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FUTURE
THE
SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
I. Introduction
The Bible tells us that as Christians we are only pilgrims in this
world, citizens of a Heavenly Kingdom, looking forward to our
salvation in the Second Coming of Christ and Eternity. In the
book of 1 Thessalonians and in the Gospel of Matthew we are told
that the coming of Christ will be on a day much like today; a day
when people will be eating and drinking, marrying and being given
in marriage (Mat 24:38). It will come like a thief in the night
and at an hour when we do not expect it (1 Thess 5:2). So that it
does not take us by surprise we are warned to be ready for Him, to
keep watch, (Mat 24:42,44), and to encourage one another to live
godly lives (1 Thess 5:8,11). According to God's calendar of
events it could begin at anytime, today, tonight, or tommorow.
In light of this I would like us to consider some of the major
passages of the Bible concerning the Second Coming of Our Lord
Jesus Christ and the events of the end times so that we may more
eagerly look forward to our coming salvation in the return of
Christ.
I have linked many Scriptures together chronologically to form a
picture of the end time events as I believe they will happen. I
would like you to take a trip forward in time right where you are
and view the events of the end times as history, as if you are
hearing a story that has already occurred. Can you picture us in
eternity future, looking backwards toward this era? Let me be
your guide.
A. Voice from the Future
Picture us standing right now in the Father's House, in the
city called the New Jerusalem. The walls of our city are
crystal clear like a diamond and the streets are made of
pure gold like transparent glass. There is no night here
for brilliant light shines everywhere. Neither is there
death nor sin for the old order of things has passed away.
The New Jerusalem is extremely large. It measures
approximately 1400 miles square and is an unbelievable 1400
miles high (Rev 21:4). It is surrounded by a jeweled wall
200 feet high which has twelve gates made from pearls and
the gates are attended by angels. In the city is the Tree
of Life just like the one that was in the Garden of Eden,
and we all eat of its fruit. We drink from the spring of
the Water of Life that flows down the main street of the
city. The glory of God is the illumination of the city.
We experience total joy and perfect peace here with God.
Now permit me to share some of the chronological account of
the major events that have taken place since Jesus came for
us at the end of the Church Age.
II. Events Prior to Second Coming
A. Rapture
1) The Promise (John 14:2-3)
When the beloved Jesus ministered on the earth during His
first coming, He had promised His followers in the Church
that He would return to Heaven for a while and then come
back for His bride. In fact His exact words were, "In my
Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would
have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
back and take you to be with me that you also may be where
I am."
Because it had been so long, some in the Church Age had
struggled with the fact that Jesus would come back. They
knew that He said He would return but life seemed so normal
and therefore highly unlikely He would return in their
generation. Yet, as Jesus said in the Book of John, "I will
not leave you as orphans; I will come to you" (14:18).
2) The Event (1Thess 4:16-17)
Yes, Jesus came back exactly as it was recorded in the
Scriptures. Jesus had told us to, "...keep watch, because
you do not know on what day your Lord will come...the Son of
Man will come at an hour when you least expect Him" (Mat
24:42,44).
It was a day that was like many others on the earth. Some
Christians were at their jobs busily involved in their
assignments, mothers were changing diapers and cleaning the
home; in other parts of the earth the Christians were asleep
in their beds. Many young believers were busy in their
classrooms at school, some Christians were in prayer
meetings at church, and there were the persecuted Christians
around the world that were being tortured because of their
faith in Jesus.
There were even some believers who were involved in acts of
sin when their Master returned for them, but everyone in
every situation was taken by utter surprise when suddenly, a
loud thundering voice was clearly heard from up in the sky.
Every Christian on earth instantly looked up and could see
the magnificent splendor of our Glorious Savior Jesus
Christ. "He was dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet
and with a golden sash around His chest. His head and hair
were white like wool, as white as snow,...His face was like
the sun shining in all its brilliance" (Rev 1:13-14,16).
