Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Christs Return - Do You Really Believe Series
61 Plays7 months ago
In this sermon, Ridley Barron preached about the anticipation of Christ's return and the complexities of eschatology. He delved into the suddenness and finality of the event, the visible and personal nature of Christ's coming, and the scriptural indicators that suggest its imminence. With references to biblical passages including John 14:3, Acts 1:11, and 1 Thessalonians 4, Barron addressed the controversial debates around the rapture, the tribulations, and the antichrist, cautioning against the allure of false prophets.
Timestamps:
00:00 Finding happiness through faith in Jesus Christ.
04:38 Uncertainty about the timing and purpose.
08:31 Personal tragedies prompt reflection on life's purpose.
13:03 Longing for the blessed hope of Jesus.
14:35 Signs show Christ's return; "soon" is relative.
18:48 Calling for war, fighting with strength, proclaiming truth.
21:37 Jesus warns of Satan's deceptive tactics. Signs of cosmic chaos preceding a war.
25:12 Roman leader proclaims himself god, future prophecy.
29:41 Angel binds Satan for 1000 years, judgments.
32:51 Evangelicals believe in premillennialism and Jesus' return.
36:30 Imagined the battle of Armageddon, felt grateful.
40:10 Await Jesus' coming, joyful for believers.
41:41 Morning prayer: welcoming God into our lives.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Second Coming
00:00:00
Speaker
This morning we're talking about a subject that for centuries throughout the history of the church has kind of been a controversial subject for different reasons. We're talking about the second coming of Christ.
00:00:12
Speaker
If you came here looking for all the answers this morning, you picked the wrong church, because I don't have them. And I would warn you that if you find somebody who says they do have them, you probably should run in the opposite direction quickly, because there's an arrogance to somebody who says that they have all these answers, okay? We do have some things we know. We do have some things that we have been told. There are some signs that have been given to us, and we're gonna go into greater detail on this morning.
The Mystery of Christ's Return
00:00:36
Speaker
But what I want you to know is that we can't know everything.
00:00:40
Speaker
And I think there's an intentionality about that when the way Christ Jesus has presented it to us. This is a really popular subject. People like to talk about this thing. They like to ask the questions, what if, and when, and all that kind of stuff. They like to speculate. And so constantly as a pastor, and even as a student pastor, I was asking, we talk about the book of Daniel. Can we talk about Mark 13 or Matthew 24? Can we talk about the book of Revelation? And the answer was always yes,
00:01:09
Speaker
But I can't tell you what you're looking for. I can't give you answers to a timeline and exactly what's going to happen when those kinds of things. And I think you'll understand more as we dig into the passages we're
Understanding Eschatology
00:01:20
Speaker
going to look at today. We're going to be looking at a lot of different scriptures. They'll be on the screen for you if you're following along with your Bible, you want to keep it handy.
00:01:26
Speaker
I want to start by just letting you know that what we're talking about in general is referred to as eschatology. It's a very fancy word that comes from the Greek eschatos and it simply means last things. So we're talking about the end of God's story. How does he bring it all to a conclusion here on this earth?
00:01:45
Speaker
Many scholars over early periods of the church and even, I would say even today, some of the liberal theologians question whether or not there really will be a second coming of Christ. Many of you know my story, but I grew up in a very conservative house, part Free Will Baptist, part Southern Baptist.
00:02:04
Speaker
obviously heard all of the conservative teachings for years, and then went to a college that had very liberal theology. And I remember my professor saying, this isn't really true. This is just a thing that they put at the end of the story to kind of give people hope, to kind of give them a happy ending. And I was like, yeah, duh. I mean, it is a happy ending, right? But here's what I want you to be cautious of. It's only happy if you know Jesus.
00:02:27
Speaker
If you today, when we mention second coming, if we mention rapture, those kinds of terms, if that causes your heart to skip a beat because you have fear, I would love to talk to you about your relationship with Jesus Christ because just as we've talked about in recent weeks, the Bible says that we can know beyond the shadow of a doubt that we have faith, that Christ is ours, and that we do not have to live in fear of whatever may come.
00:02:50
Speaker
Okay, so that's why we don't have to have all the answers or the timing down. What we have to do, what we have to do is be sure that we have the relationship with Jesus Christ that he desires. So the questions asked, did Jesus ever say he was
Scriptural Promises of Christ's Return
00:03:03
Speaker
coming back? Well, very clearly in John 14.3, he said, if I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself. So Jesus himself professed, I will be coming to take away my children, my followers so that they can go live in eternity with me.
