Jesus Is Coming — David Wilkerson

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Historical Panics About the Lord’s Return

Jesus is coming. A thousand years ago, just about this time, the whole world faced the darkest hour of its history. There's a book called Miller's Church History, one of my favorite history books, Church History.

And I'm just going to quote to you, I'm going to kind of paraphrase, but very accurately, what happened a thousand years ago. In fact, it started about 960 right up to the year 1000. Because there was a doctrine being preached at the time that the world would end exactly on midnight, the year 1000, when it dawned.

In other words, 999, the last day of the year 999, this is 999 years after the birth of Jesus, and that's just about a thousand years ago, that the world would come to an end. And at that time the church was wicked, apostate, it was very weak.

In fact, its very life was ebbing away. Mohammedism was growing rapidly all over the world at the time. Europe was being overrun by Hungarians. There were millions being massacred. There was fear and violence everywhere on the earth at the time.

All mankind had been desolate and panicked, stricken. There were multitudes of calamities happening everywhere. Terrible famines in the world. There were disasters indescribable. The history books say that there were plagues and pestilences that killed countless millions.

There's been a black plague. There have been all kinds of, the bubonic plague. There have been numbers of plagues, but the world was being plagued at the time. But the real panic was caused because of unusual and alarming signs in the heavens.

It's recorded that there were strange signs in both the sun and the moon and the stars. And preachers all through the known world at the time were preaching and prophesying that the world would end in 999, just before the year 1000.

And the year 1000 would be the beginning of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. And the text that the preachers were using, and by the way, it was so widespread that politicians and kings and princes believed it.

And I'll describe it to you from Miller's history. But the text that they used was Luke 21, verse 25 to 27. I'll just read it to you. And there shall be signs in the sun and the moon and in the stars.

And upon the earth the stress of nation with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them for fear, for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. For the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And from the year 960, the last 40 years up to the year 1000, there was an incredible panic all over the world. And it increased right up to the year 1000.

It was a satanic delusion, of course, but it was founded on a misinterpretation of the millennial teaching. And people began to quit their jobs the closer it came to the year 1000. The farmers quit planting or harvesting.

Houses and buildings were allowed to decay. After all, Jesus was coming, so there's no use to repair anything. Historians quit recording history. That's a fact. Because there wasn't going to be any more world history.

The rich and the noble and the princes and the bishops abandoned their churches and their friends and their families and they hastened to Palestine, to Jerusalem, where they were going to wait for Christ to return to Mount Zion.

He was going to come and set up His earthly kingdom. They gave away fortunes. The rich gave away their fortunes. Kings and even emperors begged to be allowed into monasteries to join the holy orders. Crowds of poor people slept on the porches and the porticles of the holy buildings or at least in the shadow.

They at least tried to sleep in the shadow of these buildings. People began to get hungry because there was no provision had been made. There was no corn, there was no wheat, no cattle, no crops. Provisions had not been made because the world was going to end, they said.

The last night of the year 999, there was panic and restlessness. In fact, the wicked had one last fling. That last week of the year 999. You see, it won't be long until 1999, approaching the year 2000.

But can you imagine the panic? And the historian said that there was such wickedness, it could not be repeated. In fact, I'm reading their words. Said to be too horrible to be repeated in public. Jerusalem was filled with multitudes that had come from all over the world waiting at Mount Zion for Jesus to break through at midnight.

And midnight approached and the world held its breath. The clock struck twelve and no Jesus. And five after twelve, people began to ask questions. Ten after twelve. And finally, the dawn broke and everybody relaxed.

And what had been 40 years of panic and fear turned, the pendulum swung and became the next year one of fun and folic. People began to scoff the message. Huge cathedrals were built in the next 100 years all through Europe.

You know, the same thing happened 145 years ago here in the United States. 145 years ago, there was a minister by the name of William Miller. They were called the Millerites. He was founder of the Adventist movement.

Now, he had been saved out of deism and became a Baptist preacher. And for 14 years, he believed in Bible numerology. And for 14 years, a very brilliant man by the way, and you can still read his book today and it's the most convincing book you'll ever read.

It's called Evidence from Scripture and History of the Second Coming of Christ in the Year 1843. Jesus was going to come in 1843. And he was so convincing, his argument so convincing. Very brilliant man.

