Matthew 24:29-31 | Coming of the Son of Man | Partial Preterism | Eschatology | Is Jesus God?

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Foundational for the Hebrews Series Covenant Reformed Baptist Church Pastor Jeff Rice May 30, 2021

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If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Matthew 24. Today will be our last sermon in Matthew 24.
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As we wrap up this overview of the foundation that we're trying to lay.
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Matthew 24, 32 through 35. Matthew 24, 32 through 35.
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Pray with me. Our God and Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus. Lord, we need your
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Holy Spirit. I need your spirit to present to your people your word.
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They need your spirit for understanding. Lord, fill us this moment.
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Lord, we pray that you have been pleased with our worship, that it is a sweet fragrance to your nose.
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Lord, we gather together to worship you this day, because you are the one and only true
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God. And we come to worship you in the name of Jesus Christ. So please be with us.
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Lead and guide our service. Let not me or anyone in this room get in the way.
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We praise you, our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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Amen. So just a quick overview of last week and kind of the week before.
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I spoke about how I believe that the religious leaders, the religious leaders, the
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Jews at this time, were the Antichrist. And I believe that because of what 1
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John 2 says, that anyone who denies that Jesus is the
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Christ is the Antichrist. And we look back in history, the religious
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Jews were the ones who denied that Jesus was the Christ. And we see this picture given to us in Galatians.
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Galatians 4, 1 -7 speaks about the fullness of time, that there was going to be a time to come that was going to be called the fullness of time.
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And so before the fullness of time, the Hebrew people, the Israelites, the Jews, were to cling to a guardian.
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God gave them a guardian. This would be the Old Covenant system. To do this and live in the land system.
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If you make a mistake, if you sin, there was a sacrifice that had to be made. Jesus comes in the fullness of time, but instead of leaving their guardian and receiving
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Christ, they reject Christ, they don't believe He's the Christ, and they hold on to their
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Old Covenant system. And the book of Hebrews is all about, which we'll start back again next week, it's all about them not going to the temple.
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Stop going to the temple, stop sacrificing. Jesus is our sacrifice.
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And last week, as I said, I believe the religious leaders are the
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Antichrist, but last week I pointed out from 2 Thessalonians that the man of lawlessness,
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I believe, in 2 Thessalonians, the man of lawlessness, to be the high priest.
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The high priest. And again, throughout today or the weeks to come, and you want to have a conversation, please let's have a conversation, but at the moment, with it being tied up,
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I cannot walk through this expositionally, because I don't want to neglect the book of Hebrews any longer.
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So next week we'll start that. But I do plan on on my YouTube channel to do some more dealing with the man of lawlessness.
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So I believe that the abomination that caused the desolation was the continuing sacrifice that was being made in the temple post
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Jesus putting an end to sin by the high priest. Jesus came, he became our sacrifice.
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There's no longer any need to sacrifice an animal to make an atonement because of what
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Jesus did on the cross. And so we have the Jewish people trying to keep the custom of Moses, trying to keep the law after the fullness of time, after Jesus put an end to sin, them making animal sacrifices in the temple by the high priest for their sins.
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And so I see this, and I'm just kind of putting the puzzle together, and that's what
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I presented to you last week. Today our theme, again, is learn a lesson from the fig tree.
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And my proposition has been this, by understanding what Jesus meant by this generation, we can put a timestamp on the prophesied events in Matthew 24.
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And I've asked this question, why should we care about eschatology? And the answer today is because history.
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Because of history, his story is going somewhere. The story that God is telling is going somewhere, and if you're not dowed in to eschatology, it's going to go right past you, it's going to go above you, it's going to go below you.
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Having a right view of God in eschatology is extremely important.
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And so that's why I decided to break free for, I believe it's five weeks, could be six weeks, we've been laying a foundation,
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I'm not sure. When I first started, I told Catherine too, and she laughed. So take that as you will.
