In this message, the last on Christ’s work, we shall cover Christ’s work at His coming back, in the millennium, after the millennium, and in the New Jerusalem.
The first aspect of Christ’s work at His coming back is the reaping of the firstfruit (Rev. 14:1-5). Revelation 14:4 speaks of those who are the “firstfruit to God and to the Lamb,” those in God’s crop who mature the earliest and who are reaped for His satisfaction. As the first ones to ripen, they will be reaped before the harvest as firstfruit to God and to the Lamb. According to Revelation 14:14-16, the harvest will be reaped later. This means that the firstfruit will be raptured to the heavens before the harvest, just as the firstfruit of the good land was reaped and brought into the temple of God before the harvest (Lev. 23:10-11; Exo. 23:19). The events recorded in Revelation 14:6-13, all of which will take place during the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21), indicate clearly and prove strongly that the first overcomers as the firstfruit will be raptured before the great tribulation, and the harvest, which includes the majority of believers, will be raptured toward the end of the great tribulation.
In the New Testament a special Greek word is used for Christ’s coming-the word parousia, which means presence. Christ’s coming back will be His presence with His people. This presence will begin with the reaping, the rapture, of the firstfruit and end with His appearing on earth with His saints. Christ’s parousia will begin while He is still on the throne in the heavens. The first thing the Lord Jesus will do in His coming back will be to bring the firstfruit into His presence, into His parousia. Then during the period of His parousia, there will be supernatural calamities (Rev. 8:7-12), the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21; Rev. 9:1-21; 11:14; 16:1-21), Christ’s descending to the air (Rev. 14:14), the rapture of the majority of the believers to the air (1 Thes. 4:15-17), the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10), and the marriage of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9).
In addition to reaping the firstfruit, Christ at His coming back will also take up the overcomers (Matt. 24:39-44; Luke 17:34-35; 21:34-36; Rev. 3:10). Like the firstfruit, the overcomers will be taken up by the Lord Jesus before the great tribulation. However, we do not know whether the reaping of the firstfruit and the rapture of the overcomers will be one matter or two separate matters. Concerning this there is no clear indication in the New Testament.
Matthew 24:39-44 speaks of the taking up of the overcomers. Concerning two men in the field and two women grinding at the mill, we are told that “one is taken, and one is left” (vv. 40-41). This is to be raptured before the great tribulation.
Verses 42 and 43 continue, “Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord comes. But know this, that if the householder knew in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.” The householder here refers to the believer, and the house, to the believer’s conduct and work that he has built up in his Christian life. The Lord will come secretly as a thief, who steals precious things at an unknown time, to those who love Him and take them away as His treasures. Hence, we should watch.
Matthew 24:44 concludes, “Therefore, you also, be ready, for the Son of Man comes in an hour that you think not.” This refers to Christ’s secret coming to take up the watchful overcomers.
In Luke 17:34 and 35 the Lord Jesus says, “I tell you, in that night there will be two on one couch; the one will be taken, and the other will be left. There will be two grinding at the same place; the one will be taken, but the other will be left.” In these verses the rapture of the overcoming believers is revealed. It will occur secretly and unexpectedly, at night to some believers who are sleeping, in the daytime to some sisters grinding at home and to some brothers working in the field. They are chosen because they have overcome the stupefying effect of the age. In Luke 17:22-37 the Lord Jesus charges us to overcome the stupefying effect of self-indulgent living in this age so that we may be raptured into the enjoyment of His parousia, His presence.
In Luke 21:34-36 the Lord Jesus says, “Take heed to yourselves lest at some time your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and anxieties of life, and that day come upon you suddenly as a snare; for it will come in upon all those dwelling on the face of all the earth. But be watchful, at every time beseeching, that you may prevail to escape all these things which are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” To “escape all these things” is to be taken, raptured, before the great tribulation, which will be a severe trial upon the whole inhabited earth. Standing before the Son of Man corresponds to the standing in Revelation 14:1. This indicates that the raptured overcomers will stand before the Savior on Mount Zion in the heavens before the great tribulation.
Revelation 3:10 says, “Because you have kept the word of My endurance, I also will keep you out of the hour of trial which is about to come on the whole inhabited earth, to try them who dwell on the earth.” The word “trial” here undoubtedly denotes the great tribulation. The Lord promises the recovered church that He will keep her out of the hour of trial, not only out of the trial. This promise of the Lord, like that in Luke 21:36, indicates that the saints who keep the word of the Lord’s endurance will be raptured before the great trial. This implies that those who do not keep the word of His endurance will be left in the trial.
Home | First | Prev | Next