Advent! :: By Terry James
Christmastime, celebrating the birth of Jesus, is for us a joyous occasion. Christ’s first coming to Earth to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world must have been, however, for His Father, an excruciating matter beyond any human ability to fathom.
Only the unfathomable love of God could condescend to meet humankind’s need for a Savior in a way that would require such sacrifice.
The Father’s love in sending His Son in that first Advent brings forth a terrible realization: His vengeance on the wicked who have rejected His Son will bring wrath and judgment, the likes of which are almost beyond imagination.
The rebel armies of Earth will be gathered by God Himself to the most horrific killing field of all wars. As the Second Advent proceeds and the black clouds of Tribulation part, a brilliant light from glory will illuminate not the baby of Bethlehem but the King of all kings and Lord of all lords.
Leaders of the forces meeting at Armageddon to battle each other will turn to see the brightness that has broken through the darkness that has overcast Earth’s skies because of the judgments of God. Antichrist, supreme leader of much of the forces west of the Euphrates River, will recognize the invading force from Heaven. Perhaps the leaders from the 200 million-man armies from the Orient that have crossed the dried-up Euphrates from the East will also know what the brilliant heavenly intrusion is all about. All earthly forces will then turn to concentrate their fire on the descending heavenly army led by Jesus Christ.
While the sea of humanity on the planet’s surface viciously roars in an attempt to prevent the heavenly intervention, those warring forces will turn from battling with each other to curse God and all His righteousness. Then Jesus Christ, mounted upon a stunning white steed, will speak words sharper than a two-edged sword.
Master to Calm Storm
I am convinced Christ’s words will be the same ones He spoke to that raging sea of Galilee nearly two millennia ago (read Mark 4:36-41). They are the same words He says today to everyone who turns to Him, acknowledging that there is nothing and no one but Christ who can save them. He says those words to all who accept Him and trust Him to save them from their sins and to make them born-again children of God.
Just as His words instantaneously calmed that violent sea, thus saving the men in the little boat, Jesus’ words will instantly end the warfare and rebellion at Armageddon. Christ’s words to the individual’s troubled heart likewise bring tranquility and joy to the soul. A person is never the same when Jesus speaks the life-changing words: “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:39).
Bloody Peace
When Jesus speaks the words, “Peace, be still,” at Armageddon, His command will be against all the vileness that has been building in humanistic rebellion over the thousands of years since God last judged in such a mighty way. All people died in the Flood except Noah and seven others. Christ’s words at Armageddon will apparently cause most, if not all, of the soldiers of the armies of the world gathered there to literally burst open, so powerful will be His command!
The plains of Armageddon will flow with a flood of blood! The Scripture says of this event:
“And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs” (Revelation 14:20).
The point is, when Jesus speaks, His words are sharper and more powerful than a two-edged sword, Scripture says. When Christ speaks, all opposition by Earth’s armies will instantly cease and desist. All will lie horribly bloody–but peaceful—upon the vast killing field called Armageddon.
Jesus on the Throne!
Jesus, following His stunning victory over the enemies of God, will proceed to get the people of Israel who have, during the Tribulation, come to believe in Him. He will rescue them from the place God has hidden them. This hiding of believing Israel (all Jewish people who have accepted that Jesus was and is their Messiah) is revealed in the following passage:
“And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:13-17).
The Hiding Place
Satan’s Antichrist forces will try to completely wipe the Jewish race from the face of the earth. They will try to fully implement Satan’s Final Solution. But God will intervene with great supernatural catastrophe and prevent Antichrist from finding the Jews. God will have hidden them somewhere. As we’ve looked at before, many prophetic scholars believe the hiding place will be in the Jordanian desert, in the “rose-red city” called Petra.
Jesus will retrieve these believing Jews from their hiding place and will use this remnant of the Jewish race to be His nation of Israel during His thousand-year rule on Earth called the Millennium.
Israel Saved!
The Bible says a third of Jews alive during the Tribulation will recognize their Messiah, Jesus Christ, at the moment He returns in the Second Coming. It will be a real eye-opener for them.
“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10).
Jesus will then move, with His saints of the Church Age and His chosen people (all of saved Israel), to Jerusalem. He will set up His throne upon a topographically changed Mt. Moriah in the Millennial Temple He will build.
Antichrist and False Prophet Judgment
The Lord Jesus will judge Antichrist and the False Prophet, who have persecuted Tribulation saints—particularly the Jewish race (Israel). We learn of these two beasts in the following:
“And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone” (Revelation 19:20).
These two will be the first to be cast into Hell. They will have it to themselves until a thousand years later, after the white throne judgment.
