My Personal Understanding of Christ our Coming King
We are living in the grace dispensation and the time of the gentiles, (Luke 21:24 and Romans 11:25). As we proclaim the gospel of our coming King we are fulfilling God’s command and prophetic proclamation in Matthew 24:14, and then end will come. But there is still an order of events we can follow which must happen first before Jesus comes to rule and reign for a thousand years, His millennial year as our coming King.
I believe in the pre-tribulation and pre-millennial aspects of Biblical teachings.
The preaching to all the nations, (Matthew 24:14); The time of the gentiles and God’s dispensation of grace, (Luke 21:24; Romans 11:25); the pre-tribulation rapture, (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:52); our glorified bodies, (Romans 8:18; 1 John 3:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 3:4); judgement of the believer, (Romans 14:10-12; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10); the marriage super of the Lamb, (Revelations 19:7-10); the seven years of tribulation, (Daniel 9:26,27; 12; Revelation 6-11, 13-18); the 75 days after the tribulation period, (Daniel 12:11-13); our Coming King Jesus Christ with His saints, (Revelation 19:11); Satan bound for a thousand years and the Millennial Reign of Christ, (Revelation 20:1-6) and in the end, a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21 – 22).
Seeing this time line of events just makes it more real because I have come to believe the Bible is the absolute truth which emanates from God. As I read His word the burdens of His word and the preaching of other men of God leave an everlasting impression on my soul and spirit. Paul had a burden for his kinsmen. Romans 9:1-3 say, “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:” (Romans 9:1-3 KJV). Paul had a burden that superseded his own life, a heaviness that burdened his very soul. He even desired to be cursed in their stead. How could such a burden be greater than the need to be saved from the pit of hell and eternal torment? Paul’s love for his kinsmen matched the love of Christ who gave Himself as the only propitiation for all mankind.
Nehemiah had such a burden when he heard, “The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire” (Nehemiah 1:3 KJV). He wept and mourned over the condition of Jerusalem and its fallen state. He cried out to God for the redemption of His people and went before King Artaxerxes to get permission to go save the city of Jerusalem from its ruined state.
God has placed burdens on me at various times to see the souls of men as walking dead men or eternal souls set on the fire of hell because that’s where they will end up without the gospel of our Saviour, Sanctifier, Healer, and coming King, Jesus Christ.
My journey has been different than most and my purpose is to be prepared for God’s purpose whenever and wherever He calls me to go and minister. Whether it is in the jail or prison ministry, a church as a worker in the C&MA, or a pastor at some level in His Church, no matter where He places me, my mission is to be a witness for Jesus Christ in word, thought, and deed. In doing so, I believe with the C&MA that the end will come as we bring the gospel to all nations and peoples no matter where they are in this world. I pray that He will give me the power to carry out His purpose to the end, Finis Coronate Opus, even so Maranatha.
In Christ,
Greg