Latest / THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together / The Certainty of the Second Coming (Revelation 17–8) John MacArthur

Transcript

The Certainty of the Second Coming (Revelation 17–8) John MacArthur · THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: We return to this great first chapter and look at
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: verses 7 and 8. We read in these two verses,' Behold,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so, amen.'
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: who is and who was and who is to come,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the Almighty. Anyone who loves books with action, books with excitement,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: will certainly love the book of Revelation. There is absolutely
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: no book like it. It is loaded with drama. It
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: is loaded with suspense. It is loaded with mystery, passion, horror, disaster.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: upon disaster. It tells, for example, of the coming story
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: of the apostasy of the church. It tells of the
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: collapse of world economics. It tells of the final war
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: of the world. It tells of the unparalleled natural disasters.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: It tells of the final judgments of the wrath of God.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: It speaks of bloodbaths, political conflict that opens the way
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: for a wicked, hellish world ruler to take over. It
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: speaks of the total destruction of the entire universe and
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: the damnation of both the bodies and souls of people
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: to eternal hell. It is a book of unbelievable excitement.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Yet amazingly, it is also a book of hope and
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: a book of joy and a book with a happy ending.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: It will take some time for us to unfold its story.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: It will take some time for John to unfold it.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: And so He gives us here in verses 7 and
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: 8 previews of coming attractions, a brief glimpse of what
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the book is all about. It is all about the
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: One who comes, the One who comes. It is a
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: book about the Second Coming. Here is the great glorious
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: announcement of the thesis. The theme, the heart of the
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: book in verse 7, Jesus is coming. That great fact
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: summarizes the book. That condenses the book into one colossal affirmation.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: And it takes John 21 chapters really and then the
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: 22nd chapter taking us all the way into glory to
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: unfold all of this. Here we have in verse 7
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: the first prophetic oracle in the book. It comes after
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: the opening greeting. And that prophetic oracle is, behold, He
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: is coming. That is what the book is about. And
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: so here for the first time He says, look, pay attention. Why?
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: He is coming. This is present tense. Would you notice that?
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: It doesn't say He will come. It doesn't say that.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: It doesn't say, He shall come. It says, He is coming.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: And the use of a present tense verb is intended
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: to give you the feeling that He's already on the way,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: that the process of His coming has already begun. This statement,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: He is coming, is really drawn out of Daniel chapter
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: 7 and verse 13. which says, I kept looking in
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: one like a son of man was coming. And then
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: verse 14 of Daniel 7 says, and to him was
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: given dominion. So John receives an oracle, a prophetic revelation
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: here that he is coming that echoes the promise of
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Daniel 7.13. The coming one was a title for Messiah.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: The coming one was a special name for Messiah. In fact,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: back in Matthew, we have an interesting reference to it.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: I'll just read it to you. In Matthew, John the
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Baptist was in prison and he sent word by his
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: disciples to Jesus. And they said to him, are you
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: the coming one? You see, the Jews all knew that
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: the coming one was a messianic title. Jesus is the
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: coming one. That same verb, erkemi, that means coming, is
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: used directly or indirectly with reverence to Christ nine times
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: in the book of Revelation. Seven of those nine times,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: it is the words of Jesus Himself, referring to Himself
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: as the coming one. This book, then, is about the
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: coming of the coming one. And the present tense indicates
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: to us that He's already coming so that we have
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: this sense of expectation that leads John to say, look,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: He is coming as if we are to be living
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: in eager expectation. This, again, is the great heart of
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: the book. Now, we must open up our understanding to
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: the greatness of this event by sort of getting our
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: arms around how important it is in the Scripture. Let
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: me see if I can help you. It is said...
