So it has been in every place and in all times. Of the many who are called by the Lord to eat at His table, only a few are chosen as being worthy of the Lord's fellowship.

Most people will not give themselves to God. They have this excuse and that excuse why they cannot come to the table God has prepared.

Then there are the few who respond with faithfulness and diligence. They are the ones who will share the inheritance with Christ.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; . . . . (Isaiah 53:12)

After discussing the sinners who had entered the churches, Jude proclaims that some of the saints will return with the Lord to judge those who had crept into the assemblies and had turned the grace of God into immorality (as we see happening today):

. . . Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 14,15)

Several passages of the Scriptures speak of the strong people who will appear in the day of the Lord and destroy all sin out of the earth.

. . . a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. (Joel 2:2)

They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: (Joel 2:7)

This onslaught will take place at the time of Christ's return, the time of the darkening of the sun, moon, and stars.

The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: (Joel 2:10)

Compare:

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: (Matthew 24:29)

We notice that on His return the Lord Jesus will gather together His elect with "a great sound of a trumpet" (Matthew 24:31).

Traditionally we have viewed the summoning of the elect as indicating the hour of their "going to Heaven," there to live forever in mansions. This viewpoint is not scriptural. It is true, rather, that the appearing of Christ signals the return to earth of the mightiest of the saints of all ages, of whom Moses, Elijah, Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration are representative.

A study of the events attending the return of Christ reveals that the elect are gathered together for the purpose of receiving back their bodies from the grave so they may return with Christ and destroy all the works of Satan from the face of the earth.

To be continued.