The Calendar, the Coming, the Crowns. Daniel 9:24-27; John 14:1-4; 2 Cor. 5:10 (Part 2) — Phil Coulson

John 14 and the Promise of Christ's Coming

Now, we'll turn to the second of the passages that's on the order sheet, please, and that's for us to read in John chapter 14. John's Gospel and chapter 14. Very lovely verses, well known to us. I think we could probably all recite them.

But let's read them. It's particularly important that we read carefully verses we think we know. So, chapter 14 and verse 1 of John's Gospel. Let not your heart be troubled, said the Lord Jesus. Ye believe in God, believe also in me.

In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.

We trust God will bless this further reading of his good word. If you and I had been sat with the Lord Jesus, there in the upper room, where this account took place, I wonder what we would have understood from it.

The church was still in mystery. The disciples didn't know there was going to be a church. They didn't know that there was going to be a church age. They certainly didn't know that there was going to be a rapture.

Because the rapture is a truth unique to the church and revelation concerning the church. It was Paul who said to the Corinthians, wasn't it, in that great chapter of Resurrection, he says, behold, I show you a mystery, something hitherto hidden.

Now the time has come to reveal it. I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, at the last trump, and so on. So the disciples didn't know about that. So when the Lord Jesus said to them that in my father's house are many mansions, well, that expression is only used once before in John's Gospel.

It's there in chapter 2 and verse 16. In chapter 2 and verse 16, he's chastising those who've made my father's house a den of thieves. He's chastising those who've made my father's house a place of merchandise.

So if you were one of those disciples sat there with the Lord Jesus, and he said in my father's house, what would you have thought of? Thought of the temple. You wouldn't have thought of heaven. You'd have thought of the temple.

That's my father's house, as far as they're concerned. And in my father's house are many abiding places. Well, they did know their Old Testaments well, and amongst all the detail, but mind-numbing some of it, in Ezekiel chapter 40 onwards, as he describes that millennial temple, so much of what Ezekiel tells us about the structure of that temple were the dwelling places.

There's all places round about the sanctuary in which the priestly men and people associated with the temple worship would dwell. So in my father's house are many abiding places. If it wasn't the case, if that was just fanciful, if it was just an idea or a dream, the Lord said, I'd have told you so.

It's not, it's a fact. My father's house, many abiding places. I go, and the thought is now in going, I go to prepare a place for you. There is a some kind of silly sentimental idea that the Lord Jesus is redecorating heaven for us to arrive.

Well, that's just nonsense. The thought is that in his going, by his going, a place would be prepared for them. So they were being assured by his going that there would be a place for them dwelling in my father's house.

And I will come again, and I'll receive you unto myself, so that where I am, there ye may be also. So then, the sense of this passage primarily is not about the rapture. It's about the second advent of the Lord Jesus.

It's about him coming back to the earth, Israel being restored, God's purpose for them, as stated in Exodus chapter 19, that they would be a kingdom of priests. When the Lord returns to the earth to reign, Israel will become a kingdom of priests.

Their centrality will be on my father's house. All right? Now, those are the kind of things I suggest would have been filling their thoughts. You say, brother, you've just blown away the comfort of so many saints.

No, I haven't. No, no, no. Because, I want you to see this. The upper room ministry of the Lord Jesus, as we call it, so much of the truth that he went through, it's masterly. It's masterly. In that, given the viewpoint of those who were listening to it, who know nothing about the church, who are only awaiting the kingdom, they can see sense in it all.

It stacks up. But, after the Lord Jesus had been crucified, buried, rose again, and after he'd gone back to heaven, and as a result of him being glorified, the Spirit of God came down. Then, those same disciples, sitting again, possibly, in the very same upper room, they began to look at each other and say, that's what he meant.

There was something else that he meant in what he told us in the upper room. Why, we missed it. We didn't understand it then. Because, you see, well, Luke 24 makes it very clear, doesn't it, that that there was a blindness on them.

There was a blindness. You know that chapter where so many things are opened in Luke 24? Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. There's a torpedo thing again. Sorry about that, folks.

