PREPARING FOR THE
JUDGMENT SEAT
OF CHRIST
By MIKE BALLOUN
[PART
ONE]
“For we must all (all redeemed, as he is addressing believers) appear before the judgment seat (Greek Bema /tribunal courtseat
relating to the members of His own “Body” as opposed to His kingly Throne of permanency
over all His subjects in His [Millennial] Kingdom) of
Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body,
according to that (works in service) he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore
the terror of the (the
required severity in just judgments) of the Lord, we persuade
(redeemed) men...” (for it is only redeemed
men that will stand before the Judgment Bema of Christ). [2nd
Corinthians
5: 10] Note that the part about “the terror of the
Lord” would be superfluous
of the Judgment Seat of Christ was only about losing rewards.
It
is also written... “And as it is appointed unto men once to die (pronounced at the Garden of Eden Curse), but after this the judgment...” (Hebrews 9: 27) It is not specified here what ‘judgment’ or specified when the judgment is
after they die. We are told in Scripture that there is an immediate judgment on
all mankind in Luke 19: 31 (at the point of death when a man’s
assignment in Hades /
At
the Judgment Seat of Christ, there are determinations for
recompense for ungodliness and bad behaviour of the
redeemed. The Judgments at the Bema on the redeemed (either
immediate upon death or later) are judgments associated with
His Second Coming and His
[PAGE 2]
Christ’s
Millennial Kingdom Judgments are pronounced sometimes before death (as
in the case of Paul in 2
Timothy 4: 8 where God, before his death, assured Paul of his
reward... “Finally, there is laid up for
me the crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous Judge,
will give me on that Day, and not
to me only, but also to all who
have loved His appearing”;
and in the case of the 12 disciples whom Jesus told before their death that “when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory,
ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matther 12:
28) Another example would be both the First-fruits “man child” (seen raptured in Revelation 12: 5) as
well as those “alive” who are caught up at His
Coming as part of the Harvest, as neither of those would even experience death.
(1st. Thessalonians 4: 17 and 1st. Corinthians 15: 51) Or some judgments may be reserved much later than the time
of their death, as seen in certain martyrs who are in Hades (comforted under the altar in Hades’
The
throne of Grace and Mercy in the Age of Mercy and Grace (a name coined after
the Throne of Grace and Mercy) is to prepare
the redeemed for the Day of
Judgment at the Judgment Seat of Christ. (Hebrews 4: 16... “Let us
(redeemed) therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we
may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”) Christ’s Atonement set aside an Age of ‘grace and mercy’ for both redemption out of the lost Gentiles in the
taking of “a people for his
name” AND out of those
redeemed of that new Nation of the One
Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear
(a [PAGE 4] warning to us as well) lest any of you seem to have come short of it (short of the conditional promise, due to our
disobedience). For
indeed the gospel (of inheritance
after Redemption’s deliverance out of Satan’s kingdom) was preached to us as well as to them; but
the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed
with faith in those that heard it.
For we who have believed do enter tat rest, as He said: “So I
sware in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” Although the works were finished from before the foundation of the
world. For He has spoken in
a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;
and again in this place: “They
shall not enter My rest.” Since therefore it remains that some must enter it,
and those to whom it was first preached
did not enter because of disobedience, again He
designates a certain day, saying in David,
“Today,” after such a long
time, as it has been said:
“Today, if you will hear His
voice, do not harden your
hearts.” For if Joshua had
given them rest, then he would not
afterward have spoken of another day. There remains threfore a rest for
the people of God (the New
Testament merely redeemed and the Old Testament merely redeemed will not enter
God’s Rest... which is the seventh millennial day Rest after the restoration of
man; in the pattern given in the 6-day restoration of this Earth in Genesis 1:
2b-2: 3... that is to say until He has sanctified a willing
obedient portion of them to take dominion over the current evil spiritual
forces and Rule over this entire Realm; its heaven and earth, in His Theocratic
Government... then He will Rest from His restorative work for man.)
For he who has entered His rest (the overcomers in His Millennial Kingdom Rest)
has himself also ceased from His works (over the flesh, the world and the devil, for which he
fought violently {Matthew 11: 12, Ephesians 6: 12, 2nd
Timothy 2:
3}
and was judged faithful at the Judgment Seat of Christ) as God did from His (... rest from His works in the typical pattern set forth in Genesis). Let us therefore be
diligent to enter that rest, lest
anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit (dividing between unbelief and belief), and of joints and
marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And
therefore is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom
we must give account (at Christ’s
Bema Seat). Seeing
then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God (who intercedes day and night for the redeemed with sanctification of the soul in view), let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with
our weakness, but was in all
points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need.” In Hebrews 3 & 4, Paul is energizing us to do what
This
current Age is appointed between the two advents (two Comings of Christ),
wherein the Resurrected Christ has been consecrated as the High Priest and
intercedes for His Body at the Throne of Grace and Mercy at the right hand of
the Father in Heaven. During this interim Age of approximately 2000 years, He
is Advocate for His “Body”
while they are alive, whereas after death, He is their Judge (in that He
cannot be both the Advocate and Judge at the same time to the ‘living’). The Judgment Seat of Christ pertains to the Believer’s afterlife,
whereas the Throne of Grace and Mercy, where we can draw upon His provision of
mercy and Divine influence, pertains to this life. (The Throne of Mercy and
Grace being made accessible by His Blood Atonement which was greater that the
blood of bulls and goats.)
The
SOUL is declared saved (or
not) at the Judgment Seat. The
redeemed soul living on the Earth may approach the Throne of Grace and its
Mercy (that throne in Heaven established of redemption grace) where additional mercy
and grace might be obtained for the
necessary sanctifying work in the crucifying of the carnality in the soul.
(Hebrews 4: 16 with 2nd Corinthians 6:
1,
James 4:
6,
2nd
Peter 1:
1-12) The works of righteousness or spiritual fruit accounted to be
the spiritually maturing (for works done after they are redeemed) may be acceptable to God, and worthy of the First Resurrection. This worthiness (or
lack of it) will ultimately and definitively be
determined at the Judgment Seat of Christ. (See 2nd Peter 1:
1-12...