00:03:20
Speaker
And then in Acts chapter one, verse 11, the angels profess this. They said to the disciples as they watched Jesus ascend into heaven, mena Galilee, why do you stand up looking into heaven? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven. So right there we're given a clue. How is he gonna come? He's gonna come in a very visible, very worldwide way. He's going to descend from heaven to come and get us.
00:03:47
Speaker
Okay, so it won't be some mysterious event. There won't be like secrets about it. Everybody will see it. Everybody will know it. There will be no mistaking the fact that Christ has come again when that time arrives.
00:04:00
Speaker
Next passage, it says this, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, before I tell you this, I want to tell you this story. My mom, when I was a kid, bought me a shirt for Christmas, it was a white t-shirt, and it had these high top Converse sneakers on it with vapors rising up out of it. And I used to wear, I wore that shirt out, I wear it all the time, because it was about
00:04:17
Speaker
this verse, that we will disappear in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. And I would say to my dad, I wanna be a part of that. I don't wanna miss that. Do you think Jesus knows where we live? And my dad would go, son, he's not Santa Claus. He's not coming to your house. He's gonna pull you out of there and he's gonna take you out of here and you won't miss it if you know Jesus. So I used to wear the scripture shirt all the time for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel's voice and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first.
00:04:47
Speaker
Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord." This is a great book, a great verse, great promise here for us, but this is an example of some of the things we're not real certain about the timing and the purpose of it all.
00:05:06
Speaker
Scholars disagree on what this looks like. Who are the dead in Christ? What does that mean for us? What does it mean for those who are left behind at that point? Who are followers of Jesus Christ? Or will we be left behind? So there's lots of things to consider. We're going to dive into all of this just a little bit. This is the verse where we get the idea of what we know as the rapture.
00:05:27
Speaker
Okay? If you know anything about the Bible, the word rapture is never actually used in scripture because rapture comes from a Latin term that came from a later translation of the scripture. It was a translation of a Greek word we call harpazo. Both of them mean the same thing. Simply means that the rapture, the time of arising will come. Okay? The last verse I want to share with you before we dive into this a little deeper.
00:05:55
Speaker
The day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed. So every one of those verses do the same thing. From different perspectives they all confirm that Jesus Christ will indeed return to earth
00:06:14
Speaker
But they also don't say to us that there's certainty about certain things. In fact, in other places in Scripture, we are told that no one knows all the answers. For instance, Mark 13, 32, Jesus himself says, now concerning that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.
00:06:36
Speaker
says no one knows. That's why I said just a minute ago when somebody tells you I know the answer, I know the timing, I know how it's going to unfold, that's arrogance because the Bible says that we should approach this idea with an open hand and lots of humility because we don't know. If Jesus doesn't, then we sure don't. Okay?
00:06:55
Speaker
Then another passage of Scripture, Jesus says to them, it's not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. The reason I think that God intentionally has left this entire thing very vague without a whole lot of specifics is because his desire isn't that we sit around and try to figure out the time. His desire is that we are working all the way up to the last second to make sure others get into heaven with us.
00:07:17
Speaker
That is our assignment. That's why we live as a sent church. That's what we talk about, going and sharing the gospel, the hope that we have so that the rest of the world has the blessed assurance of this thing. My prayer is that when that time comes, that when Jesus decides to descend with the shout of an angel, that I am at the invitation right up here inviting people to come to know Jesus. My second choice would be if I'm in the middle of a gospel conversation with somebody, that he finds me doing exactly what he has called me to do.
00:07:46
Speaker
And I think many of us in this room would probably feel the same way. We want to be faithful all the way to the end. We can't get sidetracked by things that we don't know for sure. Yeah, it's fun to talk about. It's fun to sit there and talk about what's going on in the world and how that unfolds and all those kinds of things. But don't get so caught up in it. We miss the main thing, which is to share the gospel with the rest of the world.
00:08:09
Speaker
So, here's what we do know, okay? Let's talk about what we know. Four things we know about Christ's
Unexpected and Final Return
00:08:15
Speaker
return. Number one, it's gonna be sudden. It's gonna be sudden. That T-shirt I wore said, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. It's gonna be just like that, and Christ will be here. And at that point, you need to hear this, there will be no second chances. The story of your life will be written.
00:08:34
Speaker
This past week, Lisa and I had to go to Georgia, I was speaking at a hospital event in South Georgia, and when it was over with, had about a half dozen to a dozen men, women come up to me who had been through personal tragedies of their own, talking to me about their stories, and one of the guys said to me, who had lost a nine year old daughter, he said, my only regret was the week after that, I kept thinking to myself, I hope I did everything I could to prepare her for Jesus, because I always thought I had more time.
