03.13. What must Come Before the Kingdom....
CHAPTER THIRTEEN What must Come Before the Kingdom - Looking for Jesus THE BIBLE, the Book of all books, gives so much space to prophecies of the future that it is impossible to discuss them all in this volume. This book is about the coming kingdom of Christ, not about the rapture of the saints, the tribulation period, the reign of the Antichrist nor the Battle of Armageddon. So we will not discuss those events in much detail. This chapter will only seek to give a brief outline of the events that must come before the kingdom of Christ begins on earth.
It is very important to know that the reign of Christ is not the next or first event on God’s program.
Casual, unspiritual or unbelieving readers of the Bible have sometimes said that there were contradictory Scriptures concerning the second coming of Christ; that some Scriptures appeared to teach that Jesus might come at any moment, while other verses appeared to teach that other things must intervene before the coming of Christ. Such readers were confused by not distinguishing between the different phases of Christ’s coming. Truly, we are commanded, "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (Mat 25:13). But that Scripture refers to Christ’s coming into the air to take away His saints, the event often called the rapture. Such Scriptures do not refer to Christ’s physical appearance on this earth with saints and angels to take over the reins of world government in a literal kingdom. In Bible times, some Christians were confused about this very matter. At Thessalonica, some had been taught to expect "the day of Christ" or "the day of the Lord," that is, the day of Christ’s enthronement and reign, to begin at any time. This is made apparent in 2Th 2:1-12.
"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a jailing away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." From the above Scripture, it is evident that the day of Christ, that is, the period of His vengeance and reign, is not to be expected immediately. First, the Scripture says that there must come a falling away and the Man of Sin be revealed. According to verse 2Th 2:8, this Man of Sin will reign until the day of Christ when he will be destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming.
Suppose we check by this Scripture certain things that must come before the reign of Christ on earth.
1. A great "falling away" (v. 2Th 2:3).
2. The One who now hinders or lets will be taken out of the way before the Man of Sin is revealed (vs. 2Th 2:6-7).
3. The Man of Sin will sit in the temple showing himself that he is God (v. 2Th 2:4). (This is evidently the abomination of desolation mentioned in Dan 9:27 and Mat 24:15).
4. Multitudes will be deceived by this Man of Sin, or Antichrist, being turned over to a reprobate mind to believe lies (vs. 2Th 2:10-12).
5. The Man of Sin will be destroyed with the brightness of His coming (verse 2Th 2:8). The above passage clearly shows that all five of these matters must occur before the reign of Christ on earth. We must not expect the reign of Christ on earth to begin at once. Some other things must come first. The Great Falling Away-Sin and Worldliness Among Christians 2Th 2:3 says, "That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first."
I believe that this refers to the rapture of the saints, when the invisible ties of gravity will be broken and we will suddenly fall away into the air to meet Jesus. Many believe that this refers to a falling away from sound doctrine, from godly living, from soul-winning devotion. Certainly there is that kind of apostasy. There is modernism and worldliness. But I remind you that before New Testament days had passed, this falling away had set in. Paul began the gospel work at Corinth, and yet a little later found it necessary to write back to his converts, rebuking them for all kinds of sin and worldliness: division, strife, drunkenness, adultery, going to law with Christians, and disorders in the church services. His Galatian converts turned back to legalism and were misled by the Judaisers, thinking circumcision necessary to salvation. New Testament churches of which we are given continued record all came to their time of falling away. A clear example is the case of the church at Ephesus, perhaps the most spiritual of all New Testament churches. There Paul spent three years. But Christ, in Rev 2:4 sent the message to this church at Ephesus, "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." The church at Rome whose faith was spoken of throughout the whole world (Rom 1:8) became the mother of the papacy. The falling away which was to come before the reign of Christ is not new to the present age. It has been in progress ever since the ascension of Christ.
It has only gotten worse as the centuries have gone by. The Rapture of the Saints-the Next Thing on God’s Program The first fulfillment of prophecy that we should expect, the next thing on God’s program as revealed in the Bible, is Christ’s coming into the air to receive His saints and to take them away for a honeymoon in Heaven. The falling away is a progressive matter. On that, the Scripture is already fulfilled. But repeatedly, in the gospels and in the letters of Paul, we are commanded to expect the coming of Christ at any moment.
Notice the following warnings from the mouth of Jesus:
"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come" (Mat 24:42).
"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh" (Mat 24:44).
"Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (Mat 25:13).
"But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch" (Mark 13:32-37).