The loud command that we heard was comparable to the time
when Jesus called Lazarus from the grave with "a loud
voice, 'Lazarus, come out!'" (John 11:43). Jesus called
each Christian to come up to Him. At about the same
time there was a voice of an archangel and a resounding
trumpet call and then all those who had died believing in
Christ rose from the grave in immortal bodies and ascended
up to Jesus. Then in what seemed to be a "twinkling of an
eye" all the believers who were alive suddenly lifted off
the earth to also join their Savior, and were gloriously
changed into beautiful immortal bodies.
Then Jesus led us, His resurrected and glorified followers
back to the third heaven. We traveled faster than the speed
of light and were in the Father's House in a moment's time.
B. Chaos and Wrath On Earth
1) The Chaos
Our sudden disappearance caused widespread chaos throughout
the world, for we were approximately 5,000,000 people in
number, not counting the multitude of resurrected saints.
Airplanes crashed because essential crewmembers were
missing. Cars were strewn on many freeways for lack of
drivers. Husbands were frantically searching for wives who
had vanished. Wives too were left waiting for husbands who
would not be returning home. Teen-agers were searching for
parents, and likewise, some parents were also looking for
their teen-age sons and daughters.
Some world leaders were also among the missing, many
people speculated that they were abducted by terrorists.
Behind the Iron Curtain the authorities were furious over
the unexplained disappearance of their "religious
prisoners." Some churches were left nearly empty and
others were full of the "falsely religious" including the
Pastor and the Elders.
2) The Explanation
The world sought answers for the millions of missing
persons. Some guessed that it may have been the Rapture
that some Christians had mentioned would occur some day,
but this was quickly discounted by the leading false
religions which remained, such as, the Roman Catholic
Church, the Mormons, and the Jehovah Witnesses to mention a
few. It was then decided that the Christians who had
disappeared were the "fanatics," the ones who were always
talking about Jesus, the Bible and the need to be Born
Again. It was assumed that we had all gathered in giant
communes somewhere to pursue our religious zeal.
But while the world was still in a state of shock and
chaos, a man arose who offered solutions to the problems,
promising "Peace and Safety." He was the one the Bible had
said would come someday--the Antichrist. But soon the
world discovered that his peace was only superficial and
temporary.
3) The Seal Judgments
The Antichrist was bent on conquering the world. He had
easily conquered Europe by deceit and began the conquest of
the rest of the nations. But other nations were not so
easily overcome and soon a full scale world war broke out
which caused tremendous destruction over the entire globe.
Food supplies became critical because of the many destroyed
agricultural areas. The famine was so severe over the
world that a man had to work one day just to earn enough
money to buy a day's meal for himself; his family often
went hungry. During the war, chemical weapons and germ
warfare were utilized causing widespread disease. Even the
wild animals were affected and those animals that survived
became savage towards men. The casualties resulting from
the war, the famine, the plagues and the from the attacks
of the wild beasts accounted for the deaths of over one and
one-quarter billion people, one-fourth of the earth's
population (Rev 6:1-8).
The Antichrist took advantage of the war and gained in
power and began to establish a one-world government. He
established his own religion and was opposed to the gospel
of Jesus Christ and engineered one of the greatest
persecutions of Christianity the world had ever seen. Many
Christians were murdered, because they would not partake in
the government sponsored one-world religion (Rev 6:5-11).
Then the wrath of God was again poured out on all the world
because of its sin and rebellion against the Holy and True
One.
4) The Trumpet Judgments
God sent hail and fire mixed with blood down to the earth.
Nuclear war continued and, "A third of the earth was burned
up, a third of the trees were burned up and all the green
grass was burned up" (Rev 8:7).
As God continued to punish the earth and its people with
each new judgment, He also continued to give man the
opportunity to repent by allowing a period of time to pass
before the next curse. But instead of the unbelievers
crying out to God for mercy, they, "...called to the
mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the
face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the
lamb...'" (Rev 6:16).
Jesus then turned one-third of the seas into literal blood,
killing one third of the sea creatures. He also caused
one-third of the ships to be destroyed. Then His judgment
fell on a third of the rivers and springs of waters causing
them to become polluted and many more people died (Rev
8:10-11). After a period of time Jesus reduced the hours of
sunlight and moonlight by one-third, and even caused a third
of the stars to turn dark (Rev 8:12). Crops all over the
world died because of the sudden imbalance between night and
day.
