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We are people of God. We are according to the faith of God’s elect. We are a people who have fully embraced God's revelation of Himself and His will for His people in Christ Jesus. We are the people purposed for the plan of salvation. We are the people who have the knowledge of the truth. We are the people that desire all to become God's vessels of grace and mercy for everyone and anyone who calls on the name of the Lord. We are God’s people, and this is not a hard truth to comprehend. Why? Because we believe that God is, and always has been. That He condescended from the fullness of His spiritualness to step all the way down to humanity to show us Himself in the form that He created us. He came in His Son’s generation, who was always with Him in eternity, that we may be a chosen generation, peculiarly called from the sureness of the darkness of death to the certainty of the light of life. Now please understand the depth of this identification as we consider something of even greater height – you ready? It was even before the Son of God was sent for us that God the Father had, according to His foreknowledge, His pre-arrangement, His predestination, that namely us, would love Him, whom he foreknew, and what would follow is our being found to be fit to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. God termed us the “elect”. That's a very controversial subject. What goes into that elect is a faith, a wisdom, such a knowledge of the word of God that problems within the people in whom the love of God is not yet, or may never be perfected, results in divisiveness. God does not think like man. God is finite in no meaning of the word. God is necessary, and our God is the first cause in all things. But He is not all things. He cannot be sin. He cannot be evil. He cannot be absent. And God is not bound. And this is why we who are people of God have free choice to come to know the pursuit of reason with God and to come to the truth of understanding that which appears controversial to the human mind. This shows there is coextensive in the will of God - His order to determine who's elect and His omniscient knowledge of our free choice, they run together. This is that great power given us at creation. There's not one more powerful in the way God does things over the other. God's sovereignty does not outreach our free choice as it affects us. But eternity exists within God, and that means that God can look into the eternities future, the times past, and the thoughts and motives of the heart as present with Him. We experience present consequences based upon past decisions, choices, but have no sight into the next moment...except by faith. That is why we are chosen...our faith. Faith is that given by God to allow us to glimpse in part into what He already knows. We are held responsible for our choices. God knows what choices everyone will make. Our choice of accepting the Lord or rejecting the Lord, that is determining our eternal destination. God has always projected Himself before all men that He exists. As we know in reasoning with the word, God has always shared that He is there. And if man would reach out and pursue that light, God will give more light until eventually it accumulates to that gospel that brings that person to the knowledge and understanding of his or her lost condition and his or her need for Christ. It's not a case of if we see God or not, the bible tells us all man sees God, but the bible also tells us it's man's choice to accept or to reject Him. We are responsible for our decision to accept or reject the Lord. But at the same time, God has in His foreknowledge accepted us according to the choice, obviously that we've made to accept or reject Him too. So as a people we either choose God or we suppress the truth and walk away from Him. Choosing God makes us others. We must be always mindful of ourselves of who He's called us to be in Him. We can begin to see our point of recognition in events when God called a man to leave his own country, his very kindred, his father’s house to include a man chosen to lead a people into a wilderness. We are to be the “on earth” living example of what a people are like when they follow God’s way. And now we know there is that people beyond the elect; there is the election. The election is not a people of nationality. We are a people of nature having commonality in Jesus Christ – set apart for his services - under one head agreeing in the same manners and customs and governed by the same laws. We are a holy nation because we are consecrated and devoted to God reborn and sanctified by His holy spirit...peculiar. We are inspirationally different. We are a people that should be separate, not because we are self- righteous or think we deserve eternal life, but because following God’s teachings causes us to be different from those who do not follow them. If this is our faith, our greatest separation must be from the sinful conduct of the world. God does have a people favored. We embrace every word of God and we have a singular faith that is objective and is exclusively based on Jesus. Because of Christ, we have the living hope that every promise of God will come to pass and so we live with eager anticipation and confident expectation of the fulfillment of every word of God. We abide in undeserved grace sufficient for every occasion. And we who know something of God’s grace as believers, appropriately seek to “see” God’s grace at work in others. This does not mean that we compromise with sin, but it does mean we reflect the character of Christ in dealing with those we witness to by sharing the truth. God is composing His people to convey the truth that the new heaven and the new earth will include all peoples, tongues, kindreds, nations – diversities of one mind. This challenges us to take seriously our own practices, programs, prejudices, and preferences. We are a people who come to all with justness and grace. We build relationships for heaven. We come to know our sisters and brothers now who will be in the family of God. God’s people are dependent. We continually trust God with every part of our lives. We acknowledge that He has all the power, and we trust Him to work according to His will. This is the revelation of our faith no matter our circumstances. And it is by our circumstances that our faith increases. We thrive in the creation of God. Creation gives us the example that can be followed by those who believe in Jesus because His people can trust in the Creator and Sustainer of all things. We thrive spiritually because we are following His command to keep the Sabbath holy in obedience to Him. Once we were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Because we have this mercy, we have this distinctiveness from Christ as a family related by blood. Read these texts; Ephesians 3:14, 15; Hebrews 2:17; Colossians 1:20; Colossians 1:2; and Ephesians 2:13. The people of God are truly blood kith and kin. We share the same Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth receives its name. We share the same elder brother, Christ, whose blood shed on the cross has reconciled us to the heavenly Father. And we share a union with our spiritual others, brothers and sisters in Christ, who are reconciled to each other by the same blood of the cross. We are the peopled family that forms the centerpiece of God’s work in creation. We are that fruit multiplied. From the beginning God formulated His agenda in terms of a family. We are the people serving as the purpose of God’s intent that our faith would be indeed the perfection and completion of the former. We are to be the substance of that grace of faith that the faithful hoped for, and the evidence of the eye of the mind that the reality of those things that cannot be discerned by the eye of the body are the firm assent of the soul to the divine revelation, as set to its seal that God is true. Under the sovereign decree of an all-wise God, the family is the vehicle by which His triune likeness will be disseminated to the entire universe made new. We are the family of God in Christ. Divine image is not a speculation. We see perfectly in Christ the image and the glory of God. It is by this example of Christ whereby we divinely understand the must need death of self. From the unspeakable riches of equality with God to the most impoverished death in antiquity, from heights unsearchable to depths unimaginable, from one polar extreme to another, this is the measure of the self-emptying death of Christ. It is history’s most perfect expression of sacrificial love. It is also the clearest revelation of what it means to manifest the image of God. In Jesus we see the likeness of the heavenly Father. On the cross we behold a picture of what God is like, and hence of