11 - Jubilee the King returns a Day of Atonement

Chapter 11 – Divine Order

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Jubilee the King returns a Day of Atonement

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“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me… To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2).

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Last chapter our focus was the seven years in heaven, and although I am sure none of us want the party to end, we at least need to pack the party up and move locations. The Old Testament prophet Joel saw this and prophesied, “Let the bridegroom come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber” (Joel 2:16).

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The bride and the bridegroom shall exit the chambers of heaven and return to the earth. There are two major events taking place with the return of the Lord. First, it is the Day of Judgment for those who have fought against the Lord and His people, Israel. Secondly, we have a bridegroom saying to His bride, “Let’s go, I’m going to get your stuff back!”

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The Bridegroom and His bride return

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Joel gives prophecy pointing to signs in the heavens that have taken place during the tribulation, saying “The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes” (Joel 2:31). The sun, moon and stars will give signs to point directly to the great and awesome day of the Lord.

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Joel continues to prophesy saying, “For behold, in those days and at that time, “When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations, and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land” (Joel 3:1-2).

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Lord Jesus is coming back for a nation that was scattered throughout the earth, a people who have had their land divided again and again since their return in 1948. Then the Lord will bring all the nations that gather together against His people to a valley named Jehoshaphat. The name Jehoshaphat means “Yahweh Judges”. This is known as the famous valley where “the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon” (Revelation 16:16). The valley of Jehoshaphat is the location of the famous last battle between Jesus and the nations that fought against Israel, called the battle of Armageddon.

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Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven

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The tribulation is seven years of judgment upon the earth. That entire time there is a wedding banquet taking place in heaven. Then the Lord will return and this is what has been called by every major theologian, “the second coming.” The second coming is the kingdom that has been in heaven coming to earth.

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Remember the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10). The return of the Lord brings the kingdom of heaven to earth as it is in heaven. This is literally heaven invading earth.

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God’s Plan has Three Redeemings

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As I have written this book about decoding the second coming of Jesus, I knew the first thing I had to do was explain the first coming. You’ll never understand the second coming until you understand the first coming. Amazingly, the book didn’t break into halves, but into thirds.

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In the first third of the book, our spirits are redeemed. This is what the entire first coming was about, Jesus coming to redeem our spirits. Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit (John 19:30). Jesus exchanged His life for ours, giving up His spirit for our spirit.

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As believers in Jesus our spirit is renewed through faith in Jesus. This is the first redemption which Ezekiel prophesied saying, Thus says the Lord GOD, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

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As believers we walk in the Spirit of Christ, but sadly we still inhabit fallen earthly flesh. Paul gave this admonition, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please” (Galatians 5:16-17). So although we had been redeemed by what Jesus did on the cross, there still waged a battle between our flesh and our newly redeemed spirits.

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In the second third of the book, our bodies are redeemed. This is what the rapture of the church is about; “For this perishable must put on imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53). This secret coming of the Lord is entirely us being changed, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we [who are alive] shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52).

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Finally this last third of the book is about the land being redeemed. Jesus is return to redeem the earth, to bring a kingdom that has been in heaven to the earth. The king is returning to establish His kingdom upon the earth and fulfill a promise given 4,000 years ago to Abraham.

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A Promise made 4,000 Years Ago

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God made a promised long ago to a man named Abram, later known as Abraham. This promise was given in the 12^th chapter of Genesis where it says, “Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3, Emphasis Added).

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God lays out specific promises to Abraham. He gives land to Abraham and says I will make you a great nation. The Lord says, “I will bless those who bless you”, the blessing is resurrection. This blessing is bestowed by the seed of Abraham, our Lord Jesus. The Lord said, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”, again this blessed one who is in Abraham is our Lord Jesus, the seed of Abraham.

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The Lord also says, “The one who curses you, I will curse.” This is the devil and those who go against Jesus and follow the serpent. These are cursed with destruction.

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The first coming, the catching away of the church and the return of the Lord are all fulfillments of these promises given to Abraham nearly 4,000 years ago. God promised that all the nations would be blessed by Abraham’s seed and all the nations are blessed through faith in Jesus for the redeeming of their spirits and bodies. Lastly, God is going to redeem the land promised to Abraham and his Seed.

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The Year of Jubilee and the Sabbatical Year

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One of the most important unstudied matters of the Old Testament is the Year of Jubilee. There are so many important hidden treasures about the Jubilee that there is no way to do an explanation of the return of the Lord without understanding the Jubilee. The Jubilee is discussed in the 25th and 27th Chapters of Leviticus.

