The Stage is Set

It is the waning days of the 6th Day in God’s prophetic great Week. For believers who understand the times and the seasons, they are earnestly expecting to see their Lord coming in the clouds. Israel is strangely at ease, rejoicing in a sense of peace and safety. In the land of Magog to the north, known as Turkey, a charismatic leader is gathering a coalition of armies to shatter the peace.
 
The prophet Ezekiel recorded the event centuries before. “On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it? Then you [the Antichrist and his armies] will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army. You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land” (Ezek. 38:14-16).
 
The prophet Zechariah recorded the destructiveness that would come in the sudden invasion: “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city” (Zech. 14:1-2).
 
Paul recorded it this way: “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord [the 7th Day] so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape” (1 Thess. 5:1-3).
 
Then, just as suddenly, the lights go out. Completely out. All over the world. All at once. The earth is plunged into total darkness. The invasion is halted. It is the final, sixth sign of this age.
 
And once again, suddenly, the veil that keeps mankind from seeing into Heaven is pulled back. All the people see Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of God Almighty. The Son of Man stands in the power of His authority over all things. The Lord descends to earth and physically stands on the Mt. of Olives where He was crucified. His presence causes an earthquake that splits the mountain, making a way of escape for the Jewish believers. The remnant in Israel finally recognizes Jesus as the Messiah.
 
At the same moment, Jesus issues the command to the dead in Christ who have come with Him, “Arise.” The earth miraculously gives up the dust of their bodies and they are glorified, receiving new immortal bodies. Then He declares, “Shine.” Those who are His and still alive at His coming are instantly changed in a twinkling of an eye. They, too, are glorified, receiving new immortal bodies. Christ the Head and the Body of Christ is now totally united, completed, and perfected as one New Man.
 
Together with Him, we reenact His ascension, as He takes us back to Father’s House in the third Heaven. We are formally seated as the immortal, heavenly court. For we have overcome death through resurrection at the rapture, just as Christ overcame death.
 
It is just as Jesus told us in His revelation: “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” (Rev. 3:21). “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—he shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—as I also have received from My Father” (Rev. 2:26-27).