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So our text, Matthew 24, 32 through 35. Let's read that together.
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Matthew 24, beginning in verse 32. From the fig tree learn its lesson, as soon as its branches become tender.
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I made a mistake. As soon as its branches become tender, and it puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.
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So also when you see all these things, know that he is near at the very gate.
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Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
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Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
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And so I, in this one little passage, so again, this is not the passage that we're breaking down, but I pointed out a few things.
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I pointed out about the fig tree, that the antecedent was the one that's found in chapter 21.
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And I've really been harping on the fact of the second person plural, the you, when you see these things.
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And I've been harping on the fact of this generation, the Greek word genea. This is the near demonstrative.
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And so we have to understand that when Jesus was speaking, he was speaking to his disciples, and he said, when you, my disciples, see these things, and this generation that we're living in now will not pass away until all these things take place.
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So I wanna call your attention, you don't have to turn there, I'm gonna be kind of rapid firing some verses just for the sake of time, to Deuteronomy 18, beginning in verse 20 to 22, it says this.
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But the prophet who pursues to speak a word in my name, this is
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God speaking, in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.
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And if you say in your heart, how may we know the word that the
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Lord has spoken? When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or comes true, that is a word that the
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Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptually.
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You need not be afraid of him. So when we come to what
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Jesus is saying in Matthew 24, when he's looking to his disciples and he says, when you see these things, and that this generation will not pass away until all these things happen, listen to me.
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If that generation passes before everything that he said would happen happens, we need not to be afraid of Jesus.
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As a matter of fact, Deuteronomy says he deserves to die. There's a guy on the internet right now who is saying that Jesus is a false prophet and that Christianity is a false religion because he takes
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Matthew 24 serious when he uses the second person plural and the near demonstrative, as he should, because that's what
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Jesus was talking about. It's the Christian church who has exaggerated what
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Jesus was talking about. And he's pointing to some future generation that when he says you to the disciples, he means us today.
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And so this is atheist. He's out there saying, no, man, you're worshiping a false prophet. Christianity is a false religion because look what
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Jesus has said. And it's true. If what Jesus said right here, so right here, everything above verse 34 has had to happen already or Jesus is a false prophet.
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And that's true. That's what Deuteronomy says. Jesus said that this generation will not pass unless all these things take place.
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We have John the Baptist showing up on the scene speaking to the religious leaders in Matthew 3, 7, and he calls them a brood of vipers.
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He says, you're a bunch of snakes. Remember how I pointed to you from Matthew, from Genesis chapter 3, 15, where it talks about the seed of the woman, the offspring of the woman versus the offspring of the serpent.
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And that these religious leaders, Jesus in John chapter 8, calls them the offspring of Satan.
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He says, your father is the devil. He is the devil. So you have
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John the Baptist showing up on the scene, calling them to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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We went through that parable of the two sons and the two sons that the master went to one, and he says, go work in the field.
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The first one said, I will not, but eventually went. And then the second one, he says, I will go, but did not go.
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And he pointed out that the ones that went were the prostitutes and the tax collectors. And the ones that did not go, that said they was, was the religious leaders.
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And down in the next parable, it says that he was gonna remove the kingdom from the religious leaders, and he's given it to the tax collectors and the prostitutes.
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I've never been so happy to call myself a part of the tax collectors and the prostitutes as I stand before you today, because God has removed the kingdom of heaven for them, and he's given it to people like me.
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So in our outline today, we will seek to understand this, this lesson that's given to us in the fig tree.
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And I mentioned before that I believe this fig tree parable gives three lessons. And the first one we looked at two weeks ago, the signs of the end of the age.
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The second one was one we looked at last week, the abomination of desolation. And this week we'll look at the third, which is the coming of the son of man.
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And as we transition, like I said last week, I believe that all of Matthew 24 is a response by Jesus to his disciples for the question that was asked in verse three.
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They said, tell us when will these things be? What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?
