Truth Seeker - Christ's Presence

Presence:: The Purpose with Christ's Invisible Presence

(Major edit: 10.08.08)

What is the purpose of this generally unnoticed presence of Christ? Already Matthew is telling us that a global preaching work has to be done! Only a select few scriptures needed for the discussion will be used.

A. The essence of Christ's presence then is revealed to be as High-priest to Jehovah in his temple. As God's high-priest, Jesus must refine and gather his Saints, the little flock, and the Other Sheep from all the nations. (see Born Again Ones for more about the Saints)

A priority for the presence of Christ during this presence is to prepare for the coming day of God and Christ's Day of Wrath and the resurrection of the previously dead Saints. This shall create the infant kingdom not grown yet mentioned in Revelation chapter 12. (Rev 12:5, 1 Cor 15:26, 1 Thess 4:16) On the page Resurrections – First & Second, Paul sets the time for this after the Great Tribulation. The infant kingdom will become fully functional once the bride has been married to Christ, married' to the Lamb after the Great Tribulation but before Armageddon. It should be understood that these Saints constitute the temple of God. According to Jesus, the Great Tribulation doesn't offically begin until the Abomination of Desolation stands placed in its predicted location.

Malachi 3:1-3, Behold, I send forth My messenger, and he shall survey the way before Me: and the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come into His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom you take pleasure in: behold, He is coming, says the Lord Almighty. 2And who will abide the day of His coming? Or who will withstand at His appearing? For He is coming in as the fire of a furnace and as the herb of fullers. 3He shall sit to melt and purify as it were silver, and as it were gold: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver, and they shall offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. (AB)

Zechariah 6:12-13 . . . Thus spake Jehovah of Hosts, saying: Lo, a man! A Shoot he hath built the (other translations: Sprout, Branch)-- is his name, And from his place he doth shoot up, And temple of Jehovah. 13Yea, he doth build the temple of Jehovah, And he doth bear away honour, And he hath sat and ruled on His throne, And hath been a priest on His throne, And a counsel of peace is between both. (YLT)

Isaiah 4:4 When Jehovah will have washed away the excrement of the daughters of Zion and he will rinse away even the bloodshed of Jerusalem from within her by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning down. (NW)

Isaiah 10:12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria . . . (KJV)

Isaiah 66:20-22 And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.*n20.1 21And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the LORD. 22For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. (KJV)

On the Who are God’s people today? page, it was adequately shown that overall spiritual Israel and thus these children of Israel in Isaiah 66:20, must be the one flock of Christ which is composed of the little flock and the Other Sheep. Revelation also states that Christ is bringing both a Great Crowd and Saints out of all the nations.

This disciple making work combined with the cleansing of those brought out and the unfortunate disapproval of those that turn out to be rejected silver, just lead (Jer 6:29,30) is what occupies Christ in this time of his presence. Saintly Christians must occupy themselves with good Christian works. (See what are: Christian Good Works)

B. On the page Coronation of Christ – When? scriptural evidence is given that demonstrates Christ becoming king upon his ascent into heaven where he was granted to sit in God's throne, at God's right hand in 33CE. (Heb 1:3, Rev 3:21) Right after his resurrection before his ascension, Christ told us that this royal power had been bestowed upon him. ("Jesus coming spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth" DRC Matt 28:20)

The point about the crowns given in chapter 6 & 12 of Revelation becomes that of performing formal royal duties that require the king to wear his symbol of power.

Revelation 6:2, And I saw: and behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon it having a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went forth conquering and that he might conquer. (Darby)

Thus there is a difference between Christ presence and when he is revealed in power. When Christ's special presence begins, Christians have to be content with signs to infer that he is present; at his revelation, he comes as the revealed king to all the nations - whether they like it or not, they know now that he is here as he begins the war against the ungodly in Armageddon which is the harvest. Realize that in Rev 7:9, the Great Crowd holds the palm branches hailing the new global rule of Christ their king enforced post Armageddon. In Revelation chapter 19, the Lamb's marriage takes place and right thereafter he and his bride ride out to wage war with Christ wearing a crown, his kingship is thus reaffirmed with this symbolism.

Readers of Revelation should be aware that chapter seven causes a break between the end of chapter six where the events of the sixth seal takes places and chapter eight in which the events of the seventh seal begin to happen. The events of chapter seven do not therefore follow sequentially after the events in six.

