The Apocalypse Rocks!: Getting Excited About Christ's Return

When one examines the Scriptures to discover how much persecution we believers go through, a sense of angst and even anger can brew, not at God per see, but that our enemies must wait so long tell they receive a recompense, a judgement. Actually, upon reexamining the Scriptures, not only are unbelievers to face the Great Day of Judgement, and the Lake of Fire (a pit of endless fire and torment) they are promised tribulation while we go through tribulation. The verses about the Antichrist's take over seem grim and like we, God's People, are the only ones to receive hardship, "And the beast was allowed to wage war against God's holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation." (Revelation 13:7) and "And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name." (Revelation 13:17), but the truth is there is plenty of trials and hardships for the wicked in the End of Days. For example, we are told Plagues of all kinds will be unleashed on Beast's People, and unbelievers will suffer severely, "The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. Everyone was burned by this blast of heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had control over all these plagues. They did not repent of their sins and turn to God and give him glory," (Revelation 16:8-9), "And the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness, and men began to gnaw their tongues in anguish and they cursed the God of heaven for their pains and sores. But they did not repent of their evil deeds and turn to," (Revelation 16:10-11), "So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and loathsome, malignant sores broke out on those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image," (Revelation 16:2), "And huge hailstones, about a hundred pounds each, rained down on them from above. And men cursed God for the plague of hail, because it was so horrendous," (Revelation 16:21).  This is happening long before Day of God's Wrath (Revelation 19:11-16).

I want to share that there are going to be two roads, two paths, and two tribulations. For the Godly, for Christians there is promise of severe persecution, "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be." (Matthew 24:21), "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory," (Matthew 24:29-30), "Then they will hand you over to [endure] tribulation, and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will be offended and repelled [by their association with Me] and will fall away [from the One whom they should trust] and will betray one another [handing over believers to their persecutors] and will hate one another. Many false prophets will appear and mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, the love of most people will grow cold. But the one who endures and bears up [under suffering] to the end will be saved," (Matthew 24:9-13), "You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved," (Matthew 10:22), "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you," (John 15:18), "If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world," (John 15:19), and "And you will be hated by everyone because of My name. By your patient endurance, you will gain your souls" (Luke 21:17, 19) and "This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them!" (Revelation 14:12-13). We are however guaranteed comfort, "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us." (2 Corinthians 1:3-7), "Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus," (Philippians 4:7), " Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light," (Matthew 11:28-30), and we will be content, "Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength," (Philippians 4:11-13), "I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead," (Philippians 3:7-11) and, " For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live." (Philippians 1:20-24). We are guaranteed salvation and protection from God's Wrath, Plagues, and the Lake of Fire. We only have to suffer at hands of unbelievers and coming Beast regime (Revelation 13:7) for a time. In contrast unbelievers must endure the Plagues (Revelation 16), They are to endure the Wrath of God (Revelation 19:11-16, Revelation 14:10) and they will endure eternal torment (Revelation 20:10, Revelation 21:8). In addition the unbelievers and Beast followers will suffer tribulation and torment will not end with this life, but they shall go the Lake of Fire to be tormented and afflicted with pain, suffering, and terrible senssations forever, "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." (Revelation 21:8). In contrast, we Christian will experience no death, pain, or tears, "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever." (Revelation 21:3-4).

It become evident that God's People on the Narrow Path will suffer because He suffred, "Remember what I told you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also." (John 15:20).However, our suffering is temporary in many ways. We shall not suffer the Wrath of God, "For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," and "Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" (Romans 5:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:9), we shall not suffer the plagues (Revelation 16), we shall not suffer if we are killed and so just be with Jesus (Philippians 1:20-24), we will not suffer the endless suffering of Hell fire (Revelation 21:3-15). Let me get mathematical, Christian suffering will be 1/5, while unbelievers will suffer 4/5 to 00X infinitum. Our only suffering pertains to how long we are physically alive, if we die end of suffering and paradise, if we live we have Christ's strength to endure, and are spared His wrath and Hell. I am trying to make this clear to all who read, so you may have hope. The Apocalypse has been made to seem like some firery ordeal only for Christians, when in fact it will burn the unbelievers twice as much, and then never stop burning them! Don't you see, our affliction is temporary, while the evil doer and unbeliever's affliction will last in this life and the next! We are covered by the Blood of Lamb, and thus protected from the two edged wrath (Revelation 19:11-16, and Revelation 20:10 and 21:8). In addition, the afflictions that strike the unbeliever will not touch us, for we are sealed by God (Revelation 7:3) and His Spirit, "Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come," (1 Corinthians 1:21-22) and "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, The Spirit is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession, to the praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:13-14). 
 