what families created in his image are meant to be like. It is a picture of infinite love. God the Son emptied himself, to humble himself, to take on the form of a slave, and to submit to a slave’s death. This portrait is harmonical with what we know of Christ and God. The Godhead is other- oriented. Each Person is plurality-in-unity. As the people of God, bearing His image, we must be found capable of this kind of love. Prepared to lay out ourselves with all possible concern for another to convert them from the error of their way to save a soul from death. We are others who strive for the salvation of the whole man. Though our sins may be still, they will be pardoned, our service of conversion will prevent a multitude of sins not just in the others to whom we are sent, but many also may be prevented in others that they may have an influence upon. We are a people who examine ourselves. Our concern for sinners must be stronger than our condemnation of sin. God abominates sin. It represents a personal affront. It diminishes his glory in the world and effaces the radiance of men and women created in his image. But God is love. He elects out of the multitude a chosen people to give glory to His image. Noah, Abraham, but God has a last time people called to fidelity to His covenant and the manifestation of His character throughout the world. Still to come, the ultimate unveiling of God’s Israel. From time immemorial it was God’s intention to carve out a new family whose hearts would be purged of the defect of sin and filled with the law of love, an impulse empowered by the indwelling Spirit of God himself. Creation eagerly awaits the emergence of this family! Isaiah prophesied of this Israel as the servant of the Lord. Isaiah 42:6; 49:6 We are to be the arrival of the indwelling presence of God signaled by the prophets, the glory of God’s image inscribed on human hearts, the displacement of sin by the internal law of love. Christ, whose own self- emptying death on the cross represented the expression of divine love, now comes to reside in us. It is absolutely essential to acknowledge that the indwelling love of Christ is bestowed within a plurality of human hearts. This is not to suggest that Christ does not indwell hearts individually. He most certainly does, but not hearts isolated from other hearts. Ultimately, it is a family of hearts that Christ comes to indwell. By vanquishing our sin in these two respects - paying sin’s penalty and purging sin’s power - Christ fits us for the family of God. Costly to him and priceless to us is our induction into the body of Christ. Because of Jesus Christ, single human beings, individuals can be saved from the wrath of God and assured seats in a heavenly eternity. While this reality is not to be diminished in any way but rather prized with full-throated praise, we do not view God’s work through the individualistic lens of our day. The Godhead is spiritual unity. And by one spirit are we all baptized into one body. And above all, within the people of God purposed by election in and by Christ, the larger dimensions of God’s plans for creation receive breathtaking definition. God is wholly other. Completely different than all other things. The essential of all holiness. We must relate to him by his self-revelation in the person of Christ Jesus, and through the bible. The angels cry holy, holy, holy. In Christ there is none other. How do we identify with none other name? God elected Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. When an individual is elected, it means his descendants are also elected. The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with a high arm brought he them out of it. God has declared His as “mine elect”. This is very important to understand the “others” of God. In the same sense, God has chosen Jesus Christ, His elect, the seed of Abraham, so that the people who have relation with Him, who belong to Him, also become the elect or chosen “people of God”. Jesus Christ being God’s chosen one has fulfilled God’s choice of Abraham. Jesus is the fulfillment of the true Israel. But we must remember this truth – they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Though God can call a person, if that person is not faithful to God his or her calling can be abrogated. The purpose of God’s calling is for service, not for salvation. The one called has a choice. The calling and election must be made sure. In Christ unity transcends all other human unity and it binds God’s people together. The people of God are those chosen by him to fulfill his purpose, and this sense of being called and chosen brings a strong sense of solidarity to us. We cannot be defined apart from Christ who is the source of our life. The term “people of God” makes a definite claim that faithful believers all, regardless are the true Israel of God. There is a biblical theme of the people of God concerning the continuity that God’s people will be made up of all mankind. God gives exceptional attention to His people throughout biblical history. Israel was to demonstrate unswerving, exclusive loyalty to the Lord. Second, Israel was to remember that she had been chosen for a special relationship without any merit of her own. Third, Israel, as the people of God, was to remember her past life of slavery and use this to promote a proper worship of God. Fourth, Israel was not to repeat the social oppression that she experienced in Egypt, but rather establish a familial cooperative spirit based upon justice and righteousness. We learn how the fracturing of Israel into two peoples was not just a rejection of God but an opportunity for the world to begin to impose error to bring about disregard for the truth of God. During the period of Israel’s decline we are introduced to an important dimension in our understanding of the people of God. The people of God are not simply those of physical Israel; or even the majority of Israel. The true or real people of God are the few, the “remnant”, the children of Israel who live for God in faithfulness to his covenant. Remnant thought attributes to God His involvement in the world, acknowledging His transcendence and immanence, bringing together the themes of judgment and salvation. At its heart, however, lay the conviction that even when Israel or Judah were at their worst, there was always a small group of faithful believers who held on to true religion. The people as a whole might have failed spectacularly, but there were still some who could provide a bridge to forgiveness and restoration. It was these people, the true people of God, the “others” as it were, in whom God would work his resolution for the end of history and the vindication of God’s justice. The faithful ones are described as “the people that know their God”. At this last time, another element is added to the dimension of the people of God. God’s people in our day would not only be from among the elect, we will be the remnant of the elect. God’s people would be a new people unlike any generation called to purpose. God’s plan for Israel would not rest alone in the humanity of the faithful remnant, but in God’s action to inaugurate a new people whose ascent is unto God. We will be purified, illumined, and perfected in the likeness of Christ. Spiritual senses will mirror the divine image of the heavenly Jerusalem. Flooded with all these intellectual lights, our mind turns into a house of God that is inhabited by the divine Wisdom. Our mind, then, becomes a son, a daughter, a bride, and a friend of God. It becomes a coheir of Christ. It also becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit, which is founded on faith, raised through hope, and dedicated to God through holiness of mind and body. It is the most sincere love of Christ that brings this about, a love which is poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who is given to us. Now God can be contemplated, not only outside ourselves and inside ourselves, but also above ourselves: outside ourselves through his vestiges; inside ourselves through his image; and above ourselves by means of the light that is positioned above our mind. This is the light of the eternal truth itself, since our mind itself is shaped immediately by truth itself. “He Who Is” is our unity. And we will be in the last time constantly under the gaze of this purest Being who is supremely One. Our God will be most present. The fracture and division within relational units is this world’s most besetting darkness. A striking unity pervades the family of God. We are others not of the world but called to shine radiantly, transforming the surroundings as beacons of light. Our oneness with others is to develop a common bond in Christ in a faith relationship. The last time people of God are considered as the remnant people of God. These profess