Are you eagerly waiting for Jesus Christ’s second coming as prophesied in the Bible?
ABSOLUTELY!!! Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus, come.
The following is a slightly modified extract from an article posted at "Now the End Begins".
"I hear the sound Of a mighty rushing wind, And it's closer now than it's ever been. I can almost hear the trumpet, as Gabriel sounds the call; at the midnight cry we'll be going home!"
The incredibly beautiful and soul-stirring song 'Midnight Cry', sung by John Starnes, —from a spiritual perspective, is wonderful and one could never get tired of hearing it, but from a rightly dividing perspective it's a hot mess.
"While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him." Matthew 25:5,6 (KJB)
The Bible speaks of two types of resurrections: (1) The Resurrections of the Righteous and (2) the resurrection of the Unrighteous. Jesus and Paul plainly declared two basic resurrections:
John 5:28 "for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned."
Acts 24:15 having hope toward God, which they themselves also wait for, that there is about to be a rising again of the dead, both of righteous and unrighteous; (Also see: Daniel 12:2)
The scripture makes it clear that Jesus was born a Jew and His entire earthly ministry was towards His brethren, the Jews, ONLY!
Gal.4:4 But when the fullness of the time had come, (planned, ie: everything was in place) God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, (born into the flesh nature; taking on flesh) born under the law (born a Jew, under Jewish custom and constraints), 5 to redeem those who were under the law (Israel) (Israel first, and then the Gentile),
Matt.15:24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Rom.15:8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision [Jews] for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:
In the Bible, a 'type' is a divinely purposed illustration of some truth and is often a prophetic foretelling of future events.
The Greek word týpos, meaning "example", describes a model or pattern in the Old Testament that is fulfilled in scripture, often typifying the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The word týpos (in the KJV Bible) is also translated as "pattern" (Titus 2:7; Hebrews 8:5), "form" (Romans 6:17), "print" (John 20:25), "ensample" (1 Cor.10:11), "fashion" (Acts 7:44), "figure" (Acts 7:43; Romans 5:14), and "manner" (Acts 23:25).
We are coming to the end of the details of the return of Jesus Christ. We have looked at the stages of His return and the order of how they mirror His ascension. We have also briefly previewed the events of Revelation that take place between the stages of Jesus multi-part return and how they progress throughout the end times. To wrap up with, I have a few more things to mention, but before I do, I'd like to remind you of the two primary points that glue this whole study together. They are as follows,
So, let's now deal with the last few events which occurs at the very end of the second coming of Christ and just before we get to the inauguration of the Millennial Kingdom. In Daniel 12:12 we are informed of a 75-day period of time after the 7-year tribulation. Each half of the tribulation is 1260 days in duration (or 42 months each). But in the verse 12, Daniel mentions the span of 1335 days, which is 75 days longer than 1260 days. The events we will now discuss will probably occur within this time.
Let's start by reading this passage in Matthew 25.
Matt.25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ……
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: … 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
You will recognize this as the parable of the sheep and the goats. This parable that Jesus taught provides us with one of the events that will happen during this 75-day period.
After the battle campaign is won, after Armageddon, after the judgement of the Antichrist and the false prophet, who are cast into the lake of fire, and after Satan is cast into the bottomless pit, Jesus will take His seat on the throne of His glory and He will judge all the nations, in order to divide them out into the sheep and the goats. The 'sheep' nations are those who supported the Jews during the tribulation, (read Matt.25:34-40), and the 'goat' nations are those who did not support Israel throughout the tribulation, (read Matt.25:41-46).
The sheep who will stand on the right hand of Jesus Christ; the right hand being a reference to a place of honour and status, and will be the people who will be entering into the Millennial Kingdom after it's inauguration. Those who are on the left hand side of Jesus, according to Jesus' own words, will go away into everlasting punishment.
