The 7 Stages of The Second Coming
The first time Jesus came to earth, His entrance was as low-key as possible.
There was no place for Him at the inn, and the King of Kings was born in a manger—a livestock shack surrounded by hay and animals. King Jesus laid aside all His heavenly privileges and power to humbly take on flesh to rescue you and me. Jesus was not recognized as the Messiah by His own people during His earthly ministry. Instead, He was mocked, beaten, and crucified. But the Second Coming will be a whole different story. This time, Jesus will be welcomed with the pomp and circumstance deserving of a king. Let’s put it this way: The Boss is coming back to the planet, and His return will be spectacular—the grand finale event of the universe.
We don’t really know the protocol for receiving a heavenly King who comes to earth. How does nature even receive the One who created nature? For thousands of years, man has built edifices to honor himself, but how will we honor Jesus when He returns? Every knee will bow in adoration and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Every book in the Bible foretells that Jesus is coming again. Hosea gave you a picture. Malachi gave you a picture. Zephaniah gave you a picture. Joel gave you a picture. All the prophets pointed to the Second Coming, and it’s so cool how God gave you different glimpses of just how grand it will be. What a great privilege that we will return with Jesus at the Second Coming—alongside Him on white horses to help the King implement His Kingdom. John described Jesus’ return this way, and it’s hard to imagine anything cooler.
Revelation 19:11-14 (MSG)
Then I saw Heaven open wide—and oh! a white horse and its Rider. The Rider, named Faithful and True, judges and makes war in pure righteousness. His eyes are a blaze of fire, on his head many crowns. He has a Name inscribed that’s known only to himself. He is dressed in a robe soaked with blood, and he is addressed as “Word of God.” The armies of Heaven, mounted on white horses and dressed in dazzling white linen, follow him. A sharp sword comes out of his mouth so he can subdue the nations, then rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the raging wrath of God, the Sovereign-Strong. On his robe and thigh is written, King of kings, Lord of lords.
Did you see yourself? You’re in verse 14 where it said the “armies of heaven.” You will follow Jesus, “mounted on white horses and dressed in dazzling white linen.” Maybe you’ve never ridden a horse before in this life, but you will be riding the coolest horse you’ve ever seen in the next one.
When I was a kid, my family had an appaloosa that was demon-possessed. I’m kidding, but everybody who got on him got bucked off. I had to climb a tree to get on that horse. I climbed out over the limbs, and the second I got on him, pshooo, he shot me back off. But the horses in heaven somehow yield to instruction, and we’re going to fly on those horses right along with Jesus. Wow.
The brightness of His glory will be so magnificent that there will be no need for the sun. The glory will radiate from Jesus’ face. Jesus will be wearing crowns on His head and white robes. Talk about pomp and circumstance.
You and I and the Church of Jesus Christ will be right there behind Him, coming from heaven down to earth. There will be no shadows anywhere because He Himself permeates light everywhere as He leads the charge back to earth.
The universe has been expanding at the speed of light for some 13 to 16 billion years. Between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, there was no time. As far as the universe has spun out, we know there are about 100 billion galaxies with 100 billion stars that are like our sun, but He calls them all by name. The universe and the heavens will bow. All creation is waiting for the Creator to come. And all of a sudden, He comes.
All creation and the hearts of men will bow in adoration. The saints will come marching in. After the Rapture, you will have attended the Reward Seat of Christ and be retrofitted for your future when Jesus reigns for a thousand years. You will have attended the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, the greatest party you’ve ever been to in your entire life.
Then, all of a sudden, there will be the orders from headquarters. The regiment of your city and state will be told to rise up on horses, and the excitement will build with every person saying, “Wow! It’s time! We’re going back to the earth with God! It’s time! It’s time! We’re returning with our King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
Suddenly, we will descend out of heaven on those horses and come reeling down through the universe. We’ll see this little spot down there called planet Earth, where the Antichrist is looking stupid and doing evil everywhere evil can be done. As he looks up, he will see Someone brighter than all the 100 billion stars coming right straight at him. It will look like the light on a freight train, and behind that freight train are you and me traveling with Jesus.
