Jesus is Coming With His Holy Ones 

When Jesus Christ comes to earth a second time, He will not come alone. He will be accompanied by His “saints,” or “holy ones.”   

I Thess. 3:13: “May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.” 

Jude 14-15: “Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: ‘See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.’” 

Just who are these “saints” or “holy ones”?  I intend to show that they are the holy angels of God and the redeemed Church. In the New Testament believers are often called saints, or holy ones (Rom. 1:7; 8:27; I Cor. 1:2; 16:1; 2 Cor. 1:1; Eph. 1:2). 

First of all, when Christ returns He will have ALL of His angels with Him. 

Matt. 25:31:  “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.” 

Matt. 16:27: “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.” 

As He is on His way back to earth, He will send out some of those angels to “gather His elect,” living and dead, unto Himself. 

Matt. 24:29-31:  “Immediately after the distress [KJV Tribulation] of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 30 At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory [attended by ‘all the angels’]. 31 And he will send his angels  with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds [those raptured from the earth?],  from one end of the heavens to the other [souls already with Christ?].”

On His way back to earth “with all His angels” Christ resurrects “those who sleep in Him”; He changes those who are alive in Him, and continues to earth with all of His holy ones, which are the holy angels and redeemed believers.

I Cor. 15: 20, 22-23, 50-53: “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep...22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him [living and dead]... 50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed —52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.” 

I Thess. 4:14-18:  “We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.” 

With His angels and the resurrected righteous of all ages, Jesus will then pour out His wrath and vengeance upon the His enemies. 

II Thess. 1:8-10: “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey

the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people [saints] and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.” 

II Thess. 2:8: “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.” 

As you can see these scriptures leave no room for a “secret rapture,” in which the Church and the Holy Spirit will be taken out of the earth seven, or three and one half years, prior to His coming. He is coming once and for all with His angels and His Church to bring vengeance upon His enemies and to set up His Kingdom. 

Rev. 19:11-16: “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice He judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on His head are many crowns. He has a name written on Him that no one knows but He Himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. ‘He will rule them with an iron sceptre.’ [Ps. 2:9]  He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On His robe and on his thigh He has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” 

Clearly the “armies of heaven” include the resurrected and raptured saints, for “the fine linen, white and clean” was identified in verse 8 as the righteous acts of the saints. Angels have no need to be clothed in the righteous acts of the saints. 

Rev. 19:7: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)”   

So while the armies of heaven consist of ALL OF CHRIST’S ANGELS, they also include the glorified saints of all ages, clothed in fine linen, bright and clean.

Christ rules the nations with an iron sceptre (verse 15 above); and the victorious Church rules with Him. 

Rev. 2:26-27: “To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations. 27 He will rule them with an iron sceptre; he will dash them to pieces like pottery [Psalm 2:9] just as I have received authority from my Father.”        

This sharing of rule begins with the Church forming part of the armies of heaven and taking part in the visitation of wrath upon the enemies of Christ. 

This raises the question, How can we be ready for His Coming and certain that we will be among the redeemed? Well, we must be overcomers. We must overcome and do His will unto the end. We need to be ready at all times. For even though we can observe the “signs of the time,” we do not know the “day and hour” when Christ will return. Though we can know from the signs that the day of our redemption is drawing near, we cannot know the exact time. Christ will come like a thief. Therefore He tells His own: 

“Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his

clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed” (Rev. 16:15). This does not refer to literal clothes, but to righteous and holy lives.

I Thess. 5:1-4: “Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety’, destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.” 

Jesus gives the same message in the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. Only those who are ready, who have their lamps trimmed and full of oil, will go out to meet the Bridegroom and accompany Him back into the city.  

Matt. 25:6 “At midnight the cry rang out: `Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, `Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9  `No,’ they replied, `there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 Later the others also came. `Sir! Sir!’ they said. `Open the door for us!’ 12 But he replied, `I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’” 

In the generation in which we see certain things begin to happen, we can expect Him at any time. 

Luke. 21:26-32: “Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. 29 He told them this parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 I tell you the truth, this generation [in which you see these things start to happen] will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.’” 

I John. 3:2-3: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” Only by practicing the holiness without which no one shall see God (Heb. 12:14) can we assure ourselves that we will return with Christ among His HOLY ONES.  May we all remain ready. Amen.