King over all the earth, and that His kingly rule is still in the
future. The notion that the church is the Kingdom in which the Lord
Jesus Christ rules as King, and that the Old Testament predictions of
Kingdom glories are realized spiritually in the church, is a pure
invention. Nowhere is the church called the Kingdom, nor do we find the
Lord Jesus ever called "the King of the Church." He is the Head of the
church, which is His body. The New Testament still looks forward to the
Kingdom to come. The Lord has left the earth to receive a Kingdom and to
return (Luke xix:11-28). He occupies the Father's throne, which is not
His permanent place, for He is to have His own throne. "When the Son of
Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then
shall He sit upon the throne of His glory" (Matt. xxv:31). He waits in
heaven for the time when all enemies will be made the footstool of His
feet (Heb. x:13). "But now we see not yet all things put under Him"
(Heb. ii:8). No nation serves Him and the Kingdoms of this world are not
His Kingdoms during this age. They will become His and heaven will
resound with many voices saying: "The kingdoms of this world are become
the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and
ever" (Rev. xi:15). But that is future. When the seventh angel sounds
His trumpet, when heaven opens and He appears as King of kings, crowned
with many crowns (Rev. xix:11-16), then He will receive the nations for
His inheritance.
How Christ Begins His Future Work.
The beginning of Christ's future work is revealed in 1 Thessalonians
iv:15-18. This Scripture contains a great and unique revelation, unknown
in the Old Testament. The Lord had made the promise to His disciples, "I
will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am ye may be
also" (John xiv:3). He did not tell them in what manner He would keep
this most precious promise. In the first Epistle to the Thessalonians
the Lord gives the details of His coming for His own, and how He will
fulfill the promise given to His disciples. He promises that He will
descend from heaven with a shout. When He accomplished His work on the
cross, He gave a shout, for he cried with a loud voice "Tetelestei"--"It
is finished!" As the risen One, He met His beloved ones and said "All
Hail!" The Greek gives only one word, "Chairete"--"Oh! the Joy!" This is
His resurrection shout, the shout of joy and victory. And when He
ascended He went up with a shout (Ps. xlvii:5). First Thessalonians
iv:16 tells us He is going to descend with a shout. He passed through
the heavens in His glorious ascension and entered into the presence of
God, His Father. Some day He will arise from the place He occupies on
the Throne of God. He will leave the place on the right hand of the
Majesty on high and pass out of the third heaven. Once more He passeth
through the heavens, not upward but downward. He comes to call His
Saints to meet Him. The meeting-place is not the Mount of Olives,
Jerusalem or any earthly place; the meeting-place will be in the air. We
repeat, this is a revelation, which is not found in the Old Testament
prophetic Word, nor did the Lord announce it fully in His earthly
ministry. According to the passage containing this revelation, the shout
of the Lord as He descends into the air will be followed by the
resurrection of the dead in Christ. All the Saints of God will be raised
physically from the graves. This includes the Old Testament and New
Testament believers. When this shout is heard and the righteous dead are
raised, all belonging to Christ and living in that day, will be caught
up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. For the
sake of some, we add, that all who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ
as Saviour, who received eternal life and the Spirit of God, belong to
Him and their blessed Hope and destiny is to be "caught up in clouds to
meet the Lord in the air." Some teach that in order to share this
rapture certain attainments are needed. Such, however, is not the case.
No service, suffering, separation or any works we do, could ever fit us
for such a marvelous event. Grace has accomplished it for us. In 1 Cor.
xv:51 we read: "Behold I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but
we shall all be changed in a moment, etc." The "all" means all that are
Christ's at His coming, independent of their knowledge about
dispensational truths, independent of their waiting for Him, or any
other thing. That they belong to Him and are redeemed by His precious
blood is a sufficient title to be caught up and to meet Him in the air.
Of this double company, saints who died and who will be raised from the
dead, and saints who live and will be changed in a moment and caught up
to meet Him, we find a hint in His words in John xi:25-26. "I am the
resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live (Resurrection). And whosoever liveth (when He comes)
and believeth in Me shall never die (The changing of living believers).
Believest thou this?" May we answer Him, Yea, Lord, I believe. We may
not understand all the details of this wonderful event, an event which
will come suddenly, but we can believe His promise and wait daily for
its glorious fulfillment. This is the blessed Hope of the Church. For
this we are told to wait. Ere He begins His judgment work, before the
last scenes of tribulation and wrath can be enacted upon this earth and
He returns as the King of Glory to claim His blood-bought inheritance,
He will come into the air to meet His redeemed host and co-heirs. This
is the first event in connection with His future work.
The Judgment Seat of Christ.
All judgment is to be executed by the Lord Jesus Christ. "For the Father
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son" (John
v:22). Up to the present time no judgment work has been done by Him. Nor
have His people received their crowns and rewards for service and
faithfulness. The meeting of the Saints in the presence of the Lord will
be immediately followed by the judgment seat of Christ. "For we shall
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ" (Rom. xiv:10). "For we
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may
receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done,
whether it be good or bad" (2 Cor. v:10). No unsaved person appears
before this judgment for they were not raised from the dead, nor changed
in the twinkling of an eye. This judgment concerns only believers. This
judgment, however, does not decide their eternal salvation. That was
settled when they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. The words of our
Lord in John v:24 make this clear. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He
that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath
everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed
from death unto life." "There is therefore now no condemnation to them
which are in Christ" (Rom. viii:1). The works and the service of His
people will be dealt with by the Lord in this first judgment act in His
future work. Of this we read in 1 Cor. iv:5--"Therefore judge nothing
before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the
hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the hidden counsels of
the hearts; and then shall have every man praise of God."
Everything will be made manifest before that judgment seat. The
unconfessed sins in the believer's life will be brought to light and all
hidden things will be uncovered. Then the works of the believer will be
made manifest. "Every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day
shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire
shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide
which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's
work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be
saved, yet so as by fire" (1 Cor. iii:13-15). It will be the time when
God's people will receive their rewards and crowns. Then the Apostles,
the faithful martyrs, the self-sacrificing missionaries and servants of
God will receive praise and reward for their labors. The judgment seat
is the reward seat of Christ. In view of this the Apostle wrote to the
faithful Thessalonians: "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of
rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at
His coming? For ye are our glory and joy" (1 Thess. ii:19-20). And the
Apostle John exhorts: "And now little children, abide in Him; that when
He shall appear, we (the apostles and teachers) may have confidence, and
not be ashamed before Him at His Coming" (1 John ii:28). All believers
in Christ are saved and have eternal life; but not all receive a reward.
Their works will be consumed by the fire of that judgment, for they were
nothing but wood, hay and stubble. They will go rewardless, while the
faithful saints, who toiled and served, who spent and were spent,
following closely in His steps, will receive rewards. What these will be
no Saint does know at this time.
When all is accomplished in connection with this judgment seat of
Christ, He will lead His Saints into the Father's house, that they may
behold His glory (John xvii:24). He will present the church to Himself,
"a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but
that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. v:27). He presents His
church "faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy"
(Jude 24).
II.
His Future Work in Connection with the Earth.
When the Saints of God have left the earth and met the Lord in the air,
when the events took place we have briefly outlined, then the Lord Jesus
Christ will begin from heaven a work which will be severely felt on the
earth. He begins to deal with the world in a series of judgments. From
the Book of Revelation we learn that the "Lion of the tribe of Judah the
Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and loose the seven
seals thereof." (Rev. v:5). The book He receives contains the judgments
decreed for this earth with its apostate masses. The Lamb is seen
opening the seals of the book, and as He breaks the seals the events
described under each seal happen. It is His work in judgment. In the
eighth chapter of Revelation an Angel is seen before an altar with a
golden censer. "And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire
of the altar, and cast it into the earth, and there were voices, and
thunderings, and lightnings and an earthquake. And the seven angels
which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound" (Rev. viii:5,
6). This Angel is the Lord Jesus Christ. He casts down the fire of
divine displeasure and judgment upon the earth. The seven trumpeting
angels with their judgments for the earth are sent forth by Him. Then
come seven other angels, who pour out the bowls filled with the wrath of
God. We cannot examine all those judgments separately. There is no human
being who can realize what they all mean and what it will be when the
Lord deals with this earth in righteousness.
Israel and the Nations.
Israel and the nations will pass through those judgments executed from
above. Christendom apostate, God defying and Christ rejecting
Christendom, will like Pharaoh, be hardened by them. They do not repent,
but rather believe the strong delusion and accept the man of sin with
his lying wonders. The Jewish people will in part be restored to their
land. The great tribulation centers in their land and will be felt there
in its severest form. The apostate portion of the Jews will worship the
false Christ and will therefore be visited by these righteous judgments.
But there is also a remnant of God-fearing Jews, who believe the Word of
God, who expect the Kingdom and the King. While these believing Jews
suffer, they also serve. They are the last messengers of the King. They
herald once more the Gospel of the Kingdom and will bear witness of it
to all the nations of the earth, before the end comes (Matt. xxiv:14).*
* We refer the reader to our larger works, which deal more fully with
these coming events. Daniel, Joel, Commentary on Matthew, Harmony of the
Prophetic Word, Things to Come, etc., deal more fully with these truths.
For catalogue, address "Our Hope," 456 Fourth Ave., New York City.
Nations Learning Righteousness.
"When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will
learn righteousness" (Isaiah xxvi:9). A work of salvation will go on
during those seven years of judgment, tribulation and wrath. A great
multitude, which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and
people, and tongues, come out of the great tribulation and have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev.
vii:9-17). They heard and believed the final testimony as preached by
the Jewish remnant. Heathen nations will accept the Gospel of the
Kingdom, while apostate Christendom is excluded, for they received not
the love of the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thess.
ii).
His Glorious Appearing.
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall
fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. 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" (Matthew
xxiv:29-30). "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see
Him, and they also which pierced Him, and all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen" (Rev. i:7). "And I saw heaven
opened and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called
Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. His
eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He
had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. And He was clothed
in a vesture dipped with blood; and His name is called the Word of God.
And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth goeth a
sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations; and He shall rule
them with a rod of iron and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness
and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a
name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords" (Rev. xix:11-16).
The King in His Glory.
Every eye shall see Him, when He appears in glorious majesty as the King
of Kings. His glory will cover the heavens (Hab. iii:3). Every tongue
which denied Him will be forever hushed. His second, personal, visible
and glorious coming will be the crowning and unanswerable proof of His
Deity. His incarnation and all the work He accomplished on earth and in
glory, can then no longer be denied. His glorious appearing will silence
all His enemies. His rejection ends and His glory as God's appointed
King and ruler over this earth, He purchased with His blood, begins.
Every knee must then bow before Him and every tongue confess that He is
Lord.
And when He appears in all His glory, He does not come alone. His Saints
come with Him. When He appears, then shall we also appear with Him in
glory (Col. iii:4). In that day of triumph and glory, He will be
glorified in His Saints and admired in all them that believed (2 Thess.
i:10). Wonderful spectacle it will be, when He brings His many sons with
Him unto glory! All will be conformed into the same image.
His Judgment-Work.
His feet will stand once more upon the Mount of Olives (Zech. xiv:4).
Before Him is Jerusalem and all nations are gathered against it to
battle (Zech. xiv:2). The Beast will be their leader, while the Man of
Sin, the Anti-christ, will do his dreadful work in the city itself. The
remnant of Israel in great distress will then pray and look for
deliverance. The coming of the King will bring that deliverance. They
will shout then for joy and say in that day, "Lo, this is our God, we
have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is the Lord; we have
waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation" (Isaiah
xxv:9). They will welcome the once rejected One. "Blessed is He that
cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matt. xxiii:39). And He will fight
against those nations. The great battle of Armageddon will then take
place. "The beasts and the Kings of the earth, and their armies,
gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and
against his army" (Rev. xix:19). But their opposition will suddenly be
broken to pieces. "And the beast was taken, and with him the false
prophet (the Anti-christ) that wrought miracles before him, with which
he deceived them that received the mark of the beast, and them that
worshipped the image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire
burning with brimstone" (Rev. xix:20).
On His Throne.
When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels
with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory" (Matt.
xxv:31). The judgment which will then be executed by Him is not a
universal judgment (the dead are not mentioned), but it will be a
judgment of the living nations in the day when He appears the second
time. Some nations are put on His right side and He calls them "the
blessed of my Father;" they inherit the Kingdom which will then be
established on the earth. That these righteous nations are not church
saints is obvious, for the church, as we have seen, was caught up in the
beginning of His future work to meet Him in the air and is associated
with Him when He comes in power and glory. Then there are other nations
which are put on His left hand and they shall go away from that judgment
throne into everlasting punishment (Matt. xxv:46). But what is the
standard of this judgment? What they did to the Lord's brethren or what
they did not unto them. The Lord's brethren, according to the flesh are
the Jews. During the tribulation period believing Jews will preach the
Gospel of the Kingdom to all nations (Matt. xxiv:14). The nations who
believed this last offer of mercy treated the messengers in kindness;
those who did not believe the message did not treat them in that way.
And when this great judgment is passed, His Kingdom of righteousness and
peace will be established on this earth. Righteousness will begin to
reign as grace reigns now through righteousness.
III.
The Glories of His Kingdom.
"And in the days of those Kings shall the God of heaven set up a
Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the Kingdom shall not be
left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these
Kingdoms, and it shall stand forever" (Dan. ii:44). "I saw in the night
visions, and, behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of
heaven, and came to the Ancients of days, and they brought Him near
before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom,
that all people, nations and languages should serve Him; His dominion is
an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom that
which shall not be destroyed" (Dan. vii:13-14). A closer study of these
two fundamental passages from Daniel's great prophecies will establish
the fact that this promised Kingdom comes with the second coming of
Christ. It will be preceded by a judgment blow at the earth Kingdoms;
Nebuchadnezzar beheld this in his prophetic dream.
This Kingdom is an earthly Kingdom and all the nations will be gathered
into that Kingdom. Jerusalem and a converted Israel will be the center
of it. The Lord Jesus Christ and His Saints will reign with Him over the
earth and over this Kingdom. And what will be His work then? But a few
of the many things can be mentioned. "He shall speak peace to the
nations" (Zech. ix:10). "With righteousness shall He judge the poor, and
reprove with equity the meek of the earth." (Isaiah xi:4). "He shall
bring forth judgment to the Gentiles" (Is. xlii:1). "And He shall judge
among the nations, and shall rebuke many people, and they shall beat
their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruninghooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war any more" (Isaiah ii:4). He shall also "set up an ensign for the
nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together
the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isaiah
xi:12). "And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and
shall be my people" (Zech. ii:11). "And the Lord shall be King over all
the earth" (Zech. xiv:9). "Behold a King shall reign in righteousness"
(Isaiah xxxii:1). "A King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth" (Jere. xxiii:5).
Many more passages predicting and describing the Kingdom and its glories
might be added. All these blessed words mean exactly what they say.
Righteousness and peace will characterize that world-wide Kingdom of the
Lord Jesus Christ. His glory will cover the earth as the waters cover
the deep. Nations will worship Him. "Yea, all Kings shall fall down
before Him; all nations shall serve Him." "He shall have dominion also
from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth" (Ps.
lxxii:8, 11). Every wrong will be righted on earth and present-day evils
and oppression, crime and vice, poverty and sickness will be abolished.
Only He has the power to do this. Oh! the glories of the Kingdom! May we
pray, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Thy Kingdom come.
Creation Delivered.
"For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the
manifestation of the Sons of God. For the creature was made subject to
vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same
in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now" (Rom. viii:19-22). Sin has brought a curse upon
creation. The thorns and thistles are the result of the fall of man as
well as the blight and misery which rests upon a creation, which was
pronounced good by the Creator. But this condition into which creation
has been plunged will not continue forever. A better day is coming.
Groaning creation is to be delivered. The curse will be removed. This
cannot be the work of man. Scientists attempt to set things in order in
this ruined creation; but they fail. The things which destroy, the heat
and the drought, the storms and earthquakes, cannot be arrested by the
arm of man.
The Son of God wore the crown of thorns. The curse was put upon Him. And
He who created all things and paid for redemption by His precious blood
will, with omnipotent power, deliver groaning creation. It will take
place when the sons of God are manifested. The sons of God (the
redeemed) will be manifested with Him, as we have seen, in the day of
His visible appearing. Then the great vision of Isaiah will find its
fulfillment. "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard
shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the
fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and
the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the
lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling child shall play on
the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the
cockatrice den" (Isaiah xi:6-8).
All Under His Feet.
The dispensation of the fulness of times has come (Eph. i:10). All
things are put under Him. All His enemies are made His footstool. He is
Lord of all. The glorious reign of Christ, in kingly glory, in
fulfillment of the Prophet's visions, will be followed by another
judgment.
The Great White Throne.
The second resurrection, that of the wicked dead, takes place at the end
of the Kingdom reign of Christ. This great judgment and the final
destiny of the wicked is revealed in Rev. xx:11-15. The Lord Jesus
Christ will be the judge in that awful scene, for it is written that all
judgment is committed unto the Son" (John v:22). Then Cometh the End.
"Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to
God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all
authority and power. For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies
under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. . . .
And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also
Himself be subject unto Him, who put all things under Him, that God may
be all in all" (1 Cor. xv:24-28).
Then He will create a new heaven and a new earth, the eternal dwelling
place of redeemed and glorified mankind. "And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth" (Rev. xxi:1). "And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold,
I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are
true and faithful" (Rev. xxi:5). "And there shall be no more curse; but
the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall
serve Him. And they shall see His face; and His Name shall be in their
foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle,
neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light; and they
shall reign forever and ever" (Rev. xxii:3-5).
This will be the ultimate result of the blessed Work of Christ. His past
work is finished. Soon His present Work may end and then His future,
kingly work begins, when He comes the second time.