REVELATION
Listen to this study TH2249
Please turn in your Bibles this evening to Revelation chapter 19 as we continue our study through the Word of God. We have now reached the point that we have been waiting for since we began our study in the book of Revelation – the unveiling of Jesus Christ, His return to set up His kingdom on this earth.
Before we see the Lord return we have a scene shift from earth to heaven, from the cataclysmic judgment of God to the worship of God. From the worship of God we will move to the marriage of the Lamb and the marriage supper of the Lamb. And then we will see the Lord return with His bride, the Church, to put down the rebellion of man at the battle of Armageddon, and then He will establish His kingdom on this earth for 1,000 years!
Isn’t it interesting that everything man has held onto, put his faith into will come crashing to the ground. Religious Babylon, that Great Harlot will be destroyed. Commercial Babylon will be destroyed in 1 hour. And now the political world system headed by the Antichrist will come crashing to the ground. What is left? The things of God will be left when God gets done shaking the heaven and the earth.
It is as Paul tells us in Hebrews 12:25-29, “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.’ Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”
As we finished up last time in Revelation chapter 18 we heard the loud lamenting over the destruction of commercial Babylon. This evening, as we open up our study we will see loud “Hallelujah’s” sounding forth from heaven. With that said, let’s begin reading in Revelation chapter 19, starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us this evening.
As we are going to see, and has we really have seen, heaven is a place filled with the worship of God. In this chapter there are a few different groups of people or created beings that are worshiping the Lord. Now we are not told specifically who this first group is and thus, there is some speculation on who they may be. Some feel that this is speaking of angels, but I don’t believe that is who John is talking about.
Here, I believe is a clue. John says that this first group
of people worshiping the Lord is “a great multitude.”
Who are these people? I believe they are the
Tribulation Saints that have been martyred for their faith in
Jesus Christ during the Tribulation Period.
The reason I say that is because what John tells us in
Revelation 7:9-10, “After these things I looked, and
behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations,
tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before
the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their
hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation
belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”
Again, if you are still not sure, listen to what John says
in Revelation 7:13-17 and I think that will help. He tells us,
“Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘Who
are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?’
And I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’ So he said to me,
‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation,
and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him
day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will
dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst
anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the
Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and
lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away
every tear from their eyes.’” So I believe that
this first group of people worshiping the Lord are these martyred
Tribulation Saints.
The word “Alleluia” is speaking of praises unto God. The Greek word is ALLELOUIA, (al-lay-loo’-ee-ah) and it is the transliteration of the Hebrew phrase comprised of the verb HALAL which means, “to praise” and the Noun YAH, which means “God.” In other words, they are signing out “Praise the Lord!” Why? For He alone is worthy to be praised! John is going to speak of specific reasons why they are doing this in verses 2 and 3.
Here’s the thing. God not only saved them out of their sin by His mighty hand, through the shed blood of Jesus, but He will pour out His judgment upon those who have rebelled against Him, those who have put His people to death. And here is the tragedy. Because they refused to repent, their judgment will be eternal!
Once again God’s judgment is true, it is righteous. It is as Paul said in II Thessalonians 1:6-10, “since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.”
Now, as you are going through difficult times in your life, can you say, “Alleluia” or “Praise the Lord”? You see, we truly need to be able to do that because as we do, we are showing that we trust the Lord in all He allows to come our way, those lessons of faith, even though we don’t like it when we are going through them. Paul tells us in I Thessalonians 5:18, “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Now it is hard to praise the Lord FOR everything we are going through. Some try to do this and it doesn’t work. It is like a bad Country and Western song. You know what I’m talking about. “My truck died, my dog ran away, my wife left me, I lost my job, PRAISE THE LORD!” I don’t think so!
But IN everything I can praise the Lord! Why is that? Because I am trusting in Him and I may not always understand why this is happening to me, but I do know God’s love for me and thus, I will praise Him and walk by faith and not by sight.
In this verse we see two more groups of people or created beings who are shouting with a loud voice, “Praise the Lord!” The first group is the twenty-four elders that we said represented the Church back in Revelation chapter 4. All those believers from Pentecost on until the Rapture of the Church prior to the start of the Tribulation Period.
