Please turn to the book of Acts.
Acts 1:11
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven?
This Jesus, Who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.
Please turn to the book of Revelation.
Revelation 19:6-10
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth.
Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.
And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they that are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are true words of God.
And I fell down before his feet to worship him. And he saith unto me, See thou do it not: I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus: worship God; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Revelation 21:1-7
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God:
And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away.
And He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true.
And He said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.
Revelation 22:16-17
I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright, the morning star.
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that heareth, let him say, Come. And he that is athirst, let him come: he that will, let him take the water of life freely.
May we have a further word of prayer.
Dear Lord, as we gather here unto Thy name, we praise and thank Thee for Thy faithfulness. Thou hast promised, “Where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in their midst.”
So, Lord, we know that Thou art here with us. We do pray, Lord, that Thou wilt enable us to remove our shoes and stand in the place of Thy bond-servants, that we may be able to hear what the Lord has to say to each one of us, to prepare us and to bring us into Thy very presence.
We praise and thank Thee, knowing that Thou art coming. Lord, we do pray that Thou wouldst so prepare each one of us that we can see Thee face to face, without regret and without shame, that we may glorify Thy name. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
We have been sharing together on this matter of the church and the kingdom.
First, we mentioned how the church is built by the kingdom. Our Lord Jesus said, “I will build My church upon this rock; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
We do acknowledge that the One Who really builds the church is our Lord Himself. But how does He build His church? He builds His church with living stones.
He builds His church with the life that He has given to each one of us. He builds His church through discipline. That is to say, everything that is in us which is not of Him, He will deal with until Christ is fully formed in each and every one of us.
This is the way He will build His church. That is the reason why we say it is the kingdom that builds the church.
The problem is this: why is it that, after all these twenty-some centuries, we find that the church is still not fully built? The only reason is that God’s people do not know the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens.
The gospel of the kingdom of the heavens must be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to the nations, and then the Bible says, “The end shall come.”
So, dear brothers and sisters, the kingdom is not just a term or a name. The kingdom is a reality. Christ is the King. He is not a nominal King; He is a real King.
As our King, He demands our absolute surrender. It is only under that condition that the principle of the kingdom can begin to work in our lives, to remove everything that is not of Christ and to build up Christ within each and every one of us, building us together.
Brothers and sisters, we need to remember how important the kingdom of the heavens is, because it is the only means by which the King will build up His church.
We also mentioned that it is the church that brings in the kingdom. When our Lord Jesus first came into this world—a foreign world, a world under a foreign rule—He came from heaven to bring the kingdom of the heavens upon this earth.
His first message was, “Repent: for the kingdom of the heavens hath drawn nigh.” Through His preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens, some people repented and put themselves under the absolute rule of Jesus the King.
In Matthew 11, the Lord Jesus said, “The kingdom of the heavens suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force.” Again, we say that the word violence is a mutual term. It depends on whom you do violence to.
If you do violence to other people, that is sinful. But if, by the grace of God, you are able to do violence to yourself—that is, to put yourself underneath instead of allowing yourself to rule over you—then the violent shall seize upon the kingdom.
On the one hand, positionally, we are all in the kingdom of the heavens, because Colossians 1 tells us that He “delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”
Positionally, all who believe in the Lord Jesus are in the kingdom of the heavens. But in our experience, are we really living as citizens of the kingdom of the heavens?
It is of absolute importance, brothers and sisters. As our Lord Jesus is building His church, the church has a tremendous responsibility.
The church is an overcoming church because the Head of the church is overcoming. On Calvary’s cross, He cast out the devil. He brought all His enemies to nought and made a public show of them.
The victory of our Lord Jesus is absolute. He denied Himself. He obeyed the Father even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
Our Lord Jesus came into this world as a man, and He overcame the enemy as a man. Now we are in the train of that victory.
The church is given the commission to continue that victory in this world—to continue to defeat the enemy in our lives.
How are we going to overcome? Not by ourselves. First, it is by the blood of the Lamb. We do realize our weakness, but thank God, the blood of our Lord Jesus cleanses us from all our sins.
