The place of the open aspect of the Lord’s coming back is clearly revealed—on the cloud to the earth (1:7; 14:14; Matt. 24:30; Zech. 14:4; Acts 1:11-12). According to Acts 1:11 and 12, the Lord shall come in the same way as He went up into heaven. Since He ascended from the Mount of Olives, this means that He will come back to the Mount of Olives. Zechariah 14:4 says, “His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west.” As this verse makes clear, the Mount of Olives is outside the wall of Jerusalem, not far from the city. The Lord will descend to the very spot from which He ascended. However, we are not waiting to see Him on the Mount of Olives. We want to meet Him at the throne in the third heaven and then come back with Him to the Mount of Olives. He has ascended to the heavens, and we are waiting to be raptured to the heavens. We are not waiting to die and go to heaven. This is religious. We are waiting for our whole being to be raptured to the third heaven, to the throne of God, that we may come back with Christ, firstly to the air and then to the earth. This is the way we shall visit Jerusalem. We shall go there by way of the throne in the third heaven. However, if you are defeated, you will miss this visit to Jerusalem.
When the Lord Jesus comes openly, He will come with the overcoming saints to fight against the Antichrist and his army at Armageddon (19:11-21; 17:13-14; 16:12-16; Zech. 14:3, 5; 2 Thes. 2:8). This will be to tread the winepress of the wrath of God (19:15; 14:18-20). At Armageddon, all the worldly armies will be gathered together, with some coming from the Far East, others from the North, and still others from Europe. This gathering together of all the earthly forces will be according to God’s wisdom. Eventually, the riches of the world will be concentrated in the Middle East, and all the nations will be greedy to seize them. While the armies of the earth will be gathering at Armageddon, the Lord will be sitting in the air observing them, saying, “Are you ready?” When we come to chapter fourteen, we shall see that the gathering of the armies will be the gathering of the grapes into the great winepress. In the eyes of God, the earthly armies are likened to grapes, and Armageddon will be the great winepress. As the kings, generals, and leaders gather all the armies at Armageddon, they will be like grapes gathered into the great winepress. Then the Lord will descend to tread this winepress of God, and a great river of blood will flow out of it. What a huge number of evil people will be killed there at that time! This will occur at the time of the Lord’s open coming to the earth. The purpose of the Lord’s open coming will be to exterminate all the worldly forces. After this, war will cease from the earth.
In 22:12 and 20 the Lord Jesus gives us a warning, saying, “Behold, I come quickly.” Our loving response should be, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (22:20; 2 Tim. 4:8). Our concern in these messages is not with mere teaching and doctrine concerning the so-called second advent. We are studying the heart’s desire of the Lord, which is to gain a group of overcomers who are watching and waiting for His coming back.