exceptional allegiance to God and His kingdom, even in the face of the dragon’s beast and its image’s deception and oppression. The “people of God” are not ethnically defined: they come from “every nation, tribe, people and language.” The people are elected “in Christ” to be a holy “people of God.” We are called for the service of God in order to proclaim the wonderful deeds of the Lord and to herald the dire warnings for the soon coming of Christ. We are a mixed society comprising the called of God. Thus, faith in Christ and sincerity to biblical truth are the hallmarks of the “people of God.” God’s election of the chosen is based upon his grace, the election of grace, because they respond to the gospel call in obedient faith that is absolutely necessary. As the people of God, we are others and we need to live lives that are separate from sin. We must not forget to remain a separate and distinct people of God. We must not have fellowship with the sinful practices of the world around us. We must come out and away from sin and live holy lives in the fear of God. Let us continue to preach and teach against sin and worldliness and encourage our families to live pure and holy lives. Now let us come to the point of why we are others. There is an agenda that God has for His last time people. Why is it that we have not ceased to sin? Why hasn’t our message been effectual when it comes to being God’s witnesses in the world? Have we chosen our own agenda, rather than following God’s? We think that what God wants is more people in the church, and that his goal is to build up the church with ever greater numbers in the last day. Could it be that we are not understanding the communal calling and the communal task. Is God’s goal about numbers or at most is that a by-product of God’s work in the world? It is important to have a strong and vibrant church for the assembling of those who want truth, but if we set out to achieve that with numbers, then we will not reach that goal, for that is not the goal that God has set before us. Remember the scripture - for it is written, rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Let us understand the present case in reading II Timothy 3. The strength of delusion will approach the very elect. Few will find the strait gate. Many who tasted the good word and been enlightened will fall away. The election purposed by God will stand. What then is the goal of God’s people? T o be the people of faith who display the love of God in the life for the world to see. And the LORD said unto Gideon, the people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place. Acknowledging God’s sovereign rule in our lives and obeying him in everything that we do will not show in numbers. The whole of our faith is in Christ. There are to be 144000 who are the revelation of God, showing in relationship of love and obedience, truth and faith, the full stature of Jesus. These will show the individual commitment through the communal tasks of God’s people rooted to Christ to be members of his body. As others than the world we will reveal that God is not distant and impersonal; we reveal a God who is relational. Relational in that God calls us His sons, His daughters, His friends. We are others as individuals, but never alone. We are different and diverse people who have various gifts from God. We eschew superficial, hypocritical, harsh, unforgiving, and self-righteous judgment. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit we discernably speak the truth in love while prayerfully and gently confronting erring brothers or sisters in Christ. God’s people hold a special bond with each other and whose relationships are filled with temperateness and regard. God created us with a need for community and a desire for connection. God is gathering a people who walk beside each other in life, helping to strengthen and encourage one another. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. We counsel one another even as somethings are hard sayings. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe with compassion, kindness, humbleness, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of us have a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgives us. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds us all together in perfect unity. We can have this experience of friendship because of Jesus. Love in the last time will not be comfortable. But it is the primary way we show others that we belong to Jesus Christ. We must keep focus on the revelation of Jesus Christ. This uncertain world is descending into chaos. Many will lose their witness. No sacrifice of truth is to be made. Conflict will bring pain to close relationships. Our comfort comes not in explaining God’s purposes but in trusting them. We have this consolation – the final judgment is near.

one purpose God is eternal...in existence, in purpose. Three entitied Persons, having clearly three unique identities acting in an inclusive way as one having the very same objective of conceptual reality. The three persons are distinct in their personal relationships with each other, but they are the same in substance, equal in power and glory, and have all that makes God who he is. The word "person" is used to describe the three persons because it's one of the only ways to describe this concept in language, but it doesn't mean that the persons are human beings. Instead, each person has intellect, emotion, and volition, and had a unique role in creation and salvation. God presents Himself to His people as one God. The people of God know Him and believe in Him as one God with one Name. We are a baptized people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Such a truth shows us that within God Himself there is both a unity between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one name and a distinct three persons. The wonder of this mystery: the Father is not the Son and not the Holy Spirit. The Son is not the Father and not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the Father and is not the Son. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit is God. No priority is due to one, no neglect is due to either. God cannot be divided. God, who is spirit, determined to physically come to earth in the form of humanity to put mankind in the right relation with Him. This done because of sin. The presentation of Jesus as Son of God, complemented by the promise of the Holy Spirit, gave rise to the singular purpose for redeeming mankind from our fallen condition that we may be partakers of the plan of salvation. We see not the plurality, but the harmoniousness of purpose in the counsel, in the creation, in the plans of both redemption and salvation. We hear “in the beginning God” and “let us make” regarding the expression in a singularity of deliberation, in fact referring only to One God. In all our discussions, the bible is to be the authority. It shows us that the central theme of all that is determined providentially in the council of peace is Jesus Christ the God-man. He is the fullness of divinity and humanity of the same substance, having the one essence with the Father and being consubstantial with the Holy Spirit. The Council decreed that Jesus, the Word, and Son of God, has been eternally ‘begotten’ from the Father to be worshipped and together glorified. He was incarnate, made flesh, of the specific Mary and became human. Herein is the mystery of godliness. In Jesus Christ there are two energies and two wills corresponding to his two natures. The purpose of this conciliar teaching protects the doctrine of the fullness and completeness of both Jesus’ humanity and Divinity. The God of the bible is a God of purpose. And not just general purposes but specific ones. And His purposes extend from eternity past to eternity future, encompassing not only the ultimate destiny of His creation, but our personal lives. In Christ the purpose for His creation is fulfilled. God Himself assures us of this: “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’. But God is so much more than simple purpose. He is sovereign in His call to Abraham as a gentile to become the father of His people. And establishing us as descendants by faith as His Israel. And delivering us into the propheticness of His story to bring to a people the perfection of being by faith as is His Son. The story ends with the consummation, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth, and once all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. This is God’s ultimate purpose - to bring about a new heaven and new earth. God’s grand purpose for the world to come, then, is in the process of coming into being in the present through the redeeming and restoring work of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Christ, and by the transformative