The Order of Events When Christ Comes

1. When Christ Comes – What Is the Order of Events? The Kentucky Bible School July, 2016

2. Devotees to God’s word have been aware for several years that we are extremely near the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth. The primary visible signal of this proximity was the landmark event of Israeli Statehood, achieved in May, 1948. We look upon this event as the “sign of the Son of Man in heaven” as revealed in Matthew 24:30: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

3. On the grand scale of the end time prophecies, these two events are tightly compressed in this statement; to our simple view of things they are obviously separated from each other by years. The “sign” appears first in the political heavens (Israel’s establishment among the nations), then some years later, they “see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” As sure as the SIGN appeared, so shall the SON OF MAN also appear; but we must allow time for that to happen in our Father’s own good time..

4. It must be evident to all that the perfect or sure order of these events cannot invariably be established with confidence; on the other hand, it is evident that some must precede others, e.g., the resurrection of the dead must occur prior to the Judgment Seat of Christ; and Christ’s sacred Land must be cleared of aggressors of His people before the establishment of His kingdom.

5. So please consider the following proposals with this realization in mind. In a real sense, the development of all these is being brought forward simultaneously; just as in pre-Adventual history, events progress concurrently with each other.

6. So … soon CHRIST COMES back to the earth in His Second Advent. • No man knows the day or the hour of His appearance (Matthew 25: 13). • At the same time we • can discern the • general signs of the • times. Believers • have been expecting • His appearance for • decades because of • the unique circum- • stances revealed.

7. The Angel Gabriel sounds the LAST TRUMP (the Great Shofar of Assembly); the multitudes of the dead in Christ are RAISED from their memorial graves where they have been dormant and “asleep” until Gabriel sounds his trumpet blast. I believe they are regarded by the Spirit as “asleep” because their later awakening from death in the coming resurrection is certain.

8. All the others do NOT “sleep,” as their destiny is perpetual oblivion, with no resurrection in their future. The simple truth of this expectation of even the great ones (rulers) of the earth having perished, is well phrased by the words of Isaiah 26:13 O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. 14 They are dead, they shall not live (again); they are deceased, they shall not rise (in the resurrection): therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

9. Serious students realize that to perish is to CEASE to exist – anywhere … or to continue on in any state. These folk have been assigned irreversibly to “hell” – to Sheol – which is the pit of death and darkness in contrast to a lake of literal fire which is, however, a fitting metaphor for total destruction, as in Revelation 19: 20; 20: 10, 14, 15, where we see even “death and hell” cast into the lake of fire in a metaphor, meaning that these deleterious elements themselves are completely destroyed, and in league with the human occupants of Sheol, shall no longer continue. Afterward there IS no more death, clearly signifying that no future inhabitants shall be consigned to the grave (hell).

10. The angels GATHER TOGETHER the living believers in Christ – doubtless a far smaller number of people than those of many earlier ages who are to be resurrected, and along with those subjects of the resurrection, transport them to a secret place of judgment, as in I Thessalonians 4: 14 – 17. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep.

11. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air (in the atmosphere of the earth): and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

12. Paul’s reference to the Judgment Bema (seat) reminds one of the Greek equivalent of this structure seen here at Corinth. The Judge sat on the Bench with the stone back, and the one being tried stood in front of him.

13. The resurrected numbers of covenanted People are very great – and they emerge into current society from all ages and all societies of all past ages, but do not mingle with that society until they are admitted to it by the Master, viz., after their immortalization.

14. This event is similar to the ‘rapture’ which is the conviction of the people of popular Christendom and is the prime source of their mistaken conviction that all “Christians” are to be raised from the dead, and with all living “Christians,” will be transported to heaven – far, far beyond the “clouds” which obviously is an erroneous conception.

15. We are extremely confident that intelligent correlation with many other scriptures shows this verse’s clear meaning to be that myriads (clouds) of the redeemed will be gathered to Him in a ruling capacity upon the EARTH, and in its “air” (or atmosphere) – for the sure Promises to the Redeemed consist not of an eternal habitation in heaven itself at all, but on the EARTH forever, fulfilling the original promises God made to Abraham and his Seed (Genesis 12, 14, as well as Galatians 3, etc.).

