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Book messages «Conclusion of the New Testament, The (Msgs. 021-033)»
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The conclusion of the New Testament

Christ — His person (12)

  In this message we shall consider Christ in His coming back and in the kingdom.

K. In coming back

1. The Son of Man

  In His coming back Christ will still be the Son of Man. The Lord’s word to the high priest indicates this: “Henceforth you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 26:64). In the heavens today the Lord is the Son of Man and He will be the Son of Man even at His coming back on the clouds.

  Revelation 14:14 says, “I saw, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud One sitting like the Son of Man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.” This indicates that when the Lord comes back to reap His harvest on the earth (v. 15), He still will be the Son of Man. At that time He will no longer be wrapped, or concealed, in the clouds (Rev. 10:1), but will be sitting on the cloud. This corresponds to 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and refers to the open aspect of Christ’s coming back.

  In Matthew 24 the Lord Jesus repeatedly tells His disciples that in His coming back He will be the Son of Man. In verse 27 He says, “As the lightning comes forth from the east and shines to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.” This is the open aspect of the Lord’s coming toward the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles. Lightning is concealed in a cloud, waiting for the opportunity to flash forth. Christ will also be clothed with a cloud (Rev. 10:1) in the air for a time and then will suddenly appear like a flash to the earth. By then He still will be the Son of Man.

  Matthew 24:30 says, “The sign of the Son of Man shall appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the land shall wail, and they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” The sign must be supernatural and clearly visible (perhaps like the lightning in verse 27), appearing in heaven. The tribes refer to the tribes of the nation of Israel, and the land refers to the Holy Land. At the Lord’s appearing all the tribes of Israel will repent and wail (Zech. 12:10-14; Rev. 1:7). By this time He will be no longer in the cloud but will be on the cloud with power and great glory, appearing to the people on earth. This is the open aspect of His second coming. Then His power will be exercised to execute God’s judgment, to destroy Antichrist with his armies, and to bind Satan for the establishment of His kingdom on earth. The Lord will do all these things as the Son of Man.

  In Matthew 24:37, 39, and 44, the Lord goes on to tell us that He will come back as the Son of Man. When He came the first time, He came to be a man through incarnation. When He died on the cross, He was crucified as a man. When He was resurrected, He was resurrected as a man. Furthermore, when He ascended, He ascended as a man, and He is now in the heavens as a man. When He comes back, He will still be the Son of Man.

2. The morning star to the overcomers

  In His coming back Christ will be the morning star to the overcomers (Rev. 22:16). In Revelation 2:28 He gives a promise to the overcomer, saying, “I will give him the morning star.” At Christ’s first appearing the wise men, not the Jewish religionists, saw His star (Matt. 2:2, 9-10). At His second appearing He will be the morning star as a reward to His overcomers who watch for His coming. To all others He will appear only as the sun (Mal. 4:2). There is a great difference between the appearing of the morning star and the appearing of the sun. The appearing of the morning star is secret, but the appearing of the sun is open. The Lord promised that if we are watchful and wait for His coming, He will appear to us as the morning star for a reward.

  In Revelation 22:16 the Lord Jesus says, “I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright morning star.” Christ as the Root and Offspring of David is related to Israel and the kingdom, whereas His being the bright morning star is related to the church and the rapture. The morning star appears before the darkest hour, prior to dawn. The great tribulation will be this darkest hour, after which the day of the kingdom will dawn. In the kingdom the Lord will appear publicly to His people as the sun, but before the great tribulation He will appear privately to His overcomers as the morning star.

3. The Bridegroom to the church

  Matthew 25:1 indicates that in His coming back Christ will also be the Bridegroom: “Then shall the kingdom of the heavens be likened to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom.” We are the virgins going and Christ is the Bridegroom coming.

  In the Bible we have a universal couple — the Bridegroom and the bride. The bride is the aggregate of regenerated persons, and the Bridegroom is Christ with whom all regenerated persons should be one.

  The four Gospels reveal that Christ has come as the Bridegroom (Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19; Luke 5:34; John 3:29). He has come for His bride, and the bride is His increase (John 3:30). In His coming He will come as the Bridegroom for His bride.

