"The King Returns (Foundations of Faith #9) - Pastor Doug Batchelor

[Music] welcome friends to our final presentation in our foundations of faith program where we've been talking about some of the very important themes of scripture that need to go to the world with the three angels message and prepare people for christ's return some things that are often misunderstood and even neglected by other christians that need to get back into their bibles i want to welcome those who are here as well as those who are watching on television and i want to take a moment just to thank the hope channel here has done such a wonderful job in working with us and producing this program we're very grateful thank you to 3abn and amazingfactstv for also uplinking the program and if there's a mr facebook out there thank you for streaming it uh because we're getting literally hundreds of thousands of people someone in our office said we've got about two million people who have watched online one of the programs since it began isn't that exciting so and that's of course from watching it live and rebroadcasting and sharing with their friends and stuff so it's it's wonderful to see how the message is getting out we're going to be talking about the theme of christ's return in our presentation this morning and we've been doing some of these things in the context of the anniversary for the reformation i don't know if you're aware but martin luther melanthon that's philip milanthan and many of the other reformers they believed in something called the great week of time they believed that the history of man would last about six thousand years and then we spend a thousand years with the lord in heaven and then at that time the earth would be purified and all things made new uh you know his dating was off a little bit about how old he thought the world was adding up the the bible ages but many of them believed in this one of the founders in our movement jane andrews he wrote a book on the great millennial week or the week of time and basically what it says is because of that verse there in second peter chapter 3 verse 8 peter's also quoting psalms where it says a thousand years in his sight or as a day when it is gone peter says with the lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day and when you add up the ages in the bible and we don't know exactly so don't use this to try and set a date but you know approximately 4 000 bc atom was created and it starts giving the ages how long adam lived and how long seth lived and how long enos lived on up to noah and then there's some ambiguity that's why we don't know the exact date because it says noah had shem ham and japheth and unless they were triplets we don't know exactly when that happened and then you go on down through abraham and we can pretty accurately track history from abraham and the exodus to the present day the jews were very good at keeping a careful chronology jesus was born about 4 bc it's interesting that abraham was created approximately 4004 bc that's bishop usher's chronology abraham was born 2004. jesus was born 4 bc we're now living about 2 000 years after christ and then jesus comes and we live and reign with him for a thousand years you've got three great ages you've got the age of the first 2000 years from the creation to abraham that's known as the age of the patriarchs these are three epochs that you see in the bible god preached the gospel through the patriarchs they weren't jews back then that's noah enoch methuselah so forth then abraham is born for the next 2000 years god preaches the gospel through the jews the israelites his his people and god had committed the oracles of truth to them and the messiah came through them and then you have for the last two thousand years god is sharing the gospel with the world through the church of spiritual israel and then christ is going to come and we will live and reign with him for one thousand years it's almost like a thousand year sabbath and then he creates a new heaven and a new earth and you just see this pattern all through the bible you know the new jerusalem comes down as a bride well jacob had the wedding after seven years of working for uh laban to get rachel you see where joshua how many times did joshua march around jericho seven times you're wrong 13 times everyone says that one time for six days and then after the six days on the seventh day they marched around it seven times blew the trumpets and took the city after six days they took the city you could have a hebrew servant for six years seventh year he went free the bible says jesus promised his disciples hereafter some of you will not taste of death before you see the kingdom of god come with power this is a mark chapter 9 it says after six days he took them up and they had a miniature picture of the second coming you can read where it says moses and the elders waited at the base of the mountain for six days while the glory of god covered the mountain and after six days he called moses up you could sow your land for six years the seventh year you would let it rest the bible tells us that jesus is the sower the word of god is the seed for six 000 years god has been sowing the gospel seed and then jesus is going to come and the condition of the world it's going to be desolate when the children of israel were carried off to babylon the bible says that 70 years they were in babylon the land kept sabbath it was resting while it was desolate during the 1000 years of the millennium the earth is desolate it's keeping sabbath and so i could go on and on king joash was hidden in the temple of the lord the son of david from this wicked queen while she ruled over the land six years at the end of six years the son of david the king came out of the temple where's our king right now where is jesus the son of david is