God isn't really
something to worship. He's just waiting to
destroy all of us. I guess there's a God
out there somewhere. I hope there is a God. God isn't really
something to worship. [INDISTINCT CROWD VOICES] God is everywhere. And I'll remind you, as well,
He loves you, and I love you. I've been praying for
your peace this week, that God would just fill
you with the peace that passes all understanding. [COUGHS] Excuse me. It's bad with a microphone to
cough, but I had no choice. But I've just been praying
that God would just keep your mind fixed on Him
as we march into the future. Big question marks for
everybody what's happening, what's going to happen. God is with you. God grants you His peace. Would you please
turn in your Bibles to the Book of
Revelation, chapter 19-- Revelation, chapter 19. So in the newspaper industry,
there is a font that is used, a typeface in newspaper printing
known as Second Coming type. And that is really big headlines
for really major events. For example, on December 7,
1941, we were bombed in Oahu. It merited Second Coming type. That was a big announcement. When Israel became a nation in
1948, "State of Israel is Born, once again, Second Coming type. President JFK, November of
1963, when he was assassinated, of course, that was major
news around the world, Second Coming type. Another assassination
when we got bin Laden, a little bit
smaller, but still big news. But now imagine a
headline that read this-- yeah. Now, that-- [APPLAUSE] Now, that's a headline. And that really does merit
Second Coming type, right? Because the second coming
of Christ is headline news. It's the biggest event ever. It is the culmination of all
of the hopes of all believers for the last 2,000 years. It will be when our prayers
are finally answered. "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done
on Earth as it is in heaven," because
He is going to bring His kingdom to the Earth. Time magazine a while
back did a little poll called Future Poll, where
they polled 800 Americans to see what they think. And according to
this poll, 22%-- this is 22% of Americans-- predict the Earth
will be under the rule of a one-world government by
the end of the 21st century. We're in the 21st century. Not only that, 11%
think there will be a single worldwide religion. And more than half
in this poll, 53%, expect the return of Jesus
Christ within this millennium. And we're talking about the
second coming of Christ. The world knows about
the first coming. And the world's OK with that. That's Christmas time, right? That's when you get
presents and stuff. I like the first
coming of Christ. We get gifts. Even though it's not our
birthday, we get gifts. But the world is
knowledgeable of the fact that Jesus was born in
a stable in Bethlehem. They know about the shepherds. They know about the angel
making the announcement. They know about the magi. And the world is really
comfortable with baby Jesus in a manger. Problem is they don't
want him to grow up. One author put it
this way, "the world likes a complacent,
reasonable religion." And so it is always ready
to revere some pale Galilean image of Jesus, some
meager, anemic Messiah, and to give Him a
moderate rational homage. Problem with all that is
we get to Revelation 19. And Revelation 19
shows us a Jesus you can't control, shows us
a Jesus who leaves the manger and grows up and, in this
chapter, demands our attention and demands our submission
because he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. That's how He gets introduced. Well, we've been doing, just for
refreshment, a series on truth, on Bible doctrine. And we've covered theology and
Christology, and pneumatology, and all the "ologies," right? And the last few weeks, we've
been looking at last things, eschatology. So three, two weeks ago
we did the last days. We talked about, are
we in the last days, and showed you marks of that. Last week we looked at
the rapture of the church. That's the event we're
looking for as believers. And today we look at the
second coming of Christ. But as we get into
this study, I just want you to know that
we as New Testament believers, the church, we're not
looking for immediately to come the second coming of Christ. We are looking for
his coming that we talked about last week, what's
called the blessed hope. Paul said, looking
for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing
of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. That's what we're looking for. There's a great little story. I have a friend
who wrote a book. And in the book he
talks about that he was visiting an institution for
mentally handicapped children. And it broke his heart as he
was touring this facility. And what he notices he was
going from hallway to hallway and room to room is that all of
the windows that face outside had little hand prints
on them, fingerprints. And so he wanted to know
what's up with that. And the director said, the