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: that prophecy or future prediction takes up one-fifth of the Scripture.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Of that one-fifth of the Scripture that speaks of future prophecy,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: one-third of that refers to the second coming of Jesus Christ.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Some have calculated that there are over 660 general prophecies,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: 333 about Christ, 109 fulfilled at His first coming, 224
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: at His second coming. So the Bible has much to
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: say about His second coming. Of the 46 Old Testament prophets,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: less than 10 of them speak of His first coming,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: 36 of them speak of His second coming. There are
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: over 1,500 Old Testament passages that refer in some way
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: to the second coming of Jesus Christ. One out of
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: every 25 New Testament verses directly refers to the second
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: coming of Jesus Christ. For every time the Bible mentions
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: the first coming of Christ, it mentions the second coming
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: eight times. For each time the atonement is mentioned once,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: the second coming is mentioned twice. Jesus refers to His
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: second coming 21 times, and over 50 times we are
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: told to be ready for His return. And so this
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: is a major theme of Scripture, and I only throw
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: those numbers at you, not so you'll remember them, but
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: so that you get a feeling for the breadth of
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: the prophetic word referring to the Second Coming. It was
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: curious to me that in a convocation of church delegates
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: from around the world meeting in Evanston, Illinois, under the
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: direction of the World Council of Churches, they surveyed them
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: and found that only 10 percent of the American Protestant
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: clergymen found any significance at all in the doctrine of
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: the Second Coming. Ninety percent of them said it's not significant. Frankly,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Peter predicted that kind of unbelief when he said, where
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: is the promise of His coming, the scoffers ask. Scoffers
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: have always wanted to deny the second coming because it's
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: connected with judgment and they're not ready or willing to
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: face the judgment of God. But in spite of what
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the scoffers say, the Bible makes it clear that Jesus
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: will return. Now, just to give you a little bit
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: of a support for that, some undergirding, there are many
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: things in the Scripture that demand the return of Christ,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: not just this proliferation of prophecies. There are some other
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: compelling issues that demand the return of Christ. Let me
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: suggest some to you, and you follow very carefully as
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: I say these. First of all, the promise of God
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: demands that Jesus come. The promise of God demands that
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Jesus come. For example, in Genesis 49.10, the very first
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: prophecy concerning Messiah's rule It says, the scepter shall not
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: feet until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: obedience of the peoples. Out of the loins of Judah
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: will come Shiloh, the Messiah, and the nations will obey him.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: That hasn't happened, but God promised it would. If it
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: didn't happen the first time Jesus came, it has to
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: happen the second time He comes. In Psalm 2, God
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: promised that the nations would bow down to Jesus Christ
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: and He would rule them with a rod of iron.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: That hasn't happened. It has to happen in the future.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: It didn't happen at His first coming. It will happen
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: at His second coming. Isaiah said that He would be
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: the mighty God, the everlasting Father, this child born unto us,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: and the government would be upon His shoulders. That did
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: not happen the first time He came. He did not
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: raise up the government. He did not become the ruler.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: That has to happen then in the future. The Bible
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: tells us in Zechariah that when He comes, He'll split
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: the Mount of Olives and the nations will be gathered
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: there and judged. The Bible tells us that when He comes,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: He will bring a glorious kingdom. Read in Isaiah. None
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: of that has happened. It didn't happen the first time.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: It demands then that it happen the second time. Numbers
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: 23 says, God is not a man that He should lie.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: God says this will occur. Therefore, the Son of God
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: must come back so that it can. The promise of
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: God demands the second coming. Secondly, the words of Jesus
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: demand the second coming. Jesus said in John 14, I'm
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: going to go away, but I'm going to prepare a
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: place for you. And if I prepare a place for you,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: where I am, there you may be also. Jesus promised
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: that when He went away, He'd come back. The promise
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: of Jesus demands the second coming. In Luke 19, Jesus
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: said a certain nobleman went to a distant country to
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: receive a kingdom for himself and then returned. And he
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: called ten of his slaves and gave them ten minas
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: and said to them, do business with this until I
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: come back. But his citizens hated him and sent a
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: delegation after him saying, we do not want this man
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: to reign over us. And it came about that when
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: he returned after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: slaves to whom he had given the money be called
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: to him in order that he might know what business
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: they had done. And you know how the rest of
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: the story goes. Down in verse 26... I tell you,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: everyone who has shall be given more, but the one
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: who does not have even what he does have will
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: be taken away. These enemies of Mine who do not
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: want Me to reign over them, bring them here and
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: slay them in My presence. And Jesus was saying, I
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: am that King. I will go away. I will come back.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: I'll check on what you did with your gospel privilege.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: If you did nothing with it, I'll damn you. If
