OPEN: At the beginning of WWII, the Philippines were about to fall to the Japanese, and General Douglas MacArthur was ordered by President Roosevelt to evacuate his staff immediately. Before he left, MacArthur made a promise to the Philippine people:
“I shall return!”
Because of the complexity of the war, he was unable to make good on that promise for another 3 years. But all during that long period, Short Wave Radios broadcast support to those carrying on the battle behind the lines, and they repeatedly carried MacArthur’s promise –
“I shall return!”.
Eventually, on October 22nd 1944, General MacArthur waded ashore and declared
“I have returned!”
It was a promise that shaped MacArthur’s entire strategy for all those years. He’d made a promise, and he intended to fulfill it no matter what the obstacle.
APPLY Jesus, made a similar promise nearly 2000 years ago– “I am coming soon!” It’s a promise that’s been repeated again and again in every church across the nation... and it’s a promise that shapes Jesus’ engire strategy for all eternity. He’s made a promise and He intends to fulfill it at the end of time.
I. Revelation 19 tells us what it’s going to be like when Jesus does come back.
God describes an event of great excitement. And He uses the imagery of one of the most festive activities known to man.
Read with me from Revelation 19:7-9
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Then the angel said to me, ‘Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’”
ILLUS: In those days, a wedding ceremony was an elaborate affair, usually beginning in the evening as the groom and his friends made their way thru the city to the bride’s home where she and her family were waiting. There, at the Bride’s home, their union was blessed.
Then the entire party noisily led the bride and groom back to the groom’s own home - in a procession lit by torches and lamps. What followed was a great feast that sometimes lasted as long as a week.
By contrast, our weddings today seem pale in comparison. But no matter what culture you might visit, marriage ceremonies are times of anticipation and excitement. And that is the message that God wanted to communicate to us: Because of our salvation in Christ, we are now the bride of our Savior and we await the excitement and festivities of His coming to claim His bride.
Even today, the relationship between marriage and our salvation is hard to miss.
ILLUS: SE Christian Church in Louisville is a huge congregation of nearly 16,000 worshippers. One of the staff in the wedding department was privileged one day to baptize a new convert into Christ. But apparently he’d had a busy week and his mind was a bit distracted. So, on Sunday morning - in front of the entire congregation he took the man’s confession and then declared:
“I now pronounce you….”
And then stopped as he realized what he’d said.
After a momentary pause, he finished his statement by saying: “I now pronounce you… baptized!”
When Jesus comes again, it will be as a husband coming for His bride… It will be a time of excitement and rejoicing such as you’ve never known or experienced, because Jesus will be coming, just as He promised.
II. But, for some, Jesus’ words “I am coming soon,” are not so much a promise… as they are a warning.
ILLUS: A small country church was holding a Revival and the building was packed. It was so crowded that night that they had to put up chairs everywhere, even up by the pulpit. The Evangelist was preaching about the 2nd coming of Christ that night and he had really warmed to his subject. He was one of those fire and brimstone speakers that literally marched up and down the pulpit. And 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 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 upset. He warned us 3 times!”
· When MacArthur came ashore that day in 1944, NOT everyone was happy. In the battle to retake the Philippians – (I read somewhere that) over 100,000 Japanese soldiers lost their lives. MacArthur’s words of promise, were for them a declaration of a coming judgment.
In Revelation chapter 19:11-16 (TURN THERE) we see Jesus in all His glory… He’s coming
…BUT He is coming in judgment
“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.
He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. ‘He will rule them with an iron scepter.’ He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: ‘King Of Kings And Lord Of Lords.’”
Notice: When Jesus comes… He will come to make war (vs. 11)
· When Jesus comes… His eyes are like blazing fire (vs. 12)
· When Jesus comes… Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. (vs. 15)
· When Jesus comes… He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. (vs. 15)
ILLUS: There are people who deny Christianity… who deny Christ… who deny the authority of our God… Not because they have a sound theological reason to do so, but because they realize the wickedness of their own lives and they fear, that
IF God really does exist
IF there is a day of judgment coming
Their deeds WILL BE exposed and they WILL BE condemned
ILLUS: For years Bill Bennett was like a prophet in America. He denounced the violence, and sex and other forms of wickedness that were destroying this country. Many in the media and in the entertainment industry hated what he had to say… because it condemned things they approved of… things that were part of their life styles.