We'll get there. Do you mind? Thanks, Joe. Just unplug it when you think I'm going wrong. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. Now, if words have got any meaning, it means that they didn't understand them before.

He had to open their understanding for them. Have you ever wondered? Have you ever wondered, why did nobody sit back in those closing days? Why didn't the disciples sit back and say, we're watching Isaiah 53 in action?

We're watching Psalm 22 being performed. We're seeing Psalm 69 in all its fullness. Why? Why did nobody see that? Why did God put a veil over the minds of the nation so that they could not see a suffering Messiah who would go away and come back as a glorious Messiah?

Why? And I think the answer is, that if consequent upon his death, burial, and resurrection, if when Peter accused the nation of murdering the Lord of life and glory, they could say, excuse me, Peter, we had to do it.

Look, it's there in the prophetic Scriptures. We didn't have an option in this, Peter. Look, the Scriptures prophesied that we would take him and crucify him. How can you blame us for what God has ordained?

So the only way that they could be held culpable for what they did was if they didn't understand those Old Testament Scriptures. Do you see that? And so it was necessary when the Lord was in the home in Emmaus, that he opened their eyes so they could understand the Scriptures.

They didn't understand them before. And the same with his disciples. But now when the Spirit of God came, just as the Lord promised, because they knew that the Spirit of God was going to be poured out upon the nation, that's prophesied.

They didn't know that he was going to come and indwell them personally. They didn't know they were going to get baptized in the Holy Spirit to form the church. They didn't know that. But once they had the Holy Spirit, then they could go back to these Scriptures and see in them things that we see in them and take for granted, and which they knew nothing about.

So this and other Scriptures are momentous in this respect. And I think the reason for it is this. The reason for the Lord's discourse in the upper room is this. Those disciples, the Apostles, they could go forward into the new dispensation of the church with absolute confidence.

This isn't a knee-jerk reaction to what Israel has done. God always had this in view. We just didn't know it. And now that the Spirit of God has come, we can see that the Lord was actually giving us teaching that would prepare us for this age in which we are now.

And that's why you and I can look at John 14, and when we read it as Christians, we see that his going away is his return to heaven. We see his coming again is the rapture. And we see the lovely promise that we're going to be taken to the Father's house, and the wedding will take place before the marriage supper takes place upon the earth.

Does all that make sense? So when we see this, we've got both things in view. The second advent is in view, as far as their realization at the time. The comfort of the Lord's coming to the air for us is something we can see in this as well.

A beautifully sculpted discourse by the Lord Jesus Christ that met their needs at the time, and still made it possible. This is momentous. It still made it possible for a genuine offer to be made by Peter to the nation that if they repented of the crucifixion of Christ, the millennial age could come in.

That was a genuine offer as Peter preached. He was preaching with divine sanction. Of course the nation rejected it, so it becomes effectively hypothetical. We know with a full Bible, we know that God always intended a church age.

But these men didn't know that at the time. So that should get the thoughts racing, and we'll spend the next 15 -20 minutes or so just speaking about the rapture and the second advent. Frank, you want to come in?

Thanks, John. You're saying that you believe this is primarily the second advent of the Lord? Okay, I wouldn't agree with that. That's fine. Yeah, and for several reasons. It's always in relation to the Father.

It's a personal relationship. 50 times in chapters 12 through 17, the Father is mentioned. The manifestation here is personal to the believer, individually in verse 19. It's comforting to them, and he's talking about a world that doesn't understand them and so on, and they'll be saved out of the world from the world.

So I just I'm just wondering, I know I agree with you as far as the their limited understanding, that's for sure. Yes. But I'm just curious as to why you would, especially in these first verses, inject that,.

Believe that... Because they didn't know of any other coming. They didn't know about the rapture.

But because they didn't know, it doesn't mean that he didn't say it. The other thing is,.

Whenever the Lord speaks of his coming to earth, it's always third person. The Son of Man, the Son of Man. Whenever he speaks of his coming for the church, I. If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?

Behold, I come quickly. So coming for the church is always first person singular. Coming to the earth is always third person.

