Revelation 1:7b
7 Behold,[idou] he cometh[erchomai] with[meta] clouds;[nephele] and[kai] every[pas] eye[ophthalmos] shall see[optanomai] him,[autos] and[kai] they also which[hostis] pierced[ekkenteo] him:[autos] and[kai] all[pas] kindreds[phule] of the earth[ge] shall wail[kopto] because[epi] of him.[autos] Even so, [nai] Amen.[amen] KJV-Interlinear
7 Behold, He is coming with the
clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the
tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so.
Amen. NASB
Clouds are used in scripture to represent Gods presence,
Gods glory, Gods power, Gods armies or those hosts that accompany God.
Gods
presence with Israel was represented during their wandering, Ex
13:21-22; 16:10; Num 10:34.
At the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, Ex 19:16; cf. 20:21; 24:15-18.
When the Lord communicated with Moses at the Tent
of Meeting, Ex 33:9; cf. 34:5.
Both the tabernacle and the temple were filled with
a cloud symbolizing Gods glory, Ex 40:34-38, 1 Kings
8:10-12.
Jesus ascended on a cloud, or actually He was
received by a cloud, Acts 1:9.
Believers will ascend into the clouds at the
Rapture, 1 Thess. 4:17.
And then at the second advent,
Christ will return with clouds, Dan. 7:13, Matt. 24:30.
Gods radiance
and glory is so bright that is it said that no man can see His face and live,
Ex. 33:20, Heb. 1:3.
As we mentioned yesterday, Jesus Christ has made a
promise to His Church, believers in this current dispensation,
that they will not be made to endure the days of testing of the
Tribulation.Thus the rapture is
reinforced as the removal of the Church prior to the Tribulation.
Rev 3:10
10 'Because you have kept
the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing,
that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell
upon the earth. NASB
Following the Rapture, Christ will reward believers
according to their spiritual lives, Rom 14:10; 1 Cor
3:12-15; 4:5; 2 Cor 5:10; Phil 1:6,10;
2 Tim 1:12,18; 4:8; Rev 11:18.
Resurrected believers, and the glorified Church,
will return with Christ at the Second Advent, Rev 19:7-9; cf. 2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:22-30, Rev 19:14.
The church will be vindicated before the
unbelieving world, proving who truly belongs to the Lord, 2 Tim 2:19.
Therefore, in order to escape history’s
tribulation, in order to be glorified and rewarded, Christ has to have already
gathered up His Church.
And, in order to return with Him at the Second
Advent, the Church has to have already been in heaven. Therefore, the Rapture has to occur prior to
the Second Advent.
And it is at this Second Advent that we will return
with Him, described as clouds. Clouds also represent vast numbers, stretching from
horizon to horizon.
Rev. 19:14
14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in
fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on
white horses. NASB
And that is you.
You will have been in heaven for seven years, from the time of the
Rapture until the time of the Second Advent.
You will have been through the cleansing fires of the Judgment Seat of
Christ, removing all of the wood, hay, and stubble human good from your
life.You will have received your just
reward for your spiritual growth and production (if any), and you will be
clean, as it were, of all of the filth that is characteristic of this world. You will have participated in the wedding feast
during those last three-and-a-half years
Now you will mount your very own white war horse,
and follow the charge, along with billions of other believers, across the
universe, at the speed of God, and enter the atmosphere of planet earth, right
behind Christ, an army that is comparable to no other.
And there in the upper atmosphere, we will be
witness to the result of what has been happening on this earth for the prior
seven years – evil to the maximum and all out war threatening the extinction of
humanity.
Christ will descend to the ground this time (He did
not in the Rapture), and end the war with a single blast of His voice. Humanity will drop where they stand, around
the planet, dead right in their tracks.
And then the rescue and gathering up, of those who were faithful (not
very many), will commence and the Millennium will begin.
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