The Antichrist will think he still can defeat Jesus, but is he in for an epic surprise. You can imagine the Antichrist’s staff saying, “What is that coming at us? Is it a missile? No, it’s white and blindingly bright. Are those horses?” Talk about a missile— it will be dressed in light hurling toward the planet. My friend, you will be rocketing right from heaven down to earth, and what a view you will have.
The earth will make preparation for that grand entrance of God Himself. The mountains will be leveled. There will be no more islands. There will be great earthquakes. The earth will go through a cataclysmic earthquake and shake like crazy. Jesus will stand at the Mount of Olives and a great earthquake will split apart the mountain with a great valley between the two. King Jesus will stand there with a scepter of righteousness as the scepter of His kingdom, and He will set up His kingdom right then and there. Instantly, He will bring peace into the earth and stop war. Right there, it’s eradicated. Wow!
Lucifer will say, “I think I messed this deal up.” How true—even though it’s probably the only truth he’s ever told. Can’t you hear Lucifer saying, “I’m bailing on this deal. I lose every time. I have been stupid,” before Jesus obliterates him with the brightness of His coming? Hallelujah! Amen! Glory to our King of Kings!
It will be the coolest thing ever, and you will be an eyewitness!
Every movie you’ve ever seen where the hero flies in at the end to save the day comes from right here. Jesus will return and stop a war. There will be no more war because Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Wow.
What a great privilege we will have to return with Jesus to help the King implement His Kingdom. How cool that you will be raised up to be an overseer of His wonderful kingdom for a thousand years. There are great things ahead for all of us. It’s an amazing time in history that you and I were chosen to live— right before God physically comes back to the planet.
Granddaddy of Events
There’s no question that the Second Coming will be dramatic. Matthew described it this way.
Matthew 24:27 (NLT)
For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes.
Have you ever seen lightning that was casual? There’s no such thing as a casual lightning bolt. While preaching in Virginia a while back, I stood in front of a window in the place where I stayed. This bolt of lightning hit a tree about 20 feet away, and the hair on the back of my head stood straight up. Kaboom. Electricity shot out, and the power went out in the entire vicinity. There was nothing casual about it; it got my attention. I didn’t go, “Hmmm. What was that?” I knew exactly what it was that almost fried me.
The Second Coming will be the granddaddy of events throughout the universe—throughout all eternity. Skip down a few verses.
Matthew 24:29-31 (NLT)
Immediately after the anguish of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.
The Message quotes those verses this way:
Following those hard times, sun will fade out, moon cloud over, stars fall out of the sky, cosmic powers tremble. Then, the Arrival of the Son of Man! It will fill the skies—no one will miss it. Unready people all over the world, outsiders to the splendor and power, will raise a huge lament as they watch the Son of Man blazing out of heaven. At that same moment, he’ll dispatch his angels with a trumpet-blast summons, pulling in God’s chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole.
The Second Coming will be the complete opposite of the Rapture. At the Rapture of the Church, the righteous are taken off the earth and into heaven. At the Second Coming, the wicked are plucked off the earth so Jesus can begin His kingdom on earth with all righteous people.
Remember what He said, “I let the wheat grow with the tares and, at the end of the age, I’ll let the angels be the reapers” (Matt. 13:37-43). All of a sudden here, Jesus will set up the angels to be the reapers at the end of the Tribulation period. People who have not repented despite all the signs and warnings will be separated as the wheat from the chaff.
The righteous natural-bodied people who make it through the latter part of the Tribulation will enter the kingdom of God on the earth. The arrival of these people into the kingdom is a huge deal for you and me because they will be the new kids on the block for a thousand years, and we will be implementing the kingdom and preaching to them. When they reach the age of accountability, they will still have the nature of Adam in them and need to be born again.
You’ll be able to say to them, “There’s Jesus right there. Get saved!” Christians are sometimes tempted to think our work will be finished at the Rapture, but we have a whole 1,000 years beyond. If you’re tasting of the powers of the world to come, you will be operating in much more in the world to come. Going to heaven is not the end of it all—really, it’s just the beginning.
