THE KINGDOM
OF GOD, THE RETURN OF THE LORD JESUS
AND THE ETERNAL STATE
His Return — The Fact
hat the Lord Jesus, having gone into heaven, will
return again is the clear and unambiguous teaching of scripture. He himself
said, “I will come again.” John 14: 3. Paul, writing to the believers at
Thessalonica, tells us that they had “turned to
God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to await his Son from the heavens.”1Thes. 1: 9 -
10. It is therefore apparent that
the early Christians were looking for his return.
Aspects of his
Coming
Reference
to the scriptures will show us that there are different aspects of his coming, some of which are completely separate in character and
time. It is important to see the difference between these and in this
connection it is hoped that the summary below may prove helpful.
1. The Lord Jesus tells us what
it means for his followers and to those who would believe on him through their
word when he said, “I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where
I am, there ye may be also.” John 14: 3. 1 Thes. 4: 15 -18. This is
his coming for his saints.
2.
The apostle Paul tells us that, “them also which sleep in
Jesus will God bring with him.” I Thes. 4: 14. This takes place when he
subsequently comes with his
saints
4.
“And to you that are troubled [rest] with us, at
the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with [the] angels of his power, in flaming fire taking vengeance on
those who know not God, and those who do not obey the glad tidings of our Lord
Jesus Christ.” 2 Thes. 1: 7- 8.Here it is a day
of vengeance.
5.
“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the
angels with him, then shall he sit upon his throne of glory, and all the
nations shall be gathered before him; and he shall separate them from one
another.” Mat. 25: 31-32. This
is the judgement of the living nations
Why Did The Lord Not Establish The Kingdom of God
on The Earth?
At this juncture it may be worthwhile considering some of the
events leading up to, and the reasons for, the Lord’s departure to heaven. For
instance, why did he not establish God’s kingdom on the earth as promised in
the Old Testament (O.T.) scriptures?
Looking at Mathew’s Gospel, we see that John the Baptist’s
ministry, which preceded that of Lord Jesus, created a feeling of expectancy
among the people. The kingdom had not yet actually come (The law and
the prophets were until John: from that time the glad tidings of the kingdom of God are announced and everyone forces
his way into it Luke 16: 16.)
but he preached that it was near saying, “repent for the kingdom of the
heavens has drawn near.” John’s preaching attracted crowds from Jerusalem
and Judea and all the country round the Jordan; they went out into the
Judean desert to hear him.
The basis of the kingdom was moral, so when he baptised them in the Jordan it was a
public confession of their sins. This confession was a necessity for entry into
the kingdom. The nation as a whole had departed from Jehovah the God of Israel;
By submitting to John’s baptism
they acknowledged their own part in its guilt by separating themselves from
it. The Pharisees and the Sadducees, who were Jewish religious leaders, also
came to be baptised. John, knowing that on the whole they were religious
hypocrites had this to say to them, “O generation of vipers who has
forewarned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce therefore fruit worthy of
repentance.” Mat. 3: 7 - 8. The only course open to them was genuine
confession of their sins and repentance from them; in other word’s they had to
take the same route as the ordinary folk. John goes on to say, “already the
axe is applied to the root of the trees and every tree therefore not
producing good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire” This had an
application to Judaism, which failing to produce fruit for God would be set
aside and wither like the fig tree in Mathew Chapter 21. Never the less
judgment would still lie ahead at the completion of the age. – The coming one,
with his winnowing fan
in his hand, would thoroughly purge his threshing floor. This is probably a
reference to the total clearing out of the sphere occupied by Israel. Having
said this however, the book of Daniel applies the expression, “like
the chaff on the summer threshing floors” to the power and glory of the
nations. He will gather the wheat into his store, but he will burn the chaff
with unquenchable fire. This is a reference to the future time when the angels
will gather every offensive thing out of his kingdom.
The Lord Jesus comes to John to be baptised, not that he had
anything to confess, perish the thought, but in so doing he identifies himself
with those with whom alone he could identify himself, namely the repentant
remnant of Israel.
