Part 7 (1/2)

”I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:2, 3.

Not in detail, but in their general order, let us follow the events of that great day.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHRIST COMING IN GLORY

”The Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him.” Matt. 25:31.]

The Prelude to His Coming

as the revelator saw it and heard it in a vision of the last day:

”There came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth,... and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before G.o.d.” Rev. 16:17-19.

”The heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” Rev. 6:14.

His Glorious Appearing

Then bursts upon the world the glory of our Saviour's coming:

”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. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet.” Matt. 24:30, 31.

”I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Rev. 14:14, 15.

The Resurrection of the Just, and the Translation of the Living Righteous

The time to reap has come, and the wheat is gathered at last into the garner of the Lord:

”We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Cor. 15:51, 52.

”He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matt. 24:31.

”This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of G.o.d: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thess. 4:15-18.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE EMPTY TOMB

”Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming.” 1 Cor. 15:23.]

The righteous dead are raised to life as the trump of G.o.d sounds and the voice of the Archangel calls to His sleeping saints, and the living righteous are transformed from mortality to immortality. Then all together, with the escort of the angels, they follow the Saviour to the heavenly mansions that He has prepared in the city of G.o.d.

The Destruction of the Wicked

Before the glorious majesty of the coming King no sin can endure; for true it is that ”our G.o.d is a consuming fire”--now, in the day of His mercy, consuming sin out of the heart that by faith approaches the throne of grace, but in that day consuming the unrepentant sinner with his sin.

”Where will the sinner hide in that day, in that day?

Where will the sinner hide in that day?

It will be in vain to call, 'Ye mountains on us fall!'

For His hand will find out all in that day.”