00:09:05
Speaker
I always thought I had more time. And he went on to say, I encouraged her in her schoolwork. She played sports. She was a great athlete. I love all that stuff, but I wish I'd had more time to talk to her about Jesus. He was a believer himself. And guys, can I just tell you it's not gonna matter? It's not gonna matter if your kids don't get this question right. Everything else they do is pointless.
00:09:30
Speaker
And this is to remind you, we're not just talking about the second coming of Christ, which will be a sudden incident event. There's also this statement in Scripture, you and I don't have the promise of tomorrow. You don't have the promise that you walk out of here today. One of our dear members of our church came up to me afterwards and said she had a friend that had been told for months she had no cancer. This past week she died only days after finding out that the doctors were wrong and she had cancer. Only days. She woke up months ago thinking she had however long.
00:10:00
Speaker
Let's be reminded that the call for every one of us as believers of Christ is to live our lives all the way up to the last second in obedience to what He has called us to do. Secondly, it's going to be personal. It's going to be personal. It's going to be my Jesus that's meeting me. My Jesus is meeting me. He's your Jesus too if you're a follower of Christ. I'm not selfishly hoarding Him for myself.
00:10:27
Speaker
But have you ever thought about this reality? I was cutting grass yesterday, and as I'm writing in the lawnmower, just thinking about today's sermon, I started thinking about this reality. The Jesus who died for me, I will finally get to see face to face. Faith will become sight.
00:10:44
Speaker
And I will see him in a way that I never imagined. The Bible says we will see him in all of his holiness and his purity. And it will be such an amazing event. We really look on him because of the fact that he's just so pure and righteous beyond what we can conceive. Thirdly, we know that it's going to be a visible.
00:11:05
Speaker
Visible appearance that means every eye will behold him and every tongue will confess Every knee will bow at that moment won't be a surprise. It won't be a mystery He will show up in a way that everybody can see and quite often I get asked the question Well, what happens if he shows up on one side of the earth how they're gonna see him on the other side there I don't know I don't care
00:11:29
Speaker
That's the simple answer I can give you. I just know what the word says, and that word is one I believe. Have you ever thought about the idea that maybe Jesus' presence is so massive he fills the universe? Every cell of our being longs for him. And we just, we work so hard to deny that or to subdue it or suppress it. And the truth is, when we embrace our desire to follow Jesus Christ, this will be the grandest thing that's ever happened in our lives.
00:11:58
Speaker
and it will be visible, and it also will be bodily. It will be bodily. He won't be some mysterious spirit that appears. It will be a physical body of Jesus Christ. In fact, we will be able to see the scars in his hand and the scar on his side. We will be able to behold him. That's the only scars that will be in heaven. Every one of my scars will be erased. Yours too. But Jesus' scars will remain as a reminder of what he has done in order to buy our way into heaven, to give us the possibility of having a relationship with Jesus Christ.
00:12:28
Speaker
So let's talk a little bit more about a couple other things we do know. We also know we should eagerly long for Christ's return.
Longing for the Return
00:12:36
Speaker
I used to use a word, maranatha, many of you have heard that word, it literally means our Lord come. And in Titus chapter 2 verse 12 he says this, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lust and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age,
00:12:52
Speaker
That's Paul's way of encouraging this young pastor, hey, do what you gotta do to live faithfully to the very end. Don't let the world distract you from your call. But he goes on in verse 13, while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. The blessed hope. My question, I'm gonna ask this many times of you today, is he your blessed hope? Is he what you're longing for?
00:13:20
Speaker
Do you really desire to see him? Do you anticipate that moment with excitement? Do some of you wish it was yesterday? I do. But then again, I don't because there are people I know who don't know Jesus. And so I don't want to rush it until he's ready because I believe his timing will be perfect. But my prayer is that many I know, friends, neighbors, and family members who do not know Jesus will be given that opportunity to receive him before it's too late.
00:13:50
Speaker
The degree to which we long for His return is to some extent a measure of the spiritual condition of your heart. Right now if you're living in rebellion against Christ, you're not really excited about the possibility.
00:14:05
Speaker
But if you know Jesus and are actively living in obedience to him, if you're pursuing the life that Paul just encouraged Titus to live, then that day happens. When that moment comes, there will be such joy in your heart, such joy because it has all come to the conclusion that God has promised.
00:14:23
Speaker
The second thing that we know here is we don't know when He will return. You hear that theme? I keep re-underlining that idea for us. We don't know when He will return. We don't know for sure what's going to happen. We don't know for sure how it's going to happen. We just know that there are some signs that were given to us so that we would have evidence that Christ's return was getting near.