The other group are the four living creatures who are around the throne of God and we also spoke about this group in Revelation chapter 4.
Now notice what these two groups are saying, “Amen! Alleluia!” or “So be it! Praise the Lord!” What are they talking about, what do they want to come to pass which causes them to praise the Lord? I believe they are saying to the Lord that they want His sovereign will, His plan and purposes to be complete, to establish His kingdom on this earth just as it is in heaven. Folks, that is our hearts cry also and here in Revelation, it is about to take place!
Here is an angelic call for all of heaven to praise the Lord. What do you think is going to happen next? You got it, all of heaven is going to break forth in worship, the worship of God! Look at verse 6.
When people hear the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah it is a small glimpse of what heaven will sound like. I can’t imagine how loud this will be but our ears will be able to handle it as all of heaven breaks forth with praise unto the all-powerful God and His coming reign on the earth just as He reigns in heaven.
How have we made ourselves ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb? It is only by the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all our sins. You see, once we are saved the righteousness of Christ is imputed into our lives by faith. It is as Isaiah 61:10 tells us, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” You see, it is not my own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ and thus, as the Lord looks upon us He sees us as perfect in a positional sense, even though in these bodies of flesh we still sin, in a practical sense we are not perfect.
And yet, here in Revelation 19:8 we are told, “And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” That seems to be saying that our good works get us into heaven and yet, I thought we are saved by Jesus and not by good works? I believe that John is speaking of things we have done that are the evidence of our salvation and will be part of our reward that we can give back to Jesus for enabling us to do these things in the first place.
You see, God is preparing us for this wedding with Him, and thus we are going through that sanctification process. Then, one day we will be raised in glory with Him, and in this perfect union with Christ. We, His people, will be clean and bright before Him. It is as Johnson wrote, “Clean (katharos) reflects purity, loyalty and faithfulness, the character of the New Jerusalem. Bright (lampross) is the color of radiant witness that depicts glorification.”
It is as John said, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him , for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” I John 3:2-3.
This marriage supper of the Lamb is a joyous celebration that takes place in heaven and is for believers. You see, we are called the Bride of Christ and at present we are in a period known as the betrothal period where we are engaged to the Lord and He has given to us the Holy Spirit as an engagement ring or a down payment, a guarantee that He is coming back for us to marry us. Paul, in Ephesians 1:13-14 tells us, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”
Right now we are waiting for our Bridegroom, Jesus Christ to come for us and take us to be with Him so this marriage celebration can take place. Why don’t we know when He is coming for us? First of all, in John 14:2-3 we are told, “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 where I am, there you may be also.” You see, these bodies of flesh cannot enter the kingdom of God, thus, the Lord is preparing new bodies for our spirit and soul to dwell in.
Back then the bridegroom would go away for sometimes a year or more preparing a house for him and his bride to live in. Then, when he is done, he will go and get his bride, even though she does not know when, she must always be ready. When the Lord is done, when that last soul is saved, He will come for His bride, the Church, we call it the Rapture! Thus, we need to be watching and waiting for our Lord can come at any time!
And when we go to heaven there will be this feast that will take place prior to the Lord coming back to the earth to establish His kingdom on the earth, a marriage feast!
Mounce sums this up for us like this:
In Biblical times a marriage involved two major events, the betrothal and the wedding. These were normally separated by a period of time during which the two individuals were considered husband and wife and as such were under the obligations of faithfulness. The wedding began with a procession to the bride’s house, which was followed by a return to the house of the groom for the marriage feast. By analogy, the church, espoused to Christ by faith, now awaits the parousia when the heavenly groom will come for his bride and return to heaven for the marriage feast . . .
- Mounce
This is so important for us to understand; especially in the days we are living in where people love to worship anything and everything. You remember several years back when there was that angel craze where people were so preoccupied with angels, even worshiping them. John finds out very quickly that this is wrong, that God alone is to be worshiped, not angels, or a saint, or Mary, or the Pope or anyone or anything besides the Lord. John, maybe overwhelmed by all this, forgot once again in Revelation 22:8-9 and once again he is told not to do this. We are told, “Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.’” I think that is very clear!
