(A Strategic Shift)
Part 1 poses a question about a possible strategic shift in The Lord’s ‘first sheltering, then judgments’ strategy that is evidenced across the pages and ages of The Bible.
What about Matthew 24:29-31, when The Lord will return
with His early ages saints, to resurrect and rapture His 4th age saints
onto the cloud of His/our return to Earth,
and then govern Earth in the Millennial Reign age??
That rapture event will occur AFTER the apocalypse,
not before!!
This apparent exception forces us to re-think current concepts of both Heaven’s judgments and its sheltering strategies. The deeper issue here may not simply involve prophetic timing, but how Heaven strategically adapts its sheltering methods as judgments expand in scale and duration.
Context
Matthew 24:29-31 depicts The Lord’s globally-seen, THIRD (not second) return to Earth—this time as its Global King. On a cloud, He will be accompanied by all of His holy angels, and His then immortal, saints from the first 3 ages of our history. Before we ‘land on Earth’, The Lord will resurrect and rapture (presumably onto said cloud) all deceased and alive 4th age saints. In that act, He will essentially DISPLAY to all sinful, apocalypse survivors, the FULL ARRAY of His Millennial Kingdom administrators! That reminds me of how an ancient king would return home from very successful foreign battles, in the full array of His army’s glory. The difference is that He/we won’t be welcomed as ancient kings and their armies were welcomed back home, because He/we will be returning to RULE Earth with His rod of iron, signifying an exceptional strongman rule!
Our arrival at that time is not to be conflated with what Paul predicts, in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, re. The Lord’s un-seen presence on a cloud, to resurrect and rapture all of His 3rd age saints at the end of this current age. These are clearly two separate/distinct events. Though many traditions perceive them to be the same event, they clearly aren’t.
Here’s an insight some of us might miss about these two events. Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, reveals The Lord will ‘bring with Him’ from Heaven, those (i.e., the immortal spirits and souls of) deceased 3rd age saints, when we (resurrected and alive saints) will meet Him on a cloud at the end of this current, 3rd age. I intuit The Lord might apply this same pattern when He returns at the end of the 4th age—i.e., that He will bring with Him from Heaven, the immortal spirits and souls of deceased 4th age saints when He returns with all His saints from the first 3 ages of history, to establish His Millennial Kingdom on Earth. Repeating His 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 pattern during His Matthew 24:29:31 return, will ensure ALL of His bona fide saints from the first 4 ages of history, will be fully tripartite, immortal beings (spirit, soul and body) on Earth during the 5th age—The Millennial Reign age. That will fulfill the last part of Zechariah 14:5, Matthew 25:31, Mark 8:38, 1 Thessalonians 1:13, and 2 Thessalonians 1:7&10!!!
Some readers may disagree with this sequence if they believe there will only be ONE global resurrection of The Lord’s saints. If so, they should ponder these points:
• Ephesians 4:8 affirms David’s prophecy in Psalm 68:18, was fulfilled, and Matthew 27:52-53 gives us a keyhole perspective of that likely global event.
• The Lord’s un-seen return in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, differs from His predicted globally-seen return in Matthew 24:29-31.
For more, see: Awaiting His THIRD Coming.
A Perspective Shift?
Back to The Lord’s sheltering strategies…
The first phrase in Matthew 24:29 affirms The Lord’s third return onto Earth, and the resurrection/rapture of all 4th age saints will occur AFTER the apocalypse judgments. This indicates no alive 4th age saints will be raptured before the apocalypse, possibly in keeping with its end-of ages rapture events. Does this differ from His sequence of ‘first sheltering His saints, then judging the ‘ain’ts’? Not if we understand The Millennial Reign age, itself, will be an age-long judgment, though many traditional teachings may not perceive it as such. Psalm 2:9, Revelation 2:27, 12:5 and 19:15, all speak of The Lord’s pending judgment rule over all nations by His rod of iron, and Isaiah 11:4 mentions ruling by the rod of His mouth—His Word. In this light, the resurrection and rapturous gathering of 4th age saints, predicted in Matthew 24:29-31, will occur AFTER the apocalypse, but BEFORE His judgment changes form. This perspective views The Lord’s overarching judgments will extend from the start of the apocalypse, to the end of His Millennial Reign!
This perspective is not be strange if we accurately perceive that history proves His first 4 seals judgments (Revelation 6) began ‘shortly’ after His revelation vision to Apostle John—exactly as He had predicted they would! Both Scripture (Ezekiel 14:12-23), and history (since the mid 2nd century AD until TODAY) contradict the erroneous perspective that those seals judgments will be crammed into the 42-month apocalypse. This signifies we need to shift our perspective of His judgments from being ‘episodic’, to recognizing some are and will be ‘siege-like’, even lasting a full age! (For more, see: He Twice Said, 'Shortly!', and Why Earth’s Under Siege!)
What might these insights signify about
Heaven’s sheltering strategies?
See Part 3 (pending)