he in the temple of the lord is our high priest is he going to come out of the temple is michael going to stand up joash came out of the temple they blew the trumpet will the trumpets blow when jesus comes the people rejoiced will there be rejoicing when jesus comes the wicked we're slain i'm talking about the story of joash will there be wicked slain when jesus comes and the bible says then there was peace will there be a kingdom of peace after jesus comes all these stories in the bible are allegories telling us something about jesus coming it's not going to last forever the great climax of the world's history is going to be when christ comes and he sets everything right and so then of course they live and reign with jesus 1 000 years you read in revelation 20. oh one more thing i just thought about what did god say to adam and eve if they disobeyed in the garden if they ate the forbidden fruit he said for in the day that you eat it you will surely die did adam and eve drop dead as soon as they eat the forbidden fruit no they probably died spiritually right away there's something happened their light went out because they saw their nakedness but if a day with the lord is like a thousand years how long did adam live 930 in the day you eat you will die i mean if god makes you and you're supposed to live forever and you die within the first thousand years you're devastated you know you you and i lived three score and ten or a few more but back then they lived almost a millennia but nobody made it over a thousand except one person enoch everyone else even methuselah 969 years in the day you eat there of you will die so our study today is talking about when the king returns and we're going to talk about some of the signs of christ's coming we're not going to give you a date for the lord's return but we are going to talk about some of the misunderstandings in the christian world regarding how jesus is coming back because that is going to set many people up for a major deception so we need to understand the subject first question who is the king that will soon emerge from the temple in heaven talked about when joash came out of the temple of the lord and they blew the trumpet by the way that was just before the sabbath began at the changing of the guard just before the millennial sabbath jesus is going to come out of the temple and there'll be a great time of trouble when michael stands up it says i looked and behold a white cloud and on the cloud once sat like unto the son of man having on his head a golden crown jesus is that son of man who is going to come second question will jesus come quietly when he comes now this is where a lot of people misunderstand uh they think that it's going to be a secret and the bible tells us the second coming of jesus is probably the noisiest event in the bible just look at some of the verses that talk about this the lord himself first thessalonians 4 16 shall descend from heaven with what a shout and then it goes on and the voice of the archangel and the trump another audible thing jeremiah 25 30 speaking of the lord coming it says the lord will roar from on high and utter his voice from his holy habitation there's going to be a roar when the lord comes he will mightily roar upon his habitation he will give a shout again you read psalm 50 verse 3 is the lord coming quietly our god shall come and shall not keep silent and it will be very tempestuous round about him there's going to be glory and the heavens are going to be crashing the bible says the heavens are going to depart as a scroll the sun will go dark the moon will turn to blood the stars will fall from heaven the earth is going to reel to and fro like a drunken man the islands will be swallowed up hailstones are going to be falling you're not going to have to text somebody and say did you catch that i think jesus came yesterday and yet some people believe a relatively new scenario about the second coming it's called the secret rapture now you've heard about the left behind books and they've made at least two left behind movies and this was virtually an unknown teaching 200 years ago it slowly evolved out of the jesuit theologians chronology francisco rivera and another man named escobar and they were looking for a counter-reformation interpretation of prophecy to try to fight what was happening because of the great reformers so they concocted this view it didn't really take off until a man named schofield came along any of you ever seen the scofield bible it's got a lot of good things in it but he embraced ribera's theology about the secret rapture and the left behind theology another man named hal lindsey then he picked up the scofield bible he put it in his book called the late great planet earth and then that was picked up by some other charismatics and trinity broadcasting and then they began to teach this and it's it went from almost unknown to the prominent view now the idea is the word rapture means to be carried away with power and that's biblical we'll be caught up to meet the lord in the air nothing wrong with the rapture the idea that it's a secret rapture and the idea that god takes us out of the world before there's any tribulation and then there's seven years of tribulation here on earth where the antichrist does everything dastardly he's going to do during that tribulation it just is it's preparing people to be deceived because it actually sets people up to accept the false christ when he does come now does the bible say that god saves us from tribulation or through tribulation paul says in the book of acts it is through much tribulation we enter the kingdom of god and you've heard me say before god did not save the children of israel from the plagues and by the way the great tribulation is the seven last plagues of revelation same thing did he save the israelites