OPEN: People’s minds have been focused on the end of the world of late.
A few years ago I began to hear predictions the world would end in 2012 (next year) - a speculation based upon an oddity in an ancient Mayan Calendar. This created quite a stir because the Mayan calendar was an extremely accurate dating tool, which the Mayans used to predict the schedule of the years for over 2000 years in advance… but it abruptly ceased keeping count of the years in our year 2012.
Many seized on this and predicted the end of the world… next year.
There was even a movie called 2012 which featured major cities being crushed by a variety of natural disasters, and giant waves rushing over the Himalayas…
At the bottom of a poster advertising the movie was this headline "We Were Warned"
Then there was the prediction by Harold Camping that Jesus would return May 21, 2011.A number of religious groups have been advertising this on various billboards and bus stop benches, traveling caravans of RVs radio broadcasts, and websites as well as pamphlets passed out on street corners. The message has taken root from Bridgeport, Conn. to Little Rock, Ark…. and teams of mission groups are traveling throughout Latin America and Africa spreading the news.
AND then on New Year’s Eve 1000s of blackbirds rained down on a small town in Arkansas. This was just the first in a series of mass animal deaths that started less than two weeks after a total lunar eclipse. Hundreds more dead birds have descended on Louisiana, Tennessee and Kentucky and scores of crow-like birds croaked in Sweden. Add to that the 100,000 fish that washed ashore in Arkansas and you had the makings of more than a few doomsday scenarios.
Robert Vicino, who heads a California-based company that specializes in fallout shelters said: "Some people think it’s biblical and apocalyptic, and it could be." But, of course, Vicino has something of a vested interest in this prophecy because, since those birds fell out of the sky, applications for his fallout shelters have increased 8 fold.
APPLY: Now, let me add my prediction to those I just related
1. I predict that the world is going to come to an end… and we were warned. When Jesus comes again it’ll all be over.
2. And yes, Jesus might just show up on May 21st - or in 2012 - but I wouldn’t bank the farm on it. When Jesus said “No one knows about that day or hour not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mark 13:32) I tend to take His word for it.
3. And lastly, when the end of the world comes - and Jesus returns - it won’t do anybody any good to buy a fallout shelter.
Revelation 6 tells us about what’s going to happen those who don’t belong to Jesus on that day
“the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!” Revelation 6:15-16
The end of the world will be a scary time for those who don’t belong to Jesus. Many will come face-to-face with the Judge of all mankind… they won’t like it. And they won’t be able to hide.
Now by contrast - for those of us who are Christians - Jesus’ return will be an exciting time. It’s going to be something to look forward to with anticipation.
In II Timothy 4:7-8 Paul declared “Now there is in store 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 LONGED FOR his appearing.”
Philippians 3:20 says “our citizenship is in heaven. And we EAGERLY AWAIT a Savior from there”
As I was preparing this sermon, one question nagged at me: Why?
Why should we long for His appearing?
Why should we eagerly await His coming down from Heaven?
Well, first of all – I’m going to live in a new home. Jesus said He was going away to prepare a place for us (John 14:2).
Revelation 21:4 tells us that when Jesus returns: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
One preacher noted that Heaven will be a place “no mores” (Dave Martin)
No more Curse
No more Death
No more Sorrow
No more Crying
No more Pain
No more Night
No more Hunger or Thirst
When Jesus comes again, He’ll be coming to take away all of the things that made our lives uncomfortable. He’ll take away the struggles that made us miserable.
The sick will be healed
The struggling will be strengthened
The dead will rise from the grave – and we’ll live with Jesus forever.
ILLUS: Now, not everyone believes that. The famous playwright and atheist George Bernard Shaw didn’t believe that. He said, “Heaven… is a place so inane, so dull, so useless, so miserable, that nobody has ever ventured to describe a whole day in heaven, though plenty of people have described a day at the seashore.”
For as imaginative a playwright as Shaw was, his view of heaven is lame and uninspired compared to how the early Christians saw it. Those Christians lived in anticipation of Christ’s return… and in the Roman catacombs - where the bodies of many martyred Christians were buried – there were inscriptions such as this one:
"In Christ, Alexander is not dead, but lives.
One who lives with God.
He was taken up into His eternal home."
And one historian writes, “Pictures on the catacomb walls (beneath Rome) portray Heaven with beautiful landscapes, children playing, and people feasting at banquets.”
(Ulrich Simon, Heaven in the Christian Tradition – London: Wyman and Sons, 1958, p. 218
Ralph Waldo Emerson was approached by a very frightened man and he was afraid because,
“I’m told the world is coming to an end.”
And Emerson answered, “Never mind; we can get along without it.”
And we’ll be able to “get along without this earth” because when Jesus comes again we’re going to have a whole new world to live in a world of “no mores”.
A world filled with excitement and pleasure.
So I’m going to live in a new world… but I’m also going get a new body.
Now our bodies are a marvel of God’s creation.
ILLUS: Bob Hope once said,
"Today my heart beat 103,369 times,
my blood traveled 168 million miles,
I breathed 23,400 times, I inhaled 438 cubic feet of air,
I ate 3 pounds of food, drank 2.9 pounds of liquid,
I perspired 1.43 pints, I gave off 85.3 degrees of heat,
I generated 450 tons of energy, I spoke 4,800 words,
I moved 750 major muscles, my nails grew .01714 inches,
and I exercised 7 million brain cells.