children here love Jesus. And they're so eager
for him to return that they lean
against the windows as they look up to the sky. And I read that, and
I said, if that's what it means to be
mentally handicapped, let me be so afflicted
because here you have these kids eagerly waiting
for Jesus Christ to return. But now we come to
the second coming. Now, we fast forward from the
event we looked at last week to the end of a period
of time typically known as the tribulation period, what
Jesus described as the worst time ever on planet Earth. It'll make the pandemic
look like a cakewalk. We talk about judgment
of biblical proportions. The world's going to
set a whole new standard of biblical proportions
when it comes to the last part of that
coming period of wrath called the great tribulation. I've had you turn to the end of
that, Revelation, chapter 19. And I want to show you
the event as described by John in the vision. But I want to show you four
facets of the second coming of Jesus Christ to the Earth. And here's the first facet, and
we're just about to read it. The second coming
of Christ will be preceded by a supper, a
very particular event. Verse 1 of Revelation
19, "after these things I heard a loud voice
of a great multitude in heaven saying, alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor
and power belong to the Lord our God for true and
righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great
harlot who corrupted the Earth with her fornication." It's a reference to Babylon. The last world government
will be dubbed Babylon. The economic side is
seen in chapter 18. The religious side is
seen in Revelation 17. All that's passed. That's over. And it says, "He has avenged on
her the blood of HIS servants shed by her. Again they said, alleluia! Her smoke rises up
forever and ever! And the 24 elders and
the 4 living creatures fell down and worshipped God
who sat on the throne, saying, amen! Alleluia!" I mean, they're getting
Pentecostal now. They're into it. "Then a voice came from
heaven saying, praise our God, all you His servants
and those who fear Him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, as the sound of
many waters and as the sound of mighty
thunderings, saying, alleluia! For the Lord God
Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and
rejoice and give Him glory for the marriage
of the lamb has come. And His wife has
made herself ready. And to her it was granted to
be a arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine
linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, write,
'blessed are those--' here it is-- 'who are called to the
marriage supper of the Lamb!' And he said to me, 'these are
the true sayings of God.'" A lot of times we talk about
a marriage made in heaven. This is a marriage in heaven,
a marriage feast in heaven. Now, let me just give you
a quick background, quick. In Revelation 19,
the camera shifts. The scene is different. Chapter 6 through the end
of 18 takes place on Earth. All the focus is on the Earth. There's several judgments
that take place. There are seven
seals on a scroll, and each one gets busted
off, judgments pour forth. After the seven seals, come
seven trumpets that are blown. With each blast of the trumpet,
more judgments hit the Earth. After that, seven
more bold judgments, where vials or bowls of judgment
are poured out upon the Earth. Each one seems to get
worse and worse and worse till it's finally over. And chapter 19 takes
place in heaven. And it's an incredible scene. It's a wedding
scene, a wedding that will be bigger and
better and more ground-- grander than any royal wedding
that you've ever seen on TV, whether it's Charles and Diana
or Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. Is that right? Did I get that right? So we love royal weddings. What's going to go on in heaven
is going to make all those royal weddings look
like a cheap Las Vegas presided-over-by-a-fake-Elvis
wedding, one of those kind of things. It is the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And the symbolism is
pretty straightforward, if you know your New Testament. The Lamb is Jesus. The bride is the
church, or the church is called the bride of Christ. And this is Jesus
with the bridegroom in a celebration in heaven. Now, last week we told you
about the rapture of the church. And we talked about the coming
of the Lord for His saints. And we gave you the outline
of a Jewish wedding. Do you remember that? So just-- I'll refresh
your memory really quick. This couple has
probably been arranged to be married since
they were little kids. But the couple grows
up, and they're at the age to be married. So the groom, or
the groom to be, goes to the house
where the bride lives, her father's house, and
makes formal arrangements, a betrothal, an engagement. Lasts up to about a year,
several months to a year. After that, after
the betrothal, he goes back to his father's
