution, or even death at the hands of the Antichrist; many will suffer greatly and some will be martyred, coming out of great tribulation with their robes washed in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:13-14). But they are promised deliverance from the wrath of God itself, which falls specifically on the wicked, and the Church is finally gathered and changed at the sounding of the last trumpet, according to 1 Corinthians 15:51-52.
The scriptures
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be.
Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’s anger come upon you. Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’s anger.
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
From the books
This answer is drawn from these passages in the Mary Banks Faith Library.