After researching for 14 years, in fact, there was a gentleman by the name of Joseph Hines who began to publicize it in 1839 up to 1843. And this swept the United States. I mean, it was believed by many, many denominations.

Thousands of preachers believed Mr. Miller's prophecy that Jesus would come in 1843. Well, the last day of 1843, thousands gathered on the mountaintop to watch him descend out of heaven in a cloud. He was going to come at midnight.

And once again, with bated breath, they waited praising the Lord on the mountaintop, some dressed in white robes. No Jesus. He didn't come in 1843. Well, the morning, the next day, Brother Miller, William Miller went back to his calculations and decided he had made a mistake and just miscalculated it.

I think it was two years, he set another date. And again, hundreds and hundreds and even thousands believed. By the time they set it the 34th time, people gave up. But he became, in fact, he became 1845, two years later, he became president of the Adventist, not the Seventh-day Adventist, but the Adventist movement, at the event being the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Rejecting Date-Setting and Focusing on Jesus

Now, would you believe it's happening again right now? Okay, here's a book that's sweeping the charismatic movement right now. In fact, there are two of them. One says that predicts, in fact, there's 100 reasons why Jesus is coming in 1988.

This is called The Rapture, 1988, and 88 reasons why. Jesus is going to come in Rosh Hashanah, September the 11th, at sunrise. Now, listen, folks, there are a lot of people not laughing about it. In fact, my office is being dealt with.

We've had six of these books just sent to us. The man is a very sincere man. It's one of the most convincing books you'll ever read. Powerful, convincing book, except it's only half the truth. In fact, it misses the whole point, and that's why this message tonight.

I believe God wants to prepare us because this is just the beginning. The whole church, whether it's evangelical, charismatic, is going to be swamped by predictions of the coming Lord Jesus Christ. And if you don't have your feet on the ground, if you don't know the Word of God, you're going to be swept away by it.

And the Holy Spirit's put this on my heart. Now, I read about the first third, and I became convinced he's a very, very sincere man, I don't want to even give his name, and I'm not promoting the book, but he misses the point.

It goes beyond what I would call a delusion. It goes beyond being mistaken. I just believe it's unscriptural, but beyond that, it misses the whole point about the coming of the Lord. In fact, they get around this idea that no man knows the day or the hour when the Son of Man comes, by saying that simply means there are various time zones on the earth, and nobody knows the exact time zone he's coming in.

It's not a joke, folks. It's not a joke at all. But I'm saying that there are going to be literally thousands and thousands of spirit-filled Christians swept up, and they're being swept up. I have minister friends, absolutely sold.

They said, Brother David, it's going to happen September 11th. By the way, the book goes on to predict, to prophesy, that 23 days later, on October the 4th, World War III will break out, according to the Scripture.

He's got it all calculated. All the calculations are there. And of course, October the 4th, 1995, the millennial begins. The millennial reign of Jesus. It's all here. I mean, the first three, four chapters are very convincing.

You say, my goodness, that sounds right. Until you get your Bible out, until you begin to pray, and you begin to hear some things from the Holy Spirit. Now, there's danger. Now, listen to me, because there's danger in getting so caught up in when He's coming and how He's coming, we forget who is coming.

Have our eyes on Jesus. You know, if I were a single man, and I had been to Europe and I found a young bride, and I went back to prepare a home for her here in the United States, and she told all her friends, He's coming back.

He didn't tell me when, but he said when he has the house ready, He's coming back. And she spends two years or three years, and all she's doing, she's trying to figure out, I don't know if He's coming by plane or by boat.

I don't know. And she spends all her time talking about how I'm coming, rather than about me. I'd be worried, wouldn't you? She's talking about how I'm going to be transported there, rather than being wrapped up in who I was.

All of this. You don't find anything about who Jesus is. It's just about how He's coming and when. I find that in all the books. All of these men that predicted the coming of Lord Jesus Christ. The same thing you find little said about Jesus, other than how He's coming and when He's coming.

The charismatic movement and the evangelical movement in the whole world, not just the United States, is dividing up in all kinds of doctrinal camps about the coming of Jesus and the millennial reign of Christ.

I've never in my lifetime heard of such confusion. It's just mind-boggling now. Some believe that there's going to be a two-stage coming of Jesus. There's going to be first a rapture, that's a sudden catching away, and that He'll come after a tribulation period, and then come back to the earth and redo the earth.