house and builds a room on his father's
house, where they will live after they're married. At some point in the future,
he asks dad's permission to go get his bride. Dad gives permission. So the groom goes back
to the bride's house. She doesn't know
when he's coming. She always has to be ready. He can't text her 2,000 years
ago and say, I'm on my way, heads up. So he just shows up. And when he comes close,
somebody with a shofar, a trumpet, blows
it to let everybody know party's about to come down. And then when he's close
by the house of the bride, he lets out a shout to let her
know and let them know inside that he has arrived. Then he takes her with him
back to the father's house, where they have the formal
wedding and a wedding feast that typically lasts
for about seven days. So that's the background
of all of this. This is the church in heaven,
the church from Pentecost all the way to the rapture,
betrothed to Jesus. We've been waiting
for him to come and literally sweep
us off our feet, where we will be with him. This is the language
that Paul had in mind in 2 Corinthians
11 he said, "I am jealous for you with
a godly jealousy for I have betrothed you." There's the idea that
I've engaged you. "I have betrothed
you to one husband that I might present you as
a chaste virgin to Christ." So we are in the
courtship phase. There is no physical contact. There is no bodily contact. We're betrothed, and
we're awaiting the groom to come and take us away. That's the background. Now, question, the
bridegroom here is referred to first as a lamb. And it's interesting
to me because of all the titles
of Jesus Christ, why is the groom
referred to as the lamb? Why is Jesus called the Lamb? He could be called the creator. He could be called king. He could be called lord. He could be called master. He could be called
prince of peace. But here it's the
lamb and the bride. And here's my thought. He's presented here as a
lamb because it was the lamb that you fell in love with. You didn't fall in love
with the creator God. You fell in love
with the one who offered to take your sin and
mine and wash it all away. And that attracted you to Him. And so you fell in
love with the Lamb because that was
His chief ministry was to come and
purge us of our sin. So it is the marriage
supper of the Lamb. Now, you'll notice that
it's quite a celebration. It's like the party
of all parties. There's great joy, enthusiasm. There's celebration. There seems to be
wedding guests. We have not only the 24 elders
in verse 4, which I believe is representative
of the church-- I don't have time to
explain why that is. I wrote a commentary on the Book
of Revelation where I did that. But it's a motif from chapter
4 and 5 of Revelation. So I believe the 24 elders are
representative of the church. Notice, also, there are
four living creatures. They show up in heaven,
also in chapter 4 and. 5 these are four special angels
of God's presence, cherubim, who are always around the throne
of God to give Him praise. Then in verse 1,
John says, "I heard a loud voice of a great
multitude in heaven," probably all those angels
that John also told us about in chapters 4 and 5. And notice that they are
using a word of praise here. They use it four times,
the word alleluia. Now, here's what's interesting
about the word alleluia. It's the only time it appears
in the entire New Testament. It's an Old Testament
word, shows up a lot in the Book of Psalms. But you don't read about it in
the New Testament until here. In the Old Testament, it's
spelled with an H, hallelujah. But it's the same idea. It means praise the Lord. But four times at
the marriage supper of the Lamb, alleluia,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. They just get into it. It's as if they have been
restrained until now. And now they let loose. Something else, look at verse 6. "And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude." There they are again. But listen to how loud, "as
the sound of many waters and as the sound of
mighty thunderings." Does that sound quiet to you? That sounds pretty
boisterous, right? Sounds loud. So it shows me that heaven is
a place of lots of activity and pretty noisy. I say that smiling-- see, this is me smiling-- because I think back to when
I was a kid going to church, and my mom always said, shh! And I'd say, why? She said, it's church. Like, OK, it's church, so,
shh, (WHISPERING) be quiet. It's God's house. God doesn't like noise. (REGULAR VOICE) You
may want earplugs then when you get to heaven because
it sounds and looks and reads like it's a very active,
alive, and loud place. So that's the first aspect. That's the first facet
of this second coming. It is preceded by a supper. Second thing I want
you to note is that it is predicted by the scripture. I'm going to take you to verse
10 where that's highlighted. It says, "and I fell at
his feet to worship him." Now, this is the angelic being