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And I mentioned that I believe this is one question asked three different ways. And it's all speaking about what's about to come upon Jerusalem.
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And we get that because of what he says in chapter 24, verses one and two.
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Jesus leaves the temple and he says, see these buildings, see this temple? It's all coming down.
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It's all coming down. So to our main point, the coming of the son of man, turn your attention to chapter 24, verses 29 through 31.
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Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven.
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And the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear the sign of the son of man in heaven.
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And then all the tribes of the earth would mourn. And they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
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And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call. And they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.
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Now you might be thinking, there's no way that that's already happened. There's no way. You walk outside, you see the sun, it's in the sky.
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The sun goes down, you see the moon, you see the stars. There's no way that that has happened. There's no way, right?
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There's no way that that's happened. I've taken our,
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I've taken this main point and I've given us a three sub -point outline.
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In our three sub -point outline, today we're gonna look at what is not versus what is.
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What is not versus what is. First point is deconstructionism versus judgment upon a nation.
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Our second point is the second coming of Christ versus Jesus coming in judgment.
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Our third point is the rapture of the church versus the kingdom, I mean, versus the gospel of the kingdom to all nations.
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So our first sub -point, verse 29 of Matthew 24. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven.
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And the powers of heaven, the heavens will be shaken. So when
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I say deconstructive language, it's kind of like decreation language. So in Genesis chapter one, we see
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God created the heavens and the earth. And as you're reading it, like the different days, day four, he created the lights.
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So the sun, moon, and stars. So this is a creation, God created these things.
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What we see here seems to be, it's decreation. He's removing the creation.
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And so when you walk outside, you can see the sun in the daytime, and at nighttime, you can see the moon and the stars, depending on where you're at in the world where you can see the stars.
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And so what seems to be happening here is a lot of people say this is deconstructionism. This is decreationism.
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What's about to happen, they look at this verse and say there's no way that this has happened.
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Why? Because we can still see the sun, moon, and stars. And I would say that a literal interpretation of this verse will cause someone to miss the biblical interpretation of this verse.
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So I'm proposing to you that it's not speaking about a literal sun, moon, and stars. You say,
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Jeff, but it says sun, moon, and stars. In the Greek, it says sun, moon, and stars. Like it's literally speaking about the sun, moon, and stars.
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But I'm telling you that if you interpret this literally, you will miss the biblical interpretation.
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And that's what I hope to present to you today. I'm gonna show you why we cannot, absolutely cannot look at this literal.
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I'm gonna be rapid -firing some verses, and you can turn there if you want, but it'd be hard to keep up. I'm doing this for the sake of time.
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I wanna start back to Hebrews next week. So in Isaiah chapter 13, nine through 11, so Isaiah 13 is speaking about Babylon coming in to Jerusalem, removing them from their land, and God sending the
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Medes and Persians to destroy Babylon for removing Israel from their land.
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So God sends Babylon to remove Israel from their land, and then he sends the Medes and Persians to destroy
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Babylon for removing the Jews from their land. I know that's a lot, but this is what this, the context to what
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I'm about to read. So I'm gonna start in verse nine. We're gonna read to verse 11. Behold, the day of the
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Lord comes, cruel with wrath and fierce anger, to make a land desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.
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For the stars of the heaven and the constellation will not give their light. The sun will be darkened at its rising, and the moon will not shine its light.
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I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity.
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I will put an end to the pomp of the ignorant, and I will lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
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Joel 2, 28 through 32. And it shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.
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Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your old man shall dream dreams, and your young man shall see visions.
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Even on my male and female servants in those days, I will pour out my spirit, and I will show wonders in the heavens and the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.
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The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and awesome day of the
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Lord. So Acts chapter two quotes this. And I believe that Acts chapter two,
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Peter says that what you're seeing right now, right now, back then, would have been 30
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AD, 31 AD, 30, around that area.
