Christ is Coming to Take Possession of the Earth with Judgment yet Keeping His Covenant

The Lord Jesus Christ is coming to take possession of the earth, for He is the rightful Owner of the earth and all things in it; He is another strong Angel clothed with a cloud coming secretly to rapture His overcomers, and the rainbow was upon His head, for He will keep the covenant made with Noah concerning the earth (see Revelation 10).

Lord Jesus, grant us to see a vision of the Christ coming to take possession of the earth! Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You today to enjoy You and experience You so that we may be Your overcoming saints today. We come forward to the throne of grace with boldness, through Your precious blood, to receive mercy and find grace for timely help. Amen, Lord Jesus, may we be those who are secretly “stolen” by You when You return secretly as a Thief in the night to rapture Your overcomers! Amen!

This week we are focusing on Revelation chapters 10 and 11, and in chapter 11 we see Christ as the eternal King, while Revelation 10 speaks of Christ coming to possess the earth and the finishing of the mystery of God.

It is good to take God’s word and pray over it, mixing it with our prayer through the exercise of our spirit of faith.

We may think that verses such as John 3:16 are so wonderful and so good to pray-read, but when we come to the book of Revelation, where we see a Christ like nowhere else in the Bible, we may be a bit reluctant or reticent.

But the book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ given by God to His servant John; we need to take this book and pray it to the Lord so that we may know the Christ revealed in it.

We need to know Christ subjectively and we need to be infused with this Christ, even be one with this Christ.

As we live in the last days of this age, the darkest part of the night, we are expecting the Lord’s coming, and the book of Revelation reveals to us the Christ who comes to take possession of the earth.

Today the earth is under the illegal rule of Satan, the usurper. He rebelled against God, and for a little while, God allowed him to be on earth and usurp it; however, Christ is coming again to retake the earth.

Christ came through incarnation and He died on the cross not only to redeem us but also to redeem the whole earth – He paid the price of His own blood to regain the earth.

And He is coming to gain the earth! May we see the Christ who is coming to take possession of the earth, and may we be one with Him in His coming! Amen!

Christ is Coming to Take Possession of the Earth: He’s Another Strong Angel Clothed with a Cloud, Coming Secretly

In Revelation 10:1-7 we have a clear vision of Christ coming to take possession of the earth. God set His eyes on the earth; He has been observing, He has been looking at the earth, for the earth is where He wants His will to be worked out.

He wants to carry out His economy not only in heaven but especially on the earth. As the Lord Jesus taught us to pray, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on the earth (Matt. 6).

Many Christians today are anxious to go to heaven, and even many people on earth are anxious to go to the moon or to Mars, but God wants the earth.

We need to forget about the moon or any other planets, even forget about going to heaven; God’s eyes are on the earth. God created man and gave him dominion to subdue the earth.

The earth needs to be recovered and subdued, for Satan has rebelled and man has failed, so now the whole earth is desolate, corrupt, and even under a curse.

God desires that through man, by man exercising God’s dominion, the earth would be recovered. God has no problem in the heavens; He wants to carry out His will on the earth.

As Psalm 8 says, He wants His name to be excellent in all the earth. If we look around us at the situation on the earth, we see darkness, rebellion, lawlessness, injustice, and unrighteousness, and things are getting worse.

We are probably living in a time in the darkest period of time ever in human history. But the Lord wants to gain the earth.

Christ is coming to take possession of the earth. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof (Psa. 24:1).

The earth does not belong to any kings, rulers, technocrats, premiers, presidents, or governors; the earth belongs to Jehovah, for the earth belongs to Christ.

As believers in Christ and as the local churches on earth, we need to be burdened for this earth.

We need to pray for the Lord to return and take possession of the earth; He is not coming only to bring in some peace, but to take the whole earth as His possession and bring in righteousness and justice.

As Psalms 93 through 101 show us, God will recover His full title and right over the earth through the reign of Christ. The title deed of this earth belongs to God, and through the reign of Christ, God will recover His full title and right over the earth.

Every country belongs to Him, and every continent is His. When we see this, we will pray in a certain way; we will not pray in a begging or imploring way, asking God to solve this problem or that problem. Our prayer will have the view of Christ being the rightful Owner of the earth, and we will pray,

Lord, we praise You for being the Owner of the earth! Amen, the whole earth is Yours! Recover Your ownership of the earth, Lord! We stand one with You for You to come and take possession of the earth! Recover Your ownership and right over Italy, France, Germany, the UK, and all countries in Europe! Recover Your ownership over America and all the countries in the Americas! Amen, Lord, recover Your right over Asia and all the countries in it! Yes, Lord, Africa and all the countries on this continent belong to Christ!