the John sees and bow down to worship. I just think John is
overcome with emotion. He's just reflexively
doing this. He's not really thinking
about, oh, yeah, I shouldn't be worshipping angels. He just does it. "But he said to me, see
that you do not do that. I am your fellow servant
and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God!" But here's the key phrase,
"for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Let that phrase just sort of
seep into your mind and soul, "for the testimony of Jesus
is the spirit of prophecy." Listen to it in the
New Living Translation, "for the essence of
prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus." You see, the central theme
of all prophetic literature, the central focus is none
other than Jesus Christ. And what's more, they had a lot
to say about His second coming. Listen to this. "Next to the subject
of faith, there is no subject discussed
more in the Bible than the second
coming of Christ." Next to the subject of faith,
there is no subject covered as much as the second
coming of Christ. The second coming is
dealt with 1,845 times. So some dude's out
there counting that. That's a lot of times, 1,527
times in the Old Testament, 318 in the New Testament. For every time the first coming
is mentioned, the Bethlehem event, the second coming
is mentioned eight times. So it's a factor of 8 to 1. Also, for every time the
atonement is mentioned, the second coming
is mentioned twice. Jesus personally referred
to his return 21 times. And 50 times, or over 50 times,
we are told to be ready for it. So Jesus is the star on the
stage of Bible prophecy. And the second coming takes
a lot of that attention. And when the Bible
makes prophecies, when the prophets
were predicting, they were predicting
principally one of two things, either His first coming
or His second coming, as we've mentioned. We talk about the scarlet
thread of redemption, right? We've talked about that before,
that the sacrifice of Christ is seen through the
pages of scripture. I wrote a book called
Blood Line on that theme. But more than that, more
than the scarlet thread of redemption is the golden
thread of His righteous rule at the second coming. Now, the Jewish people,
all Jewish people, orthodox Jewish
people, have looked for a messiah for 3,500 years. Most of them don't
believe he has come yet. So they're still waiting. But orthodox Jewish
people, for 3,500 years, have said a prayer
like this, I believe in the coming of Messiah. And even though he tarry,
I shall wait for Him every coming day. I believe in the
coming of Messiah. And even though he tarry,
I shall wait for Him every coming day. That's been their prayer. That's been their anticipation. Well, the prophets predicted
that He would come. That's why they're waiting. But Jesus fulfilled
those prophecies. We know that. We've seen that. We've looked at that. But when the prophets were
looking into the future, they anticipated not only His
coming but His coming in glory to reign. And some of those we
are familiar with. We're familiar with Isaiah's
prophecy, when he said, unto us a child is born. Remember that prophecy,
unto us a son is given? You know when we usually that? Christmastime. Listen to the whole prophecy,
under us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. Here it is. And the government will
be on His shoulder. That hasn't happened yet. And His name will be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace. Here it is, of the
increase of His government, there will be no end. Upon the throne of
David to order in establish it from
this time forth, even forevermore, even
though the Lord of hosts will perform this. The zeal of the Lord of
hosts will perform this. That is about this event,
the second coming of Christ. Daniel predicted this event. Actually Daniel
interpreted a dream of a pagan king
named Nebuchadnezzar, who couldn't sleep one night. He goes, man, I had it
bad dream last night. You better tell me what it is. I don't know what it is, or
I won't tell you what it is. But you have to tell me what
it is and what it means. Nobody could do it. Daniel comes in and
goes, you saw an image of all these different metals. And then in your dream
you saw this stone coming out of the heavens. Remember that dream
in Daniel, chapter 2? It hit the image. It destroyed the image. And that stone grew
into a mountain that covered the Earth. And Nebuchadnezzar said,
man, you nailed it. That's exactly what I dreamed. Now what does it mean? So Daniel says, well, there's
a whole bunch of kingdoms that are going to come. And you're the first
guy on the list. You're the head of gold. But after you will
come other kingdoms. But here's this part. "Then the God of
heaven will set up a kingdom which shall
never be destroyed and shall break in pieces and
consume all these kingdoms and stand forever." That's this event. That's when it starts. That's when the kingdom