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He says, what Joel prophesied then is what's happening now. But he does not quote this second part of this verse.
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But the second part of this verse, part of it is quoted in Romans chapter 10. It says, and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the
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Lord will be saved. For in Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, there shall be those who escape.
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Escape what? The wrath to come. As the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the
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Lord calls. Listen to Revelation chapter 12, verses one through six. And a great sign appeared in the heavens.
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A woman clothed with the sun. Is this literal? A woman clothed with the sun, standing on the moon.
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A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head was a crown of 12 stars.
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She was pregnant and she cried out in birth pains and agony to give birth.
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And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and 10 horns.
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And on his head was seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars and casted them to the earth.
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And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she bore her child, he might devour it.
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She gave birth to a male child, one who would rule all the nations with a rod of iron.
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But her child was called up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared for her by God in which she will be nourished for 1 ,260 days.
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Just to kind of add to this verse just a little bit, Revelation 13 one.
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And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, had 10 horns, seven heads with 10 diadems and on his horns and blasphemous names on his head.
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Now this next verse is going to give you the interpretation. I don't have to give you an interpretation.
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The next verse will give you the interpretation of what the sun, moon and stars are.
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And it deals with Joseph. Joseph has a dream. Joseph has a dream.
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This Genesis chapter 37 beginning in verse nine. Then he dreamed another dream and he told his brothers and said, behold,
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I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon and 11 stars were bowing down to me.
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But when he told his father and his brothers, they rebuked him and said to him, what is this dream that you have dreamed?
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Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed bow down ourselves to the ground before you?
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Jacob says, shall I, the sun, your mother, the moon and your brothers, the stars bow down to you?
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Remember Genesis chapter three, verse 15.
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We have the offspring of the woman, the offspring of the woman.
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I want to go back real quick. Now with that in mind, with that in mind, think about it. You have
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Babylon, they're coming in to capture Jerusalem. What does it say?
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The stars of heaven will not give off their constellation. What does it say?
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The stars of heaven will not give off their constellation. It will not give their light.
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The sun will be darkened at its rising and the moon will not shed its light.
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Speaking of the desolation that's about to come upon them. Joel says, and Peter repeats this, he says that the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood for that great and awesome day of the
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Lord. What's he speaking about? Speaking about the land of Jerusalem, Israel.
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We have this woman who is clothed in the sun.
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This woman is the embodiment of Israel and she's pregnant with a baby.
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It says that she's clothed in the sun, she's standing on the moon and she has a crown of 12 stars on her head.
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She's clothed in Jacob. She's standing on Rachel and the 12 tribes of Israel are on her head and she's pregnant and she's giving birth to a male child.
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In Genesis chapter three, it tells Satan that his curse was, it says that from the offspring of the woman would come one who would bruise his head while he would only bruise his heel.
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Jesus is from Israel, the tribe of Judah. Revelation chapter 12 is speaking of Jesus being born from Israel.
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This woman who is standing on the sun is Israel and then it says that Satan, who's this red dragon who has a, what does it say?
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A great red dragon, he has seven heads, 10 horns and seven diadems. It says that his tail sweeps a third of the stars out of the sky, a third of Israel.
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He's going to destroy a third of Israel during this judgment. He said, well
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Satan didn't do that, it was Rome. It was Rome, Rome came in there and did that. It was
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Rome, it wasn't Satan. Listen what it says. He had seven heads, 10 horns. Seven heads, 10 horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.
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Listen to that other beast. And I saw a beast rising out of the sea who had 10 horns and seven heads.
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This beast is Rome. Rome is the city of seven heels.
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It had 10 diadems because it was in control of 10 powers. All right, it had 10 horns because it was ruled by 10 kings.
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Revelation chapter 13 says that the dragon gives the beast its power. We cannot take this literally.
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This is speaking hyperbole. This is speaking hyperbole.
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Let me ask you a question as we transition. What would happen, what would happen if one star, just one, one star was to fall from the sky and land on Earth?
