What do the Scriptures state will be true
What do the Scriptures state will be true of the coming of the Lord?
First of all, the return of the Lord will bring relief to the nation of Israel, which at that time will be occupied by Antichrist.
You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. (Zechariah 14:5-NIV)
The return of Jesus the Christ, the Servant of the Lord, Christ-Head and Body, will bring justice to the saved nations of the earth. Bringing justice to the nations is a principal objective of the return of Jesus.
"Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations." (Isaiah 42:1-NIV)
Another important objective of the coming of the Lord is to judge and convict those who are gathering with the saints but are ungodly.
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones To judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 1:14-15-NIV)
Another purpose for the coming of the Lord is to take command of every national government, to rule the people with an iron sceptre. This is going to be very hard on those nations accustomed to a democratic form of government. Such citizens have deep roots of rebellion in them and will not submit quietly to a strong monarchy.
Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron sceptre." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. (Rev 19:15-NIV)
We have been so accustomed to picturing Jesus as the Good Shepherd of the Twenty-third Psalm that His coming to His Church as the Lord of Hosts of the Twenty-fourth Psalm is a bit unreal.
Who is this King of Glory that is asking us to open the everlasting gates of our heart? The King of Glory, the Lord of Hosts, is none other than the Commander in Chief, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord of Hosts is as fierce as the Good Shepherd is gentle. Jesus is never half-shepherd and half-warrior. When He is the Shepherd He is as tender and gentle as a nursing mother.
When He is the Lord of Hosts, the King of Glory, the Rider on the white war stallion, He is fierce beyond belief. At one word from Him, from the sharp sword that comes from His mouth, the nations shall be struck down. No king of the earth has ever held the power to exercise judgment in any manner comparable to that of the Lord Jesus.
We have been crooned to sleep by today's overemphasis on the love of God. We have lost the fear of God in America. The coming of God's Commander in these days will wake us up in a hurry!
The name of Jesus Christ is often despised and mocked. At the coming of the Lord the nations will tremble at His vast majesty and glory. First, however, Zion, the Body of Christ, must come further toward maturity as measured by the stature of the fullness of Christ.
The nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory. 16 For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory. (Psalms 102:15-16-NIV)
The Lord Jesus will come and establish His government in Jerusalem. Then the law will go forth from Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
The saved nations will voluntarily come up to Jerusalem to be taught and blessed. The nations will observe the feast of Tabernacles by acknowledging the Presence of God in Christ in the saints. The nations will receive life and healing from the saints who by this time will themselves be trees of life and the light of the world. This is because Christ has been formed in them.
In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. (Isaiah 2:2-4-NIV)
When God comes to earth in Jesus Christ and His saints the peoples and the kingdoms will join together to worship the Lord.
"The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death." So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem When the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the LORD. (Psalms 102:19-22-NIV)
The next passages blow away the teaching of the "rapture." The rapture is presented as God's way of delivering His saints from Antichrist and the Great Tribulation.
Look carefully at the following two passages and you will see that God will deliver His saints, not by bringing them to Heaven (totally unscriptural) but by coming and destroying those wicked people who were troubling the believers in Thessalonica and all others who do not know God and do not obey the Gospel. This is how God will bring relief to troubled believers.
The Lord Jesus will bring relief to troubled and suffering believers, not by carrying them off to Heaven but by the power and majesty of His coming. He will destroy the wicked and establish the righteous in His Kingdom.
Don't you think the coming of the Lord to establish His people in victory on the earth is a better, more godly hope for the future, than that of removing people from the earth for fear of the Devil? The vision of Divine victory in the midst of dangerous circumstances certainly has much more scriptural precedent than that of a massive retreat from the field of battle. I thought the Lord said that nothing of Satan could by any means hurt us!
Instead of confining us in Heaven the scriptural vision gives us both Heaven and earth to enjoy at our pleasure.
If these believers were to be delivered from trouble by being brought to Heaven before the Lord returned, it is clear Paul was totally ignorant of this.
When will the Thessalonians receive relief? "This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels."
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you And give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power On the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you. (2 Thes 1:6-10-NIV)
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming. (2 Thes 2:8-NIV)
The next seven verses portray the wonderful peace and joy that will come to the earth with the return of the Lord Jesus with His saints and holy angels. They reveal the answer to the Lord's prayer: "Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in the earth as it is in Heaven."
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, Selah. That your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. Selah The peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him. (Psalms 67:1-7-NIV)
The time setting of the following events is established by the signs in the heavens, the signs that Jesus said would be His calling card.
Notice that the return of Jesus is the great day of the wrath of God and the Lamb. No flesh will stand in God's Presence in that Day!
I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, And the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" (Rev 6:12-17-NIV)
I believe the passages presented above provide for us a much more accurate picture of the coming of the Lord than the contemporary view, which is that Jesus is coming to take His Church to Heaven. Nowhere in the Scriptures is such an idea supported.
The coming of the Lord, accompanied by His saints, to bring justice to the nations of the earth, is a primary theme of the Prophets. The New Testament in no manner changes this vision. The Apostle Paul always taught from the Old Testament, from the Law and the Prophets.
The entrance of Dispensational theory into the thinking of American Christians has destroyed the scriptural concept of Divine grace and in addition has given us a mythological vision of the return of Christ Jesus to the earth.
The purpose of this brief essay is to awaken the Christian churches to the fact that we are deceived concerning the nature and working of Divine grace. Also our view of the future has been corrupted. The result has been nothing short of catastrophic, affecting all of mankind.
It is time now for us to return to the Lord. If you cannot support the current incoherent illogical traditions with clear passages from the Scriptures kept in context, are you willing to fight for the truth?
Therefore this is what the LORD says: "If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them. I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 15:19-20-NIV)