John is subsequently put in prison and the Lord, subjected to the
temptation in the desert, defeats and binds the strong man (Satan) Mat 12:
29, and continues preaching the same message as John, that is that the kingdom of the
heavens had come near. Unlike John however, who was a voice and did not
perform any miracle he proceeded to spoil Satan’s goods by means of works of
power healing every disease and bodily weakness among the people. These
miracles, I believe, were a demonstration of the works of power of the coming
age, Heb. 6: 5. that in the days of the establishment of the kingdom will
universally undo the works of the devil. The Lord had come to seek the lost
sheep of the house of Israel.
Mat. 15: 24. He had demonstrated
the power of the kingdom among them and at the end of the day they would have
none of it.
The Lord feeling their rejection keenly weeps over Jerusalem and laments, “How
often would I have gathered thy children --- and ye would not! --- Behold your
house is left unto you desolate; for I say unto you, Ye shall in no wise see me
henceforth until ye say, Blessed [be]
he that comes in the name of [the]
Lord.” Mat. 23: 37 - 39. He then leaves the temple complex and
speaks to his disciples about its coming destruction. Subsequently the
disciples have a private audience with the Lord on the Mount
of Olives. They ask him when these things will happen, and what
will be the signs of his coming and the completion of the age. Their question
and his reply indicate that he is going away and that the completion of the age
will not take place until his return. Mathew Chapter 24: 3 and Mathew
24: 45 – 51 show that the kingdom will take another form during his absence
and its character is not “eating and drinking; but righteousness, and peace,
and joy in the Holy Spirit.”Rom. 14: 17. It was the prophet Micah,
some seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, who foretold that they (Israel) would smite the judge of Israel on the
cheek and that because of this he would give them up for a period. Micah 5:
1 - 3. The rejection of the king (we will not have this man to reign
over us) and his crucifixion become the reasons for Israel being set aside and for his
going away. How near the kingdom had come! But now its establishment in
power on the earth would be put off. (See Mark 9: 1 and Luke 19: 11 etc.)
Peter’s Appeal
to The Nation Before It is Set Aside
A further appeal to the nation by the apostle Peter after the
Lord’s ascension, is rebuffed when he speaks to the Jews saying, “Repent
therefore and be converted, for the blotting out of your sins, so that times of
refreshing may come from [the]
presence of [the] Lord,
and he may send Jesus Christ, who was foreordained for
you, whom heaven indeed must receive till [the] times of [the] restoring of all things, of
which God has spoken by the mouths of his holy prophets.” Acts 3: 19-21.
Then having killed the Son and refused Peter’s appeal they re-emphasise
their guilt by stoning to death Stephen, the Lord’s servant. Acts 7: 57 - 60.
Everything has now been done, that can be done, to effect their
recovery, but to no avail. They have only the leaves of empty profession and
are like the fig tree in Luke Chapter 13; it produced no fruit even
though great care and patience had been exercised in it’s cultivation
consequently, “the time of the restoring of all things” remains a future
event and; they will not see Jesus Christ until they say, “Blessed [be] he that comes in the name of
[the] Lord.” Mat. 23:
37-39. Man in the flesh, however religious and cultivated, even by the
divine hand, cannot please God. A complete new beginning is required and so the
Lord told the religious Nicodemus that new birth was necessary for entry into
the earthly side of the kingdom. This will indeed take place nationally for Israel in
accordance with the Psalm. (110) “Thy people shall be willing in the
day of thy power” and “Giving my laws into their mind, I will write also
upon their hearts” Heb. 8, Jer. 31. Although the Lord was speaking
to Nicodemus about earthly things, his words were carefully chosen show to
that, whether in its earthly or heavenly aspects, new birth is a prerequisite
for the individual to enter the kingdom
of God.
The departure of the king and the consequent postponement of his
kingdom naturally raise the question, what fills the interim period?
The Interim Period
In the interim,
the ascended Christ is about to send the Spirit; they are going to be his witnesses, Luke
24: 48 - 49, Acts 1: 8, and Jesus, though made both Lord and Christ, will not be
seen again by the world until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet. Acts
2: 33 - 36.
