God is so good. God is sooooo good! Although we have failed God so many times, He has never failed us. When things in our lives have got the hardest, that’s when God has been the strongest. When we have been too weak to walk alone, God has carried us. He is the Creator and the sustainer of all life. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all things.
The birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, was foretold thousands of years before it was fulfilled in every minute detail. He Himself fulfills at least 109 separate and distinct prophecies that prove He is the Messiah.
In the 4 gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we find that Jesus prophesied 170 different events to come. Now, more than 2000 years later, many of these prophecies have been fulfilled. There is simply no reason why we should believe that those prophecies that relate to future events, things yet to come, will not happen.
The signs of those times are everywhere, and the day and the time is drawing close when up in Heaven God will say “it is time,” and Gabriel’s trumpet will sound announcing that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming to earth again.
Jesus said in John, Chapter 14, verse 3, “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.” Rejoice and be happy church, for the Lord is coming back to take His people home!
In the fourth chapter of the first book of Thessalonians, the apostle Paul describes the first phase of the second coming of Jesus. Let’s look at what Paul said in verses 13 thru 17.
13. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Look at verse 15 again – “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord.” When you have divine revelation you sure don’t need human speculation. We have God’s word that Jesus is coming back again, and that word is written down in glory.
Psalms 119:89 says “Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.” When God’s word says it then it is settled in heaven and it ought to be settled on earth as well. There’s not a prophecy anywhere in the Bible that either hasn’t come true or will come true. Jesus is coming back again, and He’s coming for you and for me. Glory to God!
Sometimes I think I could be a Pentecostal preacher when I read these scriptures. I get where I want shout and holler and put my dancing shoes on!
Now let’s look at the return of Jesus Christ. In verse 16 of Thessalonians, Chapter 4, the Bible says, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven.” Church – the Lord himself is coming back for us. He is coming visibly. He is coming bodily. He is coming personally. He is coming gloriously! Shout it from the rooftops – Jesus is coming back.
In Acts 1:10-11, we read, “And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he, Jesus, went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
This same Jesus who was born of a virgin is coming back. This same Jesus who still the raging seas is coming back. This same Jesus who fed the 5000 with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread is coming back. This same Jesus who was nailed to a cross is coming back. This same Jesus who conquered the grave is coming back. This same Jesus who sacrificed His life in order that we might have life eternal, is coming back to take us home. Glory be to God!
You know, after the resurrection and before Jesus ascended to heaven, He appeared to His disciples, all except Thomas, who was not there when he came. Let’s look at John 21:24-29.
24. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not there with them when Jesus came.
25. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
26. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said Peace be unto you.
27. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither they hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless but believing.
28. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
29. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
Jesus went away visibly with the scars of the cross upon hands and body. One day soon, He’s coming back, and those same scars will be visible to us.
There was an old, black, blind woman named Fanny Crosby. Perhaps you have heard of her as she wrote more than 1000 hymns in her lifetime. One day someone said to her, “How are you, an old blind woman, going to know Jesus when you come into His presence should He come back?” Then Fanny went into her room and sat down to write, and wrote that beautiful hymn, “I shall know Him.”
It went like this:
I shall know Him, I shall know Him,
And redeemed by His side I shall stand.
I shall know Him, I shall know Him,
By the print of the nails in His hand.
In verses 16 and 17 of I Thessalonians, Paul speaks not only of the return of Jesus, but he calls our attention to the rapture of the saints. When the trumpet sounds, Paul said, “the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” Could God have made it any plainer than that?
Jesus will come suddenly and the events of His coming will happen in rapid succession. In Revelation 3:11 Jesus said, “Behold, I come quickly.” It will be fast. It will be momentous. It will be overwhelming.
Jesus will come suddenly, but He will also come secretly. Paul said in Thessalonians 5:2 that “the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” When Jesus comes in the air to carry His saints home, saints being all those from the beginning of time that have accepted Him as their personal Lord and Savior, He will come secretly. His return will go unnoticed by the unsaved and lost of this world.
Only the saved shall hear the shout of the Savior, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God. Can you just imagine what this will be like to those left behind?
All over the world people will be missing, but they won’t be the one’s that are lost. Parents that never accepted Christ will wake up and find that their young children have vanished, gone without a trace. Some husbands will awaken to find their wives missing. Some wives will awaken to find their husbands missing.
People will show up for work and find that many of their co-workers are gone and no one knows where or why. People riding in cars, trucks, buses, trains and airplanes will be gone. Traffic will come to a standstill all over the world as accidents abound everywhere, with no driver in view anywhere.
People from all walks of life will be filing missing person reports, and frantically trying to find their loved ones. But the loved ones will not be found on this earth, for they are gone forever, gone to be with Jesus, the Savior of mankind.
Many will seek an answer in the churches, but most pastors will be gone. Most church members will be gone. Those left behind will be the ones that just went thru the motions of attending church and thinking all was well with their soul. But those left behind in the churches will know where the others have gone. They will know.
The Bible says in I Corinthians 15:52, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…we shall be changed.” The “twinkling of an eye” is that little sparkle which flashes in your eye when you recognize someone you haven’t seen in awhile, or for whom you have a very special feeling. Just that quickly, all believers will be drawn to Christ, Jesus Christ, our Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
Oh! Can you just imagine standing at a cemetery when Jesus comes? As the graves miraculously open up and the dead in Christ begin to rise, and then shout, and say to each other – “Come on sister, come on brother, let’s go home!”
