"The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it" (Psalm 68:11).
TWO VERY DIFFERENT DELIVERANCES
Failure to discern between the two future gatherings of the Lord’s saints, has led some to incorrectly believe in a post or mid tribulation gathering of the church. Hopefully the following scriptures will clear up this misunderstanding. May the blessed hope of Christ’s imminent gathering of the church give every believer the sincere desire to purify “himself, even as he is pure.” (1John 3:3)
INTRODUCTION
Although the day when his church will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and the day of the second coming of Christ were both mentioned in Millenium Part One: PREPARATIONS FOR THE LAST MILLENIUM, this study will add many details of these two great events.
Text: Revelation 20:1-10
MILLEN'IUM, n. ‘A thousand years; a word used to denote the thousand years mentioned in Revelation 20, during which period Satan shall be bound and restrained from seducing men to sin, and Christ shall reign on earth with his saints.’ (Noah Webster, 1828)
MAJOR EVENTS LEADING TO THE MILLENIUM
According to the word of God, from this present time (July 2021), the following sequence of events will precede the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The church will be caught up—The next great prophesied event is “the first resurrection” (Revelation 20:5-6) when the dead and living members of Christ’s church will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1Thessalonians 4:16-18; 1Corinthians 15:51-53), at which time “that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13) will be fulfilled. This great event is imminent—meaning that it could take place immediately without any forewarning signs or wonders. Therefore the Lord commanded: “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” (Matthew 25:13; Mark 13:32) We Bible believers “know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” (1Thessalonians 5:2)
THE LORD’S GREATEST TREASURE
The Lord Jesus Christ asked, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) The prophet Isaiah declared: “…the fear of the LORD is his treasure.” (Isaiah 33:6) The most blessed and beneficial of all the LORD’S treasures regarding the salvation of men’s souls is the fear of the LORD!
Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
INTRODUCTION
This is a verse by verse study of the imminent [could occur at any moment] resurrection of “the dead in Christ” (1Thessalonians 4:16) and the simultaneous change of the saints “which are alive and remain” (1Thessalonians 4:15, 17).
DEFINED BY THE BIBLE
According to the word of God, to do GOOD is “to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments” (Deuteronomy 30:16). A man commits EVIL when he turns his heart away from God, will not hear him, and walks in a rebellious way: “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12) Such a rebellious man will be “drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them” (Deuteronomy 30:16-17; James 1:14). The prophet wrote: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)
PREFACE
The following definition will clarify the scriptural doctrine of justification.
JUSTIFICATION—‘In theology, remission of sin and absolution from guilt and punishment; or an act of free grace by which God pardons the sinner and accepts him as righteous, on account of the atonement of Christ’ (Noah Webster, 1828). A sinner is justified when God declares him to be righteous.
ALL MEN NEED GOD’S JUSTIFICATION
None of Adam’s natural descendants are righteous—For by the first man Adam “sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). The word of the Lord plainly declares: “…There is none righteous, no, not one…There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-18); the psalmist David wrote: “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” (Psalm 14:1-3) The prophet Isaiah confirmed: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)
Text: Psalm 18:21-26
Psalm 18:26 “…and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.” (Psalm 18:26)
Your choice: everlasting life or everlasting torment!—The apostle Paul wrote of “the goodness and severity of God” (Romans 11:22). He also wrote: “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…” (2Corinthians 5:11)! The previous studies on the three of the four views of God demonstrated God’s goodness and blessings and his desire to show great mercy and kindness to all men. In great contrast to the first three views of God, the fourth view warns of God’s everlasting curse to all men who refuse to “repent and turn to God” (Acts 26:20). Moses warned Israel: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)
Text: Psalm 18:21-26
Psalm 18:26 “With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure…”
PURE: ‘…clear; free from mixture; as pure water; pure clay; pure sand; pure air; pure silver of gold. Free from moral defilement; without spot; not sullied or tarnished; incorrupt; undebased by moral turpitude; holy…Genuine; real; true; incorrupt; unadulterated; as pure religion. James 1…Chaste; as a pure virgin. 2Corinthians 11:2…Applied to the Supreme Being, holy signifies perfectly pure’ (Noah Webster, 1828)’ (Noah Webster, 1828).
Text: Psalm 18:21-26
Psalm 18:25 “...with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright…”
DEFINITIONS
UPRIGHT: Physically: ‘Erect; perpendicular to the plane of the horizon; as an upright tree; an upright post. Among mechanics, plumb (Genesis 37:7)’ Spiritually: ‘…Honest; just; adhering to rectitude in all social intercourse; not deviating from correct moral principles; as an upright man…Conformable to moral rectitude…Conscience rewards upright conduct with pleasure.’ (Noah Webster, 1828)
UPRIGHTNESS: ‘Honesty; integrity in principle or practice; conformity to rectitude and justice in social dealings. The truly upright man is inflexible in his uprightness.’ (Noah Webster, 1828)
JUST: ‘In a moral sense, upright; honest; having principles of rectitude; or conforming exactly to the laws, and to principles of rectitude in social conduct; equitable in the distribution of justice; as a just judge…In an evangelical sense, righteous…living in exact conformity to the divine will.’ (Noah Webster, 1828) Also, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, JUST means: ‘morally upright, righteous in the eyes of God…fitting, proper, conforming to standards…just, righteous; sincere…equitable; in accordance with law, lawful; true, proper; perfect, complete.’