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: you exercised it in faith toward Me, I'll take you
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: to glory with Me. He is the King who went away,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: who will come back. come back to reward His own,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: come back to judge those who rejected Him. The Lord
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Jesus sent an angel to John, and that angel came
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: to John as he wrote the book of Revelation. And
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: six times to that angel, Jesus said, tell him to write, behold,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: I come quickly. Jesus promised that He would come back,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: and His promise demands the second coming. He is coming
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: because God who cannot lie said so. He is coming
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: because Jesus Himself who speaks only truth said so. Thirdly,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: the guarantee of the Holy Spirit demands it. After all,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit is called in John 15, 26, the
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Spirit of truth. In John 16, 13, Jesus said He'll
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: guide you into all truth. He'll speak to you of
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: the things concerning Me. And what He was saying was
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: He's going to inspire the Scripture. He's going to move
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: on writers who will write inspired Scripture. And so every
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: time you read about the second coming, 1 Corinthians 1,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: verses 4 to 8, Philippians 3, verses 20 to 21,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Colossians 3, verse 4, James 5, verse 8, 1 Peter 1,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: verse 13, 1 John 3, 2 and 3, etc. Every
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: time you read about the second coming of Christ, that
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: is the witness of the Holy Spirit as He inspires us.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: the writer. God promised He was coming. He Himself promised
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: He was coming, and the Holy Spirit promised He was coming.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: He must come because the promises of the Trinity, the
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: credibility of the Trinity is at stake. Fourthly, Jesus must
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: return because the program for the church demands it. The
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: program for the church demands it. In Acts chapter 15,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: I would just show you one very brief but potent passage.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Acts 15, 14, Paul and Barnabas are coming and bringing
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: a report about Gentile conversions and so forth, and then
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: James speaks, and this is what he says starting in
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: verse 14, Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: In other words, God has a purpose... And that purpose
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: is to collect from the Gentiles a people for His name.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Verse 15 says,' And with this the words of the
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: prophets agree, just as it is written,' and here he
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: quotes out of the Old Testament from Amos and Jeremiah,'
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: After these things I will return, and I will rebuild
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: the tabernacle of David which has fallen, and I will
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, in order
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord.' And
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: the Lord, who makes these things known from of old. Now,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: let me just explain what's happening here. Peter has just
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: come back and he has reported that God is saving Gentiles.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Paul and Barnabas obviously know and experience that as well.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: And they say God is taking out a people. God
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: is pulling a people from all nations to Himself. And
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: verse 11 says, and they're being saved through the grace
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: of the Lord Jesus the same way as Jews. This
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: is the church. And this is startling that God would
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: call a people out of the Gentiles. So James pops up,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: the half-brother of our Lord, and he quotes a prophecy
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: primarily out of Amos 9, 11, and 12. And he says, well,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: isn't this exactly what Amos said?
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: That not only would he rebuild the tabernacle of David,
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: but he would also call together a group of people
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: from out of the Gentiles.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: And then He would bring the kingdom. Yes, the tabernacle
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: of David or the kingdom, the house of David, the
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: royal house will be rebuilt and it will be restored
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: and that's the kingdom. But before that happens, there's going
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: to be a people called out. So what you have
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: is a sequence here, the calling of the church. After this,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: you have the kingdom. Verse 16, after these things I
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: will return and rebuild the tabernacle of David. That's exactly
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: what the prophet said. So the point is God's going
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: to call out a church, then He's going to return
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: and establish His kingdom, and in that kingdom all nations
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: will be under the rule of Christ. We're really still
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: back in verse 14. Let's go back to that key verse.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: God is taking from among the Gentiles a people for
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: His name. After this, verse 16, He will return. So
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: the program for the church is call out the church
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: and then come back. The church, according to Paul, is
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: like a virgin waiting for her husband, Ephesians 5, 25
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: to 27. 1 Thessalonians talks about the church waiting to
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: be raptured. So the program for the church demands Christ's return.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: The program for the nations demands it as well. And
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: we don't have the time to go fully into developing
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: all of that. But God's program for the nations demands
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: that He return. Why? Psalm 2 says He's got to
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: come back and rule the nations. I mean, that is
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: familiar prophecy to any student of Scripture. Joel chapter 3
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: talks about a time, verse 2, when the Lord comes
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: and gathers all the nations and brings them down to
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: the valley of Jehoshaphat and enters into judgment with them there.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: That's future. Down in verse 9, he talks about a war.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: He talks about beating plowshares then into swords and pruning
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: hooks into spears. And he's talking here about the great
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: battle of Armageddon, multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: There's coming a future time, a future war, a future judgment.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: And during that war and at the time of that judgment,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: the Messiah will come and effect His great judgment. In fact,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: it says in verse 12 of Joel 3, there I