Now some may argue that Jesus is not God, but that goes against what the Scriptures teach. But, just to focus on this point where only God is to be worshiped, listen to these verses that call for the worship of Jesus, which means He is God! In Hebrews 1:6 we are told, “But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him.’” In Matthew 14:33 we are told, “Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Truly You are the Son of God.’” And in John 9:38 we are told, “Then he said, ‘Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him.” And if there is still any doubt, in John 20:28 we are told, “And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” And folks, Jesus did not rebuke him, why? Because Thomas was right, Jesus is God!
John also tells us “Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Thus, any teaching of prophecy that takes us away from Jesus is not right. You see, prophecy should unfold the beauty of Jesus to us! In Psalm 40:7 we are told regarding Jesus, “Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me.’” Also, in John 5:39-40 we are told, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” Isn’t it amazing that people can read the Scriptures and still miss Jesus and the reason is simple, they are not willing to come to Him! And in I John 5:10 we are told, “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.” Thus, if you believe, you have eternal life and if you reject Jesus, you make Him a liar because the Scriptures testify that He is the way, He is the truth and He is the life and without Him you will never get to heaven. Jesus is the spirit of prophecy!
Remember in the movie The Terminator with Arnold Schwarzenegger and his famous line, “I’ll be back!” Well, he was not the first to say it, the Lord did and the Lord is coming back, what He has promised He is going to bring to pass very quickly! In Matthew 24:27-30 we are told of this, “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days 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 they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” We have seen enough evil, it is time for the good guy on the white horse to ride onto the scene, you might say, and put things in order and that is exactly what is going to happen, Jesus is coming in on a white horse!
First of all we are told that Jesus is “faithful,” as Hebrews 10:23 tells us, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” You see, we can trust in the Lord, for what He has said He will do! He is also “true.” He is no counterfeit. He is the real thing! It is as I John 5:20 tells us, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” So the genuine article, the one we trust in, Jesus Christ is coming back!
Why is He coming back? John tells us that “. . . in righteousness He judges and makes war.” In other words, Jesus is coming back to righteously judge the people and fight against those who are in rebellion against Him. Jesus is coming to judge and make war, but Torrance makes these interesting comments regarding the state of the world. He wrote, “The world like a complacent, reasonable religion, and so it is always ready to serve some pale Galilean image of Jesus, some meager anemic Messiah, and to give him a moderate rational homage.” How true that is.
The reality though, is as Walvoord tells us, “All of these passages point to the sad conclusion that in the Day of Judgment it is too late for men to expect the mercy of God. There is nothing more inflexible than divine judgment where grace has been spurned. The scene of awful judgment which comes from this background is in flat contradiction of the modern point of view that God is dominated entirely by His attribute of love.” Make no mistake about it, the righteous Judge is coming!
Again we see this being the Lord for He alone is omniscient; He knows all things, and thus the reference to His eyes being like a flame of fire. And as the Lord sees and knows all things, He will then Judge accordingly. And make no mistake about it, the Lord does see all, as Hebrews 4:13 tells us, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
He has many crowns upon His head, which just speaks of His authority. All authority belongs to Him! Now what is His name that He has that no one knows? I don’t know, nor am I going to be foolish to even spend any time trying to figure it out. The Lord said that He alone knows it and I will leave it at that. Understand that there are some things about God we don’t fully know, we don’t fully understand, but one day, when we go to be with Him, it shall be clear. That is Paul’s point in I Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”
The blood splattered upon the Lord’s robe is from the slaughter of this battle that takes place from Megiddo in the north, southward to Bozrah, some 184 miles. We get a graphic picture of this in Isaiah 63:1-6, where we are told, “Who is this who comes from Edom, With dyed garments from Bozrah, This One who is glorious in His apparel, Traveling in the greatness of His strength? — ‘I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.’ Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? ‘I have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, And the year of My redeemed has come. I looked, but there was no one to help, And I wondered That there was no one to uphold; . . .
. . . Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; And My own fury, it sustained Me. I have trodden down the peoples in My anger, Made them drunk in My fury, And brought down their strength to the earth.’”
