'Whoever will introduce into public affairs the principles of Christianity will change the face of the world' - Benjamin Franklin
That one of course will be Jesus!
The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom that Jesus preached about and that we all pray for in the Lord's prayer:
9 Our father which art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
10 Thy kingdom come (Matthew 6 - King James Version)
There is no point in praying for it to come if you do not know what it is. It also helps to know when it actually does come! Jesus gave his disciples and us the signs of the times in Matthew 24, to alert us to the general period in which it would come. He describes these signs in answer to the questions below:
3 While he was sitting upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples
approached him privately, saying: Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your
presence and of the conclusion of the system of things? (Matthew 24).
Just that one word 'privately' and that demand 'Tell us' shows that only his
disciples will know when these things will be. So being blunt, if only we, the
LWs, know precisely when these things will be, know precisely when the
conclusion of this system of things will be, then only we, the LWs, are his 'disciples' at this time. Although
in truth, many faithful Christians have recognised that the signs of the times are
currently being exhibited. Part of his answer was:
14 And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the
inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come
(Matthew 24).
The 'end', in the largest meaning of this scripture, is the end of 'this system
of things', which obviously is the start of the next system of things. And the
next or coming system of things is the Kingdom of God.
29 He said to them: Truly I say to you, There is no one who has
left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of
God
30 who will not in any way get many times more in this period of time, and in the
coming system of things everlasting life (Luke 18).
Paul describes the order of events as follows:
22 For just as in Adam all are dying, so also in the Christ all
will be made alive.
23 But each one in his own rank: Christ, the firstfruits, afterward those who belong to the Christ during his
presence.
24 Next, the end, when he hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when he has brought to nothing all government and all
authority and power (1 Corinthians 15 - NWT adapted from Greek).
So we have a resurrection of those who belong to Christ during his presence, a
presence which occurs just before the end of this system of things (these are
the first new covenant saints). Then we have
'the end' when Jesus hands over the Kingdom, which is removed from Satan, to his
father God, thereby starting the kingdom of God. Armageddon is the battle
wherein Jesus brings to nothing all government and all authority and power of
this system of things. There is a resurrection of everyone who has even been in
a true religion of who has ever had sincere faith at this time. This
resurrection occurs at the time referred to as 'next the end'. For we are all Jesus' friends,
friends of the bridegroom, friends of the mediator of the New Covenant, and so we all attend the marriage of the lamb in
heaven after Armageddon, once Jesus has seen off the bad guys. This is called 'the end of the world' but it isn't the
end of the planet and neither is it the end of life on the planet. It is rather
then end of the present system of things, a system very much in the hands of
Satan. A politically incorrect statement to make, but of course we are not
politicians we are Christians, and the Christian position, one of truth and
insight, is laid out by St. Paul, as usual:
3 If, now, the good news we declare is in fact veiled, it is veiled
among those who are perishing,
4 among whom the God of this system of things has blinded the
minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the
Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through (2 Corinthians 4).
The God of this system of things is Satan. He is 'the ruler of the world' for
Jesus said, just before he died:
30 I shall not speak much with you anymore, for the ruler of the
world is coming. And he has no hold on me (John 14).
But this ruler will be chucked out:
31 Now there is a judging of this world; now the ruler of this
world will be cast out (John 12).
In fact he is locked up for the duration of the kingdom of God, as we
shall see below. He is deposed immediately before the battle of Armageddon and
incarcerated immediately after it.
So the end of the world, is the end of his world, not the end of the planet. It is the end of his system of things which is the current system of things, a system which started at the founding of the world. The founding of the world was the start of the 7th creative day of Genesis, when God rested from his creative works:
3 For we who have exercised faith do enter into the rest, just as
he has said: So I swore in my anger, They shall not enter into my rest, although
his works were finished from the founding of the world (Hebrew 4).
God's last creative act was to make some clothes for Adam and Eve at the time of
their sin:
21 And Jehovah God proceeded to make long garments of skin for Adam
and for his wife and to clothe them (Genesis 3).
This scripture is literally true, God did make them both clothes. But it also
has a greater meaning, a cryptic meaning, a Times crossword meaning. He made
them new bodies that lasted a long time, 930 years in the case of Adam, a very
long garment of skin! Whereas in the Garden of Eden, Adam had an indefinitely
long garment of skin! A body that did not age. So Adam's sin was the founding of
the World, the beginning of the current system of things. And the God of this
system of things, the ruler of this world is Satan, whose name is death. This is how Satan was able
to offer all the kingdoms of the world to Jesus, if he would perform one act of
worship to him:
5 So he brought him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the
inhabited earth in an instant of time.