The present day is a day that is characterised by the presence of
the Spirit of God, the day of the
gospel of the glory; it is the gospel that was given to Paul, a new apostle
with a new commission that he received from the ascended Christ, and not as the
eleven did from Christ on earth. “This [man] is an elect vessel to me, to bear my name before nations
and kings and [the] sons
of Israel.”
Acts 9: 15, Gal. 1: 12. Paul’s gospel revealed the wonderful
truth that believers were now baptised into one body by the Spirit thus forming
the assembly of God, the body of Christ on the earth. In this
body both Jew and Gentile are reconciled to God by the cross (Eph. 2:
16.) and the body is livingly linked to Christ its head in heaven
and so we read, “But, holding the truth in love, we may grow up to him in
all things, who is the head, the Christ: from whom the whole body, fitted
together, and connected by every joint of supply, according to [the] working in [its] measure, of each one part,
works for itself the increase of the body to its self- building up in love.”
Eph. 4: 15 - 16.
It is Christianity, on the whole, that occupies the interim
period. The apostle Paul explains that the distinctive
truth of “Christ and the assembly” (or
church) was something entirely
new; it was never the subject of O.T. prophecy. We see this in Eph.
Ch. 3. which reads, “if indeed ye have heard of the
administration of the grace of God which has been given me towards you, that by
revelation the mystery has been made known to me, - - - which in other
generations has not been made known to the sons of men, as it has now
been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in [the power of the] Spirit, that
[they who are of] the
nations should be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of [his] promise in Christ Jesus by the glad
tidings.”
People speak about the church visible and the church invisible and
they view the body as partly on earth and partly in heaven. Scripture never
speaks of it in this way but considers it as a complete thing on the earth at
any one time. e.g. as we have already noted the scripture, “From whom the whole
body, fitted together - - - works for itself the increase of the body etc.”
Where does this take place? On earth? Of course it does! Only at the rapture
could the body be looked at as composing the complete number of the Christian
saints and then it will not be said to be ‘to be working for itself the
increase etc.’
The Spirit is here today indwelling both the believer and the
assembly, but he also acts as a restraint on the full development of evil in
the world. When he has gone, the way will be opened up for the lawless one to
be revealed. (i.e. the one whom we commonly speak about as the antichrist) I
believe that the Spirit of God is the one referred to as the restrainer in the
scripture, “he who restrains now until he be gone, and then the
lawless one shall be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the
breath of his mouth, and shall annul by the appearing of his coming.” 2 Thes. 2:
7 - 8. This restraint by the Holy Spirit may continue for a time, even
after the assembly has gone, in the context of “the seven Spirits of God [which are] sent into all the
earth. Rev. 5: 6.
The Spirit of God is described in Hebrews Chapter 10, as a
Spirit of grace. John tells us that, “The law was given
by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”It is grace that
characterises the interim period directing a message of pardon towards the
whole world.The purpose of the christian gospel is to draw out a people from
this world, namely the assembly, whose blessings are and will be in heaven in
the closest possible association with the Lord Jesus that is as “bone of his
bone and flesh of his flesh.”The hope then of the assembly is for the
return of the Lord Jesus to take us and unite us eternally in the glory with
him.
During the interim
period the assembly is the responsible witness for God on the earth and no
amount of failure will take its responsibility away. Jesus therefore, in the
first three chapters of Revelation, is seen walking in the midst of the
assemblies.There he takes account of the true condition of things, nothing
escapes the gaze of those eyes that are described as “flames of fire.” “He
is the faithful and true witness” in contrast with the assembly that has
more or less failed in its witness for God. The period of the assembly’s
testimony on the earth comes under the heading of “the things that are,”whereas
the time after John is called up through the opened door to view things from
the heavenly perspective comes under the heading of “ the things that are
about to be after these.”Rev. 1: 19.