Life on earth had become very difficult. Stealing, murder,
rape and sexual immoralities were common occurrences as law
and order began to "breakdown." Still man did not turn to
God but continued to openly worship demons (Rev 9:20-21).
Fittingly, Jesus then ordered the "Bottomless Pit" to be
opened which allowed millions of wicked demons to infest the
world. This judgment was so severe that men and women tried
to commit suicide but God would not let them die (Rev 9:1-6).
Then the armies from the East began to march across the land
to Israel the place of their final battle, "Armageddon." The
army slaughtered over one billion people while enroute (Rev
9:13-18). At this point over one-half of the world's total
population had been destroyed.
5) The Two Witnesses (Rev 11:1-13)
Our Most Beloved Savior continued to show mercy in the midst
of His wrath when He sent two prophets to the earth to
powerfully declare the truths of the gospel. For three and
one-half years these two brothers preached the Good News of
salvation through Christ. They also inflicted severe plagues
and droughts upon the earth as part of God's judgments. Fire
destroyed anyone who attempted to take their lives.
Finally, God allowed them to be killed, and the people of the
earth were so pleased that they had worldwide celebrations
and sent gifts to one another. They left the dead bodies of
these two saints lying in the streets of Jerusalem, refusing
them burial. The entire world watched the bodies on
Satellite TV for three and one-half days. Then Our Sweet and
Precious Savior raised them to life and caused them to ascend
up through the heavens in full view of a watching world.
Suddenly an earthquake "hit" Jerusalem and one-tenth of the
city collapsed.
6) The Bowl Judgments
Now, as the world's dictator, the Antichrist, demanded that
he and an image of himself be worshipped as god by all men.
He was aided by one who could perform many signs and wonders
by the power of the devil. Because of his power he deceived
most people on earth and ordered that no one could buy or
sell any item unless they had the "Mark of the Antichrist" on
their forehead or right-hand. These two also decreed that
anyone refusing to worship the Antichrist would be killed
(Rev 13). Many dear brothers and sisters in Christ were
beheaded because they would not worship the Antichrist or his
image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or
their hands (Rev 20:4).
God too had a mark, but only for the followers of the
Antichrist, "...ugly and painful sores broke out on the
people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image"
(Rev 16:2). God also gave men blood to drink! Because the
world had shed the blood of God's saints and prophets
throughout history, Jesus turned the oceans, the rivers, and
the springs of water into real blood (which killed every
living thing in the waters) (Rev 16:3-7).
The world was staggering under the weight of all of God's
judgments, yet men and women still refused to repent and
glorify God. God then caused the sun to scorch the earth and
its people with intense heat. This judgment was quickly
followed by total darkness yet men and women, "gnawed their
tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of
their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of
their sins" (Rev 16:8-11).
God then sent his final judgment upon the earth. This was
the most severe yet. A violent earthquake occurred that was
so strong that all the cities of the nations collapsed. New
York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, London,
Copenhagen, Cairo, Rome, Paris, Moscow, Tokyo, Indianapolis,
yes every city of the world was destroyed by the earthquake!
Coupled with this was a terrible hailstorm that dropped huge
hailstones weighing about a hundred pounds each. What was
man's response? It was to curse God because the plague was so
terrible (Rev 16:17-21).
Chaos reigned on the earth. The food supply had all but
disappeared, there was only blood to drink, and most of
mankind was without shelter. The only organizations that had
any structure left were the armies that were fighting outside
of Jerusalem at the Battle of Armageddon. The earth was
enclosed in utter darkness for the sun no longer shone and
the stars had disappeared. It was cold and only the light
and heat of weapons exploding jarred the terror of the
continuous night (Mat 24:29).
III. Second Coming of Christ
While the earth was cloaked in darkness and terror, there was
light and bliss up in the third heaven. The redeemed of God
had been there in their glorified bodies for seven years.