"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luk 21:36).
Jesus told even His own disciples to watch for His return. If the Scripture may be taken at face value, and if Jesus meant what He said, then His return was an event for which no date was set, one that might occur at any moment. In other words, the return of Christ for His saints is imminent. By this term we mean that at any time since the ascension, Jesus might have returned, and it has been the duty of every Christian to watch for the coming and expect His coming every moment since that time. No one knows the time when Jesus will return, but every Christian should be ready at any moment. Paul expected to be alive when Jesus returns for His saints.
1Th 4:15-18 says:
"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then’we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
Paul said, "WE which are alive and remain shall be caught up. . . ."
Paul expected to be alive and remaining on the earth when Jesus comes. In this he was obeying the plain command of Christ to watch. Only shortly before his death was it revealed to him so that he could say, "The time of my departure is at hand." The coming of Christ for His saints and their rapturous ascent with Him to Heaven is referred to in 1Co 15:51-52 as follows:
"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." From the above Scriptures several things are clear about the rapture.
1. It will come very suddenly, Jesus said, as a thief in the night (Mat 24:43; 1Th 5:2), in a day and hour when people are not expecting it.
2. It will be marked with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God.
3. Instantly, "in the twinkling of an eye," the bodies of the Christian dead will be resurrected, glorified, caught up in the air to meet Christ.
4. The living saints will likewise be changed "in the twinkling of an eye" and caught up with those who are resurrected out of the graves. Both groups together will meet Christ in the air and go with Him to the place which He has prepared for us in the Father’s house of many mansions. Jesus said in John 14:3, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." This is the great event for which Christians should constantly watch and be ready. Jesus is coming! He comes not to reign on the earth as yet, but He may come today to take away His bride. "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (Mat 25:13).
"The Man of Sin" Must Be Revealed 2Th 2:8 says that the Man of Sin must be revealed before the day and reign of Christ on earth. The Man of Sin is known by several terms in the Bible.
- He is called "the Man of Sin," "the son of perdition."
- He is pictured by the "little horn" in the head of the beast in Dan 7:1-28.
- He is "the prince that shall come" of Dan 9:26.
- In Rev 13:1-18, he has become not just one of the horns, but the whole "beast," the absolute ruler of the restored Roman Empire.
- He will be the incarnation of Satan’s power, for we are told, "The dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority" (Rev 13:2).
We are told that this terrible figure, this man of whom Pharaoh and Judas Iscariot were types, must be revealed before the Lord Jesus comes to reign, and then he will be destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming. This Man of Sin is not yet revealed, and he cannot be named. However, so many details are given about his character, location, people, rise and rule that the study is of fascinating interest. Notice the following facts:
1. This ruler or dictator will arise among the ten kingdoms which are the fragments remaining after the dissolution of the Roman Empire (Dan 7:19-24). He rises among the ten horns, out of the beast that was Rome.
Again, he himself will be a Roman, of the same people as the army of Titus which destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70 (for he is the prince mentioned in Dan 9:26, a prince of the people that destroyed the sanctuary).
He will make a treaty with the Jews, allowing them to return to Jerusalem, rebuild their temple, and begin anew their Old Testament sacrifices (Dan 9:27). The covenant will be for one seven of years (translated week). This week must be a week of seven literal years, as a study of Dan 9:24-27 plainly shows. Seventy weeks of national history were assigned to Daniel’s people Israel, in their land, Canaan. Sixty-nine of those weeks, or 483 years, were to last from the time that the command went forth to restore Jerusalem in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah down to the first coming of Christ. Those sixty-nine weeks have already occurred and each week was seven years as prophesied. Then when Jesus came, and was rejected, the veil of the temple was torn down, Jews were soon scattered to all parts of the world, and God called "time out" for the Jews until the last week begins. The last week will be this week of seven years when many Jews will be brought back again to Jerusalem and will start their sacrifices in their temple at Jerusalem. That week, then, like the sixty-nine others which have already occurred, must be seven years; and half of it will be three and one-half years or forty-two months, or 1,260 days. The Antichrist will make a treaty with the Jews, allowing them to return to Palestine and restore their temple and worship for a literal period of seven years. This indicates that the Man of Sin will have a mandate or a political control over Palestine.
Since this treaty or covenant with the Jews is the first clearly taught and unmistakable public act of the Man of Sin, it appears likely that by this treaty he will be revealed to the world as the Man of Sin. Any man who arises as a dictator in Italy, gains control over Palestine and makes a treaty with the Jews of the world, allowing them to rebuild their temple and begin their Old Testament sacrifices, that man will obviously be known by the Scripture as the Man of Sin or Antichrist.