In the book of
Revelation God is generally dealing governmentally with the
condition of things on the earth, whether it is with the assembly now (The things which are) or afterwards, as in Revelation
4: 1 (The things [that] must take place after these things, i.e. after the assemblies are no
longer seen on earth.) with Israel and the nations.Therefore we do not
find here the expressions indicative of the closeness of relationship that we find in John’s other
writings.
The Christian
Hope
Paul, writing to Titus, speaks of the hope in these words, “For
the grace of God which carries with it salvation for all men has appeared, teaching
us that, having denied impiety and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, and
justly, and piously in the present course of things, awaiting the
blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus
2: 11- 13. Although the blessed hope
and the appearing of the glory are separate in time the apostle links them
together as that for which the Christian is waiting; one leads on to the other.
The Christian is described by Peter as being “begotten
--- again to a living hope --- reserved in the heavens for you who are kept
guarded by [the] power of
God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in [the] last time.” 1 Pet. 1: 3 - 5.
The Distinction Between the Lord’s Coming for His Saints and His
Coming with Them.
1.
His Coming For His Saints.
That the words used by the Lord in John
chapter fourteen are for the comfort of his own after his going away is evident
from the context. Consequently there is not a hint of judgement in them,
nothing to unsettle the mind, only that he was going to come back for them and
take them to be with himself in his Father’s house. This is what we have in the
parenthesis in the First Epistle to The Thessalonians Chapter 4 and 5; “For
if we believe that Jesus has died and has risen again, so also God will bring
with him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. (For this we
say to you in [the] word
of [the] Lord, that we,
the living, who remain to the coming of the Lord, are in no way to anticipate (i.e. go before) those who have fallen asleep; for the Lord himself, with an
assembling shout, with archangel’s voice and with trump of God, shall descend
from heaven; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we the living who
remain, shall be caught up together with them in [the]
clouds, to meet the Lord in [the]
air; and thus we shall always be with [the] Lord. So encourage one another with these words.) But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that ye
should be written to, for ye know perfectly well yourselves, that the day of [the]
Lord so comes as a thief by night. When they may say, Peace and safety, then
sudden destruction comes on them, as travail upon her that is with child; and
they shall in no wise escape.”
Jesus had died and risen and was coming again; in the same manner
the believers who had died were going to be raised so as to come with him, i.e.
in the day of his manifestation. Not only that, the living believers, at this
time, are going to be changed and caught away together with them. This is what
has been rightly called “the rapture.” i.e. the arpaghsomeqa or “the
catching away.” “We shall not all sleep,” says Paul, “but we shall
all be changed.” 1 Cor.15: 51.
2.
His Coming With His Saints.
“For if we believe that Jesus died
and rose again, so also God will bring with
him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. (5)
But concerning the times and the seasons brethren, ye
have no need that ye should be written to, for ye know perfectly well
yourselves, that the day of [the]
Lord so comes as a thief by night. When they may say, peace and safety, then
sudden destruction comes on them, as travail upon her that is with child; and
they shall in no wise escape.” 1 Thes. Chapter 4 and 5.
The parenthesis of chapter four, shown previously in red, has been
omitted in the above quotation so as to emphasise the connection between
Chapter 4 v 14 and Chapter 5 v 1. They have been raised like Jesus, and have
gone to be with him and will return with him, in raised, glorified bodies at
the commencment of the day of the Lord.
Paul, writing to the Colossian believers
says, “When the Christ is manifested who [is] our life, then
shall ye also be manifested with him in glory.” Col. 3: 4. To the
believers at Rome
he writes, “The constant looking out of the creature expects the revelation
of the sons of God. - - - in hope that the creature itself shall be set free
from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of
God. For we know that the whole creation groans together - - - but even we
ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, we also ourselves groan in
ourselves awaiting adoption, [that is] the redemption of our
body. Rom. Ch. 8.
The redemption of our bodies takes place at the rapture and the
manifestation and the revelation take place when the Lord Jesus comes with his
saints, which is some time after the rapture.