It is so important that we do not view End of Days are durge, a funeral and terror. Yes, there will be hardship, by the whole meaning of word Apocalypse means "The Unveiling" which means unveiling fo a bride, just as it read, "Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
⁷ Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
⁸ it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

⁹ And the angel saidto me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” (Revelation 18:6-9).

We are suppose to excited that Jesus Christ is coming back, our Lord God and Husband, our Savior and God (Titus 2:13) will come on the clouds, "Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see him--even those who pierced him. And all the nations of the world will mourn for him. Yes! Amen!" (Revelation 1:7. cross ref Matthew 24:29-30) and avenge us, "Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. ¹³ He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords," (Revelation 19:11-16) and give us a shining new city, "So he took me in the Spirit^[b] to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west.  The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst." (Revelation 21:10-13, 18-20).There will be forever for us God's People joy, happiness, love, peace, and endless jubilation and partying! Its going to be fun! Stop viewing the Second Coming of Lamb as this terror and Medieval Warlord, it is God who is love (1 John 4:8), who having waited and allowed everyone the chance to believe (1 Timothy 2:4 and2 Peter 3:9 ) decides to finally finish the prophecies and be with us in Body and break down all barriers. He tore the viel with His death on cross (Matthew 27:48-53) and will tear the last veil, and be with us forever and ever in the New Jerusalem, New Earth, and New Heaven (Revelation 21:1-13). Remember this same Jesus, our God made everything (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16) and he made fun stuff, including sex in its proper context of marriage, and all beauty we see such as sky, sunsets, forests, and so forth. It is not somber Lord coming to collect us, but a Saving and Loving God who bled for us on cross (1 Peter 2:24, 3:18) and shall avenge us by bleeding the wicked (Revelation 19:11-16). The Apocalypse is a party, "And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God" Revelation 19:9) for us Christians. For the unbeliever it is hell on earth, and then hell fire forever (Revelation 20:10, Revelation 21:8). I am not saying we won't suffer, what I am is saying while we do and expect to, that we rejoice, "the joy of Lord is my strength," (Nehemiah 8:10) and that the joy of our salvation (Pslam 51:12) which is already achieved in Christ's Sacrifice and our confession (Romans 10:9-10), will also be completed when Christ comes back (Hebrews 9:8).

The End is not all doom and gloom, but a Wedding Feast where having endured this life we get to be with Jesus Christ. We were married to our God, Jesus Christ when we believed and confessed Him (Romans 10:9-10), He wed us on the cross. The Apocalypse, and Second Coming is the After Party, what they call the Reception of a Wedding. Fiting words, for Jesus will receive us in clouds, "Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever." (1 Thessalonians 4:17). It is going to be glorious and full of gladness. Yes, we shall suffer at hands of evil people, even the Antichrist for a time (Revelation 13:7) but that is temporary, for Jesus will come and destroy the Antichrist, "Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming," (2 Thessalonians 2:8) and destroy Satan, "Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."(Revelation 20:10). So do not let your heart be troubled about these Last Days, focus on the Lord, Savior, and God Jesus Christ. No matter what count Him as everything, Deus Meus Et Omnai. Stand firm to the end my brothers and sisters, for what awaits us is our Savior and Bridegroom, Paradise, Joy without end, a City of Gold and Gems (Revelation 21:1-11), and fellowship with the Saints throughout history! Hallejauh!