They were living in their Father's house, which is the New
Jerusalem, the vast city of beauty and light. Each saint has
his own room designed and decorated by his God and Lord--Jesus
Christ.
One day, suddenly there appeared something very unusual in
heaven, horses, white horses which came silently and stately
down the golden streets. There were millions of them and each
horse seemed to know exactly where they were to go. For one
white horse stopped by each room of the redeemed. The saints
joyfully mounted their horses and all rode to the gates of the
city. The horses and riders rode out through the pearly gates
and all gathered in columns outside the city. Then Jesus
joined the army of saints riding His own white horse.
On His head were many crowns and He was clothed in a robe
which had his name written on it: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF
LORDS. All of the saints and the chorus of angels sang praise
unto His Name. He looked at the redeemed with a deep love in
His eyes and said, "Follow Me." Although there were millions
upon millions of saints on white horses and all following
Jesus, each believer could see Jesus. It was as if each was
riding right next to Him! This is the way heaven is, for
although there is only one Jesus and He is in bodily form, He
seems to be visible and accessible to everyone at once.
It was so wonderful that Our Precious Lord Jesus would allow
His saints to be a part of that moment in history. Jesus was
assembling His army to conquer the earth. In His army were
the Holy Angels and all those who had hungered and thirsted
for righteousness. There was Moses, Joseph, David, Bathsheba,
Rahab, Peter, James, John, Mary, Martha, and Paul. I could
see Moody, Spurgeon, Billy Sunday, Billy Graham, and many
other great men and women of God.
But there was also great joy in seeing those in the Lord's
army who were former great sinners such as former homosexuals,
former murderers, former fornicators and former liars, all had
been redeemed and restored, and were sitting on their horses
dressed in pure white fine linen because of the cleansing
power of the Blood of Jesus Christ. There were even those who
had never walked on the earth but were murdered by the act of
abortion, they too were sitting pure from the original sin of
Adam because of the Cross of Calvary. What an incredible
sight it was!
As we rode out we traveled faster than the speed of light and
suddenly, as Jesus turned His eyes to the earth they changed,
becoming like blazing fire. We could then see the planet, but
the darkened sun did not illumine it; it was the light of
Jesus as He emanated a brilliant radiance (Rev 19:11). Then
fire began to appear all around us, along with loud thundering
sounds and blinding flashes of lightning.
A. Rider on White Horse (Rev 19:11-16)
On earth, those fighting in the darkness of Armageddon were
suddenly blinded by the light of Jesus Christ and His army.
In an instant, the Lord Almighty came with, "thunder and
earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and
flames of a devouring fire" (Isa 29:5-6).
It was Isaiah who prophesied, "See, the Lord is coming with
fire, and His chariots are like a whirlwind; He will bring
down His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of
fire. For with fire and with His sword the Lord will
execute judgment upon all men, and many will be those slain
by the Lord" (Isa 66:15-16).
B. Return to the Earth
1) Response of Those on the Earth
Every eye on earth saw Jesus return and mankind began to
mourn for their own lives knowing that the hour of judgment
had come (Mat 24:30). They fled, "...to caves in the rocks
and to holes in the ground from the dread of the Lord and
the splendor of His majesty..." (Isa 2:19).
2) Standing on Mount of Olives
Jesus Christ, the King of the Earth, dismounted from His
White Horse directly upon the Mount of Olives. As soon as
His feet touched the mountain it split in two, exactly as
prophesied in Zechariah 14, "...His feet will stand on the
Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives
will be split in two from east to west, forming a great
valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half
moving south" (v. 4).
When the mountain split it created a large valley which was
called the Valley of Decision (Joel 3:14).
C. Judgment of Earthly Wicked
1) Armies Set to Attack Christ
Then the Antichrist and "...the kings of the earth and their
armies gathered together to make war against the rider on
the horse and His army" (Rev 19:19) It seemed incredible
that those who were fighting on the earth could be confronted
with the supernatural return of Jesus Christ from Heaven and
yet turn their weapons on the Savior and His army as if God
could be destroyed.
