CHAPTER 21

Rayford Steele’s mind was on a woman he had not touched in more than seven years. What would Irene look like in her glorified body? What would they say to each other? Had she been aware of him all this time, watching, knowing what he was doing? Did she know he had become a believer?

“Do you realize how long we’ve been here?” he said.

Chaim looked at his watch. “Days, and yet it seems less than an hour. You know it is unlikely Jesus will handle the tribulation saints and martyrs the way He did the Old Testament saints.”

“Why?”

“Think about it. It would take years.”

“How many are there?” Rayford said.

“More than two hundred million martyrs alone.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I read the Book. Revelation says the martyrs under the throne who had come out of the Tribulation constitute a multitude no man can number.”

“Then how can you say—?”

“Stay with me. Earlier it refers to the demonic horsemen—remember them?”

“Don’t ask.”

“It refers to two hundred million of them, obviously a multitude that can be numbered. So, if there are so many martyrs that they cannot be numbered, how many must there be?”

Mac tried to imagine how he would have felt, before the Glorious Appearing, had he sat in the desert this long without food, water, or sleep. These old bones would be dried up and blowin’ away.

He recalled that as a child he’d worried about the afterlife. His friends, most of them, were church kids, and they talked about dying and going to heaven as if it was simply expected. “Yeah,” he had said, “but what’ll we do there?” His idea of heaven was ghosts in white robes with halos sitting on clouds and playing harps.

His friends could only shrug and say, “Better there than in hell.”

He hadn’t been so sure. His uncles always kidded about wanting to go to hell, “because that’s where all our friends will be.”

Needless to say, Mac was grateful to have avoided hell. And if heaven was as fascinating as this interval before the Millennium, it was going to be more than okay.

“It might be a little late to be asking this, Chaim,” Rayford said, “but what kind of a relationship will I have with Irene now? And Amanda. I know that’s the kind of question Jesus was asked when the Pharisees were trying to trip Him up, but I sincerely need to know.”

“All I can tell you is what Jesus said. ‘In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to attain that age’—meaning this time period right now—‘and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage.’ I cannot make it any plainer than that.”

“So only the people who reach the Millennium alive will marry and have children.”

“Apparently.”

Rayford also looked forward to meeting his heroes from the Old Testament. “We do get to interact with those guys, don’t we?”

“Absolutely,” Chaim said. “In Matthew 8:11 Jesus says, ‘Many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.’”

But for now the Old Testament saints were not mingling. They too had become spectators, because the multitude that no man could number was lined up at the throne, awaiting their rewards.

“Those who were killed for the testimony of Jesus,” Chaim said, “which pretty much covers any believer who died during the Tribulation, will be honored. But those who were actually martyred will be given a special crown.”

Gabriel stepped forward one more time and announced, “John the revelator wrote, ‘And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus, for proclaiming the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the Creature or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They had come to life again and now they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.’”

Chaim’s assessment proved accurate. Somehow the Lord arranged it so that only those who knew each tribulation saint witnessed them getting their reward. So, rather than Rayford’s having to wait through the ceremonies for a million or two strangers to see a friend or loved one, as soon as the festivities began, Bruce Barnes approached the throne.

“Bruce!” Rayford called out, unable to restrain himself, and he stood and applauded. All around him others were doing the same, but they were calling out other names. “Aunt Marge!” “Dad!” “Grandma!”

From that distance, Rayford could tell only that Bruce looked like himself. Of course he had never seen him in a white robe, and he didn’t know what a glorified body would be like, but Rayford couldn’t wait to see him face-to-face.

Soon he saw Loretta, Bruce’s secretary, who had died in the first global earthquake.

And then came Amanda, Rayford’s second wife.

He saw Dr. Floyd Charles, who had worked with the Tribulation Force. And David Hassid, the first mole in the Global Community Palace, who had been shot and killed at Petra, just before the remnant began to move in.

T Delanty was there, and sweet Lukas Miklos and his wife, who received a martyr’s crown for enduring the guillotine. Soon came Ken Ritz, who had taken a bullet to the head from the GC in an escape attempt.

What memories! How good it would be to reminisce. Jesus honored Ken by mentioning how he had “used your God-given mind and abilities to often thwart the works of the enemy and encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Melancholy washed over Rayford when he recognized Hattie Durham embracing Jesus. How he had misused her and nearly given up on her, but what a brave saint she had become in the end. When she knelt, Michael the archangel handed Jesus a crystalline tiara, which He placed on her head. “My daughter,” He said, “you were martyred for your testimony of Me in the face of the Antichrist and the False Prophet, and so you will bear this crown for eternity. Well done, good and faithful servant.”