Then we've got some who believe that Jesus is coming before the tribulation. There's going to be seven years of tribulation. Jesus will come first. It's called pre-trib. Then we have a doctrine called mid-trib, that Jesus is going to come three and a half years into the tribulation.

We have another doctrine, very widespread, called post-trib. It means Jesus is going to come after seven years of great persecution called Jacob's trouble. Then, of course, we've got all kinds of doctrines on the millennial reign of Christ.

Millennium means one thousand years. There's a teaching based on Revelation 20, chapter 7, verses, in fact, the only reference that I see, the overt reference to the millennial reign. But, you see, we have pre-millenniast, we've got post-millenniast, and all-millenniast.

The all-millenniast don't believe there is any millennium. They teach that there are two kingdoms running parallel with each other, gods and the devils, and God's going to smash the devil's kingdom. There's no millennial reign of Christ.

The post-millenniast believe that the kingdom of God is right now, and the world is going to be Christianized, and when it's been Christianized, then Jesus will come back. We've got a new doctrine now called dominion theology, that we're going to take over all of the arts and the sciences, and we're going to take over politics, we're going to take over the world, and then, after we've subdued the world and smashed out sin, then we're going to bring King Jesus back to reign over it.

And then we've got what we call the dispensationalist, and they've got it all figured out, I mean, charts and numbers and figures, and I read all this stuff, they all have proofscriptures, it all sounds good, everyone, they say, I am right and nobody else is right.

You believe it my way, you are in error, you are lost. Well, folks, I'm at the point now where I look through my Bible, I don't see anything that says, be ye always figuring and calculating about my coming.

Watchfulness Instead of Speculation

All I see in my Bible says, be ye ready, be ye ready. We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that you be not soon or easily shaken in your mind, or be troubled, neither by a letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

In fact, 1 Thessalonians 2 says, let no man deceive you by any means. The New American Standard says, don't be disturbed either by a spirit, or a message, or a letter, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

Don't be moved, don't be shaken by it. Don't get caught up in these things, brother, sister. Don't get caught up in it. Jesus said, but of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

The Bible says, what's there for? For you know not when the Master of the house is coming, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. You don't know, Jesus said, I don't know, the Father knows. If he's not going to reveal it to his Son, how is he going to reveal it to any other human being?

Of course, he knows now. Now, God has purposely withheld the time of Christ's return to keep his people in a state of watchfulness, in a moment-by-moment state of expectancy. Take heed, watch and pray, for you know not when the time is.

You know, if he gave us a date, you know how we are, we're so lazy, we just live it up for the devil until the week before, and last minute rush in and get a whole bunch of religion so we can get into the pearly gates.

The Lord said, no, I'm not going to tell you when, I'm not going to let you know, the Father says, when my Son is coming. I'm not going to let you know. I want you to live hour-by-hour, moment-by-moment, expecting my return.

His return. Listen to me, please. Any doctrine about Christ's return, any doctrine about the tribulation, any doctrine about the millennium, that robs you of a spirit of watchfulness, robs you of prayerfulness, robs you of expectancy, I don't believe it's of God.

Any doctrine that puts you at ease, you can relax and say, oh, Jesus isn't coming. We've got the dominion doctrine that's put the coming of Jesus away for thousands of years. There's no provoking to righteousness.

I don't know about you, but I have not only the love of God, but the fear of God that provokes me. The Bible said, by the fear of God, men forsake their iniquities. The fear of God. I'm not preaching this message through fear tonight.

I'm going to preach in a different way. But you know, a pastor who called me recommending this book said, well, Brother Dave, I don't know whether the book is true or not, whether Jesus is coming September the 11th, but he said, the Christians are so sleepy, people are laying in front of the television just dying spiritually, we need something to wake them up like this.

Well, Brother and Sister, if you have to have a jolt like this, what are you going to do on September 12th? You're going to become a scoffer, and the longer he puts off his coming, the more you're going to say it isn't true at all.

And if you have to have that to be ready, then something's wrong. I'm not slamming this book down because I'm mad at the man. I don't believe the message. When I was a boy, in Holy Pentecost, they preached the coming of Jesus in a rather fearful way.

