04-23-26 Study of Revelation Chapter 1:7-8 The Certainty of His Second Coming

➡ This Bible study focuses on the book of Revelation and its importance in understanding the future. It emphasizes the need to understand the first three chapters of Ephesians before delving into Genesis. The speaker also mentions their love for teaching the Bible and the joy they find in ministering to others. The study ends with a discussion on Revelation 1, 7, and 8, highlighting the dramatic nature of the book and its depiction of future events.
➡ This text discusses the impending end of the world, as prophesied in religious texts. It emphasizes the chaos, destruction, and judgment that will occur, but also highlights the hope, joy, and peace that can be found in these prophecies. The text also stresses the importance of understanding that these events are not just stories, but realities that will unfold. Lastly, it underscores the belief that Jesus Christ is already present in our lives and will return in a more significant way in the future.
➡ This text is a prayer thanking God for blessings and trials, as they believe both help them grow. They ask for protection and guidance for those in need, their nation, and their troops. They acknowledge God’s control over world changes and thank Him for His son’s sacrifice, which they believe gives them hope. They end by asking for peace and comfort in the coming week.
➡ The text discusses the importance of the second coming of Jesus Christ as mentioned in the New Testament. It highlights that the second coming is mentioned more frequently than the first coming and is a significant theme in the scripture. The text also criticizes the lack of importance given to this doctrine by the majority of American Protestant clergymen. It emphasizes that the second coming is associated with judgement and the return of Christ is promised in the Bible, and thus, it is crucial to understand and prepare for it.
➡ The text discusses the belief that Jesus Christ will return, as promised by the Holy Spirit, God, and Jesus himself. This belief is based on various scriptures and the idea that the credibility of the Trinity is at stake if Jesus doesn’t return. The text also suggests that the return of Jesus is necessary for the Church and the nations, as it’s part of God’s plan. Lastly, it mentions that the return of Jesus is crucial for the nation of Israel, as it’s a promise made in the Old Testament.
➡ The text discusses the belief in the second coming of Jesus Christ, which is central to the Christian faith. It emphasizes that Jesus’ return is necessary for various reasons, including the fulfillment of God’s plan, the judgement of nations, the collection of the Church, and the defeat of Satan. The text also highlights the importance of maintaining hope and faith in Jesus’ return, as it is a key aspect of Christian belief. Lastly, it describes the glory of Jesus’ return, symbolized by clouds, which represent God’s presence and divine light.
➡ The text discusses the return of Christ, as described in the Bible, where he will be seen by everyone, including those who were responsible for his death. It emphasizes that Christ’s return will be a powerful, glorious event, not a gentle one. The text also explains that when Christ returns, everyone will be divided into two groups: those who have accepted him and those who haven’t. It further discusses a prophecy that the Jews, who were responsible for Christ’s death, will have a chance to repent and be saved when Christ returns.
➡ The text discusses a prophetic event where Christ returns, causing mourning among all people. The Jews will mourn out of repentance, while the Gentiles will mourn out of fear and judgement. The author emphasizes the certainty of this event, highlighting God’s omniscience and sovereignty. The text concludes by encouraging readers to eagerly anticipate this event.
➡ The text discusses the omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience of God, stating that He knows everything, is everywhere, and has all power. It emphasizes that God’s knowledge and presence are not limited by time or space, and that His power is absolute. The text also suggests that God’s plan for the second coming of Christ is infallible, as there are no unknown factors that could sabotage it. Lastly, it highlights the importance of faith and readiness for the second coming, using historical examples and biblical references to illustrate these points.
➡ The text discusses the concept of God’s foreknowledge and predestination, suggesting that God might have communicated with us before we were born. It also explores the idea of free will, stating that while God may know our paths, our choices ultimately determine our destinies. The text emphasizes the importance of understanding and applying scripture in our lives to overcome temptations, just as Jesus did. Lastly, it discusses the concept of eternal life, clarifying that the term ‘end’ refers to God’s knowledge of all events from the beginning, not the end of our eternal life.
➡ The text discusses the concept of timelessness in spirituality, emphasizing that God is the beginning and end, and nothing exists outside of Him. It highlights the importance of understanding and living in accordance with spiritual principles to receive blessings in life. The text also encourages individuals to strive for spiritual growth and understanding, as seen in the praise for Victoria’s progress. Lastly, it underscores the significance of communion, suggesting that a true connection with Christ can lead to a transformative spiritual experience.

Foreign. Okay, welcome guys. This is our third Thursday night Bible study. We happen to be in the book of Revelation and we’re going to take our time through this. But this, this is your history lesson. This is the book that, that you go to to understand the future, not only of yourself, your church and your life along with this world. So we finished the book of Ephesians, which we, we jumped out of the first overview of Revelation to go to the book of Ephesians and study it in detail so you can actually understand your relationship with Jesus Christ, to be honest with you.

And the first three chapters of Ephesians deal with God’s plan, God’s app, God’s program for you. And then chapters four, five and six deals with the application. Just for a point of reference, today I was writing, I finished up Genesis 1:6 through nine. I mean, yeah, six through nine, six through eight. Nine starts the third day, six through eight. And I want to tell you, if you don’t understand Ephesians 1, 2 and 3, you’re not going to understand Genesis. Okay? Not okay. So you need to make sure that your study, if you’ve not, if you didn’t comprehend what we went over in Ephesians and you, you are frustrated about a knowledge based transfer when you get into Genesis, you have to understand Ephesians 1, 2 and 3.

Okay? You can’t get into Genesis without understanding Ephesians 1, 2 and three. That’s important. So we get into Genesis in the sub stack on June 1st. Okay. So if you’re following substack as we go through this creation truth, we’re into the book of Ephesians, right? Just where we. Okay, why? Because it is important for you to get before you get to Genesis 1:1. And the self assessments or the self assessment, the self study that I was writing on Today in Genesis 6:9 gives you the reason why. All right? And so you must understand Ephesians 1, 2 and 3.

And that’s very important. And that’s all I’m going to say about that. You guys do your, you’re guys doing your own study and whatever. That’s great. And you know what? All of you progressing at your own pace, which is also great. I wished I could catapod you and speed you along, but I can’t. But that’s how it works. All right? You’re going to need to get this for as your own pace. But please understand, you will not get to the understanding of Genesis if you don’t get Ephesians. And that’s very, very Important. So I’ll just leave that with you.

