The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Manifestation of Christ, #19

For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (I Thessalonians 5:2,3)

There is a directness, simplicity, and coherence of the entire Scriptures. This simplicity and coherence is lost in the Dispensational model. Not only are we Gentiles robbed of our inheritance in Israel, but in addition the simple, direct interpretation of the New Testament is destroyed. The teachings of Christ in the Gospels are applied to the Jews only, separating the Word of Christ from the writings of the Apostles.

In Dispensationalism the Epistles are complicated needlessly. For example, the fourth and fifth chapters of I Thessalonians and the first and second chapters of II Thessalonians are wrenched in an attempt to prove that Paul was speaking of two different comings of the Lord separated by seven years. Yet, the same Greek term, parousia is used throughout First and Second Thessalonians.

The sooner we discard the Dispensational model, with its special "age of grace," its wall of separation between the Jewish saints and the Gentile saints, its secret evacuation into the spirit realm of Gentile believers, the sooner we shall restore the direct, simple coherence of the whole Scriptures.

The Day of the Lord, the day of the manifestation of Christ and His saints (whether Jewish or Gentile), will take place at the moment of earth's greatest spiritual darkness. People will be crying "Peace and safety!" because it will appear that man finally has solved his own problems without the help of God and His Christ.

The sign of the Son of Man will appear suddenly in the heavens. The sky will be rolled back as a scroll and all men will behold the Glory of God and of the Lamb.

The nations of the earth will realize they have been deceived. The meek will rejoice in that Day of days. The wicked will curse God in their terror and rage.

Then the dead holy ones will be raised and glorified. The living saints will put on the robes of immortality. God and Christ will enter the elect in unprecedented fullness. The Lord will "roar out of Zion," out of His people (Joel 3:16).

The saints will stand on the earth, an exceedingly great army. Then the Commander in Chief will call them up to Himself. The leaders of the armies of the wicked will organize themselves to resist the descent from Heaven of Christ and His army, but the righteous of the earth will rejoice because of the advent of the God of Heaven and of the Lamb and His Wife.

"At evening it shall be light" (Zechariah 14:7). It will be an evening time for the world, and the sun and moon will be darkened. The stars will fall. But now the light will be as in the first three days of creation. It will come from the Lamb and His Wife. There will be light over the whole face of the earth—the Light of Christ.

To be continued.