“Therefore, brethren,
be ye even more diligent to make your calling and election
sure, for if you do these things (stumbling to
a sanctifying work upon your soul) you will never stumble; for so an entrance will
be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting - [Greek ‘aionian’
= ‘age-lasting’ in this
context.] -
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”)
The
Judgment Seat of Christ is for the final
assessment of that sanctifying work on the redeemed soul and is extremely judical based
upon strictly defined and personally developed righteousness.
The Judgment Seat of Christ will, to many, [PAGE
6] frighteningly remove all contrary
ideas that Death as a magical additive unto holiness and cure for ungodliness
for their works done while in the body (alive). Exacting justice for [a disciple’s] service
to the Lord after
redemption is the full focus of the Judgment Seat. (A righteousness seen in type, in that immediately
after
The
Father chastens the members of the Nation of the One
[PAGE 7]
Hebrews 4: 16... “Let us therefore
come boldly (into the
fellowship of the Lord and with a humble confidence / assurance), unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to
help in time of need.” These discipling judgments being administrated from the Throne
maybe mitigated by drawing upon the provision of Atonement Grace and mercy by
those approaching reverently, and if necessary, repentantly, being ‘alive’ in service unto Christ
or waiting to be restored in service, appealing for grace and mercy under the law of the spirit of life in Christ;
that abundant and attainable provision of divine intervention which also
answers as an appeal for Justice’s demands to Satan’s accusations. (Accusations which Satan makes in order to exclude us from replacing
him in the heavens associated with this Earth. - Revelation
12: 9)
Again, we, are being redeemed by Christ and may
approach the Throne and attain grace and mercy while we are yet living out our lives
in this World, and while Christ is still in His office as High Priest
interceding on our behalf (for after we die there is no appealing for grace and
mercy; there is only exacting justice awaiting every soul). See Luke 12: 58-59... “When you go to your adversary (the devil who legally
accuses you to the magistrate), make
every effort along the way (along the way = while alive, for
there is no provision for grace and mercy once you have died) to settle with him, lest he drag you to
the judge (the Just Judge), and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer
throw you into prison. I tell you,
you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very
last mite” (a place where
God extracts all the honour that was withheld from Him by the rarely redeemed
walking in unbelief that was due to Him. Note there is nothing yet to pay for
redemption, for that was paid by Christ).
Yet
while alive we have the promise of 1st
John 1:
8-9...
“If we say that we have no sin (the religious idea of ‘antinomianism’
in an imputed sinlessness in Christ), we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.”
As long as we do not critically appraise God’s goodness, and are contrite and
confess our sins while pursuing sanctification, we remain in fellowship with
Him and access to the Atonement
provisions of Christ to overcome
can continue. This ongoing cleansing (beyond
Redemption’s cleansing) just spoken of in 1st. John 1:
9 is typed in Peter’s need to only wash his feet which
daily get polluted by walking in the ‘World’. See John
13: 6-11... “Then He
came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord,
are You washing my feet?” Jesus
answered and said to him, “What I am doing you
do not understand now, but you will know after this.” Peter said to Him, “You shall
never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him.
“If I do not wash you, you have
no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, Lord,
not my feet only, but also
my hands and my head!” Jesus
said to him, He who is
bathed (redeemed) needs only to wash his feet (from daily contamination from [PAGE
8] the sin of the flesh; the
cleansing of 1st. John 1: 9), but is completely clean (with confessing repentant right hearts); and you are clean, but not all of you.” For
He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are
not all clean.”
It
is declared in Scripture that Jesus Christ has been
given all judgment authority. “For
the Father judgeth no man (eternally), but hath committed all (eternal) judgment
unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.” [John 5:
22] Scripture shows Christ as Saviour at the First
Coming, and in the interim; Intercessor / Advocate and
Administrator in the nation of the One New Man in this Age of Grace and Mercy.
However, in His Second Coming, seen in the soon coming Age of ‘Justice’,
there is the setting up of God’s / the Father’s Judgement Throne / Bema from
where Christ then receives His investiture into the office of the rightful King and Judge of this Realm.
See Daniel 7: 9, 10, 13, 14, with Revelation 4: 2 speak
of the same event of Christ’s Judgement throne being set up in the heavens
associated with this Earth. Revelation 4: 2 says, “Immediately I was in
the Spirit; and behold, a throne set (‘was being’ set in the Greek) in heaven, and One sat on the
throne.” And Daniel 7: 9, 10 says,
“I watched till thrones were (being) put
in place, And the
Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was
white as snow, And the hair of His
head was like pure wool. His throne was a
fiery flame, its wheels (possibly the same portable / moving throne described
by the prophet Ezekiel) a
burning fire; A fiery stream issued And came forth
from before Him. A thousand thousands
ministered to Him; Ten thousand times
ten thousand stood before Him. The court
was seated, And the books were opened.” (The Throne / Bema of judgment from which God’s Last Days
judgments upon His enemies will flow; the setting up point being the
transitional point from this Age of Mercy to the next Age in Justice. And the commencing of the Great Tribulation judgments that
Jesus referred to in Matthew
24: 21 that He tied with
Daniel’s prophecies, particularly the setting up of that Judgment Throne in Daniel
7: 9, the investiture of
Christ in Daniel
7: 13-14,
the appearance of the Anti-Christ and his end / fate in Daniel 7: 11,
the Bride out of the Body of
Christ receiving the heavenly Kingdom reward in Daniel 7: 18, 27. All this
occurring in the Week of Years unto the
consummation of all Just Judgments in this Realm unto desolation, before Israel’s restoration in
the Earthly portion of the Kingdom of Christ (Daniel 9: 24-27.) Note that
the Week of Years refers to the last 7
years of the 70 weeks of years that needed
to pass before Israel could be
restored to receive their inheritance as
kings and priests on the Earth in the heavenly [millennial] portion
of God’s kingdom, which was promised to them, the timing of which Daniel
had inquired of God in Daniel 9.)