Afterwards, in the middle of the seven years of the covenant with the Jews, the Man of Sin will enter into the temple at Jerusalem and commit the abomination of desolation, causing the sacrifices and oblation to cease, "showing himself that he is God." Read 2Th 2:3-4 with Dan 9:27. This must happen three and one half years, or half the week, after the Man of Sin is made known. The last half of the week of seven years, the Man of Sin will reign with an absolute dictatorship over the whole world, "over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations" (Rev 13:7). Then his terrible world-wide reign will continue three and one-half years. This is the "time and times and the dividing of time" of Dan 7:25 and the "time, and times, and half a time" of Rev 12:14. It is the forty-two months of Rev 11:2 and of Rev 13:5. It is the 1,260 days of Rev 11:3 and Rev 12:6. These three and one-half years are often called "the Great Tribulation" from Mat 24:21 and Rev 7:14.
During this time of great tribulation, the Jews will be in rebellion against the Man of Sin and will be terribly persecuted, and many will be put to death. The woman who brings forth a man child in Rev 12:1-17, is evidently Israel, from whom Christ came according to the flesh. When she flees away into the wilderness for 1,260 days (Rev 12:6) that will evidently be this great time of tribulation. It is called in Jer 30:7 "the time of Jacob’s trouble."
Man of Sin Cannot Be Revealed Until After Jesus Comes for His Saints As we have said before, the next thing on God’s program is the sound of the trumpet and the voice of the archangel that will call the bodies of sleeping saints in glorified form from their graves and will change the living saints in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and catch us all away to meet Jesus in the air. Many Scriptures warn us to be ready for the coming of the Saviour. Clearly then, the rapture of the saints must take place before the Man of Sin is revealed. This is taught in 2Th 2:7-8 which we have studied above. Those verses say:
"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming."
There is One, a powerful Person who hinders the appearance of the Antichrist or Man of Sin. The Man of Sin cannot be revealed until this One is taken out of the way. Who is He? He has been in the world these 1,900 years; so it cannot be any living man. This does not refer to Christ, because Christ with His physical body was taken away and ascended to Heaven where He now sits at the right hand of the Father. It was not even the church, since the Scripture never refers to the church as "he." This One who hinders the Man of Sin must be the Holy Spirit. At the rapture of the saints, we believe, the Holy Spirit will be taken out of the way of the Man of Sin so that he may be revealed.
I do not mean that the Holy Spirit will not work anymore in this world. The Spirit of God is everywhere on the earth and always has been. The Scripture shows that some will be saved during the tribulation time (Rev 7:1-14; Rev 20:4). The two witnesses will prophesy in the power of the Spirit during the tribulation time (Rev 11:1-12). The Holy Spirit will not be out of this world after the rapture. But certain it is, that when the bodies of all the saved people in the earth are caught up to meet Christ in the air, in that sense, the human temples of the Holy Spirit will be taken away, and His influence through these will be gone. That is, the influence of the Holy Spirit on the world through the lives and testimonies of born-again people will be removed and the Man of Sin will then be revealed, the Scripture teaches.
Those of us who live now, having trusted in Christ for salvation, will not see the Man of Sin nor suffer under His rule of Satanic power and wickedness. We will be with Christ at the wedding supper, prepared by the Father for His dear Son and for us, the Son’s bride. The Man of Sin cannot be revealed until after the rapture of the saints. The Plagues of the Great Tribulation The reign of the Man of Sin will be such a time of tribulation as was never in this world before "no, nor ever shall be" (Mat 24:21). We can only suggest some of the sorrows of that time. A comparison of the book of Revelation with Exodus will show that the plagues in Egypt were only types which faintly foreshadowed the more terrible plagues that will be on this earth.
- Pharaoh was a type of the Antichrist, the Man of Sin, as Moses was the type of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Egypt was a type of the world. As in Egypt water was turned to blood, so it will be during the tribulation period.
- The locusts in Egypt were types of the "locusts" in Rev 9:1-21, really demons from Hell who will enter into the followers of the Man of Sin and his army.
- The plague of frogs in Egypt pictured the frogs which are the spirits of devils, which during the great tribulation will deceive the kings of the East and lead them to their utter destruction in the Battle of Armageddon (Rev 16:13-14).
