The believers need to watch and pray not only to escape from the great tribulation but also “to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36b). To stand before the Son of Man corresponds to the standing of those in Revelation 14:1. It indicates that the raptured overcomers will stand before the Savior on Mount Zion in the heavens before the great tribulation.
Before the great tribulation, the Lord Jesus will probably still be on the throne. The Lord’s parousia (presence) will begin from the throne. This parousia will continue with His coming to the air and will end with His coming to the earth. Within His parousia there will be 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). However, certain believers, such as the one hundred forty-four thousand firstfruit in Revelation 14, will be raptured to the throne of God and stand with the Savior on the heavenly mount Zion. This is what it means in Luke 21:36 to stand before the Son of Man. Therefore, to stand before the Son of Man is to be raptured to the throne in the heavens to stand before the Savior. After this rapture, the Savior will leave the throne with those who have been raptured to the heavens and descend to the air in order to take care of the other believers who will be raptured later.
Luke 21:34-36 helps us to realize that the downward trend on earth today is very strong. Actually, this trend has become a tide that carries everything and everyone along with it. It is extremely difficult for us as believers in Christ to stand in the midst of this tide. In order to stand, we need to be watchful and pray daily in a particular way so that we may receive the strength that comes from the resurrection life within us to stand against the trend, the tide, of the world. If we are strengthened, we shall not be caught by the trend of this age. Rather, we shall be full of Christ and shall be buoyant. As those filled with Christ as the divine air, we shall be raptured to stand before the Son of Man.
Whether or not we shall be raptured before the great tribulation and be taken away to meet Christ on the throne does not depend on Him. It depends on our watchfulness and on our praying in a particular way. Constantly we need to be watchful and praying that we may prevail to escape the great tribulation. We need to pray that we may have the strength and ability to escape the things that will take place on earth and stand before the Son of Man.
The believers need to watch and pray because they do not know the day and the hour of the Lord’s coming. In Matthew 24:42 the Lord Jesus says, “Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord comes.” In Matthew 25:13 He says, “Watch therefore, for you do not know the day nor the hour.” Matthew 24:40-44 refers to the rapture of the living believers who are ready. Verse 43 says, “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 refers to the believer and the house to the believer’s conduct and work which he has built up in his Christian life. A thief comes to steal precious things at an unknown time. The Lord will come secretly as a thief to those who love Him and will take them away as His treasures. Hence, we should watch. “Therefore,” as the Lord says in verse 44, “you also, be ready, for the Son of Man comes in an hour that you think not.” This refers to the Lord’s secret coming to the watchful overcomers. To be watchful and ready is a very serious matter.
If we read Matthew 25:13 in its context, we shall see that to be watchful is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. If we are not being filled all day long, we are not being watchful. As believers, we should be those who are watching all the time by being filled with the Spirit. Every day our lamp is burning, and every day our soul, our being, is filled with the extra portion of the Holy Spirit. This Spirit is the saturating Spirit, whom we need to allow to saturate our entire being from within our spirit to reach and even to penetrate our soul. To be like this is to be a watchful person, one who is ready for the Lord’s coming back.
Because we do not know the exact day and hour of the Lord’s coming, we need to watch and pray. It is a serious mistake for any believer to think that he can know the exact day and hour of the Lord’s coming. According to the prophecies in the Scriptures, we may know approximately the time of the Lord’s coming. However, the prophecies do not tell us clearly and exactly the day and hour of the Lord’s coming. If we think that we know the day and the time, we shall cheat ourselves.
Christ’s parousia will begin from the throne before the three and a half years of the great tribulation, and it will probably last at least three and a half years. The overcomers, including the living ones as the firstfruit and the dead ones as the man-child, will be raptured to the throne before the tribulation. Then the Lord Jesus will descend with these overcomers from the throne in the heavens to the air. In the air, to which the rest of the believers will be raptured, the Lord will set up His judgment seat to judge the believers. It will also be in the air that the Lord will have His wedding. Although the Bible speaks clearly of these things, it does not tell us the day and the hour of the Lord’s coming. Therefore, we need to watch and pray.
At this point we need to give a concluding word concerning the believers’ experience in the progressing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of transformation. This stage includes five items: experiencing and enjoying the processed Triune God in His triune dispensing; experiencing God’s redemption continually; enjoying the dispensing of the divine Trinity in the divine transformation for the divine conformation; experiencing the dispensing of the divine Trinity corporately by entering into the kingdom of God, by living in the church, and by living in the Body of Christ; and experiencing the dispensing of the divine Trinity in other aspects. These five items constitute the progressing stage of God’s full salvation. In this stage, the stage of transformation, the believers are saved from the power of sin, the law of sin and death, their old man, their flesh with its lusts, their self, their soul (their natural life), their individualism, Satan, the world with its present age and its religious aspect, the law of letters with its ordinances, and the degradation of the church with all its mixtures. These are the things from which we are being saved in the progressing stage of God’s full salvation by the dispensing into us of the processed Triune God.
Home | First | Prev | Next