[PAGE 9]
The
present judgments and threats in this, now 2000-year old Age, on the
redeemed are in accord with chastening disciplines,
tests, and trials as it relates to the redeemed running a race for an inheritance prize, a race that must be
run lieally. (1st
Corinthians
9: 24-27
with 2
Timothy 2: 5.) Legally, which is to say that they in the
first place must be those dead
unto the law of Moses... “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should
be married to another, even to
him who is raised from the dead, that we
should bring fruit unto God” ... “but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6
& 7)
while under “the law
of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus”, (minding the
things of Christ and thereby being “kept by the power of God.” (Romans 8: 1-5, 1st Peter 1: 5.) Being therefore “alive unto God through Jesus Christ,” we are to be instructed in perfecting / maturing spirituality, now
being under the “law of
Christ”. (Galations 6: 2, Matthew Chapters 5-6.
Christians
typically have no problem with being “dead unto the Law” through redemption, but in their actions, they are NOT ‘alive’ unto
Christ. Then there are many in the
Messianic Movement who are not “dead to the Law” who run the race as one under
the Law as opposed to heeding the commands of the One greater than Moses;
Jesus’ commands. (See the following verses in Romans 6: 11-14 and 7: 4-6... “Likewise you also, reckon
yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but
alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not
let sin reign in your mortal body, that you
should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your
members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace.” ... “Therefore,
my brethren, you
also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ,
that you may be married to another - to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear the fruit of God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which
were aroused by the law, were at
work in our members to bear fruit unto death. But now we have been delivered
from the law, having died to what
we were held by, so that we should
serve in the newness of the Spirit (under the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus) and not in the oldness of the letter.” See our YouTube
video entitled, “Dead to The Law or Spiritual Polygamy” for a more
in-depth teaching on this. See also Luke 11: 33-35 and Galations
2: 19-21... “For I through the law (judicially I have been crucified with Christ) died to the law
(to the law means it has no power to judge or punish the dead) that I might
live (in a newness of life,
free from the law of sin that condemned me to death ... free and empowered to
pursue a personal righteousness in an
overcoming life given...) to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me: and the
life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, (under the law of the [PAGE 10]
spirit of life in Christ Jesus), who
loved me and gave Himself for me.
I do not set aside the grace of God (by attempting this righteousness through the law of Moses); for
if (a personal) righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in
vain.”
Within
the ‘merely redeemed’ are 2 classes of [regenerate]
Christians; ‘babes’ without concern (without terror / reverent fear)
refusing the maturing ‘meat’ of
obedience to Christ’s commandments, and the other class being those redeemed
who have been ‘meat-eaters’ (especially teachers) and have become or are becoming apostate scorners. (Hebrews 5: 11 - 6: 8.)
Whose Judgments at Christ’s Bema are reserved for them, says Scripture; in that
the one group will be ‘inbound’ and “beaten with few stripes” and cast into “outer darkness”
and the other ‘bound’,
“beaten with many stripes”, and cast into “blackness of darkness”. See Matthew 22: 13, 25: 28-30 and
the Book of Jude)
Jude vv. 11-13 describes apostates
in the church who have “gone in the way of Cain, have run
greedily in the error of Balaam for profit”, who are “clouds without water”... “twice
dead” and “raging waves of the
sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is
reserved the blackness of darkness forever) and they are also as being either “beaten with many stripes” in Luke 12: 47-48... “And that servant who
knew his master’s will, and did
not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”
So it is, that the glorious prize of the First
Resurrection and heavenly Kingdom inheritance promises to be declared to the
Overcomers of the flesh and Satan’s World at the Judgment Seat of Christ are
accompanied by those solemn and sobering exhortations and threats to those who
are being overcome by the flesh and this World’s offerings while we are alive. What then should be in view throughout our redeemed
lives is the judical judgments which we will be faced
with when we depart this life. It is that exacting just judgment, without
prejudice as to who we are, which if we go into the ground with unconfessed and
unforsaken sins and your character was that of the World and the flesh, then
you will stand at the Bema to be judged in that same condition. The law in
force at the Bema of Christ is “Be not deceived; God is
not mocked: for whatsoever a man
soweth, that
shall he also reap” and it
will be pronounced in certain finality.
Again... “For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ (that is to say after we die); that everyone may receive the things done in
his body (that is to say those things done by the eyes, ears,
heart, minds, lips, [PAGE 11] hands and feet while
we were alive), according to that he hath
done, (as the righteous Judge searches the reins and heart ...
in its secrets, motives, and attitudes; declares
Revelation 2:
23)
whether it be good or bad (if
unrepented wilful behaviour): Knowing
therefore the terror of the Lord, (note that the judgment rewards were all this Bema represented
there would be no need to speak of its terror) we persuade men” (to become fully persuaded - Romans
4: 21). Whether with warning
persuasions of spiritual words, or with judgments in chastening disciplines, or
hard circumstances in tests and trials, all
of these are being promoted by God for
our spiritual maturing, our soul’s [future
(see 1 Peter
1: 5,
9,
R.V.)] ‘salvation’, so that the best result, a oneness in union, may be
realized after death or at His Coming. For a merely born-again foolish
Christian, it is after death or at
Christ’s Coming that the word “terror” will manifest
at the Judgment Seat of Christ. “And (He) shall
cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites ([regenerate] believers who
united themselves with the “World” will be
united with them in judgment): “there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 24: 42-51 - these being temporary, longer or shorter punishments for the [regenerate] believer who
had received eternal life.) While an appeal by the redeemed at the Throne of Grace will help to
deliver the leavened while he is alive,
there is no appeal to the Blood for
relief of judgment for the leaven-eater after he dies at the Judgment Seat of Christ (the foolish Christian who had no fear of
God nor prick of conscience for his sins will face the stark reality of his
circumstances after the religious opium that gave him a false sense of
security wears off that he had been blinded by in life. He will have died in his
sins, deceived by that opium).
In
Ephesians 3: 1-11, Paul
speaks of the mystery (here and in the Book of Colossians) as the hope of glory; an inheritance in the heaven of this Realm offered
to the New
The
closing of this Age of Grace and mercy brings the Return of the Lord to this
Realm in the dawn of the Age / Day of God’s judgments in deferred ‘Justice’ (deferred for the past 2000 years) Romans
2: 5... “But in [PAGE 12] accordance with your hardness
and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day
of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God...” ... 1st John 4: 17... “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of
judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.” We all must examine ourselves / judge ourselves before we face the Just Judge. 1st
Corinthians 11:
31...