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. That's the
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Messiah's duty. So the program for the nations, future judgment,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: the valley of Jehoshaphat, the valley of decision, the judgment
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: of the nations demands that Jesus come back. Number six,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: the program for Israel demands that He come back. You
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: can read the Old Testament, I don't even need to
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: give you very many Scriptures, but you'll find repeatedly in
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: the Old Testament God promised to Israel a kingdom. He
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: promised the Messiah would come and give them the kingdom.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Messiah came, but they didn't get a kingdom. For example,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Isaiah 59, 20, a Redeemer will come to Zion. And
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, declares the Lord.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: And as for me, this is my covenant with them,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: says the Lord. My spirit which is upon you, my
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: words which I have put in your mouth shall not
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring, says the Lord,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: from now and forever. In other words, God says, I'm
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: going to come and I'm going to save you with
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: an eternal salvation. Well, obviously that hasn't happened to Israel.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Sia hasn't done that. The first time he came, they
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: killed him, they rejected him, but he'll come back another
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: time and they'll believe in him. Jeremiah 23, 5, the
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: days are coming, declares the Lord, I'll raise up for
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: David a righteous branch and he will reign as king
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: dwell securely. Well, you know that hasn't happened. Messiah will come,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: save them, give them peace, prosperity, and security, and a kingdom.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: The very Trinity guarantees the coming of Christ, God the Father,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: God the Son, God the Holy Spirit promised. The program
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: that God has laid out for the nations, for Israel,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: for the church, all demands the return of Christ. He
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: has to come back to judge the nations. He has
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: to come back to collect the church. He has to
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: come back to give the kingdom to Israel. Three other
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: simple points. The humiliation of Jesus Christ demands that He
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: come back. The humiliation of Christ demands that He come back.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: He came into this world and they rejected Him. They
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: turned their back on Him. They refused Him. That cannot
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: be the way the story ends. It cannot end like that.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: He will come again. There will be a time when
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Jesus returns in glory and they worship Him. In Matthew 26,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: You know the terrible story is being told in this
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: section of Matthew about the death of Christ. But in
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: the middle of it, in conferring with the high priest,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: listen to what Jesus says in verse 63 of Matthew 26.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Jesus kept silent. The high priest said to him, I
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: adjure you by the living God you tell us whether
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: to him, you have said it yourself. Nevertheless, I tell you,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: the right hand of power and coming on the clouds
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: of heaven. And the high priest started ripping his clothes
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: at what he thought was such blasphemy. And then they
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: spit in his face. They punched him with their fists.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Jesus said, you have not seen the last of me.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: I will not let this saga end with my humiliation.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: You will see me in power and you will see
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: me in glory. The world believed me. has not seen
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: the last of Jesus. It is inconceivable to any Christian
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: to say nothing of God that the last view which
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: the world would ever have of Jesus Christ is that
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: of a bleeding, dying, crucified criminal with blood, spit, and
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: flies all over His flesh hanging naked in the Judean sky.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Not the Son of God. That is not the final view.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: Number eight, another reason Jesus is coming is the exaltation
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: of Satan demands it. Satan has a temporary exaltation. Three
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: times in Scripture he's called the prince of this world.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Paul calls him the god of this age. John says
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: the whole world lies in his arms. The writer of
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Hebrews says he has the power of death, but Jesus
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: has broken that power. In 1 John 3, 8 it says,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Jesus came to destroy him, to destroy the devil. He
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: came to destroy him. Romans 16, 20, the God of
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: peace will soon crush Satan. Jesus has to come back
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: to dethrone the usurper who has taken the throne of
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: this world. And finally, number nine, the expectation of the
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: saints demands it. The expectation of the saints demands it.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: The promise of the Trinity demands it. The program for
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: God demands it. The humiliation of Christ demands it. The
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: exaltation of Satan demands it. And our hope demands it.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: If we have hope only in this world, we are
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: of all men what? Most miserable. We have hope because
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: we know Jesus is coming. that there is an eternal
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: life ahead. But not only that, we're not just looking
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: for heaven, we're looking for Christ. Listen to Titus 2.11,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and live sensibly, righteously,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: hope and the appearing of the glory of our great
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: God and Savior Christ Jesus. We're looking for Christ. 2
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Timothy 4, 8 says, we love His appearing. So it
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: is central to the Christian gospel and the Christian faith
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: to believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ. The
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: credibility of the Trinity is at stake. The integrity of
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: the program of God for the church, for Israel, and
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: for the nations is at stake. And the dethroning of
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Satan is at stake. as well as the fulfillment of
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: the anticipation and hope of the believers. The book of
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Revelation will unfold elements of all nine of those as
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: we go through. But all of that discussion I gave
