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Bro. Otis Fisher
Not very long. We start in Luke 21, 25. If you'd like to follow along, and let's see what he has to say to us. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves pounding.
Turn over to 2 Peter 3 .10, if you will, please. Peter tells us in the third chapter of his second epistle, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are here therein shall be burned up.
The thief comes without warning, without noise, without noise at first. So shall the coming of the Son of Man be. The apostle declares what a great change there will be when Christ comes in judgment. The dissolution of the whole framework of nature.
Now, there's been people proclaim to be Christ. Saw one on television just not long ago. There's been many claim to be him over the years that have passed since his leaving. They came and I didn't know anything about it.
Do you suppose that that will happen when Christ comes? There'll be no doubt about his coming. There will be no discussion of it. No need that anyone shall tell it. To be manifest as a flash of lightning.
There can be no mistake when he comes. Such language shows how much those are who claim that his coming was at the destruction of Jerusalem. I'm sure to those people that it seemed like it. There's been periods in our history that it seems like it's been the end of the world.
But it wasn't. But even that will not hold a candle to his coming. We can conceive of nothing which would produce greater mental distress and perplexity than the changes in the position of the condition of the heavenly bodies.
Josephus writes that at the destruction of Jerusalem, and it was bad, we won't go into that. But there were signs in heaven. And he says there was the sign of a great saber that hung over Jerusalem. The skies were dark, the sun was dark, and the moon was dark.
In perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billowings, which change will be followed by corresponding commotions on the planet. As for instance, great tidal waves and vast agitations in the ocean.
Now there's been that. The hurricane that come into Florida. Take your pick. But it has produced great tidal waves. It seems undeniable that its immediate reference was to the destruction of Jerusalem.
And we have to remember, as Jesus is speaking to these people, there is an immediate meaning and then one that is far off. Sometimes it's difficult to tell which one he's speaking of. In 26, we find men's hearts failing them for fear.
And for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. For the powers of heaven shall be shaken. Men's hearts will fail them. This is an expression denoting the highest terror. The word rendered failing commonly denotes to die.
And here it means that the terror would be so great that men would faint and that they would die. You know, the Bible speaks of they would cry for the rocks to fall upon them. And if this was true in respect to judgments, which were about to come upon Judea, how much more so will it be in the day of judgment?
When the wicked will be arranged before the Son of God, the very Son of God. You know, we hear his name used so much in a blasphemous way that we've grown accustomed to the Son of God. Don't ever get there.
Don't ever treat him as a good neighbor that lives next door. The pains and woes which will continue in the rocks and the mountains to hide them. The coming and the sign are the same. The word sign is used in connection with the coming of Jesus Christ to indicate that the nature of the coming, that is the manner of its manifestation, will be fully equal with the importance of the event.
The manner of his coming will be equal to the event that's taking place. Think for a moment, if you will, to the great event that's taking place. Russell, this world has never seen anything like that.
And it never will after it comes. Then shall all of the tribes of the earth mourn. The coming will occasion universal mourning. And all of this in the unpreparedness of the people. 27. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the cloud with power and great glory.
David, are you in here? Turn to Revelation 1 and 7, if you will, please, and read that. 27. And they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. It says that every eye shall see him.
I don't know how that'll take place. Raymond, I can visualize that there'll be worldwide television coverage, but I believe that that'll be passed up by that time, and be something greater. I don't know what.
But folks, my great-grandfather and my father both thought that the end of the world was very near. And we think the same thing. The only thing that we know for sure is that we're closer to it than they were.
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. Your redemption draweth nigh. This expression is expressed in the 31st verse. The kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
That is, from that time, the Lord God will build up his kingdom. It shall be fully established when the Jewish policy shall come to an end. We've seen that come to an end. We have seen them scattered across the nations.
They're just now have a state. They're just returning. But there's more Jews in New York City than there is in Jerusalem, or in the Holy Land, to this day. So they're not all returned yet, and they're returning for the wrong reason.
And he spake to them a parable. Behold the fig tree and all of the trees. When they now shoot forth, you see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when you see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
Verily I say unto you, this generation, and you could put in the word race, for this race shall not pass away until all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life, and so that the day come upon you unawares. He's saying, don't be a glutton.
That makes you heavy and careless. By drinking in that day, the day when Christ will come to save his people and take vengeance for on his foes. These exhortations were applicable in the day that he was speaking, and they will apply in the day that we now face.
Excessive eating and drinking. What he's pointing out, you know, he said in another place, that in the, like it was in the days of Noah, it will be in his return. Well, how was it in the days of Noah?
It was normal business, and it's normal business today. We're growing further and further away from the Lord. Thirty-five, and as a snare shall it come on them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
David, what is a snare? As a snare shall it come on them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. So the whole earth is going to be populated. In Matthew 24 and 36, we find these words,. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
I saw there were some things that Jesus didn't know. He didn't know when he was coming back. He just knew that he was. In Noah's day, there was plenty of warning, but utter unpreparedness. Most people are either indifferent about the second coming, or have fanciful schemes or programs about it.
I'm sure that the Baptist will have some kind of a program to fulfill that day. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all of these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.
And in that day, and in the daytime, he was teaching in a temple, and at night he went out and abode in the mount that's called the Mount of Olives. And all the people came early in the morning to hear him in the temple.
You know, it was no different then than it is now. If you want to draw a crowd, preach on Revelation. I have noticed over the years as I would come to teach on that book, that there would be a good-sized crowd attend wherever it was, and they would last maybe a month, but then they began to fall away.
The unknown, we love to know. And why is that? It's because the old nature wants to know something that their neighbor doesn't. And if I can find out something that he doesn't know, then I can tell him.
That's a sad state of affairs. But as the Lord taught, the people came, and they indicated an intense interest in what he was saying. Let's stand and we'll be dismissed. Russell, will you dismiss us please?