2) Beast, False Prophet, and Armies Judged
But before they could fire one weapon, the Lord struck
them with great fear and a plague that caused their flesh,
their eyes and their tongues to decompose while they were
still standing on their feet. This caused great panic and
some soldiers attacked and killed one another (Zech 14:12-
13). The Antichrist and the false prophet were then captured
and thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
Then the rest of the wicked army was killed by the command
of Jesus. Their flesh was given to be eaten by the birds of
the air (Rev 19:21).
D. Chaining of Satan
While the birds gorged themselves on the defeated armies, Satan
was captured, bound with a chain and locked away for 1,000
years. The place of his torment is the "Abyss" which means the
"bottomless pit." The demons were also bound with Satan, just
as Isaiah had revealed would happen when the Lord returned,
saying "In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the
heavens above...They will be herded together like prisoners
bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be
released after many days" (Isa 24:21-22).
E. The Judgment of the Living
Then all the remaining people, the noncombatants, of the
earth were transported to the Valley of Decision where Jesus
judged them. He sat on a throne in all of His heavenly glory
and separated the people one from another, placing the
Christians on His right and the unbelievers on His left (Mat
25:31-33).
Then King Jesus said to the Christians on His right, "Come,
you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the
kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world..."
(Mat 25:34). The kingdom He gave to them was the Millennial
Kingdom that was about to begin.
Then the King said to those on His left, "Depart from me,
you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the
devil and his angels..." (Mat 25:41). Then the unbelievers
went away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to
eternal life (Mat 25:46).
F. Thousand Years
There was a 75 day transition time after the battle ended
before the 1,000 year reign of the Lord began. In fact, it
took seven months just to bury the remains of the dead. And
some of the weapons from the war were used for fuel in Israel
and lasted for seven years (Ezek 39:9-16).
1) Earth is Restored to Beauty
Jesus began to remove the curse of sin from the earth. The
earth was restored, every valley was raised up, every
mountain and hill was made low, and the rough ground became
level, the rugged places became a plain (Isa 40:4). Mt.
Zion was established as the chief among the mountains; it was
raised above the hills (Isa 2:2). The desert regions were
covered with many pools of waters from the new rivers and
springs. Jesus set beautiful trees everywhere. There were
pines, firs, cedars, olives, and many other kinds of trees
(Isa 41:18-19). Beautiful flowers burst in bloom, just like
the crocus, all over the earth (Isa 35:1-2), and every land
was fertile and cultivated (Ezek 36:36).
2) A Kingdom of Light
The Millennium was truly a kingdom of light. The moon was
as bright as the original premillennial sun and the sunlight
of the kingdom was seven times brighter than before, like
the light of seven full days (Isa 30:26). The night of
the Millennium was as bright as the old noonday sun.
3) The Inhabitants of the Kingdom - Parents
Now, the only people that were left alive in the Millennium
were the believing Gentiles and Jews. The entire world
consisted of Christians with Jesus Christ reigning as the
King of the earth. But there were also young unsaved
children who were under the age of accountability, who could
still choose to reject the gospel. And the adult christians
had many children born during the Millennium who like all
children since Cain and Able, were born into the world as
sinners.
4) The Inhabitants of the Kingdom - Children
The children living in the Kingdom all needed salvation, but
they were given plenty of opportunities to hear the gospel,
for their parents were Christians, Jesus Christ was visibly
on the earth as King, and there were a multitude of immortal
glorified saints (you and me) ruling and reigning with Our
Master Jesus Christ.
5) Life in the Kingdom
a) Long Life
Most mortals who lived on the earth during the Millennium
lived out their years (Isa 65:20). Their life spans were
like those in the days prior to the Flood when, for example,
Methuselah lived for 969 years! Those born at the beginning
of the Millennium lived for 1,000 years.
b) Death in the Kingdom
Yet, there was death in the glorious Kingdom of Light, just
as the Bible had revealed to us, "...he who dies at a
hundred will be thought a mere youth...and he who fails to
reach a hundred will be considered accursed [condemned to
Hell]" (Isa 65:20). Jesus gave children up to the age of 100
to make a decision for Him and at that point, if they
remained in unbelief, Jesus took their lives in judgment.
