After This - The Coming (Part 2)

Lesson Eight: “After This – The Coming, part II”

Rev. 19:11-16

We’ve been talking since the beginning of August about Experiencing the Hope of Jesus, our “hope” being the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ according to Titus 2:13. Next week we will wrap up this series with the message, “After This-Eternity.”

“After This…” from Revelation 19:1 – the events that begin eternity happen “after this” – after the judgment events of Revelation. Let’s read together again Revelation 19:11-16.

PRAY!

Last week we looked at the first two titles of Jesus at His coming, and we talked about what those two titles mean to us. The grand entrance that Jesus will make at the end of history in Revelation 19 will change the world, when all men will see Him. And when He comes back, it will not be as the suffering servant, but as the conquering King, coming in power and in glory.

The first two titles of Jesus Christ at His second coming are Faithful and True and the unknown name. We looked at these last week. We talked about the Faithful and True One who in His faithful love still calls us to Himself and yet in His truth sees right through to the heart. We also saw that the unknown name Jesus has at His coming that we have only begun to know who Jesus Christ really is.

This week, the last two titles give us more description into Who Jesus is, and what He means to us. I love these next two titles for so many reasons, so let’s get right into the thick of this morning.

Title #3 – The Word of God – Rev. 19:13 (read) – “…and His title was the Word of God.

The 2nd Coming will be a glorious time for some, and a terrible time for others. In Revelation 19, we read of the judgment that comes on the earth through Jesus Christ. The famous patriotic song, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” actually is a song about this coming of the Lord, and is specifically taken from this Rev. 19 passage – “He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored” is almost directly quoted right from verse 15. The time when Christ comes will be a time of judgment, and He will reveal Himself as “The Word of God.” But before we talk about the Word of God bringing judgment, I want to focus our attention to a different part of the Bible where we see the Word of God and talk about what the Word of God currently means to us.

This title, the Word, is not a new title. John, in His book on the life of Christ, referred to Jesus Christ by this title, the Word. Lets go to John 1:1-5.and learn more about the Word (read – on screen).

The Word, in the beginning of John’s writings, is the eternal God, the Creator of all things, the Source of Life and of the spiritual light inside of us. If you did not know the identity of the Word, you could no doubt understand that John is clearly describing the Word as God. But John doesn’t stop with this description – read vs.6-11 (on screen).

Next the Word is described as being announced by John the Baptist, as the Light of mankind, and as being unrecognized and unaccepted.

I was a good kid when I was younger. Even as a teenager, I was pretty good. But growing up in a good Christian family, sometimes you get a little bit of a wild streak get to you. And when I was a teenager, I told a dirty joke to my brother, which he in turn repeated to my mother. My mother gave me that famous warning, “Wait until your father gets home!” Typically I wouldn’t notice when Dad would get home, but on this particularly day, I remember being ashamed and a little afraid when he got home.

We read in Revelation 19 and in Zechariah 12:10 (on the sheet) that all eyes will see Him, and they will look on the One whom they pierced. The Word went unnoticed the first time, but the next time He comes, the whole world will notice (and will be put on notice!).

But let’s read further – vs. 12-13 (read it-on screen). Now John has moved from describing the characteristics of the Word (He is God, the Light, the Life) to describing the benefits of believing in the Word. What happens to all who believe in the Word (vs.12-13)? They become God’s children, spiritually re-born and placed into the family of God. I love witnessing this – I’m like a spiritual midwife. This is the result, the benefit of believing in the Word.

Let’s read vs.14-18 (on screen).