How Will Redemption Take Place?

Immediately after the great tribulation the sun will be darkened. But this will not bring about the desired redemption.

Before the Lord returns the moon will not give its light. But this will not bring about the desired redemption.

The stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. But none of this will bring about the promised redemption.

How, then, will the wonderful works of redemption take place?

By the following!

The restoration of the Presence of God to the earth.

Deliverance from the presence of sin.

The change from bodily corruption to bodily incorruption.

The exaltation of Jerusalem and all Israel.

The bringing of justice and the rule of God to the meek of the earth.

The restoration of Paradise to the earth.

The six aspects of redemption we have mentioned will not pour from the skies, they will be given at the hands of people, at the hands of the Servant of the Lord. The Servant of the Lord is Christ—Head and Body.

Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen. (Isaiah 44:2)

The purpose for the two thousand years of the Church Age has been to prepare the Body of Christ, the Body of Israel, of the Servant of the Lord, for its work of restoring to mankind that which was forfeited through the trickery of the adversary, Satan. The Body must be made perfect before it can successfully bring the Presence of God and eternal life to the saved peoples of the earth.

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:13)

Notice how mankind flocks to God's Israel, God's Servant, when the Servant is one with God and filled with God's Glory.

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

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe thou hast sent me. (John 17:21)

"That the world may believe"!

When the Day of the Lord is mentioned, there sometimes is a reference to an army of saints who will appear along with Christ. These are the sons of God. The sons of God who are to be revealed at the coming of the Lord are, as we understand it, a firstfruits of the entire Church, a Gideon's army, a holy, warlike remnant of saints who will be used by the Lord to destroy all the works of Satan from the earth.

Those who ride with the Lord in that Day will not be new believers who barely are saved but mature saints who have been tested again and again in the fires of tribulation and temptation.

These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. (Revelation 17:14)

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)

To be continued.