The nations that remain after the Battle of Armageddon will come to the glorified saints to receive the blessing of the Lord.

Notice when this unparalleled glory will arise on the saints:

For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. (Isaiah 60:2)

We know that Christ will return at the "midnight hour." At the climax of the spiritual darkness that soon will cover the earth, the Father and the Son will enter the saints. At that time, God dwelling in His saints in the personal fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles will "roar" against His enemies.

The Spirit of Christ in Joel reveals these events clearly:

The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. (Joel 3:15-17)

When Jesus returns it will be the dead "in Christ" who will rise (I Thessalonians 4:16). What does it mean to be in Christ ? To be in Christ means to participate in the personal, spiritual fulfillment of each of the seven feasts as they are presented to us by the Holy Spirit.

We cannot stop with the first three, or with the first four, and then forget about the remainder of God's program of redemption. Hebrews 3:18 warns us concerning the peril of coming short of the fullness of God's plan. Like the Ark of the Covenant, the Lord Jesus always is moving forward. If we are to abide in Him we must continue believing and pressing forward in Him until we enter the promised-land rest of God.

When the Lord returns, the victorious saints will be made immortal. By victorious we mean they have embraced the program of redemption, not stopping at any point. They have been cleansed from worldliness, sin, and self-seeking and now are living stones in the eternal Temple of God. They are true disciples of the Lord Jesus, not just churchgoers.

God in His mercy will not issue immortality in the body to the believer who has not been diligent in the program of redemption. We must attain to the resurrection in our inner nature before we can be trusted with an immortal body.

The rewards designated for the overcomer will be issued only to the overcomer!

God prevented Adam and Eve from eating of the tree of life so that in time He could redeem them. If they, in their sinful, self-willed state, had partaken of immortality they would have been bound in chains and confined in the eternal darkness.

God has placed Adam and Eve and all their descendants in bodies of clay, in a state of futility. This is so God may have a chance to deliver them from trust in the world, from sin, and from self-will. God has imprisoned us in these humbled bodies in the hope that through Christ we can be reconciled to God.

To be continued.