Tuesday, February 10, 2004 (91)
HIS KINGDOM ESTABLISHED AT THE TIME OF HIS COMING. When Jesus will come in His glory [Mt. 25:31] and the glory of His Father [Mt. 16:27] He will establish the throne of His glory. Mt. 25:31 He then will occupy the throne of His glory, which can mean only one thing and that is that He will at that time cleanse His kingdom from all unrighteousness. Therefore, with the manner of His coming, visibly and in a great manifestation of the glory of the Lord, all nations will be confronted instantaneously, at one and the same moment of time. Those who are in the grave as well as those who are living at the time of His appearing. Rev. 1:7 He then will separate the righteous from the unrighteous. The sheep from the goats. The righteous will be ushered joyously into their inheritance in the kingdom of the Lord. Mt. 25:34 The unrighteous will be judged and consigned to eternal punishment. Mt. 25:46 They participate in a punishment that was not prepared for them, but by choice they are partakers of a judgment which had been prepared for the devil and the fallen angels. Mt. 25:41
NOT ONLY IS HE THE KING OF KINGS, HE IS A MIGHTY WARRIOR. The second coming of Christ is not a casual, secret episode. It will be a moment where there will be a mighty clash between two great kingdoms. The kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light, of satan and Christ Jesus. The forces of wickedness and darkness, all the ungodly kingdoms of this world will be gathered together by the unclean, satanic spirits to do battle with the Lord. This tells us that there is some kind of intelligence that warns them of an impending conflict. Rev. 16:14 Jesus said, that the lack of the knowledge of His return would be limited to the day and the hour. Mt. 24:36 That does not mean that a broader meaning of time and season will not be understood. Note the words of Paul, But ye, brethren are not in darkness that days should overtake you as a thief in the night. 1 Thes. 5:4 Jesus will only come as a thief to those who are in darkness. The redeemed will be able to read the signs that precede His coming and know that He is nigh. There are numerous events that must come to pass before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall come. Satan is not an ignoramus, he knows what the Word says and will anticipate the climax of the coming events. He knoweth that he hath but a short time. Rev. 12:12 This gives us evidence that he is knowledgeable of end time events. Perhaps more so than most Christians. Remember he used the Word when he tempted Jesus. Therefore we see the great activity of the powers of darkness in marshaling earths forces to resist the second coming of Christ. As usual, satanic powers have one thing in mind but the Lord sees to it that things are done His way. The Lord, makes manifest His authority and power and gathers them together in a place called Armageddon. [Meaning, the hill of slaughter] The Lord does not do battle but on His own terms. Every enemy that comes against Him is not only defeated but is manipulated into a situation where he is easily and grossly defeated by the Lord. Rev. 16:14-16