Most of what I want to say today is familiar territory to most of us. But I want to serve it to you afresh today for two reasons. The first is that there may be some, or even one here, to whom this will be new; and in that case, it is important, and more than that, my duty, to present it. The second is that although we may have heard it over and over again, we need constantly to be encouraged by it; reminded of it; so that we might be more diligently looking for it.
Jesus promised His closest friends in John 14, “I will come again”. The line comes from a passage that is very familiar to the student of the Bible.
“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
That is the whole promise as presented in these two verses in John, but I want to narrow our scope today to just that one phrase; “I will come again”, and think about the implications of it.
First of all, let’s ask the question, WILL HE COME?
Let’s go right down to ground level and start building from there. Let’s not take anything for granted. Will Jesus really come back? Are we believing a fairy tale? Or is the thing we’re looking and waiting for a real event that will be one of the most astounding events in the history of the world?
We must answer this question first, or to go on would be a waste of time. Either we believe the whole thing, or we deny the whole thing. We cannot take some and leave the rest.
So we list the things we’ve already put our trust in, or if we haven‘t put our trust in them, have at least heard of them and will, at some point, have to decide where we stand.
**Are these things true?
- Did He come and dwell among us?
- Did He go to the cross and die?
- Did He rise bodily from the grave?
- Did He ascend to heaven from the Mount?
If our answer to those four questions is ‘yes, I believe that’, then we have to believe He will come again. As I said, to disbelieve any part is to disbelieve the whole. To accept any part as true, is to accept all.
So let’s look at the proofs. And by the way, either you accept the Bible as the inspired, infallible, inerrant, immutable Word of the Living God, or you don’t believe it at all. If you do not accept it as such then there is no basis for discussion here. If you do, then there can be no arguing the individual claims of the scriptures, concerning God and His Christ. So we will move on, under the assumption that everyone here believes the Bible to be true.
The first proof offered then, is the simple fact that He said, “I will come again”. This is God in the flesh. This is the Son of God, in whom all the fulness of deity dwells. Therefore all of the attributes of deity are fully evident in Him.
He cannot lie. He will not say one thing and do another. Everything He has said to them in over three years of ministry has been true. He has never been wrong, He has never seemed unsure or insecure in His claims, and now He is telling them, “I will come again”.
Notice that He did not say, “I will call you to myself”. He did not say, “I will send for you“, not, “you’ll come to Me when you die“, but “I will come again”
Now this is not to deny that we will go to Him if we pass away before His coming. The scripture gives us plenty of proof of the fact that when the Christian leaves this world he is immediately in the next.
On the cross He promised the repentant thief, “...today you will be with Me in Paradise”. In Acts 7:59, at his stoning, the righteous Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”. In II Corinthians 5:8 Paul assures us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and in Philippians 1:23 the Apostle alludes to this truth that when the spirit leaves this body it is with Jesus, when he says he has the desire to “...depart and be with Christ...”
But that is not the assurance Jesus was giving His disciples in John 14. Although they were still in their ignorance and not understanding the terrors they would face in just a few hours, He knew full well what was about to take place. And He was giving them the news that should have been the most encouraging they could have had; the greatest assurance they could have received.
Tenderheartedly, as He always does, He began with words of comfort. “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me”. Do you hear the plain implication in that? To believe in Him is to have peace in the heart. Is your heart troubled? Believe in Him. Believe His assurances concerning that which has your heart troubled, and you will be at peace.
Then He says, “I will come again”.
Believer, it is a fact that we will continue to leave this world, one by one, in physical death, until He comes back. But I would like for you to take notice today, that there is no place in the scriptures that indicate that the great hope of the Christian is to die and go to heaven. The Christian’s great hope; the thing his heart longs for and his eyes look for, is the coming of his Lord in the clouds of glory.
If you believe the Bible, then you believe that heaven is yours, through faith in Christ’s death and resurrection. You are a citizen of heaven already, and your place is established. In fact, that’s what He was assuring them of in John 14. “I will come again...” why? To take you to your place! The place prepared already for you.
So we don’t hope for what we already have. We hope for what is promised; and what is promised is that He will come back.