6 And the Devil said to him: I will give you all this authority and the glory of them, because it has been delivered to me, and to
whomever I wish I give it.
7 You, therefore, if you do an act of worship before me, it will all be yours.
8 In reply Jesus said to him: It is written, It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred
service (Luke 4).
Jesus did not say, who are you kidding? You do not own any kingdoms! He knew that Satan did have these
kingdoms to give. Having received them at the founding of the world. But Jesus was not interested in status, and did not want to be
first lieutenant to a lying murderer. He was interested in love. Love for his father
and love for his brothers. He was down here not for his benefit but for our benefit.
A concept that Satan cannot accept, because by doing so he would condemn
himself. But he did accept it briefly when Jesus died. And he condemned himself,
saying: I sinned when I betrayed righteous blood. Then he committing suicide whilst demonically possessing Judas. But God resurrected
him actually through Jesus!
3 Then Judas, who betrayed him, seeing he had been condemned, felt
remorse and turned the 30 silver pieces back to the chief priests and older men,
4 saying: I sinned when I betrayed righteous blood. They said:
What is that to us? You must see to that!
5 So he threw the silver pieces into the temple and withdrew, and
went off and hanged himself (Matthew 27).
It is of course a huge realisation that Satan is the god of
this system of things and the ruler of the world. And we appreciate that if this
concept is new to the reader it may cause some serious consternation. But
remember that Satan can only act within prescribed limits set by God. God is the
referee here, and Satan is just a very dirty team captain, he is not the head of
FIFA (although some might disagree). But he does have a lot of supporters.
God only allows Satan's continued existence and authority in order that we can learn from him without having ourselves to become like him. But nonetheless the world is the Titanic and Satan is the captain, and our lawlessnes is the iceberg, but Jesus is the lifeboat. However in his case it will not be the rich ones who get in first, whilst the poor are locked in below, in fact quite the reverse. Anyone and everyone who wants to get in and be saved, will be, and the rich, because they falsely believe that they have got it made already, will, in general find it harder to leave their comfort zone (oartly because it has more comfort in it!) They can be trapped by their own physical success. Come on guys, wake up!! In fact the scripture says, and Jesus himself quoted it to his home synagogue:
17 So the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed him, and he
opened the scroll and found the place where it was written:
18 Jehovah's spirit is upon me, because he anointed me to declare good news to the
poor, he sent me forth to preach a release to the captives and a recovery of sight to the blind, to send the
crushed ones away with a release,
19 to preach Jehovah's acceptable year.
20 With that he rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were
intently fixed upon him.
21 Then he started to say to them: Today this scripture that you just heard is
fulfilled (Luke 4).
So when Jesus was asked by Pontius Pilate, are you a King? God's favourite son replied:
36 My kingdom is no part of this world. If my kingdom were part of this world, my attendants would have
fought that I should not be delivered up to the Jews. But, as it is, my kingdom is not from this
source (John 18).
Whereas his apostle, John, said:
17 Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its
desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever (1 John 2).
So the world passes away to make room for the Kingdom of God. It was Eve's desire for Satan's status
that kicked off 'The World', and Adam's desire for
Eve's body kicked off death. But this new Kingdom of God is the final whistle on the
World.
And the end of the Kingdom of God is the final whistle on death. Here
we have the first and the second Eden, the problem, and the resolution. 'The
World' is the period between the two. The World is the primary school, the
Kingdom of God is the secondary school. And although the Kingdom of God will
have much more glory that the World ever had, the scripture remains saying:
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten
son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life (John
3).
Everlasting life in the Kingdom of God and thereafter.
To see what this kingdom will be like we have the prophecy of Isaiah 65:
17 For here I am creating a new heavens and a new earth…
20 no
more will there come to be a suckling a few days old from that place, neither an
old man that does not fulfill his days, for one will die as a mere boy although
a hundred years of age. And as for the sinner, although a hundred years of age
he will have evil called down upon him (Isaiah 65)
This is very carefully worded. Babies and old men will not die during this kingdom, but sinners will. In other words people will not die of old age, and they will not die of illness, sickness, frailty, but they may die due to sin. Humans of 100 years old will be considered boys and will die not of old age but will die for life abusing sins. ‘New heavens’ does not mean a new physical universe, it means rather a new heavenly rulership for men. A new set of angels ruling over us.
