The Great Day of Resurrection

Last Friday, we covered the Lord’s Second Coming and Armageddon.

Then the Lord’s foot touches down upon the Mount of Olives. We pointed out Zec 14:4, which told us, “And 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, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” When the Lord’s foot touches the Mount of Olives, there will be a colossal explosion of the entire mountain, which is a mile long, and that mountain will be split in two with this massive new valley.

What happens next?

Mount Zion

You might recall the Lord saying in His Olivet Discourse that after people see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, the Lord would say in Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

After the Lord lands on the Mount of Olives, which explodes, the next thing we can expect is what the Lord described as a great sound of a trumpet. This trumpet means that angels are going out into all the world to gather all the elect, which means chosen, to gather all His chosen people, the surviving believers. (By the time the Lord returns, I don’t think there will be any unbelieving Jews left alive.)

Why the sound of another trumpet? This will likely be a fulfillment of the Levitical Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets foreshadowed the day when true Israel would all be gathered together at last with her Messiah in the Promised Land to dwell there forever. The Feast of Trumpets is in Lev 23:23-25. When the Feast of Trumpets is fulfilled, this means that all the surviving believing remnant and all the resurrected saints from time past, and all the believing Jews who died during the Tribulation, all of them, all the saints of the entire kingdom program going all the way back to Adam and Eve, they will all come together in holy convocation to stand before the Lord to offer themselves to Him so they may enter the Promised Land and join with their Messiah in His reign over the entire Earth.

While the angels are gathering His elect, the Lord will then head on up to His throne, which is atop His holy mountain in Zion in Jerusalem, which I think will be a brand-new mountain, and the scale of this mountain is going to be enormous. After the tribulation, the topography of the Earth will be radically altered, practically unrecognizable. There will be a new, enormous mountain, and His throne will dwell atop His holy mountain in Zion in Jerusalem. The Lord said in Joel 3:17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

This is a brand new world.

The Lord said of Jerusalem, “there shall no strangers pass through her any more.” Only believers will gain entrance into His kingdom through Jerusalem.

Further, He confirms that His throne is on His holy mountain in Zion, and yet, He also makes a distinction here between Zion and Jerusalem. His mountain and His throne dwell in Zion. Fausset points out that Zion means “sunny mountain.” His “sunny mountain” and the area around it is Zion. Nearby will be Jerusalem.

Zion seems to have a wide application in Scripture, but Fausset also points out that Zion is viewed by Israel as a district in Jerusalem and mainly applies to the eastern side. I’m guessing that His new holy mountain will exist on the south eastern side of Jerusalem, and His throne will be atop that holy mountain.

Just imagine. The Lord returns. His foot touches the Mount of Olives, which explodes. There is a great trumpet. The angels gather the elect. While they do that, the Lord marches up (or He’s carried up) His holy mountain in Zion. And there atop that mountain, He’ll oversee the resurrection of all His kingdom saints. He takes His seat upon His throne of glory, and then He’ll judge them all, Israel first, then the rest of the nations.

The Lord is always seated on a throne when He judges. How do we know the Lord will judge Israel before He judges the nations? I’d suggest that because of the order of events in the Olivet Discourse, we know He’ll judge Israel first. He first mentions that His angels will gather the elect from the four winds, which has to be for the sake of judging them, which has been long prophesied. Then He gives three parables: the Parable of the Fig Tree, the Parable of the Ten Virgins, and the Parable of the Talents. All three of those parables are about the Lord judging His elect at His Second Coming. Then later in Matthew 25, He talks about judging the nations, which make up the sheep and the goats. The judgment of Israel would be first and separate from the judgment of the nations, because, as Bullinger pointed out, God promised in the book of Numbers that Israel would never be judged AMONG the nations. The Lord said in Num 23:9 that “the people…” “shall not be reckoned among the nations.”

On top of this, I cannot help but think of all of us and the Body of Christ here. I think we can all agree that by this point, we will have taken up our heavenly seats (Eph. 2:6), which is in the first and maybe third Heaven. The Lord’s seat high atop His mountain is a heavenly seat, in the first heaven, and I believe that many, if not all, of our heavenly seats will be in the first heaven along with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:17).

