NO U-Turn!!!

Guest post by Richard Gray

The wedding had been planned in intricate detail, and no expense was spared. And now the great day of the wedding had arrived. The music was playing, and now the beautiful bride was being escorted up the aisle to the waiting groom. The groom stepped forward to take her hand, but instead of escorting her up to stand before the one who was going to perform the ceremony, they turned and went back the same way the bride had come. The guests were stunned! The one who was going to perform the ceremony was flabbergasted! What was going on?

If you were at that wedding you would probably be stunned as well. But that is the scenario that the churches of God teach concerning the Day of Trumpets. On the Day of Trumpets “…the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which 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” (1 Thess. 4:16, 17). This is the first resurrection.

Those in the first resurrection will then make a U-TURN and come right back to the earth with Jesus Christ. At least that is the traditional teaching of the churches of God. Is that what is really going to take place?

Those in the first resurrection are the bride of Christ. “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (1 Cor. 11:2). So when, and where does the wedding ceremony take place?

God’s plan is based on the pattern of the Sabbath commandment. “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings” (Leviticus 23:3). The six days of labor represent those whom God has called during the six thousand years of man, and have labored to overcome their human nature to enter into Gods’ Sabbath rest.

The Biblical Calendar follows the same pattern. Beginning in the first month, with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, God begins drawing His people toward His eternal Sabbath rest. The Day of Trumpets pictures the Sabbath rest that we have been laboring to enter into. “There remains therefore a rest [4520, the keeping of a Sabbath] to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest [2663, place of abode, dwelling, habitation], he also has ceased [2664, give final rest to] from his own works, as God did from His. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest [2663, habitation]…” (Hebrews 4:9-11). The Sabbath is Gods’ house.

At the sound of the seventh and last trumpet, Jesus will come down to meet His bride in the clouds of heaven. “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:30, 31). 

The saints rise to meet Jesus Christ in the air, and where does He take them? Do they make a U-turn and return to earth during the period of time that the seven last plagues are being poured out on the earth from heaven (Revelation 16:1-21)? How would it make any sense for Jesus Christ and the resurrected saints to be on the earth during the seven last plagues? What purpose would that serve? The plain truth is that Jesus Christ will lead His bride to the heavenly tabernacle and they will stand before the throne of God in heaven. The Father will perform the marriage ceremony. 

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads” (Rev. 14:1). Where is Mount Zion? “But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels” (Heb. 12:22). Mount Zion is the heavenly Jerusalem. 

“And...I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: and they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed [59, purchased] from [575, separation, to depart, to remove, to expel from] the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women [false teachings]; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb where ever He goes. These were redeemed [59, purchased] from among men, being the first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile [1388, deceit]: for they are without fault before the throne of God” (Rev. 14:3-5). 

The twenty-four elders and the four beasts are in heaven, where the throne of God is. They are not on the earth! A “... throne was set in heaven .... And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders ....And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts ...” (Rev. 4:2, 4, 6). 

The saints are standing on the sea of glass before the throne of God in heaven. “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the Song of the Lamb, saying ...” (Revelation 15:2, 3). 

What we are seeing here is a wedding ceremony. The bride will be led to Jesus Christ the Bridegroom by angels. Jesus then leads the bride to stand before the Fathers’ throne in heaven where the Father will perform the marriage ceremony. The guests at this wedding will be the twenty-four elders, the four beasts, and an innumerable company of angels. How is that for a guest list?

There is a type of this marriage in the book of Genesis. Abraham [85,  father of a multitude] told his servant to “…go to my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac” (Gen. 24:4). Abraham is a type of the Father, Isaac a type of Jesus Christ, and the servant is a type of the Holy Spirit by which God draws His people to Him.

The servant was led to Rebekah, “And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah…” (v. 53). Those are the same items that the Israelites received in Egypt before the Passover ceremony. They washed their feet (v.32), “And they did eat and drink, he [the servant] and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master” (v.54).

This was a type of the Passover ceremony. “And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go” (v. 58). That is what Moses said to Pharaoh’s servants when they came to him after the death of the firstborn, “I will go out” (Ex. 11:8).

“And Rebekah arose…and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way” (v. 61). They began their journey to the Promised Land. “And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahairoi [883]; for he dwelt in the south country” (v. 62). Strong’s #883 means, “well of the living One that sees me.”

“Early in the evening, Isaac went out to the field to meditate, and looking up, he saw the camels approaching. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walks in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself” (vv.63-65).

The bride is brought to Isaac, “And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her…” (v. 67). Sarah represents the “.Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all” (Galatians 4:26). That is where the bride of Christ will be taken.

The truth about the Day of Trumpets is far more exciting than the fictional u-turn theory. However it does leave us with a question. When does Christ return to the earth?

To be continued.