from the plagues weren't they in egypt during the plagues and he preserved them through the plagues it's interesting there were ten plagues that fell on ancient egypt but god protected the israelites through the last seven of the ten plagues how many plagues in revelation seven same seven will be protected from but we will be in the world that's why jesus said he that endures to the end will be saved god saves his people through trials noah was saved through the flood shadrach meshach and abednego through the furnace daniel through the lines then joseph threw his trials job through his trials i would love to believe that we're all just going to go boop and be caught up and get glorified bodies before things get rough down here but god's church is the light in the world and we shine in darkness and so the reason i say that is i've met people they think that well if i'm not ready for the secret rapture then i might have to go through the tribulation but i'll get another chance seven years later and i've met men they said yeah my wife she's telling me she's going to disappear and i'll be left behind she said but then if i repent at least during the seven year tribulation i do have another chance and you know what that means a lot of people are saying well i think i'll just i'll enjoy the world and if i do see everyone start disappearing then i'll get serious and i'll have to go through the tribulation but at least i'll be saved well friends the devil is giving people the idea there's a second chance there is no second chance when jesus comes that's it and if you're going to believe the safe thing believe what i believe because if you believe like i believe and i'm wrong well at least you are ready you see what i'm saying but i think there's a lot of scripture so that we know it's uh not going to be a secret rapture and then someone will say well pastor doug doesn't it say in the bible that he's coming like a thief that's right it does like a thief see secret rapture he's coming like a thief you tell me as i read this verse if it sounds like life goes on seven more years after jesus comes like a thief second peter chapter two verse three and it says the day of the lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with a fervent heat and the earth and the things that are in it will be burned up so when the lord comes like a thief what's happening here on earth does life go on or the elements melting with fervent heat when he comes like a thief why did he say he's coming like a thief because when it happens it's a surprise you ever have a thief come to your house i used to be a thief i did before i was a christian i you know i'm born again now so you can trust me but i i would break into people's houses i'd steal things i never sent them a notice and said look i'm going to be here and so it was a surprise when it happened but they knew after i came and so i don't believe it's going to be a secret rapture what other physical evidence will accompany jesus return you can read in revelation 16 verse 18 there was a great earthquake such as was not upon the earth since uh men were on the earth so mighty an earthquake and so great and so everything is shaking islands are being swallowed up what else happens when jesus comes who will see him when he returns is it just a few people who are ready for the rapture or does the bible say in matthew 24 verse 30 and then shall appear the sign of the sun of man in the heavens and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming know what they'll see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory behold he comes with the clouds revelation 1 verse 7 and every eye will see him somebody always writes in the question pastor doug how can every i see him when the world is round he's not saying they're gonna all see him simultaneously he means that day when he goes around the world and he raptures up kind of vacuums up the redeemed and there's destruction devastation behind him and then he goes off everyone's gonna see him that day that's all it's saying it doesn't say everyone sees him simultaneously and so everyone's going to see him how will it be when jesus comes back we don't have to be left in doubt when christ ascended to heaven from the mount of olives the bible says that the disciples were watching this and they were gazing up into the heavens longingly as they saw jesus their beloved lord drifting up into the clouds out of sight and even after he was gone they stood there and they just stared up into the sky suddenly they got nudged by two angels at their side said men of galilee why do you stand here gazing up into the heavens notice this same jesus will come in the way that he left he's coming in the same way that he left was he real when he left did they see him when he left was he talking to him when he left yeah he said go into all the world to hold them with you always as you send it up to heaven and it's gonna he's a real person he's coming back the same way that he left so we don't have to worry about it being you know what's the reason that this is so maddening for me as a pastor is was the church ready when jesus came the first time the first time they wanted him to come like a lion come and conquer the romans to come and blow a trumpet to shake the world and set israel up as the earthly king but he came quietly like a lamb and they didn't accept it they were not ready because they didn't understand the prophecies now jesus is getting ready to come like a lion with a trumpet as a king and the church is saying no he's coming quietly this time see the devil is always working to get the church to misunderstand the prophecy so they're not ready were they ready when he came the first time no and many will perish because they weren't ready so the same thing's happening who will be with jesus when he