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One star, no life on planet Earth. Absolutely no life.
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But you're saying that a third of all the stars in the heaven are gonna come and hit the
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Earth? Listen, most stars are bigger than the Earth. Most stars are bigger than Earth.
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It doesn't make sense that way. We have to understand that the sun, moon, and stars is speaking about Israel.
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When the Bible speaks of the sun, moon, and stars, it's speaking of Israel. It cannot be taken any other way.
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Second sub -point, the second coming of Christ versus the coming, Jesus coming in judgment.
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Matthew 24, 30. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and all the tribes of the
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Earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
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First of all, note this. If the sun was darkened, and the moon was turned to blood, and the stars fell from heaven, how is it that anyone would be able to see the sign of the
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Son of Man in heaven? Think about it. If that deep creation language was true, and we have the sun just blacking out, the moon turning to blood, and all the stars fall into the
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Earth, and the next passage says, we'll see the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Like, this makes sense, right?
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You cannot take this literal. If one star, one star hits the Earth, you are not looking at anything in the sky.
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It's gone, we're all dead. We're all dead. We're all dead.
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It speaks of Jesus here being the Son of Man. Where do you have this language at?
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It's given to us in Daniel chapter seven. We have, in Daniel, well, first you go to Acts chapter one, you have
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Jesus being taken up in a cloud. And in Daniel chapter seven, it has the
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Son of Man coming to the Ancient of Days, riding on a cloud.
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And to him, the Ancient of Days gives the Son of Man a kingdom. He gives him a kingdom, okay?
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At the second coming of Jesus, Acts chapter one tells us, the same way that you've seen
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Jesus leave is the same way he's coming back. Listen, Jesus, when he comes back, he's coming back on a cloud. He's coming back, he's gonna be in the cloud, and he's gonna exit the cloud, and his feet are gonna touch the
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Earth. And at the second coming, he's going to judge both the living and the dead. We read that every week in the
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Nice Seeing Creed. We believe he's coming back, he's going to judge the living and the dead.
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And by doing so, when he comes back and he judges the living and the dead, he's going to put an end to death.
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So at the second coming of Christ, he has to put an end to death.
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Key verse here, turn there with me, I want you to see this. It's 1
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Corinthians chapter 15, look at verse 22 to 26.
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1 Corinthians chapter 15, 22 to 26. This is the resurrection passage, the resurrection of the dead.
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So we believe in the resurrection of the dead. It says, for as in Adam all died, so also in Christ all be made alive, but each in his own order.
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Christ, the firstfruits, then at his coming, I believe this is second coming, at his coming those who belong to Christ.
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Then comes the end, when he will deliver the kingdom to God the
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Father after destroying every rule and every authority in power. For he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet and the last enemy to be destroyed is death.
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So in Acts chapter one, Jesus comes up in the cloud, it picks up the prophecy of Daniel chapter two that he's going to the ancient of days.
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His father gives him the kingdom. This part right here speaks about whenever he comes back and he puts an end to death, he gives the father of the kingdom back.
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He gives the father of the kingdom back. And notice the last enemy that's destroyed.
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What is the last enemy that's destroyed? The last enemy to be footstooled is death.
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Psalm 1101, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool.
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The last enemy to be footstooled is death. So although the second coming is a coming in judgment, its main purpose is to put an end to death.
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His coming against Jerusalem in 70 AD did not put an end to death. And I know by this fact, here's the fact, 150 ,000 people die every day.
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150 ,000 people die every day. That's 100 per minute.
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That's almost two per second. We are dropping like flies.
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And at the second coming, Jesus will put an end to death. He will judge the living and the dead.
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So how do I know that this is not speaking of the second coming? To my full preterist friends, because we are still dying.
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People are dying every day. 150 ,000 people die a day.
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The Bible tells us that second coming, he's gonna put an end to that. He's stopping it. It will not happen any longer.