00:14:45
Speaker
Now one of the questions we usually get asked in this question is, all the way through the scripture they keep talking about his return is near, his return is soon, does that mean they were wrong?
00:14:54
Speaker
Well, there's two explanations for that, I think. Number one, the idea of soon is relative. If you're talking about 6,000 plus years of human history, then Jesus coming back is probably soon compared to all of that in comparison to that timeline. I think more importantly, when he's talking about soon, the word there soon wasn't like our soon in the sense that it's happening imminently. Soon actually means with a sense of urgency.
00:15:20
Speaker
a sense of urgency. He's gonna come very quickly and it's gonna be over with and we need to be ready and be prepared in that moment. So I wanna talk very quickly about some of the signs that Jesus himself gave to us so that we would be ready for that. I'm not gonna talk about all of them, I'm just gonna talk about some of the major ones and then we'll dig deeper into what probably is the most divisive subject there is regarding the second coming of Christ. First sign we have is that the gospel will be proclaimed.
00:15:47
Speaker
Matthew 24, 14 says, this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come. Two things of note there, number one, when he says testimony to all nations in the scripture when we use the word nations, it's not the way you and I use the nations, it's a reference to people groups.
Gospel Proclamation and the End Times
00:16:09
Speaker
Okay? The reason we know that is because if you think about nations according to the borders that we consider today to be nations, those borders have changed many, many times over the last 2,000 years and will continue to do so. There is no Persia anymore. There is no Babylon anymore. Many of those nations now are just absorbed into other countries. But the people groups that we talk about all the time are the ones who will have
00:16:33
Speaker
the gospel preached to them so that the end times will come. The second thing that some note here it says, and then the end will come, he didn't say immediately the end will come. All he was saying is that before I come, the gospel will reach all of the nations. He didn't say it would be the day after.
00:16:53
Speaker
And so let's not assume that some preachers, some very well-meaning preachers who I understand the sense of urgency will say, you're the only thing holding Jesus back if you'll get the gospel to the nations. No, I mean, it's important, we've talked about that, we'll continue to talk about that. The gospel's gotta go to the world. That's why Grove Hill Church keeps talking about sending people, giving to organizations that do send people. We support that work because that in a sense is a sign that must be met before he comes.
00:17:21
Speaker
But it doesn't mean the day that that last person is reached that Jesus comes the next day. It could be another hundred years. It could be another fifty years. Who knows what that timing will look like. Secondly, tribulation will abound.
00:17:35
Speaker
tribulation will abound. In Mark chapter 13, as Jesus is talking about the end days to his apostles, he says those days will be days of tribulation, the kind that hasn't been from the beginning of creation till now and never will be again. That's pretty severe.
00:17:51
Speaker
If you think about the tribulation that the church has gone under since the inception of the Christian church early on with Nero burning Christians alive, other Caesars, other kings who have put Christians to death, the persecution that goes on today in Islamic countries because they have shut down the teaching and preaching of the gospel even in communist countries where they don't support any kind of faith,
00:18:14
Speaker
That's some pretty strong tribulation, but the Bible says this will be even harsher than that. It goes on to say that if the Lord had not cut those days short, no one would be saved, but He cut those days short for the sake of the elect whom He chose, for those who've come to know and call on Him as their Savior and Lord.
Signs of the End Times
00:18:34
Speaker
So tribulation will abound. I don't think Christ warns people so that they can seek safety though.
00:18:40
Speaker
This is the message we try to reiterate around here. God didn't save you so you could be safe. God saved you so you could be dangerous. He wants us to go against the darkness. He wants us to declare war on the enemy. He wants us to fight under his strength and his power to reclaim the lost and to bring light into the darkness. We weren't saved so we could sit and be safe. We were saved so we could go out and tell others about the danger they stand in. Next sign is false prophets will multiply. Can I get an amen?
00:19:09
Speaker
They are all over the place in our culture today, different places all over the world. This past week, there was an article in one of
00:19:18
Speaker
I think it was the Washington Post or the New York Times, one of the two, an opinion piece, where they were talking about what would happen tax-wise in areas where prosperity pastors have declared their homes as parsonages, which is a way of getting around property taxes. What if they were forced to pay their taxes and not allowed to do that?
00:19:41
Speaker
And immediately I got my back up a little bit going, well, that's a nice perk that some pastors get. I don't get it because we don't have a parsonage. So if you're asking that question. So it's fair for me to talk about everybody else, right? But the top 10 people they talked about, we're not talking about 100,000, 200,000, even $700,000 homes. We're talking about 11, 12, $50 million homes. Declared parsonages so that they could skip out on the text. That's wrong.
