BORN TO REIGN

     John reminds us of our position in Christ, in addition to being the many brethren who shall be resurrected like Jesus. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen (Rev. 1:5-6). The phrase “kings and priests” is meant to connect us to two important passages.
    The first is 1 Pet. 2:9. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (emphasis added).
      The other is Heb. 6:17-20, emphasis added. “Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath,  that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,  where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
      The context of the Hebrew passage is the hope of our calling—eternal life in Jesus, being fully conformed to His image, and reigning with Christ as joint-heirs (Rom. 8:17).  Joined forever to Him, we are of the same order—kings and priests.
      The vision also reminds us of what we have in Christ. As the second person of the Godhead, Jesus embodies the 7-fold (complete) ministry of the Spirit as depicted in the menorah: The Branch/Vine, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, and the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord (Is. 11:1-2). The fear of the Lord refers to acknowledging His perfectness and the infallibility of His Word, rather than trusting in our own abilities.
       When Jesus appeared to His disciples in the upper room after His resurrection, He told them to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit to empower them to continue His earthly ministry. He also reminded them of their time-related commission to preach the Gospel. That had to be their primary concern, not the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. That would come at the appointed time in God’s prophetic great Week of the plan of redemption.
      They had struggled when He told them He would be crucified and then resurrected. That didn’t fit their idea of a Savior and King. They knew prophecy said the kingdom would be restored to the Jews. How and when would this happen then? Eventually, they would come to understand God’s plan and the appointed time for the restoration, thanks to the Holy Spirit’s ministry in bringing everything Jesus taught them to their remembrance.
      Acts 1:9-11 reveals what happened next. “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” The disciples saw Jesus literally ascend to Heaven in a cloud of glory!
      Rev. 1:7 affirms that He will return the same way. “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.”
        END-TIME LESSON: All the world will see Jesus literally coming in clouds of glory, the light of which will instantly dissolve the thick darkness that is the final sign before He comes again. It will look as if the heavens above the earth are rolled up like a scroll, revealing the spiritual realm and God’s 3rd Heaven as the 7th and Last Day dawns.
       All the people on earth, including the Jews, will see Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father, then stand, and then come to gather His Church to Him and take us back to Father’s House in the 3rd Heaven, the place of all authority, both in heaven and on the earth.
        All the people will see a glorious cavalcade of fiery chariots driven by angels coming to take His Church back to be with Him forever! You see, the primary purpose of the rapture is to seat us with Christ as the immortal government of heaven. This must happen before the judgments of God’s wrath are released because we are not appointed to experience this wrath (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9). As kings and priests unto our God, we release the judgments through our ruling declarations as God ordained them. This isn’t escapism, this is reigning!
        So here we have removed several major stumbling blocks in our end-time path. One unscriptural block is that there is no rapture or literal coming. Don’t fall for it. Another major block obstructing our path is that there is a secret coming of Christ. Yet God’s Word specifically says every eye sees Him. A secret coming was added in order to accommodate us being raised with Him, but then having to come  back to earth to reign with Him down here.. Don’t fall for this; it is another false view that will be cleared up in this Revelation. Let’s stick with God’s Word!