Transcription
What does the Bible, uh, say to us about prophetic events? Prophetic things, listen, prophetic things like salvation. Mind you, the very doctrine of soteriology, that is the doctrine of salvation, comes out of biblical prophecy. And then what about heaven itself? What about you and I being in heaven? Did you know the hope of heaven that you have is based on Bible prophecy? Do you ever think about that?
I, I think it's safe to say that if 27 to 31% of the Bible is that which covers biblical prophecy, imagine over, over a quarter of the Bible, then I think it's safe to say that we are in, in a good topic as we look to the reliable truth of God's word. Again, you can always scan the notes to get them all down onto your device. Uh, but let's go to the opening title and the opening theme verse for the entire series, you guys.
It's out of John chapter 14, verse 29, and it is a powerful declaration. It's one that should not be wasted on any of us. We need to grab it and we need to know this. Jesus said, "And now I have told you." By the way, do you know why Jesus never said, "Thus sayeth the Lord"? All the great prophets of God said, "Thus sayeth the Lord." Do you want to know why Jesus never said that?
>> Good for you. He is the Lord. He says, "I," he is the Lord. "And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe." That is not only a salvation statement, it is a Bible prophecy statement. And it is the fact that Jesus Christ authenticates the very Bible itself by telling you that what he has spoken will come to pass. And he's the very governor of all of that. In other words, Jesus keeps his word, and he is none other than the very Word of God.
And listen, as we get into this, you remember we started the first point, and that was regarding the king's first coming. And as we, uh, brush on that or touch on it for just a moment, I want you guys to be reminded of the umbrella. Anybody remember the umbrella from last week? It's so important. We, we, we looked at this, the first coming. When you think of Bible prophecy, you see the, the coming of the king, or the, uh, the king's coming, whatever you want to say. Uh, you could say, um, uh, you know, the, the advent of the king. So once you establish who the king is, that it's King Jesus, we know from Bible prophecy that there was a first coming, and the first coming, very specific, and you studied that last time together. The first coming is not Bethlehem. The first coming is the Mount of Olives, when Jesus Christ is on the back of that little donkey that we know as Palm Sunday, and he announces himself to the nation and to the national leadership as the coming king. Now, many people believed in him, but the nation did not. The national leaders, the government of the, the theocracy of Israel, Judaism, those in power, they rejected him. But thank God, glory be to God, right? The first church was Jewish, and through their preaching of the gospel, that's how the Gentiles heard the gospel. And, uh, we're excited about that. That's all regarding the first coming of Christ as prophesied in Zechariah 9:9. We saw that before.
And then in the middle, watch this. In the middle, it's specific. It's not a coming. I want you to mark this down if you didn't last time. It's an appearing. We've got the first coming of the king. That's 2,000 years ago, roughly. We've got the appearing of the king. We're going to talk about this tonight. And then thirdly, we've got the second coming. A lot of people quickly and wrongly think, "Oh, the return of Christ is the second coming." No, I have to ask you, what do you mean by that? Because the second coming, some people say, "Well, you know, the rapture and the second coming, it's all the same thing." It's not the same thing. The first coming is Christ coming to Israel, presenting himself as king. He doesn't do that again until the second coming, presenting himself as king. You're going to see that tonight. And in the middle, he does not present himself as king. His appearing presents himself as the groom, or, uh, Christ, the husband of the bride of Christ, the church. He appears in the atmosphere. He receives the church to himself. He never comes to earth in the middle, in the rapture. He doesn't touch the earth. What he does is he comes through the atmosphere. He calls the church up to himself. He takes us back to the place where he's been preparing for us. And at the end of the tribulation period, again, we'll read it tonight. I hope we'll get to it in Revelation chapter 19. It's the grand chapter where the church is suddenly found in heaven, and we are behind Jesus, and the doors of heaven open up, and Christ comes out of heaven, and we are with him, and he, we with him, are returning to earth. And out of his mouth goes a sharp two-edged sword. Wow. Isn't this, did you guys like Lord of the Rings? It's very Lord of the Rings-like, don't you think? He will strike the earth with the word of his mouth. And he will gather together the nations of the world and judge them there in Jerusalem, at top Mount Zion. The Bible tells us that in his judgment, the valley of Jehoshaphat will be filled with blood of those who are not worthy. They are anti-good, anti-Christ at the time of the second coming, but those who make it through, those who are faithful, granted it be a remnant. The Bible tells us that they will live into the kingdom age. And, um, that's an overview, to say the least.