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: you just to underline the opening statement of verse 7, behold, He,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: underline the word, is coming. Everything demands it. He is coming.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Now as John gives us a preview, watch very carefully.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: I'm going to give you some very simple and direct thoughts.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: He shows us the glory of it. That's the first point.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: All of that past was just introduction. Here's the points
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: I want to really have you concentrate on. Now that
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: you know He is coming and everything calls for it,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: first of all, the glory of it. The glory of
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: His coming is indicated by the phrase, with the clouds.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: If you study your Bible, you'll find clouds play an
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: important part. A cloud was the symbol of God's presence
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: with His people in the desert, in the wilderness wandering.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: You remember they were led by a cloud by day.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: You also remember that the cloud of the glory of
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: God filled the tabernacle in Exodus 40 when it was built.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: You will also remember that when the temple was completed
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: in 1 Kings 8, 10, the cloud of the glory
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: of God filled the temple. You also remember in Daniel 7,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: 13 that the Son of Man will come with the
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: clouds of heaven. You remember when Jesus came and went
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: on the mountain and was transfigured? You know that in
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Matthew 17, 5, it basically says a cloud came down
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: on the Son of Man on that mount of glory.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: When Jesus ascended in Acts 1, 9, a cloud received
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Him out of their sight. And when He comes again,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Matthew 24, 30, He will come in the clouds of heaven.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: And so here we see again, He is coming with
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: the clouds. What's the point of that? Well, it could
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: mean it's a heavenly origin. He's coming from the heavens
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: where the clouds are, but I think it's more than that.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: In fact, I don't even think the point here is
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: so much some kind of earthly cloud. I think what
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: this is is a glory cloud or clouds, clouds and
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: clouds of glory. If you go back in the Old Testament,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: all the way back to Genesis, you read about the
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Shekinah glory which was light, light, blazing, shining light. God
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: manifesting Himself in light that could be seen. It also
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: could be heard because they heard it in the garden.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: It says they heard God moving in the garden. It
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: must have been energized light. God is a spirit and
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: not a body. God is not a man. But He
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: did reveal Himself in some kind of energized, blazing light.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: It was so powerful and so blazing that no one
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: could see it fully and live, he says in Exodus 33.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: So you can just see a little bit of it.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: It had to be veiled. But in the future, when
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: Christ returns, the glory won't be veiled. The first thing
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: that God will do is turn out the universe. The
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: sun goes out, the moon goes out, the stars go out,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: and the entire universe goes pitch black. And we'll see
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: that in the book of Revelation. And in the pitch
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: black universe, the glory comes out of heaven, the blazing
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: glory of Jesus Christ like a million suns. So we
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: see then the glory of His coming. By the way,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: you know what makes up that cloud? the very blazing
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: brightness of Christ, who is the express image of the Father,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: who is the brightness of His essence, Hebrews 1 says.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: And you add to that 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: and thousands, which means an innumerable number of holy angels
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: in blazing glory. And you add to that all of
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: the glorified saints of the Old Testament and the New
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Testament who are in blazing white robes riding blazing horses,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: the word is lukan which means blazing and not just
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: flat white, you've got a pageant coming out of the
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: dark black sky that is in light. When it says
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: He's coming with clouds, it doesn't mean He's going to
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: be gently sailing down on a little white puff. Not
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: at all. So the glory of it, and believe me,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: there's more details to come on that. The second thing
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: He introduces is the scope of it. Verse 7, every
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: eye will see Him. Every eye. His coming will be
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: visible to the entire human race. Everybody. The whole world.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: This time there will be no mistake. The first time
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Jesus came, His glory was veiled, wasn't it? It was
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: veiled in human flesh. Once on the Mount of Transfiguration,
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: He pulled the veil. aside and they saw the blazing
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: glory and they were panicked. Peter, James, and John, they
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: were filled with fear and they were believers. And that
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: was just a little glimpse of the glory, but it
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: was veiled by His human flesh. It was covered, it
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: was hidden. When He comes back, it won't be. And
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: every eye on the face of the earth will see Him.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: And then He divides that into two groups. Even those
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: will mourn over him. Those are the two groups. Say,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: who are they? Those who pierced him, not the Roman soldiers.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: They're long dead. They won't see him. Who's he talking about?
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: Let me show you who he's talking about. Go to
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: John 19, 37. They came around. Of course, the soldiers,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: they pierced his side with a spear, verse 34, and
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: blood and water came out. They didn't have to break
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: his legs. He was already dead. So verse 36 says,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: not a bone of him shall be broken is what
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: Scripture said, and it came to pass. And then another
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Scripture says, they shall look on him whom they pierced.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: What does that refer to? He is talking about the
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: prophecy of Zechariah. And who did Zechariah say this group
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: was that would look on him whom they have pierced?