Another event that will occur in this 75-day period (which separates the end of the tribulation from the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom), is the salvation of the remnant of Israel in the wilderness. At the end of the battle campaign the Lord will appear unto them as they cry our, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord". They will recognize Jesus as their King and Messiah. They will mourn greatly (as one who has lost their only child) for their unbelief and mistrust in Jesus and for the crimes they have done against him. But as per prophecy, their tears will be turned into joy and their sorrow into laughter, Isa.61. It is at this time that the Lord will pour out His Spirit upon them and they will be born of water (Red Sea passing) and of Spirit (John 3). The new covenant will be realized and they will receive a heart of flesh, and the Word of the Lord will be written on their hearts. They will receive utter forgiveness and be reconciled to their God and Messiah, Jesus Christ. It it hey who will become the priesthood in the Millennium. They will carry the Word of the Lord to the nations and be the salvation of them, Zech.8:23.
Another big event to take place at this time is the resurrection of all the rest of the saints who lived throughout time and who are still at this point sleeping in death. Before we detail this resurrection of the dead, let me you that there are specific groups of saints who are not 'sleeping' in the earth at this time, because of the effects of the blood of Christ.
Let's quickly list these groups for clarity,
Old Testament and Kingdom Saints Resurrection (who died before Christ's blood was shed.)
With these groups recalled, let's get back to this large group of sleeping souls who are about to be resurrected in the flesh, Ezek.37. The resurrection of all these saints, who are the last to be awakened to fill up the "First Resurrection" Rev.20:6, are all those righteous souls from Adam to the Kingdom Program (which ended at Pentecost. People like: Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Job, ... David, the prophets, John the Baptist, Lazarus, ...). These are the souls who will enter into the Millennial Kingdom in new flesh bodies and will have places of authority and rulership in various hierarchies. They will administer the will of the King of Kings to the gentile 'sheep' nations (survivors of the 7-year tribulation) who have also entered into the Millennial Kingdom at this point.
Daniel 12:2 summarizes the two very different fates facing mankind: "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Everyone will be raised from the dead, but not everyone will share the same destiny. Revelation 20:4-6 mentions a "first resurrection" and identifies those involved as "blessed and holy". These are the souls listed above, from the Body of Christ to the last group of resurrected souls. The second death (the lake of fire, Revelation 20:14) has no power over these individuals. The first resurrection, then, is the raising of all righteous souls. It corresponds with Jesus' teaching of the "resurrection of the just" (Luke 14:14) and the "resurrection of life" (John 5:29).
Revelation 20:12-13 identifies those comprising the second resurrection as the wicked judged by God at the Great White Throne judgment prior to being cast into the lake of fire. The second resurrection, then, is the raising of all unrighteous souls; the second resurrection is connected to the second death. It corresponds with Jesus' teaching of the "resurrection of damnation" (John 5:29).
The event which divides the first and second resurrections is the Millennial Kingdom. The last of the righteous are raised to reign "with Christ a thousand years" (Revelation 20:4), but the "rest of the dead [that is, the wicked] lived not again until the thousand years were finished", (Revelation 20:5).
Following the 75-day interval, Jesus will inaugurate His Millennial Kingdom and enter into it triumphantly and King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Isaiah 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-7; Revelation 20.
The last event that is noteworthy is the appearance of the heavenly city into the proximity of earth at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom. Since I have written on this occurrence in another post, I'll simply refer to it here. It provides scriptural reference to the city's appearance and also some additional details to take note of. Make sure to read,
New Jerusalem descends before the Millennial Kingdom
In Conclusion
This has been a long series, but my hope is that you have understood the interpretation I have exposed of 1 Cor.15:51-52 and 1 Thess.4:16-17, and how this ties in to the stages of Christs return. I hope that it reveals some truths in scripture that might inspire you, excite you and edify you. If anything, I hope that it will encourage you to get into the scriptures for yourself and study these things to gain the understanding that brings you to peace and a deeper relationship with our Saviour. My prayer is that God will continue to bless you with His truth and His love until the appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
The return of Jesus Christ is in stages that symmetrically correspond to the stages of His ascension. Because of this pattern (as with many other types and patterns in the Word), it helps us to gain deeper insights, and piece together scriptures, that provide a bigger picture of the redemption plan of God throughout the ages. Connecting the dots on past events is easy due to hindsight, but the types and patterns in the Word really do assist in building a more insightful understanding of future events, as what we are discussing in this series of posts.