And so, the king's first coming. And now we look, we dive into the king's one and only appearing. And so, uh, this is what we're looking at, and we touched on it. You'll be reminded, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And we want to assemble this. We're all going to be detectives right now. No matter what your denominational persuasion is, and, and all of us have one, the first coming, the second coming, and this thing that a lot of people want to argue about called the rapture. Uh, why is it different? Why does it apply to the church and, and not the nation of Israel or somebody else? Here's why. Paul told the Corinthians in chapter 15, verse 15, "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption." Here it comes. "Behold, I tell you a mystery. We," says Paul, "shall not sleep." That means, you guys know what that means. You remember what that means for the believer? The believer, regarding the body, is never, uh, announced to be dead. The body takes on the appearance of sleep. "We shall not all sleep or die, but we shall be changed in a moment, in a, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." And I gave you the definition of that word "changed" down there, to watch this. Look, to take something and make something different out of the same. That's an, that's a remarkable Greek word and its meaning. To take something and then to take that something and make something different, but it's out of the same. Folks, you know it as this resurrection.
>> Did you know your body's going to be resurrected?
>> If the Lord comes back tonight, then your body's going to be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. You, you won't see death. I don't know about you, but I'm, that's kind of great. There'll be a generation of believers that will not see death at that moment.
>> Sign up, man. I hope that's tonight.
>> Verse 53 goes on and says, "For this corruptible, that is our mortal bodies, must put on incorruption." We need to be changed. "And this mortal must put on immortality." So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, Hades, or hell, where is your victory?" Isn't that great? God is mocking. God's mocking the grave. Hey, I thought you're so powerful. I thought you were so, so cruel. Well, it is, but Christ broke the grave. Amen.
>> The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." And all God's people said, "Amen to that."
>> Amen to that. Absolutely. And that strength is the righteousness of Christ, which is the technical term is imparted. Christ, by his work at the cross, imparts his righteousness to all who believe. I know that's hard to fathom, and maybe it's impossible to fathom, which is why we need faith to just believe him. But according to God's ledger, according to God's recordkeeping, he sees you completely righteous in Christ. He sees, he doesn't see you with all of your sin issues and all of your weirdness. We're all weird. Just get, get over it. We're all weird, but in Christ Jesus, you've been born again and made alive. The last part of us to be made alive will be our bodies. Your mind is being renewed by the word of God. And your spirit has been quickened or made alive by the Holy Spirit the moment you were born again, the Bible tells us. And that last part of that trichotomy, body, soul, and spirit, is that the body will be either transformed at the resurrection moment of the rapture, or raised from the dead, and you'll meet the Lord in the air.
That's what belongs to the church. We'll see this more and more. Galatians 5:5 tells us, "For we through the Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit, eagerly wait." That is, we can't wait. I mean, we will wait, but we're so excited. We can't, we can't wait, but we will wait for him to come back. We eagerly wait. Listen, that is what I told you last week is the doctrine of imminency. Somebody might say, "The Bible doesn't teach Jesus could come back at any moment." Whoever that is, they're not reading their Bibles. The very term "eagerly wait" anticipates. The word means to scan the horizon. If he's not coming back quickly, then why scan the horizon? In fact, if you want a contradiction in the Bible, there's one right there. If Christ is not coming back in an immediate return without any warning or notice, we got a boo-boo here. We eagerly wait. We are, we are to anticipate that.
And then I shared this with you a little bit last time and just quoting it. John 14, Jesus introduces the very action of what we call the rapture. The word "rapture" is Latin for the Greek word *harpazo*. *Harpazo* is to be, uh, caught up, to be, technically, it's to be violently caught up, to be scooped up. And, um, Jesus gives us the, the description. Now, as I read this, everybody, you guys awake?
>> As I read this, I want you to remember 1 Corinthians 15. We read it a moment ago. Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself." That's key. "To receive you to myself, that what? Look at it. That where I am, there you may be also." There's no mistaking this. This is not the first coming. It is not the second coming. It is Jesus Christ appearing, and the twinkling of an eye event, and those who are alive in that moment will be transformed in that instant. The dead in Christ will rise first, and we will meet them in the air with the Lord. That's what the Bible teaches. You say, "I've never heard that before." Again, you should read your Bible, but I anticipated your question tonight. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4:13. They're all the same event.