21 And they will certainly build houses and have occupancy, and they will
certainly plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They will not build and someone
else have occupancy, they will not plant and someone else do the eating. For like
the days of a tree will the days of my people be (Isaiah 65).
Trees can live for thousands of years (The sequoia tree lives for 2,000). There will be no economic slavery in this kingdom. A man will taste the fruits of his own labour himself.
Every miracle the Jesus performed, curing the blind, the lame, the deaf, the dumb, the sick, the demonized etc is an advert for the Kingdom of God where such cures will be taken for granted. Likewise in Acts 5, when Peter knew from the holy spirit the Ananias and Sapphira had cheated on the holy spirit and lied, this is an advert for the angels seeing everything and telling the judges in the Kingdom about it. So we will have a perfect angelic detective agency.
1 However, a certain man, Ananias by name, together with Sapphira
his wife, sold a possession
2 and secretly held back some of the price, his wife also knowing
about it, and he brought just a part and deposited it at the feet of the
apostles.
3 But Peter said: Ananias, why has Satan emboldened you to play
false to the holy spirit and to hold back secretly some of the price of the field?
4 As long as it remained with you did it not remain yours, and
after it was sold did it not continue in your control? Why was it
that you purposed such a deed as this in your heart? You have played false, not to men, but to
God.
5 On hearing these words Ananias fell down and expired. And great
fear came over all those hearing of it (Acts 5).
These are just a few words of prophecy but they describe one hell of a kingdom (if you’ll pardon the metaphor). The apostle Peter says of this kingdom:
3 For you know this first, that in the last days there will come ridiculers
with their ridicule, proceeding according to their own desires
4 and saying: Where
is this promised presence of his? Why, from the day our forefathers fell asleep
[in death], all things are continuing exactly as from creation's beginning.
5 For, according to their wish, this fact escapes their notice, that there were
heavens from of old and an earth standing compactly out of water and in the
midst of water by the word of God;
6 and by those [means] the world of that time
suffered destruction when it was deluged with water.
7 But by the same word the heavens and the earth that are now are stored up for
fire and are being reserved to the day of judgment and of destruction of the
ungodly men.
8 However, let this one fact not be escaping your notice, beloved ones, that
one day is with [the] Lord as 1,000 years and 1,000 years as one day.
9 [The] Lord is not slow respecting his promise, as some people consider
slowness, but he is patient with you because he does not desire any to be
destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance.
10 Yet [the] Lord’s day will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass
away with a hissing noise, but the elements being intensely hot will be
dissolved, and earth and the works in it will be discovered.
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought
you to be in holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion,
12 awaiting and
keeping close in mind the presence of the day of Jehovah, through which [the]
heavens being on fire will be dissolved and [the] elements being intensely hot
will melt!
13 But there are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to
his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell (2 Peter 3).
So just as the world was destroyed by the flood of Noah, so it will be again by the fire of Armageddon, which is actually a flood of lava as in the case of the destruction Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. Neither of these destructions are planetary, they are both systemic. In fact the heavens were changed then too, because the demons who had come down to the earth to procreate with the women before the flood, were thrown into Tartarus:
4 Certainly if God did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned, but, by throwing them into
Tartarus, delivered them to pits of dense darkness to be reserved for judgment.
5 And he did not hold back from punishing an ancient world, but kept Noah, a preacher of
righteousness, safe with seven others when he brought a deluge upon a world of ungodly
people (2 Peter 2).
The heavens of old was the heavens wherein Satan was the mediator of the first
Holy Spirit. His sin when he deceived eVe into murdering herself and her husband
pursuant to her blind desire for status, destroyed the heavens, the first holy
spirit, God's first wife. The heavens were fixed by Jesus' sacrifice. He did not
only die for us, he died for the angels to and for God to once again have a
wife.