In part 8, we put focus on the position of Christ as he returns for the church, which is His Body, before the 7-year Tribulation. Our focus was on a 'silent' rapture based on underlying points of study we expounded on in that post. In this post we will continue to the next stage of Christ's return, being the stage when 'he' appears in the clouds at the mid-point of the Tribulation. Unlike the previous stage, which was silent and 'uneventful', if I can use that term, considering the disappearance of millions from earth, the next stages to come, are full of visible and mind-blowing events, both in heaven and on earth.
This might also be a good time to remind you that I do not claim to be dogmatic about the content of this study. The material is presented as I understand and interpret it at the time of writing, as mentioned in my opening acknowledgement in the beginning of this series. I trust that you will use this as a guideline and do your own study concerning these events to allow the Holy Spirit to interpret the scriptures based on your views.
Let us now continue with the next event in the details of Christ's multi-stage return.
1 Thess.4:16 refers to 'the voice of the archangel', and 1 Cor.15:52 mentions 'in the twinkling of an eye'. Unlike the phrases, 'with a shout' and 'in a moment', that are connected to the imminent rapture of the Body of Christ, these next phrases in our key verses represent descriptions for the mid-point resurrection of 'a special group of people' into the heaven.
Now, based on my bolded statement above, we need to stop the boat right here! There is a lot of detail in that sentence, and, where on earth did I get all that? I agree. This is a lot to unpack! I can't recall if I have even mentioned any of this detail at any point in this series, so, let's get into proving that this detail is in the Bible, and that this interpretation becomes clear and evident when you divide the scriptures and understand that Christ's whole return is in stages and across the whole 7-year tribulation event.
About half way through the tribulation, we find some incredible activity documented in scripture. We learn that from the fifth seal, a resurrection/rapture occurs, a heavenly war is fought, and the throne of the Lord appears in the clouds, .
A mid-tribulation resurrection and rapture
Rev.6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal [a little while before the mid-point of the tribulation], I saw under the altar [the "altar" here is an allusion to the altar of the temple or tabernacle where blood sacrifices were made] (1) the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: [the ACTS church]. 10 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? 11 And white robes were given unto every one of them [resurrection and rapture occur]; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until (2) their fellowservants [tribulation martyrs] also and (3) their brethren [great tribulation martyrs], that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
Rev.7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude [of all the martyred saints], which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; ... 14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation [not 'the great tribulation' but who have endured great tribulation, even to death], and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
[The souls of them slain] These are the 12-apostles and the 'little flock', the ACTS church saved under the gospel of God during the period of 30AD to 70AD. These faithful Jewish servants are those who endured to the end and who 'loved not their lives unto the death' under 1st century torture. At this fifth seal mark, a little before the mid-point of the trib, they are inquiring of the Lord regarding the avenging of their blood and of judgement.
At this mid-point of the tribulation there is a heavenly call ('the voice of the archangel') that goes out that initiates an ascension (not a rapture) of the 2 witnesses.
Revelation 11:11-15 And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. 12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. 13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
About this time there is also a resurrection of the 'little flock', the ACTS church, the believing remnant of Israel in that day who died for their faith. At this mid-point, a rapture also takes place, 'in the twinkling of an eye' (*See addendum at the end). Those who participate in this rapture are the 144000, a very unique and special group who's role is to prepare Israel's remnant to receive their Messiah when He comes at the end of the Great Tribulation. It is interesting to note that the role of this group of 144000 is parallel to the role that the ACTS church had in the first century to prepare Israel for the coming of the Kingdom in that day. (Of course, this event was put on hold due to unbelief).
