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The Daily Word of Righteousness
We Shall Not Precede . . ., #3
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe Jesus died and rose again and so we believe God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. (I Thessalonians 4:13,14—NIV)
God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. Think of it!
Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration showed us what the Kingdom will be like.
There were two saints from the Old Testament, three from the New, and Jesus in the middle.
If I am correct, when the Lord returns He will bring with Him all of the righteous dead from the time of Abel. I don't think too many scholars would disagree with me on this.
If such be the case, the overwhelming vision of the return of the Lord is not the catching up of the living saints but the appearing on the earth of the saints of all history.
When the Lord returns, the dead in Christ will rise.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. (I Thessalonians 4:16—NIV)
The word rise does not mean rise into the air. That comes later. It means rise from the dead, just as the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day.
How many people are we speaking of? Undoubtedly several million. Those of us who are left alive on the earth when the Lord appears may number only a few thousand. We see therefore that the main part of the coming of the Lord is not the catching up of the living believers but the resurrection of deceased believers.
We shall not precede them into the Kingdom. This is the hope about which Paul is speaking.
Have you ever pictured in your mind what it will be like on the earth when several million of the saints of all history come forth from their graves and stand once again on the earth?
Antichrist and the wicked peoples of the earth will see this Divine act. It will not be done in secret. It shall be, as the Lord told us, as the lightning that comes from the east and shines to the west.
The Lord warned us that His coming would not be a secret. Yet today we are preaching a secret rapture. Will we ever learn?
How do you think Antichrist and the wicked will feel when they see the saints of all ages standing on the earth in glorified bodies? The Lord spoke to me about this and said: "If this was all that took place the wicked would destroy themselves in their wrath and frustration. But this is just the beginning of their sorrows."
So the dead in Christ enter the Kingdom first, for we enter the Kingdom of God in the fullest sense when we are raised from the dead.
I do not believe the resurrected saints will be caught up immediately. Jesus was not caught up immediately after His resurrection but had the enjoyment of roaming the earth He had just purchased with His blood.
To be continued.