Fear, Readiness, and the Personal Hope of Christ’s Coming

It scared the daylights out of me. We had evangelists that would come, and boy, when they preached on the coming of the Lord, they always seemed to use Matthew 24, 40 to 42. Then shall two be in the field, one shall be taken and the other left.

Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left. What's therefore for you know not what hour your Lord doth come, therefore be ye ready also, for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh.

Now, if you've got sin in your life, and you're living in rebellion, that ought to strike fear in your heart. That ought to wake you up, because He said He's going to come when you least expect Him. He is going to come suddenly.

And there, some said, it's going to be the wicked that are taken away to judgment, and others say the righteous are going to be taken away just like they were on the ark. They were taken off the earth and taken into the boat, the ark.

And both of those doctrines have a lot of Scriptures to prove it. But see, again, they're missing the point. They're missing the point completely as far as I'm concerned. Those arguments don't mean anything to me.

You see, if you're ready to go at any time, it doesn't matter when He comes. And by the way, if you're falling in love with Him more and more every day, you're just growing into His coming, so that when He finally comes, it's just one more little step that you have to take.

You're so full of the glory and the blessing, it's just walking over the line. You don't have to leap. Jesus doesn't have to reach way out there and compromise to get you. You're right at His glory. You're right at the door, and you just, it's like breaking through tissue paper.

You're into it. Glory. Just a veil of tissue, and the coming of the Lord is right into it. Hallelujah. Football, I heard an evangelist say, you young people, you kids, if you're living for the devil, you come home one day, mom's not going to be there, she'll be gone, and you're going to be left behind.

And they preach about the trumpet of God shall sound. And boy, one day I was walking down the street, and a school bus went by, a school band coming over, football team, game. Kid got his trumpet out the window, started blasting, and I thought, that's it, he's coming, he's coming.

Panic. I was panic stricken. Because I'd been telling lies. And don't you know, I came home from school one day, and my mother was always there, except on this day, I went in and said, Mom, I'm home. Went in the kitchen, she wasn't there, I went, I ran up and said, Mom!

She wasn't home. Dad wasn't home. Nobody was home. I looked in every closet, I looked in the attic, I looked everywhere, and I said, Jesus has come, I'm left behind, I'm left behind. I was ready to pass out, I was ready to die on the spot.

I don't know how long, it seemed like an eternity, I sat there like a scared mouse in the living room, until the car drove in the driveway. I ran up, Mom, where have you been? I've missed the coming of the Lord.

And she said, That's the way it's going to be, David. You better be ready. But you see, for many, many Christians, the coming of the Lord's a fearful, fearful thought. And if you're not right with God tonight, this message is a fearful message.

If you're walking in His righteousness tonight, it's going to be great, great comfort to your heart. Great comfort to your heart as we go into it. I want you to go to the book of Acts. Acts, the first chapter.

Acts 1 and the Promise of Christ’s Return

I want to get right into my message. I'm just starting to preach. Acts, the first chapter. Oh, this blesses my heart. We're going to start reading at the fourth verse. First chapter of Acts, the fourth verse beginning to read.

I'm reading from King James. Please listen closely and follow me, please. And being assembled together with them. Now, keep that in mind. They're being gathered together with them. He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith to you, you have heard of Me.

John truly baptized you with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore would come together, now remember that also, come together, they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel?

To Israel. And He said unto them, It's not for you to know. Remember this book? It's not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power, but ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you.

You shall be witnesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria, to the uttermost part of the earth. And we've spoken these things while they be held, while they be held, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight, and while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which said also unto them, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye getting up into heaven?

This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, so come in like manner, as you've seen Him go into heaven. Now look this way, if you will, please. The first thing Jesus did was to gather a people together.

120, and He took them to the Mount of Olives. Now I don't know why this 120, because He showed Himself to at least 500 people we know. But 120 were gathered. Wouldn't it be something to be in that special number?

I'm not preaching special rapture or anything else. I'm preaching right now that the Lord Jesus chose 120 people, and I don't know why. Surely it must have been because they yearned after His heart. They were those upon which would come the Holy Spirit.

They would be His witnesses. Being assembled together with them, that's verse 4, New American Standard says, and He gathered them together. And He takes them up to the mountain, and He had told them for at least a year.

He told them over again, He said, I'm going to send to My Father. He said, you're not going to see Me anymore. You shall see Me no more. You heard, Jesus said, that I said unto you, I'm going away, and I will come to you.