Yes, and you know that because you've got a full Bible. And they ultimately knew that when they had a full Bible. They didn't know it at the time.

So what he really is saying then, he's referring to the rapture. They understood it as the coming, but his intent was to reveal the rapture.

Yeah, I don't have a problem with that. Okay, I don't have a problem. But I think people are, yeah. And if I, if I confuse the issue, I apologize sincerely. No, my point is that when the Lord spoke those words, what they would have heard.

Immediately was second. They would have thought it. And also you said they didn't know anything about the church. The Lord had revealed that. I will build my church.

I'm gonna stay stumped. If they, okay, they were thinking of an earthly sanctuary, my father's house. But what do earthly sanctuaries that are found in the Bible, what do they speak of? You obviously got something on your mind.

I mean, I'm thinking, you see, they would probably have, if they were thinking of Ezekiel's temple, they'd be thinking of the glory of the Lord returning. Yes. You see? So I'm just suggesting, what did, if we were there sitting in their robes and sandals, what we, what would we have heard?

What would we have understood? Because the Lord wasn't playing puzzles with them. Right. But very, very, very simply, an earthly sanctuary is but a picture for earth of a greater reality. That's the Hebrew puzzle.

The actual, the actual dwelling place of God. Yes. Right. And retrospectively now with our full Bible, we can see the Lord was speaking about where God actually dwells. Yes. And there's many dwelling places there.

Yes. For various categories of saints. Yes. You got a question. So your point is exact. We've got a full Bible. Yes. They didn't. That's the point I was clumsily trying to make. Those people, when they heard the Lord speak, didn't know what we know.

Right. So when they heard these things, all they thought about was the second advent. Like you compared it to the two on the way to Emmaus. Yeah. Yeah. I think so, Joe. You got a question? Have we got, who have we got?

Yes, brother.

So then do you believe that it will be fulfilled in the sense that they originally understood?

Yes. Well, both things are wonderfully true that we now know in the light of New Testament revelation that there's going to be a coming of the Lord to the air to take the church home. And of course, we believe fully in the second advent.

The second advent has been the subject of Old Testament prophecy where the rapture is not. It's a truth unique to the church and.

Therefore wasn't known about. So where is that second advent here then in this passage? Tell me that clearly. It's there. I will come again. Yeah. And receive you unto myself. Yeah. That's exactly.

What he's going to do. He's going to receive the nation to himself. Well, he's not talking to the.

Nation. He's talking to his own. This is in the upper room. This is, okay. Anyway, I know not to belabor, but I just, even verse 19, you know, yet a little while the world seeth me no more. That's exactly opposite of the second advent, but you'll see me.

So yeah. Yeah. But you're reading.

With 20, 20 vision. You change your specs since I saw you last. You're looking better from the front. Yeah. No, they're looking with, you're looking at 20, 20 vision. They're not. I'm just trying to provoke thought on our part.

What did they understand by this? And what you'll see is that the Lord's worse than we're genuinely masterly. He still is not closing the door at this stage on Israel's repentance and the millennium coming in as preached in acts two and three.

He's still not closing the door on that. But when the spirit of God comes, the Lord told them in the upper room, he said, he'll, he'll reveal things to you that I can't reveal down here. And so we sit in this, in this position with a full Bible and we look and we say, boys, these characters are really dull.

Why didn't they know that? Why didn't they understand this? We have at times to sit where they were sitting and say, what did they hear? What did they understand at the time? What did it mean to them?

I love you, Phil, but I don't see it. Well, that's fine, brother.

Read Luke 24. He opened their eyes. Can you see dear saints? And this used to, sometimes as a young fellow, I used to sit in Bible readings, looking at men I respected and who knew their Bibles. And I think, how can he, and that, why, why aren't they of one mind on this?

Well, you needn't be worried about that. It's not, it's not that, you know, there's a, you know, a big difference of opinion in this. It is, this is the value of a Bible reading because none of us knows it all.

Absolutely. So, so you've got the principle of first Corinthians 14, let the prophets speak two or three, let the others judge. And that puts a responsibility on you, dear saints, to do the Berean thing and go away and study the scriptures and see if these things be so.