power of the Holy Spirit, God is at work preparing a people to populate His new world. His purpose is to conform them to the image of Christ. This means that God’s purpose for each one of us is to be transformed in our character, such that we more fully reflect the character of our God and increasingly live a life of love and faith. This involves every area of our personal and moral life to include our family and others. God has a determinate character. He has purpose and performs particular events. He does one thing and not another. God's sovereignty and purpose, particularly in light of events that seem unequal, random, or unjust. It stems from the observation that God acts in specific ways in certain situations but not in others, such as healing some people while others suffer, or saving some individuals but not all. Therefore, the various actions we perceive God taking are not separate or distinct acts in God Himself, but different manifestations of His one, simple, perfect nature. A human might act wisely in one moment and mercifully in another. In God, however, wisdom and mercy are not separate attributes; they are one and the same as His very being. His essence is identical in all His attributes. God does not have goodness…He is goodness. He doesn’t have existence…He is existence. All He does from creation to salvation is one single, eternal divine act. Light is a single source, yet as it fractures it results in many colors distinct one from another. From God’s oneness we see such things as justice, wrath, mercy. God wants us to discover His will. The assurance that in Christ we are in the center of God’s purposes brings lasting stability to our experience. This is why we study the word...God’s will is made known to us. The word shows how God’s will is shaped by His ultimate purpose for us. We are to give every word careful thought with patience and a right attitude to God. The word of God gives us fundamental principles to guide us in every situation. God is good. Such a like purpose exists between God the Father and God the Son that their declarations of divinity and humanity are the same. The Father said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM. The Son said before Abraham was, I am. They both refer to their eternality and existence. According to this truth and this Word of God, we believe in one only God, who is one single essence, in which are three Persons, really, truly, and eternally distinct, according to their incommunicable properties; namely, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost...these Persons thus distinguished are not divided nor intermixed; for the Father had not assumed the flesh, but had the Holy Spirit as Melchisedec, and the Son only. The Father had never been without His Son, or without His Holy Spirit. For they are all three co-eternal and co-essential. There is neither first nor last; for they are all three one, in truth, in power, in goodness, in mercy, and in love. We hear of the same purpose in the Father and the Son expressed in such an intimacy of relationship in the very words of Jesus...all things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. God presented Himself in Jesus as the Son of God. It is a mystery. The truth that God does not change is to be understood on a spiritual founding. God is speaking to His covenant. God was pleased to renew His covenant with man in such a way as that His unity might be believed in, after a new manner, through the Son and the Spirit, in order that God might now be known openly, in His proper names and Persons, who in ancient times was not plainly understood, though declared through the Son and the Spirit. Does the mystery of God’s omnipresence indicate change? Omnipresence is an attribute belonging to God alone, traditionally described as his quality of being present in all places everywhere at all times any time, with the implication that he is not bound by time or space, galaxies or dimensions. God is boundless, infinite. And by His word He attributes all to Jesus. And he has fitted and arranged all things by his wisdom, while he contains all things, but he himself can be contained by no one: he is the former, he is the builder, he is the creator, he is the Lord of all; and there is no one besides him or above him. That both God’s omnipresence and transcendence are depicted in his incarnation through Christ. While God revealed himself to us through Christ, he did not lose anything of his Divinity. As we now worship Him ‘in the Spirit and in truth’ anywhere we want to worship Him makes God ‘more omnipresent’ in the Holy Spirit and in the truth of Jesus. God can be the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and even the angel of God. Read Genesis 31:11-13. How so wonderful is the mystery of the purpose of God the Father and God the Son. He can hang on the cross as God the Son and cry out to God the Father, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani’, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Read Genesis 1:1, Isaiah 40, verse 28 and Colossians chapter 1, verses 16 and 17. A purposeful creator? The ways in which God shows His oneness of purpose and compassion with humankind. The one purpose - to glorify God. The Father: determined creation, redemption, and consummation, and is supreme in authority. The Son: responsible for creation, the mediator, and the Father's image. The Holy Spirit: brings the works of God to completion, and is the bond of love between the Father and Son. God is a purposeful being...everything He does is for a purpose. History itself has a purpose...and God is working things out for that purpose. This is one of the most encouraging things about the doctrine of God’s sovereignty...seemingly random events are not random at all; everything is being worked out according to God’s eternal purpose. Therefore, God’s purpose in all of this is in some way defined and accomplished by election. God has a purpose, and that purpose is a sure and certain one. God’s purpose rules over the entire process of salvation. God’s purpose stands over His foreknowledge of people, His predestination of the people He foreknew to be conformed to the image of His Son...His calling of us by the gospel, His justification of us by faith, His future glorification of us. Again, the purpose of God the Father and Jesus is one...the bible says God has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. The purpose is now being revealed. We see that God’s purpose is totally centered in the person of Christ...grace given us IN CHRIST; Christ was and is the center of God’s purpose. We see an absolute harmony between purpose and grace...God’s purpose is a gracious purpose, or a purpose to give us grace in Christ. God’s call to us in Christ Jesus is part of this purpose. God’s purpose is so big, it even includes predestination! Our predestination itself was done for this purpose. God’s purpose is a “free and sovereign” purpose, in which He does everything after the counsel of His own will...it is not governed by anything outside of Himself. Unconditional election makes God’s purpose stand. Unconditional election ALONE makes God’s purpose stand. In salvation God desires His own glory above all things. In salvation, God also desires that all His elect most certainly be saved, that none of them be lost. Only election can accomplish these purposes, which are really one purpose ultimately. God’s glory is most clearly displayed in one way: that all of the elect might be fully and finally saved, that not one of us would be lost, and that we would stand and proclaim forever that we are saved for the praise of HIS GLORY . The decisive influence of all that happens in the world is God’s. He works all things after the counsel of His own will. He alone has the freedom of ultimate self-determination. In a word, God, looking on all ages, from the creation to the consummation, as a moment, and seeing at once whatever is in the hearts of all the children of men, knows everyone that does or does not believe, in every age and nation. Yet what God knows, whether faith or unbelief, is in nowise caused by His knowledge. Men are as free in believing or not believing as if God did not know it at all. Let’s pause in this truth concerning the one and same purpose of God and of Christ. Please reason this statement in the truth of the reality of the measure of faith given us by God. But before penning the statement I ask that you read and hear the following truths... Romans 3:22 Galatians 2:16 Galatians 3:22 Revelation 14:12 Now see by what it is that God’s people live... Galatians 2:20 Not our faith, but that which is of Jesus Christ, God Himself. God’s electing purpose will stand because our election was based on nothing outside of God Himself. It is not based on foreseen works, neither is it based