But then, just this year, the news came out that Bennett had lost huge amounts of money at the gambling tables. And you should have heard the howls throughout the press. They were struck by the hypocrisy of it all.
But there were some writers and commentators that were literally delighted that this paragon of virtue had been brought down to their level. In their commentaries, you could hear the relief over Bennett’s downfall. It was if they believed that had somehow Bennett’s sins had taken the power of judgment off of their own lives and their own deeds.
Now they could ignore Bennett and his criticisms and they could go back to living their lives the way they wanted to without the fear of someone standing around pointing fingers at them.
Revelation 19 is telling us the day is coming, when the wicked
- won’t be able to ignore the condemnation any longer
- when they’ll no longer be able to pretend that they won’t be judged
- when they will no longer be able to ignore Christ
There’s going to come a day - says God - when mankind won’t be able to avoid Christ or their own condemnation. Because in the day of judgment “…at the name of Jesus every knee (shall) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11).
Jesus is coming…and when He comes He will come in judgment.
III. Now (we that are Christians) know that Jesus is coming back for us who belong to Him. And we know that judgment is coming for those who do not.
We’ve read passages like the one Acts 17, where Paul says: “In the past God overlooked… ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31)
We know all this… But we get distracted by “religious things” that look like righteousness.
We tend to get impressed by things that remind us of God’s will. Things like…
…Church going,
… being nice to others
… and living “good” lives
We get so impressed and distracted by these “signs” of righteousness that we tend to forget that
· Righteousness doesn’t come through church going
· Righteousness is not created by being “nice” to other people
· Righteousness doesn’t exist because we live “good” lives
TRUE righteousness begins with Jesus. Because…
· It’s at the name of Jesus, that people will repent
· It’s at the name of Jesus that lives will be changed and hearts reformed
And when Christians forget this one true reality…
· They get to believing that it is righteousness that will save people..
· And get to believing that “real” sinners shouldn’t be in their church because “real” sinners haven’t been righteous in the past
· And if they forget that true righteousness begins with Jesus, they’ll start looking at the people they live around - who live “nice lives” - and convince themselves that the “righteousness” of those individuals will get those people into heaven even if they are not Christians and even if they don’t honor God with the rest of their lives.
We (that are Christians) should realize that righteousness IS important to God. But when we focus on that “righteousness”… if we get distracted by the actions that “look” like righteousness… if we forget for a time that it is ONLY Jesus that gives us our righteousness… we take our eyes off of Jesus.
That’s almost what happened to John here in the 19th chapter of Revelation. John related that
“… I fell at (the angel’s) feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’” Revelation 19:10
What was that angel telling John? He was telling John: “don’t you go looking at me. Don’t you get distracted by the beauty God has given me, or by the righteousness of God that I reflect.
You keep your eyes on Jesus. Because, it’s Jesus that people need.
“…hold to the testimony of Jesus.” (Revelation 19:10)
AND, keep your eyes on Jesus… because nothing else will save.
CLOSE: An old Gospel song by the Quartet called “Final Authority” says it this way:
Troublesome times are here, filling men’s hearts with fear,
Freedom we all hold dear now is at stake;
Humbling your heart to God saves from the chastening rod,
Seek the way pilgrims trod, Christians awake.
Our troubles will soon be o’er, happy forever more,
When we meet on that shore, free from all care;
Rising up in the sky, telling this old world goodbye,
Homeward we then will fly, Glory to share.
Jesus is coming soon, morning or night or noon,
Many will meet their doom, Trumpets will sound.
All of the dead shall rise, Righteous meet in the skies,
Going where no one dies, Heavenward bound.
SERMONS IN THIS SERIES:
The Dark Lord - The Lord of The Ring = Ephesians 6:10-6:18
The Fellowship of the Ring = Matthew 16:13-16:19
Who Is The Lord Of The Ring = Matthew 4:1-4:11
Return Of The King = Revelation 19:4-19:16
