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In our sermon series, End of Life, End of Times, we have seen many end times events thus far.
We have seen the pre -tribulation rapture of the church. We have seen the rise and fall of the
Antichrist and false prophet during the final seven year tribulation. We have seen the wrath of God poured out on the unbelieving world during this time.
We also saw the important place that Israel holds in the end times. While many people die during the final seven year tribulation of world history, the
Lord is going to supernaturally preserve a remnant of Jews and these
Jews will receive Christ when He returns to the earth. So as you can see, we have covered the entire final seven year tribulation and all that awaits now is the grandest event.
And that is the second coming of Jesus Christ. We already saw the first phase of this, the pre -tribulation rapture.
In that return, Jesus does not come to the earth, but rather snatches His people up to Him where He meets them in the air as 1
Thessalonians 4, verses 16 and 17 tell us.
The church will be with Christ in heaven for these seven years. But once all the events of the seven years are over, which is the most jam -packed seven years in world history, then
Christ will return to the earth. Now, as I mentioned in my sermon about the pre -tribulation rapture, some wonder whether there are two stages of Christ's second coming.
What I hope that you saw is that scripture seems to be indicating that indeed there is a rapture of the church before the seven year tribulation begins.
I shared lots of evidence from scripture and you can re -listen to that sermon if you'd like on our website.
But right now, I am going to share with you one piece of evidence that I didn't share with you then. The event of the pre -tribulation rapture is described most clearly in three places in scripture.
John 14, verses one through three. First Corinthians 15, verses 51 and 52.
And First Thessalonians chapter four, verses 15 through 18. What each of these have in common is that the focus is on the believers alive at the rapture.
Each of these are calling believers to anticipate his return when they are gathered to him in the air.
The rapture is a positive event where no judgment is mentioned.
However, as we will see this morning, the second coming is different. The focus primarily is not the
Lord gathering believers to him that is mentioned, but it is not the focus.
The focus rather is on Christ coming to bring judgment on the world and then establishing his kingdom on the earth.
What we saw a couple of weeks back is that the wrath of God during the tribulation is going to cause the death of many unbelievers.
Most of them will die, but Christ at his second coming will eliminate the rest as he comes in judgment.
What we are going to do at this time is take a look at Christ's return to the earth. But before we do that, let me give you our big idea.
This is the main idea of this sermon. One, unbelievers are to fear and believers are to live with eager anticipation over the fact that Jesus is coming to the earth.
Unbelievers are to fear and believers are to live with eager anticipation over the fact that Jesus is coming to the earth.
I'm going to start by reading the briefer passages of scripture and then moving to the most extensive description of the return of Christ at the end of Revelation in Revelation 19.
So I encourage you, if you have a Bible, to turn with me to Revelation 19 since that is where we'll be spending most of our time.
And if you're using a red Bible in the pews, it is on page 1232 and 1233.
The return of Christ is described by many sources in the
Bible. Jesus Himself, the Apostle Paul, the author of Hebrews, the
Apostle Peter, and of course, the Apostle John who wrote the final book of the
Bible, Revelation. Let us start with the words of Jesus and then we will also take a look at what the rest of the
New Testament says. Jesus says this in Matthew 24, verses 27 -31,
For as lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the
Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather His elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.
So what Jesus is doing here is He is describing this glorious scene for His disciples as He speaks with them.
He mentions that His appearance is the sign. However, there will be many signs that also accompany
Him. One of the signs mentioned above is that immediately before His return, there will be lightning, strikes of lightning all over the earth.
A number of years ago, a good friend of mine and I, we drove to Florida and we stayed at his parents' condo for a week or so.
And one day I was in the condo by myself. He and his family had gone out to do something else.
And the lightning struck not far at all from where I was. And I remember jumping in the air.
And what's interesting about lightning is that you know how far away it is by how long there is between the lightning strike and the thunder.
Every second is one mile. When the lightning is very close, it's almost simultaneous.
The lightning strikes and there's this huge clap of thunder at the same time.
Could you imagine what this will be like in the end times as there's lightning everywhere over planet earth that precede the return of Christ?
And with this lightning will come rolls of thunder. From the testimony of the
Old Testament, it makes sense that lightning would accompany Christ's return. In Exodus 19 .16,
when the Lord's presence came upon Mount Sinai, lightning and thunder came upon the mountain.