on foreseen faith, nor anything God foresees in us at all. Rather, it is based totally on Himself. Election accomplishes this purpose of God because it thwarts all human boasting. Justification is conditional on faith, but election is not. Our faith in Christ is a condition for justification. But our faith is not a condition for election...God wasn’t looking in us at all when He chose us…He was looking in Himself. The “call” dear friends is that powerful call by which God creates what He calls. Do not imagine any sinner is beyond the pale of God’s unconditional election...unconditional election was designed to amaze and awe the world at who is included!! So God in Christ sees His people as we will be when Jesus comes. God sees us whole, sees us as we will be in His love eternally, sees us through the mediating eyes of Jesus. God sees us in Himself. God sees us through the eyes of love made flesh in Jesus Christ. This one same purpose with God and Jesus intends for us to be like Christ. Truly faithful people are precious in God's sight; we are His peculiar treasure; His delight is in us, above any people. We are His vineyard. And this makes God's people truly honorable; for we are really what we are in God's eye. By faith in Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, as we trust in Jesus, we are part of His holy, chosen people. The object of our faith is God and His promises. Each of us is born for purpose, but it is God’s purpose. Remembering that it is not our faith, but the faith credited to us as righteousness. And by whose righteousness is why faith is the way God has chosen for us to get right with him. And God chose faith as the way to justification because faith accords with grace and grace is the free and sovereign work of God that makes the promise certain. God means to justify us by faith because it gives us strong assurance. God's free and sovereign grace is what guarantees the promise of salvation and makes it sure. And faith is the one condition of the heart that accords with grace in justification. Faith says yes to grace and is glad that God will save us that way and rests in that wonderful work of grace. So the purpose is expressed in the faith of Jesus as the way that we get right with God - the way to be justified - he wanted to base the whole thing on his almighty, all-glorious grace, so that our boasting would be excluded and his glory would be exalted and our salvation would be certain. Our pride is put down. God's glory is lifted up. And salvation is made sure. Therefore, rejoice that our justification is by grace through faith. Brothers, sisters, justification is not a process. It is a verdict. It is a singular act of counting us righteous and acceptable to God on the basis of the righteousness of another, namely and specifically, Jesus Christ. It is this kind of faith that God designs by His grace that will persevere. All subsequent faith dear friends is like an oak tree contained in the acorn. God, in the act of justification, which is imparted to us in our first believing, has respect to perseverance, as being virtually contained in that first act of faith; and persevering in faith is looked upon as being as it were a property of that first act of faith. God has respect to our continuance in faith, and He is glorified by that, as though it already were by divine establishment. God's purpose is to conform us to the image of Jesus, or to become like Jesus. The word states that God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son, and that Christlikeness is God's eternal purpose. It means that full and steadfast justification is given to us through one simple act of faith; and assurance of eternal life is possible from that very beginning. And the work of Christ in whom we have our righteousness is a complete and perfect work. It does not get better with time. And we are united to Christ at once, through our first faith, not progressively. So, we ask reasonably...what is meant by from faith to faith? It means that God declares us to be righteous in His eyes because of our faith, from beginning to end living in a way that generates more faith in God and His promises. In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. Righteousness is thus a complete and total work of God. It is a right standing before God that has nothing to do with human accomplishment or worth. It is received by faith. There is nothing we can do to deserve or earn it. From the faith of God, who makes the offer of salvation, to the faith of Jesus, by whom we receive it. Salvation comes from God’s faithfulness to our faith. That salvation is accomplished through God’s faithfulness, which comes first, and our faith in response to that as a progressive, growing development of faith from one degree of faith to another akin to the ever-increasing glory of transformation. From day one of our journey of faith until the very last day, we, the righteous, must live by faith. We must trust God “from start to finish” and rely on His mighty power - the power of the gospel - to change our lives and the lives of those we encounter. Purpose!! We receive a faith that answers to the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. That is also faithfulness to the call of God. God’s own faithfulness is in view with our justification which progresses into our faith. The faith of God is prior to all. It is the fundamental faithfulness that undergirds the covenant and creation itself and is paired with God’s steadfast love. The revelation of God’s righteousness is not just personal but cosmic. The word equates God’s righteousness with His salvation, which will act for the whole world. This all points toward Christ. We see this beautiful progression from God’s faith to Jesus’ faith, which leads to our faith and confidence in their faithful work. The mediating faith of Jesus stands between the faith of God and the responding faith of man, reinforcing the centrality of Jesus Christ in God’s saving and reconciling work of love. Jesus is not only the “author and finisher” of our faith but also the author and finisher of faith itself. The faithfulness of Jesus Christ reveals, on one hand, God’s faithfulness toward man. On the other hand, he as representative man reveals the faithful response of humanity toward God. And here is where our faith is born: in Him! We see the far-reaching of the one purpose - it is by faith from first to last, because faith is a word that binds God and man together through Christ in covenant relationship. In light of this, our own efforts and works are truly of no avail at all, for if we are not “of faith,” we are apart from God and Christ. But when we are “of faith,” then we are united in them and participate with them in the faith that defines them, and us. This is how and why God looks within Himself... because before there was our faith, there was His faith, the faith of God that was embodied in our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is their faith, the faithfulness of the Father and Son, that we are to think about most these days. For their faith is what makes our faith possible. This is the message of the everlasting gospel. God Himself will make sure of our perseverance in faith - not perfection in faith, but perseverance, persistence. How can we know this? Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. That last clause is crucial. It says that those whom God has justified, he most certainly will glorify. It's as good as done. That is, he will certainly bring us into everlasting life and glory with himself in the end. Now if that is true - if God will certainly and eternally save those who have been justified - and if our justification comes through faith which perseveres, then God will see to it that we certainly persevere in faith. This is a very precious truth: that God Himself is committed to keeping his people and not letting them forsake him utterly. We may stray for a season. But he will bring us back. Clouds may gather and faith may falter, but those who are justified will not stumble so as to fall utterly. We will persevere in faith. Our hope for glorification is not in our own willpower to believe. It is in God's faithfulness that he who began a good work in us will complete it unto the day of Christ.

