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Father, thank you for giving us an exact and clear knowledge of your Word concerning the second coming of Christ with his saints upon the earth. Thank you for saving us from the wrath to come. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

The May 2019 teaching focused on Living the Great Mystery where Gentiles and Judeans are fellow heirs and the same body (see Ephesians 3:6). Colossians 1:27 tells us:

To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

We learned, in the May 2019 teaching, that God our Father formed the body of man and woman, made the soul, and created the spirit in man and woman. Once we die, our last breath returns to the air, our bodies return to the dust of the earth, and our spirit returns to God who gave it.

We also learned in the May 2019 teaching, during the first phase of Christ's second coming, he comes for his saints the born-again believers, the church of the body, those who have died since the day of Pentecost. During the first phase of Christ's second coming, the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then, we that are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. The born-again believers, the church of the body, meet Christ in the air; Christ does not come on the earth. The Bible instructs us that the corruptible (the dead) must put on incorruption, and the mortal (the living) must put on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:53). We are comforted by the hope of Christ's return and our gathering to him.

This month's teaching is on Living the Great Mystery: The second phase of the return is Christ's coming with his saints the born-again believers. And we answer the question, "Do the born-again believers go through the wrath documented in the book of Revelation?"

In the second phase of the return of Christ, he comes upon the earth with his saints. The coming of the Lord upon the earth with his saints during this second phase is the Greek word apokalupsis. Our English word is "apocalypse" translated "revelation." It is called "the day of the Lord" in the book of Revelation, when Christ comes with his saints. The day of the Lord does not refer to a day of the week as stated elsewhere in God's Word; it is a period shortly coming to pass when God will execute His flawless justice. He will right all wrongs. And His son, Jesus Christ, will rule on the earth in righteousness, power, and glory, ultimately subjecting himself to God, "that God may be all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:28).

Revelation 1:1 and 10:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants' things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. I (John) was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.

God gave John revelation concerning "things which must shortly come to pass," sometime in the future "on the Lord's day."

Let's look at 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11. We will start with verse 1:

But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.

No one knows the time and season when Christ will return with his saints on earth. Continue with 1 Thessalonians 5:2:

For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night [bold added].

The day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night for those people who are not looking for the return of Christ. Before they know what has happened, it will be all over with.

1 Thessalonians 5:3:

For when they [the people who are not looking for the return of Christ] shall say, peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

God's Word compares childbirth to how destruction comes upon them who are not looking for the return of Christ. This a simile, a figure of speech, involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind. It is used to make a description more emphatic or vivid. Childbirth came suddenly and without warning when the Bible was written.

1 Thessalonians 5:4-5:

But ye, brethren [the born-again believers], are not in darkness, that that day [the return of Christ] should overtake you as a thief [because you are looking for the return of Christ].

Ye [the born-again believers] are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

Once we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead, we shall be saved (Romans 10:9). We are born-again believers. See January 2016 teaching for more explanation.

Now that we are born-again of God's spirit, we are children of the light and we are exhorted to walk as children of the light (Ephesians 5:8). We are not of the night, nor of darkness; we are children of the day and therefore we are not to sleep as others sleep. We are to be awake, vigilant and sober.

Our Father God is light, and we are children of the light God! 1 John 1:5 tells us:

This then is the message which we have heard of him [God], and declare unto you [the born-again believers], that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

Let's return to 1 Thessalonians 5: 6-8:

Therefore, let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch [be awake, be vigilant] and be sober [nepho].

For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

But let us, who are of the day, be sober [nepho], putting on the breastplate of faith [believing] and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

The Greek word for "be sober" in verses 6 and 8 is "nepho," which is defined as to be temperate, moderate, not extreme or excessive, or to be circumspect. God is telling us who we are as His children and how we are to walk in our daily life. We are to be temperate and not extreme or excessive as we walk in God's Word. Ephesians 5:15 reinforces the "nepho" attitude and says, "See then that ye [the born-again believers] walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise."

Now look at this tremendous ninth verse 1 Thessalonians 5:9:

For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the born-again believers, God has not appointed us to wrath, judgement, and tribulation documented in the book of Revelation, but to obtain salvation (wholeness) by our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:10-11:

Who died for us [the born-again believers], that, whether we [the born-again believers] wake or sleep, we [the born-again believers] should live together with him.

Because of verse 10, verse 11 says:

Wherefore comfort yourselves [the born-again believers] together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

The verbs "comfort" and "edify" in this verse are in the imperative mood and present tense. The imperative mood means it's a command, and the present tense indicates continuous action. Who doesn't want to be comforted and edified on a continuous basis? It sure is a comfort and edification to me to know that I am not going through the wrath to come!

2 Thessalonians 2: 1-2:

Now we beseech you, brethren [the born-again believers], by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto [in] him,

That ye [the born-again believers] be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ [the day of the Lord] is at hand [is set in] [bold added].

Verse two explains that the false teachers forged a letter from Paul saying that the day of the Lord is here. Both verses encourage and exhort us to stay our minds on the Word, and not be swayed or distracted by worldly events or people.

In most of the Greek manuscripts, the word "Christ" is ho kurios, or "the Lord." In verse 2 above, the day of Christ is correctly translated as the day of the Lord.

Let's continue with 2 Thessalonians 2:3:

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [the day of the Lord] shall not come, except there comes a falling away first [a departure], and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.

The words "a falling away first" is a "departure," (2 Thessalonians 2:3) which indicates "the gathering together" (2 Thessalonians 2:1). In other translations before the King James translation in 1611, "a falling away first" is translated "a departure first." For reference, see the Cranmer Bible published in 1537, the Tyndale Bible published in 1539 and the Geneva Bible published in in 1560. This verse tells us the Church will be departed with Christ before the wrath of God's judgement.

To further collaborate this, the Greek words for "a falling away first" are he apostasia. The word "he" is the article "the." The prefix apo means "away from." "Stasia" means "to separate" or "draw out." He apostasia is a separation away from or a drawing out from among. It is the departure with Christ.

Therefore, the second phase of Christ's coming with his saints upon earth "shall not come, except there comes a falling away first [a departure], and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition" (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

2 Thessalonians 2:4-10 gives us more details:

Who opposeth and exalteth himself [the son of perdition] above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume [destroy] with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming [he apokalupsis]. Even him, who's coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

In the period of the wrath in the book of Revelation, the born-again believers will not experience the wrath of God's judgement. But don't take my word, let's go to God's Word and search the scriptures and see what the bible says in 1 Thessalonians 1:10:

And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us [the born-again believers] from the wrath to come.

More information is given in Romans 5: 8-9:

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

We the born-again believers are saved from the wrath to come through the Lord Jesus Christ! Glory hallelujah! To God be the glory what great things He has done through His son the Lord Jesus Christ!

Christ comes with his saints the born-again believers upon the earth in the second phase of his return. It is called "the day of the Lord" in the book of Revelations when Christ comes with his saints. Therefore, the second phase of Christ's coming with his saints upon earth "shall not come, except there comes a departure, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition" (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Consequently, the born-again believers are saved from the wrath to come documented in the book of Revelation. This brings great comfort to us as born-again believers. God's judgement as described in Revelations is not for us, the born-again believers. Praise the Lord!

Father, thank you, for saving us from the wrath to come through your son the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, thank you, for your Word, which makes known your will for your children. Father, I will praise your name for your loving kindness and for the truth of your Word, for you have magnified your Word above all your name. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Next month's teaching: Living the Great Mystery.

In the Lord,

Ministry of Reconciliation
Son of God through Jesus Christ
Ambassador for Christ

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