gets established. Remember when Jesus
stood before Pilate? And Pilate had a
conversation with Christ. And Pilate said,
so you're a king? And Jesus said, you're right
to say that I'm a king. But he said, my kingdom
is not of this world. But now the kingdom is. Now He comes back. And He comes to hang
up a sign, in effect, that says under new management
because he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Also, Jesus spoke very plainly
about this second coming. Listen to how he puts it. Now, this is Matthew 24. This is Jesus' own
eschatological sermon because the disciples said,
so when are you coming back? And what are the
signs of all that? So he tells them Matthew
24 on the Mount of Olives. He says, "immediately after
the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened. The moon will not
give its light. The stars will fall from heaven. The powers of the
heavens will be shaken." All of that is written about
in Revelation, chapter 6 through 18. Then listen to this. "Then the sign of the Son of
Man will appear in heaven." That's His second coming. "And then all the tribes
of the Earth will mourn. And they will see the Son of Man
coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." So Isaiah the prophet,
Daniel the prophet, other prophets all the way
back have predicted this event. Jesus himself
articulated this event. Also, some of the greatest
songs of the church have been about
the second coming. Do you guys know the name
Charles and John Wesley? If you know, go ahead and
raise your hand again. This is church. You can raise your hand up. God bless you. I see that hand. No, I'm just kidding. [LAUGHTER] So John and Charles Wesley
were these great preacher revivalists. John Wesley was like
the preacher guy. Charles Wesley wrote songs. Do you know how many songs
Charles Wesley wrote? 6,500. Some say up to 8,000. But let's be conservative. Let's be skimpy here, shall we? 6,500 songs. Man, I've written like six. 6,500 he wrote. The majority of
Charles Wesley's hymns focus on the second
coming of Christ. It is one of the great themes
of hymnology through the ages. Here's one everybody knows not
by Wesley, but by Isaac Watts, because we sing
it every Christmas not knowing it has nothing
to do with Bethlehem. It has everything to do
with the second coming. Just read the lyrics. Here it is, "joy to the
world, the Lord is come. Let Earth receive her King." It's all about Jesus coming
to establish His kingdom because this is the great
hope, and this is the day where Jesus comes in glory. So let's move on. We've seen two things about
the second coming of Christ. It's preceded by a supper. It's predicted by the scripture. Third, it's punctuated
by a slaughter. Now, this is where the story
goes a little bit dark. I mean, it gets a
little bit somber. Verse 11, "then I
saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse." When Jesus came to
Earth the first time, He rode into
Jerusalem on a donkey. Donkey, right? A little bit of Shrek there. [LAUGHTER] But when He comes
the second time, He comes on a white horse. That's very emblematic
of conquering, like ancient rulers did. "And He who sat on him was
called Faithful and True. And in righteousness, He
judges" and literally wages war. "His eyes were like
a flame of fire. On His head were many crowns." When conquerors would
conquer in those days, they would often take the
crown of the conquered king and put it on their head to
show new sheriff in town. I'm in charge. He had many crowns. On His name, a
name written on it. "He had a name written that
no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a
robe dipped in blood. And His name is called
The Word of God." We know that's Jesus. In the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. "And the armies
of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean,
followed Him on white horses. Now, out of his mouth goes a
sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule
them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress
of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His
robe and on His thigh a name written, King of
kings and Lord of lords. Boy, this is a very
different Jesus than Matthew, Luke, and John. This is the warrior Jesus. This is not gentle
Jesus, meek and mild. This is giant Jesus,
mighty and riled, right? This is very different. When we think of
Jesus, we often think of Jesus looking with
such compassionate eyes, or tear-filled eyes, as
he looked over Jerusalem. Verse 12 shows us one whose
eyes are like a flame of fire. We picture Jesus in our minds
wearing his own crown of thorns in sacrifice and humiliation. Once again in verse 12, on his
head here were many crowns. We typically picture
Jesus in his suffering, covered with his own blood. You'll notice here in verse 13,
he has a robe dipped in blood. It's not His own. It is the blood of his enemies. Isaiah 63, which is a