I want you to go to I Thessalonians chapter 1 for a moment, and let’s read verses 5 - 10.
“...for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.”
This is the New Testament example of the hope of the believer. And notice that Paul is saying three things of them here; 1. they turned from idols, 2. they turned to serve the living and true God, and 3. they wait for His Son from heaven.
That is the natural progression of faith. When one turns from the idols of his life, from the futility and the emptiness, and turns to God, he does so in order to serve a living and true God; and when that is done and God is in the heart, the result is always that he now waits with eager anticipation for the Lord’s coming.
It is the hope expressed throughout the entire New Testament, which even ends with the prayer, “Amen, come Lord Jesus”.
The second place we go is to the first chapter of Acts.
Here, Christ has given His Apostles some parting words of encouragement and commission, and ascended into the air before their very eyes. He had taken them to the very doorstep, as it were, of the heavenly realm; at least, as close as a mortal man can get, and allowed them to watch Him rise supernaturally, defying the laws of nature because those laws have no authority over Him, and He has disappeared into the clouds.
Suddenly, as they stand gazing into the sky, two men in white clothing are standing beside them. Now it is commonly accepted that these are angelic beings, and I think the arguments are strong enough to convince. First, the mention of white clothing matches the description of the angels at the tomb. It is a reference to the brilliance and radiance of the apparel of these beings. Secondly, it doesn’t say, ‘two men climbed up the mountain to join them’, it says ‘behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them’. Thirdly, they spoke with confidence, news that only could have been dispatched from the Throne room of God.
“This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven”.
Someone without complete knowledge might have said, “Don’t worry, He’ll be with you in Spirit”. Or they might have said, “He’s coming back, just like He promised you He would.” But these two know the details, and what they said can be supported by scripture.
HOW WILL HE COME?
The same way He went. The angels said so. They said He will come in just the same way the Disciples saw Him go.
Now does that mean as He went up into the sky, He will also come down from the sky? Or does it mean that, but more?
Let’s look at the several ways the angels might have meant that statement.
Personally - the same One who spoke with them as friends, who gave them assurances and instructions and promised the Holy Spirit. Their friend. He had called them His friends, and they loved Him personally. He will come back in just the same way; as friend of sinners and Captain of our salvation.
He ascended as the One to whom all authority had been given, in heaven and in the earth, and He will certainly be that same One who comes back. He won’t come back by proxy, like a head of state who sends an envoy to greet his visitor at the airport.
He won’t send a legion of angels to surround believers and carry them up. He will come Himself, as He promised.
Bodily - the same One whom they had seen many times in the last 40 days. John said, “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the word of life...what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (I Jn 1:1,3,4)
John wrote these words as an old man. Many years after having walked with Jesus. And men don’t have fellowship with a dead man. John’s very words here tell us that the one writing them has seen the risen Christ, He knows he is alive, and that He rose bodily from the grave; because he has heard and seen and touched Him.
He ascended bodily into heaven, and He will return bodily.
The next way we see Him coming, is that He will come to the same place. That is to say, He ascended from the Mount of Olives, about 1 mile East of Jerusalem, and He will return to that very spot.
Zech 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son..”
This is a reference to His return, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem in that day seeing His glorified wounds and realizing they have crucified their Messiah.
Then in the same book, chapter 14 verse 4, “And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.”
There is one more thing to say about how He will come, but I want to save that until last.
WHEN WILL HE COME?
In the Father’s time Acts 1:7 “Lord,” they asked, “is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
They weren’t talking about the kingdom of heaven. They still didn’t quite get it. They were still thinking that the Messiah’s mission was to restore an earthly kingdom to Israel, free of her oppressors and able to stand against all worldly military might, with Jesus on the throne.
They weren’t getting it.
So He answered: “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority...”
Even then, risen from the dead, and having been endued with all authority in heaven and on the earth, our humble Lord, obedient Son of God, defers to the Father in all things, and declares that what they seek and so much more will certainly come, but in God’s perfect time, not according to man’s whim.
In the meantime, there is work for them to do.
It is interesting to me that just after saying this to them, and then ascending, they stand gazing into the sky as though He will immediately come back with 10,000 angels and destroy Rome.