1 Thessalonians 4:13, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, "But I do not want you to be ignorant or uninformed, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, believers who have died, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, God, even so, God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus," speaking of the body. "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep or who died before us." In other words, we're not going to go up before those who died. Their body is going to be resurrected, and then we're going to follow them up. Watch this. "For the Lord himself would descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel. And here it comes again. This is that, uh, sec, the last trump. There's only two trumps. Not two trumps. There's a lot of trumps. Two trumpets. I don't know why I said trump. Uh, there's the, there's the first and the second, uh, first and the last trump. Don't confuse the trumpets with the tribulation trumpets. And with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up." That's the word "rapture" in Latin, or *harpazo* in Greek. "Together with them in the clouds to notice where's the location? In the clouds, in the glory, in the atmosphere, to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words." Can you say amen to that?
>> Amen.
>> The return of Jesus Christ, if it's tonight, should excite you to no end. Now, look, if you're not happy about that, and you claim to know Jesus, but you're a little nervous about that because you've been, I don't know, hanging out with Rocky or sleeping with Bubbles, and the Holy Spirit is saying to you, "Hey, you better knock it off. I could come back. You better get right. You better get ready." God might be, listen, if you're not excited about Christ's return, I want to ask you why. You should be excited. Young people, and now I get it. Older people, they're really excited about, we're just too tired to raise our hand. Yo, young people, they're a little bit hesitant because they're thinking, "No, I want to see Paris first, or I want to get married, or I want to, whatever."
>> Listen, I, listen, I promise you, whatever the world offers you, no matter how good it is, it's nothing compared to five minutes in heaven.
>> It's going to be amazing. [applause] It's going to be awesome. One more eager verse. Philippians 3:20 says, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we, here it is, eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our vile or lowly body, that it may be conformed to his glorious body."
Oh, that's nice. And so we want to get excited about that. We want to be reminded that holiness, the motivation of Christ's return, holiness is a very important thing. The Bible says without holiness, you and I will not see God. Did you know that? Now, I want to encourage some of you. When you hear the word "holiness," depends on where you're from. If you're from the East Coast, you think of, uh, the Amish. You think of everybody having to wear black, no makeup, with, with a bun, and we all have beards, you know, not all the guys have beards, and we make everything out of wood. And that's the picture of holiness. That's not the picture of holiness. I mean, if you want to wear that stuff, that's fine. But it doesn't make you holy. Holiness is a matter of your heart, your life, but it's observable by how you live. When you come to faith in Christ, you are declared righteous by God. That's by faith. But you and I do not know that. When people say they trust God, remember we talked about this last week. You kind of got to take their word for it, but you got to watch them. You have to watch them to see if their life lived out backs up what they said. You know, I said this last week, and somebody wrote me a letter. They weren't happy about it. I concluded that, uh, they need to change how they're living. When somebody said, "If I tell you that I'm an NFL star," you might say, "Oh, it's nice to meet you. Oh, can I have your autograph?" And I can scribble, and you might think it's real until you go to a game and and see me on the field, and then you'd find, well, first of all, I wouldn't even get on the field because none of that's true. You can say anything you want until it's tested. And we talked about that. We, we, we should stop being gullible that way, and we need to be prepared. We talked about preparedness.
Here's another verse of great imminency and urgency. Titus chapter 2, verses 13 and 14, "Looking for," that is, scanning the horizon, "that blessed hope and the glorious, what is it? >> Appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself." Notice, church, who does the purification?
>> He does it. That's why you should become a Christian tonight. If you're not, you say, "Well, I'm a member of the Lutheran Church, or Calvary Chapel Church, or the Baptist." That's your answer. You should become a Christian tonight, a Christ follower tonight. And, and your defense is, "I'm a member of something." That's not the right answer. Church affiliation or membership does not matter to God one iota. The question is, do you know him personally? Because listen, what he does is he goes to work, and when he works a work, he begins to purify you and I. He purifies for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. Zealous. This church gets so much stuff done. I get to watch this people. I get to watch you and just doing things that are just shocking. Why are you doing all these things? And when I talk to you, you love the Lord. "I'm doing this for Jesus." Isn't that great news? Listen, nobody's doing anything around you for somebody else. If you are, you're doing it for the wrong reason, and it's not going to work. But if united together, we understand Christ could come back. Jesus is Lord and Savior. Let's be busy about our Father's business. Let's get up with a sense of urgency and do the right thing.
>> Because he's worthy of that action. He's worthy of that vitality. Then that's a great way to live, and it's a great church to be in association with. If you ever find this church sleepy and settling back on its laurels and no longer intense or passionate about the truth of God and about affecting the culture and preaching the gospel to the ends of the earth, let's get out of here. If I'm too old, pick me up and take me with you. You want to be where the Holy Spirit is moving.