00:20:07
Speaker
That's wrong. Two reasons. Number one, that means you're pursuing money more than you're pursuing your following of Jesus Christ. But number two, the Bible very clearly says that Jesus said, render and decease your way to Caesar's. If they're supposed to pay taxes, they should pay taxes. The Lord knows I sure do. You do too, right? So to use the gospel to try to get around what the government has asked you to do as your part of things, that's not right.
00:20:32
Speaker
It's just an example. We have false prophets who teach all kinds of weird teachings. Most of you familiar with the guy by the name of Benny Hinn? If you're not seeing Benny Hinn, you gotta go watch Benny Hinn. It's sad and yet very comical. We got a guy who blows on people, blows on them, and suddenly they receive their miracle. I'm like, dude, get out of my face with your breath. That is not where Jesus is right now.
00:20:56
Speaker
Or about, like in these massive crusades, he'll take off his coat and he'll swing it at people and the whole sections will fall out. I'm like, where's that in the Bible? Where do you see Jesus making people fall out around him? I mean, it's just craziness. So there will be false prophets. And here's the warning for you, especially if you are a parent
00:21:19
Speaker
That's why you gotta put the seed of the gospel in them early on so that when they get out into the real world, they don't fall prey to the stuff that's being thrown at them. Because let's be honest, much of it will look convincing. Much of it will look very much like the light. Jesus said that Satan himself is like a parade around, like an angel of light, trying to look just like the good guys so that he can deceive them into following Satan.
00:21:49
Speaker
The next sign is this, chaos in the heavens. Chaos in the heavens. Well, this is what he means by chaos, verse 24 of Mark 13. He says, in those days after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not shed its light. The stars will be falling from the sky and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
00:22:08
Speaker
Again, this is an area where scholars don't agree on what he exactly means here. Is he describing some kind of military event that blocks out the sun and brings another war to our world or something like that, and he's just describing it as best he can? Or is this an actual physical cosmic event that causes the sun to go out and blocks it so that we can't see it? The answer, again, this is my deep answer. I don't know, I don't care, I just know that he said it's gonna happen, and I'll be ready and observant for that moment.
00:22:38
Speaker
How he chooses to make it unfold is God's decision. I believe he's got all this perfectly timed and in the right fashion for us and for our good and his glory.
Prophecy and the Antichrist
00:22:48
Speaker
Man of lawlessness is revealed. The man of lawlessness is also known as the Antichrist. This is somebody that everybody likes to talk about, right? We all like to speculate as to whether or not there is an Antichrist out there. Names have been thrown around for centuries, all kinds of names. In the 1940s, most people thought Hitler was.
00:23:09
Speaker
the Antichrist because of what he was leading Germany to do. There have been prominent figures in our culture today. I've seen people blame Mark Zuckerberg as being the Antichrist because of his influence in the world. Jeff Bezos
00:23:25
Speaker
Bill Gates, you know, people like that, all these people. Some have even said the Pope would be the Antichrist because of his influence. And if you've watched some of the crazy pronunciations coming out of the Pope in recent months, you can understand the influence. He was asked just recently about his thoughts about hell, and he said, I hope it's not real, but if it's real, I hope it's empty.
00:23:45
Speaker
Well, you're actually contradicting the teaching of Jesus Christ who said, broad is the way to destruction and many choose that way, narrow is the way that follows me. I'm not sure where the Pope is, he's not reading the Bible, I'm not sure what he's reading. And it's sad.
00:24:04
Speaker
But there's instant influence in the powerful position he's given. So there's reason to believe that that could be one of the answers. I don't know. I just think we have to keep our eyes open for the day it will come. And because look what it says about him right here in 2 Thessalonians chapter two. Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you brothers and sisters not to be easily upset or troubled. Underline that.
00:24:31
Speaker
Circle it. Don't get easily upset or troubled. Guys, our God wins in the end. He wins in the end. He's undefeated, always has been, always will be. Will we have to face some kind of struggles and persecutions? Most likely. Don't know what that's all gonna look like, but I do know this. He wins in the end. And we can have confidence in that. Don't be confused by a letter supposedly from us alleging that the day of the Lord has come.
00:24:57
Speaker
Don't let anyone deceive you in any way for that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man who is doomed to destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship so that he sits in God's temple proclaiming that he himself
00:25:17
Speaker
is God. This verse actually describes a historical event that happened when one of the Roman leaders went into the temple himself and declared himself a god, ended the worship of God in the temple and proclaimed it a spot for his worshiping. But it also speaks to a future event where we believe the temple will be rebuilt
00:25:36
Speaker
and the man of lawlessness will appear. The Bible says that he will actually create a peace treaty with Israel for three and a half years and then at about that midpoint he will back out of that treaty and turn against Israel and that's part of the prophecy that we know to be true. Lastly, Israel will be saved.
