2 Peter 3:1-4
The Return of Christ
Woodlawn Baptist Church
August 13, 2006
Introduction
Read 2 Peter 3:1-4a.
If there is a subject that has been historically near and dear to the hearts of believers through the centuries it is the return of Jesus Christ. Without a doubt the return of Christ is going to be an exciting event! Through the years there’s been a lot of debate about it. There’ve been false Christs, false prophecies, false teachings, date setters and more, but they’ve all been wrong. Some people spend their entire lives trying to figure out everything they can about the end times and the second coming of Jesus. They’ve got charts and graphs and a storehouse of Scriptures memorized. They can debate the debaters. They can tell you who the two witnesses will be, where the antichrist lives and what the bride’s going to eat for dinner, but I’ll have to fess up right here: I’m not one of them. I don’t mind telling you I don’t have it all figured out and frankly I’ve never felt compelled to try to figure it all out. As far as I’m concerned, when you get today under control then we’ll worry about what happens tomorrow.
However, while I don’t feel compelled to figure it all out, I do enjoy reading about, singing about, and studying what the Scriptures do have to say about the return of Christ. There’s nothing in this world that gives hope to the believer like the return of Christ, and the older we get the more precious His return will get. The older we get the closer we get to heaven. The older we get the more friends we have in heaven. We get more and more family in heaven and I know we want to see them. There’s nothing that stirs the soul like knowing that one day we’ll be with King Jesus! So today I want to give you not so much in the way of information, but I want to stir up your minds with three facts about the return of Christ so you might anticipate His coming, get exciting about it, prepare for it and have great hope in it. As we study the Bible, we find that the return of Christ is…
A Promised Return
The scoffers ask, “Where is the promise of his coming?” I don’t know if we know the first time God promised the return of Christ, but He did it long enough ago that Job wrote about it. That great saint of God said,
“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”
The prophet Daniel wrote that…
“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
I want to tell you the Bible promises over and over the return of Christ. It promises that the return of Christ will be personal. In John 14:3, Jesus said,
“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.”
Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 that “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven…” He’s not sending a search party to look for His children. He’s not sending an ambassador to take care of His business. No one else is cut out for the job. Jesus came personally the first time and He’s coming back personally the next time.
Not only does the Bible promise that Jesus’ return will be personal, it promises His return to be visible. When Jesus left the earth the disciples stood there with their mouths dropped open looking up into the sky. The angel asked them,
“Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up in to heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
John wrote that we don’t know yet what we shall be, “but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Yes, the Bible promises the return of Christ. It promises His return will be personal, visible, and sudden. Matthew 24:44 says that you’d better be ready, “for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”
Paul and Peter both wrote that the day of the Lord would come as a thief in the night, and Jesus Himself said, “Surely I come quickly.”
Folk, I want you to know that through and through the Bible promises the return of Christ. Those promises are the hope of humanity, the joy of the saints and the faithful and true words of God. But listen, not only does the Bible tell us that the return of Christ is a promised return, it’s going to be…
A Glorious Return
Luke 21:27 records a great message for us.
“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”
The return of Christ is going to be glorious! It’s going to be glorious because when He returns we’ll get to shed these old corruptible bodies for glorious ones! Paul told the Philippians that “we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.”1 Corinthians 15:51-57 says,
“Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Not only will His return be glorious because we’ll get our glorified bodies, but it’s going to be glorious because the fullness of time has come! Because the whole world’s finally going to know the truth! But I tell you the greatest reason Christ’s return is going to be a glorious return is because the returning Jesus is the King of glory! I love the words of Psalm 24…
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.”
I can’t wait for the day our Lord Jesus Christ is going to part the sky with power and great glory! I can’t wait to see His face shining in the brightness of His glory!
“What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see!
When I look upon His face, the One who saved me by His grace,
When He takes me by the hand, and leads me through the Promised Land,
What a day, glorious day, that will be!
It’s no wonder that Paul wrote to Titus to be “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” But listen, no matter how much we might look for His appearing; no matter how much we might rejoice in the thought of seeing Jesus face to face, and no matter that the Bible promises it, the fact is that the return of Jesus Christ is also going to be…
A Troubling Return
I read earlier in Peter that many people scoff at the thought of Christ’s return. “Where is the promise of His coming?” Hey, I understand what they’re saying. Even the disciples thought that Jesus was coming right back. That’s why they just stood there looking up in the sky. And God’s people have been preaching about Jesus coming back for 2000 years. Some people deny the return of Christ, others doubt it, dismiss it and even debate it, but that doesn’t change the fact of it one bit. In Matthew 24, Jesus was talking about His return when He made a comparison of it with the days of Noah. Start reading with me in verse 36.
“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”
I think it must have been a sad day when God flooded the earth. Noah had been warning people for years to no avail. Jesus said they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. In other words, they went on with life as though nothing was wrong. “We don’t want to hear that doom and gloom stuff! There’s too much life to live.” But when the flood came they were singing to a different tune. But it was too late. They’d been given a chance, and when God shut the door it was shut.
Why is the return of Christ going to be troubling? Because of the multitudes of people like you who have heard the gospel message over and over and over but have refused to get in the ark of Jesus Christ. You see, there’s a flood coming one day – but it’s not going to be a flood of water. It’s going to be the judgment of God. And the only way to escape the coming judgment is to get in Christ through repentance of your sins and by putting your faith in Him to save you.
It’s going to be troubling because when Jesus returns there’s not going to be another chance for you to be saved. “Today is the day of salvation!” You’ll be all out of chances. “Two will be in the field,” but only those who have placed their faith in Christ for salvation will be taken.
Now one final passage of Scripture and then we’ll close. In 2 Thessalonians 1:6, Paul wrote to a church that was suffering for their faith in Christ, and this is what he wrote,
“Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.”
When the Lord returns only one thing awaits those who have not obeyed the gospel call, and that is the vengeance, or wrath of God.
I heard about a small country church that was holding a revival in a packed building. It was so crowded that they had to put up chairs everywhere, right up to the pulpit. The evangelist was preaching about the second coming of Christ and had really warmed up to the subject. He was one of those fire and brimstone kind of preachers that marched up and down the pulpit. At one point of his sermon he leaned over toward the audience and shouted out Jesus’ promise: “I am coming soon!”
He marched up and down the stage some more and then leaned out again over the edge of the stage and cried out, “I am coming soon!”
Several minutes went by and again he shouted out, “I am coming soon!” But this time, he got tangled up in the microphone cord and lost his balance. Tumbling off the stage, he landed right on the lap of a couple sitting in the front row of chairs. The husband looked at his wife and said, “Well, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. He warned us three times!”
I know people have been preaching the return of Christ for 2,000 years. But don’t you ever let that keep you from believing it to be true. Time means nothing to God. He promised in His Word that He’s coming back: personally, visibly, and suddenly, and I want to tell you that when He returns it’s going to be one of two things for you. It’s either going to be a glorious event or it’s going to be a troubling event, and it’s up to you to choose which one it will be for you.
Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ to save your soul? Have you repented of your sin and called on Jesus to save you? Or will you gamble with time and run the risk of getting caught in the flood of His vengeance?