Okay. A little bit other few administrative things on record here that we’re going to go through. Missy and I will be traveling a lot in the month of May. We have a whole lot of things we’ve been, we’ve been asked to do and we’re going to do that. And it doesn’t stop in May. It goes on in June for a period of time. And we’re, we’re. You know what? It’s, it’s. I’m humbled that I’ve been asked to minister to people. Let’s just say that I, you guys know I love history. If you don’t know that by now, okay, I can’t, I don’t know where your mind’s at.

Okay. I love history. I love teaching the Bible. I love teaching the truth. I love corresponding with you on quite like Q A on Tuesday night. It was a great, great time. We explored all kinds of stuff. But I’m going to tell you what the most, the most important thing in my life is being able to minister to you. And you don’t know that you, you wouldn’t know that until you feel the glorification of God in your life. When you say yes, just, I mean, the, the overwhelming joy to minister to you is unbelievable to us.

Just understand where we come from. And when we say we love you, we love you. Okay, we love you for a whole lot of reasons, but we love you because of the grace of God and we want to minister to you as God calls us to do that. And we’re doing it. Okay? So we’re going to do it. That’s, that is the promise that I set out in, in February to do. And I just said, God, you’re calling us to do this. Just tell us what to do. And we, we’re going to make it work. And that’s what we’re doing.

So pay attention. Into the, into the home screen of God’s government. We’re, we’re updating that all the time as things come up. But there are, there is a two week, there’s a two week period that we’re not going to be available during the week due to travel, but we’re going to have Sunday classes during that time. So we’re trying to make it work so that we’re just not offline completely, but we are doing things that basically we need to do. The other thing is this. We’ve got the self studies going on in the online education classes.

Beware that if you want to get ahead of our study. You’re not going to be able to do it because the only thing I’m doing is keeping up with the. The process of where we’re studying. Okay, so I am through almost chapter two of Revelation. We’re not there yet. We’re going to be in still. We’re going to be in Revelation 1 for a period of time. But as I have time to write, I am moving Revelation, Acts, Genesis forward in our total overall study activities, which includes the stub stack, which includes our classes on specific subjects and our discussion points on Tuesday night.

And you’re going to find that God’s already told me I need to open up something on our discussions to give you another avenue. So it’s. All kinds of stuff’s going on in our lives right now, and it’s crazy. But. But you know what? It’s also very enjoyable because we know that we’re doing God’s work. So. All right, so let’s get into this. This is Thursday night Revelation study. We’re in chapter one, slowly walking through every verse of Scripture in Revelation. And we’re going to talk about two scriptures tonight. We’re going to talk about Revelation 1, 7, and 8.

That’s all we’re going to talk about tonight. And when we read. When we read these two verses, it says this. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, even those who pierced him. What does that mean? Every person on this earth will see Christ coming. Everybody. And then it goes dark. Think about it. You see something, you want to comprehend it. But if you don’t know, you don’t know. It’s dark. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. All the tribes, 12 tribes of Israel. Why? Because they now know.

They now know they were wrong. The first time in history that God proves them wrong is in Revelation 7 and 8. They now know they’re wrong. Oh, and the morning starts. The grieving starts. Even so. And he goes on and says, I am the Alpha and Omega. Alpha, first letter of Greek, Omega, last letter, Greek. So he is the first and the last, says the Lord God, who is past. I know who is present, who was past, and who is to come. And then he terms himself as the Almighty. So in verses seven and eight, you get the picture of a drama book.

A drama book. He says, I’m gonna come. Everybody’s going to know I’m coming. But not everybody’s going to know me. Some are going to see light and some are going to see darkness. The earth Will the tribes of the earth is. The nation of Israel will mourn over him. Why? Because they rejected him at the time of his death, when they knew him intimately, they rejected him. Now he’s going to say, oh, guys, let me tell you something. You’re now going to mourn because you’re fixing to go through judgment. He’s setting things up. The book is being set up as a drama book.

If you like drama books with action books, with a excitement, this book will certainly fill that bill. It is going to fill the bill if you read it, understand it and study correctly. There is absolutely no book like this in any of the books of the Bible. None. A matter of fact, there’s no historical books in history that gives you the foundation of the truth. They’re like this. Either this, this is like your drama novel, your Stephen King or your Clancy or, or any other of those types of books that you like. This, this is going to.

Should capture your attention, give you all of the benefits of your accessibility to your feelings. If you study the book correctly. It is loaded with mystery. It is loaded with passion and horror and disaster after disaster. Think about all the movies you like to watch about volcanoes or, you know, action films with disaster and recovery of whatever this book is. Tells, for example, of the coming story of the apostasy of the church. Who’s the church? It’s you. So it’s an individual book. It’s an individual book about you. It tells of the collapse of the world. Economics.

You guys ask me all the time, when’s the market going to crash? Well, I’m going to tell you one thing. The market is going to crash at this time and it’s going to be so unbelievable it’s not going to even bounce up. It’s going to be done with. It tells of the final war of the world. It tells of the unparalleled nature of disasters. It tells you of all of the unparalleled natural disasters. What does that mean? He means nature is in chaos. You cannot go to bed in slumber. Sleep at night and you will not wake up easy.

Your nights are going to be total destruction. It tells of the final judgment of the wrath of God. It speaks of bloodbaths. You like battle? Do you want to know the ultimate battle? You can have six feet of blood. Six feet of blood on this earth. You want to know what bloodbaths are? You’re going to be told about political conflict that opens the way for the wicked, hellish world ruler to take over. Well, you thought you were experiencing that Today. But no you’re not, because it’s not the time, it’s not the right season. Prophecies have not lined up yet.

They’re lining up, but they’re not there yet. We’re living in the prophecy of Isaiah 45 and some Psalms and whatever, but we are not there to end times yet. We’re close, but not there. The book speaks of total destruction of the entire universe and the damnation of both the bodies and the souls of people to eternal hell. Now tell me what drama book gives you all of that in one book. It doesn’t. There’s not one author in this world that has written a drama book that gives you all of the aspects of this book. Oh, but the other thing is, this is the truth.