>> And you'll see God do tremendous things. Very powerful, very beautiful thing. Matthew chapter 24:44. The Bible tells us here, in fact, it's interesting because this is a, it's, it's technical because Matthew 24 is a chapter dedicated to the future events. And yet, the Bible has been with us for nearly 2,000 years. And the Bible's going to be with us next week. So when God wrote Matthew 24, his other chapters as well, in the context, it covers both the future events, but it also applies to every generation of believers. So with that background, verse 44 says, "Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour you do not expect." This is not the first coming, and it's not the second coming. This can only refer to his sudden appearing.
I want to give you this quote that sums things up. Jesus is saying, "I am coming back for those who, yes, believe in me, but even more so, those who actually believe me." That's important. Do you believe in him, or do you believe him? I think if you believe him, then you'll believe in him. But somebody could say, "You believe in him, but may not believe because he says, 'I'm coming back,' and you need to be excited about that." So when I said, "Be watching and waiting," they took it seriously. This is what Jesus would be saying in a modern-day conversation. I, I take it. When I do appear, they will be the ones who have been living life expecting me to walk through the door to greet them at any moment. And I like that. I think that's powerful.
The third thing is this, and that is the king's second coming. And this is important. Christ's first coming was to present himself as king to Israel. The people shouted on the hillside, "Save now, save now, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." They shouted, "Hosanna." They called him the Son of David. Why? Because he is the Son of David. But again, the national leadership turned on him, as was prophesied in scripture. For the last 2,000 years, the gospel has gone out to the ends of the earth. And now tonight, the church is predominantly Gentile. Not exclusively, but predominantly Gentile in its DNA. So when will the Jews, as a nation led by God, get a chance to do this again? In other words, when will God fulfill his promised prophecies of the Old Testament with the nation of Israel? And that brings us to the dynamic that you and I are living in today, replacement theology and all that's taking place in the Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson world. Wherever they got their theology from, they got it from the wrong people. It's very tragic because they have a lot of listeners, and they're very charismatic people, but they know nothing about biblical theology, but they were swept up. And I do believe that it can be proven from scripture that those doctrines, the Bible warned us in the last days, there'll be deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. And that's why today there are people following what they're saying, and many like them. And there are those in pulpits who are teaching this that are dangerous. Oh, yeah. But they're so, they're so nice. Dangerous. But he's cute. He's handsome. I heard someone say that recently about a pastor back east. But look how cute he is. I look, I'm a Christian. I have to maintain my witness. But I wanted to take my Bible and apply, apply the Word of God to the side of their mind. Oh, that, you know, that's kind of like how people vote in California, by the way.
>> I was on a flight to Calgary, Canada, and during the Canadian elections, and it was re-election, and I was sitting on the, I'm on a Canadian airline, heading back to Canada, sitting next to a Canadian. No big shock. Canadian airline heading back to Canada, sitting next to a Canadian. And, uh, I said, "How's your elections going?" "Oh, I voted." I said, "Well, how's it going?" "Oh, I don't, I don't care because this is what she said. She said, 'I voted for U Tra because I'm not kidding.'" Huh? She said it right here. "Because he's so cute." I know. We gasp. But then what did California do but vote for a guy with incredible hair who sounds like Batman when he talks, right? But listen, humans, we're weird that way. Didn't Israel, when they had the chance, they ditched God and took Saul because he was taller than everybody else and really handsome? Man, we can all relate to that. We live near Hollywood. That's like, that's the way to vote. Tall, dark, and handsome. There's the qualifications. God says, "No, no, I look on the inside of the heart." And, uh, that is a, that is a very, very powerful thing to, to know and to realize.
Listen, Christ is coming back to the nation of Israel as prophesied in the second coming, not the rapture. He doesn't come to earth. He appears in the atmosphere. But the seven-year tribulation period and the return of Christ must happen to the nation of Israel. He must return to Jerusalem. He must establish his throne on Zion, or we've got the wrong Jesus tonight. That's how critical that is. God either keeps his word or he doesn't. We'll see some of this tonight. And this is just enough to get you excited, I, I would hope anyway, about studying more.
And so in John chapter 2:3, you guys okay still?