“For if we would judge
ourselves, we would not be judged. But
when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that
we may not be condemned with the world.”) May we heed the many warnings in the Word, such as, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take
heed lest he fall.” Many who presume to hear, “Well done,
thou good and faithful servant...” will in actuality, hear “Depart from me,
I do not know you...” when their works come to light
at the Judgment Seat of Christ by Him who searches the reins of our hearts.)
His
Return corresponds with the Judgment of His Living and dead Servants. (In the
Greek, servants are ‘slaves’ in that He is our Master and we are not our own... Matthew 25: 14-30, Luke 19:
12-27, 2nd
Peter 2:
9) We will try to put Scripture’s Last Days’ different great
transitional judgments in their order at the closing of the Age of Grace and
Mercy, in that its final outcome proposes of “consummation” which are
suspended during the current Age, as prophesied by Daniel, are accomplished in
the closing of that Age (the 7 years of Tribulation) and in the opening of the
Age (Millennial) of Justice.
This
“Day” Judgment in Just Righteousness also runs on through
the 1000 years of Christ’s Kingdom (Revelation 20: 5), and
for a short following; which climatically ends with the Great White Throne
Judgment. (Revelation 20: 7-15). The Day of Judgment is based
on the sole principle of works. (Matthew 16: 27... “For the
Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels,
and then He will reward (render / repay) each according to his works.” Revelation 22: 12... “And behold,
I am coming quickly, and My reward (recompense)
is with Me, to give to every one
according to his work.”)
In Part 2
it will be shown chronologically on whom Christ’s judgments come
and what the different judgments of recompense for good and recompense for bad
works are. Specifically, throughout the Age of Justice, starting with the 7 years of Daniel’s 70th
week unsuspended, and moving through
the Millennial
Age of Justice ... unto the final destruction of this Realm and the
Great White Throne Judgment... and into the Age beyond.
*
* *
[PART
2]
PREPARING FOR THE
JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHTIST
Matthew 25: 19... “After a long time
the Lord of those
(redeemed) servants came and settled
accounts with them.”
1st Peter 4:
17...
“For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house
of God: and if it begin with us first,
what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of
God?”
Late
in the first century, Christ instructed John to write the seven exhorting and
warning letters (Revelation chapters 2 &
3) to seven different
literal Christian churches, which had various degrees of developing leaven. (Note
that those warnings are not only given to them, but to us / the redeemed too.) The recorded instructive Words of Christ to His redeemed (those
called to overcoming maturity) where then to be taken literally and prophetically, and were heeded and unheeded, then and
throughout the 2000-year Age of Grace and Mercy. These letters to the 7 representative Churches are interpretable and applicable today on two levels... 1) on a corporate level; on these End-Time congregations / denominations and 2) on
an individual level; on different
kinds of redeemed individuals within
the congregations / denominations. Today, there will be
those who hear His instructive Words of warning and reward relation to His
coming Kingdom and obediently respond and learn to adhere
to Him, and those who won’t.
In
those 7 Letters, Jesus contrasts the actions of the
living redeemed unfaithful ones who were being “overcome.” The final judical result on the redeemed for how they
lived on this Earth being determined after
death at the Judgment Seat of Christ. These redeemed will then and there be judged worthy of rewards and inheritance
in His coming
It
has been rightly said: ‘The Bible was written for all times, especially the End-Times’.
What
are the Just Judgments this World’s ‘last generation’ is facing, along with the
pretentious Church and the living redeemed lukewarm Christian individuals who
are ‘alive’ unto the World? These soon coming End-Time Judgments
answer to a great degree to “... all
the (un-revenged) righteous blood shed [PAGE
2] upon the earth...” since
the days of God’s Covenant with Noah up to the time of the coming “Armageddon”. (In Genesis 9: 5-6, after the Flood, when God tells Noah
and his sons to be fruitful and multiply, and to fill the Earth again, He also
makes a Covenant in the sky (a rainbow) as a sign He will not flood the Earth
again, and in the Covenant He also says, “And
surely your blood of your lives will I require (as a reckoning /
accounting); at the hand of every beast
will I require it, and
at the hand of man; at
the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.
Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his
blood be shed: for in the image of
God made he man.” That there is an accounting for all the blood shed on the Earth by man is seen in the next two New
Testament verses... Matthew 23: 35... “That upon you may come all the righteous blood
shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of
Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the
altar.” In Revelation
6: 10, we can see that those who were martyred for Christ cry out, “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?” (Note that during the 7-year Tribulation period,
there is a transitioning from the Age of Mercy to the Age of Justice, thus the
cry for vengeance / justice.)
In
these next verses, we can see that in the Last Days, God defers to Jesus to
fulfil His Word relative to that Covenant He made with Noah concerning that ‘blood for blood’ principle. In these verses, it is clear to see that
the shed blood in the [coming Great] Tribulation period is not arbitary or random
slaughter, but precise and Judical recompense relative to the blood shed by His
enemies since the time of His Covenant with Noah, Revelation 14: 20... “And the winepress
was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even
unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred
furlongs.” Revelation 16: 6...
“For they have shed
the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink (for it is their just due). Revelation
17: 6 “And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and
when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration” (amazement).
Revelation 18: 24...
“And in her was found the blood of prophets,
and of saints, and of
all that were slain upon the earth.” Revelation 19: 2, 13...
“For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication,
and hath
avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.” ... “And he was
clothed with a vesture dipped in blood:
and his name is called The Word of God.” Had the blood been accounted for, it would not have
been mentioned in these verses as needing avenging / recompensing.)
[PAGE 3]
The
state of mankind before the Flood (‘the days of Noah’) which is what led to the Earth’s destruction, is
coming on us today progressively and numbingly. (There is a
numbing within Christendom throughout
the Earth in that they
presumptuously think, ‘We are fine’ not knowing
that they are like the lukewarm Laodicean church that was “wretched, and miserable, and poor,
and blind, and naked.”