16. Also much ancillary information is revealed in I Corinthians 15: 15et seq., where Paul reasons and explains the resurrection process, and his expectation of the Saints’ earthly inheritance under the Christ. Habakkuk 2: 14 expresses the same principle and is mirrored in four other occurrences of almost exactly the same phrases: the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

17. He JUDGES His household according to those things done in the flesh, whether good or evil, (Ecclesiastes 12: 14; 2 Corinthians 5: 10, q.v.) rewarding a large ACCEPTED multitude with immortality. I Corinthians 15: 53-56 The unfaithful believers are REJECTED and turned aside from His presence. These weep and gnash their teeth, lamenting their failure to achieve immortality. I Corinthians 15: 53-55; see also Luke 13: 27 But he shall say, ‘I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. 28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.’

18. This clear statement in itself is concrete evidence of the location of the Kingdom and the inheritance of the Saints. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was THE LAND of ISRAEL at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea; it was to be awarded to them in perpetuity – a sacred tract of land stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates, and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf (Indian Ocean?).

19. Those who are to be turned aside are ruined. Their lives have been essentially wasted; it is better for them if they had never been born, as is said of Judas who betrayed Christ (Mark 14: 21). The edict of Matthew 7: 23 to those on His left hand pronounces and seals their fate: And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

20. He joins joyfully and eternally with the faithful, now Immortalized Saints, in THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB.Revelation 19: 6-9; 22: 12. The location of this event is not revealed, but the account is compelling … cf. Jesus’ account of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19: 9.

21. In so doing, Christ fulfills in each individual Saint that precious promise to Abraham that his descendants (his SEED) shall be as the sand of the seashore and as the stars of heaven – an innumerable company of powerful, now newly deathless earth-borns of all tongues, people, and ages since Adam. who have been preserved in their Memorial Graves, sleeping there for eons, safely and silently in the dust of the earth in every clime of His creation, awaiting this memorable day of liberation into the atmosphere and into new life. The fortunate ones enjoy a later elevation (after His judgment) from mortality (certainty of death) to immortality (certainty of eternal life).

22. He then brings THE FAITHFUL with Himself to confront the nations with their own doctrines and practices – to deliver Israel from their threatening enemies round about as inHabbakuk 3, Isaiah 11 and 63 – on the way to Jerusalem.

23. Micah 4: 13 – ‘Arise and thresh!’ He shall CONQUER, with the assistance of the Saints (Psalm 149: 6 – 9) all Israel’s ENEMIES that remain round about them and within Israel. Ezekiel 35: 12, 14; Obadiah; Micah 5; Psalm 83 and 102; Zechariah 10 - 14; Joel 3; Isaiah 34, all of which please see.

24. Details of THESE CONFLICTS are abundant and involve the ‘nations round about:’ Zechariah 14: 2, and all those who have fought against Jerusalem,Zechariah 14: 12.All Islamic!

25. These nations are NOT all the nations of the world! InIsaiah 34 and in scores of other references,the same terminology is used of the Proximal Arabs … they are ALLthe aggressor nations (but ONLY those aggressors) of the Jewish State up to that time. Otherwise – if His meaning was indeed ALL nations – His destruction should spread to the ends of the earth, thus aborting His own plan to teach the nations righteousness and peace during the Millennium.

26. It is in the above actions that He gathers to Himself and to His kingdom of Israel THE WEALTH OF THE GENTILES – those SAME Gentiles (Zechariah 14: 14; Isaiah 60: 4 – 7). as well as many other commodities and benefits – including their lands, their properties, their bank accounts, their goods and chattels, their minerals and oil wealth.

27. He incorporates them into Greater Israel, bringing to fruition the Land Promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David – increasing His inheritance to full measure, from the Nile to the Euphrates(Psalm 72: 8; Zechariah 9: 10) and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. … they shall suck the milk of Gentiles … and shall know that I the Lord am thy Savior and Redeemer … Isaiah 60: 16; also Isaiah 66: 11. This is a truth that is affirmed here and many times later – reinforcing their now enlightened, firm faith in Him as Messiah.

