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Army of Angels Return with Christ

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Fight the good fight of faith
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Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Ecc 12:7 then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Let me start here with these three passages from scripture that show it is only our breath that returns back to God when we physically die as no one has ever ascended up to heaven after they died. It's only our breath/spirit that returns back to God.

Continuing with these scriptures below, especially 1Thessalonians 4:14, will God bring with him. When Christ returns with the clouds and His army of angels from heaven, Rev 19:11-21, Jesus then sends His angels out to the four corners of the earth to gather all His own to Him. Jesus will raise the dead first as even those who pierced Him will see Him coming with the clouds and then we who are Christ own, which are still alive at His coming, will be changed and then we are all caught up to the clouds to meet Jesus in the air as we return with Him in our new glorified bodies in which we do not know what we will be like, other than we will be like Christ in His glorified body.


Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Mat 24:30 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.
Mat 24:31 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.

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Rev 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

Rev 19:14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
 
Let me start here with these three passages from scripture that show it is only our breath that returns back to God when we physically die as no one has ever ascended up to heaven after they died. It's only our breath/spirit that returns back to God.
When our bodies die, they return to the elements. When we are resurected, the angels do not gather our physical dust--those elements are reused in other bodies and things. To be resurrected is simply to be reconstructed. It is making use of our original spiriits and identies to inhabit *brand new* bodies.

So when the saint of God dies, his or her spirit returns to God, whle the physical body is terminated. But this has nothing to do with the inability to "ascend to God" in physical bodies as Jesus mentioned.

Jesus was speaking, I believe, of the inability of men to rise to God of their own ability. Only Jesus could ascend to God of his own free will, since he was divine.

Clearly, Elijah physically ascended into heaven. But he did not ascend of his own volition and power. And that's what I think Jesus was saying, making a distinction between God's power and the limitations of our own human power.

Rom 10.6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down)."

I think you may be right that people will not rise, in the Rapture, to heaven in their physical bodies. I think it is possible that when God's angels gather us at the Rapture our bodies will instantly disintegrate, simply because physical, mortal bodies must instantly transform in order to exist in space, or in the upper atmosphere (without planes).

When Jesus described, in his Olivet Discourse, that angels would gather God's People, he was describing how Israel would be regathered while they were still alive. That is the Rapture.

Today, this promise has been extended to all nations--not just to Israel. God will send his angels to gather all of the living saints, transforming them into new, immortal bodies so that we may live with God forever.
 
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