Now, in case you don’t know who this is, we don’t have to guess, He is called “The Word of God.” In John chapter 1 we are told, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1, 14. Yes, Jesus spoke the worlds into existence and He will also speak many armies out of existence because He is Almighty God. The power of the Word! It is as Paul said in Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Here we come! The church has not been seen on the earth since the opening up of Revelation chapter 4 but now, we have just finished the marriage supper of the Lamb, and our white clothes are still clean! No spills! And after the meal we get upon our white horses and accompany the Lord back for this great battle. Now understand that this is not a New Testament idea, but only seven generations from Adam a prophet spoke of this. In Jude 14-15 we are told, “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’” An amazing statement when you think about it!
Now does the Lord need our help in this battle? Is that the reason we are with Him, to help Him defeat the armies of the world who have gathered to fight against Him? No, not at all, as we shall see in the next two verses.
You see, it is the Lord alone who will fight against these armies of the world. But when you think about it, how foolish can you be to think you can actually fight against God and win! Psalm 2 speaks of this, how the nations have gathered together to fight against the Lord and His Anointed. And God sits in heaven and laughs at their foolishness. Jesus will sit upon the throne of David, He will rule the nations one day, and He will pour out His judgment upon all those who reject Him. It is as Psalm 2:12 says, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.” In other words, make peace with God through Jesus Christ before it is too late!
Now we speak of the battle of Armageddon, but it is really not a battle at all. The Lord judges them by the sword, a long broad sword that comes out of His mouth. Now some have tried to paint a picture of this, and it is pretty weird. I don’t believe for a minute this is speaking of a literal sword, but the Scriptures tell us that, “. . . the sword of the Spirit...is the word of God.” Thus, what we see here is the armies of the world being judged by the Word of God. It is as Isaiah 11:4 says, “But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.”
In the kingdom age the Lord will rule with a rod of iron. The word “rule” can also speak of shepherd. And thus, I believe what we see here is the Lord using the shepherd’s rod of correction upon all those who get out of line in the kingdom age. Rebellion will not be tolerated. Lawlessness will be dealt with immediately. Righteousness will fill the land. And thus, His rule will be fair, it will be right, there will be no recounts!
And lastly we see that He is going to tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, which is just speaking of total judgment. And embroidered on His robe and tattooed on His thigh is KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS who has come to rule forevermore!
These birds are being called to feast upon these dead bodies that have fallen in battle. Think about that, it is not a pretty picture, nor is it intended to be. It is just the hard, cold facts of rejecting Jesus and the consequence thereof. Barnhouse said, “The race has walked in carnal enmity against God, living after the flesh, and now the day of his patience is at an end.” And Walvord tells us, “The divine judgment upon the wicked is no respecter of persons or station, and is the great equalizer of all.”
How long does this battle last? Joel 1:15 tells us, “Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as destruction from the Almighty.” Yes, this phrase, “the Day of the Lord” is speaking of a period of time, and yet, as you read through this in Revelation chapter 19, it seems that it is very brief, not even lasting one day! Now think about this for a minute. Man has assembled his greatest forces, with his greatest weapons of war, with millions upon millions of soldiers, and it is over in a short time, they are defeated. That is the best man can do against Almighty God!
Now the Antichrist, who thought he was so powerful and the false prophet, who deceived the earth dwellers to follow after the Antichrist, are captured. And they are placed in the lake of fire burning with brimstone. It is the final place of torment, after Hades, for all those who have rejected Jesus Christ. And the Antichrist and the false prophet will be the first to experience Gehenna, and then, after the millennial reign of Christ, after the 1,000 years, the great white throne judgment will be set-up and all those who have rejected Christ will be judged, and they will move from Hades to outer darkness, Gehenna, along with Satan. And we will see that in Revelation chapter 20.
Now some get upset, offended when you talk about judgment, when you talk about hellfire and damnation. But understand this, Jesus spent more time warning about Hell than any other Bible writer, in fact, more than all the Bible writers combined! You see, God wants you to make the right choice and know the consequences of the choice you make.
