Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
“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.”
Isaiah 26:20
This invitation from God to His faithful children to hide themselves until His wrath passes refers to the time of the return of Jesus for believers. This event is described in Revelation 14, when Jesus, sitting on a cloud, “reaps” the vineyard of God on earth. Immediately after that, in God’s order of end-time events, His awful wrath, “unmixed” with mercy, is poured out on this earth and its helpless, sinful inhabitants (Rev. 16).
The “chambers” into which God calls His children are the chambers of the temple of God in heaven; no chambers anywhere on earth could possibly hide anyone from the Seven Last Plagues that God will send on this rebellious planet. When Jesus comes, he will come and take us to our heavenly Father’s hiding place, prepared for those who love Him.
You do not want to be left on this earth after Jesus takes his “bride” away to heaven to present her to the Father. Fearful things will be happening here on earth while the saints, filled with wonder and joy, are standing together on the “crystal sea”, singing to God and praising His name.
From the description of these events given in Revelation 16, it appears that those Seven Last Plagues will last but a few months. At the end of those plagues, the Lord will return from heaven, bringing all his saints with him, to take over this world and reign on the earth for a thousand years (Rev. 19:11 - 20:4).
You want to spend those few months in heaven. It is doubtful that anyone who misses that first glimpse of the Father for just a few months will ever see Him at all.