Not to say I'm of Colson, I'm of Sona, and I'm of Higgins or even of Baker, but to go away and study the scripture seriously and say, well, that brother raised an interesting point, but, okay. Yeah. So that's, that's the way a Bible reading works.

When the, when the, when the savior says here, I go, he's going to the father, right? And when he comes back to receive you onto myself, that where I am with the father, there ye may be also, how is Israel restored going to be actually in the dwelling place of God?

You don't think that'll happen in the day of God? The tabernacle of God is with men. That's right into eternity. Yeah, exactly. That's not the second advent. That's beyond. Yeah. But that's what the second advent is leading into, isn't it?

Is into the day of God. This is, this is later.

Maybe just to underline what you said, we agree that both truths are taught in the word of God. Absolutely. The rapture and the advent. The question is whether it is in this passage or not. So it's not a disagreement relative to truth, right?

It's a disagreement relative to the.

Interpretation of this passage. Yeah. Uh, I was briefed the coming, the rapture and the return to earth contrasted. That's why we've read it. So, but you're right, Sandy, we believe them both. And if we were just looking at the truth of the rapture, then obviously we'd go delightedly to first Thessalonians chapter four, for example, but the disciples didn't know about first Thessalonians chapter four.

And if we were looking purely at the thought of the second advent, we could look at some of the old Testament scriptures, or we could look at revelation 19 and scriptures like this. So we can look at them in isolation.

We, there were the time that we had, we were to contrast them. We were to get the juices running. We were to get the thoughts going. We were to get the people pumped up a bit. And if that's what's happened, I'm delighted.

If that means that we go way back to our Bibles and say, well, actually what, yeah. Okay. No, we could, if you like, go down a list and just say, well, you know, the, the rapture, uh, is, is secret. The, the, the earth will see the effects of it, but they won't witness it.

We'll just be caught up in a moment. The manifestation is public. Um, and, and indeed the, the very him, our dear brother gave out at the beginning, uh, managed to confuse both Cummings very, very nicely.

Contrasting the Rapture and the Second Advent

So switching gears, lanes, countries, whatever. Okay. All right. Just what is then in verse two, and this is on a different subject now. In my father's house are many abodes. Why is he bringing.

That into launch into that? Because, because in the temple, the millennial temple, Israel as a kingdom of priests will be abiding in the house. Okay. I thought I was switching.

Gears, but all right. Okay. All right. Okay. All right. To, to go ahead and contrast them. Do we believe in, um, the signless rapture? So we're not experiencing birth pangs today with the USD and the, whatever the Scottish currency is and all that, that is something yet to come.

The birth.

Pangs and some of that stuff that we read. That's very good. Yeah. In fact, the, the coming of the earth is accompanied by signs as you all know. And thanks for feeding that in, uh, the coming of the Lord to the earth is accompanied by signs, but, but we believe in the imminence of the Lord's return.

So there's nothing left to be fulfilled. The Lord Jesus could come at any moment. He really could, by the way, by the way, I don't hardly know any of you here, but, uh, I wonder if a company like this, is there anyone here not safe today?

Any of you young ones not saved or an older one not saved? You do realize that before we break for lunch, the Lord could come. No, very seriously. Now you're sitting amongst believers with every opportunity to trust Christ as your savior, and you could still perish in your sins.

The Lord could be here before we have lunch. That's the truth of the imminence of the Lord's return. Thank you, Joe. No signs. Everything's ready. In fact, the only thing about you and me that needs to be changed before we go to heaven is our bodies.

Yeah. Yeah. That's all Philippians chapter three, who shall change these bodies of humiliation and fashion them like unto his own body of glory. It could all happen in a moment just as we're sitting in this Bible reading.

I'm in full agreement with that. No signs for the rapture, but there are signs that you've said pointing to the coming of the son of man. There's nothing that I know off in scripture that says that some of those signs could not already be happening this side of the rapture pointing to the coming of the son of man.

For example, a very clear one would be Israel back in the land. Yeah, definitely. That's already.