Isaiah’s Rendition of the Second Coming
We will return to Matthew 24 shortly, but let’s go to Isaiah and look at some Old Testament verses that are very graphic and exact. This is Isaiah’s rendition of what the Second Coming will look like.
Isaiah 2:1-4 (NLT)
This is a vision that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all—the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem. The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore.
Notice the picture of the new earth that Isaiah is creating for us. That’s why he wrote this and prophesied this for us. When the Prince of Peace returns, everything is altered. People are deciding, “Let’s go up to Jerusalem and worship. This is the event of all events to see the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
Seven Stages of the Second Coming
When discussing the Second Coming of the Lord, many people think Jesus will return to the Mount of Olives and that’s it, but in reality, there are several stages of the Second Coming.
Stage 1: During the latter part of the Tribulation, allies of the Antichrist assemble for the Battle of Armageddon. Jesus comes back to stop them!
Stage 2: Commercial Babylon is destroyed. There are four or five protocols right here before Jesus sets foot on the earth.
Stage 3: Jerusalem falls and is ravaged.
Stage 4: The Antichrist moves south to attack the remnant because during that time Israel goes down into Bosra to receive protection.
Stage 5: In glory, Jesus returns to the Mount of Olives where He was crucified.
Stage 6: Jesus obliterates Lucifer with the brighteness of His coming.
Stage 7: Jesus instigates cleansing of the temple.
Look with me at Zechariah 13 and 14 to read about these stages of the Second Coming in more detail. It’s not good news at all, but it’s good to know. Actually, Zechariah 14 is one of the most graphic depictions of the Second Coming in all the Bible, but Zechariah 13 sets the stage for it. We read about stage 3 in Zechariah 13:7-8:
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
Zechariah is prophesying that right before the Second Coming, two thirds of all of Israel will get killed. In other words, there’s another holocaust coming. We don’t preach about that very much, but only a third of them will remain through the latter part of the Tribulation. This is sobering!
There are approximately six million Jews living in Israel now. If four million are killed, then two million would remain. Keep in mind that we are seeing the different phases of the Second Coming here and different events are happening in each stage. The Antichrist will be dealt with, Babylon will be dealt with, and Jerusalem will be ravaged. There are actually five or six depictions of that, and it literally says four million Jews will be killed.
In stage four, the Antichrist moves south to attack the remnant because during that time Israel goes down into Bosra to receive protection. When the Antichrist goes down there, stage five takes place, which is pretty radical. Jesus returns in glory to the Mount of Olives, the very mountain where He was crucified. How cool is that? The seventh and final phase that we know is the Battle of Armageddon.
We read earlier in Matthew 24 about Jesus returning at the end of the Battle of Armageddon. The Antichrist thinks he can win, but all of a sudden, Jesus comes back as lightning from heaven. Lucifer is so stupid that he still thinks he can beat Jesus but quickly learns otherwise.
During these different stages of the Second Coming, Jesus rescues the remnant. I really like one of the depictions in Tim LaHaye’s Left Behind series. It’s as cool as it gets. I know it’s fiction, but it brings to life Jesus slaying the enemy with the sword of His mouth (Rev. 19:15).
In the Left Behind movie, Jesus walks through the valley of Armageddon saying, “I am the root of Jesse. I am He who was and is and is to come.” Come on! Jesus begins quoting Himself: “I am Stephen’s signs and wonders. I am Peter’s shadow. In Genesis, I was the seed of a woman. In Exodus, I was the Passover Lamb. In Leviticus, I was the High Priest. In Numbers, I was the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.”
In the depiction, as Jesus is quoting Himself, armies start exploding, and the blood where the Battle of Armageddon takes place is up to the horse’s bridle. The Bible says Jesus goes down to Bosra and releases God’s wrath.
Revelation 19:15 (NLT)
From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress.
Jesus will walk right into the latter phase of the Second Coming. Before He gets to the Mount of Olives, Jesus will destroy the armies of the Antichrist with His Word. He slays them with the sword of His mouth. Glory! This is God finally bringing recompense to people who were haughty and attacking His kingdom.