>> John 21:13. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And he found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. And when he had made a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. And he said to those who sold doves, "Watch this, take these things away. Do not make my Father's house a house of merchandise." Now, if they knew their Bibles, they would have known. He's quoting the Old Testament. That should have sent fear up their spine. Then his disciples remembered that it was written, "The zeal of your house has eaten me up." Absolutely stunning. Jesus quotes the Bible. He acts out the Bible. Why? Because at his first coming, he's fulfilling Bible prophecy. And the same will be true for the nation of Israel, for Jerusalem in the great second coming.
Malachi chapter 3, verse one. Malachi 3:1, "Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming," says the Lord of hosts. First coming, second coming, both to the nation of Israel. We made mention of this last time. How important is this? Watch the technical authorship of God's holy, perfect word. Isaiah 61, verse one. Isaiah, 743 years before Jesus was born. So, this is nearly 3,000-year-old prophecy. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." And I have this in brackets. You might remember this last week. There's a comma there in our English Bible. Jesus, when he was handed the scroll of Isaiah, when he commenced his earthly ministry 2,000 years ago in that synagogue in the Galilee, Jesus read that, and this was the, listen, this is amazing. The day that Jesus was called upon to read on that Shabbat, that was not an accident. A male is given in a synagogue the reading, and he, depending upon the size of the community or the synagogue, that male may not be called upon again to read again, depends, or if he's going to read, he's going to read whatever the specific verse is or chapter for that day. And in every synagogue around the world, it just so happens that on the day that Jesus is to read from his native town synagogue, it happens to be the very passage of scripture that is speaking about himself. And he stops at a comma. He was supposed to keep reading. He didn't. He wound up stopping in his reading, and the Gospels tell us, with that, "to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." By the way, aren't you glad he, he paused and handed that scroll back? Because what if he would have kept reading? "And the day of vengeance of our God." Do you see that comma that's in the brackets there? That's where you and I have been living. That's where 2,000 years have been sitting right there in that white box. Jesus hands it back. Everybody, all their eyes are fixed upon him. And Jesus says, "Today is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."
>> And then they got it. Wow. A comma, a pause. Ezekiel chapter 20, verse 40. "For on my holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, in case you have any doubts," says the Lord God, "there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve me. There I will accept them, and there I will require your offerings and the first fruits of your sacrifices, together with all your holy things. I will accept you as a sweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples." Another word for nations, "and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered." Church, listen. Who scattered them to the ends of the earth? Why is he saying this? Who, who scattered them?
>> God did. Ezekiel's prophesying. Jesus said, "Because you didn't accept the, the day of your visitation, you'll be scattered now. You'll be driven from this place, and you won't see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" Ezekiel is prophesying that very thing. Wow. It's the Lord who drove them out because they rejected him. But he didn't drive them out to drop them off. He drove them out because he had a plan. And in all of that plan, you're part of it. You being a believer tonight are part of the body of Christ. This remarkable thing. By the way, this is another fun little side note. The Old Testament tells us that Jehovah God is married to Israel. Did you know that? That's why he tells her to be faithful to me. We're married. He, he, listen, he tells his prophets, "I'm going to, listen, I'm going to write her a letter of divorcement. She doesn't shape up." He's warning. He says, "Israel, I'm married to her. Come back to me." Who's Jesus married to?
>> No, he's not. He's not married yet to us.
>> We're engaged to him. I know you're excited, but you shouldn't be that excited.
>> No, I get it. I, that's a beautiful mistake.
>> We're engaged to him. He's going to come pick us up.
>> He's going to take us to where he's been. And what he's been, what has he been preparing for us?
>> A place for us.
>> Why is that important? You know what you should do tonight? Stay up. Put a pot of coffee on after service and go to Amazon Prime and watch, uh, the movie I just forgot.
>> Before the Wrath. Before the Wrath. Why? Everything Jesus is talking about is about a Galilean wedding. The groom to be gets engaged to the young girl. Then he leaves and works for the father and prepares the place. And the, the son, keeps the boy keeps working on the place, working on the place. She is being taken care of by her ladies and waiting. And only then, known to the father, only the father says to the son, "Hey, this looks awesome. That's good enough. You're done. Go get her." And then the son gets to go get her. And when he comes and gets her, it's with a big entourage, and she doesn't know when he's coming. Only the father knows. Is that fun? And the announcement is made. Could be anytime, day or night. And she runs out to meet him, and he takes her home to the home that he's built in the father's house. Oh, technically on top of the father's house. I thought you really said I thought. Yeah, that's it. [applause and cheering] Forget it. It doesn't feel the same.