- And the death of the firstborn in Egypt was only a taste of what will occur in the Great Tribulation.
First, one fourth of the population and then one third of the remainder will die of war, famine and pestilence (Rev 6:8; Rev 9:15). Later, the entire army of the Man of Sin, two hundred million soldiers (Rev 9:16) will be slain in a day at the Battle of Armageddon (Rev 19:11-21). Their blood will make a river two hundred miles long and as deep as the bridles o£ the horses (Rev 14:20) and the beasts of the earth will devour the flesh of men and captains and bondmen and freemen as well as their horses. Then the Lord Jesus will smite the Man of Sin with the brightness of His coming, and he with his false prophet will be cast into the lake of fire. The Glorious Return of Christ to Reign The most awful and terrifying event this world will ever see will be the literal, personal, bodily return of Christ to reign. Of this return, the two angels who stood by in white apparel said to the apostles after the ascent of Jesus: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11).
Jesus was caught up into Heaven until the clouds received Him out of their sight (Acts 1:9). He will return in clouds, for Rev 1:7 says: "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen."
Mat 24:29-31 tells us likewise that Jesus will come with clouds:
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened:, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the -jour winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
Jesus ascended to Heaven from the Mount of Olives or Olivet, and Zec 14:4 says, "His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east."
Jesus went away with a physical body, a body that ate and drank, a body with hands and feet, a body of flesh and bones; and He will return the same way. The glorious return of Christ! No wonder "all nations shall mourn because of Him!" That is, the people on earth who do not love and serve Him will be seized in an agony of apprehension when they see the Lord Jesus! For He comes this time not the suffering Servant, not the meek and lowly Saviour, not the gentle "Lamb of God that taketh the sin of the world."
No, when Jesus returns in clouds to reign, He will come as "the Lion of the tribe of Judah," to trample under feet His enemies, to shed their blood in vengeance instead of His own in atonement. Christ will come the second time, to the Jews, as the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings and will open up to the house of David a fountain for sin and uncleanness, because at that time the whole nation of Israel, then alive, will turn and seek Him and love Him, and with penitent hearts will receive Him. But to the nations as a whole, living in wickedness and violence under the rule of the Man of Sin, Christ will come as a terrible Judge.
Let us allow the words from the Book of God to tell us again of this coming of Christ.
"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. 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. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh" (Rev 19:11-21).
"Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feei shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. And it shall comt to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one." (Zec 14:1-9). The Judgment of the Living Nations No one part of the Bible tells the whole story. In the gospel of Matthew, the Lord tells of another great event that follows the Battle of Armageddon after the soldiers in the armies of the Man of Sin are all put to death in one day. Then Christ will sit on the throne of His glory and judge the civilian population which remains alive on the earth. Mat 25:31-46 tells the story as follows:
"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: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand. Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."
Notice who are those judged: before Him shall be gathered all nations (v. Mat 25:32). THIS IS NOT A JUDGMENT OF THE DEAD.
It has often been misunderstood and confused with the great white throne judgment in Rev 20:11-15. The two judgments are not the same. This is on earth. That in Rev 20:1-15 is out in space. This one is at the beginning of the thousand years reign, that in Rev 20:1-15 is at the end of the thousand years reign. This in Mat 25:1-46 is a judgment of the LIVING nations, but in Rev 20:1-15, John says, "I saw the DEAD, small and great, stand before God." The two are not the same. Here the dead do not appear. This is a judgment of the civilian population of the earth at the close of the Battle of Armageddon and after Christ first sits upon the throne of His glory.
Those mentioned as present in this judgment are three classes, sheep, goats, and brethren.
- The "sheep" are Gentile Christians, converted during the tribulation time. The proof that they love God is that they will have sided against the Man of Sin who will claim to be God on earth and taken sides for the Jews who will still believe in the God of Heaven and refuse to worship the Antichrist.
- The "goats" are unsaved Gentiles.
- The "brethren" are Israelites, Jews, the brethren of Jesus Christ according to the flesh.
Notice that the saved Gentiles will hear the words of Christ. "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (verse Mat 25:34). The unsaved Gentiles who were left alive after the Battle of Armageddon will receive the condemnation: "Depart from me, ye cursed, intc everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." The Jews will be assembled from all the world back to Palestine and there will be converted. The unsaved Gentiles will be sent to Hell, and the saved Gentiles will enter into the kingdom with Christ and the Jews and with all the redeemed who have returned with Christ from the wedding in Heaven. The millennial reign of Christ then will be well begun.