Not only that, Paul also told us that we’ll be judging angels. We’ll have an administrative role over our own personal group of angels (1 Cor. 6:2-3). So we’ll all be surrounded by and interacting with angels. Just imagine. You have the Lord atop His holy mountain in all His glory. The entire first heaven is filled with the Body of Christ in all their glory. We’ll also be interacting with our angels in all their glory. From horizon to horizon, nothing but heavenly beings in all their glory. The Earth was not long ago full of thick blackness, but now with the Lord in all His glory and the presence of all these heavenly beings, including the Body of Christ, the Earth is now so bright it’d be almost blinding for normal people. It’s impossible for us to comprehend the brilliance of all the glory we’ll be seeing.

THEN the Resurrection of Israel.

While I was working on this, I reached this point, and it hit me hard the magnitude of what happens next. We’ve now reached the point in human history, that moment when Israel, and all the saints of time past, everyone who was saved before Paul going all the way back to Adam and Eve, every saint justified by faith in time past, as well as every believing Jew during the Tribulation who was killed, this is now that moment when they will all be resurrected from the grave.

This is now the Great Day of Their Resurrection.

This is that great day of resurrection the saints of old have been dreaming about and writing about for centuries upon centuries. This is that moment of resurrection spoken about going all the way back to Job when he famously said in Job 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: Job 19:26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Job 19:27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

Can you imagine? This is now that moment when Job will return to the surface of the Earth, and he will actually fulfill his own prophecy about his own resurrection.

David had also famously written about this long-awaited day of resurrection. Psa 16:9, Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. Psa 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Psa 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. David will return to the Earth in his glorified resurrected body, and he already knew that being in the presence of the Lord is the very fulness of joy.

It’s just amazing to consider the magnitude of this moment when all the saints of old are resurrected from the grave. Just imagine. Adam and Eve walking the Earth again! Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, Moses, David, Solomon, Esther, Ruth, Rahab, Abigail – all back on the Earth again in new glorified, resurrected bodies. How many billions of people are we talking about? And here we are in our heavenly seats witnessing the resurrection of billions of saints. We will be seeing them, not just resurrected but also glorified, and we’re all experiencing the fulness of joy being in the Lord’s presence.

Isaiah had also famously written of this day of resurrection in Isa 25:8 when he wrote, He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. Isa 25:9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Isaiah would also write in Isa 26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

The Lord Himself would say of His people in Hos 13:14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. I love that verse. The Lord says He’ll kill death. He’ll be the destroyer of the grave, and He will never again see repentance in His people, because they will all be operating a perfect state of righteousness free from the presence of sin.

In one of my favorite verses, Ezekiel famously wrote in Eze 37:12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Eze 37:13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, Eze 37:14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD. Just jaw-dropping verses. They will know from experience the true power and authority of the Lord when He opens their graves, and He brings them up out of Sheol in their new glorified, resurrected bodies.

Plus, we might note from vs. 14, that they will also be filled with the Spirit. You might remember that in the OT to be filled with the Spirit was a form of partnership with the Spirit. They were sharing with the Spirit those supernatural qualities the Spirit possessed, gaining from the Spirit supernatural wisdom, knowledge, and they gained skills as well, in order to carry out the will of God, which could only be done in a miraculous fashion.

Not only will the saints be operating in new resurrected bodies freed from the presence of sin and they’ll be filled with the Spirit, living in perfect synergy with the Spirit, but there will also be great glory emanating from their bodies. Look at what Daniel wrote in Dan 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Dan 12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. That is a truly amazing verse. Daniel is talking about the literal glory of the resurrected saints, how some will shine as bright as the stars forever and ever. Why? Because they were wise. Wise about what? They were wise about turning many to righteousness. They shall be as bright as the stars for ever and ever.

C.R. Stam had an article about these verses called the Stars of Messiah’s Reign and he made the point about the wise here that they were “those who, understanding the prophetic plan and recognizing that God must judge sin, did something about it and labored to turn many to righteousness.” They are the ones who in their glorified resurrected bodies will shine the greatest in Christ’s kingdom on the Earth.

