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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.
After the firstfruit is reaped and the overcomers are taken up, during the tribulation Christ will descend with them to the air. Then He will catch up the majority of the saints in clouds (1 Thes. 4:16-17). Here we have two different times and locations. The firstfruit and the over-comers are taken to the throne in the heavens before the tribulation; the majority of the saints are taken to the air toward the end of the tribulation.
The catching up of the majority of the believers in clouds is the reaping of the harvest in Revelation 14:14-16. Verse 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.” The sharp sickle in the Lord’s hand indicates that He is the One who reaps God’s field.
Verse 15 continues, “Another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, Send forth Your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” The harvest of the earth is God’s people on earth, the believers in Christ (1 Cor. 3:9). At His first coming the Lord Jesus sowed Himself into His believers (Matt. 13:3-8, 24). All the believers since that time who have received Him as the seed of life have become the crop of God on earth. The first ripe ones will be reaped as the firstfruit to God, whereas the majority will ripen with the help of the sufferings in the great tribulation and will be reaped near the end of the tribulation. The suffering of the great tribulation will be like the parching sun, drying the earthly water from the believers who will be left on earth in the great tribulation that they may ripen.
Finally, verse 16 says, “He who sat on the cloud thrust His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.” This reaping is the rapture of the majority of the believers who will be left on earth to pass through the greater part of the great tribulation.
After all the saints have been caught up to the air, Christ will set up His judgment seat. He will judge all the believers, assigning them either a reward or some kind of punishment. Second Corinthians 5:10 says, “We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for the things done through the body, according to what he has practiced, whether good or bad.” Christ’s judgment of believers at His coming back will not be concerning their eternal salvation but their dispensational reward. At that time the Lord “shall both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then there will be praise to each one from God” (1 Cor. 4:5).
Romans 14:10 tells us that “we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.” This will take place before the millennium, immediately after Christ’s coming back for the judgment of the resurrected and raptured believers with respect to reward in the millennial kingdom. Therefore, this judgment will take account of how the believers have lived before the Lord and what work they have done for the Lord after they were saved.
Next, in His work at His coming back Christ will marry the overcoming saints. This is described in Revelation 19:7-9. Verse 7 says, “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 marriage of the Lamb 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.
The words “His wife” in Revelation 19:7 refer to the church (Eph. 5:24-25, 31-32), the bride of Christ (John 3:29). However, according to Revelation 19:8 and 9, the wife, the bride of Christ, here consists only of the overcoming believers during the millennium, whereas the bride, the wife, in Revelation 21:2 is composed of all the saved saints after the millennium for eternity. The readiness of the bride depends on the maturity in life of the overcomers. Furthermore, the overcomers are not separate individuals but a corporate bride. For this, building is needed. The overcomers are not only mature in life but also built together as the bride.
Revelation 19:8 goes on to say, “It was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints.” “Righteousnesses” does not refer to the righteousness we receive for our salvation. The righteousness we receive for salvation is objective so that we may meet the requirement of the righteous God. The righteousnesses of the overcoming saints are subjective so that they may meet the requirements of the overcoming Christ. The fine linen with which the overcomers are clothed is equal to the marriage garment in Matthew 22:11 and 12.
Revelation 19:9 concludes, “Blessed are they who are invited to the marriage dinner of the Lamb.” The marriage dinner of the Lamb is the marriage feast in Matthew 22:2. It will be a reward to the overcoming believers. Only the overcomers, not all the saved ones, will be invited to it. The foolish virgins in Matthew 25:8-13 will miss it. However, after being dealt with by the Lord in the kingdom age, they will participate in the New Jerusalem for eternity. Hence, to be invited to the marriage feast of Christ, which will usher the overcoming believers into the enjoyment of the millennium, is to be blessed. The overcoming believers invited to the marriage dinner of the Lamb will also be the bride of the Lamb. Therefore, at His coming back Christ will marry the overcoming saints.
After Christ marries the overcomers, He will slay Antichrist. “The lawless one shall be revealed (whom the Lord Jesus will slay by the breath of His mouth and bring to nothing by the appearing of His coming)” (2 Thes. 2:8). This will be fulfilled in Revelation 19:19 and 20: “I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war with Him who sits on the horse and with His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who in his presence had done the signs, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worship his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.” As the heavenly general with the overcoming saints, the faithful ones, as His army, Christ at His coming back will fight against Antichrist, slay him, and cast him into the lake of fire.
