We conclude today the series on the life of our Lord Jesus Christ that we began back in January. With the study of a normal person's biography, one deals with those historical facts of his life until one comes to the grave. And there, of course, the study ends. But the Lord Jesus Christ is different. He rose from the grave. We've been dealing with that for the last several weeks. And in fact, he is coming again. And today we are dealing with that blessed truth revealed to us in the Bible.
I invite you to open your Bible to the book of Titus, chapter 2, verses 11 through 13, where we get our theme. It is Titus chapter 2, beginning in verse 11. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.
The blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. Every part of Christ's life and ministry vitally affects every person who has, does, or ever will live until the end of time. His cross, for example, becomes the reference point for the final judgment.
Everyone's eternity depends upon which side of the cross he stands, either on the side of belief and trust in Jesus as his Lord and Savior, or on the side of unbelief, of willful rejection or neglect of the Lord Jesus Christ. The eternity of every person who has, who does, or ever will live depends upon where he stands with relation to the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross becomes the central reference point for every person's final judgment.
Likewise, Christ's second coming is related to every person. In some manner, the fulfillment of the promise of Christ's coming again will affect every person who has, who does, or ever will live until the end of time. When we consider the second coming of Jesus Christ, it is important for us to differentiate between two phases of his coming.
In fact, that difference you may note even in the scripture that's in our worship folder this morning, for in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the trumpet that is mentioned refers to the first phase of his coming. That is when he comes back to receive the saints, the church, to himself.
The second passage dealing with a trumpet, this time from Matthew 24, is a different context and refers to the second phase of his coming when he will gather his elect, the Jews, from around the world and will bring them together in Palestine. That has to do with his coming again to the earth. The first phase we sometimes call the rapture. It deals with the church and there is a trumpet associated with that.
The second phase we usually distinguish by calling the return, the return of Jesus Christ to the earth and likewise there is a trumpet call associated with that one. Today we're going to focus our attention on his return. That is his return to the earth to consummate his promises to Israel and to all the nations of the world in setting up his reign, his kingdom upon the earth. We have many times spoken of the rapture of the church.
We are going past that in our thinking to his return to the earth for this study this morning. The second coming of Jesus Christ is the very next event on God's prophetic calendar. I believe that we can speak about Christ's return to the earth in three ways. In the first place we can say that his second coming to the earth will be visible. That is the key word I want you to remember. His second coming to the earth will be visible. I remind you of Acts 1 and verse 11.
Would you look at that with me? We have Luke's account in the book of Acts of Jesus' ascension. Acts 1 and verse 11. In verse 10 he mentions that they were gazing up intently into the sky while he was departing and then two men in white clothing stood beside them, angels. And verse 11, they also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven.
And so associated with his departure from the earth is the promise that he would come again just as he went into heaven. How did he go? Visibly. They saw him depart until the clouds took him out of their sight. And so there were clouds associated with that departure. When Jesus left, he left the earth. And the promise is here that when he comes, he will come back to the earth and indeed to the same mount in Palestine, the Mount of Olives.
And the book of Zechariah tells us that when his feet land on that mountain the next time, it will cause a great split in the mountain. Our Lord is coming again visibly, just as he went away visibly. Would you turn with me to Revelation chapter 1 and notice the promise given through John as he writes the concluding book of the New Testament. These early verses in chapter 1 are words of introduction and greeting, words of dedication.
And he says in verse 7, Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him, even so, amen. A way of underscoring the truthfulness of what was said. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, an allusion to a text in Daniel chapter 7 verse 13, where prophetically Daniel sees the same event, the Son of Man coming with the clouds in great glory.
And John brings that by the Spirit's inspiration up to New Testament times, and he says, Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him. The second coming to the earth will be a visible coming. Now that is in contrast to the first aspect or first phase of his coming again. For as I understand the New Testament, when Jesus comes for the church in the rapture, he will not be visible to all the tribes of the earth. Every eye will not see him in that day.
In fact, I believe that only believers will see him and will hear the sound of that trumpet that calls us forth from the world into his presence ever to be with him. Only believers will behold him in that phase of his coming. But when he comes again to the earth, on that time, at that time, every eye of every person in the world will see him. How will that be done? I don't know. But it will be so. His return will be observed by everyone.