The Day of The Lord
In the O.T. this is generally referred to as the day of Jehovah, a
point that is not usually apparent in our common English translations. This is
the name by which Israel
stands in relationship to God Ex. 6: 6 - 7, whereas we as Christians
stand in relationship to God as the Father. We see this in John 20: 17,
where we read, “I ascend to my Father and your Father, [to] my God and your God.” The
christian position is based on the full revelation of God and also on the basis
of resurrection. Consequently we are baptised in the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit.
However, when God takes up the government of the earth, it is
Jehovah that says, “Yet have I set my king on my holy hill of Zion,” Psalm
2. Of course the one who is the king is also Jehovah and so the Spirit of
God has the Lord Jesus in mind when he speaks about the day of the Lord. The
first dominion of the world was given to man. Gen 1: 26, Psalm 8. He was
a figure of the coming one, namely the Son of Man, to whom the habitable ‘world
to come’ will be subjected Heb. 2. This will be the age of his kingdom,
i.e. ‘The
Day of The Lord,’ when “the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our
God, and the authority of his Christ” will have come. Rev. 12: 10.
Psalm 8 begins with the thesis, “Jehovah our Lord, how
excellent is thy name in all the earth!” Christ’s kingdom on the earth will
last for a thousand years from its establishment, at the coming of the ‘Son of
Man,’ until he hands it over to God, even the Father that God (I take it that
the triune God is meant) might be all in all.
Other scriptures show that “He must reign until he put all
enemies under his feet.”1 Cor. 15: 25.
The last enemy of course is death. The extension of his rule is
therefore progressive. This is also seen in Daniel Chapter 2, where the
stone, ‘cut out without hands,’ i.e. the kingdom, becomes a mountain that
fills the whole earth. The expression ‘without hands’ seems to indicate that it
is direct divine intervention that will set aside the arrogant glory of the
kingdoms of men which become “like the chaff on the summer threshing floors.”
The thousand years will be a time of unparalleled blessing on the earth as we
see from Isaiah 2: 2 - 4.
During the thousand years Satan is imprisoned in the abyss and is
unable to deceive the nations. On his release, at the end of that period, he
again goes out to deceive them. The best of circumstances during the beneficent
reign of the Lord Jesus has not changed man’s nature and the devil gathers them
from the four corners of the earth. Gog and Magog, for war – the final
rebellion. They go up, like the sand of the sea on the breadth of the earth and
surround the beloved city, no doubt Jerusalem;
and fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them. The devil that
deceived them is then cast into the lake of fire, where the beast
and the false prophet are. Rev. 20.
Psalm 8, already quoted, then concludes as it began, “Jehovah
our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” This has been fully
demonstrated in the world kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Coming of
The Son of Man
The teaching concerning ‘Christ and the assembly’ was still a
mystery when Mathew’s Gospel was written; (Eph.Ch. 3.) and this was also
the case with the teaching concerning ‘the Lord’s coming for his saints’
consequently, there is no mention of the church’s association with him at his
coming as the Son of Man. For this we need to refer to the Epistles and the
book of Revelation. The coming of the Son of Man is subsequent to the Lords
return for his saints and is coincidental with our appearing with him in glory.
“And they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory, And he shall send his angels with a great
sound of trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect [ i.e the ingathering of Israel]
from the four winds, from [the
one] extremity of [the]
heavens to [the other]
extremity of them.” Mat. 24: 30 - 31. This is a different situation
from that found in 1 Thes. Ch. 4. There, the Lord himself effects all.
Here, the angels do the gathering; there, some are raised and all are changed;
here, all are gathered from the four winds and there is no mention of
resurrection.
“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels
with him, then shall he sit upon his throne of glory, and all the nations shall
be gathered before him; and he shall separate them from one another.” Mat.
25: 31 - 32. Here we have the judgement of the living nations and its criteria
is their attitude towards his brethren i.e. his Jewish brethren, the preachers
of the gospel of the kingdom at the end of the age. Of these brethren, those who
are in Judea are told to flee, when they see
the abomination of desolation set up in the holy place. Mat. 24: 15 - 16.