  As the Bridegroom the Lord Jesus is the most pleasant and attractive person in the whole universe. He is not only God, the Lord, the Master, and the Savior, but He is also the Bridegroom, the most pleasant person. In His coming back He will be such a Bridegroom.

  In Revelation 19:7 Christ is unveiled as having a wedding: “Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready.” The reign of God, the kingdom, is related to the marriage of Christ, and the marriage of Christ is the issue of the completion of God’s New Testament economy. God’s economy in the New Testament is to obtain for Christ a bride, the church, through His redemption and divine life. By the continual working of the Holy Spirit through all the centuries, this goal will be attained at the end of this age. Then the bride with the overcoming believers will be ready. Hence, in His coming back Christ will be the Bridegroom coming for His bride. According to Revelation 19, He will enjoy a wedding feast.

4. The Savior to Israel

  Christ in His coming back will also be the Savior to Israel. Romans 11:26 says, “So all Israel will be saved, as it is written, The Deliverer will come out of Zion; He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” Because of Israel’s unbelief and rejection Christ left them at His going away (Matt. 23:37-39). At the end of the age of grace He will come back to visit them as their Savior, and God will pour upon them the Spirit of grace and supplication; and they will look upon Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him (Zech. 12:10). Then they all will be saved, as revealed in Romans 11:26.

5. A Judge to the Gentiles

  In Acts 17:31 Paul indicates that Christ in His coming back will be a Judge to the Gentiles: “He has set a day in which He is about to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness by a Man whom He has designated.” The day set by God for the judgment of the inhabited earth will be the day when Christ will judge the living from the throne of His glory at His coming back before the millennium (Matt. 25:31-46), not including the day when He will judge the dead at the great white throne after the millennium (Rev. 20:11-15). According to Acts 10:42, Christ has been designated by God “to be the Judge of the living and the dead.” He will be the Judge of the dead after the millennium at the great white throne. Second Timothy 4:1 and 1 Peter 4:5 also say that Christ will judge both the living and the dead. The day in Acts 17:31 refers particularly to the day Christ will judge the living, because on this day He will judge “the inhabited earth,” which should refer only to living men. This day of Christ’s judgment on earth will be brought in by His coming back. He has been designated by God to execute this judgment, and God’s raising Him from among the dead is strong proof of this. The resurrection of Christ is proof and assurance of His coming back to judge all the inhabitants of the earth.

  Matthew 25:32 and 33 speak of Christ’s judging the Gentiles, the nations: “All the nations shall be gathered before Him, and He shall separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He shall set the sheep on His right hand and the goats on the left.” The nations here are all the Gentiles who will be left at Christ’s coming back to earth after He destroys at Armageddon those Gentiles who follow Antichrist (Rev. 16:14, 16; 19:11-15, 19-21). They will be gathered and judged (Joel 3:2) at Christ’s throne of glory. This will be Christ’s judgment on the living before the millennium, differing from His judgment on the dead at the great white throne after the millennium. This judgment on the living will occur after His judgment on the believers at His judgment seat in the air (Matt. 25:19-30). In His judging of the nations, Christ will set the sheep on His right hand and the goats on the left. The sheep will be gathered to His right hand, the place of honor (1 Kings 2:19 Psalm 45:9).

  The parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25 corresponds to the parable of the net in Matthew 13:47-50. In Matthew 13 there are three kinds of people: the Jews with the kingdom as the treasure hidden in the field; the Gentiles regenerated and transformed into a pearl, the church; and finally, the remaining Gentiles. The Lord will send an angel to collect those who are left in the “sea,” the Gentile world. The net cast into the sea will bring in every kind of creature without regeneration or transformation. This refers to the Gentiles, the natural people from the corrupted world. The Lord will gather all these before Him and judge them. The good will be gathered into vessels, that is, into the millennial kingdom to be the nations, but the evil will be cast into the furnace of fire. Therefore, at the time of His coming back Christ will judge the living unbelievers at the throne of His glory (Matt. 25:31).