Matthew 24: 8, 12, 37,
28
says, “All these are the beginning od sorrows ... “And
because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold.”
“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
For as in the days that were before the flood they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, until the day that
Noah entered into the ark...” All this being like
our current spiritual darkness which will soon lead to the climatic end just as
it was for the spiritually unaware Amorites who were judged when their
figurative ‘cup of iniquity’ had become full; it having accumulated over a long period
of time. (Genesis 15: 16) “For then
shall be great tribulation, such as was not
since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
[Matthew 24:
21] And that God-determined time line of the fullness of
this World’s iniquity, in the wisdom of God, will also
divinely coincide with “the fullness of the (calling out a people for His name from the) Gentiles
has come in...” (See Acts 15: 14... “Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them
a people for his name.” And Romans 11: 25... “For I would not,
brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part has happened to
Foundationally,
these Last Days correspond with God’s appointed and revealed timeframe for ‘restoration’, which is to say the pattern set of 6 days of work followed by a day
of Rest. We see then God’s established principle must be
fulfilled now as the 6th Day (of 1000 years for 2nd Peter 3:
8
says, “...that one day is with
the Lord a thousand years, and a thousand years
as one day”) of redemption / restoration work since the
fall of Man is upon us who live today... to be followed by a ‘Day’ of Millennial Rest in the
Kingdom of Christ.
Scripture
reveals a Judgment ‘Throne’ for justice to be set up in the heaven of this
Realm, for a pre-determined 7-year period, to administer final judical [PAGE
4] Judgments at the very end of those
6000 years of restoration work. Judgments, which include the seals, trumpets,
and vials which greatly affect all the ‘living’
in what is appropriately called the Last Days or End-Time. These Just
Judgments will begin to come forth which answer to the Noahatic Covenant for
Gentiles and their Nations; also Just Judgments that answer to the apostate
Nation of Israel and Jews. (Daniel 9: 27...”And he (the Anti-Christ) shall
confirm the covenant with many
(including Israel) for one week (those 7 years referred to as the Tribulation
Period): and in the midst of the week (in the middle of the Tribulation) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the oversreading of
abominations he shall make it desolate, even
until the consummation, and that
determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
To be understood
with Isaiah 28: 15...
“Because ye (Israel) have said, We have
made a covenant with death and with hell (with death / the Anti-Christ who will literally be resuscitated and
brought back from the place called “Death” in the ‘pit’ in Sheol ] Hades, the intermediate place of the
dead) ...are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through (initiated by the Anti-Christ 3 ½ years after the
covenant), it shall not, come unto us: for we
have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood
we have hid ourselves...”). Additionally, the End-Time Throne’s Justice and Just
Judgments will also come upon the then living members of the Nation of the One
New Man ([regenerate] Christians / members of the Body of Christ). All
pre-Millennial Rest (typed by the Sabbath day) Work will be completely
accomplished in a final 7-year prophesied period that closes out God’s 6 ‘Days’ of Restoration Work.
THE SETTING UP OF THE LAST DAYS’
JUDGMENT THRONE
See
Revelation 4: 1-3...
“After this I looked, and,
behold, a door was opened in
heaven: and the first voice
I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up
hither, and I will shew thee
things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was
in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set
(‘being’ set in the Greek) in heaven,
and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine
stone: and there was a
rainbow round about the throne (this part of the furnishing being a token in remembrance of the
Covenant with Noah after the Flood), in sight like unto an emerald.” See Genesis 9: 11-13... “And I will establish
my covenant with you, neither shall all
flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
And God said, This is the
token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature
that is with you, for perpetual
generations: I do set my bow
in the cloud, and it shall be
for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.”
Jesus,
speaking to John, says, “come up hither, and I
will show thee things which must be hereafter ... and behold (look), a throne was (then being) set in [PAGE
5] (this Earth’s Realm’s) heaven...” A closer study reveals Revelation Chapters 4 & 5
describe the exact duplicate event foreseen by Daniel in 7:
9-14 (note that the ‘thrones’ are wrongly
interpreted in the King James Version as thrones being cast down: see any of 35+ other translations where it
is rightly translated as something akin to “thrones are being set up.” The
Revised Version
reads... “I beheld till thrones were
placed” which is to say placed in
position for someone [and
selected persons] to sit on them. The Book of Revelation reveals the same main throne surrounded by 24 other
thrones in Revelation 4: 4... “Around the thrones I
saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed
in white robes; and they had crowns
of gold on their heads.” The
final result of this setting up of Thrones is that
heavenly transaction wherein the Son of Man receive His investiture as King of
this Realm and an everlasting dominion to be shared with His saints.
(Revelation
11: 15-18... “And the
seventh angel sounded; and there was great
voices in heaven, saying,
The kingdoms
of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he
shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty
elders (in that they have
tenure, they are called Elder Angels, having had authority in this Realm since
its creation). Which
sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and
worshipped God, Saying,
We give thee thanks, O Lord
God Almighty, which art,
and wast, and art to come:
because thou hast taken to thee thy great power,
and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath hast come, and the
time of the dead, that they should be
judged, and thou shouldest
give reward unto thy servants the prophets (Old Testament redeemed Faithful), and them that fear thy name (those who repented and / or were martyred during the Tribulation)
small and great; and shouldst destroy the earth (the confederation of men and fallen angels in these
Last Days). Note that this Realm will not be ruled by Angles any more in that
timeframe as seen in the fact that the Angels are seen laying down their
crowns, which are a symbol of their authority, so that the crowns can be
given to worthy glorified men who will co-rule with Christ from the first
heaven and over the Earth in the Millennial Rest. Hebrews 2: 5... “For unto the angels
hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.” 1st
Corinthians
6: 2-3...
“Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?
and if the
world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy
to judge the smallest matters? Know ye
not that we shall judge angels? how much more things
that pertain to this life?”
See also Revelation 20: 4-6 where men take thrones... “And I saw
thrones, and they say upon
them, and judgment was
given unto them: and I saw the souls
of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which
had not worshipped the beast, neither
his image, neither had received
his mark upon their foreheads, or in
their hands; and they lived [PAGE 6] and reigned with Christ a
thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand
years were finished. This is the first resurrection ([unto immorality and] which answers to judged worthies to rule with Christ in the
Millennial Rest). Blessed
and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death (any further judgment at the Bema of Christ) hath no power, but they shall be
priests of God and of Christ, and shall
reign with him a thousand years.”)