00:25:56
Speaker
Paul writes in Romans 11, I don't want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be conceited. A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come. And in this way, all Israel will be saved as it is written. The deliverer will come from Zion. He will turn godlessness away from Jacob. So the Bible speaks of the reality that Israel's heart has become hardened. God's given them over to their desires.
00:26:22
Speaker
Right now in Israel, you have just this vast mixture of Christians who follow Jesus, devout Jews who continue to follow the old religion. You have secular Jews who are Jewish in name, but they're not Jewish in the pursuit of their faith. You have mixtures of all kinds of people who are people of Israel.
00:26:40
Speaker
And they've adopted all kinds of teachings and thinkings right now. Their hearts have been hardened. And then it speaks of the fullness of the Gentiles, which speaks to a moment where God goes, okay, the Gentiles have had lots of time to listen to the gospel and respond to that gospel. That time will come to an end and Israel will then have their hearts open to the gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that we have never seen before. And that will be one of the signs we see.
00:27:05
Speaker
So again, this was just a few of them. I just wanted to mention them, but here's what I want you to understand. The mentioning of these signs raises two very legitimate questions. Have all of these signs occurred, and if they haven't occurred, could Christ really turn at any moment? Could He come at any second if all these things have not happened? The answer to the first question is, it is possible that all of these have occurred, but not very likely.
00:27:30
Speaker
is possible but not very likely, specifically things like the chaos in the heavens. I'm pretty sure we would recognize that.
00:27:36
Speaker
I don't think that the man of lawlessness has necessarily arrived. He might be here on the planet, he might have already been born, but I don't think he's been established in a position of authority just yet. That's just my thinking, but I think when that time comes and he does get established in his position of authority, those who are true followers of Jesus Christ will recognize him, they will see him, he will be exposed for who he is, because it says the ones who will be saved are the ones who refuse to take the mark that he offers.
00:28:04
Speaker
to the world so they will know, you will know as believers in Jesus Christ if you have a real relationship with Him. So the second question, can He come at any second? I think absolutely. If you've learned anything from our COVID experience, it is this, the world can change in a moment's notice. I mean, think about how many, not millions, billions of people instantly turned to follow a government that really didn't have answers.
00:28:30
Speaker
They were making really good educated guesses in their mind. They created vaccines that they didn't prove. They pushed masks. They pushed isolation. They did all these things. None of those were good answers. But boy, we were ready to do whatever they asked us to do instantly because an emergency created this desire to follow them. Don't fall for it. It will happen again.
00:28:53
Speaker
There's lots of speculation that it's already being developed. The theory that somewhere there's gonna come some great sense of urgency that will cause somebody, an important somebody, to rise to a prominent position. Do not sell your soul to follow something that cannot deliver you from evil. You've got to follow God's word as your supreme authority in all things. All things.
00:29:17
Speaker
So I said we're gonna talk a little bit in greater detail, probably about the most divisive. So let's just take the last few minutes here to talk about what is probably the most divisive conversation.
Millennial Views on Christ's Return
00:29:27
Speaker
By divisive, I don't necessarily mean that it's heated in its division, although sometimes it can be, but it is controversial in that scholars and even most Christians cannot agree on all of these things. But it's based around this passage that we sang a little bit of here a minute ago. Revelation 20, it says, I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key to the abyss,
00:29:46
Speaker
and a great chain in his hand. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years." That's known as the millennium, what we're talking about here. We're going to talk about that in greater detail. He threw him into the abyss, closed it, put a seal on it so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the thousand years were completed.
00:30:09
Speaker
After that he must be released for a short time. Then I saw thrones and people seated on them who were given authority to judge."
00:30:17
Speaker
I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.
00:30:41
Speaker
Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, the second death being condemned to eternity and hell without Christ Jesus or without God. But they will be priests of God and of Christ and they will reign with him for a thousand years. So the discussion that most Christians
00:31:00
Speaker
kind of divide around is this idea of when Christ's return will occur in relationship to what is known as the millennium. There are basically three trains of thought. The first is the Amillennial group.
00:31:12
Speaker
The Amillennial. That word describes a group who believes that we are living in the thousand years right now. The thousand years are not literal thousand years, they just describe a long period of time. So the time between Christ's ascension, His first return, and His second return is known as the Millennium, the thousand years for them. And as I said, we're living in that event right now.