Israel in the Tribulation (Group 1 - occupying the heavens)
The 144000 who minister the gospel of the kingdom throughout the first half of the tribulation are raptured into heaven according to Rev.14:1 [mount Sion is the heavenly Jerusalem]. We notice that at about this mid-point time they are said to be with the Lord (the Lamb) in the heavenly city. Since they presumably could not be harmed during the tribulation, they are raptured up into heaven. This special group of saints may be the ones to serve in the temple of heaven, the New Jerusalem, since they are not defiled by the whore system of Babylon.
[Fellowservants] We can speculate that a resurrection event also occurs here to include the martyrs who become believers through the ministry of the 144000 and who give up their lives within this first half of the tribulation. They will be martyred for their testimony and their identification to Christ. They are portrayed in prophecy as slain souls that were reached with the gospel of the Kingdom during the first half of the tribulation. At their resurrection, they join the 'little flock' before the altar in heaven, waiting for the rest of their brethren martyrs to come in from the great tribulation.
[The Brethren] These are people who become believers during the second half of the Tribulation period, i.e. the "Great Tribulation", under the eternal gospel preached by the heavenly angel, Rev.7:9-17 These are the ones who do not receive the mark of the beast and are killed for their faith and testimony under that antichrist system, and who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev.20:4 tells us that they will be resurrected at the end of the Great Tribulation and will join their resurrected brethren in the heavens to serve Him day and night in His temple, Rev.15:2.
We have another account of this resurrection and rapture in Revelations chapter 12. The passage reads as follows,
Rev.12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven [the corrupt angels], and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5 And she brought forth a man child [1st part of Israel's restoration: the resurrection/rapture of the kingdom saints], who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne [resurrected and raptured up into heaven].
Isa.66:7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child [before the great tribulation, the kingdom saints [listed above] are delivered]. 8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. 9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.
So, at the mid-point of the tribulation there will be a rapture of the 144000, who will serve in the temple, which is the New Jerusalem. There is also a resurrection of those who were killed for their faith. They are the ones under the alter who wait for the great tribulation martyrs to join them before God takes vengeance on their blood.
Additional scriptures to support these saints [the 144000 and the martyrs of ACTS and the tribulation] who are now in heaven,
Rev.3:12 Him that overcometh [the martyrs of ACTS and the tribulation, "those who loved not their lives unto the death"; dying for their faith in the gospel and not giving up their testimony] will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
Hebrews 12:22-23 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. 25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
War in Heaven
Following the mid-tribulation resurrection and rapture, we hear of a war that has broken out in the heavens, and Satan, including the corrupt angels that followed him, a 1/3 part of all the heavenly hosts, are judged and cast down to earth. We read the details as follows,
Rev.6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth [corrupt heavenly hosts], even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
Revelation chapter 12 repeats the vision again with additional details,
Rev.12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon [Satan], having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven [the corrupt 1/3 part of all the angelic hosts of heaven], and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. ... 7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
This war is one-sided and Satan and his hosts cannot prevail. It is interesting to note that at this point they were cast down unto, [or towards] the earth (Rev.6:12; Rev.12:4), but after this short-lived war and judgement, they are cast down into [or onto] the earth, (Rev12:8-9).
Verse 10 above results in praise in heaven as it is at this point, after Satan is cast out of the heavens, that the first part of God's great restoration plan is complete. The heavens, which were corrupt, are now cleared out and are vacant for God's heavenly people to fill. The purpose of the Body of Christ was always to fill the heavens with the glory and majesty of Christ. This happens at this point and is the cause of praises in heaven. The rest of the activity continues to clean out the earth so that Christ can fill ALL things with His glory.
The appearance of Jesus Christ in the clouds
With the heavens now cleared of corruption and evil, Jesus descends down into the clouds. The victory is now complete in the heavens and it now belongs to the Son. All the focus will now be on earth as events of the great tribulation resume as planned by God.