At the rapture Jesus is coming for His saints. Those who are living when He comes will be caught up in the clouds, along with the saved dead whose bodies and spirits will be reunited. The old bodies of the saved, living and dead, will be transformed by the mighty power of Jesus into new and glorified bodies. Philippians 3:21 tells us that our bodies will be “fashioned like unto his glorious body.”
Yes church, when Jesus comes in the clouds to rapture the church, to take his saints home, we will go with Him and spend seven glorious years with Him in heaven. Those that were left behind will face a period called the Tribulation. This will be a period of unprecedented misery and untold sorrow on earth. Matthew 24:21 says, “For then there shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
This will be the time during which the Antichrist will first deceive the world for three and one half years. Many will be deceived and think of him as God. During the second three and one half years he will be revealed for what he is, Satan. He will demand that people worship him and do as he tells them to do. He will demand that all receive the mark of the beast on their forehead or hand. Many of those that refuse will surely die.
During this seven-year period God will pour his wrath and anger upon those that remain. Plagues worse than any we have ever seen will overtake the earth. Millions of people will die all over the world. The oceans and lakes and rivers will turn to blood. Food and water will be more valuable than gold. There will be enough tears shed to fill the oceans and the seas.
During the terrible days of Tribulation on earth, those who have believed in Jesus Christ and have made Him Lord and Master of their lives will be rejoicing in heaven.
Matthew 16:27 tells us that all believers shall appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and the Lord “shall reward every man according to his works.” Let’s remember now that we are talking about those that have been saved. Works cannot get us into heaven, no matter how good they are.
God has told us in His word that “none are righteous, no not one,” and hat our “righteousness is as filthy rags” in His sight. Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly tells us that “For by grace are you saved through faith, not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” Once we get to heaven we will be rewarded according to our works, but it took God’s sacrifice of His only begotten Son, Jesus, for us to be able to receive salvation.
After the judgment the Lord Jesus Christ shall receive the church unto Himself. All believers will become one with our Lord Jesus in a union so intimate that the Bible describes it as the consummation of a marriage.
I am sure that virtually all of us have attended a wedding at some time in our life, probably several. And we all know that as the organist turns up the volume and begins to play “Here Comes the Bride,” that we all stand and watch the bride as marches toward the altar and her waiting groom.
But in the heavenly wedding for those that have been saved, for the saints of the church, all eyes will be riveted upon Jesus, and the music that fills the corridors of eternity will be, “Here Comes the Groom.”
Following the wedding there will be a great celebration called The Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Jude, chapter 1, verse 14, tells us that then the gates of heaven will burst open and Jesus will come with “ten thousands of his saints.” The King is coming, and when He comes, we the saints of glory, are coming with Him.
This time when Jesus returns it will be different. Revelation 1:7 says, “Behold he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.” At the rapture Jesus will come in secret for His saints. At the Glorious Appearing, which immediately follows the seven-year tribulation period, Jesus will come with His saints and every eye shall see Him. The rapture is the first phase of Jesus’ coming. The Glorious Appearing is the second phase of Jesus’ coming. At the rapture the Lord will remain in the air, hidden from the view of non-believers. At the Glorious Appearing all will see Him come and His feet will touch the ground once again.
The book of Revelation, chapter 19, verses 19 and 20, tells us that when He comes at the Glorious Appearing or Revelation, that He will face the armies of the Antichrist which will have gathered from all over the world. They will meet on the fertile fields of the Valley of Esdraelon. The Bible refers to this final conflict with Satan as “The Battle of Armageddon.” These verses go on to tell us that the rising sea of blood from the slain and wounded will splash against horses’ bridles over a distance of 200 miles.
This war, this final battle between good and evil, will be won with a word. Revelation 19:15 states that the war will be won with a word from the lips of Jesus. The Bible describes the weapon as “the sword that goes out of the mouth of Jesus.”
The same Jesus who spoke man into existence will speak man into oblivion. For a thousand years there will be peace on earth and Jesus shall reign. The kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord, the risen Christ. When Jesus comes he’s going to redeem this old world.
“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, shall come to pass.
In the beginning, God gave man dominion over the earth, but man forfeited that dominion and the devil had his day. But when Jesus comes back to earth, Satan will be bound for a thousand years.
After that thousand years Satan will be released once again, only to be cast into hell for all eternity. Today, Satan is not in hell. Ephesians 2:2 states that he is “the prince of the power of the air.” He has been allowed to freely roam this earth. I Peter 5:8 calls him a “roaring lion…seeking whom he may devour.”
But our God, the same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, will send Satan on a one-way trip to hell, and when he arrives he will not be in charge there either. He will be tormented day and night, the same as those that chose to reject Jesus the Christ.
Satan will not rule. Jesus will be the ruler of three worlds, Heaven above, earth beneath, and hell below. Jesus is Lord over all. Philippians 2:11 says that every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
As Roger and Dora come forward to lead us in a hymn of praise and invitation, I wonder. Are you ready to meet your Creator? Are you ready for the Second Coming of Christ? Have you built your house upon the solid rock? Is the Holy Spirit dealing with you and tugging at the strings of your heart?
Do you know my Jesus? If not, I plead with you to not delay, come and receive Him now as your personal Lord and Savior. If you have other needs, burdens that you cannot handle alone, come to God’s altar and turn them over to Him. If you feel led to become a member of this church, we need you. Whatever the need, come as we sing.