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The first thing the Lord teaches us in these chapters is about the Sabbatical Year. God then commanded; “When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a Sabbath to the LORD” (Leviticus 25:2). I love the hidden parallel here. God did give us the land, saying, “rule over all the earth” (Genesis 1:26). Man has been given rule over the earth for 6 days, “but with the Lord one day is as a thousand years” (2 Peter 2:8). So these six days are with the Lord 6,000 years to rule over the land until the day of the Lord which shall be a time of rest.

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The writer of Hebrews confirms this when he says, “There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). These people of God do have a future rest; “and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4).

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God further commands; “Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, but during the seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath rest, a Sabbath to the LORD” (Leviticus 25:3-4). Six thousand years man shall, sow and prune and gather in crops, this echoes exactly what is in Genesis; “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15).

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Understanding the Jubilee

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We can see the parallels between the sabbatical year and the millennial reign where man will be given rest from the enemy of our soul, the devil himself. Let’s now turn to the year of Jubilee; this may be the most important foundation to decoding the return of the Lord. The Jubilee is the returning to the origin, property is returned, servants are released, debts are discharged, and the original owner takes back what was once his.

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The Lord commands, “You are also to count off seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven, so that you have the time of the seven Sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family” (Leviticus 25:8-10).

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There is so much to take note of, first, this is done in the fiftieth year with the sound of a horn through all the land. This shall proclaim a release to all the inhabitants of the land. Everyone returns to his property and return to his family. This is for everyone, all people, a release, a returning, a restoring and just so it is clear. God repeats, “It shall be holy to you… On this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his own property” (Leviticus 25:12-13).

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God had given man dominion over the earth in Genesis. “In the year of jubilee the field shall return to the one from whom he bought it (or got it), to whom the possession of the land (originally) belongs” (Leviticus 27:24). The jubilee is all about restoring, don’t forget the very last question Jesus was asked prior to the ascension. “Lord is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).

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When Jesus returns, it will be a great jubilee where all things are restored, where the Kingdom that was established in the Garden of Eden will be restored. If you want to grasp what the entirety of the Bible is about, read the first two chapters of Genesis and the last two chapters of Revelation. By the end of the His story, all things are renewed, restored, and returned. Man again dwells with God, where we are His people and He is our God.

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Jubilee hidden in the story of Ruth

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There is an amazing Old Testament love story that unveils Jesus, the Gentile church and the Jewish nation ending with Jubilee redemption for all. It is the story woven throughout the book of Ruth. The main characters of the story are Jesus played by Boaz, the Gentile church played by Ruth, and the Jewish nation played by Naomi. I will refer to each of these three characters in their unveiled names, Jesus [Boaz], the church [Ruth], and the Jews [Naomi] throughout my retelling.

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The story begins with a famine in the promise land prophetically similar to the one declared by the prophet Amos, “Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the LORD” (Amos 8:11). This famine causes the Jews and her husband Elimelech to depart on account of the famine. So the Jews and her two sons Mahlon [Israel] and Chilion [Judah] head into the Gentile land of Moab.

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In the midst of their stay there the Jews lose their husband and two sons. The Jews weep over this tragedy. The Jews hear news that the famine has ended back in the promise land. Prophetically the Word of the Lord has appeared in Bethlehem. The Jews set out to return and two daughter-in-laws begin the journey with her. She says to her two daughter-in-laws, “Go back to your people, I have no more sons for you, and have no husband that another son might be born.”

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The first daughter-in-law, Orpah, represents those Gentiles who reject the God of the Jews. Orpah turns back and returns to her Gentile lands. The second daughter-in-law the church follows the Jews to their Messiah and says to the Jews, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God” (Ruth 1:16).

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In the second chapter of Ruth, we learn that the Jews have a kinsman of her late husband Elimelech who name is Jesus. The church on the advice of the Jews begins to glean in the field of Jesus. Jesus reapers begin to leave handfuls of harvest for the church.

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Jesus then blesses the church saying, “May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge” (Ruth 2:12). The church is invited to the communion meal with Jesus. Where Jesus says, “Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar” [vinegar wine] (Ruth 2:14).

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When the Jews hear of the success of the church and they have found the kinsmen redeemer of the Jews, they exclaim, “May he be blessed of the LORD who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead… The man is our relative, he is one of our closest relatives” (Ruth 2:20). I want to pause in our story for just a minute, the Hebrew word Ga’al is used to describe “one of our closest relatives”. This word Ga’al literally means to ransom, to deliver, to redeem and it means to purchase back something like land or a slave or something consecrated to God. This word Ga’al is used throughout Leviticus chapters 25 and 27 which speaks exclusively on the idea of Jubilee and redemption.

