Indeed, the Bible instructs us that it would not be possible to understand any information in the Bible that gives details of the end of the world until the world would actually be very close to its end. For example, many verses in the Book of Daniel speak about the end of the world, but God instructs in Daniel 12:9:

And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

In other words, not until we came to the time when we were very near to the end of the world would the true believers understand any substantial information concerning the end-time details of the Gospel in the world. It was God’s intention that just before the world came to its end, then that kind of information would become available to true believers who in turn were to make it available to the world.

One method God has employed to keep the end-time information from being understood is to allow virtually all of the churches to adopt a man-made hermeneutic, that is, a man-made method of Bible interpretation, which made a great amount of Biblical information inaccessible to the minds of the theologians. Remember we took note of this sad fact earlier in this study.

The Bible clearly instructs us that without a parable, Christ did not speak (Mark 4:34). A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly or spiritual meaning. That is, the Bible is altogether a spiritual book. It is the Word of God, and Christ is the very essence of the Word of God (John 1:14). Because it is written by God, all of the historical information, the conversations that are recorded, and the anecdotes that are noted, are absolutely true and trustworthy. But knowing that this historical event actually happened is only a fraction of the immense storehouse of truth that the Bible actually is. Each conversation, each anecdote, each word of the Bible was carefully planned and designed by God to teach exceedingly important spiritual truths.

To find spiritual truth requires an immense amount of Bible study, comparing Scripture with Scripture (I Corinthians 2:13). It also requires God the Holy Spirit to open the spiritual eyes of the truth seeker. As already noted, it was not God’s intention to reveal many truths of the Bible, that is, to open the spiritual eyes of the truth seeker, until very near the end of time. To facilitate this blindness throughout the church age, God had not seen fit to open the spiritual eyes of the Bible teachers of the churches that are located all around the world. Thus, for  

Another example can be offered as to how, throughout the church age, God kept the churches from understanding a great many statements of the Bible. Those whose spiritual eyes God has opened implicitly understand that each and every word in the original languages of the Bible is from the mouth of God, and therefore, is absolutely true and trustworthy. The translator may have made an error in translation, but the Hebrew or Greek word that is being translated is never to be questioned.

The problem of questioning the original Hebrew or Greek has been especially troublesome in connection with the numbers of the Bible. For example, theologians have been unable to reconcile the duration of a certain king’s reign as recorded in one verse in the Bible with the information given in another place in the Bible. Thus, they have frequently concluded that there must have been a scribal error, that is, at some time, when copying the original writing of the Bible, a scribe accidentally slightly changed a letter from the letters of the original number, and thus made it a number that is not in the original writing, and that error continued as additional copies were made. Consequently, they say that we cannot absolutely trust each and every number recorded in the Bible.

That kind of attitude toward the Bible means that we really cannot trust any of the Bible. If that kind of error is possible with a number that is recorded in the Bible, then it could have also possibly occurred in connection with any word in the Bible, and we would have to conclude that none of the Bible is absolutely trustworthy.

However, in order to give authority to the verses they are using to teach what they want to teach, Bible teachers declare that the Bible is infallible and without error. But they actually do not believe that this is really true of each and every word in the whole Bible. If they did believe the whole Bible was infallible, they would never speak of such things as scribal error. They do not understand that God has protected His Word so that a scribal error could not occur. Because Christ deliberately spoke in parables to hide truths, and because God has allowed church theologians to question the accuracy of some words in the Bible, many truths recorded in the Bible have remained hidden.

These are just two examples, amongst a number of other ways, of how God has kept certain truths of the Bible hidden until He chooses to reveal these truths. We must realize that no individual can ever claim that it was his own intellectual ability or his holiness or righteousness that enabled him to properly understand the Bible. We must realize that only God can open our eyes to the truths that God has hidden in the Bible. And without question, He has His own timetable to do this.

