Notice how the material creation waits eagerly, not for the coming of Christ but for the coming of the members of the Body of Christ:

Compare:

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. (II Thessalonians 1:10)

"Glorified in his 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. And the Gentiles [nations] shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. (Isaiah 60:2,3)

"The nations shall come to your light . . . kings to the brightness of your rising."

The teaching of the "secret rapture," together with the view of salvation as primarily a forgiveness of our sins with the goal of bringing us to Heaven, has hidden the scriptural concept of the coming, the parousia, of the sons of God.

If the Christian salvation primarily is the forgiveness of the sins of the elect with the intention of bringing them to Heaven, the creation waits in vain for the manifestation of the sons of God.

If the Christian salvation primarily is the transformation of the elect into life-giving spirits for the purpose of their serving as deliverers and priests for the righteous peoples of the earth, then there is hope for the creation.

The reason the victorious Christian life is one of intense discipleship, seemingly endless tribulations, daily practice in trusting God when we cannot see Him to the point our ability to cope is often stretched to the limit, is that the finished products of such Divine workings will be revealed to the nations of the earth as God's sons.

That which God is creating in us now is veiled by the flesh. In the Day of the parousia, the Day of the coming of Christ and the coming of His saints, the veil will be ripped open. Mortality will be swallowed up by immortality. The nations will behold the Glory of God in Christ in the saints. This is the parousia of the sons of God, the coming of the saints with Christ, the time when the saints take the Kingdom (Daniel 7:18).

The parousia is the hour of Christ's glorification. It also is the hour of our glorification, and our glorification magnifies and extends His glorification. Christ will glorify us so we may glorify Him (John 17:1,22).

The story of Gideon and his three hundred men is one of the most important of the types of the parousia of Christ and His saints.

In this story Gideon typifies Christ, and his three hundred men typify the saints who will participate in the parousia. The number 300 signifies the end of an age in judgment, as we understand the symbolism (Noah's Ark was 300 cubits in length).

The Midianites represent the forces of Antichrist, of Satan.

One of the major truths contained in this important type is the reducing of the number of the participants. The army dropped from 32,000 to 10,000 to 300. We think it is true that the number of saints who are revealed with Christ will be a small fraction of the Lord's people.

To be continued.