In the completion of the age, (i.e. the age which began when Christ was here on
earth, the completion of which was interrupted by his rejection and crucifixion
and Jehovah saying to him, “Sit at my right hand etc.”) Acts 2: 33 -
36. “The Son of Man shall send
his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all offences, and those that
practice lawlessness; and they shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there
shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous shall shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He that has ears let him hear.”
Mat. 13: 41 - 43.
Some Events Prior to The Day of The Lord
1.
War in Heaven, The Dragon And The Beasts — Before the day
of the Lord commences there will be war in heaven; Michael and his angels will
fight and prevail against the dragon (That is Satan — the Devil) and his angels. But they shall
be cast out into the earth and shall have no more place in heaven. “And when
the dragon saw that he had been cast out into the earth, he persecuted the
woman (Israel) which
bore the male [child] - - - and
went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of
God, and have the testimony of Jesus.” Rev. 12. Thereafter
in Chapter 13 two beasts arise, one out of the sea (the troubled and
agitated state of the nations) and the other out of the earth.
I believe that these are respectively the head of the future revived Roman Empire and the lawless one. (Antichrist) These, no
doubt arise as a result of, and find their energy from, satanic power; Compare
the description in verse 1 with that in verse 3 of the previous chapter; You
will find them similar although not identical.
2.
The Judgement of Great Babylon — In Rev. Ch. 18, 19. we have the
judgement of Babylon (The false self styled church) who claims to sit a queen
and be no widow, the epitome of conceit and arrogance, but “in one day shall her plagues come, death and grief and
famine, and she shall be burnt with fire; for strong is the Lord God who has
judged her.” This judgement is followed by three hallelujahs.
3.
The Judgment Seat of Christ — The christian
believer will meanwhile be in heaven; No sessional judgement will be required
to put him there; He will be caught away in the rapture. However, “We must
all be manifested before the judgement-seat of the Christ, that each may
receive the things [done]
in the body, according to those he has done, whether [it be] good or evil.” At the
judgement-seat the believer’s life will be under review, but he will not come
into judgement. The scripture positively asserts, in John’s Gospel Chapter 5,
that the believer has eternal life and will not come into judgement but has
already passed out of death into life. For the unbeliever however the judgement
seat will mean his judgement at the great white throne. Hence we read, “knowing
therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men” 2 Cor. 5.
4.
The Present Day Builders and The Lord’s Assessment of
Their Work — Although the builder’s work in the First Epistle to the
Corinthians chapter 3 is distinct from the works in the previous paragraph
the assessment of both may well take place at the same time. Paul and Apollos
and Peter had been God’s fellow labourers. That is, they were fellow labourers
responsible to God. (Not labourers with God as in the A.V.) Paul had laid the
foundation, which is Jesus Christ, and involves the truth of his person, that
is his deity, his divine Sonship, his holy humanity etc., in other words ‘the
doctrine of Christ.’ This had to do with the assembly as the house of God; it
is the pillar and base of the truth. Other workers would follow and build on the
foundation. They had the responsibility to see that nothing was allowed in its
construction (e.g. erroneous teaching) that would falsify its position in
testimony to the one who dwells there. The quality of the building materials
used by each man will be tested by fire. The materials used either come under
the category of gold, silver and precious stones or wood, grass and straw. If a
man’s work remains it shall receive a reward. If a man’s work burns he shall
suffer loss, although, spite of the fire, he shall be saved and if any one
corrupts the temple
of God him will God
destroy. May the Lord give us discernment to distinguish between what is
durable material and that which is not, that all may be done for the glory of
him who dwells in the house.
5.
The Marriage Supper of The Lamb — Now that these
preceding events have taken place the way is now clear, so to speak, for
the marriage supper of the Lamb, the time for this having come. The bride (the
assembly) has made herself ready and to her it is granted to be arrayed in fine
linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the
saints. Here we can see why the judgement seat must have previously taken
place. This is a wonderful day in heaven before the bride is brought forth in
display in the day of manifestation. What could be more blessed than to belong
to that company that will be forever one with the Lord Jesus? Others of the
redeemed heavenly saints, though not belonging to the assembly, are also
present joining in the celebration of the marriage. Scripture says of them “ Blessed
are they who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
When The Day of The Lord Comes What Will the Situation Be With
Respect To The Saints Caught Away at The Rapture?
