The Second Advent

Moore's Corner Church

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Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

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Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

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D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

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If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

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Turn to Revelation chapter 19. This will be the fourth and final message from the book of Revelation.

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Last time, you may remember, we got to the end of the tribulation with the seven bowls of God's wrath being poured out.

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So now Babylon has fallen, and because of that, as one preacher said, the party on earth is over.

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These people were seeking pleasure, seeking everything for themselves. Their party's over. The party in heaven is just beginning.

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So chapter 19 begins with a great triumph and celebration in heaven.

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Hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the

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Lord our God, for true and righteous are his judgments.

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So we're going to be looking at four points this morning, cover the final important topics.

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First, the second advent of Christ, then the millennium, then the final judgment, finally the new heavens and the new earth.

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So before we get into the message, you remember what verse I quoted at the end of last week's message.

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I quoted from Psalm 110 verse one, and this is the most quoted

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Old Testament verse in the New Testament. And there's a reason for that.

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It says the Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.

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So there's a reason why this verse is the most quoted anywhere in the New Testament, because this is what it's all about.

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This is where history is headed. In Revelation 19 verse 10, it says the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

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In other words, it's all about him. Prophecy is all about Christ. God's word is all about Christ.

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Jesus is the word of God made flesh. So the point is, this is the pinnacle.

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This is that moment that everything is moving toward.

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So Jesus was told by God the Father, sit at my right hand until I put all of your enemies under your feet.

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Well, that's happened. And now Christ is coming back to reign as king of kings.

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So this is point number one, the second advent. This will be the greatest day in human history.

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Look at Revelation 19 verse 11. John writes, now I saw heaven opened and behold, a white horse.

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And he who sat on him was called faithful and true. And in righteousness, he judges and makes war.

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His eyes were like a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns.

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He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God.

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In the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean followed him on white horses.

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Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations.

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And he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of almighty

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God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written king of kings and Lord of lords.

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So Jesus will defeat his enemies simply by speaking the word.

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All the nations, all his enemies, the armies of Antichrist have all gathered together in one place.

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They have made their move against Jerusalem. So all God's enemies are brought together in one place so he can defeat them simply by speaking the word.

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Look at verse 19. When he does this, John says, I saw the beast, that is the

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Antichrist. I saw the beast, the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army.

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Then the beast was captured and with him the false prophet who works signs in his presence by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image.

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And these two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.

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And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of him who sat on the horse.

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And all the birds were filled with their flesh.

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This is a striking image, isn't it? So this is the battle of Armageddon and it's now over.

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And all of the enemies of the Lord lie slain before him. Armageddon, it's named that because this is in the valley of Megiddo.

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Jesus spoke about this in Matthew 24. Do you remember what he said?

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He said, wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

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Well that's a strange statement. What does that mean where the carcass is? Well Revelation 19 if you go back to verses 17 and 18 what does the angel in the midst of heaven do?

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He cries out, he gives the command to the birds of the air. These are birds of prey that they should do what?

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Come and gather together for a feast. For the supper of the great

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God that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men.

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And I don't mean to make light of this but what is this? This is the Lord sending in the cleanup crew.

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After the battle of Armageddon the landscape of the earth has already been changed through the tribulation.

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You know the islands and the mountains have been moved out of their place. So the landscape of the earth has been radically changed.

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But now there's this big mess. The Lord has to clean up. He has to clean up to prepare for the kingdom age.

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Why? Because everything that offends God has to be removed before the kingdom of God is established.

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And this is where we get to point number two, the millennium. Now the time has come for Jesus to rule and reign as king.

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Jesus is now where? Well he's reigning spiritually in heaven. Nobody just can't see it though.

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No, he's here. He's here on the earth. Matthew 24,

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Jesus says that he will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.

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So basically the Old Testament saints at this point are resurrected and they enter into the kingdom.

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Matthew 8, 11, Jesus said that many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

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But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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So understand this is the millennium. This is the millennial kingdom.

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This is the time when all of the Lord's earthly promises to Israel are fulfilled.