It’s not a fantasy. Their books are storytelling. This is your life. This is a book of unbelievable, should be unbelievable excitement for you. And yet it should be a book of amazing hope. And a book of joy and peace, by the way. You might not think about it going into this, but it’s a book of joy and peace. And it’s also a book where the happy loving ending, your love story, has ended in the physical, but has just begun in the spiritual. That which started in Genesis has ended in Revelation. And what’s ended in Revelation starts your life.

That’s what this book does. It will take us some time to un, unfold this story, which we’re going to take all the time we need to do this. We’re this book, just like Ephesians. We’re going to take our time. This is going to be a word by word, verse by verse study, and we’re going to turn every stone over. We’re going to go down every rabbit hole that we can go down so that you can comprehend exactly what this means for you. It took John some time to unfold, right? Think about it. Remember we talked about he’s on an isle of Patmos, he had an angel come standing behind him.

And the angel says, john, you better sit down because I’m fixing to give you a story. Oh, and by the way, I’m going to take you for a ride. And not only are you going to understand the story for me, but you’re going to see the story. And what John have to do, he had to have three timeouts, three intermissions to the story. Why? Because it was so overwhelming he could not take it all at once. Well, so shall you. And we probably will do that the same. We’ll probably, at the time that John bowed out, we Might go do something in John itself, in the Gospel of John, just to bow out of this.

Because this is going to be an intense study. This is not going to be a light study at all. And so he gives us, John gives us in verse seven and eight previews of the coming attractions. A brief glimpse of what the book is all about. The book is all about a one the one who comes, the one who comes, the one who began and the one who will end. It’s a book about the second coming of Jesus Christ. Now here’s the great glorious announcement of the thesis, the theme, the heart of the book in verse seven.

What is that? Jesus is coming. That’s it. He’s coming. That’s what he told the disciples. That’s what he did in the Oliver discourse. That’s what he did. All I know, I will come back. My time is not here, but I will come back. Well, this is his coming back. This is his story of coming back. The great fact summarizes this book. It, the book condenses into one colossal affirmation. And it takes John 21 chapters really and then a 22nd chapter taking us all the way into glory to unfold all of this. Here we have in verse seven, the first prophetic oracle in the book.

It comes after the opening greeting which we studied verses one through six over the two week period. And that prophetic oracle is this. Behold, I’m coming. That’s the oracle. That is what this book is all about. So here, the first time he says, pay attention, he’s coming. And this verse is in present tense. It’s not past, it’s not future. He’s coming now. I want to stop here a moment. He’s coming. Where does he come? Every day of your life through you. How does that happen? It’s your living in the relationship to Jesus Christ. And allow the Holy Spirit to take charge that that happens.

He comes every day. He comes through you. But now he’s going to come as K. I’m not sure you had ever noticed that. I’m quite, I’m quite sure because of my history. There’s no preacher, there’s no teacher that has ever taught that. But if you read scripture, you know he comes every day. Why? Because he says you die daily to Christ. Because the Holy Spirit is Christ. The Holy Spirit lives inside of you. The Holy Spirit guides, protects and provides. It doesn’t say he will come. It doesn’t say that it that he shall come. It says I’m coming.

He didn’t have a date. He didn’t have a time. He had a process. And see, the use of this present tense verb is intended to give you the knowledge and wisdom that he’s already on his way. Why? Because he’s coming through you every day. That’s the process of his coming because it has already begun. This statement he is coming is really drawn out of Daniel 7:13 which says this. I kept looking in the night visions. And behold, when with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming. And Daniel 7:14 says this. And to him was given dominion.

So John receives an oracle. A prophetic revelation here that he is coming that echoes the promise of Daniel 7:13. He’s coming every day. He comes through you every day. The Coming One. Scripture tells us that was the title for Messiah was a special name that scripture places on the Messiah. Oh, if you go back to Matthew, we have an interesting reference to it and I’m just going to read it to you. Matthew, John the Baptist was in prison and he sent word by his disciples to Jesus. And they said to him, are you the Coming One? You see, the Jews all knew that the Coming One was a Masonic title.

Jesus is the Coming One. The same verb or camille that means coming is used directly and indirectly with a reference to Christ nine times in the book of Revelation. Seven of those nine times it is the words of Jesus himself referring to himself as the Coming One. Well then this book is about the coming of what? The Coming one. And the present tense indicates to us that he’s already coming. Why? Because he’s coming in your life every day. He’s here. So that we have this sense of expectation that leads John to say, look, he’s coming. As if we are to be living in eager expectation.

If you understand that he comes through you every day, then you should have the expectation that is great. Greatest coming is coming to take you home. This is the great heart of the book. We must open our understanding to the greatness of this event by sort of getting our arms around how important is in the Scripture. Let me see if I can help you with that. It is said that prophecy or future prediction takes up one fifth of the scripture. 20% of the entire Bible is prophecy about Jesus coming. Of that 1/5 of scripture that speaks of future prophecy, one third of that refers to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Some have calculated that there are about 660 general prophecies, 333 about Christ. 109 fulfilled at his first coming, 224 at his second coming. So the Bible has much to say about his second coming. Of the 46 Old Testament prophets, less than 10 of them speak of his first coming. 36 of them speak of his second coming. There are over 1500 Old Testament passages that refer in some way to the second coming of Jesus Christ. Oh, think about this. One out of every 25 New Testament verses directly refers to the second coming of Jesus Christ. Every time the Bible mentions the first coming of Christ, it mentions the second coming Christ eight more times.

What’s important. For each time the atonement is mentioned once, the second coming is mentioned twice. Jesus refers to his second coming 21 times and over 50 times we are told to be ready for his return. And so this is a major theme of the Scripture. Now I only give you these numbers so you’ll remember them. No, not really, but so you get a feeling for the breadth of the prophetic word referring to the second coming, how important it is to your life. Now it’s curious to me that in a convocation of the church delegates from around the world that I read about under the direction of the World Council of Churches, they surveyed and found that only 10% of the American Protestant clergyman found any significance at all in the doctrine of the second coming.

