Anticipating the Gathering, An Author Reflection
Dear Friends,
If you've read any of my books, then you know I keep a regular theme throughout all of the stories: the faithful characters are all aware of the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Hidden Humanity, a novel recently released, Brody Sladrick is one of those characters who "eagerly await Him" (Hebrews 9:28).
Indeed, if you know that God has saved you from the penalty of sin at the first coming of Jesus, then you eagerly await His appearing to take His Church to heaven for the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7).
After the marriage supper of the Lamb, the second coming of Jesus to earth occurs seven literal earth years later. Daniel 9:27 and Revelation 12:6 (and elsewhere) even gives the count of years and days so we know this is a literal seven years (called a week in ancient Hebrew culture – Genesis 29:27), or two 3.5-year segments (1260 days or 42 months). That's pretty accurate!
Here's the timeline:
- First coming of Christ (when He was born, died, and rose again)
- Church Age (now), waiting for Christ's appearing
- The Appearing (Christ comes to take His people up - John 14:1-3). Meanwhile, the 7-year Tribulation on earth.
- Marriage Supper of the Lamb in heaven
- The 2nd Coming (Christ comes with His people to earth)
- Christ reigns on earth from Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:9) for 1000 years
- New heaven and new earth stretch into eternity (Revelation 21:1)
It is during the second coming of Christ to earth to which Psalm 110:3 (NASB) refers:
- "Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power;In holy array, from the womb of the dawn, Your youth are to You as the dew."
This is such an exciting verse describing God's people involved, gathered, perhaps standing at attention in heaven, as Jesus prepares to come to earth to reign for 1000 years! Let's look at this verse a little closer.
Anticipating Psalm 110:3
1. "Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power."
- We have the Spirit of Christ in us already, so His people are probably already sensing this kind of moment and the preceding events. By the time this verse occurs prophetically, the marriage supper has just finished in heaven. The Church is united with Christ as His bride, and she is ready to return with the Lord for "the day of His power," which is the day He begins to reign on earth, extending forward 1000 years.
- The joy of this line of Scripture should excite us believers even now. "Your people will volunteer freely" are five words that indicate a willingness of His saints to assemble and return, to see the next step of God's eternal purpose unfold. We won't be threatened or compelled in any way to assemble, but out of gladness, relief, excitement—we'll assemble for that triumphal entry back to earth.
- Revelation 19:14 puts it this way: "And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses."
2. "In holy array, from the womb of the dawn."
- The bride of Christ (the Church) is pure and holy, assembled in heaven for the return of Christ. We can almost imagine the giddy joy as well as the stoic fierceness of that moment. Maybe we'll be jostling shoulder to shoulder, or on our horses side by side, crowding behind the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
- In all His righteousness, His eyes a flaming fire, and His robe dipped in blood—Jesus will lead us back in victory! And following Him, we are ready to join Him in triumphal reign on earth, where His enemies will finally be made His footstool (Psalm 110:1; Rev 19).
3. "Your youth are to You as the dew."
- The mention of youth here may be an indication of our glorified bodies which we'll possess for eternity (1 Corinthians 15:52-53). A billion or trillion or so youths, all ecstatic about our heavenly homes and opportunities—will be assembled to honor the One who saved us and shepherded us through our lives of light in the midst of a dark world.
- On that day of power, when Christ returns in glory to the earth, you may wonder why we would join Him at all. Why not just leave us in heaven? After all, He doesn't need any backup. But our return with Christ to earth will be witnessed by the forces of darkness and by unbelieving scoffers from all time.
- That return (the second coming) will be: 1) Christ's vindication to His enemies that the armies of saints that follow Him show that He indeed is worthy of glory, and 2) our own vindication that even though we were lowly and ridiculed for our faith on earth, we are now assembled with the Son of God—the Triumphant One!
Right now, as I write this, Jesus is waiting until His enemies are made His footstool (Hebrews 10:13), and we eagerly await His appearing to take us to heaven (Hebrews 9:28). The spirit of the Antichrist is rapidly sprinting toward a predictable demise, Israel is being targeted for an Ezekiel 38 showdown, and the next step in God's prophetic timeline is about to occur: He will remove the righteous from the wicked to judge the earth.
I hope you're as excited as I am about the coming assembly of God's saints in heaven! (Did I mention that we'll be young again?) 😉
See you on the next page!
David Telbat.
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NOTE-1: Dee recently learned of and saw a presentation of a wonderful ministry called A Jesus Mission/Ukraine Response. They are providing much needed help and provisions to the Ukrainian church in the midst of the warzone. Please check it out and watch their trailer.
NOTE-2: We are beginning to work on formatting another collection of 31 D.I. Telbat short stories, this one titled “Visions of HOPE.” More info to come. Check out David Telbat’s previous two collections, “Visions of Courage” and “Visions of Faith.”
COMING UP: Join us next time (Aug 1) for David’s new short story, “Last Words.”
If you missed our last newsletter, you can find it here.
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