There is no need for us to dwell upon our defeats. As soon as we fall, we get up through the blood of our Lord Jesus.
Second, it is by the word of their testimony. We do have a testimony to bear, and the testimony is: Jesus is Lord.
But to bear that testimony, there must be a reality. Is Jesus really our Lord? If He really is our Lord, then when we say, “Jesus is Lord,” there is authority behind it.
Third, they loved not their lives even unto death—and that is the death of the cross.
God is looking for His church to fulfill its mission: to bear the testimony of Jesus in spite of all the opposition that comes from the enemy.
We thank God because our Lord Jesus has overcome; therefore, we shall overcome. It is on that basis that we find the kingdom is brought in.
When you read Revelation 12, you find that the man-child is born, and immediately he is caught up to the throne.
You must remember that the air today is where the enemy has his headquarters. But that man-child can go through the air, up to heaven, to the throne. That means he has overcome Satan; he has overcome the enemy.
As soon as he reaches the throne, what happens? The Bible tells us that Michael and his angels will come and fight with Satan and his followers in the air. There will be no more room in the air for Satan. He will be thrown down with his followers upon the earth.
The air will be cleared. For what reason? That the air may be cleared to receive our Lord Jesus, Who will come from the throne to the air.
When Satan is cast down upon the earth, and the man of sin, the beast, and the false prophet—all this trinity of evil—are upon the earth, what will happen to this earth? The great tribulation.
So, brothers and sisters, we find how important it is for the church to be completed so that the kingdom might come.
This morning we would like to share together on how the kingdom and the church merge into one.
I believe, brothers and sisters, we all know that our Lord Jesus is coming soon. The expectation is there. But the question is: how will He come back?
Will it be that one day the trumpet sounds, the angels shout, and our Lord Jesus comes from heaven to this earth with His followers? Every eye shall see Him. Is that the way He is coming?
There are a number of hymns that we have been singing. When they speak of the coming of the Lord, usually they sing of how the trumpets sound, how the angels shout, and how our Lord Jesus comes with a great train.
Brothers and sisters, is this the way that He will come? Are you expecting that? Do you wait for that day to come?
If you read the Word of God very carefully, you will find that His coming is in two stages.
This is the way He went to heaven. In Acts 1, after the resurrection of our Lord, when He had appeared to His disciples for forty days, He led them out to Mount Olivet. There He ascended up to heaven.
What was the scene at that time? The disciples were with Him. They saw how His feet ascended from Mount Olivet and went upward. They all saw Him going.
But while they were looking upon Him, a cloud came and received Him. They could not see Him anymore, but surely He was still ascending.
As they continued to look up, two men in white appeared to them and said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking up in this way?” The One Who is leaving, He will come back in like manner.
In other words, He will come back in the same way as He left. When He was leaving, He left in two stages. The first stage was from Mount Olivet to the cloud—visible. Every eye saw Him.
But the second stage, from the cloud to the throne, was invisible. Though it was invisible, yet we know that He arrived there. Why? Because on the day of Pentecost, we find that He was already crowned and anointed, and out of His Head came the anointing oil upon the one hundred twenty believers who were meeting there.
In Scripture, when you read about the coming of the Lord, the word coming, especially in Matthew 24, is the Greek word parousia. Those who know Greek tell us that parousia means presence.
But presence is not merely a one-time event. Parousia is a series of events within a certain period of time.
In Matthew 24, the Bible says that the coming of the Lord is like the days of Noah. When Noah entered into the ark, suddenly the people became aware of it, and the storm came.
Or, as Luke 17 tells us, it is like Lot. As soon as he fled from Sodom, the fire came down and burned up the cities.
In the days of Noah, people were marrying and giving in marriage. People were busy in business. Everything seemed to be usual, and suddenly it happened.
Likewise, in the days of Lot, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, building and so forth. Everything seemed to be going on as usual, but as soon as Lot went out, the fire came down.