Rev.6:14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Up until this time, the 'spiritual world' has been hidden from view. Since the start of the tribulation, all that has happened up till this point has been natural and visible. The revealing of the antichrist and all the plagues, till now, have been earthly and natural. But things seem to change at the sixth seal. We see the heavens depart, being rolled up like a scroll, to reveal a frightening and real visage of the throne of the Lord appearing in the clouds. For the first time the spiritual world becomes undeniably visible and real to the whole world. We know it becomes visible to the human eye, as men fear the sight of it and hide their faces from the One that sits on the throne, (Rev.6:16). It is evident that this sight brings a dramatic escalation of the reality of Christ and of judgement and wrath. This first physical sighting of the throne of the Lord brings men to the reality that the hidden things of God are real and that their scoffing and mockery of bible prophecy and truth have been vain and consequential.
Israel in the Tribulation (Group 2 - a remnant that flees in the wilderness)
Israel, at this mid-point in the tribulation is clearly divided into two groups. Group one is a special group of saints that will occupy the heavenly city. The purpose behind this could be connected to the temple, but I will need to look more into these details before I add anything here regarding that.
The second group are the 1/3rd of Jews that recognize the abomination of desolation, the defiling act by the antichrist in the temple in Jerusalem. When this happens, as per prophecy, Jews would have to flee to the mountains. It is here that God will protect them in the wilderness during the Great Tribulation period. These are the Jews that will recognize Jesus when He comes at His second coming. These are the ones who will be filled with the Holy Spirit when Jesus pours out His Spirit upon all flesh, (Joel 2:27-29). These are the ones who will enter into the Millennial Kingdom as preeminent Jews who will bring the Word and salvation to the nations in the Millennium.
Rev.12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness [2nd part of Israel's restoration: 1/3 of Jews who fled into the wilderness], where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days [through the great tribulation].
See also Matt.24:15-21.
=============================
* Addendum to 'Twinking of an eye'
With regard to the phrase, "In the twinkling of an eye", the following is taken from the Strongs Lexicon,
Strongs Greek 4493: "In the twinkling of an eye" - ῥιπή rhipḗ, phonetic: 'hree-pay';
—description: a jerk or wink of the eye, i.e. (by analogy) a moment, an instant.
—expression: least conceivable duration of time. twinkle or flash of the eye; any rapid movement.
'Eye' also denotes: "To see, or being visible".
In the context of the description above, the rapture of the saints that occurs at the mid-point of the Tribulation can be depicted as an instant movement (or removal), by means of being snatched away rapidly, in a flash of the eye. Given that the descriptions point to a very quick event, my opinion is that it is a similar experience to that of the Body of Christ, discussed in part 8. Having said this, and without claiming to be dogmatic about it, I do want to add that the reference to 'eyes' is intriguing. Although I believe that the rapture of these saints will be too quick for the eye to see, I do want to add that there will definitely be a visible nature to these transpiring event; (1) the appearing of the throne of Jesus Christ, visibly in the clouds, (2) the physical resurrection of killed saints, and (3) the disappearing of living saints as they are caught up into the heaven. There most certainly will be a visual drama unfolding before the eyes of unbelievers in that day!
God bless.
As discussed in the first four parts of this study, there is symmetry between Christ's ascension and return. In this lesson, we will have a look at the first part of Christ's return. This correlates with the last part of Christ's ascension, and naturally, relates to the same group of people, the Body of Christ in the Grace program.
The first part of Christ's return is when He will appear in the heavenly position which
is filled with an inapproachable light, which no man has seen, not can see,
1 Tim.6:13-16. (See
Part 3
to reexamine the details of this position). The purpose of appearing here is to call unto Himself the agency of the Body of Christ, who are to fill the heavens with His glory. (See 2 Realms, 2 Programs, 2 Destinations below).
Before I jump back to the two passages of scripture I shared in part 6 of this series, I'd like to share this little insight with you which will help to confirm my interpretation of them. It's not often that we can take a single verse or two and build a concept or doctrine based on what it says. On the other hand, it is scripturally sound to base a concept or doctrine upon confirmations from many verses. This guidance can be illustrated clearly in a simple jigsaw puzzle. One piece provides a little bit of detail, but it's only when you join that piece up with many more pieces in the box, where the full picture comes clearly into view.