Happened 70 years or more ago, 75 maybe. But would you allow that they could be driven out of the land? They could be. They could be. They could be driven out of the land again. Oh, yeah. And again, regathered.

So we've got to be careful. Yes. Yeah. Since we are in this passage, would.

You allow just another side? Just something I've appreciated here. In my father's house, speaking about heaven, the return to heaven, the return of the father, he's saying, I are many abodes. He's saying there are different dwelling places, different representative residents.

And just in keeping with Ephesians three, is it the different families and so on, those of different aspects of companies who are redeemed? He's saying these places exist already. They are in existence now.

They are present. I am going to make a new place to prepare a place for you as the church now, as a new entity, something that never existed before. And so in that light, it would be something new that they didn't know that we do know now.

But it would also comfort them that they're not going to be outcasts. God, the father himself, has provided something for them in a world that has no place for them. That's a very nice thought indeed, Frank.

Very nice.

Indeed. Yeah, I like that. And he's going to prepare, not to take away from what Frank has mentioned, but really it's the presence of a living man in heaven. Absolutely. That's exactly. Which really, the moment he stepped into heaven, in a sense, it was ready for us now.

Because a living man.

Was there that had never been there before. That's the guarantee, absolutely. He's gone there as the first fruits, hasn't he? And that's the guarantee that we'll be there as well, that Christ is in heaven.

A man, yes. Yeah. And not just a man. As we know from later scriptures, he's the head of a body. Yes. Yeah. And the head must have his body with him. Yes. So help us a little with the argument.

That some would give of a pre-tribulation rapture, that it's the last trump, the last enemy is destroyed. You know these arguments. Yes. And obviously there's a whole bunch of trumps after,.

And a whole bunch of enemies. Yeah. How would you answer that? Yeah, there are those who, for example, like either the mid-tribulationist, that is the one who says, yes, the church is going to go to heaven, but only in the middle of the tribulation.

And there's the post-tribs who say, right, it'll be at the very end of it. And one of the things they do is they point to, say, Revelation chapter 11. And they're looking at the unfolding judgments that will take place between chapter 6, chapter 18 in Revelation.

There are three series of judgments. They are telescopic in that you have the seven judgments associated with the seals of the book in the Lord's hand, but the seventh judgment constitutes the next series of judgments.

That's why we call them telescopic. It's like three sections of a telescope. So seal judgment number seven constitutes the trumpet judgments. So there are those who then look at the final trumpet judgment, and they say, well, that's the last trump.

So therefore, the church must go through the tribulation that far. Now, it is a world away from sound exposition, sound exegesis. They've just latched onto this idea that it's the final trumpet. Well, for a start, it's an angel blowing those trumpets.

The trumpets are associated with judgment, besides the fact that the seventh trumpet judgment actually constitutes the seven bowl judgments that will come later. So it's a specious argument. It doesn't carry any weight.

But thanks for bringing that before us, Joe. Had you any thoughts on that yourself, brother?

No, just that people would raise that. And even the last enemy, that death is all of a sudden destroyed. But of course, for the Christian, death will receive its swallowing up.

Very good. Thank you very much. Yeah. Right. Do we want to make any other contrasts? That was the brief. The contrasts between the rapture and the coming of the Lord to reign. One to the air, the other to earth.

One secret, one private. One for the church, the other to deliver Israel and to establish his kingdom. So he's coming to the air to receive the church to himself. He's coming for his saints. When he comes in manifestation at the revelation of Jesus Christ, he's coming with his saints.

Are you happy with that? It all depends who you mean by the saints. Well, the normal use of the word in the Old Testament would be believing humans. Not holy ones, not angelic. Oh, they'd be included probably.

Yeah. But you see, I mean, there are those who just take the word saints and they say, well, okay. It just means believers of any time. And they see saints in the tribulation and then tell us we've got to go through the tribulation.

So you have to qualify which saints. Oh, no. There's saints in the Old Testament, saints in the New Testament, saints in the tribulation, and even angels in certain instances are called saints, holy ones.