There was Annie Christopher, who had worked underground at the GC palace. Steve Plank, Buck Williams’s former boss, who was thought dead in the wrath of the Lamb earthquake, only to resurface undercover as a GC operative under the name Pinkerton Stephens.

“You suffered the blade for My sake,” Jesus said, “and maintained your testimony to the end. Wear this crown for eternity.”

Albie appeared, Rayford’s old friend and faithful compatriot.

And finally, there was Chloe, and right behind her Buck and Tsion. Rayford kept shouting and clapping as his daughter, son-in-law, and spiritual adviser received their well-done, their embrace, and their martyr’s crown. The entire heavenly host applauded each martyr, but Caleb, one of the angels of mercy, came out from behind the throne to embrace Chloe. Rayford would have to ask her about that.

Of her, Jesus said, “You too suffered the guillotine for My name’s sake, speaking boldly for Me to the end. Wear this for eternity.”

Of Buck he said, “You and your wife gave up a son for My sake, but he shall be returned to you, and you shall be recompensed a hundredfold. You will enjoy the love of the children of others during the millennial kingdom.”

Jesus took extra time with Tsion Ben-Judah, praising him for “your bold worldwide proclamation of Me as the Messiah your people had for so long sought, the loss of your family—which shall be restored to you—your faithful preaching of My gospel to millions around the world, and your defense of Jerusalem until the moment of your death. Untold millions joined Me in the kingdom because of your witness to the end.”

Rayford enjoyed Jesus’ welcome to dozens of others whose names he had forgotten, underground believers in various countries who had worked through the Co-op, hosted Trib Force people, and sacrificed their lives in defense of the gospel.

Only by the miraculous work of God through Jesus, the honoring of more than two hundred million tribulation martyrs and saints was suddenly over. Jesus stood at the front edge of the vast platform and spread His arms as if to encompass the mighty throng of souls, most with glorified bodies, the rest mere mortals who had survived the Tribulation.

“I will declare the decree,” He said. “The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’

“Now therefore, I say be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

“I welcome you, one and all, to the kingdom I have prepared for you. Rayford, welcome.”

“Thank You, Lord.”

How anyone found anyone else in the endless mass of souls was a miracle in itself. Rayford saw Chaim making a beeline to Tsion, who was already in the embrace of his wife and two children. Albie and Mac were laughing and shouting and hugging.

There were Buck and Chloe running to Kenny as he ran to them.

And seemingly out of nowhere, at Rayford’s elbow stood Irene. One thing he could say for the glorified body: She looked herself, and as if she had not aged. No way she could say the same for him.

“Hi, Rafe,” she said, smiling.

“Irene,” he said, holding her. “You’re permitted one cosmic I-told-you-so.”

“Oh, Rayford,” she said, stepping back as if to get a good look at him. “I’ve just been so grateful that you found Jesus and so thrilled at how many souls are here because of what you and Chloe and the others did.” She looked behind him. “Raymie,” she said, “come here.”

Rayford turned and there was his son. He scooped him up in a tight embrace. “Even you knew the truth that I didn’t,” he said.

“I can’t tell you how great it is to see you here, Dad.”

Rayford pointed to Buck and Chloe and Kenny. “You know who that is?”

“Of course,” Irene said. “That’s my grandson—your nephew, Raymie.”

They approached shyly, but it was Buck who broke the ice as Chloe gathered in her parents. “So nice to meet you, finally,” he said, shaking his mother-in-law’s hand. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

Kenny seemed fascinated to have a real uncle, and one so young.

As they laughed and hugged and praised God for each other and for their salvation, Amanda White Steele approached. “Rayford,” she said. “Irene.”

“Amanda!” Irene said, pulling her close. “Would you believe I prayed for you even after I was raptured?”

“It worked.”

“I know it did. And you and Rafe were happy for a time.”

“I was so afraid this would be awkward,” Rayford said.

“Not at all,” Irene said. “I didn’t begrudge you a good wife and companionship. I was so thrilled that you both had come to Jesus. You’re going to find that He is all that matters now.”

“And I,” Amanda said, “am just so happy you made it through the Tribulation, Rayford.” She turned back to Irene and took her arm. “You know, your witness and character were the reasons I came to the Lord.”

“I knew that was your testimony,” Irene said. “But I hadn’t recalled making any impression on you.”

“I don’t think you tried. You just did.”

Rayford had the feeling that his family would be close, affectionate friends throughout the Millennium. He didn’t understand it all yet, in fact hardly any of it. But he had to agree with Irene: Jesus was all that mattered anymore. There would be no jealousy, envy, or sin. Their greatest joy would be in serving and worshiping their Lord, who had brought them to Himself.

As Buck and Chloe continued to interact with Irene and Amanda, Rayford borrowed Raymie. “There are so many people I want to see, Son. You must meet them all. And we’ve only got a thousand years.”