Micheal stands, Jesus Shouts The Bible’s use of names and titles for the Son of God is never casual. Each name reveals a dimension of His work in the great plan of redemption. When He is called Jesus, He is the Savior. When He is called the Son of Man, He is the Judge. When He is called the Word of God, He is the Revealer. But when He is called Michael, He is the Commander of heaven’s armies—the Warrior who contends for His people. At the Second Coming, all these identities converge, but it is His identity as Michael that Scripture highlights at the resurrection, for in that moment He comes not as a suffering Lamb but as the conquering Prince. The return of the Lord is one of the most profound and climactic themes in all of Scripture. Yet the Bible presents this singular event from two complementary perspectives - the day is both harvest and threshing, gathering and trampling, embrace and exposure. The final crisis of earth’s history is not merely a clash of nations or ideologies, but the great climax of the ages—the war between Michael, the Prince of heaven, and the rebellious powers of darkness. In this closing conflict, the attitudes of the wicked and the righteous will stand in sharpest contrast. Each group will reveal, through their thoughts, words, and dispositions, the master they have chosen and the destiny they have embraced. On the one hand, the Lord is revealed as Michael, the Warrior Prince who makes war with the living wicked and destroys the powers of rebellion. “Michael” means “Who is like God?”—a name that functions as both confession and challenge. In Daniel, Michael is “one of the chief princes” and “the great prince who stands for the children of your people”. He contends with principalities, stands up at the time of unparalleled trouble, and is intimately connected with the deliverance of His people and the first resurrection. That essential line: “At that time Michael shall stand up … and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was … and at that time your people shall be delivered.” Michael’s “standing up” signals the transition from heavenly intercession to royal enforcement. It is the signal that heavenly jurisdiction has moved to executive action. Intercession issues in intervention; the Advocate who pleaded now appears as the Judge who delivers. It is the moment when the verdict in the heavenly court of Daniel chapter 7 becomes the event in history: protection of the sealed, exposure of the unrepentant, and the opening of the graves. Jude 9 remembers Michael’s authoritative confrontation with the adversary. Revelation 12 shows Michael warring against the dragon, casting him down and securing heaven’s victory song. The wicked, preparing to war with Michael, will be characterized by arrogance, defiance, and delusion. Having rejected the pleadings of grace and resisted the drawing of the Spirit, they will be utterly hardened against God. Revelation describes them as gathering under the leadership of “the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet” to make war against Him who rides upon the white horse (Revelation 16:13–14; 19:19). Their attitude will not be one of sober calculation, but of blind rage fueled by deception. They will believe themselves invincible, even as their kingdoms totter and their resources fail. Like Pharaoh chasing Israel into the sea, they will rush forward under a spell of false confidence, unable to perceive that they are running into their own destruction. Hatred for the truth and bitterness toward God’s faithful people will consume them, driving them to unite in a last desperate assault upon the throne of Christ. Their preparation for battle will be filled with the spirit of defiance, curses against heaven, and a confidence born not of reality but of satanic lies. These texts portray more than a creaturely angel; they unveil the Prince who embodies the authority of God, answers the question of His likeness, and executes His judicial warfare. On the other, He is revealed as Jesus, the Redeemer and Bridegroom, who raises the righteous dead, transforms the righteous living, and gathers them all into His eternal kingdom. The righteous preparing for the coming of Jesus will be marked by humility, patience, and holy expectation. Their hearts, having been purified through trial, will beat in quiet harmony with the will of God. Unlike the wicked, who draw courage from numbers and weapons, the righteous will find strength in communion with their Lord. Their preparation will not be a frenzied mustering of armies, but a sanctifying of spirit. They will watch and pray, not in terror but in faith, trusting in the promise that “our God shall come, and shall not keep silence” - Psalm 50:3. While the wicked curse, the righteous sing; while the world plots revenge, the saints lift up their heads, knowing that their redemption draws near. Their attitude will be one of childlike expectancy, longing for the face of the Bridegroom, eager for the consummation of the covenant they have held by faith. The Lord descends “with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God.” The Lord descends—not to touch the earth and set up a worldly throne, but to summon His saints to Himself. The shout is the royal command; the archangelic voice is the authoritative summons that pierces the graves; the trumpet is God’s broadcast signal of assembly and victory announcing that the age has turned. The voice of the archangel is the voice of Jesus Himself, but framed in the language of battle and conquest. The three belong together in one person’s appearing: the Lord Jesus. The bible suggests identity, not mere accompaniment: the very voice that commands resurrection is the voice of the archangelic Prince—Michael—wielded by the Lord Himself. The titles differ; the person does not. The word declares his omniscient sovereignty. His being the “name written, that no man knew” signals the inexhaustible depth of the Son’s divine identity. Order and togetherness guard the church from fear and envy: the dead are not disadvantaged; the living are not isolated; the Lord gathers all in one embrace. The trumpet summons like a long-awaited song. The sleeping saints stir; the earth releases what it could not keep. Mothers meet sons, husbands meet wives, friends greet friends—yet every reunion is gathered around the One whose scars still speak. The living feel corruption flee their bones; weakness leaves like a shadow at noon. Together, like a single bride, the church rises to meet her Lord. No fear, no dusk—only the King, the Lamb, the Word who kept His word. These two scenes do not contradict one another but display the fullness of the Parousia—the appearing of the Lord—where judgment and salvation occur simultaneously. These functions transcend those of a created angel and point to divine prerogatives. Jesus, the incarnate Word and Lord of glory, is likewise described as Judge, Warrior, and Deliverer. It is crucial to note that both groups will be moved by a sense of inevitability. The wicked will prepare for war because they can do nothing else; the bent of their nature, corrupted and sealed in rebellion, leaves them incapable of repentance. Likewise, the righteous will prepare for Christ’s appearing because their lives have been fully surrendered; the Spirit within them cannot but long for the coming of the Lord. Thus, in the end, the distinction between the two groups is absolute—one marked by rage against heaven, the other by peace with God. One girds itself with weapons of earth, the other with robes made white in the blood of the Lamb. The contrast is not only theological, but deeply moral and emotional. For the wicked, preparation means hardening—more hatred, more deception, more violence. For the righteous, preparation means softening—more love, more surrender, more purity. As the wicked are animated by fear and wrath, the righteous are animated by hope and joy. As the wicked prepare for a battle they cannot win, the righteous prepare for a victory already secured at the cross. Thus, when Christ appears, the wicked will cry to the rocks and mountains for covering, while the righteous will cry with joy, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us” (Isaiah 25:9). In the final analysis, the attitudes of the wicked and the righteous in the last preparation reveal the deepest truth of all: every soul becomes like the master it serves. Those who resist Michael will bear the fury of the dragon; those who wait for Jesus will shine with the meekness of the Lamb. The great separation will be complete, and the attitudes of both camps will bear witness before the universe to the justice and mercy of God. The first scene presents the return of the Lord as Michael the Warrior. In Revelation, heaven opens and the Faithful and True appears, called “The Word of God.” He rides a white horse, His eyes are flames of fire, upon His head are many crowns and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. Not the blood of defeat, but the blood of costly victory. He treads the winepress—showing that His triumph carries the weight of His own sacrifice. Armies of heaven follow Him, also mounted on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. From His mouth goes a sharp sword with which He strikes the nations. The beast and the kings of the earth gather to oppose Him. Human power reaches its hubris: to marshal