Someone says, but wait a minute, I think somewhere in the Bible it says that when Jesus comes again it's going to be like a thief, isn't it? It's going to be secretly. Well, it does say in fact in several places that his coming will be as a thief, a thief in the night. But the thought there is not the secrecy of it. The thought is the unexpected nature of the event. His coming is not going to be in secret when he returns to the earth, for every eye will see him.
But the point is that as a thief is never expected. So his coming on that day will be unexpected by the world. They will be involved in the normal affairs of life, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage as it was in the days of Noah, said Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. That is, they will be wrapped up in the affairs of life in a sin-cursed world. They will be enjoying their iniquity with no thought of judgment, no thought of intervention, no expectation of Christ coming.
And suddenly his sign will appear in the heaven and he will return. When it speaks of his coming like a thief, it speaks of the unexpected nature of his visible return to the earth. Our Lord's second coming to the earth will in the second place be a violent one. The key word there is violence. Yes, there is violence associated with the return of the Prince of Peace to the earth. That is because he will come to deal with sin.
I want you to notice with me as we look at Scripture very quickly that in the first place there will be violence in the heavens. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 24 where we have an extended portion of Jesus' own words dealing with this second coming of his to the earth. He speaks about the days of the tribulation early on here in the chapter.
And then in verse 29, Matthew 24, but immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. When the Lord Jesus comes again to the earth, there will be violence in the heavens. The sun, the moon, the stars will all be affected by the power, the energy, the impact of his return to the earth.
I invite you to flip back further with me in your Bible to the book of Joel. And then look in chapter 2 of Joel. A few weeks ago when we were talking about Pentecost, we looked at an earlier portion here, beginning in verse 28. A portion that is referred to on the day of Pentecost, the Lord pouring out his Spirit. But beginning in verse 30, there are words of prophecy that have never been fulfilled and will be associated with his return.
Joel 2 and verse 30, and I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire, and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. So Joel as well joins in the theme, saying that there will be cataclysmic changes in the heavens.
In chapter 3 verse 15 he says, the sun and moon will grow dark and the stars lose their brightness and the Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and the earth tremble. And so when our Lord comes again to the earth, his coming will be a violent one. Again if we had time we would turn to Isaiah the 13th chapter, verses 9 through 13, where similar words are used to describe the violence in the heavens, which is associated with his coming again to the earth.
Will that be because of warfare on the earth? Is there some kind of inference here of atomic warfare with fire and blood and columns of smoke and the atmosphere changing its color? Well perhaps, but how would a biblical prophet speak of atomic warfare in his day? If that is what it is, it fits rather interestingly with the language here. Perhaps in our Lord's return to the earth there will be some kind of a limited warfare like that.
In the battle of Armageddon perhaps that will be associated with it in some way. But the fact is that when our Lord does come it will be a time of violence in the heavens. I'd like you to turn to the book of Revelation again with me this time to the 20th chapter, where we see that there will also be violence in the heavenlies associated with his second coming. The heavens and the heavenlies are two different things. The heavens refers to the atmosphere and beyond.
The heavenlies, a phrase from the book of Ephesians, refers to the realm of spirits. It is the invisible realm to us where good angels of God and demons or evil fallen angels do battle with each other even now. When our Lord Jesus comes back to the earth he will deal with that invisible realm, the heavenlies, and there will be violence. In chapter 20 of Revelation verse 1, and I saw an angel coming down from heaven having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him. So that he could not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed. In the larger context this is something that occurs in conjunction with our Lord's return to the earth in chapter 19.
At that time Satan, and I would assume associated with him all of his evil cohorts, will be bound and chained by the angels of God. Do you think there will be a submissive spirit by these beings at that point? Do you think when our Lord comes they're just going to roll over and say, well we give up? Not in the slightest. For just as the battle of Armageddon taking place in the world at that time will be the greatest battle in the history of the world.
I believe that the battle that is involved here in these verses with the chaining of Satan will be the greatest battle ever witnessed in the heavenlies. And it is a battle that will be associated with his return to the earth and the result of that great battle in the heavenlies and the violence there will ultimately be the binding of Satan and his being cast into the abyss. And that abyss then sealed for a thousand years so that he cannot escape it. He will not go willingly to that place.