These
future Just Judgments; in the seals, trumpets, and vials, relate back as far as
God’s Covenant declarations to Noah. Judgments that also would include Israel’s
ancient supernatural calling out of the Nations, who was given authority in the
Earth over all other Nations, but through stubborn unbelief [and disobedience] that
authority was taken from them and given to the Gentile King Nebuchadnezzar of
Babylon (“God hath made thee (Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon) ruler over them all” - Daniel 2: 38). And that authority is prophesied by Daniel to remain down through 4 successive worsening beastly empires that
follow; empires and a timeframe that hundreds of years later
encompassed Christ’s First Coming. Had the Nation of Israel received Christ as
their King, they would have gotten back that appointed authority in the Earth.
But instead, having then and now rejected the Messiah, God has deferred
So it is
that some prophesied Judgments to be pronounced at the Throne will have been
deferred throughout this Age of Mercy and Grace. Those
Judgments, not being swept under a rug, will then commence and be completed in
that coming short 7-year transitional Age, all in accordance with God’s prophetic,
now concluding, timeline (of 70 weeks of years) given to Daniel (Daniel
9: 24-27) which culminate in
the return of Christ the Messiah, with the restoration of Israel to be His
promised pre-eminent Nation on the Earth in His Millennial Kingdom.
Thus, what Daniel’s and John’s written depiction of
the setting up of the Throne of Justice has in view is the “consummation” / finalization of taking away the Last Day’s dominion and kingdom of
Satan and its utter destruction... being the result of that heavenly court then
set in order ... that over the next 7 years, this Realm’s heavenly government /
the “powers” of this heaven, “shall be shaken” (Luke 21: 26b, Isaiah 24: 21) ... and be transferred to the Son of Man and “His saints (worthies) of the high places
(the heaven related to this Earth) and
the [Page 7] the
greatness of the kingdom under
the whole heaven (earthly) shall
be given to the people (Jews) of the saints (Bride out of the Nation of the One New Man) of the most High” (... places - Daniel
4: 26 and Daniel 7: 13, 14, 18, 26, 27 with Revelation
2: 27; 12: 5; 19: 15).
This setting up of the Last Day’s Judgment Throne of
Justice in this Realm, in addition to the culminating things mentioned above,
also correspond with the fading of
the ‘Age of Grace and Mercy’ with its
existing Throne of Grace in the Third Heaven. That Throne from where grace and
mercy are dispensed for the sincere, redeemed seeker’s sanctification in living
in faithful service to Christ will be less and less ... as the
redeemed are completely leavened in doctrine, thereby presumptuous and worldly. (Matthew 13:
13,
33,
Revelation 3:
17) Christendom,
now (or then), does not resemble the 1st Century church at all. It
is made up of Laodicean-like religiously minded believers, who are unable to
see their true condition (that of being in need of repentance), disqualifying themselves as the ‘Age of
(dispensing) Justice’ now to be strictly
enforced is opening. They will be religiously deceived in their calloused
thinking, in the wrong camp, and be caught up in the Last Day’s Judgments from
that coming Last Day’s Throne to be set up (Proverbs 1:
25,
26...
“Because you distained all my counsel, And would
have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at
your calamity; I will mock when
your terror comes...” Isaiah 55: 6... “Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.” Revelation 3:
16...
“So then, because you are
lukewarm, and neither cold nor
hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”)
All
of this sanctifying Written Truth to one degree or another has been presented to generation after generation of redeemed
Gentiles since the first century
after Christ, to be heeded by the redeemed hearer in faith, who are thereby
exhorted and warned to live their lives on Earth accordingly. These
Truths were meant to be purifying and refining so that [regenerate] believers
in all generations would live their lives as if they themselves were the ‘living’ who were faced with so “great tribulation”. And with a view to being prepared whether they live
in the time He will appear, having their living hope of being caught up alive or if they should have to “taste death”, regardless, to be prepared to stand before Christ’s Judgment Seat /Bema /
Throne.
The
End-Time Judgment Throne will be set in this Realm’s unseen
heaven and has to do with judgments on all those who are living
on the Earth at that time and the 7 years that follow. The Throne of Grace is
set today and is for the living
redeemed to obtain mercy and
grace unto faithful service to Jesus our Lord. But the
Judgment Seat of Christ has to do with judging His redeemed, primarily after
their death, for recompense for service while they were alive. ... “For we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that
every one [PAGE
8] may receive the things done (while alive) in
his body, according
to that he hath done, whether it be good
or bad. Knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord (in
service judgments for unfaithful service
while living after redemption), we persuade men...” With... “And as it is
appointed unto men once to die, but after
this the judgment...” (Hebrews 9: 27)
But the 7
years of the Last Days of the 6.000 years of restoration, the Judgment Seat
will also make Judgments that were previously reserved for the redeemed after
they died (Judgments having to do with their Resurrection; to be determined
either in the First or the Second resurrection). But
then in those 7 years, millions of living redeemed Christians across the globe
will be evaluated at the Judgment Seat of Christ as to whether they are to be
found ‘worthy’
of the experience of being caught up
away at that End-Time Throne while alive and never tasting
of death, either at the time of the First-Fruits Rapture, or if
they were unprepared at the time of that mid-Tribulation Rapture, they will be
evaluated while remaining alive whether they are worthy to be caught away, and
also like the First-Fruits, to never taste death at the time of the End-Time
Harvest, which is towards the end of the 7-year period. (1st Thessalonians 4: 16-17) So we may see how the following all work in
conjunction throughout the 7-year period: 1)
the End-Time portable Judgment Throne set up for Justice consummation in this
Age 2) the Throne of Grace (that
also answers to the Father’s chastisements while alive to purify us) for the
redeemed to obtain mercy and grace in faithful service to Christ 3) the Judgment Seat of Christ
(although it primarily has been to judge those redeemed in Christ after
dying over the last 2000 years as it relates to their future resurrection; now
in the End-Times, the Bema of Christ comes into play for judgment on the
redeemed before they die,
while they are yet living; in that Kingdom rewards manifestly start in the time
of the 7-year Tribulation Period when those who will be judged worthy will then
not taste death and be caught up into the first heaven). These 3 all harmoniously occurring throughout the 7-year period
just before Christ’s visual 2nd Coming on the Earth as King of this
Realm and commencement of His 1000-year Kingdom. His Second Coming;
constituting His heavenly Parousia, being when He steps down out of the unseen
heaven of this Realm and enters the seen Realm. (Revelation
1: 7...