00:31:34
Speaker
Christians who have already died, the Peters, the Pauls, the James, the St. Francis of Assisi, they are in heaven, spiritually helping God reign over this period. And when that time comes to an end, a thousand years are over, Christ will return visibly, bodily, for us personally. There will be one judgment, and at the end of that judgment, those who follow Jesus Christ will go to heaven, and those who do not will be condemned to an eternity in hell.
00:32:04
Speaker
Most people who follow this like it because of its simplicity. There's one return, there's one judgment, there's one decision that has to be made as to which place you're going, so it's kind of cut and dry and it's very simple. That's the amillennial form of belief. The second one is the post-millennial.
00:32:23
Speaker
They believe that as the church grows and continues to spread, Christianity continues to spread, we'll have such a great influence on the world that righteousness will grow and a period of millennial peace will come out of that growth of Christianity. It will be ushered in with such a huge and prominent influence of Christians that the world will become a better place.
00:32:45
Speaker
If you think the growth of humanity towards world peace, those kinds of ideas accompany this kind of thinking. They also believe that at the end of this time, there are a thousand years that Jesus will then return to earth and he will, at that point, there will be one resurrection and he will make the judgment, again, followers of Christ to heaven and those who do not follow Christ to hell. I don't understand how people can conceivably believe this one because I don't see the world getting better.
00:33:13
Speaker
You look around you, you watch the news, it's very easy to see how the world continues to worsen and worsen. I don't discredit the idea that God can do anything. God could bring revival around the world in a moment's notice, pouring out his spirit and those kinds of things. I just think the evil that grows among our humanity right now will continue to do so until the point where Jesus is ready to make his return.
00:33:36
Speaker
which points us to the last and probably the most prominent belief, especially among evangelicals, and that is the idea of premillennialism. This teaches that Christ returns before the thousand years start, but right after the seven years of tribulation. So there will be seven years of tribulation. The man of lawlessness will come. He will rule over the earth. He will cause people to have to get the mark on their head or their forehand so that they can buy and sell, get food. All the basics of life will be required from him.
00:34:04
Speaker
When Christ returns, all those who are dead will come and rise to Him, that's the rapture, and the next a thousand years will be those Christians reigning with Christ on this earth where Satan and the demons will have no authority for a thousand years. Sadly, during that time, there will still be people who reject Him. There will still be people who look on Him and refuse to follow Him or to submit their lives to His leadership.
00:34:30
Speaker
Then at the end of that 1,000 years, the Bible tells us that Satan will be released one more time to do a final reign on the earth. During that time, both the family of God will grow because some being persecuted will finally recognize that Jesus is who he says he is, but also many who are on the edge will fall away and fall away hard to the point where they cannot be redeemed.
00:34:53
Speaker
And so you might have picked up on it. My feeling is that the last makes more sense to me according to scripture. I'll also be honest with you that as I've grown in my faith, I've kind of gone back and forth in different elements of this. Why? Because nobody knows the final answer, okay? You could take me to lunch, have a really good lunch, buy me a really, really good lunch and talk me into something else maybe. But right now that's kind of where I am.
00:35:18
Speaker
So, let me just say the statement to you again. This is all uncertain because it's the future and only one knows the future, his name is God. I believe God left it intentionally vague because the family of God was given one assignment as we remain on this earth and that is that the nations may know the blessed hope of his assurance. That's our job until the end of time. He would rather we were living out our obedience when he came rather than living in safety when he came.
00:35:48
Speaker
So I will make some final statements for you and then we'll bring this to a close.
The Final Victory of Christ
00:35:54
Speaker
Every Christian, true Christian of Christ follower, every single one of them believe that there will be a final victorious return of Jesus Christ. All of them believe that Satan will have a time in prison and that he will be released from prison. And that time will come when he will, in one last bold attempt, try to overthrow Jesus Christ and it will end in what we know as the Battle of Armageddon.
00:36:18
Speaker
If you've ever had the opportunity to go to Israel, I apologize. I meant to have pictures up here for you today when we had the opportunity to go there. You will know there is a city known as Megiddo that is in northern Israel, not fully northern, but close, northern Israel. I had the pleasure of standing there one day on a trip, on a mission journey.
00:36:34
Speaker
and imagined what the Bible describes as the Battle of Armageddon, that final battle. And I just gotta tell you, my first thought was I am so thankful that I will be sitting on the sidelines for this thing because it's gonna be horrendous. It's gonna be glorious because Jesus wins again, like he always does, but it will be horrendous in the sense that the Bible says that the bloodshed will be so vast that literally the blood will rise to the level of the horse's saddle.