It is important to maintain the context from part 5 in this study and remember that Paul's writings encompass ALL of the coming of Christ, across both Mystery and Kingdom Programs. When Paul writes about Christ's return, he does not always focus exclusively on the Body of Christ! Our rapture only makes up part of the details that Paul lays out as he documents the WHOLE of Christ's return and the order (or sequence) of the raptures and resurrections. Please keep this in mind as we continue in this study.
Part 4 concluded with the details of Christ's ascension. We will now turn our attention to the details of the return of Jesus Christ, looking into the stages of His return in the same way, and in the same positions, as how He ascended. I trust that these details will either confirm the wonders and intrigue of the return of 'our blessed hope', or provide you deeper, and meaningful insights, that can strengthen your faith and generate excitement.
Let's continue to look at the return of Jesus, as mirroring (or in symmetry to) the events of His ascension.
In Part 3 of this post series, we had a look at the continued ascension of Jesus from the clouds (the position in which Stephen saw Jesus in Acts 7:55-56), to the position in light which He occupied according to 1 Tim.6:16. Between these two scripture references, it clearly identified Jesus in two different places. However, I won't be dogmatic and claim that these two positions are separated by the "waters above the firmament", but based on my current convictions, I'll illustrate it as such in my diagram below. (The purpose of the diagram is simply to show the eventual symmetry between Christ's ascension and return. I don't claim it to be accurate in depicting locations or positions in the heavenly ascension).
As mentioned in Part 2 of this multi-post topic, it is important to look at the ascension of Jesus, and the stages that it occurred in, in order to fully understand the stages of Christ's return. We'll continue therefore, in this part, to look at the details of the second stage of Christ's ascension, and later, when we look at Jesus' whole second coming, we will see how this part will mirror the same stage of His multi-part return. There are some very interesting things to learn from these stages and the events that tie into them.
|
| The second stage of Christ's ascension into a new position and glory. |
Acknowledgement:
When we delve into future events in the Bible, like the rapture, the
tribulation, and Millennial Kingdom, one has to understand that there is a
measure of assumption based on what the scriptures say, and how one interprets
it. Even though the Bible provides details of the future, we do not fully
understand how these events will play out, and in what order they will occur.
We know from scripture that the Tribulation will happen. We know what the
Tribulation is and we know its purpose. We know there will be an Antichrist
and we know he will rule the world for a set period. But, although the
scripture makes some things clear, there are still guesses around some cryptic
details regarding this time, (see
Deut.29:29). The fact remains that
not even the best Bible scholars can accurately instruct us of exact times and
details of future events in prophecy. It remains up to us to study the Word as
best as possible and piece together multiple scriptures to build a picture
based on how we interpret what will happen. In this series of articles, I plan
to do exactly this. I'd like to build a picture of what I can see the Bible
says about Jesus' ascension and return. How you receive the information I lay
out here is up to you. I'm not claiming to be dogmatic and theologically
correct. My only hope is that it will inspire you to delve into the scripture
and see for yourself what it says. If I can encourage and inspire you to read
the Word and become excited about it, then I have succeeded in my primary aim
regarding this post and upcoming posts in this extended article.
Scripture Analysis:
(Rev.20:6)
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrection
|
|
A few days ago I had some time on my hands, so I started browsing the web for some interesting reads. I happened upon a new site I've never seen before, and the page I was reading contained some of the authors views on where we go after death. Do we go to be with the Lord? Do we go to heaven or to a waiting room until judgement? Is our soul or consciousness aware of a new environment? Are we in a soul sleep while in the grave? As I read through the authors convictions on this topic I found that I agreed with him as he laid out the scriptures to qualify his understanding and I was genuinely impressed with the article. It was exciting to find a new site that I could relate to. However, as I browsed more I started to find some concepts that were very different to my convictions. The author expounded on some fundamental doctrines that I simply could not agree with. It was interesting to note how on the first article I read, I was in such agreement, yet as I opened more pages, and got to some basic Christian concepts, there was such a radical difference. In this post I'd like to point out what I find works well to 'test' a site and quickly determine if the views from that site are based on Paul's right dividing of the Word of truth (2 Tim.2:15).
