Mark 13:20
“Unless the Lord had shortened
those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of
the elect,
whom He chose, He shortened the days.
21“And then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ’; or, ‘Behold,
He is there’; do not believe
him; 22for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible,
the elect.
It doesnt get any clearer than that Melach…...
Consider the following TWO (or 3, actually, and some of it is abbreviated for "length-sake"
) passages, about which I will also make some very brief points/comments:
1)--
Matthew 25:31-46 -
The Sheep and the Goats
31 And when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit upon His throne of glory [this is His *
earthly throne;
see also Matt19:28!]. 32 And all
the nations will be gathered before Him [these are "still-living" persons on the earth upon His "RETURN" there], and He will separate them one from another, as the shepherd
separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And indeed He will set the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on His left.
34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come,
those being blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom having been prepared for you
from [apo; not BEFORE/pro said of OTHERS elsewhere!] the foundation of the world. 35
For I hungered, and you gave Me to eat [...<snip>... (etc)]
37 Then
the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungering [etc...etc...]
40 And the King answering, will say to them, ‘Truly I say to you,
to the extent that you did it to one of
the least of these brothers of Mine,
you did it to Me.’
41 Then also He will say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me,
those being cursed, into the eternal fire, having been prepared for the devil and his angels. 42
For I hungered, and you gave to Me nothing to eat [...<snip>... (etc)]
44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungering, or thirsting, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to You?’
45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you,
to the extent that you did not do it to one of
the least of these,
neither did you to Me.’
46 And these will go away into eternal punishment; but
the righteous into eternal life.”
[these/"the righteous" (of the nationS [plural]) are who enter the MK age along with the believing remnant of Israel ("the WISE [
of Israel]" spoken of in Dan12:1-4,10, and v.12 [to whom the "the promised and prophesied
earthly Millennial Kingdom
WAS PROMISED (see Acts 1:6, Matt19:28, Matt22:8-14, Lk12:35-36,38,40,42-44, Matt8:11, among other passages])... the nationS/Gentiles being "the guests [plural]" in these kinds of contexts... meaning, their/Israel's "INVITED guests [plural]" to their promised and prophesied earthly MK age<---neither of these being "the Church
which is His body,"
per contexts; and Matthew 24:29-31 parallels
Isaiah 27:12-13 (plz see this passage!) when the elect of Israel (having come to faith FOLLOWING our Rapture) will (at the END of the trib) be gathered "ONE by ONE" to "worship the Lord in the holy mount AT JERUSALEM" (ENTERING the MK AGE)]
2)--
Matthew 20:16 and Matthew 22:14 (
considered in their contexts*), "For many are called [G2822 - [
kletoi], but few chosen [G1588 -
eklektoi]."
[*
contexts: Matthew 20:16 is in the context of "Labourers in the vineyard" (see Isa5:7 "the VINEYARD of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel"); and Matthew 22:14 is in the context of "inviting the guests [plural (i.e. "the nations")] to the wedding
FEAST/SUPPER [aka the
earthly MK age]" (
note: not "the MARRIAGE/UNION-with[G4862]" thing! "The BRIDE/WIFE [SINGULAR]" is NOT "the guestS [PLURAL]" etc); these TWO passages cover both "Israel" and "the Gentiles/nations" which are both distinct [and kept distinct in these passages and other related ones (like, for example in Rev7, where they are set in contradistinction to each other)] not only from each other [distinct], but also distinct from "the Church which is His body"]