Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Coming Down In The Tribulation Judgments

"And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites." (Exo. 3: 7-8)

"I have come down" was said at the time of the commissioning of Moses. It also shows that God had come to deliver them and that he was "present" in the judgments sent upon the Egyptians. 

So too with regard to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he "comes down" the second time. He will be "present" in the judgments of the Apocalypse and Great Tribulation and his presence will be fully manifested when he appears in his glorified body, when he sets his foot upon the Mount of Olives and brings forth his armies to destroy the Antichrist and his followers. The judgments (plagues, catastrophes, etc.) will come from God, will find him present in them. He will come in judgment before he comes in the glorified person of Christ (Rev. 19). 

It is an interesting play on words: "I am come down to bring them up." So too with regard to both the first and second coming of Christ. He came down the first time so that we might be brought up to heaven. He will come down the second time to take us up to himself.

The point of this posting is to say that we, as believers, should recognize that the Lord has come when we see his wrath being poured out in the evils of the great tribulation period, that hour which will test all who dwell upon the earth. (Rev. 3: 10) In Revelation chapter six, under the breaking of the sixth seal, when the calamities are so great, we have this record:

"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" (6: 15-17)

When his wrath comes, the Lord comes. His coming in wrath and judgment will precede his full coming, his bodily coming, in Revelation 19. When the two witnesses are here, when the 144,000 are here, Christ too is here in them. Don't you see? 

See my posting "How Long Is The "Coming" of Christ?" (here) for more information on this.

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