Articles of Faith
We affirm that Jesus Christ is coming at any time to take all Church Age believers to be with Him before the Tribulation to be with Him forever. After the Tribulation, Jesus Christ will set up the Millennial Kingdom on earth (which is a period of one thousand years). At its conclusion there will be (followed by) the Great White Throne Judgement (where Jesus Christ will judge) at which all unbelieving mankind of all time will be judged according to their works and cast into Hell forever apart from God. Those who have trusted in Jesus Christ will spend eternity in Heaven with their Savior and Lord.
(1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelations 20:11-15)
When contemplating the complexity of end events, I am reminded of Matthew 5:18 “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” God is in control, for what He has said would happen has, and what He says will happen will. Therefore, I believe from the teaching of Scripture that the next biblical event to take place is the imminent (1 Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 22:12, 20) return of Christ in the clouds to Rapture His Church beginning with the resurrected bodies of the dead, then the living will join them in the air to be with Christ forever !!! (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
When God removes the Church, He will also remove the restraining power of The Holy Spirit, the anti-Christ will be revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12), and the seven years of the Tribulation will begin with the signing of a covenant between the anti-Christ and Israel (Daniel 9:27). During the Tribulation the Church will be enjoying the fellowship of “The Marriage Supper of the Lamb” [heavenly potluck] (Matthew 25:1-10; Revelation 19:1-9)] and rewards through the Judgement Seat of Christ (Bema Seat) where works, not sin, will be tried by fire and purified whether they were good or worthless (2 Corinthians 5:10).
The Tribulation is the “70th” week prophesied by Daniel (Daniel 9) and it is God’s continued working with His people Israel. It will be a horrible outpouring of God’s wrath in judgment (Matthew 24:22) on unbelievers (Matthew 24:21; Revelation 6-16; 6:16-17; 14:19; 15:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:12), and in punishment of Israel to bring about restoration and fulfillment of promises to them (Leviticus 26:44-45; Amos 9:8-15; Acts 1:6; 3:19-26; Isaiah 10:20-21; Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1; Zachariah 13:8-9).
The Tribulation will end with the Second coming of Christ with His Bride (The Church) in the midst of the Battle of Armageddon to face the armies of the Beast which will turn on Him, and Jesus Christ will destroy them (Revelation 16:13-16, 19:11-21). Christ will then cast the Beast and False prophet into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20), and Satan will be chained in a bottomless pit for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1-3).
- Christ will judge the nations (Daniel 7:13; Matthew 25:31-46), set up His Millennial Kingdom where He will rule and reign on David’s throne for 1,000 years with the Church (Revelation 20:1-6). At the end of the Millennium, Satan will be released and lead a final rebellion against God deceiving the nations to battle God (Revelation20:7-8). They will be defeated and Satan will be cast into the Lake of Fire, judged forever (Revelation 20:9-10).
- The Great White Throne Judgement will commence where all of unbelieving man of all time will stand in judgement before their Creator according to their works found in the books (Revelation 20:11-14), and whoever’s name is not found in “The Book of Life” will be cast into the Lake of Fire forever which is the second death, an eternal separation from God (Revelation 20:15). The degree of their individual punishment will be based upon the amount of revelation rejected and the amount of sin committed (Luke 12:47-48; Revelation 20:12-13; Matthew 11:20-24; Romans 2:5-6).
God then starts anew with a removal of the old heaven and old earth (2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 21:1); and a creation of a new one (Revelation 21:1-2, 9-27; 22:1-5). The redeemed of all ages will enjoy the full presence and grace of God ruling and reigning with Him for all eternity and there will be no more sorrow, pain, or death (Daniel 2:44; Revelation 21:3-4, 22-27).
Revelation 22:20 “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely, I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”