Millions upon millions will die here, but not because they were not sufficiently warned. In fact, in Revelation chapter 14 we see an angel flying in the midst of heaven warning people to worship God, the true God, to give Him the glory. So man does not have an excuse. Understand that God has created us for life, to bring Him pleasure, and not for death and the lake of fire. The only reason you will go there is because you chose to. And it is after this battle that Jesus Christ will set-up His kingdom and rule and reign from the throne of David for 1,000 years. And what a glorious day that will be.
Of this carnage, John Phillips writes:
Then suddenly it will all be over. In fact, there will be no war at all, in the sense that we think of war. There will be just a word spoken from Him who sits astride the great white horse. Once he spoke a word to a fig tree, and it withered away. Once He spoke a word to howling winds and heaving waves, and the storm clouds vanished and the waves fell still. Once He spoke to a legion of demons bursting at the seams of a poor man’s soul, and instantly they fled. Now he speaks a word, and the war is over. The blasphemous, loud-mouthed Beast is stricken where he stands. The false prophet, the miracle-working windbag from the pit is punctured and still. The pair of them are bundled up and hurled headlong into the everlasting flames. Another word, and the panic-stricken armies reel and stagger and fall down dead. Field marshals and generals, admirals and air commanders, soldiers and sailors, rank and file, one and all – they fall. And the vultures descend and cover the scene.
- John Phillips, Exploring Revelation, p. 236
Folks, here’s the thing. Would you rather have dinner with the Lord at the marriage supper of the Lamb or be dinner for the birds of the earth? Two meals are being prepared, which one of them do you want to partake of?
Now, of this Day of the Lord, we are told in Zephaniah 1:14-18, “The great day of the LORD is near; It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the LORD is bitter; There the mighty men shall cry out. That day is a day of wrath, A day of trouble and distress, A day of devastation and desolation, A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of trumpet and alarm Against the fortified cities And against the high towers. I will bring distress upon men, And they shall walk like blind men, Because they have sinned against the LORD; Their blood shall be poured out like dust, And their flesh like refuse. Neither their silver nor their gold Shall be able to deliver them In the day of the LORD’s wrath; But the whole land shall be devoured By the fire of His jealousy, For He will make speedy riddance Of all those who dwell in the land.” This is what is on the horizon for those that don’t know the Lord! Barnhouse said, “The battle of Armageddon is the laughter of God against the violence of man’s arrogance.” How true that is!
Now I do understand that some laugh at this idea of the Lord returning. Many will mock us and do mock us for believing this. There are even those who go to church, and yet deny the return of the Lord. The thing is, you don’t have to believe me, but the Scriptures are very clear of this idea, of the Lord’s return. And since the Lord is faithful and true, I am going to believe what He has said over what man has said. God has never been wrong, nor will He ever be wrong, but man has.
Listen carefully to this if you doubt the Lord’s return because I believe it is very important. In fact, Paul told Titus, a young pastor in Crete, “looking for the blessed hope and glorious 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 His own special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.” Titus 2:13-15. We need to be looking for His return, it is our hope, and truly it is the only hope for this world!
Understand this, “Both the Old and New Testaments are filled with promises of the Second Coming of Christ. There are 1,845 references to it in the Old Testament, and a total of seventeen Old Testament books give it prominence. Of the 260 chapters in the entire New Testament, there are 318 references to the Second Coming, or one out of 30 verses. Twenty-three of the 27 New Testament books refer to this great event. The four missing books include three which are single-chapter letters written to individual persons on a particular subject, and the fourth is Galatians which does imply Christ’s coming again. For every prophecy on the First Coming of Christ, there are 8 on Christ’s Second Coming.”
As I close this evening, listen to these words from John MacArthur. He wrote:
These sobering truths serve as a warning to unbelievers to repent (2 Peter 3:9), and also to stimulate believers to godly living (2 Peter 3:11). “The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts” (Rom 13:12-14).
Folks, the Lord is coming back first for His bride, the church, to meet her in the air, we call that the rapture of the church. And then with His bride to establish His kingdom on the earth. I pray that you join the family of God so you can be part of His kingdom, or you will end up in Gehenna or outer darkness, where there is no light at all, for eternity. The choice is yours!