We must keep in mind that God finished writing the Bible almost 2,000 years ago. But it was God’s plan that a great many truths of the Bible were not  

Thus, we can begin to see why God wrote the Bible in the very complex, complicated way that He did. We understand, for example, why God allowed all the churches to adopt a very faulty method of Bible interpretation. It is only because we are near the end of time, and it is now God’s stated intention to give us all this additional truth, that we are able to understand so much more Bible truth than earlier Bible students.

Now We Are at the Time of Understanding

Now, we have arrived at that time. Consequently, verses in the Bible which heretofore have been mysterious are now being understood. Almost every day new truth is pouring from the Bible. This is resulting in an increasingly greater understanding of God’s plan for the end of the world. By following the Biblical principle of comparing Scripture with Scripture, and realizing that we must seek the spiritual truth hidden within each illustration and each anecdote and each historical event recorded in the Bible, God is opening our eyes to understand all kinds of truth that heretofore has been denied the most earnest seeker of Biblical truth. We are now able to discover the Biblical pattern for the closing events of the world. This ability to know much more Biblical truth has come only because it is in this time of history that God is opening the eyes of true believers who are carefully searching the whole Bible for truth.

We must be reminded by the Bible that it was God’s intention that this kind of information would someday be understood by the true believers. Remember God’s declaration of Ecclesiastes 8:5-7:

Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment. Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him. For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

In these verses, God is teaching us that man, by nature, has no idea of the timetable of the day of his death or the details of God’s judgment process for the end of the world. However, in the life of the true believer, the individual with a wise man's heart, it is God’s purpose that he will know time and judgment.

The fact is that the true believers will know a great amount of time information, from the Bible, but the true believers have become aware of this truth  

The principal set forth in Ecclesiastes 8 is further declared in I Thessalonians 5:2-6, where we read:

For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

These verses teach that for those who are satisfied with their present knowledge of the Bible, or their present philosophy of life, which includes the idea that they need not fear judgment day, for them, Christ will come as a thief in the night. They have no knowledge of or trust in the time information the Bible gives.

On the other hand, those who are watching and are sober, that is, have a sound mind because God has given them a new resurrected soul, they will know much about the character and timing of Christ’s return.

This principle is further set forth in the language of Amos 3:7, where God says:

Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

With these principles in mind, we know that we are enabled to anticipate the closing events of the world’s history. Of course, these truths, which we believe relate to the end of the world, must not only come from the Bible, but also, they must stand the most careful scrutiny of the Bible.

The Bible clearly tells us that Christ will come as a thief in the night (II Peter 3:10; I Thessalonians 5:2). Throughout the church age, the churches have taught this. Based upon their best efforts to understand the Bible, God-fearing Bible teachers and theologians have correctly insisted that we must be deeply concerned about our personal salvation because we have no guarantee that we will be alive tomorrow. Moreover, most churches taught that we must also realize that the end of the world and the return of Christ in judgment could occur at any time.

However, as we have already indicated, throughout the church age, there was no clear knowledge of the Biblical timeline of history. No one had been  

This lack of accurate knowledge of the timing of past events, as well as any knowledge of the timing of Christ’s return, was carefully planned by God. This is indicated in Daniel 12, where we read that Daniel, who had been given an understanding of much end-time information, was told to “shut up the words, and seal the book even to the time of the end” (Daniel 12:4).

But now we are at the time of the end, and God has opened our spiritual eyes to the importance of statements such as those recorded in Ecclesiastes 8:5-6 and in Amos 3:7.

Therefore, as we have previously noted, the Bible teaches us in I Thessalonians 5:2-6 that many people in our day will continue to insist that Christ will come as a thief in the night, only to find that they are the objects of God’s wrath.

Because we are now very near the time of the end, these verses are extremely significant. In our day we have been able, by God’s mercy, to unfold the timeline of history by careful study of the Bible. Not only has the Bible disclosed to us much information concerned with the precise timetable of past historical events recorded in the Bible, but it has also given us much time information concerned with the events that must occur at the very end of the world.

