When Jesus has finished His work as Priest and Mediator, He will come to take His people to Himself, and all the holy angels will come with Him. “When the Son of man shall come in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.” Matthew 25:31. See, also, 2 Thessalonians 1:7. Long and zealously have Jesus and the angels labored together for the salvation of men. Now they are to reap the reward of their labors; the angels will share in the joy of their Lord; they will witness and take a part in the triumph of the redeemed. Of that triumph Paul says: “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; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. By what means they are caught up to meet the Lord, Jesus Himself informs us: “And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:30, 31.ATNM 44.2

As the Archangel in midheaven sounds the trump of God, the earth trembles, the graves are opened, and the sleeping saints arise, clothed with immortality. The same angel who had watched over that humble saint through life, and had marked his final resting-place, now stands by his grave; and, as the child of God comes up from his dusty bed, he clasps him in his arms, and bears him away in triumph to their common Lord. O glorious scene! Victory to the saints! joyful triumph to the Son of God! And the angels share in the glory and the joy They have borne an important part in the work of redemption, and they rejoice in its final success.ATNM 45.1

Now the Lord Jesus, the King of Glory, ascends with all the saints, escorted by the hosts of angels, to the heavenly Jerusalem. “Before the ransomed throng is the holy city. Jesus opens wide the pearly gates, and the nations that have kept the truth enter in. There they behold the paradise of God, the home of Adam in his innocency.” What a glorious time, when all the heavenly family shall be gathered home to the Father’s house, to inhabit the many mansions which Jesus went before to prepare for them! The just, the good, the pure, will be there; the saints, the prophets, and the holy martyrs will be there; the bright angels will be there; and “Jesus Himself will be there.”ATNM 46.1

Dear reader, shall you and I be there? Do we belong to this heavenly family? And shall we, by giving all diligence, make our calling and election sure? Shall we indeed secure eternal life, by patient continuance in well-doing? May God in His infinite mercy grant us grace to secure an interest in the precious blood of Christ, that we may be cleansed and purified, and, through the merits of our adorable Redeemer, be presented without fault before the throne of God.ATNM 46.2

§12. RECORDING ANGELS

§1. THE DEVIL A REAL BEING