Do you want to know why we’re at apostasy today? Why we’re living in the church of Laodicea today? Why you’re having so much of the return of Gods today? Why are you having such a spiritual war today? Well, this is the problem. 90% of clergy mind in the United States of America said that the second coming is not significant. Why have I told you so much to get out of the corporate church? And if you don’t want out of the corporate church, you better understand the doctrine of the church. Because if you participate in that, then you’re part of the problem.

You’re in apostasy. You better have a significant amount of discernment. Peter predicted the kind of unbelief when he said where is the promise of his coming? The scoffers ask. Scoffers have always wanted to deny the second coming because it’s connected with judgment and they’re not ready or willing to face the judgment of God at all. But in spite of what the scoffers say, the Bible is very, very, very clear that Jesus will return. Now let me just give you a little support of that. Some undergirding something that you can get your arms around. There are many things in the scripture that demand the return of Christ, not just this proliferation of prophecies by the way, there are some other compelling issues that demand the return of Christ.

Now let me just give you some. First of all, the promise of God demands that Jesus come. The promise of God demands, beginning in Genesis 49:10, the very first prophecy concerning Messiah’s rule, it says, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from beneath between his feet, until shallow comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Oh, what is he saying? Out of the loins of Judah will come Shiloh, the Messiah, which he did. And the nations will obey him. That hasn’t happened yet. They rejected him. Do you remember? They haven’t obeyed him.

How can you have the second coming if they’re not obeying him? Think guys on your prophetic stuff. That has to happen before the second coming of Jesus Christ. Remember God? Jesus said, I will not come till you beg me to come. It is going to get so bad that the nation of Israel begs Jesus Christ to come back. That’s what scripture says. Not the church, but the nation of Israel. See, that hasn’t happened yet. But God promised it would. If it didn’t happen the first time Jesus came, it has to happen the second time he comes.

Logic. God never lies. In Psalms 2, God promised that the nations would bow down to Jesus Christ and he would rule them. With what? A rod of iron? That hasn’t happened. It has to happen in the future. It didn’t happen in his first coming. It will happen at his second coming. Now. Isaiah said that he would be the mighty God, the everlasting Father, this child born unto us. And the government would be what on his shoulders? Where’s that taking place? We’ve already we’d said on Monday night and we said on Tuesday night. The fact that this world’s government is based upon the premise of Nimrod.

It’s built upon the evenness from one empire to another to continue that even evilness until what God puts puts the government on his shoulders. That did not happen the first time he came. He did not raise up the government. He did not become the ruler. That has to happen then. When? In the future? The Bible tells us in Zechariah that when he comes, he’ll split the Mount of Olives and the nations will be gathered there and judged. Okay, people are talking about the second coming of Jesus Christ. We’re in this. We’re in the millennial. They’re talking about that throughout all of social media.

We’re in this thousand year reign. No, we’re not. Not at all. Do you see the amount of other spirit? Oh, better off. When are you going to study the Bible to understand what it means for his coming? See, the Bible tells us that when he comes, he will be bring. He will bring a glorious kingdom. Do we have a glorious kingdom? Do we even have a kingdom? Read Isaiah. None of that has happened. It didn’t happen the first time. It demands then that it happened the second time. But it will happen in his second time, and his second time hasn’t started yet.

Numbers 23. God is not a man that he should delay. God says this will occur. Therefore the Son of God must come back so that it can. The promise of God demands the second coming. Second point. The words of Jesus Christ himself demands the second coming. Jesus said in John 14, I’m going to go away. But what I’m going to prepare a place for you. And if I prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. And where I am, there you may be also. Jesus promised that when he went away, he’d come back.

Oh, what did the angels tell the apostles at the Mount of Ascension? Oh, you see him go way, so shall he come the same way he went. The promise of Jesus demands his second coming. Now, in Luke 19, Jesus said this. A certain nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return. Pay attention here. A certain nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return. And he called 10 of his slaves and gave them 10 menace and said to them, do business with this until I come back.

But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, we do not want this man to reign over us. And it came about that when he returned after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves to whom he had given the money be called to him in order that he might know what business they had done. And you should know what the rest of the story goes about. Who’s he talking about? You. He’s talking about you. In verse 26 he says, I’ll tell you everyone who. Who shall. Who shall be given more. But the one who does not have even what he does have will be taken away.

Judgment. These enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence. Oh my gosh. Do you think God is this unconditional, loving guide that just allows anything to go? Like some people think I just want to be loved in this world? This God that we have is the most warring God that ever existed in time. And Jesus was saying, I am the King. I’m going to go away, but I’m going to come back. And when I come back, I’m going to mon. I’m. While I’m gone away, I’m going to monitor what you do.

And when I come back, I’m going to check on what you did with your gospel privilege. If you did nothing with it, I’ll damn you sit on your butts doing nothing. If you exercised in faith toward me, I’ll take you to glory with me. James says, faith without works is dead. Here’s the king who went away, who will come back. Come back to reward his own. Come back to judge those who rejected him. Who are you in this process? So the Lord Jesus Christ sent an angel to judge, and the angel came to John and he wrote the book of Revelation.

And six times to that angel, Jesus says, tell him to write, behold, I come quickly. Jesus promised that he would come back. And his promise demands the second coming. He is coming because number one, God cannot lie. And he said so. And he’s coming because Jesus himself himself spoke the truth that he would come back. Third, The guarantee of the Holy Spirit demands it. He paid a price. He gave you a down payment. He put his Spirit in your heart and sealed it as the down payment and says, I will make final payment when I come back.

After all, the Holy Spirit is called in John 15:26, the spirit of truth. In John 16:13, Jesus said, He’ll guide you unto all truth. He’ll speak to you all the things concerning me. And what he was saying was, he’s going to inspire scripture. He’s going to move on writers who will write inspired scripture. And so every time you read about the second coming, like First Corinthians 1, 4 and 8, Philippians 3, 20, 21, Colossians 3 and 4, James 5, 8, First Peter 1, 13, First John 3, 2 and 3, etc. Etc. Etc. Every time you read about the second coming Christ that is a witness of the Holy Spirit as he inspires the writer to write about the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Scripture says if, if I say it two or three times in Scripture, it’s true. That’s your test. That’s what you should be testing upon your discernment is based upon how many times you can find it in Scripture. God promised he’s coming. Jesus Christ himself promised he was coming. And the Holy Spirit promised he was coming. The Godhead, all three natures, all three entities said, Jesus Christ is coming again. There should be no Refutal of the truth. He must come because the promises of the Trinity, the credibility of the Trinity is totally at stake. If doesn’t come again, who is Christ? He’s a fake.