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: Zechariah said it was the Jews. It would be the Jews.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: Zechariah said the day will come when they will look
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: on the one they have pierced. And he meant the Jews.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: You say, how do you know that? because that's exactly
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: what He says. I will pour out on the house
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: of grace and supplication, so they will look on Me
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: whom they have pierced. Who pierced Jesus? Not the Romans.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Who was responsible for His death? Israel. Look at Acts 2.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: In Acts 2, verse 22, Men of Israel, listen to
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: know this man, delivered by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: of God. Here it comes. Men of Israel, you nailed
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: to a cross by the hands of godless men, but
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: you did it. You used the hands of Romans, but
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: you did it. Acts 3, verse 14. You, he's speaking
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: here to the Jews, disowned the Holy and Righteous One,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: and you asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: and you put to death the Prince of Life. That's right.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: It's the Jews. And so what is he saying in
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: verse 7? The Jews who pierced him, they'll see him.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: They will see Him. Now listen to me. What you're
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: going to find out in the book of Revelation is
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: some of those Jews will have been saved by the
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: time He comes. In fact, there's 144,000 of them, 12,000
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: out of every tribe that are saved, and they are
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: evangelizing the world. And there will be other Jews that
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: will be saved in the second half of a time
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: called the Tribulation right before He comes. And so some
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: who will look on Him Some of the Jews will
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: have been saved by that time. But for other Jews,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: when they first see Him coming out of heaven, they
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: will not yet have been saved. But at that moment,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: they will be saved. There is a period of time
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: when Christ comes out of heaven before the final judgment,
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: maybe days, maybe hours. We don't know the length. But
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: there is time to repent, and I believe for the great,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: vast nation of Israel, that will be the moment of
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: the Jews' salvation, those who are alive at that time.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: Go back to Zechariah chapter 12, and I'll just unfold
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: this tremendous truth to you. Zechariah 12, 10. And I
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: will pour out on the house of David and on
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: What does that mean? I'm going to save the Jews.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: I'm going to save them. They will look on Me
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: whom they have pierced and they will mourn for Him
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: as one mourns for an only son. And they will
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: Why will they weep? I'll tell you why they'll weep.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: They'll weep because of what they did to their Messiah.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: There is a day coming when God saves the house
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: of David. When He saves the Jews, when He pours
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: out grace and supplication on them, the word supplication, He
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: gives them the spirit of repentance by which they plead
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: for forgiveness. They supplicate for forgiveness. I'll do that for them,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: and they'll see the one they pierced coming out of heaven,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: and they'll mourn for Him like somebody mourns when they
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: lose their only son, and they'll weep bitterly like losing
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: your firstborn. because they'll realize what they've done. They'll realize
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: their sin, and their tears will be tears of repentance.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: In that day, verse 11 says, there will be a
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: great morning in Jerusalem, like the morning of Hadad-Dramon in
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: the plain of Megiddo. There will be a terrible morning,
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: a terrible time, much like the morning in the valley
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: of Megiddo when godly king Josiah was murdered by Pharaoh Nicol,
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: and that's recorded in 2 Chronicles 35. It's going to
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: be a terrible time of mourning. Verse 12, the land
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: will mourn, every family by itself, the family of the
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: house of David by itself, their wives by themselves, the
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: family of the house of Nathan and their wives by themselves,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: and Levi and the Shemites, and everybody's going to mourn,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: and all the wives are going to mourn, and every
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: family's going to mourn. This is all of Israel. Christ
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: comes in blazing glory. Everybody in the world sees Him.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: The Jews see Him. Some of them will be saved.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: But in this moment, the ones that haven't yet been
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: saved are going to cry in repentance and supplication, and
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: they're going to feel the grace and forgiveness of God.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: Chapter 13, verse 1. This is so beautiful. In that day,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: that very day when He comes, a fountain will be
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: of Jerusalem for sin and for iniquity. What is He
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: going to do? He's going to cleanse them. He's going
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: to cleanse them. Oh, what a wonderful truth. Salvation. In
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: that day, in one day, God says, I will remove
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: the iniquity of that land in one day. And that's
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: the day of His coming. That's back, by the way,
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: in Zechariah 3.9. I will remove the iniquity of that
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: land in one day. You know what it means to mourn,
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: to strike the breast in grief, to lament, to wail?
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: This is the mourning of repentance. Now mark that in
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: your mind. When Jesus comes, blazing glory, the Jews repent.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: The Jews repent. Isaiah 25, 9 says, It will be
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: said in that day, Behold, this is our God, for
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: whom we have waited, that He might save us. Wow.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: The 144,000 will already have been saved. They will have
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: evangelized the world and most particularly the Jews, so the
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: Jews will have heard the gospel. They will see Christ
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: coming out of glory and they will pound their breasts
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: as sovereignly God graciously pours out upon them a spirit
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: of supplication and makes them plead for forgiveness. And in
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: that moment, He sends a fountain of cleansing to wash
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: them from their sins. And Romans 11 will come to
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: pass where Paul says, so all Israel shall be what? Saved.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: the Jews will see him and they will mourn the
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: morning of repentance but notice the other group that'll see
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: him and all the tribes of the earth will mourn
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: over him all the tribes of the earth who's that
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: Matthew 24, 30 tells us very pointedly, says in Matthew 24, 30,
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: the sign of the Son of Man appear in the
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: sky and all the tribes of the earth will mourn.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: Same thing. And we'll see the Son of Man coming
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: Now when they see Him coming, they're going to mourn too.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: Listen carefully. It's not the mourning of repentance, however. This
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: is the Gentiles. This is the rest of the world.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: The word for mourning here is interesting. It's the word kapto,
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: literally means to cut. Why did they use the word
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: to cut? Because it comes from oriental imagery. When people
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: were in deep despair, for some strange reason, they cut themselves.