The coming of the Lord is like those days. So far as the world is concerned, they are still sleeping, because they are sons of the night and of darkness. But we, who are sons of the day and sons of light, should not be like that.
During that first stage, from the throne to the cloud, His coming is invisible. That is the reason why He used the illustration of a thief.
He says His coming is like a thief. Why is it so? Because no thief will blow a trumpet and say, “I am coming.” Strangely, it is as if the thief knows the very hour that you are not watching. Then he comes suddenly, and he goes.
Our Lord Jesus said that when two men are sleeping in bed, suddenly one is taken and one is left. Two women are grinding meal in the morning; suddenly one is taken and one is left. Two men are working in the field; suddenly one is taken and one is left.
Brothers and sisters, this is the way the Lord shall come during the first stage. It is hidden. He will come as a thief.
But may I ask you a question? When the thief comes, what is he looking for? What will he take? Will he go and take your garbage? I hope he will come every night.
Strangely, it seems as if the thief always knows where your treasure is. He goes for your treasure and leaves your trash.
When our Lord Jesus comes, why are there two? Because two is the minimum of plurality. It is a type of the church. He speaks of God’s people who are living at the time of His coming.
Throughout the centuries, many who loved the Lord and belonged to the Lord have gone to sleep. They have died. They were waiting for the Lord in their time.
I sincerely believe that in the first century people were looking for the coming of the Lord, and they were not mistaken. The Lord could have come during the first century. Why did He not come? Because the bride was not ready.
He was ever ready, but it seems as if we are never ready. He has waited and waited for twenty centuries, and we are still not ready yet.
These two represent the Christians who are living at the time of the coming of the Lord. Why are there two women in the morning grinding meal, two at noontime working in the field, and two sleeping?
Because the earth is round. In one place it is morning; in another place it is noontime; in another place it is night.
When everything, so far as the world is concerned, seems to go on as usual—eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, building—suddenly, one day, the man-child is born. As soon as he is born, he is caught up to the throne.
How about the remaining ten? We know the number of the church is twelve. You have twelve disciples; that is a complete number. Here you have the two in Matthew 24, those living at the time of the coming of the Lord. How about the other ten?
Look at Matthew 25, and you find the ten virgins. There you find that the kingdom of the heavens at that time is like ten virgins.
They are called virgins because they have been saved out of the world. People in the world are adulterous, but virgins refer to Christians, because He has cleansed us and set us apart for Himself.
So we are as chaste virgins waiting for our Bridegroom. These ten virgins were waiting, and they had torches with them.
The five wise ones had extra oil in their vessels. The five foolish ones had oil in their torches, but they did not prepare extra oil in their vessels.
Probably they had filled their vessels with gold and silver and things that they considered precious to their lives. But as they waited for the Lord, the Lord seemed to delay, so they all fell asleep.
Here, falling asleep speaks of the death of believers, because the death of believers is like sleep. One day, we will wake up and see our Lord’s face.
The ten virgins actually represent those believers who waited for the Lord, but the Lord did not return in their lifetime, and they passed away. Thank God, they will be awakened.
The Lord will come like a thief. Only those who are waiting, watching, and preparing—those who do not allow things on this earth to pull them down and fashion them to the world—will hear the call, “Come up,” and will be taken.
So far as we Christians are concerned, this is the time for which we are looking.
Immediately after they ascend to the throne as the welcoming party for the Lord Jesus, there will be war in the air. Satan will be thrown down upon this earth, and the air will be cleared for our Lord Jesus to descend from the throne to the air, waiting for the rest of His people.
During that period, there will be great tribulation upon this earth. As we find in Revelation 3, the promise to the church in Philadelphia is that, because they overcame, they will be kept out of the hour of that great tribulation. When the great tribulation comes, they will already be gone.
But Christians who are not watching, who are all tied down by this earth, will have to go through great tribulation. Terrible.
Yet, so far as God’s purpose is concerned, it is God’s mercy. It is as if God gives Christians another opportunity.
In that terrible situation, will they stand firm for the Lord and not worship the idol? Will they refuse to receive the mark of the beast? Will they rather die without eating than deny their faith?