At His coming back Christ will also gather and save all the tribes of Israel. In Paul’s words, at that time “all Israel will be saved, as it is written. The Deliverer will come out of Zion; He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Rom. 11:26).
Matthew 24:30 and 31 say, “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. And He shall send His angels with a loud trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the extremities of the heavens to their extremities.” The tribes here refer to the tribes of the nation of Israel, and the land, to the holy land. At Christ’s appearing all the tribes of Israel will repent and wail (Zech. 12:10-14; Rev. 1:7). After the great tribulation, at His coming back to earth, the Lord will gather together the scattered Jews from all parts of the earth to the holy land. This will be the fulfillment not only of His word in Matthew 23:37 but also of God’s promise in the Old Testament (Deut. 30:3-5; Isa. 43:5-7; 49:9-13, 22-26; 51:11; 56:8; 60:4; 62:10-12; 27:13; Ezek. 34:13; 37:21; 28:25).
Finally, in His work at His coming back Christ will judge the Gentiles, the living peoples. This will be the day of Christ’s judgment of the inhabited earth (Acts 17:31). This is the day when Christ will judge the living at the throne of His glory (Matt. 25:31-46). After He defeats Antichrist and his army, many of the Gentiles will still be living on earth. The Lord will gather them to Himself and judge them. Matthew 25:31 and 32 say, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He shall sit on His throne of glory; and 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.” “All the nations” are all the Gentiles who will be left at Christ’s coming back to earth after He destroys those Gentiles who follow Antichrist at Armageddon (Rev. 16:14, 16; 19:11-15, 19-21). Those that are regarded as sheep will be transferred into the millennium to be the people under the kingly ruling of Christ and the overcoming believers (Rev. 2:26-27; 12:5; 20:4-6) and under the priestly ministry of the saved Jews (Zech. 8:20-23). Those who are regarded as goats will go with their leader, Antichrist, “into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41).
On earth today there are three categories of people: the believers who comprise the church, Israel as God’s chosen people, and the Gentiles. At His coming back the Lord will deal with all three categories. First, He will take up the overcoming believers and later catch up the majority of the saints. Then He will judge all the believers, selecting those who will make up His bride and His army. Following this, He will marry the overcoming saints and come with His army to destroy Antichrist and his army. Then He will gather and save the scattered Jews. After He sets up His throne in Jerusalem, He will judge all those who remain from the nations. In this way Christ in His work at His coming back will deal with the believers, the Jews, and the Gentiles.
In His work in the millennium Christ with His overcomers as co-kings will reign over all the nations (Rev. 20:4, 6; 2:27; 19:15c). The millennium will be the last section of God’s kingdom on this earth in the old creation over the God-created, fallen, and restored nations. They all will be the last stage of human nations on the old earth, and they all will become the kingdom of God’s Christ (Rev. 11:15), and Christ and His overcomers shall be the kings over them. Such a reigning will be the unique work of Christ in the millennium to show, for one thousand years, to the entire universe His kingship with His divine and heavenly authority for the shame of Satan, the defeated enemy of God, who will then be bound and imprisoned in the abyss, the bottomless pit (Rev. 20:2-3).
After the millennium Christ will do the work of judging all the dead, for He is the Judge of both the living and the dead (Acts 10:42; 2 Tim. 4:1). This judgment is described in Revelation 20:11-15. Verse 12 says, “I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by the things which were written in the books, according to their works.” The “standing” here indicates that the dead have been resurrected. This is the resurrection of the unbelievers, the resurrection of judgment (John 5:28-29; 1 Cor. 15:23-24). The books are a record of the works, the deeds, of the unbelievers, according to which they will be judged.
Verse 13 continues, “The sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged everyone according to their works.” Because the dead unbelievers who were drowned in the sea are included among those in Hades, the dead given up by the sea should not be any unbelieving human beings. Rather, they may be the spirits (the demons today — Matt. 8:31-32; 12:43) of the living beings of the preadamic age (see Life-study of Genesis, Message 2). This may indicate that today’s demons will be judged at the great white throne along with unbelieving human beings.