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Jesus is the kinsmen redeemer of the Jews and not only the Jews but the whole world. This was prophesied by Caiaphas, “that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad” (John 11:51-52). This confirms the singing we see in heaven in Revelation 5:9 where it says, “For Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe an tongue and people and nation.”

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The Jewish nation through the sacred writings of the Law and the Prophets point the Gentile church to Jesus. By these writings, the Jews say to the church, Jesus, “Our kinsmen… Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight. Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor” (Ruth 3:2-3).

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This may be the toughest part of the story to decode. The threshing floor represents the throne room of God as this is where King David was commanded to build the temple of God. David was instructed to, “Go up, erect an alter to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite” (2 Samuel 24:18). This threshing floor purchased by King David became the eventual site for the Temple of the Lord.

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So the church is instructed by the Jewish writings to wash, anoint and put on best clothes, and go to the throne room floor of God. This is exactly what is described in Revelation 19:7-8 where it says, “His bride has made herself ready. And it was give to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean.” Those in the church ask Jesus if He will redeem them.

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Here is another twist in the story as Jesus says, “There is a relative closer than I” (Ruth 3:12). Jesus explains that if this closer relative will not redeem the church then He will. This closer relative says, ‘He cannot redeem’ the church, “Lest I jeopardize my own inheritance. Redeem it for yourself; you may have my right of redemption, for I cannot redeem it” (Ruth 4:6).

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Who is this closer relative that would not redeem us? I struggled with this for a couple of years. The Hebrew word for jeopardize is Shachath and it mean to become corruptible, to decay, to become imperfect. So Jesus is incorruptible, but should this closer relative attempt to redeem us it would become corruptible and imperfect. I finally figured out that this closer relative was the Law.

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In the letter to the Romans, it is written, “By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested… through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe” (Romans 3:20-22). So the Law could not risk its perfection to redeem us, so Jesus our kinsmen redeemer did it.

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So Jesus in front of many witnesses redeemed the church. Jesus took the church, “and she became his wife” (Ruth 4:13). This gives us a parallel to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

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Women then went to the Jews and said, “Blessed is the LORD who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel. May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons” (Ruth 4:13-14).

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One last and most important parallel is that Jesus redeemed, “all that belonged to Elimelech” (Ruth 4:9). The name of the husband that the Jews lost was Elimelech. His name comes from two Hebrew words, El and Melech, El means God and Melech means king. So Elimelech translates to mean, God is King! This means that Jesus redeemed all the property of God is King.

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Redeeming all the property of God is King

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Jesus came to redeem what was given to man in the Garden and lost. The Lord God breathed into the nostrils of man, and man became a living soul. But with the fall came spiritual death and fallen flesh. Man also gave his dominion of the earth over to the enemies of God and man’s souls the devil.

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This is why when Jesus began His ministry, He proclaimed, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord… Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18-19, 21).

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Jesus quoted this passage from the prophet Isaiah, saying today you are seeing this fulfilled. But there is a phase from this passage in Isaiah that is missing. It says, “And the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2). This is missing because the day of the Lord’s vengeance is connected to the return of our Lord.

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However, the year of the Lord’s favor is a definite reference to the year of Jubilee. Seeing that the passage says, “To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2). Is it possible that the day of vengeance will happen on the Jubilee year?

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The entire gospel has a theme of Jubilee; it is all about redeeming, redeeming our spirits [souls], redeeming our bodies, and redeeming our land! This message was first given to the Jews, then to the Gentiles. Jesus when He first sent His disciples said, “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5-6).

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The first shall be last and the last shall be first

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It turns out, however, that the Gentiles are the first to be redeemed, just like in the story of Ruth. Maybe this is why Jesus said, “Many who are first will be last; and the last, first” (Matthew 19:30).

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This theme of those last being first and the first being last, not only shadows the Gentile church and the Jewish people but also continues in prophecy. Let’s examine the very first Messianic prophecy of the Bible, found in Genesis 3:15, which reads:

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“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel” (Genesis 3:15, Emphasis Added). This enmity, this hatred, is the cosmic battle that has waged from the day the serpent was cast from heaven to the earth. At the return of Christ, we will witness the end of that battle.

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The seed of the woman is none other than Jesus of Nazareth. Everyone knows that seed comes from the man, but by the miraculous birth of a virgin, we find the one called the seed of the woman. The seed of the serpent is the seed of the one who sows tares in the hearts of men. The one who sows lies; “the thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy” (John 10:10).