“Behold, He is coming with
clouds, and every eye
will see Him, even they who
pierced Him. And all
the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.”
Acts 1: 11... “who also said,
“Men of Galilee, why do
you stand gazing up into heaven? This same
Jesus, who was taken up
from you into heaven, will so come in like
manner as you saw Him go into heaven” {which is visibly}).
THE TWO WITNESSES AND THE FIRST
FRUITS OF THE END-TIMES
Shortly after the setting up of the Judgment Throne in
this Realm’s heaven and the Son of Man’s investiture as Messiah / King, the two
witnesses, in displays of [PAGE 9] supernatural judgments in the power of the Old Testament prophets,
come forth in accordance with the setting up of the Throne of Just Judgment
with the changing of Ages, and they prophesy and exercise God’s annulling
judgment power in testimony against Israel’s and the Beast’s “Covenant of Death”. According
to Scripture, the two seemingly invincible witnesses continue to witness throughout
the first half / the first 3 ½ years that correspond with Daniel’s End-Time ‘70th Week’. “And when they shall have finished their testimony,
the beast
(Anti-Christ and False Prophet) that
ascendeth out of the pit (same
events of Revelation 13: 1a, 5, 11) shall make war against them, and kill them.” (Revelation 13:
3,
7.) The ‘great tribulation’
... ‘Jacob’s Trouble’ ... ‘the Hour
of Temptation’ suddenly
comes upon all the living on the Earth. What had immediately preceded and
initiated the two witnesses’ deaths by the Beasts was that Christians who were
faithfully living on the Earth as ‘alive unto Christ’ ... were
then purposefully and uniquely judged at the Bema of Christ as living
overcomers of Satan and were caught
up into the first heaven (Revelation 12: 11... “And they (the man-child / living worthy sons judged at the
Bema) overcame him by the blood of
the Lamb,
and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”) and they received the
promise of reward in Revelation 3: 10 to “keep thee
from the hour of
temptation (mainly the
Great Temptation to take the Mark of the Beast), which
shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the Earth.” Their ‘catching up’ [into heaven] resulting in Satan being cast [down]
out of the first heaven down to Earth. (Revelation 12: 12... “Therefore rejoice, ye
heavens, and ye that dwell in
them. Woe to
the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea!
For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because
he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”) Thus this “keeping” promise of Christ (in Revelation 3: 10)
then answers to the ‘rapture’ of those living faithful who are watching
and praying in that hour. Luke 21: 36... “Watch ye
therefore, and pray always,
that ye may be
accounted worthy to escape all these
things that shall come to pass, and to
stand before the Son of man” (the
disciples in the Garden failed to watch and pray
and fell into temptation, these [disciples
of Christ] who were watching and praying are [/ will be] delivered
up from temptation into the first heaven) (See also Matthew 24: 40-41... “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the
other left (to endure the
last 3 ½ years of the Tribulation). Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be
taken, and the other left.”)
“These were redeemed from among (living) men, being the
firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb” (Revelation 14: 4b) The ‘Firstfruits’
supernaturally caught up from living men on the Earth to the unseen first
heaven relate to this Earth “unto God, and to his (End-Time Judgment) throne and to the Lamb.”
(Revelation
12: 5 speaks of the First-fruits being caught up to the
Throne that had just recently been set up; perhaps that portable one, which the
prophet Ezekiel described as having whirling wheels, from where God judged
Israel... “And above
the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne,
as the appearance [PAGE 10] of a sapphire stone: and upon the
likeness of the throne was the likeness of a man above upon it...”
Ezekiel 1:
26.) Which would seem to correspond with
Daniel’s and John’s visions of a Throne / Thrones being set up in this Realm.
This Lamb,
Who was standing in the midst of those
Thrones (Revelation 5: 6),
now brings up a contingent of His sanctified
redeemed. Christ is also referred to in the
same Passage as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, which is an allusion to
(See Job 2: 1... “Again there was a
day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also
among them to present himself before the Lord.” Up until the time of Satan’s
casting down from this Realm’s heaven, where he is now ruling, Scripture
declares Satan accuses the saints who
are resisting him, accusing them day and night before God. It would appear that this is his constant
affair as his [fallen] angles
bring him intelligence on those servants of Christ living in the End-Times, who are most heartedly engaged in Christ’s service, being watchful and praying. These saints
are typed as one of the children of the ‘Woman’ from
Revelation 12 (she symbolizing the whole redeemed family of God). This “man-child”,
who is to be brought forth to rule, is the ripening End-Time
First-Fruits sons of God. Satan is aware of God’s intent to
raise this child up into his kingdom and replace him there, and with equal
intent, he sets about to argue their disqualifications. And
when his temptations and accusations fail, he attempts to assail them violently
as they ascend into the heavenly kingdom “to devour her child as soon as it is born.” Which brings the forces of God to bear upon him and
he is violently cast out of the first heaven to the
Earth. Now having lost the heavenly portion of his kingdom,
he now being full of wrath, sets about to destroy the remaining seed of the “Woman”; “those which keep the commandments of God” (the Jews)
whom he knows are promised the Earthly portion of his kingdom in open
unrestrained warfare, and
those who have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (the
remaining unripened Body of Christ), who are exhorted to faithfully endure.
