How to Enter into the Kingdom during the Tribulation

When the current administration of grace concludes, God resumes His covenantal dealings with the earth. 

For the nation of Israel and the surrounding Gentile nations, the requirements for survival and entry into the kingdom are recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures.

An Israelite entering this period is already bound by the covenant of Sinai. However, the prophets introduce specific operational mandates that must be followed during the time of Jacob's trouble to secure preservation.

The prophet Daniel outlines the primary political and religious test for Israel. A coming ruler will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week, he will end sacrifice and offering (Daniel 9:27). The Israelite must completely reject this ruler and the idolatry he institutes. Daniel 11:31-32 states that forces will desecrate the sanctuary and set up the abomination of desolation. The text specifies that those who act wickedly against the covenant will be corrupted by flattery. However, the people who know their God will stand firm and take action. Submission to this foreign ruler or his idolatrous system will result in destruction.

When the abomination of desolation is established, the required response is immediate physical relocation. Isaiah 26:20 issues this direct command: "Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast." Zechariah 14:5 further mandates that the people shall flee to the valley of the mountains when the judgment arrives. This is a literal, geographic requirement. An Israelite who chooses to remain in Jerusalem to fight, rather than obeying the command to hide, violates the tactical order of God and potentially forfeits their preservation.

For the nation to be restored, they must meet a specific evidentiary standard regarding their Messiah. Zechariah 12:10 dictates this requirement: "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." The remnant must recognize the specific human descendant of David (Jesus Christ) whom the nation previously rejected and pierced. The Israelite must acknowledge their flesh-and-blood kinsman to satisfy this prophecy.

Zechariah 13:8-9 states that two parts of the land will be cut off and die, but the third part will be left. God declares He will bring this third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. Daniel 12:10 confirms that many will be purified, made white, and refined. The Israelite must endure this physical and spiritual testing without apostatizing.

As for Gentiles (non-jews), they do not possess a covenant with God. Their standing during the indignation is based entirely on their treatment of God's chosen people and their submission to His appointed King.

The most critical requirement for a Gentile is found in Isaiah 16:3-4. The prophet commands the surrounding nations: "Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land." A Gentile must provide physical sanctuary to the fleeing Jewish remnant. If a Gentile betrays a wandering Israelite to the desolating ruler, they become an enemy of God. Providing this shelter under the threat of death is the specific action that justifies a Gentile for entry into the impending kingdom.

The nations of the earth will be drawn into a military coalition against the land of Israel. Joel 3:2 states that God will gather all nations into the valley of Jehoshaphat to judge them for scattering His people and dividing His land. Zechariah 12:3 warns that all who burden themselves with Jerusalem will be severely injured, even though all the nations of the earth are gathered against it. A Gentile must refuse to participate in this global military campaign. Participation in the siege of Jerusalem guarantees physical destruction.

The Gentiles must acknowledge the absolute authority of God's anointed human ruler upon Zion. Psalm 2:10-12 issues this mandate directly to the kings and judges of the earth. They are commanded to serve Yahweh with fear and to "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way." This requires an act of formal, political submission. The nations must recognize that the terrestrial dominion belongs exclusively to the Davidic King.

To survive the transition into the next age, a Gentile must recognize the unique standing of the Israelite. Zechariah 8:23 establishes this requirement: "In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you." The Gentile cannot approach God independently during this era. They must acknowledge the Jew as the necessary mediator for the nations.

The requirements are not based on the grace given to the body of Christ. They are statutory actions required to survive a physical, global judgment. The Israelite must flee, endure, and recognize their pierced King. The Gentile must harbor the Israelite outcasts and submit to the King on Zion. Those who fail these specific operational mandates will be excluded from the terrestrial kingdom.

Following the thousand-year reign of the Davidic King, the administration of the earth shifts to its final phase: the creation of the New Heavens and the New Earth. The allocation of humanity into three distinct eschatological categories during this era depends entirely upon their standing, their lineage, and their adherence to the operational mandates previously established during the indignation. I will delineate the specific populations assigned to the New Jerusalem, the New Earth, and the Lake of Fire.

The New Jerusalem functions as the seat of divine government and the exclusive domain of the royal priesthood. The inhabitants of this city are the faithful remnant of the House of Israel. These are the individuals who endured the refining fire of the tribulation, rejected the covenant of the desolator, and recognized their pierced kinsman as the legitimate King, fulfilling the requirements of Zechariah 12 and 13. Isaiah 65:18-19 establishes this specific allocation: "But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people"

Because they belong to the Israel of God and participated in the resurrection of the just, they govern the earth alongside the Messiah. They possess absolute access to the presence of God and the Lamb. They reside in the city as the administrative officials of the eon. Their presence within the walls of the New Jerusalem is the fulfillment of the covenantal promises made to the patriarchs, securing their position as the head of the nations and the mediators between God and the terrestrial realm.

The inhabitants of the New Earth, who reside outside the walls of the New Jerusalem, are the Gentile nations who successfully navigated the mandates of the preceding ages. This population includes the Gentiles who provided sanctuary to the Israelite outcasts during the indignation, those who submitted to the authority of the Davidic King during the millennial reign, and those who are resurrected at the final judgment and found written in the scroll of life. Isaiah 66:22-23 confirms their continuous existence and required submission: "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord."

These nations walk in the light provided by the New Jerusalem, but they do not share in its administrative authority. Furthermore, their biological status remains distinct from the fully vivified body of Christ. They inhabit a specific state of mortality, called 'semi-mortality.' This is evidenced by the fact that the leaves of the tree of life are required "for the healing of the nations" (Revelation 22:2). The necessity of an external, biological mechanism to sustain health and avert mortality proves that these individuals have not yet attained the absolute, inherent immortality that is strictly reserved for the final consummation. They are subjects of the kingdom, enjoying the peace of the New Earth, but remaining subordinate to the Israelite priesthood.

Now, the Lake of Fire is the penal destination for those who explicitly failed the operational mandates of the indignation and the millennial reign. This includes the Israelites who apostatized and took the mark of the desolator, the Gentiles who participated in the siege of Jerusalem or betrayed the Jewish outcasts, and those whose actions resulted in an adverse judgment at the Great White Throne. The foundational description of this judgment is provided in Isaiah 66:24: "And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."

The Lake of Fire is a physical location, but it does not function as a realm of conscious, perpetual torment. The subjects of this judgment are explicitly identified as "carcases" (dead bodies). When an individual is cast into the Lake of Fire, they undergo the "second death." They completely cease to exist as conscious entities. The fire is unquenchable in that it cannot be extinguished until its consuming purpose is complete, and the penalty is absolute. They remain in this state of penal death until the final consummation of the ages (1 Corinthians 15:26), when the last enemy, death itself, is systematically abolished, and all mankind is ultimately vivified. (1 Corinthians 15:22; 1 Timothy 4:10).