Also since Peter refers to the Lord (a term which can mean either Jehovah or Jesus, but here means Jehovah) as not being slow respecting his promise, it is apparent that a day has been set when these things will occur. Now Peter refers to a day of judgement, and then says that a ‘day’ to God is a 1,000 years. From which we deduce that the day of judgement, the judgement day is 1,000 years long. The destruction of the ungodly men by fire is Armageddon and this battle kicks off the 1,000 year judgement day. We have already seen from Isaiah 65 above that people will die only due to their sins in the Kingdom of God, so the kingdom of God is a day of judgement. But the confirmation of the length of this Kingdom, and the fulfillment of both Isaiah 65 and these words of Peter is seen by the Apostle John in his visions of Revelation 20 and 21:
1
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven with the key of the abyss and a
great chain in his hand [new subaccount].
2
And he seized the dragon [accusative],
who is the
serpent, the ancient
[nominatives]
a Devil [slanderer]
and the Satan [the
opposer]
[All
these designations refer to Satan's entire heavenly organisation, not merely to
Satan himself who is the head of the serpent and the head of the dragon], and
bound him for 1,000 years [from around
650 AD to 1650 AD, certainly between 444Tishri when FDS2 lost its water baptism
and 1884Tishri when FDS3 started its water baptism and probably after the Koran
was inspired, since Satan is a mimic God. His trade mark is large empires. Satan
and the demons went inside after the Roman empire fell and came out before the
British empire rose].
3
And he hurled him into the abyss and shut [it] and sealed [it] over him, that he
might not mislead the nations anymore until the 1,000 years were ended. After
these things he must be let loose for a little while
[mikron cronon] [and
the put back in the abyss of Gehenna in 2008].
4
And I saw thrones, and there were those who sat down on them, and power of
judging was given them [1NC and 2NC
kings]. Yes, I saw the souls of those beheaded due
to the witness of/to Jesus and due to the word of God,
and those who had
worshiped neither the wild-beast nor its image and who had not received the mark
upon their forehead and upon their hand. And they came to life
and reigned with the Christ for 1,000 years [from
2008Nisan to 3008Nisan].
5
The rest of the dead [non sanctified,
judicially second dead]
did not come to life [get born again]
until the 1,000 years [of
the Kingdom of God]
were ended [be they unsanctified
citizens of the kingdom or inamtes of Gehenna]. This [the coming to life
of the kings of verse 4]
[is] the resurrection, the first.
6
Happy and holy is anyone having part in the
resurrection, the first, over these the
second death has no authority but they will be priests of God and of the
Christ, and will reign with him for the 1,000 years [they
are sealed in holy spirit, they cannot ever be put into Gehenna, the second
death, a soul-less existence as a spirit].
7
Now as soon as the 1,000 years [of the
sentence on Satan's organisation]
have been ended Satan will be let loose out of
his prison [in around 1650 AD we think],
8
and he will go out to mislead the nations,
the [ones] in the 4 corners of the earth, the [antitypical] Gog
[he is] and [the antitypical] Magog [is
his land/administration] [Gog the
chieftain of the land of Magog launched a disastrous attack on Israel and got
pestilence, blood, flooding downpour, hailstones, fire and sulphur from Jehovah
who sanctified himself at Gog's expense in Ezekiel 38,39 - In the final part of
the years you will come to the land - In the final part of the days
it will occur and I shall certainly bring you against my land - the prophets of
Israel who were prophesying in those days, years as to bringing you in
upon them], to gather them together for the
war [there is no war in the Kingdom of
God - they will learn war no more - Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3. So this war is
Armageddon]. The number of these is as the
sand of the sea.
9
And they advanced over the breadth of the earth and encircled the camp of the
holy ones and the city, the [one]
having been loved. But fire came down out of heaven and devoured
them [this being the greater flood of
lava, the flood of fire, the greater destruction of Sodom, the end of this world
by volcanic eruption, an extinction level event - see U154].
10
And
the Devil, the [one] deceiving them
[Satan's heavenly slandering organisation, but
not its individual members]
was hurled into the lake of the fire and
sulphur
[everlasting destruction], where both the wild-beast
[the UN as an organisation, but not its
members] and the false prophet [already
were]
[the US/UK world power, but not their
citizens]. And
they will be tormented day and night forever and ever [no
more false prophets, wild beasts or heavenly slanderers]
11 And I saw a great white throne and
the one seated on it. From before him the earth and the heaven fled away, and no
place was found for them.