Jesus' account of how his return will be also includes a trumpet blast.
And Exodus 19 .16 also mentions that there was a trumpet blast when the
Lord descended on that mountain as the people of Israel stood by.
When the people of Israel trembled at Mount Sinai, what they learned is that they needed a mediator. And Moses was that mediator.
And he went to the mountain on their behalf. But Moses was a type or a picture of the greater and permanent mediator,
Jesus Christ. The fact that Jesus is our mediator means that all believers who survive the tribulation will not tremble when
Christ returns since he is not coming in judgment for them, but rather to gather them to himself since through the cross, he has reconciled believers to God.
Matthew 24 .31 tells us that angels will gather believers from every direction on the earth.
Many of the believers will have been martyred during the tribulation, but some will have survived, both
Jews and Gentiles. Last week, we saw the supernatural preservation of the
Jews. The Jews that are preserved are the ones who are saved. The believing remnant.
Scripture gives a picture of these Jews receiving their Messiah in a prophecy from Zechariah 12 .10.
We already saw this verse last week, but once again, that verse says, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn.
This mourning, this weeping by these Jews will be a happy sorrow.
They will realize that their people largely rejected the Messiah when he came the first time 2 ,000 years ago.
And for this, they will be sorrowful. And they will also be sorrowful for their own unbelief to this point.
But when he comes, they will joyfully receive him.
So for the believers that Christ return after the tribulation, it will be glorious. Just as it was glorious when he gathered his church before the seven -year tribulation.
Hebrews 9 .28 says that Christ will save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
And 2 Thessalonians 1 .10 says that he will be marveled at among all who have believed.
But on the other hand, the experience will be dreadful for everyone who rejected
Christ to the end. They will be terrified that he is coming since he is coming in judgment for them.
Jesus says in Matthew 24 .30 that when he appears and the world sees him coming to the earth, all the tribes of the earth will mourn.
The tribulation has already been extreme misery for unbelievers and for those who have survived to this point.
And this will finally be their end. Think about the unbelievers alive at this point.
They have worshiped the Antichrist. And by worshiping him, they're worshiping
Satan. Because remember, Satan is possessing the Antichrist and Satan is
God's greatest enemy. These unbelievers have shown to whom their allegiance is and they will experience the wrath of the
Lamb as he returns to the earth. So let's see what this judgment will look like.
Let's begin in 2 Thessalonians 1. The Apostle Paul wrote in verses seven through nine, when the
Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know
God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the
Lord and from the glory of his might. So what we saw already is that some angels will gather the believers who survived the tribulation, but other angels will inflict pain on those who are on the earth.
Christ will inflict vengeance on them and so will the angels who accompany him.
What verse eight says is that these are those who did not obey the gospel of our
Lord Jesus. The gospel was offered to them, but they did not receive it.
And so they are getting what they deserve as they remain in their sins. At this time,
I want to say that if you are here, if you are listening somewhere and you have not believed in the
Lord Jesus, do that at this time. Scripture tells us that today is the day of salvation.
You may reach a point where your heart is so hard where you will not be able to believe, but right now, your heart might be open and ready to receive
Jesus Christ. He died on the cross and rose again to bring you into a right relationship with God.
Then you will not face his wrath, but be at peace with him. And you will enjoy the only true
God, the one whom you were created to enjoy forever. If you reject
Christ, what verse nine tells us is that you will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the
Lord and from the glory of his might. It is an understatement to say that you do not want this to be your experience.
But indeed, you do not. And if you reject
Christ, it will be your experience as you face eternal punishment. But if you receive
Christ, you will have the sweet fellowship forever with the great God of the universe.
Now at this time, I'm going to turn to the most clear picture of Christ's return.
And that is the last book of the Bible, Revelation. To this point in our sermon series,
End of Life, End of Times, we have spent quite a bit of time in Revelation. And we are going to again, before this sermon series comes to an ending, including here.
What I have explained beforehand is that Revelation largely is presented in chronological order.
You will see John write, then I saw, then I saw.
This shows this chronological progression that takes place throughout the book.
We saw the three judgments of seven, the seal, the trumpet, and bowl judgments.
Each of these happened in chronological order with the last judgment, the bowl, taking place in Revelation 16.
What we saw is that the bowl judgments close with a worldwide earthquake.
The largest earthquake this world has ever experienced. And there will also be 100 pound sheets of hail falling on the earth.
