The King Is Coming! Revelation 19:11-16
Introduction
After church, where she had been taught about the Second Coming, a little girl was quizzing her mother. “Mommy, do you believe Jesus will come back?” “Yes.”
“Could he come this week?” “Yes.” “Today?” “Yes.” “Could he come in the next hour?” “Yes.” “In a few minutes?” “Yes, dear.” “Mommy, would you comb my hair?” O, to be found upon His return unprepared – indeed.
It is surely humorous to imagine a little girl’s preoccupation with her appearance at his coming, but I fear that much of the a
Transition
This morning we will talk about the second coming of Christ; the second advent as it also known; the return of our Lord and savior. This is a popular topic in recent years. Indeed, this has been a hot topic throughout Church history.
In the history of the American Church we see that the subject of eschatology – the theological doctrine of “last things” – has caused a great number of men and women of faith to get derailed, as they overemphasized the doctrine of Christ’s return. There have been those leaders, even in our time, who have used the doctrine of the Second Coming to control people, filing them with great concern and then using that to their advantage.
The Millerites were one such group. The Millerites were the followers of the teachings of William Miller who, in 1833, first shared publicly his belief in the coming Second Advent of Jesus Christ in roughly the year 1843. William Miller had later said that Jesus would return on October 22, 1844. The following day, October 23, 1844 is known as “The Great Disappointment.”
The movement had spread across denominational lines. There were Baptist, Methodists, Congregationalists, Restorationists of the Stone-Campbell movement (Independent Christian Church), and people from across the denominational spectrum’s who had been drawn in by Miller’s approach to Bible study where each person was encouraged to draw his or her own conclusions of the text.
Personal biblical exegesis is a good thing, but not without sound exegetical methods, a working knowledge of biblical themes and motifs, and at least a cursory knowledge of historical theology; that is the classic understandings of a given passage at hand which is to be worked through. Through articles written by miller in the Baptist paper, “The Vermont Press,” the Baptist laymen, who had drawn so many wildly vivid inferences from the Scriptures, had gathered followers from across the entire nation. People literally climbed to tops of barns and roofs of houses waiting in anticipation of seeing the Lord come in the sky.
Miller’s movement broke apart in the months and years following the great disappointment. In fact, one of his students, a man by the name of Charles Taze Russell went on to found organizations which spawned the growth of the Jehovah’s Witness; which has led many astray.
Today we will discuss the return of Christ. In light of modern turmoil in the world, current events in the Holy Land, and modern popular books such as the “Left Behind Series,” it occurs to me that this is a topic that people are curious about.
Today it will be my deepest intention not only to encourage you with the reality of His imminent return, but to display how this can impact faith for today. The doctrine of Christ return has led some into error, but it has the greater possibility of filling us with an eternal hope. I’ll touch on some major themes and then get right to what I am convinced is the heart of application of this doctrine.
We rightly embrace the return of our Lord, but not to the exclusion of living for Him today, now, as we build the Church while we wait for His kingdom to come.
Exposition
Why does the Bible say that Jesus will return? What is it that He is going to do? His first advent or appearing was for the purpose of dying to provide a substitutionary atonement for sin, demonstrating the ultimate grace of God establishing His Church, and to make the provision for reconciliation.
The imagery of the book of Revelation is vivid and its interpretation is not void of controversy and the methods of its interpretation are not without debate.
With regard to the book there are generally three overreaching systems of eschatological, (end time prophecy), interpretation which affect one’s view of the book of Revelation. Since the Bible must be understood as a whole, the way one interprets Revelation will stem from the way one interprets prophecy in general.
Here they are in the order that represents the least literal interpretive method to that which represents the most literal interpretive method, and as it so happens this in the order of that which I agree with the least to that which I agree with the most and therefore the order from least correct to most correct!
The “Amillenial” position says that the scriptures which point to the second coming of Christ to establish His kingdom upon the earth where He shall reign for a thousand years and then the new heaven and the new earth will be ushered in are rightly interpreted as metaphorical and not in any way literal or concrete or they affirm the idea that these events were literal but have already occurred during the first century.
The “Post-Millennial” camp says that Scriptures to this affect are similarly to be understood metaphorically but takes these Scriptures to mean that we are currently in the millennial reign of Christ as He reigns in over His Church. This is an interesting position to take and has some appeal. It encourages us to work to usher in the kingdom of God and Christ eternal reign by building the Kingdom now; here on earth.
Many in both of the first two camps do great works for Christ in the immediate context of this world because their focus is very much on the here and now aspects of the kingdom of God. We do well to apply that to our walk as well.
Then there is the view which I hold, that is the correct view of course; “The Pre-Millennial-Dispensational View.” In searching the Scriptures, the pre-millennial view jumps out of them as the most plain and literal, and literary for that matter, understanding of the Scriptures.
This view simply states that Christ will literally return to earth. We who are called according to His purpose, His Church will be caught up in the sky to meet Him.