We should not be surprised that this is so. When God destroyed the whole earth in Noah’s day, He made sure that the world of that day knew that this terrible event, the destruction of the world by a huge flood, was coming, and also, the exact day it would occur. Noah was not only the builder of the huge ark, the building of which would have been well known to the world of that day, but Noah himself was “a preacher of righteousness” (II Peter 2:5). Seven days before the flood began, God gave Noah the precise date when the flood would begin (Genesis 7:4, 10, 16).

Likewise, when God was about to destroy the wicked city of Nineveh, God sent the prophet Jonah to warn the city that in 40 days, after Jonah began to warn the city, the city would be destroyed (Jonah 3:4).

Likewise, we must understand that today, God is giving information concerning the exact timetable of the end of the world. This information must come only from the Bible. The Bible today is no different in any way from the Bible that was completed more than 1,900 years ago. But because it was not God’s plan to reveal this information until the end of time, this information concerning details of the time of the end of the world was deeply hidden in the words of the Bible. Therefore, it was not possible for even the most faithful, diligent Bible students to understand this.  

By carefully examining all of the information the Bible gives concerning the historical events recorded in the Bible, we are enabled to understand very much about the timing and nature of future events, all the way to the last day of the earth’s existence. We can outline a number of fundamental truths that the Bible teaches us, and they are as follows.

1. The Bible is a very analytical book. It is not written in such a way as to encourage subjective analysis or philosophical reasoning (II Peter 1:20). It is written like an engineering book, wherein truth is presented as absolute fact.

2. Each and every number recorded in the Bible is accurate. Even though a number may be difficult to understand, it must never be regarded as an error.

3. There is great precision in the occurrence of historical events. For example, Israel was in Egypt for 430 years, to the very day. Israel was in the wilderness traveling from Egypt to Canaan for 40 years, to the very day.

4. Frequently, but not always, God uses certain numbers of the Bible to illustrate spiritual truth. Jesus Christ alludes to the spiritual significance of numbers in Matthew 18:21-22. When Peter asked Jesus how many times he must forgive his brother, Jesus used numbers to explain His answer. He says in verse 22:

. . . I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Since we are to always forgive each other, we can see that Jesus is using numbers to portray spiritual truths. These numbers could stand alone or be part of a larger number. This greatly assists in harmonizing and linking together parallel events that occur many years apart. The following is a list of most of these numbers.

2 - Those who have been commissioned to bring the Gospel

3 - God’s purpose

4 - The farthest extent in time or in distance that God spiritually has in view  

5 - The atonement, which emphasizes both judgment and salvation

7 - The perfect fulfillment of God’s purpose

10 - The completeness of whatever is in view

11 - The first coming of Christ, 11,000 years after creation

12 - The fullness of whatever is in view

13 - The end of the world, the details of which began exactly 13,000 years after creation

17 - Heaven

23 - God’s wrath or judgment

37 - God’s wrath or judgment

40 - Testing

43 - God’s wrath or judgment

An example of how we can discover spiritual truth by means of a large number that can be broken down into smaller numbers is given in John 21. There the Bible records the catching of 153 fish. The net did not break. The fish were all safely brought to land, which represents heaven, without the use of a ship, which typifies the local church. Spiritually, these fish represent all the true believers, the elect, who will be saved from hell, which is typified by the sea, after the church age is finished. The number 153 is divisible, which we see by the numbers 3 x 3 x 17 = 153. Spiritually, the numbers signify that the number 153 describes God’s purpose (3) to bring to heaven (17) all those whom God has saved from the wrath of God. Thus, the number 153 assists us in seeing the spiritual truths that are hidden in this historical event.

5. At times the Bible calls attention to a number that is prophesying a future event. For example, in Daniel 12:12, God speaks of a blessed person who waits and comes to1,335 days. We discover that this is prophesying the coming of Jesus, whose spiritual atoning work for this earth began on September 26, A.D. 29, when He was officially announced as the Lamb of God. It went on until May 22, A.D. 33, the Pentecost day when the Holy Spirit was poured out and the church age officially began. The time between these two events was exactly 1,335 days inclusive, as Daniel 12:12 had predicted.