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This battle between light and darkness was not all completed at the cross. Yes Jesus was bruised on the heal at the cross. I have seen photographs of the heal of first century crucifixion victims. In the photo, the nail is going directly through the heal and if this represents how Jesus was nailed to the cross, then the enemy really did bruise His heal.

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He shall bruise you on the head

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Although Jesus was crucified at the place of the skull, Golgotha, Jesus has yet to bruise the serpents head. Today the battle for truth and righteousness wages all over the world; from the slums of Calcutta, India to the strip in Las Vegas, Nevada; from abortion clinics in Tampa, Florida to the road side bomb in Bagdad, Iraq; from the torture chambers inside North Korea to the temple mound in Jerusalem, Israel. The cosmic battle is being fought between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent wages.

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Jesus refers to Satan three times as, “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31, 14:30, and 16:11). The Apostle Paul refers to Satan as, “the god of this world [who] has blinded the minds of the unbelieving” (2 Corinthians 4:4). John the beloved refers to Satan, saying, “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19).

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The kingdom of light vs. the kingdom of darkness

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The kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness will shortly have one final battle and light shall overcome darkness. This battle was foretold by the prophet Zechariah when He wrote:

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“Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. And you will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach Azel; you, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him! And it will come about in that day that there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. For it will be a unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light” (Zechariah 14:1-8, Emphasis Added).

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The Lord returns with many thousands of His holy ones

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Zechariah sees the Lord returning will His saints from heaven, ready to do battle. The Lord is ready to fight for His land and His chosen people. Jude the brother of our Lord quoted from the book of Enoch and wrote, “And about these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him” (Jude 14-15).

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The return of our Lord is with many thousand, some write ten thousand of ten thousand of His saints. He will come to execute judgment upon the acts of an ungodly world and those ungodly sinners who spoke against our Lord.

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He will back in just the same way

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Remember, nearly 2,000 years ago the disciples gathered on the Mount of Olives and said, Goodbye as our Lord Jesus was lifted up and returned to heaven. “He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them; and they also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9-11).

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A Cloud Received Him

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“A cloud received Him out of their sight.” The Greek word for cloud here is nephele which come from the root word nephos which means, a large dense multitude. This is the same word for cloud as we find in Hebrews 12:1 where it says; “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us.” It could easily read, “Therefore, since we have so great a ‘large dense multitude’ of witnesses surrounding us.” This cloud is really a crowd and this Greek word is the same word that Greeks would use to describe a large crowd like you might find in a stadium for a sporting event.

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Jesus was received into a great multitude of those raised with Him as first fruits to the Father. Matthew described these when he wrote; “and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many” (Matthew 27:52-53).

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Jesus is going to return with His saints just as He left with His saints. “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). This cloud of saints that is returning with Jesus is the same saints that met the Lord in the air at the rapture along with all the Old Testament saints raised with Him following the resurrection.

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The Lord returns on a White Horse

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The great cloud of saints from the Old Testament will be joined together with the New Testament saints of the body of Christ along with the 144,000 who are raptured out of the tribulation. The Lord and His army will return to the earth to judge her wicked.

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John the Revelator wrote it like this; “And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses” (Revelation 19:11-14).

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Heaven will open and they will see “the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky” (Matthew 24:30, Jesus quotes from Daniel 7:13). This passage in Revelation says He judges and wages war. He judges His enemies and wages war to reclaim the land of His bride.

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Out of His mouth comes a Sharp Sword

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Jesus is all powerful; He is the Word of God, and by His Word all things hold together. The Bible then says, “And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His Robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:15-16).

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Our king rode a donkey colt into Jerusalem on the way to the cross. But when He returns to the earth after 2,000 years it will not be with a lamb on His shoulders. No it won’t be, gentle Jesus, meek and mild. He is a King, He brought His sharp sword, and He is ready for battle. He comes in fierce anger wearing a robe dipped in blood. He will lay waste to His enemies and those who are the enemies of His people.

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All the Birds which Fly

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John the Revelator then writes, “And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God; in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great” (Revelation 19:17-18).

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“And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed he signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh” (Revelation 19:19-21).

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The Return is a Day of Atonement

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“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:31-34).

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“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).

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Judgment or Salvation

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The return of the Lord is either good news or bad news depending on your perspective.

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Sadly those who have not received Jesus and believed in Him are judged already. The Bible says, “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:17-18).

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Your relationship with Jesus will determine your eternal future. Your future is either salvation or judgment. Those who receive and believe will be saved through Jesus. This passage says, “He who believes in Him is not judged, but he who does not believe has been judged already!” What is your relationship with Jesus?

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