Verse 14 goes on to say, “Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.” In the first death the soul and the spirit are separated from the body and perish in the suffering section of Hades (Luke 16:22-24). In the second death the soul and the spirit, after being rejoined to the body in resurrection, are cast with the body into the lake of fire. This means that the unbelievers’ whole being — spirit, soul, and body — will perish in eternal torment in the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:15 concludes, “If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.” Christ will judge the perishing unbelievers according to the books, which are a record of their works. But they will be cast into the lake of fire according to the book of life. This indicates that they are condemned by the Lord because of their evil deeds, but they perish because of their unbelief, not having their names written in the book of life. Not believing in the Lord Jesus is the unique sin that causes people to perish (John 16:9).
Christ’s work in judging the dead will mark the end of the old creation. Then the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem will come. In the New Jerusalem — in eternity — Christ will still be working.
As the redeeming God Christ will administrate within the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth. Revelation 22:1 and 3 tell us that the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the New Jerusalem. According to the context of this portion of the Word, the throne of God and of the Lamb is the center of the New Jerusalem. From this throne Christ, the redeeming God, carries out His administration, based on His redemption, in the eternal kingdom in the new heaven and the new earth.
Christ’s work in administrating within the New Jerusalem is for His expression through His administration. All that the redeeming God administrates is for the purpose that He might be expressed. In the New Jerusalem the throne of the redeeming God will be in the center of the city, and His expression will extend to its circumference. Therefore, the redeeming God administrating on the throne is the God both of administration and of expression. His administration serves the purpose of His expression in His eternal manifestation.
In His work in the New Jerusalem Christ, as the lamp of the holy city, will shine with God as light from within the New Jerusalem over the nations. “The city has no need of the sun nor of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. And the nations shall walk by its light” (Rev. 21:23-24a). The Lamb as the lamp will shine with God as the light to illumine the city with the glory of God, the expression of the divine light. Because such a divine light will illumine the holy city, it will not have need of any other light, whether created by God or made by man (Rev. 22:5). Although the sun and moon will be in the new heaven and new earth, we shall have no need of them in the New Jerusalem, because our dwelling place will be much brighter than either of them. Christ, the lamp, will shine with God as light.
The nations will walk by this light. In the millennium the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be intensified sevenfold (Isa. 30:26). I believe that in the new heaven and the new earth the light of the sun will be even brighter than this. Nevertheless, Revelation 21:24a says that the nations will walk in the light of the New Jerusalem. Christ will shine with God as light, and this shining will be brighter than that of either the moon or the sun. Actually, the nations will not need to walk in the sunlight, for they will walk in the light of Christ’s shining.
Finally, in His work in the New Jerusalem Christ, as the tree of life, will nourish the sons of God — the saints as the components of the New Jerusalem — and heal the nations as the peoples of God on the new earth (Rev. 22:2; 21:7). For eternity in the new heaven and the new earth, all God’s redeemed will enjoy Christ as the tree of life as their eternal portion. Eternally, Christ will carry on the work of nourishing the sons of God (Rev. 21:7).
In Revelation 22:2 the tree of life growing on the two sides of the river signifies that the tree of life is a vine, spreading and proceeding along the flow of the water of life for God’s people to receive and enjoy. Christ as the tree of life, as the life supply, will be available along the flow of the Spirit as the water of life. Where the Spirit flows, there the life supply of Christ will be found. The fruits of the tree of life will be the food of God’s redeemed for eternity.
The last part of Revelation 22:2 says, “The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Whereas the sons of God, who are the components of the New Jerusalem, are born of God with His life and nature, the nations are the peoples in Revelation 21:3. After the millennial kingdom, those of the nations who are not deceived by the Devil to rebel against the Lord will be transferred to the new earth as the nations living around the New Jerusalem. They, as the created unregenerated man, will be maintained to live forever in their created state by the healing of the leaves of the tree of life. These leaves symbolize the deeds of Christ.
In the new heaven and the new earth the regenerated believers will eat the fruit of the tree of life, receiving Christ as their life and life supply inwardly so that they may enjoy the divine life for eternity. But the restored nations will be healed by the leaves of the tree of life, taking the deeds of Christ as their guide and regulation outwardly so that they may live the human life forever. When the nations look at the way the Lord Jesus does things and behaves Himself, His deeds will become a source of healing to them, and this healing will maintain their human life forever.