comes in the clouds not coming alone matthew 25 31 when the son of man shall come in his glory and all how many all of the holy angels with him so remember what happened when during the resurrection one angel came and rolled away the stone and the guards the roman guards who were there they fell down and like dead men and fled in terror from the glory of one angel one angel of the lord went through the syrian camp and 185 000 soldiers were slain one angel when the lord comes with all the angels nobody's going to have to say did you see the paper yesterday i think i think jesus came and it was bright no everyone will know what will the brightness of jesus coming be like to well i'm sorry what will the brightness of jesus coming do to the living wicked second thessalonians 1 7 when the lord jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not god do you know him eternal life is to know the lord he'll say to the lost i don't know you are you taking time to get to know him because he's coming and it goes on to say ii thessalonians 2 8 then shall that wicked one be revealed whom the lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming when he comes the brightness of his coming that's going to consume the wicked you know it's interesting it's like there's if you're out in the woods at night and you turn on a light all these malls and things come if you're in the city and you walk into a dirty apartment you turn on the light all the cockroaches run so everybody's either a butterfly or cockroach because some people come to the light and others run from the light and that's how it's going to be when jesus comes what will happen to the righteous who are dead at jesus coming this is good news the bible says the dead in christ will rise first many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life that's the dead in christ and you can read in revelation chapter 20 it says this is the first resurrection and wherever you got a first anything you've got a what a second at least you don't want to be in the second resurrection at this point what happens to the living in the resurrected saints all that are saved and the living saints it says there's a transformation that takes place to their bodies the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we who are alive will be changed for this corruptable these bodies that get old and wrinkled and decrepit they'll put on immortality they'll put on incorruption this mortal will put on immortality will be changed in the blink of an eye and those of us who are alive and it says we are then caught up to meet them in the air and that's really i'm getting ahead of myself after being changed what will happen to the righteous thessalonians 4 17 then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them the resurrected saints in the clouds to meet the lord in the air so again is this sounding like a secret everything about it is telling us that it's a very real obvious known event and you've probably heard the stories yeah planes will fall out of the sky because the pilots were christians and now there's nobody to fly and cars will just be crashing on the street because the christians disappear and their clothes will be in the driver's seat you know and and you'll wake up and lo and behold your husband's gone his clothes are still there but he's gone and you know where they get that jesus said speaking of the second coming he said two women will be grinding at the mill one is taken one is left two men will be working in the field one is taken one is left and then luke adds a third scenario two men sleeping in a bed one is taken what is left what does that mean what does a woman represent in bible prophecy a church how many kinds of churches are there there's really only two you go to revelation there's two women revelation 17 revelation 12. you got true and you got false two different gospels there what are the women doing they're grinding the grain it says working with the word one is true one is false outwardly they look the same one is ready one is not then it says there are two men working in the field what's the field the field is the place where the missionaries are working you're sowing the seed you're harvesting two kinds of people out there doing missionary work true and false jesus there's two masters there's two roads you got two options it's either you're with me or against me isn't that right and they said two men sleeping in a bed what does sleep represent death how many kinds of dead people right now two saved and lost first resurrection second resurrection and what really is interesting he said some are taken somewhere left they often assume the ones taken are taken by the lord but in the hebrew mind whenever they disobeyed their enemies came and took them away to assyria they took them to egypt they took them to babylon they're taken away the bible says they knew not till the flood came and took them away the wicked and so being taken away meant being taken out of the promised land out of the place of rest so they've even got who's taken mixdown he's talking about taken away and they say where are they taken lord it says wherever the vultures wherever the body is that's where the vultures are gathered you don't want to be taken like that do you and so the church is so confused on these scriptures about the second coming number 10 what solemn mourning does jesus give about his second coming many will come in my name saying i am christ and deceive many now that verse can be understood a couple of different ways and still be correct some are going to come and they're going to claim to be jesus and then there's going to come and say he is christ but they'll deceive people many will come they come in his name they say he's christ and then they deceive and then there come there's some that come and they say i