Royalty (Part Six) [The Second Coming]
The kingdom of Grace, is not with outward observation, but rather, resides within the heart (Luke 17:20, 21). When King Jesus fulfills His promise to return and gather His elect unto Himself, the transition from the kingdom of grace to the kingdom of glory will take place.
“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2, 3).
“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:30, 31).
His elect is a reference to all, who by adoption, are the heirs of His kingdom. They include not only those alive when He comes, but the dead as well, beginning with righteous Abel who was martyred by his brother, and the first to experience death.
“I can tell you this directly from the Lord: that we who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to meet him ahead of those who are in their graves. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a mighty shout and with the soul-stirring cry of the archangel and the great trumpet-call of God. And the believers who are dead will be the first to rise to meet the Lord. Then we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, TLB).
When the kingdom of glory is ushered in, unlike the kingdom of grace, it will not only be with outward observation, it will be more wonderful, and glorious, than anything mortal eyes have ever beheld, even to the point of defying the imagination.