Fourth point. Jesus Christ must return because the Church demands it. The program for the Church demands it. We studied this in Acts. We’re going to go over it again in Acts, chapter 15. I just show you one very brief but potent passage. X50 x15 14. Paul and Barnabas are coming and bringing a report about the Gentile conversions and so forth. Remember that they went back to Jerusalem. This is the report to Jerusalem. And then James speaks and this is what he says. Starting in verse 14, Simeon has related how God first concerned himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for his name.

Now what is he saying? God has a purpose. And that purpose is to collect from the Gentiles a people for his name. When the nation of Israel reject him, he went to the church and he took the church as his name. You are the body of Christ. You are him. What does the Scripture say? You’re to put on not only the armor of God, but you’re to put on Christ. You’re to think like the mind of God. You are to be Christ as the Church. Acts 1515 says. And with the this the words of the prophets agree, just as it was written.

And here he quotes out of the Old Testament from Amos and Jeremiah, who quotes Paul after these things I will return and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen, and I will rebuild the ruins and I will restore it in order that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord. And all the Gentiles are who are called by my name shall, says the Lord, who makes these things known from old Old. Let me sort of explain what’s happening here. Peter has just come back and he’s reporting that God is saving Gentiles. Remember, Gentiles and Jews didn’t get along.

So the entire hierarchy of the church had to deal with that issue. Paul and Barnabas obviously know and experience that as well. Why? Because we know that the the church. The Jews had sent legalist lawyers into where Paul and Barnabas were to object to their teachings. We’ve already studied that. And they say God is taking out a people. He’s carving out a group from the Gentiles to be the church. God is pulling a people from all nations to himself. And in verse 11 he says this. And they’re being saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oh, which was the same way as the Jews by the way, that’s the church, that’s you. And this is startling that God would call a people out of the Gentiles. Why? Because they came out of Nimrod. See, so James pops up, the half brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he quotes a prophecy, primarily out of Amos 9, 11, and 12. And he says this. Well, isn’t this exactly what Amos said? That not only would he rebuild the Tabernacle of David, but he would also call together a group of people from out of the Gentiles. This came out of prophecy, out of the Old Testament.

And what is, what is your history? The Old Testament. And if you don’t study the history, you don’t know where you’ve come from. You won’t know who Christ is, and you won’t know who you are. And he goes on and he says this, and then he would bring the kingdom. Yeah, the Tabernacle of David, or the kingdom, the house of David, the royal house will be rebuilt, it will be restored, and that’s the kingdom. But see, before that happens, there’s going to be a people called out. So what you have is a sequencing here, the calling out of the church.

And after that you have the kingdom. Verse 16, after these things, I will return. After these things, I will return. Those things have not been done yet. And rebuild the Tabernacle of David. That’s exactly what the prophet said. So the point is, God’s calling, going to call out the church. Then he’s going to return and establish his kingdom. And in that kingdom, all nation will be under the rule of Christ. Guys, we’re really still back. In verse 14, God is talking about among the Gentiles, a people for his name. After this, in verse 16, he will return.

So the program for the church is call out the church and then come back. Now, according to Paul, the church is like a virgin waiting for her husband. Ephesians 5, 25, 27, 1st Thessalonians talks about the church waiting to be raptured. So the program for the church demands Christ’s return. The program for the nations demands it as well. Why? Because we’re joint heirs with the nation of Israel and we don’t have the time to go fully into developing all this tonight. We might in the process of all this, get to that. But God’s program for the nations demands that he returns.

Why? Well, Psalms 2 says he’s got to come back and rule the nations. That’s a very familiar prophecy to any student of scripture. If you study scripture, Joel 3:2 talks about a time when the Lord comes and gathers all the nations and brings them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat and enters into judgment within. There. That’s future. Okay, guys, that’s another element of prophecy that’s not been done yet. Down in verse nine, he talks about a war. He talks about beating plowshares then into swords and pruning hooks into spears. And he’s talking here about the great battle of what? Armageddon.

Multitudes and multitudes in the valley of what’s called decision. This is the final war. There’s coming a future, a time, a future war included, with a future judgment. And during that war, and at the time of that judgment, the Messiah will come and affect his great judgment. Oh, that tells you what has to happen before he comes, did it not? Has that happened? No. In fact, it says in Joel 3:12, there I will set to judge all of the surrounding nations. That’s the Messiah’s duty. So the program of the nation’s future judgment, the valley of Jehoshaphat, the valley of decision, the judgment of the nations, demands that Jesus come back.

Because they can’t happen unless he does come back. Six point. The nation of Israel’s program demands he comes back. Now, you can read all the Old Testament, and I don’t need to give you very many scriptures, but you’re going to find repeatedly in the Old Testament, God promised Israel a kingdom. He promised the Messiah would come and give them the kingdom. This is what the apostles wanted him to do in his first coming. And he says, my time is not now. The Messiah came and they didn’t get a kingdom. Look at Isaiah 59:20. A redeemer will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, declares the Lord.

And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord. My Spirit, which is upon you. My words which I put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from your mouth or, or your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring. Spring, says the Lord, from now and forever. In other words, God’s saying this. I’m going to come, and I’m going to save you with an eternal salvation, which he has. But that hasn’t happened to Israel yet. It’s happened to the Gentile church. The Messiah hasn’t done that for Israel yet. The first time he came, they killed him.

They rejected him. But he’ll come back another time and they’ll believe him. Jeremiah 23:5. The days are coming, declares the Lord. I’ll raise up for David A righteous branch. And he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In his days. Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. Do you just know what happened? Do you just understand what happened? The Messiah will come. He’s going to save them, give them peace, prosperity, security and a kingdom. See the very Trinity Godhead that guarantees the coming of Christ. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit promised the program that God has laid out for the nations, for Israel, for the Church.