6. It must be clearly understood that the true understanding of any Biblical truth can come only when the Holy Spirit decides it is time for us to know that truth. God must open our hearts and spiritual eyes before any truth can be known. Therefore, a plea for this spiritual sight should be the constant prayer of anyone who seeks to know any truth of the Bible. This also applies very directly to an understanding of the timing and nature of the closing events of this world’s history.  

7. In Colossians 2:16 and 17, God informs us that the ceremonial feast days are shadows of things to come. These verses declare:

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

Therefore, we can expect and do find that every important juncture in the unfolding of God’s Gospel plan occurs on the date of a ceremonial feast day. For example, Christ was crucified on the day the Passover was to be observed. The day of Pentecost was the day the Holy Spirit was poured out at the beginning of the church age. We will find that this principle follows through all the way to the last day of the earth’s existence, which comes on a day that identifies with the last day of the feast of tabernacles.

In our study of the Bible, if we keep these seven principles in mind, we will be greatly helped in our effort to learn truth from the Bible.

Because of the importance of point 7, which speaks of the relationship of the Biblical ceremonial dates to the important junctures in the unfolding of God’s timeline of history, it would be well to further emphasize this issue. In so doing, we will also discover the great precision that frequently exists between these historical junctures. We will later discover that this precision continues to the very last day of the world’s existence.

The Important Time Junctures Are Linked to Ceremonial Feast Days

As previously noted, many of the important junctures in the unfolding of time were tied very precisely to the ceremonial feast days that were to be observed by Old Testament Israel. The Biblical ceremonial calendar was governed by the elapsed time from one new moon to the next, which made the Biblical month either 29 or 30 days. By carefully analyzing the time information in the Bible, we learn that the first month of each year began as close to the spring vernal equinox as possible, but no earlier than 14 days before the spring equinox, which is March 21 or March 22.

As we have noted, God instituted a number of very important ceremonial feasts that were identified with important aspects of God’s salvation program. They were a “shadow of things to come.” These important ceremonial feast days are as follows. 1. The Passover, the14th day of the first month.

2. Pentecost, also called the feast of harvest, 50 days after the seventh-day Sabbath that was simultaneous with Passover day or was the first Sabbath day after the Passover.  

3. Jesus, as the sacrificial Lamb of God, literally suffered the penalty, as demanded by the law of God, in a way that was equivalent to the punishment that would have been given to those He came to save, as He made the payment for their sins. This enormous punishment began on Thursday evening in the Garden of Gethsemane and continued until just before sundown on Friday. This awesome event occurred precisely at the same time that the Bible commanded that the feast of the Passover was to be observed. That Friday, according to the Biblical calendar, was the fourteenth day of the first month. According to our modern calendar, it was April 1, A.D. 33.

4. In A.D. 33, the Biblical calendar called for the observance of the feast of Pentecost on Sunday, May 22, according to our modern calendar. This was the day the firstfruits of the harvest were to be brought in. On that very same day, May 22, A.D. 33, the Holy Spirit was poured out and the firstfruits of the church age were brought into the kingdom of God. Remember, in Acts 2:41, we read that about 3,000 persons were saved on that day.

5. Each Pentecost day throughout the church age, which continued from A.D. 33 to 1988, emphasized that the firstfruits were to continue to be brought in. Therefore, the church age would have ended the day before Pentecost in 1988. This was May 21, 1988. Thus, the church age continued for exactly 1,955 full years, to the very day.

6. As we continue in this study, we will learn that the church age ended on May 21, 1988 (A.D.). This date coincided with the beginning of the time when God began to prepare the churches and the world for what the Bible calls the “great tribulation.” We shall also learn that during the first 2,300 days of this 8,400-day tribulation, virtually no one could become saved.