If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because they'd go to My Father. And they didn't understand what He meant. They didn't understand at all, because they said, what is this thing He's telling us?

A little while, and you won't see Me anymore. What's He mean? And so after He's resurrected, He takes them there, He prepares their heart, He said, I'm going to send to My Father. And those disciples, those 120 must have thought, well, how's that going to happen?

Is He going to vaporize? After all, He's God in the flesh. Is He just going to vaporize? Is He going to just vanish? There's a chariot, the one that came for Elijah, going to come and get Him. Is He going to be zapped?

Is He going to die again? And go in the grave and be resurrected without being sown again? How is He going to go? And their minds, they didn't understand. There was no way, in fact, Jesus said, you will weep and lament, and you will be sorrowful.

Even though He said, if you knew what was waiting you, if you knew that I was going to send the Holy Ghost and abide in you, you would rejoice. But they didn't understand. And my beloved friends, we don't understand, they didn't understand His leaving, we don't understand His coming.

We are not grabbing it, we're not understanding that He says, I'm coming back for you, I'm coming back for a bride. That has never really been comprehended in our minds. We don't understand that fully.

But you know, suddenly, the Lord is doing the same thing again, right now, in this particular time in history, just as sure as He gathered a group together to go to the Mount of Olivet, the Holy Ghost is drawing a people now, He said He's going to come back in the same manner that He left.

How did He leave? He left by gathering a people to watch His ascending. He's gathering a people to watch His descending. He's gathering a people right now from all denominations and all churches, dead churches, harlot churches, Babylonian churches, people that are fed up with their apostasy and compromise, and He's bringing them together.

I don't know how He's doing it, it's a marvelous, miraculous thing. He's bringing them together. I believe He's bringing the body together right here. Right here. Many of you represent that group that the Holy Spirit is calling out, and He's calling them out for a purpose, to be there when He descends, when He comes back.

He's not ascending this time, He's descending, He's coming back, just in the same manner that He left. Hallelujah. We have a people today who've heard the trumpet, they've heard the archangel singing, saying, the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him.

Have you heard that in your spiritual ear yet? How many are hearing that? The Bridegroom is coming. Jesus is coming. That should be something that's ringing in your heart day by day. Hallelujah. I live with it constantly.

The Bride Awaiting the Bridegroom

When these things begin, remember Jesus had painted a very frightful picture of what it's going to be like. He said there are going to be famines and plagues and pestilence and earthquakes. He said it's going to be so terrible that men's hearts are going to fail them for fear of watching those frightful things coming on the earth.

But then He said to His saints, to His own children, when you see these things begin to happen, then look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption is drawing nigh. I'm coming soon is what He's saying.

Now I want you to know also that it was a glorified man that ascended to heaven, and it's going to be a glorified man that comes back to earth. Hallelujah. Do you know that it was a man that was crucified?

It wasn't a spirit. Jesus was a man just like I stand here in flesh and bone. I've preached that time and time again in this pulpit, but I want the Holy Ghost to make it clear to you that it was a man, a human man that was laid, a God-human laid into that tomb.

It was a man, a man with humanity that was raised out of that grave. And when they saw him on the Mount of Olives and He said, you're going to receive power after the Holy Ghost, that came out of a man's lips, out of a man's heart.

It was a glorified man. He had hair, he had teeth, he had eyes, he had fingers, he had toes, he had feet, he walked, he talked, he was touched with the feelings of all infirmities, he could leap for joy, he could weep, he could laugh, he could cry, he could smell.

He was a man. It was a man, a flesh and bone man that started to go up into glory. It's a man who's in glory right now. Ever since he's left, he's been a man. He's seated at the right hand of the Father in bodily form.

So, when you pray, you're talking to somebody who's touched with your feelings. He's a man. And it's a man, a God-man. It's Christ who's coming back in bodily form. It's not some ghost that's coming.

It's not a ghost that's coming. It's a man that's coming. Jesus is a man. The Son of Man. A glorified God-man. Hallelujah! The Bible said, while they steadfastly looked, the American Standard has said, as they were gazing intently, they saw the whole thing with their eyes.