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: Do you know people still do that? It is not
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: uncommon for me to talk to someone who tells me
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: they were in terrible despair, and in their despair, they
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: cut themselves. In 1 Kings 18.28, the frenzied, panicked prophets
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: of Baal, in horror that Baal was not hearing their prayers, quote,
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: until the blood gushed out. People in despair cut themselves.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: The Orientals did that commonly. And as I said, some
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: people still do that. And so cutting oneself became common.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: a means of expression for mourning. When Jesus comes, the
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: Jews will mourn a mourning of repentance. According to Zechariah,
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: the world will mourn, but it isn't the mourning of repentance.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Verse 21 of chapter 9, they did not repent of
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their immorality,
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: nor of their thefts. It's not the remorse of repentance.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: In fact, they actually end up cursing God, blaspheming God.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: and not at all repenting. Two groups. The scope of
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: the coming of Christ, everybody's going to see Him. The
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: Jews will mourn the mourning of repentance. The Gentiles will
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: mourn the mourning of judgment and fear. Third point in
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: this little summary, the response to the second coming. The
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: glory of it seen in the clouds, the scope of
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: it seen in the people who see it, the response
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: to it, I love this, even so, amen. That is
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: the original spiritual high-five. John's saying, yeah, this is it,
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: do it. That's the response. He uses the two words here,
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: the Greek and the Hebrew, nai is a Greek word
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: that means Amen is a Hebrew word that means yes.
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: And so he takes both languages and makes an affirmation.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: He does the same thing in chapter 22, verse 20. Amen. Come,
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus. Yes, do it. John is thrilled. This is
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: his response. This should be our response. Finally, this is
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: just thrilling. You've got to grip this. The last feature
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: of this summary of the book regarding the return of
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: Christ to earth is the certainty of it, the certainty
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: of it. And here it comes in verse 8. The
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: Lord God says, I am the Alpha and the Omega,
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: who is and who was and who is to come,
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: the Almighty. I read some commentaries. In fact, I probably
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: read about 20 commentaries this week on this section. And
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: some of them say, we don't know why this verse
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: is here. We don't know whether there's any connection with
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: verse 7. It seems as though He just says this,
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: and we don't know that it has any significance in
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: the context. The first time I read this, I understood
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: why it was here. You know why it's here? Because
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: God is saying, if you think this may not happen,
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: I just want to affirm who's in charge of this event.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: and who He is. So the Lord God says, the
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: speaker is Jehovah, this by the way is His signature
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: on the certainty of the Second Coming. This is absolutely magnificent.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: God puts His signature on this prophecy by emphasizing three
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: of His attributes, three very familiar ones. Number one, His omniscience.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: I am the Alpha and the omega. What are alpha
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: and omega? First and last letters of what? Greek alphabet.
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: What does this mean? Listen, an alphabet is an ingenious
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: way to store and communicate all knowledge. How many letters
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: in our alphabet? Twenty-six. How many words can be formed
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: out of that? An infinite number of words. out of
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: 26 letters. It's a rather ingenious thing, an alphabet. And
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: with 26 letters in our alphabet arranged in almost endless combinations,
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: we can hold and convey all knowledge. There is no
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: combination of letters outside our alphabet that makes any sense.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: If you throw some crazy thing up there that doesn't
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: work with our alphabet and isn't familiar, doesn't belong, it's
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: nonsense to us. Our alphabet contains all knowledge. Why is
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: God saying, I am Alpha and Omega? He is saying,
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: I am the supreme sovereign alphabet in which is contained
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: all knowledge. That's what He's saying. I am Aleph to Tau.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: I am Alpha to Omega. I am A to Z.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: Because somebody might come along and say, well, you say
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: Jesus is coming? Well, maybe you don't know everything. Maybe
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: there's something that can thwart this deal that you don't
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: even know about. And he says, look, I'm A to Z.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: I contain all knowledge. There is no information. There is
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: no knowledge. There is no truth. There is no understanding.
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: There is no wisdom outside of what I know. When
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: I say Christ is coming, I'm telling you there won't
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: be any surprises because there's nothing outside my knowledge. I
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: am Alpha to Omega. I know everything. And since I
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: have all knowledge, there is nothing I don't know about.
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: There is nothing that exists or could happen to ever
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: foil this plan because there's nothing I don't know about.
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: There are no unknown factors that could sabotage the Second Coming.
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: The second attribute he points out is his omnipresence. He
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: identifies himself as the one who is and who was
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: and who is to come. This is really an astounding statement.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: He doesn't say, I am the one who was there,
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: who is here, and who will be over there. He
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: just says, I was, I am, and I will be.
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: And it is open-ended. Here God is affirming His eternal presence.