7. But then, as we shall discover in this study, 2,300 days after the beginning of the great tribulation, God’s final great salvation program began. That day of history was September 7, 1994 (A.D.). It was on that date that God again poured out His Holy Spirit, so that for the next 17 years, all over the world, a great multitude of people would become saved.^* Indeed, no one was aware of this awesome action of God at the time it occurred. But the Bible assures us that it did occur. That September 7, according to the Biblical calendar, was the first day  

5. There were exactly, to the very year, 13,000 years from creation, in the year 11,013 B.C., until the end of the church age, which was also the beginning of God’s final activity of salvation and judgment. We will learn that this began in A.D.1988.

6. There are exactly 7,000 years from the flood of Noah’s day, which destroyed everything on the earth in 4990 B.C., to A.D. 2011, which we will learn is the year that God will destroy this present universe and recreate it as new heavens and a new earth.

7. Even as it was prophesied in Daniel 8:14, we will learn that there were precisely 2,300 days from the beginning of the great tribulation, which coincided with the end of the church age on May 21, 1988, until the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. This pouring out of the Holy Spirit, which occurred on September 7, 1994, is the beginning date of the final, magnificent 17-year harvest of great numbers of people who have become true believers.

These are some of the very precise time periods that show that God had prearranged the unfolding of the Gospel in the world.

God Used the Temple to Illustrate Spiritual Truth

We must remember that sometimes the Bible presents an historical event to illustrate the wrath of God as well as the mercy and love of God. For example, the Bible describes the awful judgment of God on the world of Noah’s day. He utilized the waters of the flood to destroy mankind. However, in I Peter 3:20, while speaking of this flood, God indicates that “eight souls were saved by water.” Likewise, Israel passed through the Red Sea in safety to illustrate salvation. However, the Egyptian armies were destroyed in the Red Sea to illustrate God’s judgment on the wicked. Thus, in these illustrations, God is showing His wrath and His mercy through the same event.

In similar fashion, God used the magnificent temple constructed by Solomon to illustrate God’s judgment and also to illustrate God’s salvation. This temple, like the tabernacle at Shiloh, illustrated the building of God’s kingdom during the church age. However, in time, God destroyed both the temple at Shiloh and also Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem because of the wickedness of Israel and Judah. Likewise, in our time, God has brought His judgment upon the churches of our day. These churches were typified by the tabernacle and the temple. Not one of the churches of today is any longer included in God’s salvation plan. The temple, which typified the entire church age, no longer exists. Not one stone is left upon another (Matthew 24:1-3).

But God also uses Solomon’s temple to typify and illustrate God’s wonderful salvation plan that is taking place in our day. He does this in the Bible  

In the Biblical ceremonial calendar, these simultaneous feasts, the feast of tabernacles and the feast of ingathering, were to be seven days in length, beginning on the 15th day of the seventh month. The day immediately following these seven days, which the Bible calls the eighth day, was also called both a “solemn assembly” (Leviticus 23:36) and a “Sabbath” (Leviticus 23:39). Thus, the feast of tabernacles actually included eight days that began on the 15th day of the seventh month and concluded on the 22nd day, and this final day was to be observed as a Sabbath.

It was God’s purpose, however, to show us that when we make the application of these days to the end of the world, the eighth day is to be considered to be two days in length, so that the eighth day will also include the 23rd day of the Biblical seventh month.

This truth is developed by God in the Biblical information relating to the dedication of Solomon’s temple, which can be shown to be strikingly identified with the events taking place at the end of the world. In II Chronicles, God describes the dedication of Solomon’s temple. We should look at a few statements God has made in connection with the dedication. They are as follows.

1. The time was in the seventh month (II Chronicles 7:10).

2. The dedication of the altar was seven days (II Chronicles 7:9).

3. Then they kept the feast of tabernacles (feast of the Bible) seven days (II Chronicles 7:8-9). Thus, 14 days had passed (I Kings 8:65).

4. The seven-day celebration of the feast of tabernacles was followed by the eighth day when they observed a solemn assembly (II Chronicles 7:8-9).