00:37:02
Speaker
in that time. And as I stood on the wall of Megiddo and looked down the Jezreel Valley where this thing's going to take place, that's a huge, huge undertaking. I mean, just that whole concept. And it was kind of a little bit freaky for me because as we stood there, Elise and I were standing there talking to some of the people, F-16s from the Israeli Air Force flying over the whole time.
00:37:26
Speaker
And I'm thinking, man, this is it. This is what's gonna happen. This whole thing's gonna unfold somewhere along the way. The entire world, we think most of the world is gonna turn its back on Israel and Israel will be defended by only one. And it's the only one that's necessary.
00:37:43
Speaker
it will be their God, the one who chose them. And thankfully for those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, we'll get to sit on the winning side watching that whole thing unfold. But still it will be a sad moment for all those who were lost without Jesus, those who choose to battle on the side of Satan against the one who died to save them from that. So we can't say these signs have not occurred that we talked about because we just don't know.
00:38:09
Speaker
Many have believed, like I said earlier, over the years that some of the signs were completed. There have been things that have happened years ago when they built a dam on the Euphrates River. It was rumored that that was the way that the Chinese army would march from the east into Israel to try to prepare for the Battle of Armageddon, and that very likely could be the case. I don't know if it's right or if it's wrong.
00:38:30
Speaker
But people are constantly watching signs. We can't say that the signs haven't occurred. We can't say the signs have occurred. Again, it's speculation. There are some that will be real obvious, like the chaos in the heavens. I think it's gonna be hard for us to miss that one. But there will be some that we just have to kind of guess and hope that we're ready when those moments come. But what we can say for sure is, we don't know. We don't know.
Call to Faith and Assurance
00:38:55
Speaker
And I think that's how God intended it. So what do we do in the meantime? Let me just close with this.
00:39:01
Speaker
Number one, responsible exegesis. Exegesis is that fancy word that means we don't read into the scripture anything that's not there. We just pull out of the scripture what God intended. We read what is there and just interpret it by the power of the Holy Spirit. We interpret that word to know what it means. I think the second thing we've got to do is we've got to have this lifestyle that lives in constant expectation of his return.
00:39:26
Speaker
Again, the whole reason I think the writers use the word soon is because they were saying live with a sense of urgency. If you go home today and you think about some coworker that you've been wanting to share Jesus with, don't go, I'll get to them someday. Someday needs to be today because you may not have tomorrow. If you've got that loved one you've been praying for for months but you've never opened your mouth to speak truth to them, now is the time to do this because we don't know how quickly
00:39:54
Speaker
quickly we will arrive to that day, that coming of Jesus Christ. And then again I remind you, lots of humility, lots of humility when it comes to discussions about this subject. No arrogance because we don't have the ground to stand on to be arrogant. What we can proclaim to the world is our Jesus will come.
00:40:13
Speaker
that the bride will not be standing at the altar without a groom, because the groom will come to take her home. And those who know Jesus will stand in expectation, out looking eagerly for that moment, that time when Jesus will come. Here's the reminder. Everything I said, everything I just said regarding this subject, regarding the Christ coming,
00:40:39
Speaker
Every bit of it falls around your knowledge of Jesus Christ and your acceptance of Jesus Christ. For most of you in this room today, you have a relationship with Jesus Christ and you know beyond the shadow of doubt that it's gonna be great joy in your face when that day comes. I'm excited for that. That brings your pastor great joy that you are following Jesus. But there are some of you in this room who are not. You are not ready. Some of you have been queasy this entire 30 minutes that I've been talking because
00:41:10
Speaker
You're scared of what's gonna come. You don't know. And I'm just gonna be honest with you, that's something to be afraid of. Because it won't be a joyous experience. It won't be a happy homecoming. It won't be a moment that you look forward to. The solution is that you settle this issue. That you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ lived, died, was resurrected so that you may have life and have forgiveness for your sins.
00:41:41
Speaker
Will you join me as we pray this morning? Father, we welcome your word into our hearts. We welcome your spirit into this place. But none of that matters if we're not willing to welcome you into our lives. So I just ask in these next few moments, Father, that you would lead us to make bold decisions. Some of us need to turn our families over to Jesus this morning.
00:42:04
Speaker
Some of us need to receive the saving power of your blood shed for us. We need to do that here and now. Others of us just need to go back home to where we know where we once were. We've kind of walked away from that salvation experience we had. We just need to be reminded that God welcomes prodigals home. He receives them with open arms. He welcomes them in. He sets them back on the right path.
00:42:33
Speaker
Lord, whatever the decision is this morning, give us courage to respond in these moments just as you would desire. It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.