The Apostle John brings before us the commencement of the day of
the Lord, Rev. 19: 11. depicting the Lord seated on a white horse
followed by the armies of heaven.(The kingdom of God
will be introduced by this intervention and not by improvement in or by man or
indeed by the church or its influence in the world. The Lord Jesus
said, “ye are not of the world.”) The armies are also
depicted sitting on white horses; in their case, however, they are additionally
said to be clothed in white, pure, fine linen. Similarly the bride, the Lamb’s wife
in Rev.19, is seen attired in fine linen, bright and white. The fine
linen, in that case, is declared to be the righteousnesses of the saints.
Comparison of the two cases would seem to indicate that the riders of the white
horses are also saints, no doubt including those of the O.T. as well as those
of the assembly. As such, they will have participated in the rapture and
subsequently will come out with him in the day of battle. Rev. 19: 11 etc. This
is the day of his anger when the Lord, who is presently sitting at Jehovah’s
right hand, shall smite through kings and shall judge among the nations filling
all places with dead bodies. Psm.110. A dreadful day! However it is a
day that should carry no fear for the Christian, and Paul therefore says, “And
to you that are troubled rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with the
angels of his power, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who know not
God, and those who do not obey the glad tidings of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Thes. 1: 7 - 8. Never the less, a bright end is in view, and
he will bring forth judgment unto victory; and on his name shall the nations
hope. Mat. 12: 20 – 21.
The two aspects of his coming, already spoken about in this paper,
are thus seen to be separate in both character and time, that is, his coming
for his saints and his coming with them.
The Final Judgement, The Great White Throne
“And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it, from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled, and place was not found for them. And I saw
the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were
opened; and another book was opened, which is [that] of life. And the dead were judged out of the things written
in the books according to their works. - - - And if anyone was not found
written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.” Rev.
20: 11-15.
At the coming of the Son of Man the elect are gathered from the
four winds and from one extremity of the heavens to the other indicating that
we are still in the time scene, whereas, in this scripture heaven and earth
have fled and no place is found for them. Time has gone; this is the final
judgement.
The christian believer is not the subject of this judgement. In
fact the scripture positively asserts, as we have already noted in John’s
Gospel Chapter 5, that the believer has eternal life and does not come into
judgement but is passed from death into life. Here in Revelation it is the dead
that stand before the throne; these are the ones of whom it is said in verse
5 that, “the rest of the dead did
not live till the thousand years had been completed.” The proof of this is
found in the two references in this chapter to the second death. This is the
resurrection of judgement, spoken of by the Lord when he was here on earth and
is preceded by, and separated from, the resurrection of the just by a thousand
years.
The Eternal Scene, The New Jerusalem. Revelation Chapter 21: 1 -
8.
In the first eight verses we come to the culmination of everything
where God is all and in all. If, in chapter 20, no place is found for the
heaven and the earth, John sees a new heaven and a new earth; He also sees the
holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. She has been in heaven for more than a thousand
years yet still she comes out in the beauty and freshness of a bride. The
question may be asked;, who is she? Verse 9 supplies the answer; she is the
Lamb’s wife. The question may be pursued; but who is the Lamb’s wife? This
shouldn’t be too difficult to answer. In relation to the assembly Paul speaks
to the Corinthians as presenting them as a chaste virgin to Christ and
to the Ephesians he says that “Husbands should love their wives in
the same way as Christ loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it,
in order that he might sanctify [it], purifying it by the washing of water by the word, that
he might present the assembly to himself glorious, having no spot, or wrinkle,
or any such things; but that it might be holy and blameless.” The Lamb’s
wife therefore is without a doubt the assembly of God.
There is no indication that those who inhabit the millennial earth
have any part in the heavenly side of things and I feel therefore that in the
eternal scene their situation will be on the new earth.