And so he says, "I will, I have been scattered, and I will be hallowed in you before the Gentiles." God is not done with the nation of Israel. That is for sure. We're talking about the second coming. Ezekiel 8:3. "Thus says the Lord." Ezekiel, sorry, my bad. Zechariah chapter 8. Zechariah chapter 8. "Thus says the Lord, I will return to where?"
>> Oh my goodness.
>> And dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth, the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. That's what God says about Jerusalem, about Israel, and about Zion. Tucker and Candace.
>> He's not done with them.
>> He's not done with them. No matter what. No matter what. Um, I'm going to go quick now. So far, we've gone slowly. We're going to go quick now. Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24. Hang on. Matthew chapter 24. Mark it in your notes. This is in relation to the Olivet Discourse. This is Jesus telling the disciples about the context about the last days at the end of time before Christ returns. As we know time, this is just before the second coming. And he's, he's telling them, he's giving them insights, prophetic insights. "Therefore, if they say to you," that's during the tribulation period, "look, he's in the desert," that the Messiah is in the desert, "do not go out. Or, look, he's in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." Stop right there. Is lightning? Can you hide lightning? Lightning's a big deal. It illuminates the sky, and even if you miss it, you're going to get the thunder. Lightning is a big deal. Jesus says in Matthew 24, "When I come back, it's going to be like lightning coming out of the east to the west." Isaiah tells us that when Christ comes back in the second coming, read chapters 61 forward, that he will come back to earth, and he will come from Bozrah and go to Jerusalem in his return. Did you hear what I just said? Which direction do you think Bozrah is from Jerusalem? Is it east or is it west?
>> It's east. And the Bible tells us that when he returns, he will come from the east, Jesus said, heading west to Jerusalem. And the Bible tells us that east of Jerusalem is a place called Bozrah. In fact, people are going to say to him, "Where did you get your robes all splattered in blood?" And Jesus will say, "The blood on my robes, this came from me, trading out the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God, and there was no one with me to help me. And I did this in my righteous anger." That is his wrath of the second coming. Wow. See, I haven't read that part of Jesus. I, I like the New Testament Jesus. [laughter] That's the revelation Jesus.
>> Yeah. But don't worry, if I hurry up, this is going to end well. Verse 28, watch it. "For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together." Isn't that a weird statement? Don't you think that's weird? Here's your homework tonight. This is mentioned in two other gospels, three gospels total. Find out what he's talking about. Look up the word "carcass." And by the way, the English translators use the word "eagles." You're not going to find the word "eagle" in the Greek scripture here. The word is "griffin." I don't know if you know what a griffin is, but it's an unclean flesh-eating bird. It eats *kerion*. It eats dead stuff. So that's why, listen, they got the carcass right. If you go and study on your own, this is your, this is a challenge to you. Go do this. It's going to be important to you in a second. "Wherever the carcasses, wherever the dead body is rotting,"
>> there the vultures will be. What's he saying? What is this? What? Why did he say that? Immediately, now he's going to do some explaining for us. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days," church, how long is the tribulation?
>> Seven years. "the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and, uh, when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." This is the second coming. It's also called the great and terrible day of God. And when, uh, and he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet. This has nothing to do with the rapture. Don't worry about it. Watch this. "And they will gather together his elect from the four winds, or the four corners of the earth, from one end of heaven to the other." Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branches has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near at the doors. Church family, watch this. We got a strange declaration of a carcass and vultures. And then you've got the, uh, the gathering of those from the, uh, four corners of the winds, or the four corners of the earth, that are, that's called God's elect. Old Testament saints are called God's elect. The church-age believers are called God's elect. And the tribulation saints are called God's elect. Don't get caught up in that. Get caught up in the context of it all. We're talking about this end-time event, and it has something to do with carcass and vultures and his great and glorious return.
Luke chapter 17. Watch this. "Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he who is on the housetop," how many of you live on the top of your house? "and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise," in other words, it's urgent. You better get going. "And likewise, the one who was in the field, let him not return back. Remember Lot's wife." That's interesting. Who should remember Lot's wife?
>> Yes, we should. Who else should?
>> Israel? Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life will preserve it. Let's keep going on this. I tell you, here it comes. This is the biggest stumbling block for people. Are you ready for it? I tell you, in that night, there will be two men in one bed. Oh, is that about homosexuality? No. He's trying to make a point here about something, and I think you'll see it. The one will be taken and the other one left. Two women will be grinding together. One will be taken, the other one will be left. Two men will be in the field. The one will be taken and the other left. Everybody listen. Don't be quick to answer. Listen. And they answered. The disciples, read it later. The disciples answered and said to Jesus, "What's the question?"