history’s might against God’s Lamb. But they are powerless before the majesty of His appearing. II Thessalonians echoes this vision: the lawless one and the wicked are consumed by the rod of his mouth and the breath of His lips. An echo of creation and prophecy: the Spirit-breath that gave life now executes judgment. And destroyed by the brightness of His coming. Glory unmediated. The very appearing is lethal to entrenched rebellion. The Lord’s presence is paradise for the pure and perdition for the impenitent. The imagery demonstrates that His war is not fought with earthly weapons but with the truth of His Word and the unveiled radiance of His presence. The gathered kings are the apex of rebellion. The Rider overcomes not by numbers but by nature because of who He is: He is King of kings. The beast’s coalition collapses; the false prophet is exposed; the Word stands. The wicked are slain not by steel but by light. This war is not a chaotic melee of creaturely steel against steel. It is the decisive judicial warfare of the Word. The sword proceeds from the Rider’s mouth: His verdict exposes, His proclamation deposes, His light annihilates the resistance of darkness. The war is waged by the Word. He judges and makes war “in righteousness,” not by brute force but by the potency of divine truth. The brightness of His appearing is itself judgment against those who loved the lie. The winepress imagery emphasizes that this is God’s own day of vengeance, the settling of the covenant lawsuit against stubborn impenitence. On one side stand the dragon, the beast, the false prophet, and the kings of the earth with their armies—the whole apparatus of human and demonic rebellion. On the other stands the Lamb, called Michael in His militant office, attended by the armies of heaven. The gathered opposition presumes to “make war” with the Lamb, but the war is asymmetrical: a breath, a word, a flash of unveiled glory—and the insurgency collapses. The living wicked are judged in their flesh by the appearing of the Lord. Judgment is not arbitrary. The judicial war of Michael follows a prolonged season of patience, witness, and warning. Those who “received not the love of the truth” are given over to delusion; the unveiling of the lawless one is the last, climactic exposure of human pride. When the Lord appears, He confirms the choice of every heart: those who loved darkness are overwhelmed by the very Light they despised. The sky tears like a veil pulled back. Light—not gentle dawn but consuming noon—pours over the earth. The coalition that promised safety finds its banners fluttering before a wind they cannot name. The Rider’s eyes find every heart; the lie dissolves; the masquerade ends. The breath of His mouth swallows the boast of the final tyrant. What the wicked called power proves fragile as ash before flame. The Day of the Lord does publicly what the gospel did privately—declare Jesus Lord—and compels every knee to bow, willingly or unwillingly. The armies who follow Christ upon white horses carry rich symbolic significance. White horses are emblematic of victory, purity, and triumph in revelatory imagery. Those who follow are described as clothed in fine linen, which Revelation 19:8 identifies as the angelic armies who accompany Michael the Archangel, Christ in His warrior role, in His final triumph over the beast, false prophet, and kings of the earth. Their whiteness signifies their sharing in Christ’s victory, not by their own might but through the Lamb who overcame. The armies on white horses represent those who belong to Him, standing as witnesses to His final victory over evil. And here is one of the reasoning points that we must considering reading Revelation 17:14. The called, chosen, faithful are with him? We are not with him when he returns but with him in the same warring purpose. We recognize that the believers are with Christ in a spiritual sense during their earthly life and struggles, but will be brought physically to be with him at his final return. This eschatological reality involves both a present, spiritual union and a future, physical reunion. We are already considered "with" Christ in a deep, spiritual sense, made possible by our union with him. This is not a physical presence, but a spiritual and theological reality that is the basis of our salvation. Because we are spiritually united with the conquering Christ, his victory over sin and evil is already credited to us. Therefore, even while we suffer persecution on earth, we are identified with the victorious Lamb. The "called, chosen, and faithful" are "with" Christ in Revelation 17:14 because their identity and victory are already secured in him through their present spiritual union. This triad traces salvation’s arc: the gospel call, election’s purpose, and faith’s perseverance. Those who belong to the Lamb share His victory. At his return, this reality is fully revealed as they return with him in physical bodies to celebrate his ultimate triumph. Revelation compresses realities to proclaim a single truth: all who belong to the Lamb—angels who serve and saints who are saved—stand on His side and share in His victory. The second scene presents the return of Jesus as Bridegroom and Redeemer. The Lord Himself descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. The dead in Christ rise first, bursting forth from the graves at His command. The graves that received their dust return it at the command of their Maker. This is the “first resurrection” for the righteous, the vindication of faith, the answer to tears. Then those who are alive and remain are transformed in an instant and caught up together with the resurrected ones. The meeting-place is the air— the domain once polluted by principalities, now reclaimed as the highway of the King. Together the redeemed accompany the Lord to the prepared place, the kingdom He promised. Mortality puts on immortality; corruption puts on incorruption. From that moment forward, the redeemed are forever with Him. Unlike the scene of judgment upon the wicked, this perspective emphasizes salvation, reunion, and everlasting comfort for the people of God. Taken together, these two perspectives form a coherent sequence of the Day of the Lord. The Lord descends with heavenly glory; the trumpet sounds and the dead are raised; the living saints are translated and caught up; and simultaneously, the wicked are exposed and consumed by the brightness of His coming. Thus the same event is both life and death: life for the saints, death for the wicked; embrace for the redeemed, destruction for the rebellious. The armies of heaven bear witness to this twofold reality, celebrating the triumph of Christ’s cross as it finds its final manifestation in history. For the church, these truths carry profound application. They call us to comfort one another with the hope of resurrection, to live in purity and watchfulness, and to find courage in the certainty of the Lamb’s victory. They remind us that readiness is not about predicting dates but about being faithful, holy, and steadfast. To the faithful, the brightness of His coming will be everlasting light. To the rebellious, it will be consuming fire. One Lord appears—Jesus, who is also Michael—and in His one coming He is revealed both as Warrior and Bridegroom, Judge and Redeemer, King of kings and Lord of Lords. The bible’s use of Michael at the resurrection is not to diminish Jesus but to magnify Him. Michael is Christ unveiled in His warrior-prince identity, the one who has always contended for His people and who at last commands the grave to release its captives. His shout is the battle cry that ends the great controversy. Yet even as He calls the righteous forth as Michael, He receives them as Jesus, the Bridegroom. In this union of names, we see both His majesty and His mercy: the Lion and the Lamb, the Warrior and the Savior, the Archangel’s voice and the Shepherd’s embrace. Thus, Michael calls the righteous to rise not because He is other than Jesus, but because in that moment Jesus is revealed as Michael—the Conqueror whose voice is life and whose victory is everlasting. This event is recognized in one of the most mysterious time prophecies in Scripture. “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour”. This prophetic interval holds profound significance. It signals the climactic transition in heaven’s administration when Christ lays aside His role as intercessor and assumes His role as warrior and king. The silence corresponds to the moment when heaven itself is emptied—Michael descending with the angelic armies and Christ descending to gather His saints. The “standing” is more than posture—it is a judicial and military act. Christ rises from His priestly seat in the heavenly sanctuary, signaling the close of intercession. At that very moment, Revelation 