The Holy
City And its Relationship
to The Millennial Scene. Revelation
Chapter 21: 9 – Chapter 22: 5.
In verse 9 we revert to the time scene and “one of the seven
angels that had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke
with me, saying, come here, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”
This surely takes our minds back to Chapter 17 where one of the same seven
angels introduces us to the judgement of Babylon,
the great whore. If she is the personification of all evil and corruption (The
false church.) then, in our chapter, she is replaced by the holy city. If Babylon rules over the
kings of the earth then, in the millennium, the kings of the earth will bring
their glory to the holy city. “And nothing common, nor that maketh an
abomination, and a lie, shall enter into it; but those only that are written in
the book of life of the Lamb.” In the latter part of Chapter 21 and the
beginning of Chapter 22 we have nations and kings brought before us and healing
is also required indicating that we are still in the time scene.
The Lord is coming “Behold I come quickly and my reward
is with me to render to everyone as his work shall be.” This is surely an
encouragement to the believer to be here for him, watching and waiting, the
morning star (The hope of the Lord’s coming) having already arisen in our
heart. These things are written, not simply to educate our minds but that the
word may have a moral effect, bringing us into conformity with Christ. “Let
him that heareth, hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.” “Yea, I
come quickly. Amen; come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with all the saints.”
Various Companies of
Saints
The fact that we can refer to saints under the following headings
shows that they will have a different part and place in the future scheme of
things. It is, I believe, a mistake to believe that they will all enjoy exactly
the same blessing in the same place. If this were to be so; Why then have a new
heavens and a new earth? Seeing where they fit into the scheme will undoubtedly
help us in our understanding of the prophetic scriptures. I will therefore try
to give some indication of this in the hope that it may prove helpful.
The Saints of The Assembly (or Church) — These are the
saints of the christian era who today form the assembly of God, the body of
Christ on earth. This body knows no distinction of Jew and Gentile but the Jews
who have a part in it are styled by the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to The
Hebrews as “brethren of the heavenly calling ” in contrast with the
Jewish earthly calling. The complete membership of this body throughout the
christian era, Jews and Gentiles (Those of the nations) will participate in the
rapture and subsequently be presented spotless by Christ to himself as his
bride.
The Twenty four Elders — After the last mention of the assemblies
on the earth these are seen seated on thrones around the Lord on his throne in
heaven. They are clothed in white garments and on their heads are golden
crowns. The allusion is to the heads of the twenty four courses of the
priesthood. Cf. 1 Chron. 24.This is a royal priesthood and could include
the O.T. saints as well as those of the assembly.
The Saints of The New Covenant — The New
Covenant will be established between Jehovah and the house of Judah together with the house of Israel
in accordance with the prophet Jeremiah and the Epistle to The Hebrews. This
will be subsequent to the rapture and after the Great Tribulation.
The one hundred & forty four thousand in Revelation Chapter
7 are made up of twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. These
are those who are sealed before the restraint of the four angels holding back
the four winds of the earth is removed.
The one hundred & forty four thousand mentioned in Revelation
Chapter 14 may well be a different company to those mentioned in Chapter 7.
It has been suggested that because of their association with the Lamb on mount Zion
that these are in fact sufferers from the tribe of Judah. However I leave this for the
reader’s consideration.
The saints mentioned in this section I believe compose the saints
of the New Covenant.
The Great Crowd of Gentiles at The End of The Age — Paul in Chapter
11 of the Epistle to the Romans poses the question concerning Israel;
“Have they stumbled that they might fall? Far be the thought: but by their
fall [there is]
salvation to the nations to provoke them to jealousy. But if their fall [be the] world’s wealth, and their loss [the]
wealth of [the] nations, how much rather their fullness? -
- - For if their casting away [be the] worlds reconciliation,
what [their] reception
but life from among the dead.” So in Revelation Chapter 7 God draws
out a huge crowd of the redeemed from the Gentiles for blessing on the
millennial earth. Was the Lord not asked the question “are there few that be
saved?”
G.W.D.
February 2004