Look now at Zechariah 14:1-7 (NLT):
Watch, for the day of the Lord is coming when your possessions will be plundered right in front of you! I will gather all the nations to fight against Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the population will be taken into captivity, and the rest will be left among the ruins of the city.
Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south. You will flee through this valley, for it will reach across to Azal. Yes, you will flee as you did from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all his holy ones with him.
On that day the sources of light will no longer shine, yet there will be continuous day! Only the Lord knows how this could happen. There will be no normal day and night, for at evening time it will still be light.
Zechariah is physically showing you what will happen when Jesus sets foot on that mountain, and he throws in a number of other details. Bottom line, the Second Coming changes everything. The changes are literally day and night different. In fact, there won’t be day or night. I don’t know what it will be like, but Jesus will be the only light and the only light needed. He is so bright that there will be no place where shadows can exist. Just imagine Jesus being so radiant that He encompasses everything. Even the sun revolves around Him so brightly that a shadow cannot happen. As in the beginning, life everlasting returns to a planet that has been ruled by a dark angel named Lucifer.
When the Light returns, the earth doesn’t even know how to handle it. The earth says, “We don’t know whether it’s day or night because Jesus’ light is so encompassing it lights everything up. What’s going on?” What’s going on is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords is back. Whoa!
Continue reading as Zechariah’s description grows even more graphic.
Zechariah 14:12-15 (NLT)
And the Lord will send a plague on all the nations that fought against Jerusalem. Their people will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
On that day they will be terrified, stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will fight their neighbors hand to hand. Judah, too, will be fighting at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the neighboring nations will be captured—great quantities of gold and silver and fine clothing. This same plague will strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other animals in the enemy camps.
These verses are pretty graphic. Imagine what it would be like to be Zechariah and see this all in a vision. We call Zechariah a minor prophet, but he was seeing some major stuff. What a depiction! Joel saw it and said, “Sound an alarm! Wake everybody up.” Joel interpreted it as the Holy Spirit being poured out on everybody, but really he was talking about when God physically comes back to the planet.
Symbolic of the Second Coming: Noah and Lot
Let’s re-track a bit more and pick up additional details. Look with me at Matthew chapters 24 and 25.
Matthew 24:31-37
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Jesus is speaking in a parable to His disciples. Notice verse 37 in particular. I like the parallels that Jesus gives us. For example, what happened to Noah? He went through the flood—actually, he rode on top of it. Elsewhere in the Bible, Jesus compares the Second Coming to the days of Lot. What happened to Lot? He escaped judgment. The angel said to Lot, “I can’t do anything until I get you out of the city.”
In both these types or symbolic representations—Noah and Lot—Jesus is giving you two thought patterns for the Church. Noah didn’t get hurt, and Lot escaped. In other words, Jesus is telling us the Church escapes, and the Jews will go through the flood.
Let’s look further along in Matthew 24:38-41:
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Now remember, Jesus is not talking about the Rapture here as people often misconstrue; He’s talking about the Second Coming.
I was preaching in France a while back, and we talked about this. In France, one percent of the population is saved. In Germany, three percent is saved. Still, from the scripture we read that ultimately there will be revival where about 50 percent get saved. It’s just unacceptable to me that a nation could have only one or three percent born again. Then again, during the end times even sign after sign after sign after pressure after seal after trumpet judgment after vial judgment, only half the people turn to God. You would think the percentage would be totally different as people think, Man, I’ve never seen fireworks like this in all my life. I better repent! It’s absolutely absurd that the other half is saying, “It’s not worth it to repent.”
Nevertheless, Jesus removes the unrighteous off the earth and leaves the righteous. Again, this text does not refer to the Rapture but the Second Coming. In fact, all the accounts in Matthew refer to the Second Coming, even though I hear preachers all over the world mistakenly explain it otherwise. Jesus is very, very clear in Matthew 24.
Sheep and Goat Judgment
In Matthew 25, we read more about Jesus sitting on the throne of His kingdom, and the Sheep and Goat Judgment or “the Judgment of the Nations.”