They had their eyes fixed on Him. They didn't just wink an eye and He was gone. I believe it was a beautiful sight. I believe Jesus must have prayed with them. There's only a few verses recorded, but I'm sure there was much, much more said.

And they suddenly, it dawned on them, this is the moment. I don't know how it happened. I don't know if He just began to glow with the glory. And suddenly the glory became brighter and brighter. I don't know if they fell on their knees, but I know they kept their eyes fixed on Him.

And suddenly, that body just began to lift and levitate from the earth. And it started to go up and a cloud appeared and the cloud lifted Him. And they had their eyes fixed on Him. And He left that presence.

They watched Him right out into the distance. They watched Him ascend, they said, with their eyes fixed. Look at it. Look at it. Look at verse 10.

This is the end of side 1. You may now turn the tape over to side 2.

That speaks about bodily change. There's going to be a sudden change. That's talking about... And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as He went up, their eyes saw the whole thing. He didn't just vanish before them.

Resurrection, Transformation, and Seeing Christ’s Glory

Now, there's a truth here. Now listen to me. Look this way. This is so precious, and I want you to catch it tonight. It's true that our bodies are going to be changed in the twinkling of an eye. And that's 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51.

Don't turn, but listen to it. We shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. Now, beloved, that speaks of our bodily change. There's going to be a sudden change. That's talking about the body.

This corruption is going to put on incorruption. We're going to get a new body. We're going to be zapped into a new body in a twinkling of an eye. But listen. That's talking about the bodily change. The Scripture says we're going to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air together with them, the resurrected dead, in the clouds.

But what happens? What's going to happen before we ascend with Him to glory? I believe that the redeemed of the Lord are going to see the whole event, just as the Bible says He's coming in like manner, just as it was when He left, it's going to be when He comes back.

Oh, I believe the saints of God are going to see the whole thing in the songs of Solomon. The bride sings. He is showing Himself through the lattice. He's revealing Himself. I see Him. There's a revelation coming.

And those who are being called out of sinning compromise are beginning to get the revelation already. Jesus is becoming brighter. His glory has been revealed day by day, message by message. Something's happening.

Something's changing. We're seeing Him appear through the lattice, through that grill where the vine is growing. We see Him through that window, through the lattice. He's beginning to approach. He is going to come quickly.

He's going to come suddenly. And our bodies are going to be changed in the twinkling of an eye. But I believe before He comes, He's going to knock first. To every believer walking in victory, He's going to knock first.

You know, He said, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Do you know what it says in the song of Solomon? Song of Solomon 5 .2. It is the voice of My Beloved that is knocking. It's the voice of My Beloved that is knocking.

How can a bride not sense the approach of her loved one? Have you never had Jesus come into your room when you were praying? In His presence. I don't mean physically, but the presence of Jesus. I've been in motels all over the United States while I've been in crusades.

And sometimes in the middle of the night, just laying in bed worshiping the Lord, suddenly the room would... I didn't see a bright light, but there was a sense of Jesus. And I'd say, It's You, Jesus. You're here.

You're in the room. You're here. I've never believed these men who said, Jesus came in bodily form and drove with me all the way to Florida. No. I don't find that in my Bible at all. That I have touched His Spirit.

Have you never had that? Have you ever not been praying and the Lord just lay you down on your back, slain in the Holy Ghost, and you try to get up and He just lay you back down? You felt the hand of Jesus?

You knew He was there? How could He approach in this last day? How could He come without His bride knowing He's at the door? In ancient times, the way the young man found a bride, he took a bottle of good wine, he went to her house, and he poured a cup of wine, a glass of wine, and if she drank it, that meant she accepted his proposal.

If she pushed the glass aside, that meant she wouldn't accept the proposal. He went away after she accepted his proposal for a period of a year or two to prepare a house or a habitation, and he said, when I'm ready, I'll come back.

And it was said that if they lived in the village, it had to be announced at least two blocks away, the bridegroom is coming! The bridegroom is coming! And the bride always was ready. She had her gown prepared, and he would come then.

He was descending, so to speak. He's coming for his bride. And the crowd goes up to the bridegroom, and here he comes with his party. Jesus is coming with all the angels of heaven, the Bible says. His bridal party is coming.

Hallelujah! And I believe with all my heart that every one of His children who are walking in righteousness, I believe the Holy Ghost is going to announce it. I believe there's going to be a knocking on the door.