am christ and satan is going to impersonate jesus in the last days and you can also read on it says for there shall arise false christs and false prophets and they will show great signs and wonders now i'm not so worried about coops that say that they're jesus there's probably thousands of them walking the world today i saw a national geographic report about half a dozen people around the world that have a small group of worshipers and they claim to be jesus got one in south america and one in europe and other places they have their followers and i met somebody that claimed to be jesus and it was a little unnerving because i was living by myself in the mountains in a cave and a guy came hiking up into my cave yard at the yard and uh i mean he came over the rocks and you're in my yard he was about six feet tall he had shoulder length brown hair hazel eyes mustache and a beard and i'm friendly i sat down we talked a little bit and in the process of conversation he asked me if i was a believer i said well yeah i just read the bible just accepted jesus and he said i am jesus and i wasn't sure i heard him write and says he said i am jesus and then i thought well i've got some spanish friends named jesus i said you mean your name is jesus he said no i am jesus and that was a little troubling because um i thought this guy's crazy and i'm up here in the mountains by by myself and then i thought well i don't want to call him crazy what if he is jesus i'd like to know you know i've got a lot of questions and so i i started saying well now doesn't it say in the bible when you come like every eye is going to see you coming in the clouds he said that's how i'm coming for the world at large but i'm coming for certain individuals first and i've and he had an answer for everything he was trying to recruit me as a disciple and so i humored him for a few day days he you know nice and you know he stayed with me he ate all my food he was a slob he didn't clean anything up and finally i had to evict jesus from my cave because a few days later i saw him in town and he had found an apostle he was walking around and i felt much better because about two weeks later i saw him again he got in a fight with somebody and they knocked out his front tooth and we all know jesus has all his teeth so that settled it for me i felt much better at that point so i'm not worried about those kooky people but when satan impersonates christ it's going to be very compelling and there'll be an emotional power and there'll be signs and wonders and he'll quote the bible what will prevent the righteous from being deceived you read in isaiah 8 verse 20 it's going to be the bible according to the law and the testimony if they speak not according to this word there's no light in them and we're gonna have to judge everything by the word of god that's why i've told you that we need to really know our bibles because jesus tells us that the deception is going to be so compelling that if it were possible even the very elect would be deceived so we're going to have to be carefully rooted in what we believe well if you heard that there was somebody out there and they're claiming to be jesus would it be safe to go and see them what does the lord say he says in matthew 24 verse 26 wherefore if they say unto you behold he's in the desert go not forth don't even look hey turn on channel 13 jesus has just appeared in jerusalem i wouldn't even turn it on because the devil can hypnotize and you know you hypnotize a person with their audio and their visual nerves the optic and the auditory nerves and television attack uh kind of reaches both so and now they've got tv it's like high resolution they're getting 3d i mean it's going to be very powerful don't do it you know this um very confused character marshall applewhite he had what the heavens gate group and and he said the lord is coming in secret chambers it's a spaceship hiding in the hail bop comet and all you've got to do is drink this deadly cocktail and we're going to get beamed up i if i had a guy talking to me like that i think he's crazy but he had how many people 20 something people committed suicide because they believed him well this can be a lot more convincing than that what can we know about the time of jesus return i'm going to spend some time on this question so just get comfortable because i want to make a few things clear first of all regarding a specific time of his coming jesus could not be misunderstood but of that day and that hour knoweth no man that should settle it for everybody so if someone comes to you and they say well i know most people don't know but you know near the end we're going to figure it out and i've done some calculating and i don't know the day and the hour but i know the month and i've heard all kinds of strange things why would you try to pick the day would you wait till the last minute to get ready he said he's coming back he could come for you tomorrow because if you die your next conscious thought is a resurrection and so we need to be ready how often jesus said be ready always lest that day overtake you as a thief and a lot of people have been overtaken as a thief already and so we need to be ready some of you remember harold camping family radio i talked to him once or twice on the radio matter of fact amazing facts interviewed him not too long before he died because he was setting a date and you know i think he was sincere but he was wrong a lot of people gave everything they had they invested in his ministry to get the word out that jesus was coming that was a may 21 2011 and of course it didn't happen that was the second or third time he had predicted the day and hour of the lord's coming and you know what i've got a surprise for you every pastor and evangelist that has picked the date for the lord's coming has been wrong