The Kingdom is set up upon the return of Christ with His own people, gathered in from the four winds of heaven and every righteous grave. They will go up to Him, then descend with Him until His feet “stand on the Mount of Olives” (Zechariah 14:4).

Zechariah tells more about that moment. All the nations will have been gathered against Jerusalem to battle, “and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city exiled… Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle (14:2, 3).”

We’ve been taught for decades that the evacuation Jesus was talking about in Matthew 24 had to do with the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. What if it had to do with His coming, and the days, even years, just before His coming, as per Zechariah?

Consider this order of events: Antichrist sets up the abomination of desolation. The people leave Jerusalem, as Matthew 24 relates. The Tribulation breaks out. False Christs appear. Then Christ comes and settles the score Himself. That’s all possible within the Zechariah prophecy and the words of Jesus.

Then the Reset. The Greater Reset. Matthew 25 describes it. Here again the interpretations we have received traditionally don’t quite match the wording given in Scripture. We’ve been told that when Jesus said, “Inasmuch as you did it to the least of these, you did it to Me,” He was talking about nice things you and I do for poor people. Well and good. Might work. But…

Sheep and goat nations divided.

…what if the words are literally true? Matthew 25:31 and following…

1. The Son of man comes. Of course, His church is with Him, caught up from earth and brought from heaven, as are the angels.
2. The nations of the world are gathered before Him. Not the church. They are behind Him, resurrected and secure. No, not them, but the people who lived up to the coming of the Lord.
3. The nations are separated. Good and bad.
4. The separation is based on how they treated God’s people during the Tribulation and perhaps other times.
5. The nations that were pro-Jesus enter into the Kingdom Age, supervised by the Kingdom people, the church of God.
6. The nations that fought Jesus are led off to punishment.