corollary to Revelation 19, spells that out clearly. He comes to wage war. By the way, speaking of songs,
before I kind of explain what this is, what's
going on here, speaking of hymns
of the church songs, another great second coming song
was written during the Civil War by Julia Ward Howe. She was grieved by the
inhumanity in her own country. And she wanted to
think about the day when Jesus will come back
and set all things straight. And so her hope was
the second coming. So she wrote a song called
Battle Hymn of the Republic. And the lyrics
are Revelation 19. "Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage
where the grapes of wrath are stored. He has loosed the
fateful lightning of His terrible, swift sword. His truth is marching on." That is Revelation 19. Those lyrics are her
thinking past the Civil War on into the coming of Jesus. Now, what is happening here? A war. He's waging war. He's coming to a battle. This is the end of the
tribulation, a very particular battle. You could call it the
mother of all battles. It is the Battle of
Armageddon, previewed already, even though we haven't
read it in this series. In Revelation, chapter
16, it's spelled out. They'll gather together
in a Valley of Megiddo, or Armageddon, called in
the tongue, Armageddon. It's Revelation 16,
versus 15 and 16. So it is the final showdown of
the Antichrist and his armies. And they converge in Israel,
marching toward Jerusalem in the Valley of
Armageddon, we are told. By the way, Napoleon Bonaparte
said the Valley of Armageddon, in all of his
military experience, was the most natural
battleground in the world that he had ever seen. Many historic battles, biblical
battles were fought there. Deborah and Barak fought Sisera
in the Valley of Armageddon. Gideon fought the Midianites
in the Valley of Armageddon. Sennacherib fought the
fight against Hezekiah. I'm guessing that's
around Second Kings 18. That's a biblical battle. Also, King Pharaoh
Necho of Egypt fought against and
killed King Josiah in this battle that's
around Second Kings 23, right around there. But it's back there in
the Bible somewhere. So that place has seen
lots of battle activity, even in more modern times. And we'll see another
battle in future times. The long and short
of it is hostilities against the nation of Israel
will reach fever pitch during this period of time. And they will march all the
armies of the Antichrist against Jerusalem. That's when Jesus shows
up not to fight a battle, to interrupt a battle. They're marching. OK, we're going to do this, man. We're going to-- and
then Jesus comes back. I know it's called the
Battle of Armageddon. Let's get that out of our minds. It's really not the
Battle of Armageddon. It's the beat down
at Armageddon. It's a wipe out. It's not like Jesus' side
gets hurt a little bit. No, He's just going to
wipe it out, stop it. Now, I want you to see
how somber this is. I want you to make a contrast. Look at verse 7, where it talks
about the marriage of the Lamb and verse 9, the marriage
supper of the Lamb. There's that one supper. That's a good supper. Let me show you another supper. It's not a good supper. Verse 17, "then I saw an
angel standing in the sun. And he cried with a loud
voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of
heaven, come and gather together for supper of the great God." What is that angel referring to? He's inviting vultures
to come and have supper, the bodies
of slain soldiers at the Battle of Armageddon. Wow. I like the first supper better. I want to go to supper. I don't want to be supper. [LAUGHTER] Some even think that
Jesus was referring to this when he said in Matthew
24, "wherever the carcass is, the vultures will be
gathered together." So this is Jesus coming back
at the end of the tribulation during this battle known as
the Battle of Armageddon. Now, I'm going to give you a
very quick rundown of events. I want to move
through this quick because we don't have
time to get deep into it. We did it a little
bit last week. First on the calendar of
events that we're looking for-- it could happen at any moment--
the rapture of the church. At some point, Jesus,
who is right now seated at the right hand of the
Father, is going to stand up, and He's going to come. And He's going to come
into the atmosphere. We looked at that
in depth last week. He's going to take all of
the saints with them, fwoomp, in the air. After that, I believe
in heaven takes place what's called the
judgment seat of Christ. It sounds ominous. But it's where you
and I get rewards. It's the Greek word bema seat. It's where they
would get rewards for running a race in antiquity. And so you and I will be 2
Corinthians, 5, "evaluated by Jesus Christ for the work
that we have done in the body," 2 Corinthians 5. It's a direct quote from there. We're going to be evaluated
for our faithfulness to Him while on the Earth. That's the judgment
seat of Christ. So rapture of the church,