So you believe then that the church will come back to the earth with Christ? In his manifestation, when he shall appear in glory, we also shall appear with him in glory, Colossians 3. So yes, in answer to your question, there'll be humans with him as he comes as part of the armies of heaven.

Not only have I got no bed for.

The night, I'm going to be walking home. Another contrast would be that the coming to the air is a nonspecific location. It's a general location. Whereas when he comes to the earth, it will be specifically upon the Mount of Olives.

Hit Zechariah, touchdown on the Mount of Olives.

Yeah. So that's Acts 1, isn't it? The Lord talking to his disciples, or the angel, rather, speaking to the disciples. She'll soon come in like manna. She'll soon come in like manna. He went up from the mount, he'll come back to the mount.

Yes. So one seems sudden, one seems slow, like a descent. Every eye shall see him.

Every eye shall see him. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Well, we have got 22 minutes before we break for lunch, and we've got the third item on the list. So we won't get to sing a hymn just now, if you don't mind.

The Judgment Seat of Christ and Rewards

We will, though, just think now about the matter of rewards, crowns, and the scripture that's been put on the list there for us is 2 Corinthians in chapter 5. So we'll just read in 2 Corinthians. Thanks, Joe.

We'll read in 2 Corinthians in chapter 5, verse 5. Now, he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the spirit. Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.

We are confident, I say, and willing, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore, we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

And God will again, we trust, bless the reading of his word. We'll begin at the end. That will probably suit those who've got an Ordon Iron background. We'll begin at the end and think about the good and the bad.

It's not talking about evil. It's not talking about sins. It's talking about things in their effect. So the criterion at the judgment seat of Christ here is, are the things that I have in my body since I was saved, have they been of benefit or have they been of little or no value at all?

That's the thought of good or bad. I want to assure, dear saints, particularly the younger ones, that the question of your sins and being under the power of sin as a master, if you are saved by the grace of God, it's dealt with, absolutely dealt with.

The question of your sins, praise God, will never ever be raised again. So the thought of standing before the judgment seat of Christ is that the Lord Jesus, ever faithful, is now looking to reward faithfulness of his believers here, and it's with a view to then granting positions of responsibility and authority in the exercise of his kingdom.

The Lord is coming to the earth at the second advent. He's coming back to the earth to establish his kingdom, and that kingdom is going to have a dual administration. On earth, the restored nation of Israel will now be back at the head of the nations, and they will be administering those nations.

Israel will be God's government on earth. At the same time, in an open heaven, Revelation 19, in an open heaven, the church will be the government of heaven. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, know ye not that the saints are going to administer the world?

Know ye not that we will judge angels? The church is going to be the heavenly administration. On earth, Israel will be the earthly administration, and in that celestial city, poised above earthly Zion, in that celestial city, men will look up.

They will see 12 gates. Over each of the gates is the name of a tribe of Israel. A gate in Scripture is always to do with administration, the gates of a city. The Lord promised, Matthew chapter 19, verse 28, when Peter said, we've left everything to follow you, Lord.

What's in it for us? And the Lord said, in the regeneration, the 12 apostles will sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. It's all a picture of a glorious administration. Remember that dream of Jacob, Genesis 28?

Something that the Lord repeated to Nathanael in John chapter 1. Hereafter, you will see heaven open, and the angels ascending and descending around the Son of Man. The thought being that the Lord Jesus, in His glory, is going to be ascending and descending during the routine of His kingdom reign, and the angels accompanying Him, bringing the instructions of heaven to earth, bringing the reports of earth to heaven.

These are His ministering spirits. And in that lovely scene, we see the fulfillment of the prayer the Lord taught His own disciples. Thy will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven. There's an administration to run.

And you, my brother, and you, my sisters, are going to be part of it. Did you know that? Well, that's what Paul asked the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6. Did you not know this? Glorious day. So positions in that administration, crowns will be awarded.

I've put a little note on the insert that you've got there. We won't have time to look at them all, I don't think, but you will see an incorruptible crown in 1 Corinthians 9, crown of rejoicing, crown of righteousness, crown of life, crown of glory.