Matthew 25:31,32, And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty. 32And all nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats: (DRC)

Matthew 25:46, And shall go away these into a cutting-off age-lasting; but the rigtheous to age-lasting life. (Diaglott)

The scriptures below connects the priesthood and the revealed kingship of Christ with the harvest. So far, it is the clearest combination of the two. Because Matthew 13:39 states that the harvest is the End of the World; Thus the harvest is connected with the gathering of the wheat and the destruction of the tares; as such, Armageddon and the time just previous when Christ sends his Angels to gather his chosen must then equal the harvest.

Rev 5:10, And hast made us to our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. (Webster)

Matthew 13:39 . . .But the harvest is the end of the world. And the reapers are the angels. . . (DRC)

Matt 13: 30 . . . in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn. (ASV)

Revelation 14:14-15 And I saw, and behold a white cloud; and upon the cloud one sitting like to the Son of man, having on his head a crown of gold, and in his hand a sharp sickle. 15And another angel came out from the temple crying with a loud voice to him that sat upon the cloud: Thrust in thy sickle, and reap, because the hour is come to reap: for the harvest of the earth is ripe. (DRC)

A side step: The prophecy about sprout has a fulfillment in Christ living in Nazareth. Nazareth means sprout.

Strong's Hebrew Dictionary says about "Branch " in Zech 6:12: 06780: tsemach tseh'-makh from 6779; a sprout (usually concrete), literal or figurative:--branch, bud, that which (where) grew (upon), spring(-ing). see HEBREW for 06779

Matt 2:23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. (KJV)

Wikipedia: 1 Etymology quote: "The etymology of Nazareth from as early as Eusebius up until the 20th century has been said to derive from the Hebrew word נצר netser, meaning a "shoot" or "sprout." (Updated 2008.03)

What is God's Temple Today?

Though it causes another sidestep, many may wonder: what is Christ's temple?

(Darby)
Hebrews 10:21 and having a great priest over the house of God, 22let us approach with a true heart Hebrews 3:6 but Christ, as Son over his house, whose house are *we*, if indeed we hold fast the boldness and the boast of hope firm to the end.

1 Peter 2:4-5 To whom coming, a living stone, cast away indeed as worthless by men, but with God chosen, precious, 5 yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 6Because it is contained in the scripture: Behold, I lay in Zion a corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believes on him shall not be put to shame.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17If any one corrupt the temple of God, *him* shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, and such are *ye*.

Presence to Day of Wrath

Some may ask how the subject about Christ's role as high-priest and king is affected by Revelation chapter 12?

We see that the infant kingdom is born and then removed to heaven whereupon the dragon begins his war against the holy ones. (12:1~) The woman who gave birth, Zion, is removed to an unapproachable place (i.e. by Satan). A war in heaven ousts the demons and Satan from heaven. This period starts chapter eleven's 3.5 years of preaching in sackcloth. Chapter 12:17 shows Satan warring against the holy ones -- this also occurs in 11:7, 8. This killing must represent the sign of the Abomination that causes desolation mentioned by Daniel and Jesus. To be exact, when the nations attack world religion, the 3.5 years count begins. From this we can understand that when the Abomination that Causes Desolation which also is the Eight King (a commercial political entity, perhaps IMF empowered), the infant kingdom has just been born in heaven a short time previous to it — months perhaps. We can understand that the attack on religion comes because of the great wrath of the Dragon that was ousted just previous to his attack of rage on religion targeting the holy ones.

Rev 12:7-10,17 And there was war in the heaven: Michael and his angels went to war with the dragon. And the dragon fought, and his angels; 8and he prevailed not, nor was their place found any more in the heaven. 9And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent, he who is called Devil and Satan, he who deceives the whole habitable world, he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10And I heard a great voice in the heaven saying, Now is come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren has been cast out

. . .17And the dragon was angry with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus. (Darby)

The above events move us from the undefined special presence of Christ into the day of God and the Lamb's day of Wrath. Since by Jesus own words the Great Tribulation begins with the Abomination standing in a holy place. (Matthew 24:15, 16) The countdown to Armageddon begins and future events will be known to the day, more or less. Only after Christ marries the bride after all the Saints have been brought to heaven post great tribulation, the King Christ Jesus and his bride go off to wage war.

Rev 19:6-11,16 . . . Hallelujah, for the Lord our God the Almighty has taken to himself kingly power. 7Let us rejoice and exult, and give him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready. 8And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints. 9And he says to me, Write, Blessed are they who are called to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb. And he says to me, These are the true words of God. 10 .

. . 11And I saw the heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and one sitting on it, called Faithful and True, and he judges and makes war in righteousness.

16And he has upon his garment, and upon his thigh, a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.

Christ’s Presence – Page three