Question:
(1.) Is the second advent before the plagues on the wicked and after the saints’ tribulation by the beast? Are the saints caught up between the tribulation and the plagues? If not, where do the men in heaven, who cannot enter the temple due to God’s glory, come from (Rev. 15:8)? (2.) Do the saints sit in judgment on earth or in the air (Rev. 20:4)? If not on earth, when do they return to establish the everlasting kingdom? Over whom do they reign during the thousand years (Rev. 20:5, 6)? If in the air, why, since the earth will be freed from the wicked if the plagues come before the saints are caught up?
Answer:
(1.) The second advent of Christ occurs after the plagues are poured out upon the wicked, for those whom the plagues do not destroy are destroyed by His presence when He appears (see Rev. 16:17 and 19:21). His coming is yet future under the sixth plague (see Rev. 16:15). The tribulation of the saints under the persecuting power of the beast extended from A.D. 538 to 1798 (see Dan. 7:25 and parallel scriptures). The saints are, therefore, caught up after both the tribulation and the plagues. Rev. 15:8 in the Greek does not say “no man,” but “none” or “no one.” Yet there are men in heaven. When Christ ascended, He led “a multitude of captives” (Eph. 4:8, margin) who were raised at His resurrection (Matt. 27: 52, 53). These assist Him in His heavenly work. Rev. 4:4.
(2.) The saints sit in judgment in heaven in the holy city with Christ. Compare John 14:1-3; Rev. 20:4; 14:1-5; 19:1; 1 Cor. 6:2, 3. The everlasting kingdom begins in the holy city above, the capital of the new earth, which will come clown upon the earth at the close of the thousand years (see Revelation 20 and 21). The saints reign in judgment with Christ over the wicked, a judgment which will be executed at the close of the thousand years. We answered the last question when answering the preceding one.