c) Peace on Earth
The earth was a place of great peace and safety just as God
had declared in the Book of Isaiah, "They will neither harm
nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be
full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the
sea" (Isa 11:9)
Jesus was enthroned in His headquarters in Jerusalem; the
law went out from Zion, the word of the Lord went from
Jerusalem. He judged between the nations and settled
disputes for many peoples. The nations recycled their
weapons of war into farming equipment. Nation did not
take up sword against nation, nor did they train for war
anymore (Isa 2:3-4).
d) Peace in the Animal Kingdom
Truly peace reigned everywhere, even in the animal kingdom.
The lion did lie down with the lamb. The wolf and the lamb
fed together, and the lion ate straw like an ox (Isa 65:25).
The wolf lived with the lamb, the leopard laid down with the
goat, the calf and the lion and the colt together; and
little children led them around. The cow ate with the bear
and the young calves and the cubs laid down together (Isa
11:6-7).
Infants played near the holes of cobras, and young children
put their hands into the nests of vipers to play with them
(Isa 11:8).
Life in the Kingdom was indeed very blissful, and we the
immortal redeemed, were there assisting Our Savior in His
rule. We were daily interacting with the mortals and enjoyed
with them this time of true peace on earth.
G. Satan's Doom
At the end of the one thousand year Kingdom, Jesus ordered
Satan to be released from prison. Immediately the devil
went out to deceive the nations to make war against Jesus
and His people. Satan actually got an attacking force to
surround the city of Jerusalem. But fire came down from
heaven and devoured them. Satan was then thrown into the
lake of burning sulfur, his final resting place, to be
tormented for ever and ever (Rev 20:7-11). The devil was
never to be seen or heard of again. He would never again
trouble God's people. Amen.
H. The Total Destruction of Heaven and Earth
Immediately following this judgment of Satan, Jesus then
removed all the mortal believers from the earth. They were
translated into their glorified bodies and given their room
in the Father's House. He then raised from the graves "the
rest of the Dead" (Rev 20:5). These were those who had
died throughout the ages of time and had failed to believe
God's word for salvation. They had been held in torment
since the day of their deaths, awaiting the day of final
judgment.
Then God destroyed the earth and the heavens by fire. The
heavens disappeared with an explosive thundering sound; the
elements were destroyed by fire, melting in the intense
heat (2 Pet 3:10-12).
I. Great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:11-15).
It was now time for God to judge the sins of all the
generations of unsaved people. God brought them to stand
before His Great White Throne for judgment by Jesus Christ
who was seated there. Each person was judged according to
what he had done in his life as recorded in the books.
These deeds were compared with God's perfect Word as He had
revealed it to each generation.
The judgment was simple. The standard by which one could
enter into heaven was a life on earth without one recorded
sin. One sin would result in the eternal judgment of Hell
and any additional sins would increase the amount of torment
and agony he would eternally receive. As each person was
brought before the judge his sins were revealed. Then the
Lamb's Book of Life was open to see if the person had allowed
Jesus to pay for their sins. None were found to have trusted
Jesus for salvation. Therefore, each unbeliever was found
guilty and then thrown into the lake of fire to be tormented
for ever an ever (Rev 20:11-15).
As we, the redeemed watched, we knew that we too had sinned
in our own earthly lives, but we remembered that at the
Cross of Calvary all of our sins were charged to the account
of the sinless one Jesus Christ. Because He took our sins
upon Himself our books of sins contained nothing but pure
white blank pages, washed clean by the Blood of Jesus
Christ.
No one could ever fault the Judge Jesus at the Great White
Throne for not showing mercy, for even as He sentenced the
unsaved to torment, one could clearly see the scars on His
hands and on His feet from the nails of crucifixion and the
scar in His side from the Roman spear. Jesus offered mercy
to all when they were on earth and for those who desired to
remain in their sins He could only then give His wrath.