All demand the return of Jesus Christ. See, he has to come back to judge the nations. He has to come back to collect the Church. He has to come back to give the kingdom to Israel. Two other simple points. Humbleness. Think about that. Ephesians 4. Humbleness. Purity. Humbleness. See, the humiliation of Jesus Christ demands that he come back. The humiliation of Jesus Christ demands that he comes back. He came into this world and they rejected him. They turned their back on him. They refused him. They cannot be the way. This cannot be the way the story ends.

It cannot end like this. He will come again. There will be a time when Jesus returns in glory and they will worship him. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall confess that I am the Lord. In Matthew 26, This is the story of the death of Jesus Christ. In the middle of it, in conferring with the high priest, listen to what Jesus says. In Matthew 26:63. Jesus kept silent. He didn’t defend himself. The high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God, you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.

Jesus said to him, you have said it yourself. Nevertheless, I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming out of the clouds of heaven. And the high priest started ripping his clothes off. At what he thought was such blasphemy. And then they spit in his face. They punched him with their fists. And Jesus says, you have not seen the last of me. I will not let this saga in with my humiliation. You will see me in power and you will see me in glory. The world, believe me, has not seen the last of Jesus Christ.

It is inconceivable to any Christian to say nothing of God, that the last view which the world would ever have of Jesus Christ is that of a bleeding, dying, crucified criminal with blood, spit and flies all over his flesh, hanging naked in the Judean sky. Not the Son of God. That will not be the final view. Another reason Jesus is coming is the exaltation of Satan demands it. Satan wants a final battle. Satan wants to figure out who’s going to win. Satan has a temporary exaltation three times. In Scripture he’s called the prince of this world.

World, not earth, world, fallen state. That’s exactly who, what he is. He’s a fallen state. Paul calls him the God of this age. John says the whole world lies in his arms. The writer of Hebrews says he has the power of death. But Jesus has broken that power. Why? Because he went to get those two keys. Remember in First John 3, 8 it says Jesus came to destroy him, to destroy the devil. He came to Destroy it, remembers 1620. The God of peace will soon crush Satan. Jesus has to come back to dethrone the usurper who has taken the throne of this world.

While he has victory. He’s got, just like before, the foundation world. Guys, you were living a digital simulation of what took place before the foundation of the world. You’re going to need to live a digital simulation of the final battle that took place in the heaven. And finally, the expectation of all saints demand it. The promise of the Trinity demands it. The program of God demands it. The humiliation of Christ demands it. The exaltation of Satan demands it. And our hope demands it. If we have hope only in this world, we are not. We are of all men, what of this world? The most miserable individual you’ll ever see.

See, our hope is because we know Jesus is coming. His finished work. His finished work is coming. But there is an eternal life ahead for all of us. But not only that, we’re not just looking at heaven, we’re looking for Christmas. Titus 2:11. The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, to live what sensibly, sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. We are to be looking consistently, constantly for Jesus Christ.

Say second Timothy 4a says we should love his appearing. So it is essential and central to the Christian gospel in the Christian faith to believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ. Why? Because the whole credibility of the Trinity, the whole credibility of creation itself is at stake. The integrity of God for the church, for Israel, for the nations, is at stake. And the dethroning of Satan is at stake, as well as the fulfillment of the anticipated hope for the believers. See, this book of Revelation will unfold all of the elements of all nine of the Points that we go through.

Say. But all of that discussion which we just talked about was just to underline the opening statement of verse seven. Behold, he’s coming. Everything demands it. He’s coming. John gives us a preview. Watch this very, very, very carefully. I’m going to give you some very simple and distinct thoughts. John shows us the glory of it. That’s the first point. All of that past was just introduction. Here’s the point I want to really have you concentrate on now that you know he’s coming and everything calls for it. First of all, we need to understand the glory of it.

The glory of his coming is indicative by the phrase with clouds. If you study the Bible, you find clouds. Clouds play a very important role in Scripture. A cloud was a symbol of God’s present with his people in the desert, in the wilderness, wandering. You remember, they were led by what? A cloud by day, a fire by night. You also remember that the cloud of the glory of God filled the tabernacle in Exodus 40 when it was built. You also remember that when the temple was completed in 1st King 8, 8, 10, the Cloud of the glory of God filled the temple.

You also should remember Daniel 7:13, that the son of man will come with the clouds of heaven. Do you remember when Jesus came and went to the mountain and was transfigured? You know that as Matthew 17:5, it basically says a cloud came down on the Son of Man on that mount of glory. And when Jesus ascended in Acts 1:9, a cloud received him out of their sight. And when he comes again in Matthew 24:30, he will come in the clouds of heaven. And so here we see again, he is coming with the clouds. What’s really the point of all of this? Well, if you go back to Genesis, you understand that the atmospheric clouds is of heavenly origin.

He’s coming from the heavens where the clouds are. But there’s more than that. I don’t think the point here is so much some kind of earthly cloud. What I think, due to the Book of Revelation, this is a glory cloud or clouds. Clouds and clouds of glory. This is like Christ entourage. If you go back in the Old Testament, all the way back to Genesis, you’ll read about the Shekinah, okay? The glory, which was light. Light. A blazing, shining light. God manifesting himself in the light that could be seen, that also could be heard. Because they heard it in the garden.

It says that they heard God moving in the garden. It must have been energized. Light. Okay, guys, clouds, Christ, light. It’s the energy Source. Do you get it? It’s the energy source from the throne room of God. It is energized light. God is a spirit and not a body. God is not a man. But he did not. He did reveal himself in some kind of energized blazing light. It is so powerful and so blazing that no one could see it fully and live. He says that in Exodus 33, you can’t look upon me and live. You can only see just a little bit of it.

That’s reason why Moses was only able to look at his backside. Everything had to be filled because of the amount of energy. Oh, but what’s the glory of this? When Christ returns, the glory will not be veiled. What does he say? You will look at me face to face. You will see me as who I am, and then you will know who you are. The first thing that God will do is turn out the universe. The sun goes out, the moon goes out, the stars go out. The entire universe goes pitch black. And we’ll see that in the book of Revelation and in the pitch black universe.