Instead He only sends two angels, because by the word of two or three witnesses shall every fact be confirmed, (Deut 19:15 & II Cor 13:1), and the angels basically say to them, “Hey, what are you doing, sky-gazing? He’s going to return, just as He said, and in the same way you saw Him go; but in the meantime, He gave you a commission.”
Folks He gave us the same commission, and until He comes, there is work to be done. It won’t get done standing on the mountain top, gazing into the sun and wishing He’d come back. Don’t worry. You won’t be taken by surprise. When He comes in the way we’re talking about today, you’ll already be with Him. So in the meantime, our duty is to go about the work He’s given us to do, as faithful servants and stewards of the promises of God.
He’ll come in the Father’s time.
Next, He will come when godless men are not suspecting I Thess 5:1-3
“Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”
Whether the rapture of the church marks the beginning of the seven year tribulation, or whether it happens in the middle, what is being discussed here will transpire after that. With the church gone and the anti-Christ in power, with all things under his momentary control, it will finally appear that there is peace on the earth and safety for all.
Of course, it will be most like the Pax Romania; the peace that is kept by oppression and iron military rule; but they’ll be bragging that finally, they have brought about peace in the world.
But they won’t realize until too late, that it is peace with God that matters, and no other peace is either real, or lasting. And woe is the man who declares peace to himself, when there is no peace between him and his God!
The end will come upon them suddenly, and a terrible end it will be.
He will come when all the redeemed are brought into the fold. Matthew 24:14
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.”
Folks, it’s been preached. Notice that in Matthew 24 Jesus did not say, ‘when all men are saved’. All will not be saved. Many are called, but few are chosen. But all are without excuse.
First of all, there was general revelation. Paul tells us in Romans that “...that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”
On top of general revelation there came special revelation. The letter to the Hebrews begins with the assertion that God spoke long ago to the fathers, in many portions and many ways. There were pre-incarnate appearances of Christ as the Angel of the Lord. There were miracles, signs and wonders, fulfilled prophecies, messages pointing toward the coming of the Messiah, growing more pointed and specific as time rolled on.
Then came the Word of God into the world, and His message was confirmed by God the Father with a voice from heaven, by miracles according to His own will and by those who were eyewitnesses to His life and death and resurrection.
Then came the preaching by the Holy Spirit, when He came and filled believers as promised. And this preaching has been going on ever since, and will until He comes in the clouds of glory.
God and only God, knows when that last one will be saved. But it could be today, or it could be 2000 years from now. Personally, I don’t think so. Personally, I do not expect another 20 years to go by before all these things are fulfilled.
But when that last sheep has been brought into the fold, then the end will come.
HOW DO WE PREPARE?
The first and most important way to prepare for His coming, is to know Him. His call to you is to repent of your sin. That means to turn away from it. Turn away from following your own will and your own path. Turn to Him, with the desire and intention of serving the Living, true God, and believe that Jesus shed His blood and died to pay the penalty for your sin, then rose bodily from the grave on the third day just as the scriptures said He would.
The bible says if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. And then it goes on, in Romans 10:11, to say, “Whoever believes in Him shall not be disappointed”.
That is how you prepare. Once you are His, He will see you safely home. He promised you in John 14:3. “I will come again”.
For those who are Christians, be watchful.
Read the signs. We don’t have time here, but go home and meditate on Matt 24.
Next, be ready by practicing holy conduct and godliness, looking for (and longing for) a new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. II Pet. 3:13
Continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Love the brethren. Support kingdom work and where called, do the work of ministry. Be faithful to the One who was faithful to the work given Him to do.
And while you do all these things, keep an ear out and an eye on the eastern sky. Because one day the trumpet will sound, with the voice of the archangel, and in the twinkling of an eye, we will be caught up to meet Him in the air.
Sound fantastic? Not at all. It’s more real than the chair you’re sitting on; more up to date than tomorrow’s headline; more sure than your next breath; because it is a promise uttered from the very lips of the One who is described this way:
“And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS”
Rev. 19:11-16
This is the One who said, “I will come again”
Will He come? You can count on it. You must count on it. It is the Christian’s hope.