12 And I saw the dead [judicially
second dead, those not sanctified], the great and
the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. But another
scroll was opened; it is the scroll of life. And the dead were judged out of
those things written in the scrolls [one
scroll would be the heavenly records of sins against ones conscience, the other
would be the heavenly record of sins against the law of any true church]
according to their deeds.
13
And the sea [everyone not in the earth, God's
true church, the LWs] gave up those dead in it [to
be sorted into faithful and faithless by Jesus through his wife after
2008Iyyar29], and death and Hades gave up those dead in them [The
first death gets bypassed and everyone who dies during Armageddon goes straight
into Gehenna to watch the rest of the battle from there, without falling asleep
in Hades. Hades then gives up its death by resurrection throughout the kingdom,
in reverse order of dying], and they were judged individually according to their deeds.
14
And death and Hades were hurled into the lake of fire [Physical
dying 'death' and being physically dead, in the first death in Hades are
temporarily abolished - for at least 1,000 years]. This is
the death, the second, the lake of
fire [everyone in Hades ends up either in the
Kingdom of God or in Gehenna after all the resurrections out of Hades have
finished].
15
Furthermore, whoever was not found written in the book of life was hurled into
the lake of fire [you definitely want to be in
this book, the book of the FRC] (Revelation 20).
Here we see the exit of a key member of the old heavens, in that Satan is locked up for 1,000 years, this being the length of the Kingdom of God. We see that the Kingdom of God lasts for 1,000 years. It is a mistake to believe that this 1,000 years is coincident with the 1,000 year abyssing of Satan. Satan is locked up for at least one 1,000 year long period before the 1,000 year Kingdom of God begins - see [242]. Then he is loosed 'for a little while' we think around 400 years, to mislead mankind into killing each other at Armageddon. Then, when the Kingdom of God starts, he is put back into Gehenna again, and his orgainisation is thrown into the figurative lake of fire and sulphur:
10 And the Devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, where both the wild beast and the false prophet [already were] (Revelation 20)
14 And death and Hades were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the
second death, the lake of fire.
15 Furthermore, whoever was not found written in
the book of life was hurled into the lake of fire (Revelation 20).
This lake stands for the garbage dump at Gehenna (the Greek word for the Hebrew Geh Hinnom, which means the 'valley of Hinnom'). this valley was outside Jerusalem, and was where the dead bodies of criminals were burnt with fire and sulphur. It was Jerusalem's criminal crematorium. It stands figuratively for the second death, which is the death of the angelic soul but not of the spirit. It is a sin bin for spirits. It is the perfect prison, for how can one escape it without a soul?
The ‘dead’ who come to life after the 1,000 years have ended is a reference to those who will be physically alive in the 1,000 year kingdom but still be under the death sentence that God passed on Adam, and so will still be condemned to death judicially, but not actually physically dead. Jesus used the same symbolism when he said:
22 Jesus said to him: Keep following me, and let the dead bury their dead (Matthew 8).
Obviously these ‘dead’ grave diggers were alive physically. They were dead in the sense that they had not been ransomed, so they were still under the death sentence of Adam.
The apostle Paul tells us...
15 and I have hope toward God, which hope these [men] themselves also entertain, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous (Acts 24).
The righteous ones are resurrected into the Kingdom of God, and are declared righteous by virtue of the various salvation covenants described in U9. The unrighteous are resurrected from the first death (which death is unconsciousness, which is existence in a sleeping angel) into the second death (which death is Gehenna, consciousness without a soul). Hence Jesus said in the parable of the sheep and the goats...
46 And these will depart into indefinitely lasting
cutting-off, but the righteous ones into indefinitely lasting life (Matthew 25).
You may not grasp all of the symbolism of these accounts at
this stage, but do not worry, we are only using the above to show that the
Kingdom of God lasts for 1,000 years.
John sees this Kingdom in a vision, in the next chapter of Revelation:
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former
earth had passed away, and the sea is no more.
2 I saw also the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven
from God and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: Look! The tent of God is
with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And
God himself will be with them.
4 And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more,
neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have
passed away (Revelation 21).
The sea stands for uncoordinated, unruly, structureless mankind. It is those of mankind who do not want to accept authority (which can be from God). The earth stands for those with structure, who do accept administration and authority (which can be from God). But at the end of the day, the earth does set the boundaries for and guides the waters, however fluid they may be.
12 Ha for the commotion of many peoples, who are boisterous as with the boisterousness of the seas! And for the noise of national groups, who make a din just like the noise of mighty waters! (Isaiah 17).
