Matthew 13:49,50

This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous And throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The above passage must be regarded as definitive, in that the Lord Jesus said it. It must control our thinking concerning the end of the age.

The Kingdom of God is like a net let down into the lake that brings up all kinds of fish. The "Kingdom of God" is like this! So we are speaking only of those who have responded to the Gospel call, those who have "accepted Christ."

It is hard to picture this event, for when we think of the end of the age we visualize all of the Christians going to be with Jesus and all the sinners being cast into Hell.

But such is not to be. The true vision is that of all who have received Christ being divided into the wicked and the righteous.

Let us think for a moment about this.

We know from the New Testament that the Lord will suddenly appear in the sky and gather His elect to Himself.

At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. (Matthew 24:30,31)

We have the same prophetic vision in First Thessalonians.

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (I Thessalonians 4:16,17)

Now, think hard about this.

We know at the end of the age, all who have professed faith in Christ will be examined. The wicked will be thrown into the fire. The righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

We know also that Christ’s elect will be gathered to Himself.

This leaves us with three alternatives:

The removal of the wicked from the righteous (of the Kingdom) will take place before the sounding of the last trumpet.

The removal of the wicked from the righteous will take place at the same time as the sounding of the last trumpet.

The removal of the wicked from the righteous will take place after the sounding of the last trumpet.

Remember, before the wicked people are separated from the righteous people there will be a period during which the things that cause sin are removed from the Kingdom.

The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. (Matthew 13:41)

Our thought is that the removal of the sinful things from the elect must take place before the Lord comes for His elect.

The removal of sinful things from us is too complex an operation to take place at the time of the Lord’s appearing. Also, there is no evidence in Matthew, Chapter 24 or First Thessalonians, Chapter 4 that when the trumpet of God sounds, such a removal of sin from us is to take place.

Also, it is not possible that the trumpet sounds, the elect are raised from the dead, glorified, and caught up to the Lord, and after this everything that causes sin is removed from the elect.

How could we all be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and after this experience such a work of judgment?

It appears much more likely that the removal of sin from the elect, from the members of the royal priesthood, will take place prior to the Lord’s return

We believe the separation will take place prior to the Lord’s return because of four passages of the Scriptures. In fact, it is our considered and prayerful opinion that the removal of sin from the elect has begun in the present hour.

The four passages have to do with:

Preparing the way of the Lord

The cleansing of the royal priesthood

The baptism with fire

The participants in the first resurrection

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