Oh, what’s going to happen? A shining light will appear. The blazing glory of Jesus Christ, like a million suns. So we’ll see the glory of his coming. By the way, just think about this. Do you know what makes up that cloud? Do you know what makes up the cloud? See, it’s the very blazing brightness of Christ, who is the express image of the Father, who is the brightness of his presence. Hebrews 1 says. And you add to that 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands and thousands, which means an innumerable number of holy angels in blazing glory. And you add to that all of the glorified saints of the Old Testament and the New Testament who are in blazing white robes, writing blazing swords.

You are the cloud. All saints, past and present, are the cloud. We’re the light. Can you imagine that? Why in the world did Christ give you the Holy Spirit? Why? To be the light. Why did he give you eternal life in this earthly realm? To experience all the blessings in Ephesians 1:3 of in heavenly places? Because you are the light. It’s not something you set on the couch and be a couch potato in this lifetime and think you’re going to get all of the fruits of that in heavenly places and be the light. That is not going.

You’re going to never like the cheap seats. Guys. The word Lucan L E K O N which means blazing and not just flat white. You’ve got a pageant coming out of the the dark, a complete black sky. How black is it? It’s as black as what it was at the time of Pharaoh’s curse. You will not be able to see an inch in front of your eyes. It’s that black. And then all of a sudden, you. And when he says he’s coming back with clouds, it doesn’t mean he’s going to be gently sailing down on a little white puff.

Ain’t gonna happen. See the glory of it. There’s more details to come on that. The second thing he introduces is the scope of it. In verse 7, every eye shall see him. Every eye. Oh, this is the point. Every person in the world will see him. They’re going to know who he is. He’s coming will be visible to the entire human race. Everybody. The whole world. This time there will be no mistake. The first time Jesus came, His glory was veiled. It was veiled in human flesh. He’s got his glorified body now. It’s not going to be veiled at all.

Once on the mount of Transfiguration, he pulled the veil aside and they saw the blazing glory. And they were panicked. Who were panicked? Peter, James and John. They saw him for who he was. They were filled with fear. And they were believers. They were apostles. And that was just a little glimpse of the glory. But it was veiled by his human flesh. It was covered. It was hidden. When he comes back, it won’t be. And every eye on the face of the Source will see him. Do you know that’s what’s inside of you? You host Jesus Christ inside of your heart.

You’re the one that puts the veil on his likeness. Not likeness, lightness. In your life, You can have this bright, big, beautiful, huge light inside of you. But it’s dark on the outside. Because of you. When Christ comes back, he divides everybody into two groups. Even those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. They are the two groups, you say. Who are they? Those who pierced him. Not the Roman soldiers. They’re long dead. They won’t see him. Who’s he talking about? Well, let me show you. John, 1937. They came around, of course, the soldiers.

And they pierced his side with his sword. Remember that? Verse 34. And blood and water came out. Blood associated with what? Death? Water with cleansing. They didn’t have to break his legs. Scripture says prophecy. They wouldn’t break his legs. He was already dead. So in verse 36, not a bone of him shall be broken. That’s what scripture said. And it came to pass that when Another scripture says they shall look took on him who they. Whom they pierced. What does that refer to? The scripture is talking about the prophecy of Zechariah. And who did Zechariah say this group was that would look upon him who they have pierced? Well, Zechariah points it out as the Jews.

It would be the Jews. See, Zechariah said the day will come when they would look on the one they appeared. And he meant the Jews. Well, you might say, Jim, how do you know that? Because you know what? That’s exactly what Zechariah said. If you believe scripture in total totality, you believe Scripture. Let’s say what Zechariah said. I will pour out on my on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication. And they will look on me who they have pierced. Who pierced Jesus? Not the Romans. Who was responsible for his death? Israel.

The nation of Israel was responsible for his death. Look at Acts, chapter 2, matter of fact, verse 22. Men of Israel. Listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst. Just as you yourselves know this man delivered by the predetermined, planned and the foreknowledge of God. Okay, here it comes. Men of Israel, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men. You did it. You used the hands of Romans, but you did it. Acts 3:14, Peter speaking to the Jews.

You disowned the holy and righteous one. And you ask for a murderer to be granted to you. And you put to death the Prince of life. That’s right. It was a juice. And so what is is John saying in verse 7? The Jews pierced him. They’ll see him. They will see him. Now listen to this. What you’re going to find out in the Book of Revelations is some of those Jews will have been saved by the time he comes. A change of state in the nation of Israel. In fact, there’s going to be 144,000 of them, 12,000 of from each tribe that are saved.

And they are going to be the evangelist to evangelize the world during the Great Tribulation. Oh, and there will be other Jews that will be saved in the second half of the time called the Tribulation. Right before he comes. Say the course of the seven years doesn’t change life itself. The course of the seven years removes the church, brings the nation of Israel back into prominence, and then deals with the Nation of Israel under judgment and gives them a way to go home in the second half of the tribulation. That’s what goes on. You just have to make it to the end.

Some will look upon him. Some of the Jews will have been saved by that time. But for other Jews, when they first see him coming out of heaven, they will not yet have been saved. But at that moment they will be saved. There’s a period of time when Jesus comes out of the heaven before the final judgment. We don’t know the time. It may be hours, it may be days, we don’t know the length of time. But there is a time, according to Scripture, for the nation of Israel to repent. And I believe, based upon Scripture, that a great vast of individuals in the nation of Israel, at a very moment in time they’ll be saved.

It’s not going to be prolonged over a period of time. The way scripture talks about it, it’s almost as if they, in a twinkling of an eye will know Him. Now let’s go back to Zechariah, chapter 12, and I’m just going to give you a truth here. Zechariah 12:10. It says, I will pour out on my house of David, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication. What does that mean? I’m. He basically says, I’m going to say the juice. Surely what it means, I’m going to give my chosen people a chance to come home.

I’m going to save them. Goes on and says, they will look on me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for him. And as one mourns for and only Son, they will weep bitterly over him, like a bitter weeping over a firstborn. You might ask, why will they weep? Because they will finally understand what they did to the Messiah, and it will become unbearable for them. See, there’s a day that is coming that God will save the house of David when he saves the Jews, when he pours out grace and supplication on them the word supplication, he gives them the spirit of repentance by which they plead for forgiveness.