This moment of resurrection also marks the beginning of the new covenant that Jeremiah wrote about in Jer. 31. When God’s saints of old are resurrected in their new bodies, glorified, freed from the presence of sin, this is also the moment when He will put His law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be His people. I suspect that God putting His law in their inward parts is synonymous with being filled with the Spirit. But they will be in their new bodies perfectly righteous in thought, word, and deed. They will be operating in perfect synergy with the thoughts and the will of their Messiah, while also filled with the Holy Spirit, which means they’ll be sharing with the Spirit in all His knowledge and wisdom, and they’ll be moved to fulfill the law perfectly without having to memorize another Bible verse ever again. At the time of their resurrection there will be a oneness and a unity all the people will feel with their Messiah that they had never before even dreamed of experiencing.

We have another extraordinary moment in Rev. 14:1-5. Rev 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. Rev 14:2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: Rev 14:3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. Rev 14:4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. Rev 14:5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

I know the traditional, dispensational view is that sometime around the midway point, the 144,000 are raptured up into Heaven, and this is a portrait of them in Heaven singing to God. That’s not what these verses say. John writes in vs. 1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion. There’s only one mount Zion, the mount Sion. There are no verses referencing a heavenly Mount Zion. Zion means “stronghold of Jerusalem.” Zion is part of Jerusalem down here on the Earth, integral to the City of David, the City of God, here on the Earth. John is writing about this very moment after His Second Coming when the Lord is literally, physically standing atop His holy mountain in Zion here on Earth.

Look at Rev 14:2 And I heard a voice from heaven… John is not in Heaven. He is on the Earth hearing a voice come down from Heaven. John never, while he is in Heaven says, I heard a voice from heaven. You don’t say that. Of course, you heard a voice from heaven because you’re IN Heaven. You don’t say a voice is FROM Heaven when you are IN Heaven. When you say you hear a voice from Heaven, you’re on the Earth hearing this voice from another location and they’re identifying that other location – from Heaven. John here, in Rev. 14, is sharing something he witnessed taking place here on the Earth, which is a portrait of this beautiful moment after the Lord’s Second Coming to give hope to the believers.

Look at vs. 3. Rev 14:3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

And of course, the argument goes, “How do you explain the reference to the four beasts and the elders?” This means that the four beasts and the elders have relocated from the throne room in Heaven to stand before the Lord’s throne here on Mount Zion on the Earth. The four beasts and the elders will be with the Lord here on the earth all throughout His kingdom.

But this new song! This moment is just breathtaking. John wrote that the 144,000, the young tween Jewish males, they all together, all 144,000 of them sing together as it were a new song before the throne. John writes as it were. They sing as it were a new song. “As it were” conveys that something was like something else. It’s descriptive of a similarity. “This thing over here was kinda like this other thing over here but it wasn’t that other thing.”

In other words, the 144,000 were not singing a new song, but the way they sing this old praise song will be so extraordinary, so exquisite, it will feel like a brand new song. John’s describing a song that is sung so beautifully, no one in the universe has ever heard something so extraordinary. No song so gorgeous has ever been heard on the Earth.

John would say, no man could learn that song. No one is capable of replicating the extraordinary way the 144,000 will sing this song. Can you imagine? What would that even sound like? In fact, I’ll bet we’d have to be in our heavenly bodies in order for us to even properly hear and experience the depths of beauty of this song when it is sung. This song is the rightful praise to God for all the He is, and for His victory, and the rightness of all His ways after these 7 years of judgment. This is the praise that’s due Him after the victory at Armageddon, just as Israel had praised the Lord following the miracle at the Red Sea. This is a song expressing the triumph of God, the love of the people for Him, the gratitude for the salvation He brought, not only eternal life but also their deliverance from all their enemies, and now He has come down to the Earth. He has rightly reclaimed possession of the Earth from the devil. And He is set to rule this Earth with perfect righteousness.

Just imagine. We’re all in our heavenly seats. Christ is standing near His throne atop His holy mountain in Zion. The 144,000 are before His throne, now in their glorified bodies. Billions, of saints have been resurrected. And we altogether listen to the most beautiful song that has ever been sung upon the Earth, an old praise song that’s sung so extraordinarily it feels like a brand new song that no one can replicate, that only the 144,000 can sing. And we’re all filled with the fulness of joy being in the very presence of the Lord.

We cannot possibly comprehend right now the glory of all that we will be seeing in this moment, or the soul-stirring depths of musical genius we’ll be hearing, or even how overwhelming it must be to feel the fullness of joy being in His presence in that moment.

