The Daily Word of Righteousness

Shaking the Heavens and the Earth, #11

Before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? (Joel 2:10,11—NIV)

Ordinarily we think of the events of the Day of the Lord, the end of the Church Age, the coming of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead, as being events over which we have no control. We shall be carried out of ourselves, we suppose, and what will happen will happen.

This is not the case. Jesus Christ is waiting at the right hand of the Father until His army has been prepared. If this were not the case He would have established His Kingdom at His appearing two thousand years ago.

But it has pleased Christ to divide the spoil with the strong, with coheirs of the Kingdom.

When a "great people and a strong" have been prepared, when rebellion has been shaken out of the host of the saints, then the Lord and they shall appear from Heaven, bringing judgment first on the hypocrites in the churches and then on the nations that have chosen the wickedness of Antichrist.

All judgment of men and angels has been given to the saints. They are the feet of the Body of Christ, the bronze feet of judgment. Satan himself shall be crushed under their feet alone with all his forces.

May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, To inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, To bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, To carry out the sentence written against them. This is the glory of all his saints. Praise the LORD. (Psalms 149:6-9—NIV)

The heavens and the earth shall be shaken. All shall be shaken. Everything that is not of Jesus Christ shall be removed from the governing priesthood and then from the remainder of the creation. The Lord will call up His saints to Himself that they might occupy the thrones in the air from which Satan and his angels, the former authorities of the heavens, have been driven.

When the saints have been caught up to be with Christ in the air the wrath of God shall fall on the inhabitants of the earth. Down through the clouds will hurtle the One whose name is Faithful and True, the One of perfect integrity. Those who follow Him will obey His every command. None will break rank. None will thrust another as the believers do today.

All the self-willed of the earth will try to repel the Commander whose name is Faithful and True, just as today the rulers of the nations resist integrity that they may carry out their subterfuge, their hidden schemes to advance themselves.

This is the coming of God's Kingdom to the earth. This is the time when all that is in the heavens and on the earth is brought into total obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Then Jesus Christ will be in subjection to the One who brought all in subjection under Him, that God the Father may be All in all.

(from Shaking the Heavens and the Earth)