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All true Israelites from all those centuries who placed their faith in the

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Lord, they will experience this time of blessing and abundance upon the earth.

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But those Israelites who did not love the Lord, they are cast out into outer darkness to await the final judgment of the great white throne.

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Okay, well that's Israel. What about us? What about the church? Well, where's the church?

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Jesus comes with who? With his saints. That's what the scripture says.

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So the church has returned with Christ and believers have already have their glorified bodies.

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So believers come with Jesus. Believers, the church age gets to share in this time as well.

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You say, well, I've heard that the millennium is a Jewish age. It's a Jewish time. Well, that's true.

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But do you remember what Paul said to the Corinthians? This is to New Testament Christians.

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1 Corinthians 6 to Paul said to believers, do you not know that the saints will judge the world?

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Let me just say this to you. When you get all nervous or discouraged about what's happening in the world, do you not know that the saints will judge the world?

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Now that could refer to the fact that the saints come with Christ while he's executing judgment on his enemies.

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It could refer to that as well. But remember, in the Bible, a judge is what?

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It's a ruler. The Old Testament judges were military leaders, but they were like governors as well.

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So a judge is a ruler. Revelation 1, 6 says that Christ has made us kings and priests, kings and priests.

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So we get to rule and reign with Christ. The church rules and reigns with Christ during the millennium.

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You know, we've talked about Christians and receiving their rewards. I believe this happens upon the rapture of the church.

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When we get caught up to be with the Lord, that's when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, which is not a judgment based on sin.

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It's a judgment of rewards. Well, I tend to think that the rewards will be for the kingdom age.

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That is, your reward will basically be whatever your position of responsibility and authority will be in the kingdom.

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You say, well, how do you know that? So if you're a faithful believer in this life and you're given a reward, you may be ruler or judge over five cities, one city, 10 cities.

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We know that because Jesus said this much to his apostles. Remember what he said? He said to the 12 apostles, they will be given authority to judge or to rule over the 12 tribes.

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Matthew 19, verse 28. Jesus said to his disciples, assuredly, I say to you that in the regeneration, when they're resurrected for the kingdom, when the son of man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

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Jesus also says, and everyone, so this isn't just them. He says in everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or fathers or mothers or wife or children or lands for my name's sake, they shall receive what a hundred fold and eternal life.

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And then he makes this statement, but many who are first will be last in the last first.

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Do you realize in the kingdom, many who are first right now, they're going to be last in the last first.

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I was thinking about that statement and you know, there's a lot of people on this earth that seem really, really important.

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Of course, some of them won't be in the kingdom at all, obviously, but there are many people who seem very important in the world.

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And even the church looks to them and they seem very important, but do you realize during the kingdom?

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Some of them are going to be last. And then there are those people that the world doesn't care about people that they don't seem like they're much, but they're very godly.

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They're very faithful. Those people are going to be first. They're going to be ruling and reigning given this position of authority and responsibility in the kingdom.

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All right, let's look at the kingdom. Revelation chapter 20. And don't tune this out.

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This may seem like theological and you're not really interested in this. This is very, very important.

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And it'll affect potentially even the way you live now. Don't have time to flush all that out.

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But we need to be solid on this, that the coming of Jesus Christ is pre -millennial.

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The coming of Jesus Christ is pre -millennial.

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Pre -millennial or pre -millennialism. It sounds like a big word, right? Well, it's very simple.

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So pre means before and then millennial refers to the thousand year kingdom. So Jesus comes when?

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Before the kingdom. Revelation 19. Jesus returns. The kingdom is established in chapter 20.

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So the coming of Christ is pre -millennial. It's very, very clear, very obvious. This is also seen in the gospel of Matthew.

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Jesus returns in Matthew 24. The kingdom is set up in Matthew 25.

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Very simple to understand. Now there's a teaching.

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So why bring that up? Okay, because not all Christians believe that. And having one error in doctrine will affect other doctrines.

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One thing is connected to another, connected to another. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Moores Cornet Church.

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If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, moorescornetchurch .com.

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And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, with the grace of God be with you.