Hold on a minute: the armies of heaven in Rev 19:14 are the angels, not the righteous dead. Compare this to:
- Matt 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all of the holy angels with Him...."
Matt 24:31 & Mark 13:27 tell us that the angels will gather His chosen people, but the armies are the angels themselves.
well, the angels He comes with, are us Christians who die and go to heaven before His coming...
Rev shows that we are angels, in Rev19 an 22
here, the dead are in heaven
and they will soon depart heaven with the Lord as part of His armies
Rev19:1And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great harlot, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
3 And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
and the angel that showed John the vision, was one of us, clothed in fine linen
Rev19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
vv
v
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Rev22:8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
16I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Consider also Rev 12:7-9. It is the angels that go to war against Satan and his angels, not the righteous dead.
my belief is that we ALL were the angels....before this world...
through history, almost all of God's created angels are at sometime born human
but not Satan and his evil following angels, nor IMO Michael and his angels.
so i believe that when we die, we are again, the angels....
that's why we who obtain the Resurrection, shall be like, or = to, the angels.
and as for who comes with Christ at His Coming,
well that's a repeated subject so it's not that difficult to pick it up.
we know that the righteous dead Come with Him at His Coming
and are raised here on the last day, which is what 1Thes3 ends with...
1Thes3:13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
so it is no surprise to me that Paul picks up the same topic again and better explains it to them
1Thes4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
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.
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:
1Cor15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
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.
and it's definitely judgment and wrath time at His Coming, at the Resurrection
which is what the 7th trump shows....same timing as the "last trump"....
Rev11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
2Thes1:10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
Colossians 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Jude1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
so what does the Old Testament say about who comes with Him?
Zec14:5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
Isa13:3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.
5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
6 Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
here's another angle to look from....
Heb12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
vv
v
Rev1:7 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.
vv
v
Mat24:30 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.
vv
v
Mar13:26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
there's more too....if you're interested...
i'm certainly not suggesting that He doesn't Come with angels...
i'm saying that "we" are included in the definition of "angels".
