We have to define tribulation I believe at this point. So we can define the tribulation and the great tribulation. The tribulation is a 7 year period per Daniels 70 weeks and the one week left also known as the time of Jacobs trouble.
The tribulation is broke down into two periods of 3 and a half years each. The first being the Wrath of the Lamb and the second being the wrath of God or the Father. It is great because it is the Father as Christ said my Father is greater than I am.
Rev 6 the opening of the seals, seal one is the wrath of the Lamb the kings and people of this earth notice it come seal 6. However, from the start it is wrath and is also tribulation.
Rev is so key to understanding bible prophecy and placing events in there chronological order. Rev is chronological and even says so when John is told to write what he has seen what is and what will be hereafter this is chronological and what Rev does for us really allows us to tie all prophecy together and then lay them down upon the time line rev is to see when they happen and how the sequence plays out.
In 2nd Thess when it talks about the man of sin being reveled this is Rev 6:1. A big deal is made in Rev 5 how only Christ the Lamb of God is worthy.
This is done so scripture might be fulfilled. Which Christ even said that the Psalms would be fulfilled. The opening of the seals the wrath of the Lamb fulfills the Psalms.
Psalms 2 says,
1Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed,
saying,
3Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
5Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
6Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
7I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou
art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
8Ask of me, and I shall give
thee the heathen
for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy possession.
9Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
10Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
11Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish
from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed
are all they that put their trust in him.
His wrath is kindled but a little 3 and a half years.
Psalms 110 says,
The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
2The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
3Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
4The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou
art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
5The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
6He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill
the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.
7He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
This is just what the seals are the striking through and the cleansing of the earth of the wicked.
Ezekiel 14:21 says, For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?
Seals 2-4 are just this they are the 4 sore judgments. In verse 19 of Ezekiel 14 God lets us know this is wrath. It reads, Or
if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: