" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. "
Joh 18:36
there are a number of errors circulating concerning the chronology of
End Time events... just as one denomination teaches this and another
denomination teaches that... but clearly enough the End Time events
unfold as foretold, and in no other way.
in the Sacred Scriptures it is written :
" I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who
will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom "
2 Tim. 4:1
here it is stated that Judgement Day for all people will take place at
the Second Coming of Christ... " at His appearing and His Kingdom. "
what could be plainer then that ?
it can not be said that Jesus will remain on this sinful earth to
govern as a king for a 1000 years and then Judgement Day will come...
Judgement Day commences on the Last Day... Joh. 12:48
the Bible teaches but one Judgement Day, held on the Last Day... and
the Last Day does not mean a thousand years after His coming...
the term " Last Day " means the Last Day.
all persons will be judged on the Last Day and the Last Day is the Day
of Christs return. Joh. 12:48 cp. 2 Tim 2:14
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the Lord put such as this event in the simplest words for the
edification of His elect... ( 1 Thes 5:11 ) and they are to teach it
to their children as the Bible instructs elect parents to do... and
even the most limited can thereby come to the knowledge of this Great
Day that our Most Blessed Savior will return and with His kingdom.
the elect of God will go through the Great Tribulation... as in
Matthew 24
" Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you
will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. "
" For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since
the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And
unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the
elect's sake those days will be shortened. "
shortening the days of the Great Tribulation for the elect sake can
only mean that the elect will go through the Great Tribulation.
2 Thes. 1:3-8
" Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. " 1 Thes. 4:17
' alive and remain ' means the elect will be here and go through the
Great Tribulation, after which time Judgement will commence and the
Lake of Fire will be created for all reprobates.
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reigning with Christ for a thousand years ( Rev. 20:4 ) means the
fulfillment of His covenant to all the generations of the elect...
Ps. 105:8 ff
8 " He remembers His covenant forever, The word which He commanded,
for a thousand generations,
9 The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac,
10 And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an
everlasting covenant,
11 Saying, "To you I will give the land of Canaan As the allotment of
your inheritance,"
the reader will note that in verse 8 of Ps.105 the term " a thousand
generations " is synonymous with the term " forever " in verse 10 the
term " everlasting covenant " is synonymous with the " thousand
generations " and " forever " of verse 8.
the point being made here is that the 1000 years of Rev. 20:4 means
" forever ". we know the 1000 years means " forever " in Rev. 20:4
because " judgment was committed to them " ... that is... judgement
was committed to the saints :
" Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? " 1 Cor.6:2
" Do you not know that we shall judge angels? " 1 Cor.6:3
.... it is the End. no more rising and setting of the sun by which we
calculate time. ( Mt. 24:29 )... the Great Tribulation has ended and
our Jesus immediately returns... Mt. 29:30... it is Judgement Day...
the Last Day.
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Judgement Day is a one time event. it is final. there is no second
Judgement Day. to conclude that Christ will reign on this sinful
earth as king for a thousand years and the elect reigning with Him
would require a second Judgement Day.
no. the meaning of the 1000 years of Rev. 20:4 can only mean that the
Resurrection of all persons has taken place; that Judgement has taken
place... that Satan, his horde of fallen angels and all reprobates
have gone to their reward; and that the children of God begin
reigning with Christ " forever " as the new heavens and the new earth
appear... Isa. 65:17; Isa. 66:22; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1
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the First Resurrection :
" Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. "
Rev. 20:6
" But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the
firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." 1 Cor. 15:20
" But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward
those who are Christ's at His coming. ( note in this verse that the
elect will experience the Great Tribulation )
Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father,
when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
The last enemy that will be destroyed is death." 1 Cor. 15:23-26
even Old Testament believers understood that there is no such thing as
a 1000 year reign of Christ as King on this sinful earth after the
Rapture of the elect and then comes Judgement Day after the 1000
years... Jo. 11:24 the Last Day of earth history is the same day as
the First Resurrection, the gathering of the elect " who are alive at
His coming " and Judgement Day...
" And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the
Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise
him up at the last day." Jo. 6:40
" He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which
judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last
day." Jo. 12:48
as these verses explain, the Resurrection of believers and unbelievers
commence on the Last Day... it is Judgement Day.
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Christ reigns from heaven since His ascension ( Mk. 16:19 )
making intersession for His elect ones. ( Ro. 8:34 ) and the elect
reign with Him now, though here in this world...
" You are already full! You are already rich! You have reigned as
kings without us--and indeed I could wish you did reign, that we also
might reign with you! " 1 Cor. 4:8
" But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who
called you out of darkness into His marvelous light " 1 Pet. 2:9
there are yet other verses which speak directly to the subject of the
sequence of events concerning the Second Coming of Christ...
2 Thes. 1:6-10 for example...
6 " it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those
who trouble you,
7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus
is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,
8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and
on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to
be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among
you was believed. "
as Paul says, in " that Day " Christ will take vengeance on the
non-elect and be glorified in His saints... " taking vengeance " is
because its Judgement Day ' that Day '... the ' End of Days ' in
Daniel 12 ; the resurrection of all believers 1 Cor. 15:51-53 and all
non-believers. Jo. 5:28, 29
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as Jesus says " My kingdom is not of this world " Joh. 18:36
the children of God are waiting for our Lord's return in order " to be
glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those
who believe " ( 2 Thes. 1:10 ) ... just as the father of the faithful,
Abraham, who waited for Christs heavenly kingdom to come and not some
earthly kingdom...
" for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and
maker is God." Heb. 11:10
and not some millennium on this sinful earth. this rubs the flesh of
the self-saved who've helped Christ save them by some decision or
other good work they claim they have done... but the Word of God does
that doesn't it.
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