Christ will return shortly after this last calamity once this final seven year period comes to an end.
Since the book of Revelation, as I mentioned, is chronological, the return of Christ shows up toward the end of the book in Revelation 19.
So at this time, I'm going to read this passage from Revelation 19 verses 11 through 21.
And what I am going to do is read the first half, then summarize, and then read the second half, and then summarize that as well.
And we will see what we need to see. So verses 11 through 16. This is what
John is seeing here in his vision. Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.
The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True. And in righteousness, he judges and makes war.
His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems. And he has a name written that no one knows but himself.
He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, in white impure, were following him on white horses.
From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.
And he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
On his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Now in Revelation 6, with the first seal, we saw a different white horse than the one we see here in Revelation 19.
That horse was the Antichrist. That was the evil white horse.
And now in Revelation 19, we see the good white horse as Christ comes to the earth riding this horse.
We get this beautiful description of Christ in this passage. The text calls him faithful and true.
And in righteousness, he judges and makes war. Everything he does is right.
And the justice he is about to bring about on the evil world is right. It is just.
The text says that his eyes are like a flame of fire. That picture is very intimidating to his enemies.
We don't have to think of Jesus this way. Our culture doesn't often think of Jesus this way.
But when the Bible describes him as coming in judgment, this is an appropriate way to describe him.
The Chronicles of Narnia gives us a very helpful picture of this. The main character or the most important character in the
Chronicles of Narnia is Aslan. He is the lion of the story.
And to the children, Edmund and Lucy and Peter, this lion is so gentle and not just to them, but to all the people in Narnia who are good.
They love Aslan and Aslan loves them. And there's this wonderful relationship.
And Aslan is so gentle toward them. But in the movie and in the books, what we also see is how ferocious
Aslan can be with his enemies. As we think about the witch and the other evil characters of the
Chronicles of Narnia. Aslan, you don't want to mess with him. He is a ferocious lion.
As we have seen, when Christ comes, some will marvel at him and be joyful.
These people will be comforted by him. And they will enjoy this fellowship with Christ and God forever.
But many will be terrified. The unbelievers alive when Christ returns.
The text says that he has many diadems or crowns on his head that symbolize royalty.
And then we read that he has a name that no one knows but himself. John saw a name when
Jesus came, but he could not explain it. What this tells us is that there are aspects of God's nature, his infinite nature, that we cannot comprehend.
And John shows this when he says this concerning Christ. Jesus is clothed in a robe dipped in blood as he returns that symbolizes what
Christ did at the cross. And he is called the Word of God. In John 1 .1,
he is referred to as the Word. And what this means is that Jesus is God's revelation to this world.
What the text tells us is that he will be accompanied by angels who are clothed in fine linen, which represents their holiness.
We've already seen evil angels in Revelation. The ones who rebelled with Satan. And now we see the good angels, the ones who never rebelled, who will come in judgment with Christ.
Furthermore, out of Christ's mouth comes a sharp sword with which he will strike down the nations.
This, of course, is referring to the unbelieving world that has rebelled against God to the bitter end.
What we read at the end of this section is that with this sword, symbolizing him and his heavenly armies, he will pour out the full fury of God's wrath on earth's inhabitants.
Now earlier, we read that he had a name that no one knows but himself.
But in verse 16, he has a name that everyone will know. That is the name, the
King of Kings and Lord of Lords. There is no one throughout world history who has this title.
Many rulers have tried to expand their kingdom to the point where they have ruled the world or almost ruled the world, but every one of them failed in the end.
Their kingdom was overtaken by another kingdom. But this will not be the case with Christ.
His kingdom is forevermore. His kingdom will be global and it will not end.
As I mentioned above, Jesus' second coming is to judge and then to reign on the earth.
And this title shows that he will take over the rule as he is called the
King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This only truly belongs to him.
His reign will be the reign this world has always longed for. A ruler who is just in every one of his judgments.
To say that believers will admire his rule will be an understatement.
We admire certain people from our history as we think about the history of the United States of America.
For example, in our country, Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, these are people that we admire and rightly so, but these were flawed men.
When Jesus comes, he will have no flaws. And by the way, in this coronavirus experience, we have seen, if we're honest, we have seen a lot of incompetence from leaders, whether it's global, whether it's national, whether it's state, we have seen a lot of incompetence.