Ancient of Days

In Daniel 7, we’re given another amazing visual of the Lord’s throne atop Mount Zion with a few surprises.

Dan 7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. Dan 7:10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. Dan 7:11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. Dan 7:12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. Dan 7:13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 7:14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

The first thing Daniel tells us here, in Dan 7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down (all four beasts, the global Gentile kingdoms are cast down by God and the final antichrist kingdom, we last week saw cast down at Armageddon, and what follows this is the Lord taking His seat on His throne. Daniel writes in the second half of vs. 9), and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool…

Christ is called the Ancient of Days, an expression that essentially means the Everlasting One. And He finally sits upon His holy throne.

Notice that the Lord’s bloody garments are now pure white again by the time He sits on His throne. His garment was white as snow denotes the purity of His nature, the brightness of His majesty, and His uncorruptness in judgment.

The hair of his head like pure wool signifies the great honor due Him because of His wisdom and the rightness of all His judgments.

We’re also given this great visual of His throne here in vs. 9: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire, which is fascinating. His throne wasn’t a fiery flame but only like a fiery flame. Perhaps the brilliance of the Lord’s glory makes His throne have the appearance of a fiery flame even though it isn’t a fiery flame. We’ll find out when it happens, but of course, the fiery flame is visually expressive of the fact that His righteousness will now reign over the Earth, that nothing will escape His piercing judgment and the justice in His punishments.

We’re also told His throne has wheels as burning fire. I suspect these wheels may be intended to illustrate the efficient perfection of the operation of His heavenly government just like the wheels in Ezekiel 1. Not only that, but vs. 10 tells us that a fiery stream issued and came forth from before him… A watery river of fire pours out from the throne and cascades down His holy mountain. What’s the meaning of that? One commentator pointed out that this could be visually symbolic of the voluminous rapid-fire number of judgments Christ will make during His reign. It’s the volume and the rapid speed with which He issues His judgments, which can be either punishment represented by the fire or living water represented by the water, which is why it’s a river of fire flowing from His throne down His holy mountain.

Then we’re given a scene in which the scale and scope is so vast, we cannot comprehend the magnitude of it all. Daniel writes in vs. 7:10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him, and then he writes, thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

Here, Daniel seems to be describing a million angels serving Christ, which brings to mind the description of angels serving Christ when He came down to Sinai in Deu 33:2. We were told that he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. I suspect the Lord will have a lot of instructions for the million angels in order to get this world back in shape for His thousand-year reign. (That will probably be our first order of business in our roles in our heavenly seats. We’ll be instructing angels to help clean up the Earth in specific ways for the sake of the Lord’s kingdom.) Angels may also be ministering to the Lord in the sense that they’re carrying out His instructions, they’re bringing down from Heaven all His books needed for judgments, and carefully setting up His throne room atop that mountain, which in many ways may parallel the throne room in Heaven. And they may also be already clearing out the debris and rebuilding Jerusalem. Daniel also tells us that ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him, hundreds of millions of people stood before Him. Whether he’s talking about resurrected OT saints or the sheep and goat nations, I don’t think is so much the point as it is the fact that once the Lord sits on His throne, it is time for judgment.

We have in vs. 10 the reference to the books that were opened. You can’t help but think of the opened books at the Great White Throne judgment in Rev. 20. I don’t think this means that Daniel was talking about the Great White Throne but that the process of judging Israel first and the nations later will be similar to the process of judging unbelievers at the Great White Throne. Books will be opened. Everything done orderly. They’ll be judged according to their works.

Then we’re given this difficult passage in Dan 7:13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

A lot of people attribute this verse to be about Christ’s Second Coming again, but at this point in the vision, Christ is already here sitting on His throne. Daniel told us in vs. 9 the Ancient of days did sit. Christ is already here. He is already sitting on His throne. How can we be given another vision of His Second Coming when He’s already here?

And how do you explain like the Son of man? How can He be LIKE the Son of man if He IS the Son of Man?

Look at verse 13 again, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

How can Christ be brought TO the Ancient of Days if He IS the Ancient of Days? The end of that verse is very specific about where this person is brought. He is brought near Him and before Him. How can He be brought before Himself?