6. Another Angel to take possession of the earth

  According to Revelation 10:1-7, Christ will come as another Angel to possess the earth. Revelation 10:1 says, “I saw another strong Angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire.” This Angel is Christ, who is coming down out of heaven. At this time He is clothed with a cloud; He is not yet on the cloud, as in Revelation 14:14 and Matthew 24:30; 26:64. To be on the cloud is to come openly, whereas to be clothed with a cloud is to come secretly. In Revelation 10:1 Christ is still coming secretly, not openly.

  As the Angel coming to possess the earth, Christ has a rainbow upon His head. Here the rainbow indicates that Christ in His judgment on the earth and in His coming to take possession of it will keep the covenant God made with Noah concerning the earth (Gen. 9:8-17). It also indicates that He is the One who will execute judgment according to the One sitting on the throne with the rainbow round about it (Rev. 4:2-3).

  We are also told in Revelation 10:1 that as another strong Angel Christ’s face is as the sun, and His feet are as pillars of fire. Here, close to the time of His coming to the earth openly, He will not be like the morning star, which appears before the darkest time prior to dawn. Here pillars indicate steadfastness (Jer. 1:18; Gal. 2:9), and fire, the holiness of God (Exo. 19:18; Heb. 12:29), according to which Christ will execute His judgment upon the earth.

  Revelation 10:2 goes on to say that in His coming to possess the earth Christ will place “His right foot on the sea and the left on the land.” To place His feet on the sea and on the land is to tread on them, and this means to take possession of them (Deut. 11:24; Josh. 1:3; Psa. 8:6). This indicates that Christ is coming down to take possession of the earth. Only He is qualified to possess the earth.

  In the book of Joshua God told the people that they would possess whatever part of the land the sole of their foot would tread upon. They were to walk through the land, and wherever they set their feet, that would be their possession. Based on the same principle, Christ, as another Angel sent by God, will tread upon the sea and the land, for the earth and the sea have both been given to Him as His inheritance (Psa. 2:8). Although the earth and the sea have been usurped by His enemy, one day He will tolerate this usurpation no longer. He will come to claim His rightful inheritance.

L. In the kingdom

  Let us now go on to see Christ’s person in the kingdom.

1. The Son of Man

  In the kingdom Christ will be the Son of Man. Matthew 13:41 says, “The Son of Man shall send His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all stumblingblocks and those who do lawlessness.” After Christ comes back, He will set up the kingdom of God on earth. Then in the kingdom He will still be the Son of Man.

  God’s enemy, Satan, rebelled against God’s authority (Isa. 14:13-14). For dealing with him God created man and gave man dominion to rule over the earth (Gen. 1:26). After man was seduced by Satan to follow him (Gen. 3:1-6), God became a man by the name Jesus to undo the works of the Devil (1 John 3:8) and destroy him (Heb. 2:14), that He might reclaim the earth to be His kingdom (Rev. 11:15; 12:10). In this upcoming kingdom, which Christ as the Son of Man will bring in (Dan. 7:13-14; Luke 19:12-15), He will surely be the Son of Man, not only as a sign of God’s victory and glory but also as a sign of Satan’s defeat and shame.

2. The King

  After Christ takes possession of the earth, He will reign over the earth as the King in the kingdom, ruling over the nations with His overcoming believers (Rev. 20:4, 6; 2:26-27). As the coming King He will be the Head and the center in the upcoming kingdom of God in the millennium. This will be the fulfillment of Isaiah 32:1, Jeremiah 23:5, and Zechariah 14:9, 17. As Christ has redeemed the earth and all its peoples (Col. 1:20) to the sphere and components of His kingdom, as He has sold all to buy the kingdom (Matt. 13:44), and as He has rescued the earth with all its peoples from the usurpation of Satan (Rev. 20:2-3), He will have the full right to be the King of the restored earth and the restored nations. In His upcoming reign God’s authority and glory will be fully manifested (Matt. 6:13), and the whole earth with its peoples will be brought into righteousness, peace, joy, and the full blessing of God’s creation (Isa. 32:1, 16-18; 35:1-2, 5-7).

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