(Revelation 14)
The
redeemed faithful living End-Time witnesses of Christ on the Earth played then
dramatically into the middle of the week (middle of the 7-year period) event in
that their catching up also resulted in the murder of the two witnesses. Satan’s
expulsion from Earth’s heaven will so enrage him that he will participate
Jeremiah’s prophesied Jacob’s
Trouble on the Jews, as well as
the time of trial and “Great
Temptation” on the unprepared (asleep and
not watching) [regenerate] Christians (which are the vast majority of End-Time
living Christians left on the Earth). The first half of the 3 ½ years, in the
bringing up (out of Hades’ pit) the Beast in the power of outraged Satan to
kill the two Witnesses and fully develop the Last Gentile World Empire, which
will be one of terror for all dissenters.
It is in this First-Fruits mid-tribulation event that
the Judgements of Christ’s Bema will first begin to manifest, and that being on
the living New Testament bondservants of Christ, 2000 years
since His departure and 3 ½ years after returning to the heavens of this Earth
(when He entered this Realm at the beginning of the 7-year period of His unseen
Investiture). That
being parabolically set forth in Matthew 25: 14, 19... “For the kingdom of
heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.” ... “After a long time (at least after 2 Days / 2000 years) the lord of those servants cometh (into the heavenly part of this Realm first), and reckoneth with them” (then living
on the Earth). Luke 19: 15... “And it
came to pass, that when he was
retuned, having received the (heavenly portion of the) kingdom,
then he commanded these servants (the living First-fruits) to be
called unto him, to whom he had given
the money (the Truth regarding
redemption / rebirth in divine nature, the love of God, the Word, the Throne of
Grace, and the Holy Spirit), that he might know
how much every man had gained by trading” (in His spiritual economy). These living judged by Christ as worthy of First-Fruits will be the first actual recipients of His
Kingdom blessing, realized in the catching up glorious changes in the “twinkling of an eye”.
THE HARVEST
The
heavenly part of the
The
time of the Harvest ingathering / ‘catching up’
is just before the closing of those 3 ½ years (Revelation 13: 5), and
after much tribulation, towards the end of the 7 years of increasing
tribulation judgments, and just before the last terrible Vial is poured out on
the Earth. (Revelation 16: 17.)
Before the climax of “the
great winepress of the wrath of God”,
there is the Harvest of all
those redeemed dead who were found faithful and those remaining faithful
Christians living on the Earth, who had been un-ripened at the First-Fruits offering 3 ½ years earlier who are now awake,
and “watching and praying”. [PAGE 11] (Revelation 16: 15...
“Behold, I come as a thief.
Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they
see his shame.” God is
warning those left behind that they may qualify yet, through much tribulation,
to be part of the Harvest. These are those remaining living Christians who
repented and are now fully ripe, having overcome the flesh, the World, and
Satan, who ‘endured
patiently’ the great
persecution and temptation to worship the Anti-Christ. Then the One Who sits “on the white cloud” - the Bema of
Christ, having then determined
those tribulation faithful out of His living ‘Body’ ... “... thrust in the sickle,
on the earth, and the
earth was reaped” (the
Harvest of His faithful living - Revelation 14: 7-20). Who then are gloriously “... caught
up together with them (‘them’ being those resurrected dead - [out from ‘Sheol’ / ‘Hades’] - found faithful previously at the
Judgment Seat of Christ... having been found worthy for the First Resurrection,
they are gloriously brought up out of Hades and are caught up almost
simultaneously together with the judged worthies of the living) ... in the clouds, to meet
the Lord in the air” (in the 1st. heaven fulfilling 1st Thessalonians 4:
14-17... “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: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds, to meet
the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever
be with the Lord.”).
The Harvest is now gathered together with the First-Fruits up
into this Realm’s unseen heaven, as the full
Bride, now to be wed to Christ (at the great Wedding Supper) “... and so shall we ever
be with the Lord.” Then
after the heavenly wedding, they are empowered as regal co-rulers and poised to
rule with him. (Daniel 7: 18... “But the
saints of the most High (Places) shall
take the kingdom, and possess the
kingdom for ever, even forever and
ever.” See also 1st. Thessalonians 4:
14 with Revelation 19: 7-14, and Zechariah
14: 3-9).
See
Luke 19: 12-17...
“He said therefore, A certain
nobleman (Christ by Resurrection)
went into a far country (the Third Heaven... it is the time of our
preparation) to receive for himself a
kingdom (an appointment from the
Emperor to be King - Daniel 7: 13-14, Revelation 5: 1-9), and to return (to this Realm). And he called his ten servants (already His redeemed servants with the gift of
eternal life [Rom. 6: 23]), and
delivered them ten pounds
(representative of the ‘Truth with Amenities’
of His mission entrusted to them), and
said unto them, Occupy (faithfully promoting His Truth) till I come (with the
appointment He had declared as His, He has now attained). But his (End-Time) citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have
this man to reign over us
(this is the 7-year End-Time indictment against the living dwellers
on the Earth). Then
came the first, saying, Lord,
thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well,
thou good servant: because
thou hast been faithful in a very little (in that if one can rule themselves, they are found
worthy to rule over others), have
thou authority (in my heavenly
kingdom) over [Page
12] ten cities (on the
Earth... the reward is too wonderous to conceive). And the second came, saying, Lord,
thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.
And another (redeemed servant) came,
saying, Lord,
behold, here is thy pound,
which I have kept laid up in a napkin: For I feared thee, because
thou art an austere man: thou takest up that
thou layest not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow (the disqualifying from kingdom inheritance here is
called as wickedness and not misuse
but disservice,
due to his reverential opinions of his Lord). And
he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge
thee, thou wicked servant.
Thou knewest that I was an austere man,
taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank
(sharing the Truth but half-heartedly to others
that would have brought forth at the very least a small return), that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?
And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give
it to him that hath ten pounds. (And they said
unto him, Lord,
he hath ten pounds.) For I say
unto you, That unto every one which hath (Truth and lives and shares it) shall be given (more Truth and authority); and from him that hath not (exercised the Truth into which he came), even that (perfecting Truth unto heavenly glory) he hath shall be taken away from him. But those mine enemies, which
would not that I should reign over them (see Hebrews
10: 13 and Revelation 11: 18), bring hither,
and slay them before me.”
Christ’s Words of Truth... “To him that overcometh
will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I
also overcame, and am sat down with
my Father in his throne.” And “And he shall rule
them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a
potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I
received of my Father.”
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