so far you realize that i'm talking about the dates of the past and uh so you don't want to be going down that road but while we don't know the day and the hour can we know when it's near jesus is pretty clear matthew 24 33 when you see all these things know that it is near even at the doors there are going to be signs where we can know that it is near and what are some of those signs well there's quite a few first of all jesus says in matthew 24 there'll be wars and rumors of wars well we've had wars all through history and uh certainly now we've got rumors of war there's discussion about problems with north korea and everyone's saying you know they don't see how we're going to get out of this it doesn't look like they're ever going to back down and then problems with iran there's already wars going on in different places in africa in different parts of the world right now do you know just a little amazing fact for you that the world spends over 100 million dollars an hour on soldiers ammunition and war machines wouldn't you have like to have just a little piece of that 100 million dollars an hour on international military expenditures bible says they'll be political instability people's hearts will be failing for fear the sea and the waves roaring and we see that now there's just so much volatility and political instability and problems in the middle east and there have been for years jesus said there'll be pestilence that's plagues and various kinds of disease and we all know about the the ebola crisis that they had a little while ago but uh you know i i think that really what the world needs to be concerned about when it comes to a plague is something as simple as a flu you know that during world war one um what killed the most people was not the battles and they were brutal of world war one it was the 1918 flu epidemic that killed 40 million people that year and right now they say that there's a potential of another strain of that that is resistant to disease and the ability for us to spread that with international travel you get on an airplane and a tin can with all these other people and it's hard not to pick something up and to transmit it everywhere i don't worry about those things i'm just saying these are some of the signs he said there'll be plagues there'll be natural disasters i had another major earthquake in mexico this year between 2004 and 2014 18 and this is from the geological society of america 18 earthquakes with a magnitude of 8.0 or more rattled subduction zones around the globe that's an increase of 265 over the average rate for the previous century and so they're seeing an acceleration of the problems now before i go any farther let me tell you why these signs matter we've always had wars there's always been plagues you had the black death you've had problems in the environment there's you know problems with earthquakes and natural disasters the lord says it'll be labor pains paul refers to it as the whole creation groans and travails it compares it to a birth uh now we have five children seven grandchildren i know something about how this works wife says i'm feeling some pain you rush her off to the hospital and he listens and he says how far apart are they well about a day or two he's not go back home those are braxton hicks contractions that doesn't mean anything your body's just getting warmed up but eventually those pains will start coming and they'll say how far apart are they how severe are they as they increase in frequency and intensity you know there's going to be a birth eventually and what we're seeing in the world cannot be denied that with all of these problems there is an increase in frequency and intensity that tells us that the coming of the lord is going to be soon another problem is just what's happening to the environment half of the world's wildlife species national geographic says have been lost in the past 40 years can you imagine that half of the wildlife species have been lost in 40 years the bible says there'll be violence in the last days he said as it was in the days of noah where people's thoughts of their hearts were only evil continually and violence filled the land every day more american youth die in gang violence and fighting in foreign wars that statistic has been true for several years jesus said as it was in the days of lot so will it be in the day when the son of man shall return meaning there'll be tremendous immorality i don't know about some of you that heard there's a website that encourages people to have an affair they say life is short have an affair you notice a girl's got a wedding ring on and someone breached their database they claim to have 56 million people globally that's pretty sad and they were going to release it all if they didn't bring down their site they didn't bring down their site and a lot of these very personal details of people who had been either having affairs or contemplating affairs likewise as it was jesus said in the days of lot so shall it be in the day when the son of man is revealed and i think we all know that one of the signs in a lot is they had trouble knowing that god made male and female different is it just me or do we have a problem with that in the world today you notice i'm having to be careful how i say it but the bible is pretty clear that it condemns homosexual behavior let alone who would have thought that it would be called marriage 20 years ago and now it's not just you can identify as whatever you want it's not just you say well i'm going to identify as a man or i'm going to identify i'm going to identify as something else in between and they're getting driver's license where you can have you know 50 different options for what your sexual identity is i'm sorry god made two that's it and all you got to do is look at your chromosomes or look in the