Kingdom Come

1. Many shall come in my YHVH’s Savior’s name  / attributes of spiritual salvation and shall deceive many who choose self-serving over righteousness inescapably leading to
2. Great tribulation on YHVH’s people who shall fall by the sword, by flame, by captivity, and by spoil…to try them and to purge and to make them white, leading to
3. Religious leaders taking offense at any associated possible tribulation, betraying and hating YHVH’s people leading to
4. Rise of false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect, leading to
5. Evil servants of the Lord shall eat and drink with the ungodly, therefore leading their flock astray from the truth, and the LORD “shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites / unbelievers: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 
6. Virgin / innocent but foolish and unprepared persons will miss out on the LORD’s coming, i.e. deliverance from that time of trouble – but not necessarily eternity in heaven. 
7. Slothful and unprofitable servants who did not use their God-given gifts to serve their Lord will be cast into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24-25).

What is this outer darkness? I’ve heard it taught as an eternal fate, but I don’t find this in scripture.

By sticking with a hermeneutical and literary analysis, the only outer space at this time  is outside of heaven.

In other words, Left Behind on earth, which has been covered in darkness since “he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;” (Revelation 6:12)

The conditions on earth can certainly be expected to be a chaos of screaming hordes rushing to be let into the safety net when the true Savior not only comes down from heaven to earth – but more importantly – returns to heaven with his people!

When I parallel the talking points in Matthew 24-25 with the detailed documentation in Revelation 15-20, I conclude that the evil servants, innocent but lost persons, and unprofitable servants who don’t get caught up in the clouds get left behind for even more terrible tribulation poured out from God’s vials of wrath.

As a parent I punished / chastened my children when they defied me – for their benefit, when they were young, so they didn’t suffer harsher consequences of misbehavior as they got older. The fundamental explanation I always gave them was that they needed to trust that I loved them and was protecting them from future grievous harm with a simple lesson their young minds could understand. As they got older and out of range of my parenting, I had to watch them suffer the consequences of their bad choices. And it seems that God’s wrath is what it takes for some folks to finally make the right choices to turn from wickedness.

“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened [obviously in contrast to its previously darkened condition] with his glory / victory over the darkness. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird…

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Revelation 18)

“For God hath not appointed / assigned / laid for a long time as in a tomb us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,” (I Thessalonians 5:9)

Note – “not appointed” does not guarantee “not experiencing”. As detailed in relevant posts, salvation is not simply obtained by “asking Jesus to come into your heart.” It is identifying with the Savior in his mindset, morality and actions. Contemporary Christians who are unrecognizable from their godless friends have one last chance to make a stand for God.

‘For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness…

Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things…And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

• To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
• But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,” (Romans 1:18, 2:2-8)

In the covenant made with the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai, the LORD dictated the terms of judgment imposed on the people who agree to, BUT THEN DEFY, his covenant to be his family / nation.

“IF ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, THEN ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 

• Thou shalt have no other gods before me. He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed.” (Exodus 22:20)

In the context of these last days, this applies to those who choose to take the mark of the Beast.

But even at this time the LORD offers a last chance.

• If thou wilt not…do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day…the LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke…because of the wickedness…whereby thou hast forsaken me.” (Deuteronomy 28)
• Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.” (Psalm 85:1-3)

The evidence to back up this explanation of “outer darkness” is found – of course – in previous scripture.

In what can only be considered a legal brief, the ancient scribe detailed the facts of the case and the laws that apply to judgment imposing utter desolation against the nation of Judah.

“Manasseh…did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD

“Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign…And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father / authority as well as ancestor…And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses;

“Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. 

And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.” II Kings 23

Shortly after King Josiah’s death the Babylonians rose to power and King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon carried out the desolation called for in judgment:

• destroyed Solomon’s magnificent Temple to eliminate not just the status but the hyperdimensional link to this nations’ empowering God,
• razed the city
• forcibly removed from Judah and resettled in Mesopotamia (rendered in the Bible simply as “Babylon”) the majority of the Jewish population.
• The former territory of Judah became a Babylonian province called Yehud with its center in Mizpah, north of the destroyed Jerusalem.

The Davidic dynasty continued as head of Babylonian Jewry, called the “Rosh Galut” (exil-arch or head of exile). According to the Seder Olam Zuta, Shealtiel was considered the first exilarch, consistent with I Chronicles’ report that Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, son of Jeconiah, returned to Jerusalem by permission of the Persian King Cyrus to rebuild the Temple of the God / El / Power of a restored Isra-el / Prince of El.

And following this pattern, there will be some who put their faith in the Almighty God who rescues his people through resurrection and the rapture. Too late to be part of the rapture, but they prove their faith in Almighty God, like Job, by accepting the suffering they experience at his command.

It certainly helps if they’ve read Job.

“What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” (Job 2:10)

“And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

1. and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image [this indicates that there are still those who did not take the mark of the beast]
2. the sea…became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea
3. the rivers and fountains of waters…became blood.
4. the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. [This cannot be taken to mean “all” men repented not, ergo there are those who are].
5. the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. [Reference to “the beast’s” kingdom indicates there is territory outside of the beast’s control].
6. the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared…three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet…the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” (Revelation 16)

This statement confirms that there are people who survive God’s wrath. Fast forward a few chapters to pick up their destiny – living in a devastated world, assigned dominion to restore exactly as the first two humans / ha-Adams. See relevant posts on the Days of Thunder.

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan…And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

And I saw

1. the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. 
2. the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth – these are the mortal humans who survived the vials of wrath by trusting God even while experiencing his wrath.

“he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.

For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed…They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.” (Isaiah 65)