God gives them another opportunity to overcome. Thank God, out of the great tribulation there will be overcomers coming out, as it were, of defeat. But what tribulation they will have to pass through.
Before His return, we find in 1 Thessalonians 4 that all those who are asleep in Christ Jesus will be awakened, and those who remain on earth will be caught up together with them. Where? To the air, not to the throne, because the Lord is already there, waiting for them.
What happens during that period? You find in Scripture the judgment seat of Christ.
Thank God, we who have been saved are saved from the great white throne judgment. One day a great white throne will be set up, and it is a governmental judgment. It is a judgment of eternal life or eternal death.
But we who believe in the Lord Jesus, who have received the Lord Jesus as our Savior, know that He was judged for us on Calvary’s cross. Therefore, that judgment is no longer ours.
Thank God, we have been saved from the great white throne judgment, because eternal life has already been settled. But that does not mean that God’s people will not be judged.
There will be a family judgment. It is not called a throne, because a throne is governmental. It is called a bema, a seat—the judgment seat.
You have to understand Eastern culture. In the Eastern world, they have large families. Several generations live together in one large family. I came from such a family.
The head of the family, perhaps the grandfather, is in control over the whole family. He supports the whole family.
One day, or from time to time, they will have a family meeting. All the members of the family will be called together. Only those who are in the family will attend that meeting. If you are not of the family, you are not qualified to attend.
The head of the family will sit on a bema, a raised place, and the family members will stand before him. There will be a family judgment.
Those children who have brought glory and honor to the family will be commended and even rewarded. But those members of the family who have brought shame and reproach to the family will not only be blamed, but even disciplined.
That is the judgment seat of Christ. At the judgment seat, it will be decided whether you are worthy to rule and reign with Christ when the kingdom of the heavens publicly appears upon this earth.
If you are not qualified, you will be cast into outer darkness. You remember this is what happened to the five foolish virgins. The door was shut, and they could not enter into the marriage feast.
They were in darkness, gnashing their teeth and regretting that for the love of a few hours of their life, they lost their life.
Brothers and sisters, do not think that any one of us will totally escape the discipline of the Lord.
God is like a Father. A good father would never fail to discipline his sons, because without discipline people never grow up to manhood or womanhood.
If we deny or refuse discipline today, one day, during the kingdom age, He will still discipline us. Why? Because if you read Romans 8, whom He foreknew, He called; whom He called, He justified; whom He justified, He glorified.
In other words, everyone who is called, He will see to it that they are conformed to the image of His beloved Son.
So, dear brothers and sisters, do not despise the discipline of the Father today. If you do, you will need to be disciplined during the kingdom age.
Only after the judgment seat of Christ is over will the events upon this earth proceed further.
After all the Christians have been raptured to the air, what happens upon this earth? The Bible tells us about the seven vials—the wrath of God.
During the time of the judgment seat of Christ in the air, upon the earth there will be the pouring forth of the wrath of God.
At the end of this, there will be the last war: the war of Armageddon. Satan will lead all the nations to rebel against God, and Christ will come with His overcomers to this earth to fight that battle.
As the Bible says, there will be a great earthquake. Jerusalem will be broken in two. But thank God, those among the chosen people who trust the Lord, God will open a way for them to escape.
When the feet of our Lord Jesus come upon Mount Olivet, Mount Olivet will be broken in two and will open the way for His chosen people to flee from disaster.
Christ will come and cast the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire. Satan will be bound and shut up in the abyss for one thousand years.
Our Lord Jesus will judge the nations. The sheep nations—those who treated the Lord’s little brethren well—will be received into the kingdom of God on earth as nations.
During that period, brothers and sisters, those overcomers will reign and rule with Christ from the air over the earth. The nation of Israel will become the first of the nations, and they will go out and evangelize the world.
That is the glorious future.
When you read the Bible, do you notice that in Revelation there are two marriages at the end?
In Revelation 19, you find the first marriage. The wife of the Lamb is ready. She is given to be clothed with bright, shining linen, which is the righteousness of the saints.