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He wipes every tear from our eye. This coming that we see in the text is a coming of judgment, a coming declaring himself to be
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God. Now listen to this. Again, I'm gonna go rapid fire. Psalm 97, one and two.
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The Lord reigns. Let the earth rejoice. Let the many coastlands be glad.
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Clouds and thick darkness are all around him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
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Nahum 1 .3. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power. And the
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Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in the whirlwind and storm.
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And the clouds, listen, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
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Key verse, Exodus 13, 21 through 22. The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way.
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And by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.
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The pillar of a cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
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Another key verse, listen to this one. Leviticus chapter 16, verse two. The Lord said to Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the
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Lord and died, the Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron, your brother, your brother not to come at any time into the holy place inside of the veil before the mercy seat that is the ark, that is on the ark, so that he may not die.
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For I, God is speaking, for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.
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You read all the Old Testament. God rode on a cloud. God appeared on a cloud.
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God appeared in smoke. When God appeared, there was always a cloud.
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And we have Jesus being judged by the council, by the high priest Caiaphas in Matthew 26, beginning in verse 63, says this.
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It says, but when Jesus remained silent, the high priest said to him,
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I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the son of the living
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God. Jesus said to him, you have said so. Listen to this.
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But I will tell you, who is he telling, me? Who is he telling? Caiaphas.
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But I will tell you, from now on, you will see, the high priest, you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.
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What is Jesus saying to him? I am
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God. That's what he was saying. I am God. You are about to crucify your
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Lord. When Jesus gives this son of man in the cloud imagery, he is saying that he is
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God. You say, well, how do you know that? Listen to the next part of the verse. Then the high priest tore his robe and said, he has utter blasphemy.
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He has utter blasphemy. What further witness do we need? You have heard him blaspheme.
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How did he blaspheme? They knew what he meant when he said that he was coming on the cloud.
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Why? Because only God rode the clouds. Only God rode the clouds.
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Listen to Revelation 14. 14, 14.
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Then I looked and behold a white cloud and seated on the cloud was one like the son of man and with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand and another angel came out of the temple calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, put your sickle and reap for the hour to reap has come for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.
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So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth and the earth was reaped.
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As we transition to our last point by Jesus. Listen, listen. By Jesus saying, you will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven.
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He was in fact declaring himself to be God and that he was about to come upon them in judgment.
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He says, you're gonna look, you're gonna see the son of man. You're gonna see the sign of the son of man in heaven. You're gonna see me on the clouds.
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You're gonna, I'm coming to you and I'm gonna judge you. I'm going to destroy you.
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I'm coming with power and I'm coming with great glory. So point number three, the rapture of the church versus the kingdom, the gospel of the kingdom to all nations.
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Matthew 24, 31. This one's real quick. And I will send out, and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call and he will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.
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If this or anything else that we have read so far is in our future, it denies the second person plural and it denies the near demonstrative.
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It denies all the use that we've read in Matthew 24. And it denies the fact that Jesus was speaking to the generation that was before him.
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And we have to look at the fact of Deuteronomy and what it says. If someone says that something's going to happen, if they say they're speaking from the
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Lord and it does not happen, he's a false prophet. He's a false prophet.
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I stand before you today and I tell you that everything that I've read so far has already happened. Even this, that God has sent his angels.
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And I'm gonna show you how. Probably not gonna be the way you think. It's never the way you think, right?
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As I've already demonstrated, I believe that this language is hyperbole. I believe it's hyperbole.
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The sun, moon, and stars are not going to one day stop working and following us. The sign of the
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Son of Man coming in the clouds are about them, the Jews, looking upon the one whom they have pierced as God, the one who is coming to judge them.
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So this is not saying that the angels are going to come one day and take all the
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Christians off the earth. No, that's not what it's saying. But what
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I believe it is saying, I'll quote a verse, I'll quote from Hebrews.