15 And he says to me: The waters that you saw, where the harlot is sitting, mean peoples and crowds and nations and tongues (Revelation 17).
6 He who is building in the heavens his stairs, and his structure over the earth that he founded; he who is calling for the waters of the sea, that he may pour them out upon the surface of the earth--Jehovah is his name (Amos 9).
So boisterous, unruly mankind ends at Armageddon.
We already know that more are killed than get 'life' at the end of the World from Jesus’ words...
13 Go in through the narrow gate; because broad and spacious is the road leading
off into destruction, and many are the ones going in through it.
14 Whereas narrow is the gate and cramped the road leading off into life, and few
are the ones finding it (Matthew 7).
So those gaining judicial life are few and therefore would have to be considerably less than 50%. But many are saved without having judicial life. In fact the majority of those saved are judicially dead in the Kingdom of God (having no associated angels, not being spirit sons of God), although they must be born again to enter the Kingdom, they borrow a temporary angelic vehicle for that purpose. This has taken us a long time to understand - too long! For Jesus was asked...
23
Now a certain man said to him: Lord, are those who are being saved few? He said
to them:
24 Exert yourselves vigorously to get in
through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will seek to get in but will
not be able,
25 when once the householder has got up
and locked the door, and you start to stand outside and to knock at the door,
saying, 'Sir, open to us.' But in answer he will say to you, 'I do not know
where you are from.'
26 Then you will start saying, 'We ate and
drank in front of you, and you taught in our broad ways.'
27 But he will speak and say to you, 'I do
not know where you are from. Get away from me, all you workers of
unrighteousness!'
28 There is where [your] weeping and the
gnashing of [your] teeth will be, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and
all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown outside.
29 Furthermore, people will come
from eastern parts and western, and from north and south, and will recline at
the table in the kingdom of God (Luke 13).
But then Matthew gives the game away saying...
11 But I tell you that many from eastern parts and western parts will come and recline at the table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens;
12
whereas the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the darkness outside. There
is where [their] weeping and the gnashing of [their] teeth will be (Matthew 8).
So the answer is no, those being saved are many! But those going through the narrow gate into judicial life, i.e. those being born again in spirit other than through a rapture covenant are few. Now the percentage of people saved in the end is very plain from the Gospels. Matthew 24 refers to the invisible presence of the bride of Christ before Armageddon...
38
For as they were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, men
marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into
the ark;
39 and they took no note until the flood
came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.
40 Then 2 will be in the field: one [male] will be taken along and the other
[male] will be abandoned [in the old true
church];
41 2 will be grinding at the hand
mill: one [female] will be taken along and the other [female] will be abandoned [in
the old true church] (Matthew 24).
50% of those men and women working in the old true church enter into the new true church. But Luke 17 refers to the visible presence of his bride at the start of the kingdom and the rapture...
28
Likewise, just as it occurred in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were
drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were
building.
29 But on the day that Lot came out of
Sodom it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 The same way it will be on that day
when the Son of man is to be revealed.
31 On that day let the person that is on
the housetop but whose movable things are in the house not come down to pick
these up, and the person out in the field, let him likewise not return to the
things behind.
32 Remember the wife of Lot.
33 Whoever seeks to keep his soul safe for
himself will lose it, but whoever loses it will preserve it alive.
34 I tell you, In that night [the
night of the rapture] 2 will
be in one bed; the one [male] will be taken along, but the other [male] will be
abandoned [to the fire of Armageddon, the lava
of an extinction level volcanic event].
35 There will be 2 grinding at the
same mill; the one [female] will be taken along [the
day of the rapture, a simultaneous event across all time zones??], but the other
[female] will be abandoned [to the fire of
Armageddon, the lava of an extinction level volcanic event] (Luke
17).
So Luke 17 tells us that 50% of men and 50% of women are saved and 50% are saved at day and 50% are saved at night during the rapture. So this is an instantaneous thing across all time zone, half of which will be in the inght and the other half of which will be in the day.
Now Jerusalem was the ruling city of the nation of Israel. So a 'New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven' symbolises a heavenly rulership over God's people applying to the earth. So the kings who rule with the Christ are in heaven and are therefore angels, and their subjects are on the earth. The husband is Jesus, and his wife is all of the kings as a group who rule with Christ for 1,000 years as mentioned in Revelation 20:4, who are the true saints of the New Covenant that Jesus made at the last supper:
29 And I make a covenant with you, just as my Father has made a covenant with
me, for a kingdom,
30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit
on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Luke 22).