Well, some say, He’s not really brought near or before anybody. He’s just brought near to us. That makes no sense! That’s not what the verse says. He came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

I think this verse is saying that someone else who is like Christ comes down with the clouds of heaven, which are angels, and the angels brought this person from Heaven to the Ancient of days. They brought Him to Christ. They brought him near before him. They brought this other person near before Christ.

Who could this person be?

One writer tried to say Elijah, but there’s no way. He’d be with all the other saints who have just been resurrected. There’s only one answer. Who else in Heaven could possibly be like the Son of man?

God the Father.

What did the Lord say in Joh 14:9? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father… I’d suggest that the Father will make an appearance on the Earth when Christ sits on His throne atop Mount Zion.

Then we’re told in Dan 7:14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

Is this talking about the Lord or the Father? YES.

The Lord’s kingdom is the Father’s kingdom too. But what’s happening here is deeper than that. What’s happening here is that the Father has come down and He is personally before everyone giving His Son all dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him. And we’re going to be witnessing all of this from our heavenly seats! Just as the Father endorsed His Son at His baptism, so too, the Father will now at the beginning of the kingdom come down to personally and publicly endorse His Son once again giving Him all authority.

That is mind-blowing.

The Father comes down to the Earth! The Father publicly grants His Son all authority over the universe before the eyes of all the heavenly host, before the eyes of all of us, the Body of Christ, in our heavenly seats, before the eyes of all the 144,000, and billions of resurrected saints. Just imagine. The Father actually comes down from Heaven to speak again to the world about how well pleased He is with His Son. And He gives His Son all dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

And, of course, we know from Paul in 1 Cor. 15 that when it’s all over, when Christ subdues all enemies beneath His feet after the Great White Throne, then He is going to give everything back to His Father.

Conclusion

Just imagine this scene! We will be observing all of this from our heavenly seats. The Lord returns. His foot touches the Mount of Olives, and that entire mile-long mountain explodes. There is a great trumpet. The angels gather the elect from all around the globe, which are Jewish believers. The Lord marches up (or He’s carried up or He flies up) to the top of this massive new mountain in Zion in southeast Jerusalem.

Then we have nothing less than the long-awaited great day of resurrection.

We will watch as all the kingdom saints, all the saints of time past, all the Jewish remnant who were killed during the Tribulation, they’re all resurrected, millions, perhaps billions, and they’re all standing once again upon the surface of the Earth in their new, glorified, resurrected bodies. They’re freed from the presence of sin and filled with the Spirit.

And what do these resurrected saints first see?

Of course, they’ll see all of us filling the heavens with the glory of Christ. They’ll see millions of angels with us and with Christ serving Him in an orderly fashion. They’ll, of course, see the four beasts and the 24 elders. They’ll, of course, see the 144,000, the nucleus of the new nation of Israel. But what will grab all their attention will be Christ Himself in all His glory standing atop His new, massive, holy mountain of Zion in Jerusalem.

Perhaps one of the first experiences we’ll all have in this new world is we’ll hear the 144,000 sing as it were a new song. They’ll sing an old song of glory to God, sung so extraordinarily it’ll feel like a brand new song, the most gorgeous song ever sung on Earth, and the way they’ll sing this song will be so exquisite, no one could replicate it. What will that even sound like?

And we’ll see those hundreds of millions, perhaps even billions, of resurrected saints feeling the fulness of joy, overwhelming joy, weeping with joy, because they are now finally and for all time, standing in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in their new bodies never to be separated from Him ever again.

What will it be like to see the fullness of joy in the faces of billions of resurrected saints? What will it be like for us to be part of that moment, also feeling the overwhelming fulness of joy with them? And then Christ will take His seat on the throne. His throne has the appearance of a fiery flame with wheels as burning fire and shooting out from His throne is this watery river of fire cascading down His holy mountain of Zion.

Then angels bring the Father down from Heaven and He stands before His Son. And before the eyes of us all, He gives His Son all dominion and all authority and grants Him an eternal kingdom.

What happens after this?

The books are opened, Daniel told us. Israel, true Israel, they all get judged. They’re all given rewards and positions in His kingdom, according to their works, according to the quality of their service to Him when they were alive, much like what we’ll experience at the Bema Seat.

Andwe will to dive into all that on Friday.