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: He is everywhere at all times. He always has been,
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: He always will be, and He is. His presence is
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: not bounded. His presence is not limited by time or
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: by space. Somebody might say, well, you know, you might
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: know what you know because you know what you know
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: about the places you've been. But there might be some
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: places outside of where you've been, so there might be
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: something there you don't know about. And God is saying,
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: I'm everywhere all the time at all times, and so
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: there's nothing outside of where I am. There's nothing that
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: can happen before I'm around, and there's nothing that can
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: happen after I leave because there's never a before I'm there,
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: and there's never a time when I'm gone. And when
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: I say Jesus is coming, it is settled because all matters,
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: all issues, all persons, all events, all places, and all
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: realities for all eternity are visible to me. The third
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: attribute is omnipotence. At the end of verse 8, He says,
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: I'm the Almighty. Somebody's going to come along and say, well, yeah,
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: maybe He is omniscient and He knows everything. And maybe
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: he is everywhere. And there's nothing anywhere that he is
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: not fully aware of. But maybe there's somebody who's more
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: powerful than him. And that somebody can overthrow the plan.
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: And so he says, if you're thinking that, I remind you,
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: I am pantomimic. Greek, the one of all power. Wouldn't
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: do much good to have all knowledge and to be
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: everywhere present if you didn't have all power, would it?
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: Because all that information and all that observation wouldn't mean
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: anything if you couldn't control What was going on? The
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: Almighty God, by the way, is used nine times in
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: the book of Revelation. He is the supreme power. Yes,
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: He has all knowledge. Yes, He is ever and everywhere present.
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: And yes, He is in absolute, sovereign, complete control of
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: every single thing. When John says He's coming, He's coming.
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: And God is going to guarantee it. And He's going
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: to come in a glory cloud. And the whole world
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: is going to see Him. The Jews are going to
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: mourn and be saved. The Gentiles are going to mourn
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: and be destroyed. And our response ought to be, yes, yes,
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: let it happen. And God says, believe me, it will.
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: Verse 7 is true because God guarantees it by His
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: person in verse 8. Jesus Christ once left heaven for
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: earth in humiliation. He'll be back in exaltation. He once
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: left heaven to be killed. He will do it again
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: to kill. He once left heaven to serve. He will
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: do it again to be served. He once left heaven
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: to offer grace. He will do it again to demand justice.
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: He once left heaven to seek and to save. He
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: will do it again to search and destroy. The question
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: always in this book is, are you ready? He is coming.
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: John Phillips writes, one of the most stirring passages in
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: English history tells of the conquests and crusades of Richard I,
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: Richard the Lionhearted. While Richard was away trouncing Saladin, his
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: kingdom fell on bad times. His sly and graceless brother
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: John usurped all the prerogatives of the king and misruled
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: the realms. The people of England suffered, longing for the
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: return of their king and praying that it might be
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: very soon. Then one day, Richard came. He landed in
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: England and marched straight for his throne. Around that glittering coming,
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: many tales are told, woven into the legends of England.
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: One of them is the story of Robin Hood. John's
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: castles tumbled like ninepins. Great Richard laid claim to his
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: throne and none dare stand in his path. The people
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: shouted their delight. They rang peal after peal on the bells.
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: The lion was back and they cried, Long live the king.
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: And one day a king far greater than Richard will
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: lay claim to a realm far greater than England. Those
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: who have abused the earth in his absence and those
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: who have seized his domains and mismanaged his world will
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: all be swept aside. And only those who love him
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: and bow the knee to His sovereignty, will participate in
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: His kingdom. Let's bow together in prayer. Father, we thank
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: You for this hurried and yet thrilling glimpse of the
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: coming of Christ. We say with John, even so, amen,
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: let it happen. At the same time, Father, we pray
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: that every person here would be ready, ready because they
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: have submitted to Christ. While your heads are bowed for
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: just a moment, you're just meditating. If you don't know
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, you're not ready for His coming.
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: There's no guarantee at all that you will even survive
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: the holocaust of events that lead up to His return.
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: For most of the world will die. There's no guarantee
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: that you would even be among those people who would
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: see Him coming out of the air. But were you
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: able to see that, there's no guarantee that you would
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: then repent. For the vast population of the world does not.
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: That's why Paul said today is the day of salvation.
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: Asking Jesus Christ to save you, repenting from your sin,
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: embracing Him as Lord and Savior is for this time,
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: for now, for tonight. I trust that you'll open your
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: heart to Him. Father, speak to hearts. May no one
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: be unprepared for the inevitable moment and all of those
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: tragic events that precede the coming of Christ in judgment.
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: Be gracious to many souls and save them for Jesus' sake. Amen.
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: You've been listening to John MacArthur, Bible teacher with Grace
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: To You.
• 55:00
  Speaker 2: For free access to all of John's lessons and a
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: listing of study Bibles and books available for sale, visit Grace2U' s.
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: Website at gty.org.
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: John MacArthur and Grace2U reserve all copyright protection under applicable law.
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: Our copyright policy is available at gty.org, and it includes
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: instructions for and limitations on duplicating this digital file.