The bible uses the marriage agreement between a husband and a wife, to symbolise agreements or covenants between God and his people. The new covenant saints, being Jesus’ wife, live with him in heaven as angels. He takes his wife home to his place.
In the garden of Eden and until after the flood, the sons of Adam were vegetarians - see [1]. The animals in the garden of Eden were vegetarians as well, existing in an enclosed environment protected from the rest of the carnivores and omnivores see - Millions of year of human fossils reconciled with Genesis at last. This garden was an archetype for the kingdom of God. In this kingdom man is a vegetarian and so is the Lion. In fact the way that animals interact in nature today is a prophetic declaration from God as to how mankind will treat each other. We know of many sharks, mad dogs, hermit crabs, lemmings and even ants, amongst the sons of Adam. And what is worse just as one animal will eat up everything that another animal is and has been. Today for every creative step that a human being makes, there is an opportunist who is happy to steal his glory, his art, his science, his revolution away from the creative one and without conscience either destroy it or possess it or exploit it as if he had created it himself. This will not happen in the next system where one man will not eat the life or the works of another. Yes, the way that animals interact in the next system, which is the kingdom of God, will again declare man's treatment of his brothers. In this new Kingdom we will not eat each other for breakfast. Isaiah prophetically declares:
23 They will not toil for nothing, nor will they bring to birth for
disturbance; because they are the offspring made up of the blessed ones of
Jehovah, and their descendants with them.
24 And it will actually occur that before they call out I myself shall answer; while they are yet speaking, I myself shall
hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb themselves will feed as one, and the lion will eat straw just like the
bull; and as for the serpent, his food will be dust. They will do no harm nor cause any ruin in all
my holy mountain, Jehovah has said (Isaiah 65).
The literal meaning of this is that the Lion will be a vegetarian, and the
serpent will be dead. There will be no serpents in the Kingdom of God.
On Sunday Nisan9 33 CE (March 26th 33AD), Jesus came to Jerusalem and a great crowd was there to greet him, many of whom had seen him resurrect Lazarus. In fact the chief priests were so worried by this development they took counsel to kill Lazarus! A man whom Jesus had resurrected! Blindness in the extreme, deliberate blind power politics. The account reads:
9 Therefore a great crowd of the Jews got to know he was there, and they came, not on account of Jesus only, but also to see Lazarus,
whom he raised up from the dead.
10 The chief priests now took counsel to kill Lazarus also,
11because on account of him many of the Jews were going there and
putting faith in Jesus.
12 The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival, on hearing that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
took the branches of palm trees and went out to meet him. And they began to
shout: Save, we pray you! Blessed is he that comes in the Lord's name, even the
king of Israel! (John 12).
This really was Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. This was the recognition by the Jews that Jesus was to be their king. Even the young boys cried out: 'Save we pray son of David' and when the Pharisees, who missed the beauty in everything only having eyes for their own status in front of the crowd, complained to him he said:
16 Did you never read this: Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings you have furnished praise (Matthew 21).
Now in Revelation, the apostle John saw in vision the following:
9
After these things I saw [a
new subaccount], and, look! a great
crowd [all water baptised people
from Noah to Armageddon, This is every single unsanctified member of every true
religion since Adam], which no man was able to
number, out of every nation [4
true Christian religions] and tribes [12 Tribes of Israel] and peoples [Peoples in the immediate post flood true religion, the peoples descending from the sons of
Noah] and tongues [Linguistically diverse peoples in the next true religion, the Post Babel true
religion - tongues of Babel - which possibly ended in 2233Sivan, 2 Prophetic Times before
the Law in 1513Sivan see Revelation 18], standing before
the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes [righteous
in flesh]; and there were palm
branches in their hands [sons of a true
religion - works, sons of the CRC].
10
11
And all the angels were standing around [kuklw
dative, literally 'in circle of' and
'circle' is a noun] the throne and the elders and the 4
living beings [so all three are non
countable genitives], and they fell upon their faces before the throne and worshiped
God,
12
13
14
15
16
17
14 Whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty at all, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water bubbling up to impart everlasting life (John 4).