28. When the battles are finished, the Jews inquire diligently as to HIS IDENTITY… the personage of their Redeemer, Whom they have not recognized to this point in their wildly pitched battles with the opposing Edomites and others. But They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12: 10) and behold the nail prints in His hands (Zechariah 13: 6), and realize their grave error of having condemned and crucified Him in AD 29, after which His people shall immerse themselves in a great, heartfelt, sincere mourning of repentance – Zechariah 12: 10 – 14 and Zechariah 13: 6 and chapter 14.

29. As a result of their genuine repentance, having seen Him come in the name of the Lord of Hosts, they are immediately blessed by Him. He had told them definitively inLuke 13: 35 - Ye shall not see Me until the time come when ye shall say, ‘Blessed is He That cometh in the name of the Lord. You see, He actually had spoken extensive and intensive condemnation upon His people for their refusal to accept Him, telling them that they never would throughout the coming centuries be able to perceive His real identity, nor accept His work as their Savior until His stipulations were accomplished!

30. But … now His People of Israel give Him their undivided loyalty and genuine, heartfelt affection; they are anxious to do His bidding, to fulfill His assigned duties, to start to become a light unto the Gentiles (Isaiah 42: 6). In response He places within their breasts hearts of flesh, replacing their stony hearts of unbelief – and writes upon them His Spirit in the clearly defined act of natural redemption of His people.

31. Ezekiel 11: 19 and Ezekiel 36: 26 – 28both attest to this unique and benevolent response of their Savior,the latter of which says, Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. 28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

32. It is again made positively clear the Jews’ defined destiny as His consecrated People of the kingdom age – still mortal, living their lives in service to Him, presumably until their natural deaths. We are assured that these who faithfully live out their mortal lives shall later be raised from the dead and given immortality in accordance with their faithfulness.

33. During this time the Returned Christ proclaims Himself to them and to the world at large, that He is indeed KING OF ISRAEL,Micah 4: 2-4; Psalm 2, abruptly and completely reversing the State’s original republican composition. This will surely triggering the disdain, the scorn and the derision of the democracies of the earth. Their devotion to their democratically determined way of life illustrates well their immersion in ‘the three unclean spirits’ proceeding out of the mouth of the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet, prompting their total rejection of Christ’s proclamation, and bringing further scorn upon His germinal (mustard seed) kingdom.

34. So what is His and their reaction? They are infuriated, but He cares not;nor do the Israelis care, as the greatest percentage of them have wholeheartedly accepted Him and recognized His Office. We are not apprised as to whether all the people accept Him as Messiah at the same time; or whether, if some do not accept Him immediately, He will allow them some time for self-examination, and personal review of the Word which clearly foretells Him – principles which shall be effectively taught them by the Redeemed in their midst, and by their King. These enjoy the first stages of their redemption and readily accept whatever their King proclaims to them! Some rebels among His people perhaps remain to be rooted out in the days ahead. We are not instructed as to His method for accomplishing this task.

35. He PROCLAIMS THE KINGDOM in Zion and to Zion; but the world (except Israel) is deaf to His claims. They repudiate His claims out of hand, having no inkling of His true identity. “Christians” will doubtless immediately proclaim Him to be The Antichrist of their apostate theology; pagans will have no part of Him, not remotely suspecting His authority, His regency, or His future plans.

36. All the evidence indicates that yet other enemies now gather to resist His kingdom, e.g., the Gogian host ofEzekiel 38 and 39.The UNO will quickly issue sanctions against this new “king” in Israel.

37. The West will be frothing with rage at such compliance of their former compatriots. The remaining petroleum-rich Islamic states further afield will immediately begin to prepare for another attack upon Israel in revenge for the colossal victory just won by Christ, the Saints and the IDF!

38. Also the Beast and the False Prophet headquartered in Roman Europe, but reaching to the furthest extent of the papal realms of commerce, will have been given pause.

39. They begin their preparation to resist Israel with economic and political sanctions, boycotts and other protective means, for they now perceive possible threats to their commercial advantage, and even their traffic in human souls, because of the sudden influx of souls into the Middle East (the huge numbers of Israelites remain- ing in the world Today, but being then brought to their eternal homeland).