22:11 is fulfilled: The destiny of every soul is fixed. This standing ushers in the “time of trouble”, a period of anguish surpassing every prior crisis. Yet this is not yet the visible coming of Christ, nor the final battle. Rather, it is the transition in which God’s people, sealed and secured, face a world abandoned to judgment without a mediator, while Michael stands invisibly as their protector. Once probation closes, Revelation reveals the last plagues poured out upon the earth. These judgments are not mixed with mercy, for mercy has ceased. They expose the futility of human rebellion and prepare the stage for the last conflict. The saints endure these days with unbroken trust in God, preserved by His promises. This period is Jacob’s time of trouble, Jeremiah 30:7, in which the people of God wrestle in faith while surrounded by global hostility. Yet though unseen, Michael’s standing assures them of divine protection. He has not yet left heaven with His armies, but His power shields the remnant until the climax. During the sixth plague, the kings of the earth gather for the battle of Armageddon. The nations marshal their strength against the Lamb, and the great controversy reaches its earthly peak. At this decisive moment, heaven is no longer silent because of intercession but because its armies have emptied its courts to descend with Christ. This is when Michael, the warrior-prince, fully reveals Himself. He who once stood to close probation now comes forth as King of kings to execute judgment and deliver His saints. The silence in heaven aligns with this moment: heaven’s throne room stands empty because its Sovereign and His hosts are on the move. At Christ’s descent, the words of I Thessalonians 4:16–17 find their fulfillment. The shout of the archangel is none other than Michael’s commanding voice, breaking the silence with a decree that shakes both heaven and earth. It summons the sleeping saints from their graves and calls the living sealed remnant to ascend with them. Thus, Christ’s role as intercessor gives way to His role as warrior, and finally to His role as Bridegroom and Redeemer. The armies of heaven descend, the dead are raised, and the living saints are transformed. Together they are gathered to meet their Lord in the air, beyond the reach of plague or enemy. Please note that Christ Michael has resurrection authority. Truth presents Christ under different names or titles depending on His role in redemption. As Jesus, He is the Savior in humility, bearing our sins. As the Son of Man, He is the Judge entrusted with authority, John 5:27. As the Word of God, He is the eternal revealer of the Father. And as Michael the Archangel, He is the warrior- prince, commander of heaven’s armies. The title archangel does not mean “highest created angel,” but “chief of the angels.” Michael is not a created being but Christ Himself in His commander role. Notice: Daniel 12:1–2, Michael stands, and immediately the resurrection is mentioned. I Thessalonians 4:16: “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.” Jude 9: Michael contends over the body of Moses, asserting resurrection power. John 5:28, 29 - the resurrection comes by the voice of Christ. I Thessalonians says it is the “voice of the archangel”. These are not two voices—they are one and the same. Michael is the name that emphasizes Christ’s warrior-commanding power at that climactic moment. So, it is not that Michael calls the dead instead of Jesus. Rather, Jesus calls the dead as Michael, the archangel—the commanding voice of heaven’s Prince. Reason with this context: the resurrection happens in the midst of the final battle at Armageddon. Christ comes, not as the suffering Servant, but as the King riding forth with heaven’s armies. The title Michael stresses His military authority and protection of His people. By using the name Michael, Scripture shows us the nature of the moment: Christ is no longer mediating as Priest but commanding as Warrior. His voice is not the gentle call of a shepherd but the battle-shout that breaks the power of the grave and rallies His army of the redeemed. At the Second Coming, we therefore see both realities united: as Michael, He shouts in command, raising the dead and destroying the enemy with His armies. As Jesus, He gathers His beloved, meeting them in the air and taking them home as Savior-Bridegroom. The two names are not in conflict—they are complementary. One emphasizes His authority, the other His intimacy. To the universe, He is Michael the Conqueror; to His saints, He is Jesus the Bridegroom. Michael calls the righteous to rise because Michael is Christ Himself in His role as Commander of heaven’s hosts. The resurrection is not a work delegated to another voice, but the direct command of the Lord, whose archangelic voice is the very power that breaks the hold of death. The half-hour silence represents the solemn interval when heaven holds its breath. The universe recognizes the finality of judgment and the imminence of deliverance. The silence in heaven is not emptiness but expectancy—the holy pause before eternity’s most decisive act. In that silence, we see the majesty of Christ as intercessor turned warrior, and finally as Redeemer, coming to gather His elect. Michael’s armies and Jesus’ descent converge in one breathtaking finale, revealing the fullness of His love and the certainty of His victory. The wicked face the terror of unmingled wrath, while the righteous cling to divine promises until the shout of Michael calls them forth. Thus, when the heavens are parted and the trumpet sounds, every heart will face its truth. For some, it will be the dreadful end of rebellion; for others, the joyous beginning of eternal fellowship. But for all, it will be the revelation of the One who has always been both Lion and Lamb, Warrior and Bridegroom, Michael and Jesus. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Bible Courses - 70 Core Classes - 1 2 3 4 5 1 ... 1 2 3 4 5 6 ... 6 Introduction Isaiah 28:10 Price Duration $0 13 Minutes Read More What is Truth? 1 John 4:16 Price Duration $0 9 Minutes Read More Father, Word, and Holy Ghost - Part 1 Matthew 13:45, 46 Price Duration $0 5 Minutes Read More God, the Father - Part 2 Proverbs 1:7 Price Duration $0 12 Minutes Read More Creation of Time - Part 3 Galatians 4:4 Price Duration $0 20 Minutes Read More The Son, Jesus' Name - Part 4 Psalms 138:2 Price Duration $0 9 Minutes Read More The Son, the Creator - Part 5 John 1:1-5 Price Duration $0 9 Minutes Read More The Son, who is Michael? - Part 6 Exodus 3:2 Price Duration $0 33 Minutes Read More The Son, the Angel of the Covenant - Part 7 Malachi 3:1-3 Price Duration $0 15 Minutes Read More Who the Holy Spirit is, Active Agent - Part 8 Hebrews 11:3 Price Duration $0 6 Minutes Read More Who the Holy Spirit is, the Breath - Part 9 Psalms 104:30 Price Duration $0 9 Minutes Read More Who the Holy Spirit is, Baptism - Part 10 Luke 2:40 Price Duration $0 9 Minutes Read More 1 2 3 4 5 1 ... 1 2 3 4 5 6 ... 6 Download

OnlineBibleCourse: Deepen your search for truth in the bible and learn about Christ. Sounds of Manna -Hymn 10 - Jesus Paid It All Play Video Free books! Play Video Be Transformed Play Video The Truth Watch Now Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied Close DISCLAIMER: PLEASE NOTE ALL INFORMATION PROVIDED ARE EXTRACTS, EXCERPTS, OR COMPILATIONS AND ARE NOT COPYEDITED. MANY WORKS OF VARIOUS AUTHORS ARE USED. THERE IS NO AUTHOR HERE…IT IS A COMPILATION FOR YOUR LEARNING Schedule Learn at your own pace. Grade your own quizzes. No schedule. No deadline. Contact He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone , and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. Revelation 2:17 KJV Online Bible Courses No Cost *New Blog Entries Added Weekly* Bible Prophecy Charts & Maps Learn where we are in the stream of time Bible Helpful Links From reputable sources About About White Stone Bible Study Online/OnlineBibleCourse Have you had questions about the Bible? Perhaps you just want to know more about the life of Jesus or how to become a better person. Or, rather, you have come here to learn more about prophecy and the events that are coming upon this earth. Well, put on your seatbelt, because you are about to have a bumpy ride; these studies may cause you to question long-held church traditions that might make you ponder and wonder...

Bible Maps, Prophecy Charts, Bible Images, Bible Charts, 1844 Chart Learning Tools For Bible Study Online In this area, you will find a treasure trove of bible maps, charts, images, and videos that we have collected over years from various vetted sources. Please feel free to take a look. If you need any explanation for anything, just contact us. Principle Policy Practice "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Psalms 119:105