He will be dragged there and thrown in along with all of his demon powers, the powers of darkness. And so associated with our Lord's second coming to the earth will be violence in the heavens and violence in the heavenlies. But there will also be violence on the earth when he comes again to the earth. We see it in chapter 19 as the great battle of Armageddon is described for us beginning in verse 17.
An angel invites the birds of the air to come and assemble themselves to eat the flesh of the people who will be killed in that battle. These birds of flesh eating birds will come and will eat the flesh of kings and commanders and mighty men and horses and those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, free men and slaves, small and great, who will be involved in that battle. He further describes it in verse 19.
And I saw the beast, read that antichrist, that's what the beast represents, Revelation 13. And the kings of the earth and their armies assemble to make war against him who sat upon the horse and against his army. The one on the horse is described in verses 11 through 16 and is Jesus Christ, his army, the one that comes with him from heaven. And so you see there will be violence on the earth associated with his second coming. We'll read more of that in a moment.
I'd like you to turn back with me to the book of Isaiah and look at an Old Testament prophecy regarding this event. Look in Isaiah 34, verses 2 and 3. Now remember Isaiah is writing 700 plus years before the coming of Christ. But he looks ahead to the day of the Lord, the day of judgment. And it says in verse 2 of Isaiah 34, for the Lord's indignation is against all the nations and his wrath against all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has given them over to slaughter.
So their slain will be thrown out and their corpses will give off their stench and the mountains will be drenched with their blood. Now he goes on to describe that great day, but I want to stop at that point and simply underscore the fact that when our Lord Jesus returns to the earth, he will return to subdue the armies gathered under the leadership of Antichrist.
And there will be a violent war, one that is described earlier in the book of Revelation as involving such a death that the blood will run in that great valley of Megiddo to the depth of the horse's bridle. Perhaps the blood will be mingled with a great downpour of water. And so great is that army of multiplied thousands upon thousands and so great the slaughter as our Lord returns to the earth to subdue Antichrist and the united armies of the world.
That there will be a fierce, violent war which will ultimately lead to the coming of his kingdom of peace and righteousness upon the earth. Sometimes people don't think of the violence associated with Jesus' return to the earth, but my friend, his coming will be a violent one in certain respects. And now I'd like for you to think in a third way regarding his coming. His coming to the earth will be visible. Every eye will see him.
His second coming to the earth will be violent in the heavens, in the heavenlies, and upon the earth. Thirdly, his second coming to the earth will be victorious. Victorious. I'd like you to go back to Revelation with me. Maybe you kept your finger there. To the 19th chapter again. Now let's think first of all of the army that is gathered there in the valley of Megiddo, where the battle of Armageddon will take place.
Revelation 19 and verse 20, And the beast, Antichrist, was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs of his presence, that is, the religious leader, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone.
And the rest were killed with the sword, which came forth from the mouth of him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. Now the center figure here is the one who is depicted with a sword in his mouth, which seems to symbolize the power of his word. Look back in verse 11, I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he who sat upon it called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and wages war.
And his eyes are a flame of fire, and upon his head are many diadems, and he has a name written upon him which no one knows except himself. And he is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. But there be no mistake as to who this is, it is Jesus. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses.
And from his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. And he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. The winepress is a picture of judgment. Just as the grapes were thrown into the press and that huge stone rolled over them, extracting from them the juice which then ran out of the press and was caught, made into wine.
So the population of the world is pictured here as being thrown into the press of God's wrath and judgment being extracted upon them to its full. It is called the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. Let anyone who reads this and who is under the wrath of God tremble at the thought of it. And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Our Lord's second coming to the earth will be victorious. He will begin by subduing the armies of Antichrist.
Following that he will subdue the kingdoms of the world and will be the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords, no exceptions. He will then bring into judgment all of the unsaved of the world. Not their final judgment, but their immediate judgment. For no one who is unsaved will enter into his kingdom. All of those who have rejected him will at that point be put to death. Later to be judged finally.
But at that point they will die so that they will not enter into and defile the kingdom of his righteousness. And then in Revelation chapter 20 we read in verses 4 and following of the completion of the resurrection, the first resurrection. That seems to be the resurrection at that point of all of the saved through the ages. So that the saved, all of the righteous will enter into his kingdom of victory. Our Lord's second coming to the earth will be victorious.