40. Conflict shall ensue. That extended conflict is related in Apocalypse 16 – 20, leading into the halcyon days of the proclamation of His kingdom in the vast Mideast and West, including the Americas without doubt – a fortress of Catholic authority and dominion among men.

41. And, yes, threats become apparent and raise warning flags to mankind in all the ‘free’ world; these perceive threats to their embedded liberty and equality and democratic ideals (selfishness and jealousy of “their rights and privileges” of self-determination as peoples).

42. These reach outward with the momentum of a huge tsunami to the nations of the world:Psalm 2 is one reference to their self-willed resistance to Him. The Sea and the Waves roar, as the nations rage, and their rulers imagine a vain thing!

43. He immediately begins clearing the wreckage of the great earthquake which came when His feet touched the Mount of Olives and altered the topography of the Land. Perhaps He now takes this great human displacement as His opportunity to reapportion ownership of the Land itself, dividing it into the cantons described inEzekiel 40 – 48. In proclaiming Himself King, He initiates KINGDOM OPERATIONS in Zion. getting to the detailed affairs of His administration and the infrastructure of the new State.

44. He shall ESTABLISH HIS THRONE in Jerusalem.Micah 4:4; Psalm 72: 8 – 15; and proclaim Himself King of Israel publicly, thus confirming another action that all those expect who already believe He is really their supposed Antichrist. He immediately moves to bring His people back to their land. He GATHERS ALL ISRAEL (including the Ten Tribes) to Zion progressively from this point: as His people arrive in the Land, He shall appoint each family to its eternal inheritance, Tribe by Tribe, setting over each Tribe one of the Apostles, as He promised inLuke 22: 30.

45. Deuteronomy 30: 3 and Isaiah 27: 12seem to indicate that at least the first portion of the return was always destined to be gradual, building on the original trickle of immigration – the serial Aliyahs we have witnessed for over an hundred years. By far the greatest portion of His people remain at this time in Diaspora, ready now to be delivered to the land of peace and safety as observed in Israel. These are the remaining people of Judah and Benjamin (the Two Tribes) and the remaining majority of the Ten Tribes of Israel.

46. At some indeterminate time during these operations He CONVERTS EGYPT – Isaiah 19:20 – as part of these End time activities after demonstrating His power in saving them from their ‘oppressors.’ We still wonder if this oppressor might be The Moslem Brotherhood. But if not, some other equally inept group will take up the effort.

47. The Brotherhood is the spawner of Hamas of our day, and troublemaker extraordinaire, which Egypt has been trying to suppress for many years but which until recently, was greatly increasing in strength: Isaiah 19: 16-21; Zechariah 10: 11.

48. We are told few details of this Egytian operation, but we can be sure Christ is not defeating the Gogian Host in Egypt as some in the past indicated. The Gogian host instead, has or will be stopped DEAD in its tracks east of Galilee, and their stone cold corpses be consumed by the beasts of the field and the birds of the air of that age (Ezekiel 39: 4, 5).

49. He conquers and PACIFIES ASSYRIA, making them a third with Egypt and Israel – accounts related in passages such asIsaiah 19: 16-21 - 23; Micah 5; Zechariah 10: 11. He shall put a new heart and a new spirit within His re-gathered People: I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes.Ezekiel 36: 26 – 27; Zechariah 12: 9 - 11.

50. He shall then PURGE OUT THE REBELS from His people, for there appears to be some who are not able or faithful enough to accept Him at face value. Those unfaithful ones are turned out of His kingdom. Ezek. 20:38 Those left are described in Zephaniah 3: 12 – I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.Zephaniah (the meaning of his name is “he whom Yahweh hath hidden”) excoriates the unfaithfulness of Israel of his day in chapters 1 and 2, and forecasts the historical Babylonian captivity then still ahead of them. Then he pronounces the final solution upon their race in chapter3:19– leaping over the Babylonian return and their second scattering by Rome in 70 AD and 135 AD into all nations – giving the details of their final ingathering! - that spoken of inIsaiah 11.