>> Say it again.
>> Where? Where? What?
>> Why? What are they asking? Where, Lord? Where? Where? Where? What?
>> Yes. Where are they taken? Nobody asked the question, uh, where, where do they stay? If you're, oh, where do you, where do they stay? They, they asked, "Where, where are they taken?" There's no other way to interpret this. And he said to them, "Wherever the body is." Go look that word up. Guess what the word is? It's "carcass." That word is rotting, decaying, stinking flesh. You say, "Why are you making such a big deal of this?" Because people who believe in a post-tribulation rapture say that this is the rapture. And the church is being called a rotting, stinking dead corpse.
>> Why? What? Since when? I thought we were a bright, beautiful bride. But it, get, listen, it gets better.
>> So wherever the body is, there the eagles, unclean bird, vulture, griffin will be gathered together. But Jack, that sounds like, that sounds like the rapture. One taken and the other one left. Well, there's even a movie like called that. One taken, the other one left. Listen, class, when does this happen? When is Matthew 24 or Luke 17 happening? When Christ comes back and he's going to, when is that? At the end of what? At the end of the what?
>> Tribulation. Jesus, Bible tells us, Matthew 25, he's going to separate the sheep from the goats when he sits on his throne and judges the nations. Some in Matthew 25, it says, are taken to judgment. In fact, Jesus in Matthew 25 calls for the birds of the air to come and eat their flesh. And those who are alive enter into the joy of the Lord into the kingdom age, not you. You'll be the bride of Christ. These are tribulation believers. Are you hearing this?
>> I know it's technical, but this, I'm telling you, this will really help you. When people say, "Oh, that was the rapture." Well, then why are we called a dead corpse? And why is Jesus called a vulture? Well, it's because he's not. Neither are you called that. Those taken away are taken to judgment. They don't live into the millennial kingdom. Those who make it through go into the millennial kingdom, and they start, they have babies. They're living life. They're farming. The Bible says Christ is on his throne in Jerusalem, rules and reigns for a thousand years. What's that all about? The second coming. The second coming is all about him establishing his government. We just voted last night. Who knows how it's going to end? Well, let me tell you something. You can vote tonight regarding Jesus, and you can know exactly how it's going to end. You can say yes to Christ tonight knowing this, your king is coming back, and he's going to set up his kingdom, and he's going to judge the nations of the earth. And the Bible tells us, in fact, uh, we have to end, but let's end this way. Let's stand. Let's stand, and let's read this, uh, together because you need to know this. You need to, you need to feel it. We, I wish we could put on like simulator glasses or something. When Christ comes for the church in the rapture, the church believers will go up. But first, the dead in Christ will rise, and we will meet them in the air and be with the Lord and go to that place that he's prepared for us. When the seven years on earth is completed of judgment and of wrath and of horrific plagues and punishment for a Christ-rejecting world, the second coming will happen, and then the Son of Man will be revealed. You just saw that a moment ago. And he will judge the nations. He will separate them. That's why the two, one taken, one left. And the disciples, thank God for their question, "Where?" Translation, Lord, where are these bodies? Where are these that are taken away to judgment? Where are they going? And Jesus answered them and said, "Wherever the vultures are at, that's where they're going." Make sense? I hope so.
Let's read this because this is, this is you and I. At the end of all that we've been talking about tonight. This is the end of this, of the tribulation period. This is the second coming. "After these things, I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, 'Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God, for true and righteous are his judgments, because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication.'" That's spiritual, um, fornication, spiritual harlotry. You can read in Revelation 17. "And he has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her." Again, they said, "Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever." And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, "Amen, Alleluia!" Then a voice came from the throne, saying, "Praise our God, all you his servants, and those who fear him, both small and great." And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thundering, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready." Now, remember, this is all taking place in heaven, guys. All the camera scenes and the props and angles are in heaven. "And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright." That's not a robe, it's a gown. "For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." Then he said to me, "Write, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God." And I fell down at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "See to it that you do not do that. I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
Now I saw heaven opened. Okay, put your GoPro on with this guy. Seriously, think about this. You're in this group. Watch this. Now I saw heaven opened. John says, John's our man. He's representing us. And behold, a white horse. And he who sat on him, so it's a white horse, was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies in
heaven clothed in fine linen. Okay, this is awesome. We went from the bride of Christ clothed in fine linen to being an army.