We have seen poor leadership. We have seen very little wisdom. And as I say this,
I don't want to trash our leaders. I want to say we need to pray for them. They need our prayers.
We need to pray that they would have the Lord's wisdom as they make important decisions for the betterment of society.
But we should also take notice of how weak and frail our leaders are, how incapable so often they are.
And a large reason that is, is because many of them don't know God. Those who do not know God are in a good place, but most of them don't.
And we see the foolishness that comes from their leadership. But when
Christ returns, we will have a leader that we have always longed for. So in this first section, in verses 11 -16, we saw
Jesus coming to the earth. And now in the next section, in verses 17 -21, we are going to see what
He does to the ungodly as He returns to the earth. This is
John's vision again. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun. And with a loud voice,
He called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, Come, gather for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.
And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against Him who was sitting on the horse and against His army.
And the beast was captured. And with it, the false prophet, who in its presence had done signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image.
These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of Him who was sitting on the horse.
And all the birds were gorged with their flesh. What I have explained thus far is that Scripture's main focus concerning His second coming is the judgment that Christ will bring to the earth.
Earlier in this sermon series, I showed you the rise and fall of the Antichrist and false prophet.
Their fall will come when Christ returns. As we just saw, in Revelation 19 is the most detailed description of what will happen.
The beast and the kings of the earth are going to gather against the holy city. The holy city is
Jerusalem. Their goal will be to destroy Jerusalem since it is the city of God.
And this is where His new saved people, the people of Israel, are going to be residing.
We saw this already, this gathering of people to Jerusalem.
We saw this mentioned in Revelation 16 with the bowl judgments.
An angel poured out the sixth bowl and God supernaturally dries up the great
Euphrates River, which is located in present -day Iraq. The drying up of the river enables these armies to come from the east.
The battle mentioned in that passage is the same battle that we see here. This is the Battle of Armageddon.
The word Armageddon is often used in popular culture. It is named after Mount Megiddo and the
Valley of Megiddo in Israel where this great battle will be fought. My parents listened to a gentleman who lives right next to this field.
Behind his house is this great field where all of these armies are going to gather and where some of this battle is going to take place.
Could you imagine living there? That would be truly remarkable to have this in your backyard. I think
I mentioned a few sermons ago that Napoleon Bonaparte, the great
French military commander, he went to this battlefield one time and what he said is that this is the greatest battlefield that he had ever seen.
So, we can see that this field is big things are going to happen there at the end of the world.
When these armies march toward Jerusalem, they will have ruled the entire world for a few years.
And so, all of these armies that come from the east will be under the rule of the Antichrist. Their goal will be to destroy
God's people and God's city. What the Bible makes very clear is that as they gather for battle with destruction on their minds, they will meet their end.
Their defeat will not come from human forces, but from the Lord Jesus Christ as He returns.
What the text says is that the beast and the false prophet will be captured and then thrown alive into the lake of fire.
As I already mentioned in this sermon series, the first two occupants of the lake of fire will be the
Antichrist and the false prophet. And as you see in this text, it says they will be thrown alive into the lake of fire.
This doesn't mean that they're not going to die. I believe that Jesus is going to kill them here.
When it says that they're thrown alive, they're going to be resurrected with a new body that won't be able to die.
And in that way, they will experience the suffering forever in the lake of fire with this new body that they have, just like the rest of the unbelievers.
Now what we must understand is that the present hell, any unbeliever who dies apart from Christ goes to the present hell.
So at this point, nobody is in this lake of fire. This end times hell.
But at the end of the world, at the final judgment, this is where everyone whose name is not found written in the book of life will be sent to.
But these two wicked rulers, the Antichrist and false prophet will be sent to the lake of fire when
Christ returns to the earth and defeats them easily. In 2
Thessalonians 2 .8, their defeat is described and how easy it is.
What the text says is that Christ will kill them with the breath of his mouth. So it'll be like, that's it.
They're gone. Not only are the Antichrist and false prophet killed, but also their armies will be slain.
Everyone who fights against the Lord will die. What the text tells us is there will be birds who will feed on their flesh.
Just like we see birds feed on their roadkill. We think about a highway 87. It's not a pretty sight when you see an animal who was killed and all these birds are flocking and they're gorging themselves with the flesh of the dead animal.