judgment seat, then I believe on the Earth,
right at the beginning or just prior to
the tribulation, is a very specific battle
the Bible speaks about, not Armageddon, a
battle mentioned, prophesied in great detail
in Ezekiel, chapter 38. Ever heard of the
Battle of Gog and Magog? Most of you have, the
Battle of Gog and Magog. These are ancient terms
for rulers and for regions. And we can identify
what those regions are. The War of Gog and
Magog, in Ezekiel 38, is, I believe, a
post-rapture power grab led by Russia and
not only Russia, but it will be in partnership
with Turkey and Iran. They're all identified
in that text. So you have three nations,
Russia, Turkey, and Iran, with the support of Libya,
Ethiopia, and Sudan. They will attack Israel
from the northern border, Ezekiel 38 says,
the area of Syria. They'll come in from
Syria down into Israel. And it says they want to get
something precious that Israel has, does not
disclose what it is. But here's what's
interesting about that, is that for the first
time in history, those three nations
are in partnership. Russia, Iran, and Turkey
are in partnership. And I don't know if
you know this or not, but all three have military
assets right now in Syria. They're there right now. Moreover, recently,
Israel has discovered that they're in possession of-- they just sort of found this
out the last few years-- massive oil and
natural gas reserves. And they are planning to
build an undersea pipeline to sell oil to Europe,
which happens to be Russia's number-one customer. Also, if you follow
the news, you know that recently
Iran has ramped up its nuclear enrichment
to a level of 20%, which experts say, ooh, that's
frightening nuclear war stuff, 20%. And just yesterday, did
you see that they fired-- Iran fired a missile
in the Indian Ocean, very close to an American ship? So things are heating up. And it's lining up. So rapture of the
church, you're in heaven, judgment seat of Christ. On the Earth, battle
of Gog and Magog. Then the tribulation starts. Tribulation lasts seven years. It's the seventieth
week of Daniel. In the middle of the
seven-year period, it's called the
abomination of desolation by Jesus and by Daniel. This ruler, Antichrist,
makes an agreement, a pact, a covenant with many people. He breaks it, including Israel. He breaks it in the middle
of that seven-year period. It's called the
abomination of desolation. The last 3 and 1/2
years are the worst. That is the great tribulation. Jesus said, unless those
days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect sake,
those days will be shortened. So that'll be the
tribulation period. At the end of all that, this
event happens, second coming. So rapture of the church,
judgment seat of Christ, war of Gog and Magog,
tribulation period, second coming of
Jesus to the Earth. After the second coming, the
kingdom lasts 1,000 years. You know how I know that? Chapter 20 of Revelation says
like five times, 1,000 years, 1,000 years, 1,000 years,
1,000 years, 1,000 years. So I figure it's 1,000 years. So all that the
prophets spoke about would happen during
that time happened for 1,000 years, followed by
the disintegration of heaven and Earth. Everything created
gets uncreated. God makes a new heaven
and a new Earth, and that's called
the eternal state. That's a happily-ever-after
moment forever and ever. That's sort of a quick rundown. So second coming,
preceded by a supper, predicted by the scripture,
punctuated by a slaughter. The fourth and best aspect,
it's performed by a Savior. All of this is under the
management and control of somebody who passionately
loves you and came the first time to make
sure you would never have to be bird supper but
would invite you to His supper. So just notice
some of the names, once again, because
He is the focal point. He is called the
Lamb in verse 9. He is called the Word
of God in verse 13. He is called Faithful
and True in verse 11. And then in verse 16, that
great title he has on His robe and on His thigh, a name
written, King of kings and Lord of lords. So he came the first
time as Savior. He's not coming the
second time as Savior. He's coming the
second time as Judge. He came to save. And He still invites
you to be saved. But He will come the second
time not as the Lamb, but as the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, King of kings, Lord of Lords, one
who is in authority. Now, the second coming
will be a public event, which means everybody's going
to see it, unlike the rapture. Select group sees it. There's no judgment
associated with the rapture. Massive judgment associated
with the second coming. And when He comes,
everybody sees it. Revelation, chapter 1, "and
every eye shall see Him." Jesus said, Matthew 24, "as
lightning comes from the east and flashes to the
west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." Now, when Jesus
comes to the Earth, he's coming to a