It is a fearful thing to align oneself against God the Almighty. And yet there are those who do it thoughtlessly and carelessly and they think that somehow this is sport. This is a joke. It is no laughing matter. Yesterday I looked out my family room window and saw some visitors in our neighborhood. Some people coming through in pairs with satchels. And so I waited and sure enough ding dong. So I went to the door and there were two lovely ladies, two grandmothers.
And I stepped outside and closed the door and she pulled out of her satchel a magazine and she said, I'm here to tell you the gospel of the kingdom, the good news of the kingdom. That one day all of the earth is going to be united under one kingdom, one government and that's going to be quite a day. And I said just a moment, before you go any further, could I ask you a couple of questions? She said sure. That may have been her first mistake. I said was Jesus a good man?
And she said oh he was perfect. He never sinned. I said well let me ask you a second question then. Was Jesus, Jehovah God, come in the flesh? And she said oh no. Jehovah Father God is up in heaven, Jesus he created. And I said well I find that interesting. You tell me that Jesus was a perfect man who never sinned and yet he himself claimed to be Jehovah God come in the flesh. How do you explain that? She said he never said that.
I said look in your Bible in John chapter 8 and see if it doesn't say, before Abraham was I Am. And see furthermore if it doesn't say, if you believe not that I Am, which was clearly a claim on his part to be the I Am of the Old Testament, Jehovah. It says if you believe not that I Am, you will die in your sins. And I said dear ladies I implore you to understand that Jesus is Jehovah God come in the flesh. And that unless you recognize that and receive him, you are going to die in your sins.
The thing I was trying to get across to them and did not succeed very well is what I want to say to all of you this morning. We can talk about his kingdom. We can know that someday he is coming back to the earth to establish a reign upon the earth which will then extend into eternity with him on his throne. We can know all of that. But if we are on the wrong side of the cross, it doesn't mean good news. It means bad news.
It's only the gospel of the kingdom for those who are on the side of belief and trust in him, not only as Jehovah God come in the flesh, but as Jehovah God who laid down his life and shed his blood for our sins. It's good news that he is coming again if one is on that side of the cross where one trusts him and believes on him. It's terribly bad news if one rejects that message or neglects that message. Bad news.
Sadly, for those ladies who later walked away after a rather intense conversation, it's bad news still because they are on the wrong side of the cross. But what about you? The cross of Jesus Christ is the center reference point for every person who has, who does, and ever will live on the earth. It is the reference point for the final judgment. And the side of the cross that you are on on that day will make the difference between salvation and damnation.
If you are not on the side of faith, the side of belief in the Christ of the cross, that he died for your sins and rose again, will you today make that change? Instead of neglecting or even rejecting him, will you today bow your knee to him and receive him? And may those of us who have done that, who are on the side of belief and trust, may we today be anticipating the coming of Christ. This is a doctrine that today is sadly missing in the church.
And I think the reason for that is that we Christians are too much satisfied with the world. We rather like it here. We like the things. We even enjoy a little bit of the evil. And therefore we don't like to think about Jesus coming again. I think of my brother-in-law who was fishing with a friend of his who claims to be a Christian. And as they were chatting, they started talking about spiritual things. And my brother-in-law began to say how glad he was that Jesus was coming again.
And the other man who claims to be a Christian said, I don't want him to come again. I've got too much to do. Well, we say shame on him, but does not that express the attitude that many of us sometimes have? We are to live godly and righteously in this present age, looking for that blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. May our hearts today be renewed in fervency with expectation for His coming again. Let's bow together in prayer.
Would there be someone today who would say, Pastor, today I need to make that change. I'm on the wrong side of the cross. And I know if Jesus were to come today, I would be in trouble. I would be in judgment. And I want to receive Him. Behold, today is the day of salvation, our Lord says to you. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near, says the prophet. Dear friend, if He's knocking on your heart's door today, He's near. And He wants to come in.
Will you allow Him to? Will you invite Him to? Will you trust Him? Just where you're seated. Father, I thank you for the promise that you have given to us through the word of our Lord Jesus coming again to the earth. Every one of us is related to that coming some way. We will be related either in salvation or in damnation to His coming.
If there be some friend here today who's trying to decide is in the midst of a decision, I pray that that one will trust the Savior and pass over from death into life by receiving your Son by faith. Thank you for the promise and oh may our hearts beat with fervency for His return. And we pray this in His name, in Jesus' name, amen.