Correspondence: Earthly Kingdom Post Rapture; Manifested at "Bema"?

From: Young Christian: Volume 31, 1941

• 2 min. read • grade level: 7

Question: After the Lord comes and has taken up His saints – changed the living and raised the dead saints, and they are caught up to Him, to be forever with the Lord, as in 1 Thessalonians 4 – who are to be saved and go into the kingdom that is to be set up on earth?

Answer: There will be three classes of people on earth after the Lord has taken away His heavenly saints; Jews or Israel: Gentiles or nations or heathen; and the apostate church, the tares of Matthew 13, or the foolish virgins of Matthew 25.

The Jews, that is the two tribes, and the ten tribes afterward, will be brought to know Jehovah, and He will make His new covenant with them (Heb. 8:8-12⁸For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: ⁹Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. ¹⁰For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: ¹¹And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. ¹²For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 8:8‑12)). The nations will be brought to own and fear Jehovah also (Ezek. 36:36; 37:28; 38:23³⁶Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. (Ezekiel 36:36)
²⁸And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. (Ezekiel 37:28)
²³Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 38:23); and many other passages.)

But the Lord will gather out of both, Jew and Gentile, all things that offend, and them that do iniquity (Matt. 13:41-42⁴¹The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; ⁴²And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:41‑42)).

There is nothing but judgment for the apostate church, and for those who have not obeyed the gospel. When the Lord comes with His saints, He will judge all such (Jude 14¹⁴And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, (Jude 14), 15 Rev. 2:21-23; 3:3-16²¹And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. ²²Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. ²³And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. (Revelation 2:21‑23)
³Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. ⁴Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. ⁵He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. ⁶He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. ⁷And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; ⁸I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. ⁹Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. ¹⁰Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. ¹¹Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. ¹²Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. ¹³He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. ¹⁴And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; ¹⁵I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. ¹⁶So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:3‑16); 2 Thess. 1:8; 2:10-12⁸In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: (2 Thessalonians 1:8)
¹⁰And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: ¹²That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:10‑12)).

The judgment of the great white throne is at the end, and is for the dead only (Rev. 20:12¹²And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:12)). The Jew will be judged by the law; the Gentile will perish without law (Rom. 2:12¹²For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (Romans 2:12)); and the Christless professor, because he has not put on the wedding garment (Matt. 22:11-13¹¹And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: ¹²And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. ¹³Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 22:11‑13)).

Question: At the “Bema” or judgment seat of Christ for the saints, is it before others, or to ourselves alone, that we are manifested? (2 Cor. 5:10¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10)).

Answer: The judgment seat of Christ is to show to each of us the true character of our walk and ways as it appears in the sight of the Lord. Thoughts of what others may think of us, cannot come in there. Each one will be filled with praise and thanksgiving for the grace that bore with us through all our wandering and changeful ways, and led us on. God’s grace will be realized as never before, and the Lord will speak to us approvingly of all that He can, and disapprovingly of what was contrary to His mind and will. The thought of this was meant to exercise the saints at Corinth to walk in His ways. May it exercise us, too.

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