Have you ever been reading 1 Corinthians 6 and been puzzled by verse 2?

“1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? 2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

In the past I have read this passage many times, and because I didn’t understand what it was talking about, I just kept reading and forgot about it. Even when I read Psalm 149 last year, and I understood that the second half is about the role of the saints during the Tribulation, I didn’t connect the passages, but I should have.

I was reading in Isaiah 24 the other day and I saw a passage that reminded me of Psalm 149. In fact I am sure they are talking about the same event.

The Psalms have a lot of prophecy in them. So while the Psalms are Israel’s song book, the writers of the Psalms are more than song writers, they are Prophets! Of course that makes David a prophet as well! Well, I’m not really sure who wrote Psalm 149, but this is a prophecy that will most likely be fulfilled during the lifetime of people who are alive today!

Let’s take a look at it:

1 Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.

2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

3 Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.

4 For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.

5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.

6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;

7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;

8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;

9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord.

(Vs1-4) This section is about the restoration of Israel. Israel rejoices in His Salvation! They sing and dance and praise the Lord, because He is so Good!

It is no accident that the next verse switches to the glorified saints! The resurrection of the saints occurs at the end of the Church-age, shortly before the Rapture, immediately before God goes back to dealing through Israel during the Tribulation!

(Vs 5) Now the Psalmist switches to the resurrected saints in glory! “Singing upon their beds” doesn’t mean they are sleeping! No it is symbolic; they are in their own places in Heaven and they are totally safe! They are not singing quietly, but are making a joyful noise unto the Lord! These saints are not only the Church-age saints, but also the pre-flood saints, post-flood saints, and saints of the age of Israel!

Isaiah 26:19 indicates that all the dead saints will be resurrected just before the Rapture, including the Old Testament prophets:

19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

Israel will live Psalm 23 in real time! Their place of refuge is in the land of the Antichrist, but they are perfectly safe with Jesus there to protect them!

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

The armies of the Beast will be attempting to get at the people of Israel to kill them, and Jesus and His people will sit down to eat with their enemies all around them! And they will be perfectly safe!

(Vs 6) As they praise the Lord, the saints are given a sword! This “sword” is not an allegorical sword. It may not be a literal sword, it could be, but it is certainly the literal ability to kill; God has a job for these saints! Having inherited their homes in Heaven for some three and a half years they are returning to earth with the Lord! He has a job for them; they are not going to be bored, sitting around on clouds! Oh, they will sing His praises, but they will also use the swords the Lord has given them!

If you are a blood-bought, born-again Christian, this is about you and your future! Your near future! This is not some distant time in the far-off future, but will most likely occur in the next 10-15 years! (I am writing this in 2024). I expect that by 2039 the Antichrist will most likely already be in the lake of fire, and Jesus will already rule the whole planet! If the beast is still on the planet, he will be in his last days and shortly to enter his eternal reward!

(vs 7) The job of the saints of all ages is to execute vengeance on the nations. The word translated as “heathen” is the Hebrew “goy” which means “nations”. Something you need to know about these nations: they have all had the gospel preached in them! All the true believers were removed from these nations at the Rapture, so 100% of those left behind were unbelievers on that day!

Many of them, but not the majority, have come to Christ during the Tribulation, and many of these have been beheaded for their testimony for Jesus! Now, at the end of the Tribulation, Jesus is sending out the saints to execute judgment against the unbelievers, and killers of planet earth!

These are people who have seen the Rapture, the sealed judgments, the trumpet judgments, and the bowl (or vial) judgments, and are still unbelievers after all this! They have heard the gospel angel preach the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ in all the earth and yet they are still committed to the Antichrist is spite of everything they have seen, to the extent that they have taken the mark of the beast, and have participated in the deaths of millions of saints!

Here is the Judgment of God against those who take the mark of the beast:

9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Revelation 14:9-11

A person who takes the mark of the beast cannot be saved! This means that such a person cannot enter into the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ! Verse 7 ends by saying that the saints will “execute… punishments upon the people”. This means that every person who took the mark of the beast will be punished for this act of defiance against Jesus Christ! Attempting to save their life they will lose it at the hands of the saints!

The saints are not asked to do this today! This event is reserved for the time when the saints return in their glorified bodies. Today, while we are in our fleshly bodies we are to act as Jesus did when he was in His fleshly body; to love our enemies and to ensure they know that Jesus died for their sins! Today, we are to be willing even to lay down our lives for the sake of our co-residents of this planet, to the glory of Jesus Christ!

This changes once the saints are in their glorified bodies.

(Vs 8) The kings, nobles and leaders of the Antichrist’s kingdom are singled out for attention by the saints; they will be bound with “fetters of iron”. There is no escape for those who took the mark of the Beast and worshiped him!

Isaiah elaborates a bit more on what is going on here. He puts it this way;

21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. Isaiah 24:21-22

The “high ones that are on high” is a reference to the host of fallen angels! I believe that the Scriptures indicate that they will be locked-up in two locations on earth: Babylon, and Edom! Two places that have an intimate association with the Antichrist, and false religion! These two locations will have no human inhabitants during the Millennial kingdom, just a few animals, and demons!

The statement directed to “the kings of the earth” does not limit this judgment only to the men at the top. Everyone who has taken the mark of the beast will become a prisoner! The place they are gathered is “the pit” also known throughout history as “Sheol”, Hades, and Hell!

The “many days” they are here is the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ upon the earth. What does it mean that “ after many days shall they be visited.”? It means that at the end of the thousand year reign of Christ the inhabitants of Hell will be resurrected in their eternal bodies, and will stand before Jesus Christ at the White Throne Judgment! Every one of these people will be thrown into the Lake of Fire after their deeds are examined!

Those who knew the Gospel of Jesus Christ and rejected it will receive the hottest places in the Lake of Fire, but the ignorant will receive lesser punishments, however none will escape punishment.

Judgment is always by works, and Salvation is always by faith!

So where will you be when the saints are called upon to remove the Antichrist’s people from the planet? Will you be one of the saints doing the bidding of Jesus Christ, or will you be one of the Beast’s people who took the mark, and ends up in the Lake of Fire? It is your choice; choose wisely!

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Romans 10:9

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10:13

(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) II Corinthians 6:2