J. Eternity
After the Great White Throne Judgment only the Trinity, the
angels, and the redeemed saints remained in Heaven. The
old earth and heavens had been destroyed and all those who
had rejected Christ were forever bound in the Lake of Fire.
Jesus then created a new heaven and a new earth and brought
"the Father's House," the New Jerusalem down from heaven and
placed it on the new earth. Then God Himself came down to
earth to live forever with redeemed man (Rev 21:1-3).
Life in the Eternal State is perfect. There is no more
death, no more mourning, no more crying or pain (Rev 21:4).
But the most magnificent sight in all of Eternity is the
Precious Lord Jesus Christ. His beauty is without equal and
His love for each believer is never ending. We never tire
of worshipping Jesus and learning more about Him.
IV. Conclusion
We have heard the record of God's future accomplishments. As
we now step backward in time to the present, the scenario I
have just painted has not yet occurred. But the Scriptures are
clear, that it will indeed happen, with perhaps some slight
changes from this chronology. It only awaits the Rapture of
the Church to set it all in motion. And the Bible indicates
that this event could happen at any moment.
What should be our response to these truths of Scripture?
What should we do from now until the Rapture?
A. If Unsaved
If you are not saved then seek salvation today. There are
no salvation opportunities after our moment of death. The
Bible declares, "...man is destined to die once, and after
that to face judgment" (Heb 9:27). Jesus Christ has
revealed these truths to warn you of the tribulations to
come. He wants to cleanse you of your sins and receive you
into His Kingdom. Repent of your sins, confess Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior, receiving His glorious free gift
of salvation.
B. If Saved
1) Renewed Desire to Serve Jesus
For those of us who are saved, we should feel humbled
that God would love us and save us from the wrath that
our sins deserve. He will give us a new and glorious
body, a room in the Father's House, and an eternal
blissful future. We should renew our dedication to Him
and strive to serve Him with all our mind, soul, and
strength.
2) Renewed Compassion for the Lost
Let us show compassion for the lost. We have seen what
awaits the unbeliever when Jesus returns to the earth.
And those judgments, as terrible as they are, are mild
compared to the endless torment and agony of the eternal
Fiery Lake of Burning Sulfur.
We must attempt, by the power of the Holy Spirit within
us, to live holy lives before our lost families, friends,
coworkers, and neighbors. We are their only hope, for if
they do not see Jesus Christ in us, then they will not
see Jesus at all. This will cost us, for we must be
different than the world in order to "stand out as light."
a) Our Conversation
Our speech must be gracious and yet seasoned with the salt
of the truths of the Bible. In Ephesians 5:4 God reminds us
that for a Christian there must never be obscenity, foolish
talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather
thanksgiving."
b) Our Life Styles
We must be a holy people in order to lead others to Christ.
In this age of sexual freedom God reminds the Christian that
in our lives, "...there must not be even a hint of sexual
immorality, or of any kind of impurity..." (Eph 5:3).
In fact, God clearly tells us, what we should have uppermost
in our thinking, "...whatever is true, whatever is noble,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy--think about such things..." (Philippians 4:8).
We must keep ourselves pure, for the evil one is constantly
attempting to corrupt us. Let us not be deceived, nearly all
that is on television, in popular magazines and in books today
are things that do not please God. A Christian cannot be
entertained by the world and still please God. To watch and
be entertained by TV murders, TV adulteries, TV violence, TV
drunkenness, and TV crime is to partake in what God calls sin.
Even when we drive our cars we must maintain the high
Christian standard and never purposefully exceed the posted
speed limits. Radar detectors have no place in a car
belonging to one of God's children.
C. Final Thoughts
Jesus is coming back for us soon with the Rapture, at an
hour when we least expect Him. Once we are gone the horrors
of the tribulation period will be unleashed. Many of our
loved ones, friends and acquaintances would be left behind to
face God's wrath if Jesus came for us today. He has
privileged us to know the future and to play integral parts
in His plan. May we do all that we can by the power of the
Holy Spirit to help those around us who are lost to share in
the wondrous salvation we possess.
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 130
Shreveport, LA 71110
MODEM (318)-949-1456
300/1200/2400/9600 Baud