Matthew 25:31-34
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Notice it doesn’t say in verse 31 when Jesus comes back to catch the Church away and receive it unto Himself. No. That’s a whole different event that was seven years earlier. At the Rapture we go up to meet Jesus in the air. At the Second Coming, Jesus physically comes back and puts His foot on the Mount of Olives. These are two completely and totally separate events.
These scriptures above speak of the Second Coming when Jesus wants natural-bodied, righteous people to “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” When Adam sinned, Jesus didn’t say, “Oops. He messed up. Too bad. It won’t happen now.” No, it was simply an interruption in God’s plan. Yet right here, Jesus is returning to God’s plan. Even though they’re not glorious like Adam and Eve were before the Fall, He likes a natural kingdom, a natural earth. Too often people have this weird thinking that heaven is ethereal, but the truth is, heaven is more real than the earth.
God wants natural man to have a natural kingdom, and He’s going to reign in that natural kingdom for a thousand years. Jesus will reign on David’s throne. Talk about humility— Jesus will sit on a man’s throne. I believe that Jesus’ humility will be the one thing that shocks us the most when we see Him face to face. His mercy, kindness, and humility will impact you unbelievably.
There’s a lot of erroneous teaching about the Sheep and Goat Judgment because people misunderstand who Jesus is talking to and what He means in Matthew 7.
Matthew 7:21-23 (NLT)
Not everyone who calls out to me, “Lord! Lord!” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, “Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.” But I will reply, “I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.”
On Judgment Day people say to Jesus, “Lord! Lord! We prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and performed miracles in Your name.” Jesus responds, “I never knew you. Get away from Me.” That is not Jesus talking to the Church. It refers to people in the latter part of the Tribulation who try to work their way into the Second Coming. Sadly, people misdirect the whole passage by directing this scene toward the Church to scare people into salvation. It’s disgusting to promote fear in people.
You will see here that Jesus judges the nations based on how they treat Israel during that time. I believe Iran and Iraq probably won’t be here, but there will be people from those nations who are there. A nation as a whole that doesn’t treat Israel correctly will not enter the Millennial Kingdom.
Egypt will be there, although over the years Egypt has been horrible to Israel. But one president of Egypt, Anwar Sadaat, made peace with Israel, and it blesses the whole nation for a thousand years. He paid a price for it. His plan was to be a friend to Israel, but he was assassinated. He was shot during a parade the day after he made peace with Israel.
God’s Kingdom
God’s kingdom is a very physical thing. You will notice that the land will be partitioned based on tribe—tribe of Judah, tribe of Benjamin. The whole land will be opened and be much larger than Israel is today.
Someone might ask, “Aren’t some of the wars that are happening in the Middle East kind of Israel’s fault because they took the land?” No. Israel received its land by proclamation in the Balfour Declaration. As we discussed in Chapter 4, Chaim Weizmann invented a way of producing acetone that helped England win World War I.1 England was so grateful, they asked him what he wanted as a reward. He said, “I want a homeland for my people.” So, the Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government in 1917 during World War I, announcing a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, which was then an Ottoman region with a small minority of Jewish people.
Through the United Nations, U.S. President Harry Truman put forth the very first vote to pass a declaration saying Israel had a right to their land because they were there thousands of years before. So, let’s be clear. Every war from then until now is not because Palestine is defending their nation from Israel who took their land. Israel didn’t take anything. Their nation was to them by proclamation of God, England, and the United States.
People often say, “But Israel is occupying Palestinian land.” Wrong. They are not “occupying” anything. It’s theirs! It would be like someone from Canada coming to America and saying, “We’re taking Colorado.”
“No, you’re not taking Colorado. It’s part of the U.S.A.,” you would respond.
“You’re occupying Colorado.”
“Well, you’re not occupying Colorado.”
Wouldn’t that be crazy? It makes no sense whatsoever. When it comes to Israel, Lucifer has deceived the whole world into thinking Israel is to blame for war in the Middle East. The Palestinians continually stab, bomb, and aggressively and violently attack Israel. Jews must be continually on guard against these acts of violence round the clock. We have no conception of this kind of Luciferic mentality the Jews encounter on a daily basis.