mirror and you can figure out what you are it doesn't have to get complicated but the devil is attacking every institution in the garden of eden overpopulation it took about 5 000 years to get the first billion people in the world then it only took 130 years to get the second billion then it took 30 years to get the third billion 15 years to get the fourth billion i remember when there were three billion now they're pushing towards 8 billion people you know for me also one of the amazing signs that jesus is coming soon is found in daniel chapter 12. said but you daniel shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end many will run to and fro and people are running to and fro national geographic magazine said a couple of years ago people are traveling far from home more now than ever before in history and there's just the international travel as much as we complain it's happening more and more all the planes are full that i'm on and he said going back to daniel knowledge will increase look at the explosion of knowledge now you can have a lot of knowledge and no wisdom wisdom is knowing what to do with knowledge you can have knowledge and make an atomic bomb and not have the wisdom to not use it so man has certainly got a lot of knowledge i don't know if you've heard about the hadron accelerator i think that was on the screen just a moment ago it's the largest scientific experiment in the world 17 mile tunnel underneath france and switzerland 500 feet below ground 10 000 scientists and they're trying to isolate and discover what they call the higgs boson the god particle they're trying to figure out how the universe was developed and they spent all this money to try and find out you know what does everything come from and i don't have time to go through all of the amazing inventions that have taken place in the last century some of you here you grew up with kerosene lights and there's still people here that remember when you rode a horse to get from point a to point b look at how the world has changed in one generation but for me the most amazing sign is in matthew 24 verse 14. jesus said in this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world for a witness unto the nations and then the end will come the end might come so the end shall come it will come is the gospel being preached in all the world never before i mean even as i speak right now this is going up by satellite it's on at least three different satellite networks it's going through the internet there's people who are watching in new guinea and australia and then norway and just all over the planet in china amazing facts had the privilege of being the first christian ministry of any denomination to do a public evangelistic meeting in china since in the last 59 years and we videotaped it and i hope china did it and it's being broadcast around china it was translated and so the gospel is going around the world we get internet we get email from people who say they're watching our program in middle eastern countries they say i can't tell you my name because if this got out my life could be in danger but they're watching the gospel is going in all the world and so that's why i think jesus is coming he didn't say everybody would believe he said as a witness to all nations then the aim then the end will come so are we getting ready for jesus coming what will the angels do at the second coming of jesus bible says he will send his angels to and they will gather together his elect from the four winds of heaven that means north south east west and they'll bring them to the lord they're going to be caught up together with the lord now since we're living just before the second coming how should we relate to this solemn and glorious event how many of you have heard a presentation like this before about the second coming sure yeah did it change you for a little while why do we talk about the second coming some people say well when he comes he comes don't get preoccupied with his coming well personally i'm what you would call a seventh-day adventist and that means that we get excited about the imminent advent of jesus jesus has told us to go into all the world to teach and to baptize he wants people to know that this world has a limited amount of time and we need to get ready and if nothing else your life has a limited amount of time and you need to get ready for the lord for you and so we have a message but this world is not going to last forever that also tells us about the goodness of god wouldn't it be terrible if the sin and the pain and the suffering were immortalized jesus coming again is good news that it's all going to be resolved how do we respond he says therefore be ready for in such an hour you think not the son of man is coming i did a program like this back in 1999 and there was millennial fever and everybody thought the world was going to end with y2k any of you remember that that was the mother of all false alarms and i knew people sold everything and moved up into montana and they you know lived on garbanzo beans or whatever and they just they cut up their credit cards they said we got to get off the grin the world is going to end with y2k everyone thought 2000 something's going to happen you can listen to my old tape i said i don't think it's going to happen now why because everybody's looking for it now jesus said in such an hour as you think not and who's he talking to the church you notice that when jesus tells parables about his second coming he said before it happens a lot of people are sleeping there are 10 virgins five wise five foolish all asleep right and then the bridegroom shouted that he's coming they had to wake up jesus said if that evil servant says in his heart my lord delays his coming even if he says it in his heart and we're asleep at that critical moment what