We are suffering much and being trained very carefully so we can inherit the nations. The greatest inheritance of all (next to inheriting God and Christ) is people. To inherit one person is better than to inherit thousands of millions of mansions, jewels or solar systems. Jesus understands this well. As He is formed in us, we too understand it.

The manifestation of Christ in His saints is described in the Book of Isaiah:

God's elect will rise from the dead. They will shine as the lightning from the east to the west. Every eye will see them, for they will be manifested along with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Current Christian doctrine maintains that we shall be raised from the dead, ascend to meet the Lord, go back with Him to Heaven, stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, and then be married to the Lamb. What takes place after that is not expressed clearly, for the emphasis is on the escape of the living from the present world in order to avoid suffering.

The common teaching is that the resurrection and ascension are invisible to the eyes of the nations. The weak, defenseless church is removed from the earth and then Antichrist rules the world—except for the protests of a few Jews who do not have the Holy Spirit to assist them. In the present doctrine, as we have outlined it above, the nations of the earth do not profit from our rising from the dead. They are not allowed to witness the removal of the defeated church.

The Scripture teaches, rather, that the raising of the elect from the dead is performed in the sight of the nations. The raising is the manifestation of the marriage of the Lamb. The saints have passed before the Judgment Seat prior to this time and the raising and glorifying of them is the sign that Satan's hold on them has been broken completely.

The raising and glorifying of the saints is the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8:19). It is the manifestation of Christ with and in His saints.

The order is as follows:

The nations of the earth will behold Christ coming with power and great glory. This will result in much anguish on their part.

The trumpet of God will sound and the elect will be raised from the dead, will shine in glory, and will be gathered together to meet the Lord in the air. The raising and glorifying of the saints will terrify the wicked but will bring hope and joy to the righteous of the earth.

This order can be seen clearly in Matthew:

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. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:30,31)

To be continued.