May we experience and enjoy You today and may we be one with You as You return to take possession of the earth! Amen!

May our view of Christ be uplifted for us to see the Christ revealed in Revelation 10. In this chapter, Christ is “another strong Angel” (v. 1), like the One in 7:2; 8:3; and 18:1.

He is the Servant of Jehovah; He is a strong Angel to carry out what is in God’s heart. He was sent by Jehovah to carry out God’s economy and accomplish His administration.

The apostle John saw another Angel coming down out of heaven. Christ is coming down out of heaven to take possession of the earth.

His coming is not just one step but several steps; His coming involves a process. The word “coming” in Greek is parousia, which means presence.

Many Christians speak of the Lord’s physical coming; however, there’s an invisible aspect of His coming. His parousia, His presence, actually starts much earlier than His visible or physical appearing.

As seen in the book of Revelation, around the fifth seal, Christ on the throne will start His journey in a secret way toward the earth for quite a period of time. While it is totally in secret, He will begin to rapture the overcomers.

First, He will rapture the dead overcomers, signified by the man-child, and also the living overcomers, signified by the firstfruits in Revelation 14, as well as other overcomers described in Matthew 24.

He is rapturing those who are mature in life; one will be taken and the other will be left.

One by one, the overcoming saints are being raptured to the Lord’s throne, in His presence, to His parousia.

He does this to preserve the overcoming saints from the day of trial – the great tribulation.

His secret coming as the strong Angel, covered in the cloud, is for the rapture of His overcomers, those who ripen early, to be with Him at the throne, in heaven.

And He continues to come in a secret way all the way through during the time of the great tribulation, when He will actually be in the air.

Christ will be there in the air, clothed in the cloud, and during the great tribulation, He will rapture the majority of the believers, both the dead and the living ones.

Then, finally, toward the end of the great tribulation, Christ will appear physically – no longer in the cloud, but on the cloud.

He will physically put His feet down on the Mount of Olives, fulfilling the verses that say all eyes will see Him. There are at least these three stages of his coming.

We want to participate not in the last stage, the physical appearing, but in His secret coming, before the great tribulation, for us to be raptured and not pass through the three and a half years of trial and suffering as has never been seen in human history.

May we all receive His mercy and grace to grow and mature in life today so that we may be raptured with Him to the throne in the heavens. Christ is now coming down out of heaven.

This vision is a hint that Christ is still on His way to the earth. Christ is “clothed with a cloud”. He is not yet “on the cloud,” as in 14:14 and Matthew 24:30; 26:64.

To be “on the cloud” is to come openly, whereas to be “clothed with a cloud” is to come secretly.

Christ will be coming secretly, not openly, until He is seen by all the tribes of the earth, as mentioned in Revelation 1:7 and in Matthew 24:30.

Even at the time of Revelation 10, Christ’s coming is still secret.

He will be wrapped in the cloud until chapter 14, when He will sit on the cloud and His coming will be public.

By this we can see that the general teaching that Christ will come before the great tribulation is inaccurate. May we open to the Lord in this regard and ask Him,

Lord Jesus, we love You and we want to grow in life unto maturity today! Amen, Lord, we give You our best cooperation today so that we may ripen and be ready to be raptured by You! May we love You and love Your appearing. Make us ready, Lord. Make us the living overcomers in this age who will be taken by You to Your presence when You return secretly. Oh Lord, we yearn for Your coming! We yearn to see Christ coming to take possession of the earth! Amen, Lord, the earth belongs to You! We pray for Your kingdom to come on the earth. May Your will be done on the earth. We want to live in the reality of Your kingdom today. We preach the gospel of the kingdom and we enthrone You as King. May You be received by many men as the King and as their life for the spreading and enlargement of Your kingdom! Lord Jesus, keep us in Your presence today! Keep us in our spirit. May we be the overcoming ones whom You will rapture at Your secret coming to be in Your presence and return with You to possess the earth!

As He Carries out His Judgment, Christ Keeps His Covenant with Noah to Preserve Some Nations

The Christ who is coming to possess the earth is revealed as another strong Angel, and the rainbow was upon His head (Rev. 10:1).

The rainbow indicates that, as Christ is coming to possess the earth and execute God’s judgment, He will keep the covenant God made with Noah concerning the earth (Gen. 9:8-17).

God has to judge Satan and all his works, and He has to judge the earth and clear it up; however, as He judges, He keeps His covenant with Noah.

He comes to judge, and He has a rainbow upon His head. All human beings deserve to die, unless they repent; however, God will preserve some.

We praise the Lord that, by His mercy and His grace, we believers in Christ are spared of the eternal judgment, for we repented and believed into the Lord.

We deserved to die and be judged, but we are spared by faith; what a mercy!