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Hebrews chapter one, 13 and 14. It's gonna, to put
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Jesus in his proper place and the angels in their proper place. And to which of the angels has he ever said, speaking of the
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Father, sit at my right hand until I make your enemy a footstool for your feet. He hasn't said that to any angels.
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He says that about the Son. But to the angels, he says, they are, are they not ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
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What's the mission of the angels? They're sent out to serve those who are to inherit salvation.
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So I believe verse 31 is, it's the salvific. That the angels are being unleashed on the earth to serve those who are to inherit salvation.
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I believe that when the sign of the Son of Man appeared in heaven, the angels were dispersed all over the earth to serve those who are to inherit salvation.
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So when we, when you and I, we go out and we preach the gospel to the lost,
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I believe and we are in fact co -laboring with angels.
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We are co -laboring. Have that in mind when you're witnessing.
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You are co -laboring with angels. That God has dispersed his angels all over the world.
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They have left with the trumpet call to do what? To go and serve for the sake of the elect.
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They're to go and serve because you and I, we're actively, even as Christians, right? We're actively disobedient.
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We're actively disobedient. And if you and I as Christians are actively disobedient, how much worse were we actively disobedient before Christ?
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And Jesus is holy God. The Bible says that he dwells in unapproachable light, that you cannot get to God.
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You cannot get to God. It says that he dwells in unapproachable light. Jesus says that no one can come to me unless the
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Father draws him. He also says that no one can come to the Father unless they come through me.
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But you can't get to him unless you're drawn by the Father. The gospel has to be preached.
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We're out here telling people who are actively disobedient that they need the active obedience of Jesus Christ credited to their life.
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That the only way anyone can be saved is the same way that Abraham was saved. Abraham believed God and he was credited righteousness.
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In order for you to be saved, for me to be saved, we have to be credited righteousness. We owe a debt that we cannot pay.
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And when we're preaching this message, when I'm preaching, when you're preaching this message to the lost, that they have to put their faith in Christ and repent, we have to trust that God has sent his angels and they will gather together his elect.
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That's why we can scatter, see, go home and go to sleep and know that the work of Christ is being done.
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And know that the work of Christ is being done. Because one day when Jesus does come back, 1
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Corinthians chapter 15 explains to us that when the dead are raised, some of the dead that are gonna raise and they're gonna be clothed in dust, they're gonna be clothed in dirt.
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It is as if Adam, the man of dust himself is wrapped around them. But it says some of them are gonna be clothed in the man of heaven.
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You're gonna be clothed in the man of heaven. If you're in Christ, you're gonna be clothed in the man of heaven.
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It is gonna be as if Jesus Christ is wrapped around you.
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Oh, how glorious, raising from the dead with Christ Jesus' arms around us because we're clothed in the man of heaven.
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You're either in Adam or you are in Christ. And so that's what we are called to do, to preach the gospel, to co -labor with the angels because the judgment has already happened.
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His coming and judgment against Jerusalem has already happened. His second coming is going to come.
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It's coming. And what you and I have to do today as Christians is preach the gospel.
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If necessary, use an amplifier. Okay, preach the gospel.
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If necessary, use an amplifier. I'm available if anyone wants to talk, as always.
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If you have any questions about this message or the message prior to this,
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I'd love to sit down and talk more in detail. When preparing a message, I cannot give to you everything
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I've learned. Like, y 'all won't allow me to stand up here that long. Okay, I cannot give you everything
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I've learned. But if you ask, you ask my wife, I'll sit and talk to you for hours. I'll sit and talk to you for hours about it.
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So, I'm available to anyone that needs me. If you need prayer, next week we will be back in Hebrews chapter two.
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Pray with me. Father, thank you. Lord, we love you. We praise your holy, holy, holy name.
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Lord, help us to be a people that lives for you. Who takes your word serious,
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Lord. I pray that your word will not return void and that it will accomplish all that you have sent to me.