Welcome 2 SYNxronisation

central part of the "Jugement Dernier" by Roger Van der Weyden

 by J.Preston Eby

"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, WITH THE VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL, and with the trump of God" (I Thes. 4:16).

For years the beautiful passage quoted above has intrigued me with its mystery. While the King James Version states that the Lord shall descend from heaven "with the voice of the archangel," that is not exactly the way it is in the original. The Greek uses the preposition EN meaning "in," and Young's Literal Translation correctly renders it, "Because the Lord Himself, IN a shout, IN the voice of a chief-messenger, and IN the trump of God, shall come down from heaven." The Lord does not come "with" the voice of the archangel, but "in" the voice of the archangel. If, therefore, we can know who the archangel is, and are able to recognize his voice, we will have assurance, not that the Lord is coming soon, but rather that He has come and is now present, for we shall have encountered Him in great power and glory in the place where He manifests - I-N THE VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL!

We must first go back and learn who and what angels actually are. Babylon has told us a lot of fictions about storks bringing babies, and Santa scurrying down the chimney. We, for some peculiar reason, do not believe these tales. But most of us still think that angels are funny things with white nightgowns, bare feet, long flowing hair, voluptuous breasts and wings, beautiful sexless things who fly and flutter and flit here and there.

From every part of scripture come testimonies to the existence of angels. They trod the plains of Mamre, and sang over the fields of Bethlehem. One prepared the meal on the desert sands for Elijah; another led Peter out of prison; a third flashed through the storm to stand by the hammock where the apostle Paul was sleeping. An angel came to Zacharias and Elizabeth with the message that John the Baptist would be born. The angel Gabriel came to Mary in Nazareth and told her that she would conceive of the Holy Ghost and bring forth a Son who would be the Son of the Most High God. An angel warned Joseph. "And when they were departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph... saying, Arise, and take the young child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy Him" (Mat. 2:13).

After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, the Word says, "Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil" (Mat. 4:1). When all the severe testings had been accomplished, the record states, "Then the devil leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him" (Mat. 4:11). God is not helpless in a corner somewhere, but His angels have been sent forth to take care of His people. "Now when the apostles had borne their testimony and preached the message of the Lord, they went back to Jerusalem, proclaiming the glad tidings to many villages of the Samaritans on the way. But an angel of the Lord said to Philip, Rise and proceed southward at midday on the road that runs from Jerusalem down to Gaza. This is the desert route. So he got up and went" (Acts 8:25-27). What was the purpose of the angel telling Philip to travel that particular road at that specific time? So he could meet the Ethiopian eunuch and introduce him to Jesus! In Gen. 24:7, God sent forth an angel to assist the servant of Abraham in securing a wife for Isaac. In Ex. 23:20 He sent "an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared." He sent His angels to clear the way in the going forth out of Egypt. In Ps. 34:7, the Holy Spirit inspired David to write these words, "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them."

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