The Fates of the Wicked at the Second Coming

The next section of the chapter on the second coming of Jesus Christ lists five things that He will do when He comes again, in numeric order. I say "numeric order" because it seems not to be a chronological order. Let me briefly show you the first few points, in numeric order, to illustrate why I think the order is not chronological.

"1. He will cleanse the earth. ... At that time the wicked will be destroyed."

"2. He will judge His people. ... and will divide the righteous from the wicked."

If these are chronological events, by the time we got to step 2, there would be no wicked people to divide the righteous people from because of what happened during step 1. Or perhaps we're talking about three groups of people here, and the most-wicked are destroyed during step 1, and the semi-wicked are divided from the righteous at step 2. But that implies that there will be wicked, or at least semi-wicked people living on the earth at the time of the Millennium. I don't think that's the case.

On the other hand, these are human beings we're talking about. We all sin occasionally, it's just that some of us sin less frequently and less drastically than others. But we all sin, therefore, it may be that it could be said that we're all wicked, and in order to cleanse the world of all the wicked, Jesus would have to cleanse the world of everyone. Yet, there's another way to purge wickedness from the earth, and that is to purge the wickedness from our hearts. Could it be that the "wicked" that are spared through step 1 and are divided from the righteous at step 2 are those who will repent and be cleansed and become righteous by the end of the Millennium?

If that's the case, some wicked will be driven from the earth, and some will drive the wickedness from their hearts, and I think I know which wicked are which. Those who are trying to drive the wickedness from their hearts already, those who are trying to repent and choose the right, maybe those are the ones that will be divided, but not destroyed and Jesus' coming. Whereas those who choose wickedness and are not trying to repent will be removed from the earth at step 1.

But this is all only relevant if the two "first" steps are, in fact, in chronological order. If they are, there are at least three groups, if not, there could be as few as two. The real question is which group we're each going to end up in, and we make that choice ourselves every time we make a decision. Are we trying to choose righteousness, or are we falling into wickedness? It may or may not be that black and white, but however you look at it, the choice is ours, and the time to decide is now.