At the end times when Christ returns, there's going to be birds gorging themselves with the flesh of these wicked people.
Now there is some debate on whether or not every unbeliever dies when Christ returns.
The reason this question is asked is that there will be unbelievers on the earth during the 1 ,000 year reign of Christ.
This period that follows the seven year tribulation. And we know that there will be unbelievers present on the earth at this time since Satan gathers them for one last battle after the 1 ,000 year reign takes place as Revelation 20 tells us.
By the way, we will be looking at the next event on the end times calendar, the millennium next
Sunday. But how do unbelievers get on the earth during the 1 ,000 year reign of Christ if every believer or every unbeliever dies at Christ's return?
Well, there is an answer to this. The Jews who are saved during the tribulation will not die, nor will the
Gentiles who survived the tribulation. What will happen is there will be people with earthly bodies and those with glorified bodies during the 1 ,000 year reign of Christ.
And those who come into the millennium without a glorified body will bear children and some of these will not be saved.
And over a period of 1 ,000 years, there will be many and these are the ones that Satan will gather for one last battle, but he will be defeated once and for all.
So this will be my understanding of how unbelievers get to the 1 ,000 year reign and Satan gathers them at the end.
I do not think that any unbeliever will survive the return of Christ. Now the text above describes the defeat of the
Antichrist and his armies, but what about the rest of the unbelieving world?
In Matthew 24, where Jesus talks about the end times, he gives us a good indicator that the whole unbelieving world will be wiped out.
In Matthew 24 verses 40 and 41, he says two men will be in the field.
One will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and one left.
This passage is often mistaken as a rapture passage, but it is not. To be left is a good thing.
To be taken is to be taken in judgment. So you can see why I say that every unbeliever will be wiped out.
Jesus is speaking about everyone, not just the Antichrist and his armies. So to conclude our sermon this morning, here's our big idea.
Unbelievers, as we have seen, are to fear when
Christ returns. And believers are to live with eager anticipation over the fact of his return.
And when we talk about the return of Christ, whether we are talking about the rapture, which happens before the seven -year tribulation, or his second coming, which happens after, the
Bible urges us to be ready. We, the church, before the rapture, must be ready.
And those alive during the tribulation must be ready. One of my big stresses during this
End Times sermon series is that we would experience the benefits of anticipating
Christ's return. We are to live with eager anticipation that Christ is returning to the earth to reign.
If we are not living in anticipation that Christ is coming, then we are not being faithful to the
Lord. Jesus told us in Matthew 24 -44 to be ready, for the
Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. In Luke 21 -28, Jesus said, now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near.
We should live with a spring in our step realizing that Christ's return is close.
We should think about it and talk about it with excitement. God calls believers to be ready for his coming.
This is the illustration that Jesus gave at the end of the
Olivet Discourse. When Jesus talks about the End Times, in Matthew 24, in the passage of verses 45 -51, what he said is,
Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whose master will find so doing when he comes.
Truly, I say to you, he, the master, will set him over all of his possessions.
That describes the faithful believer who was prepared. We are prepared through anticipating with excitement
Christ's return. And we show this by walking with him closely.
We need to be faithful as we anticipate his coming. So my hope and prayer for Eureka Baptist is that we would be a people who would eagerly anticipate
Christ's return and that our lives would be lives that are pleasing to him.
And as I mentioned, if you do not know Christ, Christ went to the cross to die for your sins.
He was raised on the third day from the dead. And the only hope you have from not facing the justice of God in the future, either at death or at the return of Christ, is if you find your refuge in Christ.
If you believe in Him, your sins are forgiven, and His righteousness is your righteousness.
And then God will gladly receive you into His kingdom where you will live with Him forever.
So please receive that this day. Now next Sunday, we will look, as I mentioned, at the 1 ,000 year reign of Christ.
This event described in Revelation 20 that follows the return of Christ. And I look forward to looking at that with you.
Let's bow our heads in prayer. Father in Heaven, Lord, we love
You. And we love the future plan that You have. What a glorious future it is for Your people.
And may, Lord, we anticipate the return of Christ. May we be ready. May we be that servant who is found faithful when
Christ returns. And Lord, anybody listening who does not have a relationship with Christ, my prayer right now is that they would believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And be spared from this dark day and the dark experience of being separated from You forever.
And that they would experience the forever fullness of joy of knowing You. And I pray for this in Jesus' name,