Gee, but I’m tired."
Your body is a marvel of God’s creation
One man once observed that the body is so intricate that it’s a wonder that more doesn’t go wrong with it. We’ve got great bodies… as bodies go
But one day, we’re going to get the chance to trade this body in for a new one.
The Apostle John tells us: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” I John 3:2-3
Paul said it this way: “…our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will TRANSFORM OUR LOWLY BODIES so that they will be like his glorious body.” Philippians 3:20-21
When Jesus comes again… “we shall be like Him”. Our bodies will be just like His!
Do you remember what the Bible says Jesus’ body was like after He rose from the grave?
o It was perfect… it was indestructible
o Jesus had no more pain from the wounds of the cross
o He could eat, but He wasn’t hungry
o He could drink, but He wasn’t thirsty
o He could walk through walls and fly up into the heavens
(pause) I could live with that.
ILLUS: It’s kind of like the car you drive.
It’s probably a comfortable enough car.
It gets you where you’re going (it’s functional).
But then, one day someone comes up to you and offers you a brand new car, fresh off assembly line. It gets 100 miles to the gallon, has heated seats, a powerful stereo system. It’s just the make and model and color you’ve always wanted. And all you have to do is trade your old car for the new one – even up
Would you do it? – I would!
I have a pretty decent van right now. It’s got all kinds of bells and whistles. But it’s also got 130,000 miles on it. If someone came up today and offered me a new car I’d take it in a heartbeat.
In the same way… when Jesus comes and offers me a new body I won’t have to think twice.
I’ll put on that new body … and I’ll say “Thank you very much”
And I’ll be ETERNALLY grateful.
So, when Jesus comes, I’m going to be excited because I’m gonna have a new body
And I’m gonna live on a new earth
And I’m going to have everything I could possibly want or need
But all that will pale next to the one thing that matters most about Jesus’ return:
He’s coming back for me!
In John 14 Jesus said
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:1-3
He’s coming back for ME!
He’s coming back for YOU!
He wants to take you to be where He is.
He wants you to be WITH Him.
Do you realize how powerful that thought is?
Jesus is coming back for you!
ILLUS: W. Paul Jones tells of a woman who told of her childhood as a victim of polio. She said, "When my mother left me in Sunday School I always asked to wear her locket. She thought I liked the locket, but that wasn’t it at all. I knew I wasn’t worth coming back for… but I knew she would come back for her locket."
Now, there’s times when we might feel we’re not coming back for.
There’s times when we don’t think we’re worth all that much.
Sometimes we’re even inclined to believe God doesn’t love us very much.
But Jesus told you – you’re so important to Him that He’s coming back for YOU
He’s prepared a place for YOU… a place just for you.
ILLUS: Other world religions don’t talk about their god coming back for them. The only way they believe they’ll get into heaven is if they claw their way in. If they’ve lived a “good enough” life they might just make it past the gates.
But the very idea that God would come back for you. You who didn’t deserve to get into heaven because neither you nor I were really good enough to qualify for being with God. And all because we simply “belonged” to Him.
So, just how do I sign up for this new home/ new body/ this new relationship with God?
Well, Jesus says – you know the way!
When Thomas protested
“Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" John 14:5
And Jesus responded: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
There is no other way to get to heaven.
There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved.
If Jesus went to prepare a place for those who belong to Him, then I want to know how I can do that. How can you and I make sure we belong to Him so we get to go WITH Him.
In order to belong to Jesus… we need to identify with Him
· We need to believe that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God
· We need to believe He came and died for our sins
· We need to accept Him as our Lord and Master
· And we need to join Him in
o dying to our sins,
o being buried in the waters of baptism and
o rising up out of that watery grave to live a new life.
Paul wrote: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”1 Corinthians 2:9
ILLUS: George Shaw scoffed about heaven saying “that nobody has ever ventured to describe a whole day in heaven, though plenty of people have described a day at the seashore”
Well, yeah!
I’ve been to the seashore! I’ve been to the mountains. I’ve seen the Grand Canyon. I’ve even been to Hawaii and Europe. I can spend a long time telling you all about the things I’ve seen and done in those locations.
But I’ve never been to heaven yet.
How could I possibly explain what “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived…!”
But it won’t matter whether I can describe what heaven will be like.
And it won’t matter if I can describe what my new body will be like.
All that’s going to matter when that day comes is that I’ll be there with Jesus.
CLOSE: Back when Doctors made house calls, a sick man said to his doctor. "Doctor, I am afraid to die. I know you’re a Christian. Can you tell me what lies on the other side.”
Very quietly the doctor replied, "I do not know."
"You do not know? You’re a Christian and you do not know what is on the other side?"
Just about then, the doctor had been standing by the door to the sick man’s bedroom and on the other side of which came the sound of his own dog - scratching and whining. When the Doctor opened the door his dog sprang into the room and leaped up on him licking him and jumping up and down in front of him.
Suddenly, the doctor smiled and turned to his patient.
The doctor said, "Did you notice my dog? He has never been in this room before. He did not know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here… and WHEN the door opened he sprang in without fear.
I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing: I know my Master is there, and that is enough. And when the door opens I shall pass through - not with fear, but with gladness.