particular place. And where do you think that is? Do you think it's like
Espanola or Santa Fe or-- no. No, maybe Los Angeles? How about New York? New York? Rome? No, where's He coming? Jerusalem, but to a very
particular geographical spot in Jerusalem, the Mount of
Olives-- the Mount of Olives. Remember when Jesus left? He left Earth. He ascended to
heaven from the Mount of Olives, Acts, chapter one. The same Jesus
ascends into heaven from the Mount of Olives. The disciples are
standing there. Their hands are in their robes. They're looking up, going,
whoa, that's heavy duty. That's cool. And they're got their
heads cocked up. And an angel says, hey,
you "men of Galilee, why do you stand
gazing up into heaven? For this same Jesus who left
will so come in like manner as you have seen
Him go into heaven." There you have it. His second coming is going
to be like His ascension. What was His ascension like? Well, He went into
heaven physically. He went into heaven visibly. And He went into heaven
from the Mount of Olives. So I'm guessing he's coming
back physically, visibly-- every eye will see Him-- into the Mount of
Olives, which is not only what the angel said. That's what was predicted
by the prophets. The prophet Zechariah, who gives
lots of end-time predictions, talks about a great
battle in the end times. And God will fight for
His people in that battle. He immediately after that-- it
says this, "and in that day, His feet will stand on
the Mount of Olives which faces Jerusalem on the east." Now, when that
happens, something will happen to the
Mount of Olives. It says, "and the
Mount of Olives shall split in two," right
out of the book of Zechariah, the prophet. The Mount of Olives
was split in two. What's interesting
about that is in 1964, a geologist discovered a
fault line in Jerusalem that runs right through,
guess, the Mount of Olives. So we have a
mountain in Jerusalem called the Mount of Olives
that is waiting for a very particular footprint. And when that footprint
touches, [IMITATES EXPLOSION] it'll split in two. And every eye will see Him. Now, people will
ask, well, if He's coming to Jerusalem, how
can every eye see Him? Well, you could have asked
that question 100 years ago. And it'd be hard to answer that. I don't know. But now we have
satellite television, where you see stuff
all over the world. Everybody at one
time can see it. Moreover, here's just a thought. Erwin Lutzer writes, "perhaps
the return of Jesus Christ is an event that takes
place over a period of 24 to 48 hours, where He
will appear in the sky and be seen by all as the
world turns on its axis. Then as the rotation
continues, Christ is continually seen as
coming closer to the Earth, until eventually He disappears
for the rest of the world as He lands on the
Mount of Olives." Interesting thought. Fun to throw in. That's no extra charge. [LAUGHTER] I don't know. But the purpose of prophecy-- two weeks ago last week,
the purpose of prophecy is not to scare you. It's to engender faith in you. It's to get your heart
and head around the idea that Jesus is in
control of the future. Remember what He said
to his disciples? Because I'm going
to tell you what's going to happen in advance. So when it comes to pass, you'll
remember that I said it to you, and you'll believe. So prophecy, as you study
it, causes you to have faith. And Paul, the apostle, his
last words before he died are recorded in 2 Timothy. And he said to Timothy,
"finally, there is laid up for me the
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous Judge, will give to me on
that day and not only to me, but to all who
have loved His appearing." Does that describe you? Do you love His appearing? Are you looking forward for
the return of Christ for you personally? Are you like the kids with the
fingerprints on the windows? Lean into that. Look up. Jesus said, when these
things begin to happen, lift up your head because
your redemption draws near. [APPLAUSE] You want to go to
the Lamb supper, or do you want to be supper? Easy choice. Easy choice. Receive the Savior, the
Lamb, and come to His supper. In glory, Father, thank
you for your word. Thank you that we get to
study it week by week. Thank you, Lord,
how You walk with us and like we have sung these
great anthems of praise and worship, You've
never failed us. You've always been with us. And so, Lord, we look into the
future with such confidence because Jesus is the
Lord of the future, like he has been the Lord
of the past and present. You're the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Thank you. We give You glory. In Jesus' name, amen. We hope you enjoyed this special
service from Calvary Church. We'd love to know how
this message impacted you. Email us
mystory@calvarynm.church. And just a reminder, you can
support this ministry with a financial gift at
calvarynm.church/give. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from Calvary Church.