were the disciples doing just before the cross he said pray with me they went to sleep on the mountain when moses and elijah appear and god speaks the disciples fell asleep so jesus said mark chapter 13 watch watch watch how do you watch you have to be sober you have to be vigilant you have to be careful that you are not allowing yourself to doze off you ever caught yourself starting to fall asleep while you're driving are you aware that sleeping at the wrong time can be deadly it's like the two boys sitting on the front porch contemplating life and one said to his brother says when i go i want to go like grandpa quiet in my sleep peaceful and his brother said yeah i'd hate to go like the other people in the car yelling and screaming grandpa fell asleep it can be fatal and so here we are on the borders of the second coming are you spiritually awake how do you wake up spiritually how do you revive do you have a relationship with jesus are you spending regular time with him do everything you can do make a note set it on your computer have an alarm go off but if you take time to pray if you take time to read his word if you take time share your faith and you need to be studying know what you believe be ready always to give an answer to anyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear so how will people be rewarded at the second coming of jesus there's gonna be two groups the lord says behold i come and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be what will the wicked say when jesus returns and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bond man and every free man said to the mountains and the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sits upon the throne for the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand that's the question who's going to stand what will the righteous say when jesus comes lo this is our god we've waited for him and we'll he will save us do you live for the lord are you waiting for him you know a few years ago a captain scott o'grady was flying over bosnia during the war there and his jet was shot down and he parachuted off into enemy territory and he knew that if he was captured that they had been doing bomb runs and that he would be either killed or tortured or both and so he had to hide cut loose's parachute went under some bushes he knew when he was shot down that others saw his parachute come down and he was hiding under bushes he put his camouflage gloves over his face he saw people walking right by the bushes he heard the soldiers with guns talking and walking around him and he had to stay perfectly still for six days he hid terrified he'd try to sleep and stay still during the day about midnight he'd get up during the night and he'd he'd run try and get further and further and try and get out in the wilderness didn't even radio for a few days because he knew they'd be listening for his radio frequency and he caught rain water in a sponge and ate bugs and put all of his training into practice you can read where he said in this time magazine a pilot story i prayed to god and asked him for a lot of things and he delivered me throughout the entire time oh great he told time in an interview when i prayed for rain he gave me rain one time i prayed lord let me have at least someone know i'm alive and maybe come rescue me and guess what that night t.o that's a fellow f-16 pilot thomas o'hanford came up on the radio at that moment o'grady knew his ordeal was coming to an end what he didn't know is that they had a fix on him they knew he was shot down and they mobilized the entire u.s air force marines nato was all preoccupied with rescuing one soldier that's how much one soldier means and when they finally came then he had to run up on this hill he knew they had just a very short time the marines came in with the helicopters they saw his smoke they landed and they picked him up and he was so thankful to be caught up and saved from enemy territory well we've been down here for 6 000 years has jesus forgotten about us we're in enemy territory if you're a christian you're a citizen of another kingdom amen and he is not going to neglect his promise christ has told us very plainly in my father's house or many mansions if it was not so i would have told you i will come again he came the first time just like he promised he's going to come the second time do you believe it friends and he wants to take us back to a world where there is no more pain or sorrow or suffering only thing that matters in this life is knowing jesus and sharing jesus this world is not going to last you and i know about one that will last forever that is better than anything we can imagine it is not a fairy tale it is one of the only things that is real is the message of the gospel and we need to get that out to the world amen we need to be a people who believe in the imminent advent of jesus and take this reformation these three angels messages to the world in the last days how many of you want to say as we close past the doug by the grace of god i want to be one of those people and i want to help share that message would you be willing to stand with me and let's ask him as we pray [Music] loving father we just thank you and we claim the promise that jesus has made that he will come back again we're so thankful for the the good news and the blessed hope we have because of the love of jesus and his sacrifice for us we embrace the grace lord and we pray that the holy spirit will fill each of us i pray that we'll know you lord and so when you come again you'll say these are my children well done good and faithful servants bless each person here we pray in jesus name amen

Channel: Aaron

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Id: j378JOYegm8

Length: 52min 48sec (3168 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021