Obviously this crowd is saved, since they are thanking God for their salvation, so they are in the Kingdom of God. They are the real fulfilment of Palm Sunday. Hence the palm branches in their hands. They are Humans and they are described as:
14 These are the ones that came out of the Great Tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb (Revelation 7).
This washing in the blood of the lamb and the white robes refer to the start and completion of the water baptism of the conscience for the 1AC.The holding of palm branches refers to those who did join the true church and so honoured Jesus with their hands visibly. Those who have white robes but are not said to be holding palm branches are sons of the ICC and sons of the 1AC together at Armageddon, i.e. everyone who is saved through the great tribulation. But the Great Crowd all hold palm branches, they are the sons of the HARC, the friends of the bridgegroom. These ones will be priests in the Kingdom of God. The Great Tribulation is that described in the signs of the times in Matthew 24. It is the birth pains of the Kingdom of God, a period just before the Kingdom of God starts (in fact it is the 1,335 days of Daniel 12 - see [152], from 2004Elul14 to 2008Iyyar29 inclusive). Then we read of this crowd that:
15 That is why they are before the throne of God; and they are rendering him sacred service day and night in his temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread his tent over them (Revelation 7).
This is only possible if you are an angel. Humans need sleep. A tent was also the first temple of the Jews in the promised land, so it is a fitting symbol for the first earthly temple of Mankind in the Kingdom of God. But not everyone who survives Armageddon as a human will be a priest for we read later in Revelation:
3 With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them (Revelation 2).
So there are those who are with the tent but not under the tent. As was the case with the Jews and the tent in the wilderness. In fact those with the palm branches who have been in a true religion will be the priests of the Kingdom, and those with the white robes only who have not been in a true religion will be the citizens. These are his peoples. We read further:
6 And I heard what was as a voice of a great crowd and as a
sound of many waters and as a sound of heavy thunders. They said: Praise Jah, you
people, because the Lord our God, the Almighty, has begun to rule as king.
7 Let us rejoice and be overjoyed, and let us give him the
glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has arrived and his wife has prepared
herself (Revelation 19).
Jesus is referred to as a lamb because he was the greater passover lamb, dying on the passover day, Nisan14, good Friday, to end all passover lamb sacrifices. We read of John the Baptist:
29 The next day he beheld Jesus coming toward him, and he said: See, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world! (John 1).
'You people' are not the great crowd and not the wife of the lamb, who is Jesus. Jesus' wife is the new covenant saints as a group betrothed to him, through this covenant.
2 saw also the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21).
This heavenly bride is the new heaven for the new earth. It is all the new covenant saints. The new earth includes the 'great crowd' of priests. 'You people', are those who are saved through Armageddon without joining the true religion at the time. They are prefigured by those who left Egypt in the Exodus with the Jews, but were not themselves Jews:
37 And the sons of Israel proceeded to depart from Rameses for Succoth, to the number of
600,000 able-bodied men on foot, besides little ones.
38 And a vast mixed company also went up with them, as well as flocks and herds, a very numerous stock of
animals (Exodus 12).
[1] The Kingdom of God is a 1,000 year kingdom, starting with the destruction of ungodly men (the sea) by fire (which is Armageddon).
[2] Satan is let out after a 1,000 year sentence for a 'little while', to mislead the world and gather them together for the war of Armageddon. And then he is imprisoned in again Gehenna after Armageddon.
[3] The heavenly government of this kingdom is the New covenants saints and their King is Jesus. This is the new heavens, the New Jerusalem.
[4] The earthly government of this kingdom includes the priests of the Great Crowd of Revelation 7:9, the ones waving the palm branches.
[5] The earthly subjects of this 1,000 year Judgement day do not die of age, and so do not age, and they do not die of disease, and so do not get sick, but they can be killed as a result of sin. These subjects make up the new earth. All of them accept God’s authority, and entrance is either by resurrection, or by not being destroyed at Armageddon.
[6] 50% survive Armageddon. The other 50% are not killed because they are not good enough, they are killed because they are not interested. Actually 10% are in the Great Crowd, God's farming tax percentage, the tithe, and the other 40% are 'You people', the citizens, saved by the angels.
[7] God's creatures do not eat each other in the Kingdom of God - This does not mean that we should be vegetarians now however. In fact quite the reverse, Jesus was not a vegetarian, and Christians follow him.