Will Believers Suffer Through the Tribulation? - by John MacArthur

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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In significant departure from his usual practice, Dr. MacArthur quotes and references a lot of Scripture. This gladdens our heart, because too often these "Bible teachers" do not do so.

Dr. MacArthur is a Calvinist and a reformist, which means he has particular doctrines through which he filters Scripture. In this case his intent is to explain 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 through those lenses.

Teachers like Dr. MacArthur are always on the lookout for verses that feed their doctrines. In this case, the doctrine is the pre-trib rapture, although he only manages to mention it in the last paragraph.

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The following is an excerpt from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11.

For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:9–11)

The most sobering truth in Scripture is that God will judge the wicked and sentence them to eternal hell (Matt. 3:12; 25:41, 46; John 3:36; 5:29; Acts 24:25; Rom. 2:5, 8; 2 Thess. 1:9; Heb. 6:2; 2 Peter 2:9; 3:7; Rev. 14:9–11). On the other hand, the blessed truth for believers is that God has not destined us for wrath (cf. 1:10; John 3:18, 36; 5:24; Rom. 5:1, 9; 8:1, 33–34). Like their nature, established in the past at salvation, and their present pattern of obedience, day people’s future destiny sets them apart from night people. Believers will not experience the wrath God will pour out on unbelievers on the Day of the Lord, and for eternity in hell. (This is the pre-trib rapture reference. But those who believe this do not actually believe it, because according to their view there will be Christians in the Great Tribulation. The 1444,000 will supposedly be evangelizing during this time, and many will come to faith. 

This of course means that some believers will indeed experience the wrath of God, having gotten saved during the Great Tribulation.

Our view is that the rapture happens on the last day. All believers will live through a time of increasing trouble, culminating on the return of the Lord coming on the clouds. He will meet us in the air, and then continue on to earth to execute judgment. We discuss the rapture in detail here. We discuss the Last Days here.)

The word destined expresses the inexorable outworking of God’s sovereign plan for believers’ salvation. In Matthew 25:34 Jesus promised that believers will “inherit the kingdom prepared for [them] from the foundation of the world.” To the Ephesians Paul wrote, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him” (Eph. 1:4), while in 2 Timothy 1:9 he added, “[God] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”

Orge (wrath) does not refer to a momentary outburst of rage, but to “an abiding and settled habit of mind” (Richard C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament [reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983], 131). It is a general reference to the final judgment, when God’s wrath will be poured out on the wicked (Matt. 3:7; John 3:36; Rom. 1:18; 2:5, 8; 3:5; 4:15; 5:9; 9:22; 12:19; Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:6; Rev. 14:9–11). But God’s wrath here must also include the Day of the Lord, since that was the Thessalonians’ primary concern. Paul assured them that they would face neither temporal wrath on the Day of the Lord (cf. Rev. 6:17), nor eternal wrath in hell. (The text does not say that Paul was concerned about temporal wrath. Let's quote a larger part of the passage: 

1Th. 5:4-10 But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.

5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.

7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.

9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

Paul's entire thrust is to counsel the Thessalonian church to lead righteous lives and not participate in the deeds of darkness. He is reminding them of who they are. They should therefore lead the kind of lives that they would not be surprised at the Day of the Lord.

So the wrath they are not going to experience is due to them receiving salvation. That wrath, the wrath of God, is is not in their future. There is nothing here about "temporal wrath." We don't even know what that means.

Dr. MacArthur and others want to use this passage to attempt to document the pre-trib rapture doctrine, which is, Christians are not appointed to suffer wrath because they will be raptured out before the wrath of God is poured out during the Great Tribulation.

It is an interesting contravention of Dr. MacArthur that Paul goes into great detail about the persecutions, troubles, and difficulties he was experiencing [1Th. 2:21, Th. 3:4, 1Th. 3:7], and also mentions their sufferings [1Th. 2:14]. But for some reason Dr. MacArthur thinks that Paul was telling them they would escape the Great Tribulation when they already were experiencing trouble. That is extremely odd.)

But—in contrast to the doomed night people—God has destined believers for obtaining (lit., “gaining,” or “acquiring”) salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Once again, Paul referred to the future dimension of believers’ salvation, their glorification (see the discussion of verse 8 above). But all three aspects of salvation—justification (Isa. 53:11; Rom. 3:24, 26; 5:8–9; 1 Cor. 6:11; Gal. 2:16), sanctification (1 Cor. 1:30; 6:11; Heb. 7:25), and glorification (cf. Phil. 3:21)—come only through our Lord Jesus Christ. The simple, yet profound phrase who died for (huper; “on our behalf”; “with reference to us”; “in our place”; “as our substitute”) (Huper does not mean "in our place" or "as our substitute." Dr. MacArthur is hinting at "penal substitutionary atonement," a reformist doctrine that Jesus died in our place and received the wrath of God on our behalf. But the word does not convey this sense, unless of course one imposes one's doctrine upon it.

Jesus died for us as the lamb of God, sacrificed to propitiate for our sin. He was not punished. The OT sacrifices were not punished. They did not substitute for the sinner. The blood was spilled to atone for sin. Similarly, Jesus' blood was spilled for our sin.

The reader may wish to read our discussion of this here and here.)

us (cf. Rom. 5:8) expresses the sole basis for believers’ salvation. God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21); “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24; cf. John 10:11; Rom. 8:3; Gal. 1:4; 3:13; Eph. 5:2; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 2:2). The glorious message of the gospel is that Christ’s substitutionary death paid in full the penalty for believers’ sins and therefore believers will not face God’s judgment. (Everyone will face God's judgment:

Re. 20:12-13 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 

13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.)

In John 5:24 Jesus declared, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (There is a substantial difference between being judged and having one's works judged [1Co. 3:12-15].)

Nor will they face His condemnation, because “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).

Christ’s death on their behalf sets all day people—both those who are awake (alive) and those who are asleep (dead; cf. 4:13–15)—apart from night people. The marvelous reality is that all believers will live together with Him, as Jesus Himself promised:

Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. (John 14:1–3; cf. 1 Thess. 4:17)

As he did with his discussion of the Rapture (cf. 4:18 where he used the same word rendered here “encourage”), Paul concluded his discussion of the Day of the Lord by exhorting the Thessalonians to encourage one another and build up one another. Based on the truth he had given them, they were to reassure the anxious and fearful that they would not experience the Day of the Lord. (Unreferenced claim.)

His concluding phrase, just as you also are doing, affirms that they were already committed to encouragement. Ever the faithful pastor, passionately concerned for his people, Paul wanted them to “excel still more” (4:1).