The rainbow is around His head, and also it is around His throne (Rev. 4:3), signifying that God is the covenanting God, the faithful God, who will keep His covenant while executing His judgment upon the earth.

He will judge mankind, but not by flood to destroy all men; He will judge it by fire, and He will keep a part of mankind to be the nations of the new earth for His glory (21:24, 26).

God is faithful. He is faithful in His administration toward mankind. Even as He judges, which He needs to do, He will remember His covenant.

If we look deeper at the rainbow, the primary colours are blue, yellow, and red. Blue signifies God’s righteousness, red signifies God’s holiness, and yellow signifies God’s glory.

These three main attributes of God – His righteousness, holiness, and glory – are what kept the sinners away from the tree of life in the garden of Eden.

God put a cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life; the cherubim signifies God’s glory, the sword signifies God’s righteousness, and the flame signifies God’s holiness.

When Christ came, He fulfilled all the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory. He lived a life of righteousness, holiness, and glory, expressing God in a full way.

Through His death on the cross by shedding His blood, He was judged and fulfilled all the requirements of God; now the way to the tree of life is open.

We can repent and believe into Christ, and God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory, can be wrought into us!

Christ became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).

He not only spares our life by faith in Him; He is working His attributes into us to make us the church to bear the testimony of the rainbow! Now His righteousness and holiness and glory are lived out in our Christian life and church life! Hallelujah!

The book of Revelation reveals that God will judge the earth and all its inhabitants.

The rainbow around His throne signifies that God is the covenanting God, the faithful God, who will keep His covenant while executing His judgment upon the earth.

He will not judge mankind again with a flood nor destroy all mankind, but will keep a part of mankind to be the nations of the new earth for His glory (Rev. 21:24, 26). Praise the Lord!

To us believers in Christ the throne of God is of mercy and grace, and we can come forward with boldness to the throne of grace to receive and enjoy Christ as mercy and grace for timely help (Heb. 4:16).

And in eternity, this throne of God and of the Lamb will be the source of the flow of the river of water of life with the tree of life, always supplying us with God.

To the unbelievers, however, this throne is a of judgment, and they have no share in the eternal enjoyment issuing out of God’s eternal throne.

Lord Jesus, thank You for being our covenant-keeping God! Hallelujah, Christ is coming to possess the earth, and He is coming to judge anything and anyone standing with His enemy! Lord, we stand one with You. Judge in us anything that needs to be judged today. We come forward to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace for timely help. We partake of Your riches. We apply the precious blood of Christ and we come forward to eat of the tree of life. Hallelujah, the way to the tree of life has been opened, and we can come forward to Christ to enjoy Him! Amen, Lord, may You fill us with Yourself and may You be expressed through us as righteousness, holiness, and glory! We thank You, Lord, and we worship You for having a rainbow around Your head! We believe Your promise that You will not judge mankind again with a flood nor destroy all mankind, but You will keep a part of mankind to be the nations of the new earth for Your glory! Praise the Lord!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee on this topic, and portions from, Life-study of Revelation, msg. 17, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (4) (2025 December Training), week 42 (msg. 6), Christ, the Eternal King, Coming to Possess the Earth and the Finishing of the Mystery of God – day 3.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – We see how this age is so dark, / We know that blest hour is near. / Our Lord may return anytime— / Lord, strike in us this holy fear, / That we may each moment redeem / By taking Thy Word in by prayer, / By learning each lesson You give, / And thus for that hour prepare. / Lord Jesus, how blest to be those / Who bring in Thy kingdom to earth, / Affording Thee rule over all / And showing to all Thy great worth! / How blest to be those at the feast, / Where Thou wilt be one with Thy Bride! / Lord, make us wise virgins for Thee, / Who e’er in Thy presence abide. (Hymns #1303 stanzas 4-5)
  – Overcomers Christ will take, / Those who all for Him forsake, / Those who of first love partake— / Win in time! / All the deadness overcome, / With the living Christ be one, / Toward the goal now swiftly run— / Win in time! / Christ comes for His kingdom too; / Heav’nly reign we must pursue, / Let His rule our self subdue— / Yield in time! / Rebel self must be dethroned, / Lessons must not be postponed, / Quickly yield to Christ enthroned— / Yield in time! (Hymns #1304 stanzas 5-6)
  – Search and burn, search and burn all our inward parts; / Search and burn, thoroughly, to refine our hearts; / We’ll not fear, but be clear—burning, searching thus / Is the gracious visit of the Lord to us. / With the Man, with the Man is a rainbow fair; / Glorious bow, ’round the throne, faithfulness declares: / We deserved to be served with God’s judgment sore, / But we have been spared to praise Him more and more. (Hymns #1189 stanzas 4-5)