The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Vision of the Day of the Lord, #3

And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 8:11,12)

"The children of the kingdom." This does not mean the Jews by race but the members of the Kingdom of God!

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:47-50)

"The kingdom of heaven is like a net." The division in the Day of the Lord will not be between the churchgoers and the heathen but between the righteous and the wicked.

The most prominent feature of the Day of the Lord is the "great people and a strong" (Joel 2:2). Christ could have established His Kingdom at His first appearing, two thousand years ago. The establishing of the Kingdom of God has had to await the creation of the large and mighty army that is destined to appear with Christ and to work with Him in cleansing sin and rebellion from the face of the earth.

The Day of the Lord will be characterized by the sudden appearing of a strong people clothed in immortal bodies who will go through the earth, burning up the works of the flesh with Divine fire. This is the true vision of the Day of the Lord, the Day of Christ.

And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, 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 1:14,15)

Notice that the Lord will come "with ten thousands of his saints," not with all of His saints, implying that not all who will be saved are present as members of the avenging army. Rather, the members of the invading army are the Lord's "mighty men," just as King David was surrounded by his mighty men.

Notice also the people upon whom they will execute the Divine judgment are the sinners in the churches (see Book of Jude). This is why the trumpet is blown in Zion.

There never before has been such an army of people formed and it will not happen again in the future. Included in the army of the Lord will be saints from every period of God's working from the time of Abel. These are God's kings and priests, the participants in the first resurrection from the dead, the rulers of the ages to come.

To be continued.