This eighth day would have been observed as a Sabbath day (Leviticus 23:39), when no work would be performed, and travel would have been limited. According to Acts 1:12, the distance between the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem, which was less than one-half mile, was the only length or distance they were permitted to travel on a Sabbath day. Remarkably, in I Kings 8:66, we read:

On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.

The Eighth Day, October 21, 2011

As we have noted, this eighth day ordinarily was the 22nd day of the seventh month and was to be observed as a Sabbath. The people had come from  

The Hebrew word for tabernacle that God placed in the phrase “feast of tabernacles” is the word “sukkah,” which is also translated “booth.” A passage of the Bible that helps us to understand this word is Isaiah 4:5-6. There we read:

And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.

The Hebrew word translated as “defense” in this verse would be better translated as “cover.” The phrase translated as “there shall be a tabernacle” would be better translated as “it shall be a booth.” Thus, these verses would be better translated:

And Jehovah will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, upon her assembly, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a cover. And it shall be a booth for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a cover from storm and from rain.

These verses are teaching the following.

1. “every dwelling place of mount Zion” This refers to every aspect of the kingdom of God, of which we have become a citizen when we become saved.

2. “upon her assembly” This is a singular word that speaks of one great eternal assembly that consists of all those who have become saved.

3. “a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night” This refers to the law of God, the Bible, which gives spiritual direction to mankind.

4. “upon all the glory shall be a cover” This refers to the glory of the kingdom of God that has the cloud by day and the fire by night as a cover.

5. “and it shall be a tabernacle [booth] for a shadow in the daytime from the heat and for a place of refuge and for a cover [hiding place] from  

storm and from rain.” The cloud and the fire, that is, the Word of God is a booth that covers and provides a hiding place from the wrath of God, the storm and the rain.

Earlier we learned that the cloud and pillar of fire relate to the Word of God. We can see this as we note that the Bible has much to say about the cloud and pillar of fire giving direction to Israel during their 40 years in the wilderness. For example, we read in Numbers 9:21-23:

And so it was, when the cloud abode from even unto the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed: whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed. At the commandment of the LORD they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed: they kept the charge of the LORD, at the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

In Numbers 9:15-23, God is very clearly associating the cloud by day and the fire by night with the commandments of God. And of course, the commandments of God are the Bible.

We must understand, of course, that if we never become saved, the law of God will cause the damnation of His anger to fall upon us. However, if we are one of God’s elect (and we can know we are, if we have received our new resurrected soul), then we are not under the penalty of eternal damnation for our sins. That is, the law can no longer condemn us. Instead, the law is the guarantee that God gives us that we are eternally secure in Christ. We are hidden by the law of God from the wrath of God. And the law of God, the Bible, gives us complete direction as to how we are to live altogether to God’s glory.

Thus, we have learned that the feast of tabernacles is altogether focused on the Bible by which God reveals His exceedingly great glory. So, it would be more accurate to speak of the “feast of tabernacles” as the “feast of the Bible.” The feast of the Bible was observed on the same days that the feast of ingathering was observed. The feast of ingathering came at the same time that the final harvesting of the year took place. Spiritually, this points to the truth that the Bible is glorified by the feast of the Bible. This focus on the glorious nature of the Bible is further demonstrated as God brings in a final huge harvest of people who become saved just before the end of the world.  

This final ingathering is prophesied in Romans 9:28. There we read:

For he will finish the work [Greek, logos], and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work [logos] will the Lord make upon the earth.

The Greek word “logos” is ordinarily translated as “word.” Therefore, this verse refers to the present short period of time, which we will learn from the Bible is the final 17 years of the earth’s history. The key to the importance of these 17 years is the glorious Word (logos) of God by which God is presently saving a great multitude which no man could number (Revelation 7:9). This final evangelization of the world that is presently taking place will not stumble or falter. It will transition without any defects or hesitations into its eternal completeness, when in a very short time Christ returns and raptures all the true believers, the elect, throughout the world to be eternally with Him in the new heavens and the new earth.