But what we do know is that you and I will have a front-row seat for the battle of the ages. A rebel angel named Lucifer dared say, “I’ll be like the Most High.” After a six-day period when the angel tried to destroy God’s creation, God said, “No you won’t. I’ll send the seed that will bruise you.” Hallelujah. And Jesus came and redeemed us from Adam’s fall, and this whole plan is playing out while we’re alive on the earth.
If you were here 500 years ago, you would say, “Wow. Well, I have no idea what’s going on.” But you are watching the battle of the ages unfold where Lucifer is saying, “I’m going to kill Israel.” He can’t get to the Father, so He tries to get what’s on the Father’s heart. He wants to annihilate them. But the devil cannot kill Israel. He’s tried, but he just can’t get it done. In the midst of it all, God raised up the Church, so for the past 2,000- year period God has had the believer on Earth with the keys to the kingdom.
Come on now! During the Millennium, God will tout you and show you off. It’s amazing how He will brag on His kids who first trusted in Him. God will show forth His glory because you trusted in Him when you couldn’t see Him. He’s proud of you, believer!
Amazingly enough, however, Jesus will reign right here on earth for a thousand years, and people still will reject Him. Not you—you trusted Him when some guy preached the Bible, so God will say, “Look at my Church. They took Me at My Word.” Wow.
We are viewing this battle unfold right this minute, and right after we exit the planet via the Rapture, God will physically deal with Lucifer. He defeated him 2,000 years ago, and the bully has been under our feet ever since. But it won’t be long before Jesus tosses him in a deep, dark pit.
Physical Changes
The Sheep and Goat Judgment happens immediately, but after that, there’s not a lot written about the physical changes implemented as the Millennial Reign begins. The Bible talks about a 75-day interval period, and there will be about 25 days for something else to happen.
There will also be about 45 days to cleanse the Temple that will be rebuilt. For God to be here, even the dirt has to go through natural purifications. Even the dirt has to get ready for Him to come back. There will be 45 days of physical purification to get ready for God to be there. There will still be natural people there who have the stain of Adam on them, and God will be like, “I can’t have that stain near Me.” Think about it. The Temple area has to be cleaned for 45 days, and yet God lives in you. Whoooo! He who knew no sin was made sin that I’d be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). He didn’t deserve sin, but He was made sin. I didn’t deserve righteousness, but He made me righteous. This gives you a picture of what He thinks about you.
The book of Ezekiel spends four to eight chapters discussing the particulars of the Temple where Jesus will dwell. There are all kinds of natural and spiritual things that he outlines.
Above it all, you will see Jesus smile like you’ve never seen before. He will say, “I get to come back, but I won’t have to get beat up this time!” He’s so normal. He’ll be thinking, Isn’t this cool? I get to come back as proper as it ought to be. The first time He came, He realized, “I am separated from My Father.” But this time, Jesus will say, “At last, all creation will see what My Dad is really like. I’ll be able to implement the mercy of My Father for a thousand years.”
Jesus raised you up to help Him implement that mercy, which is the whole point during that thousand years. Mercy will reign. Kindness will reign. Goodness will reign. We are all in preparation for implementing that thousand-year kingdom.
Jesus, we bow our hearts in adoration to You even now. We recognize that the earth is just about to prepare for all these traumatic events, but we are so thankful and blessed that we get to focus on the Reward Seat of Christ and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. We get to focus on this grand event where You physically return to be seen by all and receive the honor due Your name. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess and bless Your wonderful name, dear Jesus. Honor and dominion and power unto You who was and is and is to come. Hallelujah.
It’s been said that the book of Revelation is a book of worship because the entire book is about Jesus being revealed and how we worship Him as King. The book is also about His love for us and His return for us. The Lord prompts me over and over and over to make sure His people know how much He loves them.
The purpose of end-time teaching is to convey to you how excited Jesus is to see you, and He wants you excited to see Him as well.
Think how much you love some of the people in your life. That’s only a fraction of His love for you. You can multiply that many times over, and you still wouldn’t be able to wrap your head around His great love for you. But God is planning to express that love to bless you throughout eternity. What He has planned for you is beyond amazing.
