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18 I will
give thee thanks [yadah] in the great [rab]
congregation [qahal]: I will praise [halal] thee among much [`atsuwm]
people [`am]. KJV-Interlinear
18 I will
thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you. ESV
There are five great congregations that will occur in history. Two have already occurred, and three will occur in the future.
The first congregation or assembly, if you will, was when the angels were created. That happened a long time ago.
The second assembly is when Jesus recovered the Old Testament believers in Paradise, after the Cross, and took them all to heaven in a huge victory parade.
The third assembly will occur at the Rapture.
The fourth assembly will occur at the Second Advent of Christ.
And the fifth and final assembly will be the greatest of them all, and that is in view here, and that will occur at the very end of all of human history at the end of the Millennium.
By then there will be perhaps trillions of saved believers from all of human history, together with all of the saved angels.
And, when all of the human events have finally taken place, when the Great White Throne has occurred and all who have rejected Christ have been sent away to the Lake of Fire, when the old universe has been destroyed and when the new universe has been created, then there will be a celebration such as history has never seen and probably will never see again.