This is what we find in Matthew 24 and 25. When the marriage feast comes, the Bridegroom has returned, and the five wise ones enter into the marriage feast, and the door is closed.
When does that marriage happen? You find that this marriage actually begins the millennium. It introduces, as it were, the millennium.
So our question is: who composes this wife of the Lamb who will be with Him throughout the thousand years?
When you read Revelation 21, there is another marriage, as it were. It does not say marriage, but it says that the bride of the Lamb is ready. It is the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven as a bride for the Lamb.
When does that happen? It happens one thousand years later, because this is an introduction into the eternity to come.
Actually, you have two marriages here—perhaps one, but it continues on and seems to be broadened.
To me, I feel—I do not know whether you will agree with me or not—but as I read it, I ask this question: who is the bride, the wife of the Lamb, in Revelation 19? Is she different from the one in Revelation 21?
To my understanding, I feel there is a difference.
In Revelation 19, this is before the millennium, and the wife of the Lamb is composed of the overcomers of the church.
The overcomers do not overcome merely for themselves. The overcomers overcome for the whole church, as the firstfruits. When you have the firstfruits, then you know you have the harvest.
I think it is a great privilege. By the grace of God, you can be raptured to the throne. You can be among the firstfruits, and there you will be the wife of the Lamb throughout the millennium time.
You will rule and reign with Him from heaven over the earth.
But when you come to Revelation 21, you find that it is the beginning of eternity. The old heavens and the old earth have passed away, and there you find New Jerusalem descending down from heaven as a bride of the Lamb.
When you read it carefully, you find that this New Jerusalem is the consummation of all the works of God throughout the centuries.
It is a gathering together of all the work of Christ, including the Jews and the Gentiles, the church—all together.
Why? Because when you read it, you find that New Jerusalem has twelve gates, twelve pearls, and the twelve names of the tribes of Israel. That is to say, all the work of God in the Old Testament is gathered there.
Then you find twelve foundations, with the names of the apostles. So all that the Lord has done in the New Testament times is gathered there.
It is a great coming together of all the work of God throughout the centuries. That will be the bride, the eternal bride, of our Lord Jesus.
It is a city foursquare, of amazing capacity: twelve thousand stadia in length, breadth, and height.
One stadion is about one-eighth of an English mile, so you can compute how large it is. We have never seen such a great city before. What the Lord has done is tremendous.
The wall is one hundred forty-four cubits. A cubit is the length of the arm from the elbow to the fingertip.
We know that in the garden of Eden there was no wall. Why? Because God wanted Adam to be the wall. He said, “You guard it.” But he failed.
But in New Jerusalem, you have a huge wall, complete, because it is a multiple of twelve: perfection. The separation there is perfect.
The wall is made of jasper. In Revelation 4, you find that the One Who sits on the throne is like a jasper. In other words, it is the life of God that is the wall.
There is no temple there, because God and His Son are the temple. The whole city is a temple.
God’s throne is there. There is a river of life coming down from the throne throughout the whole city, and the tree of life is everywhere.
In other words, it is a city of life—God’s life. His life is all.
There is the river, the river of life, flowing through the whole city. His servants shall serve Him day and night and have His name upon their foreheads. They shall see His face.
There is no need of light, because God is the light, and the Lamb is the lamp.
There is no longer death, no longer tears. The Lord said, “I make all things new.”
Brothers and sisters, this is eternity. This is where we find the church and the kingdom merged into one.
This is our future. Thank God for that.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, what Thou hast prepared for us is beyond our imagination. Thou art the God of glory, and nothing but glory will satisfy Thy heart.
So, Lord, here we are. We are full of shame, but Thou art able to transform us from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit.
O dear Lord, give us a strong desire to put ourselves in Thy hand and allow Thee to work out Thy full salvation, Thy glorious salvation, upon each and every one of us.
Deliver us, Lord, from living for ourselves. Give us the strong desire that, for us to live, is Christ.
O dear Lord, may Thy will be done in us as it is in heaven. May glory be unto Thee. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Thank you.