Every guy. We were all the guys in the room were getting a little bit concerned about us wearing girls clothes in heaven until this part. This part's like, "All right, all right." And the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses.
Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations. And he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. That's called the millennium. That's his government. For a thousand years he's going to rule. HE HIMSELF TREADS THE WINE press of the fierceness of the wrath of almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Then, yes. [applause] Then I saw an angel standing in the sun. And he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven. Listen now. COME AND GATHER TOGETHER FOR THE SUPPER OF THE GREAT GOD, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all peoples, free and slave, both small and great. church, Matthew and Luke, the rotting flesh and the flesh-eating birds.
And I saw the beast, verse 19, and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. Then the beast was captured. That's awesome. The beast, the antichrist, the whole crew is going to get swept up. and with HIM THE FALSE PROPHET WHO WORKED signs in his presence uh by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These were uh two cast these two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone and the rest were killed with the sword.
Who's got the sword? >> Jesus. >> Does that freak some of you out? >> Think about like you know the Newport Beach Jesus. This freaks people out. I I like Jesus the shepherd, but are you talking about Jesus like Jesus the warrior? >> Jesus the king of kings and lord of lords. So the listen the sword which proceeded from the mouth of him. That's his word. Who sat on the horse and all the birds were filled with their flesh. >> Amen. >> Capich? >> Yes. Amazing. [applause] Amazing.
So, you may not understand a word I said tonight, but you did get more Bible prophecy than a four-year grad uh grad school student at some seminary. I'll tell you that. I know we flew over this fast. It's up to you to read this on your own, but I'm telling you, we studied the first coming. We studied the second coming, but we make sure we're ready for his appearing.
And I'm going to I'm going to ask you to bow your head right now and pray. And if today, if tonight you've never accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you need to do that now. I'm just going to ask you in a moment to raise your hand. I'll be looking around. Nobody else needs to look around. It's a private moment. But if you if you understand this gospel you're about to hear, then respond accordingly.
Do you believe tonight that this same Jesus that came and is coming again >> is the Christ that died on the cross for your sins and rose again from the dead because you can't save yourself. You can't die for yourself. You can't pay the price to be honest with you in and of yourself. You're not worth it. You don't possess the value to pay for your own sins. You need someone greater to pay that debt. If you have a mortgage, you know that feeling. You need someone bigger than you to pay that debt. Christ steps in and paid the price. It's called the cross. He died there and suffered for you and I so that the price would be paid. But you must receive the gift.
Do you believe tonight that you have sinned against Almighty God? And do you believe that if you were to die tonight without him that it's hell without him? That if you were to die tonight, you wouldn't you're not sure that you'd go to heaven. But you can listen. You can die tonight and enter eternity if you believe that he died for you and rose again from the grave. If you believe in him as Lord and Savior.
While heads are bowed and eyes are closed, Christians, please be praying for those around you. Tonight, as I look, Jesus called those publicly, and this is public enough. If tonight you're saying, "I want to give my life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I want to live for him. I'm done with this world. I want to I want a new life and I want to live for him. If that's you tonight, nobody's nobody looking around. Raise your hand real high and I'll see your hand if that's you. Oh my. Please raise it high. I Wow. Okay. God bless you and you and you and you. You, you you you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you. Hand high on the aisle. Wait a [applause] minute. Keep your heads down. Guy in the black shirt. T-shirt on the aisle. Was your hand up or down? Okay. Thank you, sir. You and you and you and you and you and you on the aisle on the back. you in the way back and you and you.
Let's pray this prayer together all of us. Heavenly Father, >> we come to you tonight. >> We come to you tonight. >> In Jesus name. >> In Jesus name. >> We're asking you. >> We're asking you. >> Wash away my sins. >> Wash away my s >> because I believe. >> Because I believe >> Jesus came. >> Jesus came >> and died for me. died for me. >> I'm lost without him. >> I'm lost without him. >> But I put my faith >> I put my faith >> in Christ alone. >> Christ alone. >> I trust in no one else. >> I trust in no one else >> and nothing else. >> and nothing else. >> And thank you, Lord. >> Thank you, Lord. >> For being resurrected >> for being resurrected >> from the dead >> from the dead >> that guarantees >> That guarantees >> my eternal life. >> my eternal life. I proclaim >> I proclaim >> Jesus Christ >> Jesus Christ >> as my Lord and Savior. >> as Lord and Lord and Savior. >> In Jesus name. >> Jesus name. >> Amen. >> Amen. >> Wow. Wow. Wow. [applause] That's awesome.