Satan’s Confinement
The Devil will next be grabbed and confined for a thousand years.
“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season” (Revelation 20:1-3).
The bottomless pit is the same place from where the rich man, in torment, looked into Paradise to see Lazarus in Abraham’s Bosom, according to Jesus’ teaching (read Luke 16:19–31).
Sheep and Goat Judgments
Christ will judge the nations. Their fate will hang upon how they treated His chosen people, the Jews. The “goat” nations will stand on Christ’s left while He judges, while the “sheep” nations will stand on His right.
All in the goat nations will be cast into everlasting darkness, lost for eternity. These nations consist of individually lost souls, each of whom will, apparently, be placed in nations that have persecuted Jews and, most likely, Tribulation saints as well. The nations so judged will no longer be part of the nations of Earth. (Read Matthew 25:32–46 to learn exactly what the Word of God has to say about that great future judgment.)
It is logical to presume the saved people who have lived in the goat, or lost, nations will be put into the sheep nations, which will be allowed into the Millennial Kingdom. Likewise, the unsaved people who have lived in the sheep nations will go into the goat nations to meet their eternal fate in outer darkness.
Saints of the Tribulation who make it through the seven years alive will, individually, go into the nations that have treated Israel kindly. However, it must be recognized that the children who will be born during the Millennium will have to make the same decision their parents made: to either accept or reject Christ for salvation. Millions will not do so and will be as rebellious as those who lived before this time of Christ’s glorious, thousand-year reign on Earth. These unsaved will join Satan in the final rebellion when he is released from the bottomless pit for a brief time. All will be destroyed and will spend eternity in Hell apart from God.
Millions of others, who are the children of the saints who go into the Millennium, will accept Christ and will, ultimately, live eternally with God. These offspring of the Tribulation saints who go into the Millennium will be the peoples who will continue to repopulate the earth for a thousand years. All of these individuals will be saved for eternity.
Fantastic Changes!
Jesus will assume the throne that belongs to Him alone. It is called the “Throne of David.” David, apparently, because of God’s own choosing, will, in his supernatural state, also rule over the nation of Israel during the Millennial era.
“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” (Matthew 25:30).
The terrain of Jerusalem and of the whole world will supernaturally change in accordance with a masterful sweep of King Jesus’ hand. We are given a glimpse of those astonishing topographical and environmental changes prophesied to take place in that day. (Read Zechariah 14:4–9).
Like in Eden
Jesus will make the earth like it was in the time of the Garden of Eden. It will be a crime-free world for the most part. Anyone who does commit a crime will be dealt with immediately and from a righteous justice system that has perfect knowledge of all things involved in the crime.
Many prophecy students believe Church Age saints will be officers of the Supreme’s court of justice in the administration of King Jesus. As supernatural officers of the court, they will certainly be equipped to handle such a duty.
But, again, crime will be almost nonexistent compared to our present hour. Christ’s saints, both flesh-and-blood and supernatural ones, will doubtless have wonderfully creative things to do for those thousand years. Anticipating that time of glorious service should empower us for our Royal Ambassador service here on Earth!
The Second Advent will bring the glorious time on Earth the utopian dreamers have longed for throughout the centuries. It will be the Lord Jesus Christ, not the would-be masters of this fallen world, who will construct the new heavens and new earth.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
***Terry James REVELATIONS Trilogy ***
Terry James’ three novels in his eye-opening Revelations trilogy are now in a boxed set – ideal for Christmas gift-giving.
Although the novels are, of course, fictional accounts of these bizarre times—so near Christ’s call to believers in the Rapture—Terry’s decades of factual study and presentation of Bible prophecy ring true throughout its pages. His devotion to God’s truth, in every sense, makes his storytelling come alive with believability for the reader.
Revelations: The Complete Trilogy is now available in an attractive set for gift-giving or for personal use. This set is especially great as a gift for your young adults and those within your family circle.
Book 1: Revelations
Book 2: Michael
Book 3: Messiah
Note from the author: My prayerful hope is that, through these novels, the Holy Spirit will impart to readers’ spirits the truth these stories present. The world is full of distraction through entertainment of every sort that can take a person’s thoughts far from matters important to the Lord. Entertainment centered in truth from the Creator will, I prayerfully hope, through Holy Spirit intervention, capture readers’ curiosity—thus causing them to explore further what God the Heavenly Father has done for them through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I would appreciate your support in purchasing this boxed set to help spread God’s truth through fictional entertainment before the eyes of as many as possible. I am praying these novels make an impact on the souls who need Jesus.
—Terry James
To order your copy today, here is a link to the boxed set: http://geni.us/rnYRy
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