We will be taken out of the world for a period of 3 ½ years known as the great tribulation. Then we shall return with Him to this earth for a period of one thousand years when Christ shall reign on the throne of His earthly father David.
At the end of a thousand years the new heaven and new earth shall be ushered in by God and the pain and sorrow of this old world will be no more. The great promise of Scripture, the great hope of our faith, is that what has been lost shall be restored; what has been broken by sin will be rebuilt by grace!
Transition
The finer details of the rapture, the tribulation, and the second coming are important but today I want to focus on applying this great truth in practical and relevant ways. I want to ask you a question which only you can answer, though I will do my best to steer us along a path to answering it biblically and full of grace.
Application
What King are you waiting for? What King is coming? Is He the King of glory who has broken into your life? Is it the king whose love furiously longs to be made known in your life? Or is it a vague king, a simple man who lived and taught in the Holy Land a couple of thousand years ago? What King are you waiting for? What King is coming?
“Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:8 ESV)
This is the difference; I am compelled to believe, between those who long for His appearing and will love His appearing and those who will not. The Bible says that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. While for believers the second coming of Christ holds great promise, for those who reject Christ love, for those who cast off the offer of grace, it is a terrible and impending day of judgment.
In Christ God has made the offer of his radical grace and love to all humanity. He as poured Himself out to us, He has showered us with grace, He has pulled up the chair next to us at the table of grace, invited us to lay our head upon His shoulder, and called us friend. And yet, many reject His love, many reject His grace.
What King are you waiting for? Do you know the intimacy of the love of the King who is coming? I ask you this, not to question your faith, but so that you might take this opportunity to examine your own conception of God. As I have often said, God is vaster, more loving, and fuller of grace; He is a more radical lover of our souls; He is more radically compassionate than our minds can comprehend or than our hearts can contain.
Dear Saints of God, what King is it for which you wait? Is it the Jesus of American prosperity who loves from a distance and whose grace is little more than a matter of fact as evidence in a court hearing? Or is it the God of grace who you have allowed to flood your soul?
The great and glorious and central theme of the Christian faith is this: in Christ, God has broken into human history. The incarnation of Christ, Immanuel, “God with us,” is about God in all of His majesty and divinity emptying Himself, pouring Himself into human flesh to express His immeasurable compassion for us!
For those who stand condemned on the day of His coming it will not be primarily because of their sin, though sin is the primary cause of separation from God. It will be the result of having rejected the endless love of God that has been poured out in Jesus Christ.
Who is Jesus? He is God with us. What is the incarnation? It is the bodily dwelling of divine compassion. Dear child of God, we are all of us, the woman at the well longing for someone to know us completely as Jesus did, pointing out of her sins from the omniscient knowledge of divinity, and yet loving her completely.
What is the purest definition of a friend? It has been well said that a true friend is someone who knows all of your faults, all of your shortcomings, and loves you anyway, just as you are. The trouble is that so many of us are just like that woman at that well in John chapter 4; in need of being accepted fully.
Is there any greater caricature of the modern culture of disconnection than that which a friend shared with me not long ago, of having visited a mega-church which was packed with people and though through the entire service the person next to them never so much as introduced themselves, they texted and chatted on the cell phone almost without ceasing during the service.
Here we are in our packed world, in the packed auditoriums of life as we live lives of quiet desperation, hoping, longing, for someone, anyone to know us completely, understand the words which we say, and love us completely. What king are you waiting for?
Is your faith the faith that Paul Tillich described as he defined faith as “The courage to accept acceptance?” Have you experienced the overwhelming grace and mercy of God flooding your soul as you embraced the King of glory in all of His fullness, love, mercy, and radical grace?
Or have you only experienced the god (little “g”) of far too many; the god of religion, the god of the Pharisee whose approval we meet by judging others and counting our good works rather than living completely covered by the grace of God as one standing in a pool of clear and beautiful water, waist deep in mercy, the waterfall of grace pounding over head and rushing across us as it washes away the stain of sin and separation from God!
We can all do better in clarifying and purifying our perception of God, but the paradox of faith is that in order to do so we must let go of the very notion of doing better as a work of our will and allow His will to take over in our lives! “No longer I who live but Christ who lives within me; no longer my will be done but your will be done; not work earning but grace, the outpouring of the love of God yearning for us to be in connection with Him!
Conclusion
Indeed, Christ shall return in great glory and He will judge the living and dead. There will be a day of judgment but the criteria of that judgment which shall matter most, shall be whether we have or have not allowed mercy to break in to our lives; allowed God to cover us in Christ blood by faith.
And what it faith if it is not as Tillich has said, “The courage to accept acceptance.”
Today I invite you to more fully accept the acceptance of God. Lean less on accumulating good deeds to please God and trust more radically in grace. O, we look forward to the coming of our King. May it be that He finds us prepared as those who welcome a beloved friend. Amen.