Oh, remember, the Holy Spirit is taking out of this world. When the church is raptured, the Holy Spirit doesn’t exist in the tribulation, they supplicate for forgiveness. When Christ says, I’ll do that for them. And they’ll see the one they pierced coming out of heaven, and they’ll mourn for him like somebody mourns when they lose their only Son. And they’ll Weep bitterly, like losing their firstborn, because they’ll realize what they have done to me. They’ll realize their sin. And their tears will. Will be tears of repentance. Goes on. So it says in that day. Verse 11 says, There will be a great morning of Jerusalem, like the morning of Hayden Drummond in the plane of Magido.

There will be a terrible morning, a terrible time, much like morning in the valley of Magento when godly king Josiah was murdered by Pharaoh Neko. And that’s recorded in Second Corinthians 35. It’s going to be a terrible morning time. It goes on and says, the land will mourn. Every family itself, the family of the house of David by itself, their wives by themselves, the family of the house of Nathan and their wives by themselves, and Levi and the Shemites. And everybody is going to mourn, and all the wives are going to mourn, and every family going to mourn.

It talks about every element of Israel is going to mourn for what they’ve done. Christ comes in blazing board. Everybody in the world sees him. Did you see him? Some of them will be saved, but in this moment, the ones that haven’t yet been saved are going to cry in repentance and supplication, and they’re going to feel the grace and forgiveness of God. Zechariah 13. 1. It’s. It’s such a beautiful passage when you see what we would call the grace of humanity by Christ. In that day, that very day when he comes, a fountain will be open for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for inequity.

And I’d say, what is he going to do? He’s going to cleanse them. He’s going to cleanse them the same he did for you. What’s such a wonderful truth about salvation in that day? In one day? One day God said, I will remove the inequity of that land in one day. And that’s the day of his coming. That’s back in Zechariah 39. I will remove the inequity of that land in one day. Now you guys know what it means to mourn, To grief, to lament, oh, and to wait. This is the morning of repentance. Now I want you to mark in your mind, when Jesus comes and is all his blazing glory, the Jews are going to repent.

And that’s the blessing that he gives to the nation of Israel. Now in Isaiah 25:9, it says, it will be said in that day, behold, this is Our Lord, whom we have waited, that he might save us. Wow. All they had to do was announce him before. He ascended to heaven. But they didn’t. Foreign 44,000 will already have been saved. They’ll do that. In that single day, they will have evangelized the world, and most particularly the Jews. So the Jews will have heard the gospel. Oh, not the Old Testament gospel. The same gospel that Paul taught us in second Corinthians.

Same gospel. They will hear now the true gospel. They will see Christ coming out of glory and they will pound their breasts as sovereignly God graciously pours out upon them a spirit of supplication and makes them plead, makes them plead for forgiveness. Remember, that’s what he said he was going to do. You’re going to request that I forgive you. And in that moment, he sends a fountain of cleansing to wash them from their sins. Paul says in Roman 11, it will come to pass, so all of Israel shall be what say the Jews will see him and they will mourn the morning of repentance.

Oh, but you need to know there’s another group that will see him also. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Who’s that? Matthew 24:30 tells us very pointedly. It says, the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the tribes of earth will mourn and will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. Now when they see him coming, they’re going to mourn. However, it’s not the morning of repentance. See, this other group is the Gentiles. The Gentiles who weren’t raptured because they were in the church.

This is the rest of the world. The world of mourning here is interesting. I think it’s the word kato. In Greek it literally means to cut. Why did they use this word to cut? Well, you need to understand the time of writing the book because it comes from an oriental imagery when people were in deep despair during this ancient time, for some strange reason, they cut themselves. Do you know people still do that today? It’s a form of self punishment. It is not uncommon for me to talk to or listen to or see or whatever this terrible despair.

They cut themselves. In fact, Misty and I are watching a series for a whole lot of reasons, but it’s on cloning. And it provides a truce to today’s events. And as part of the characters of that, you see the warped mind, the unconventional mind of a cloning individual. And one character does nothing but cut herself all the time. Our world today. First Kings 18:28. The frenzy, panic. Prophets of bell in in horror. That bell was not hearing their prayers. Cut themselves according to their custom, with swords and lanches until the blood gushed out. People in despair cut themselves.

The urinals. The Orientals did that commonly and we still find it done today. So when Jesus comes, the Jews will mourn a morning of repentance. According to Zechariah. The world will mourn, but it isn’t the morning of repentance. Zechariah 9:21. They did not repent of their murderers, nor of the sorceries, nor of their immorality, nor of their thefts. It’s not the remorse of repentance. In fact, they actually end up cursing God, as Scripture tells us. Blaspheming guide and not repenting at all. So there’s two groups. The scope of the coming of Christ. Everyone is going to see him.

The Jews will mourn the morning of repentance. The Gentiles are mourn the morning of judgment and fear. Why? Because the church is already gone. The Gentiles who believe in Christ are already gone. The Gentiles left on this earth are the Gentiles of what historical framework? Bloodlines of Nimrod. And they will blaspheme God. The governments, the government. Third point. The response to the second coming. The glory of it seen in the clouds. The scope of it seen in the people who see it. The response to it. Now, I love this. This is the original scripture. High five.

John says, yay. This is it. Do it. This is the response. He uses two words here, a Greek and a Hebrew. Naya is a Greek word that means yes. Hebrew word that means yes. And so he takes both languages and makes in a firm formation, affirmation. And he does the same thing in Revelation 22:20. Come, Lord Jesus. Yes, do it. Come now. St. John is thrilled. This is his response. This should be our response, by the way. Come now. I’m tired of this. Let’s go. Finally. This is just thrilling. This is just a thrilling book. And you’ve got to grip it.

Grip this. The last feature of this summary of the book regarding the return of Christ to earth is the certainty of it. There’s no ambiguity. And here it comes in verse eight. Here’s what the Lord God says, I am the Alpha and the Omega. Who is and who was and who is to come? The Almighty. Now, I’ve read tons of commentaries on this. Some of them say we don’t know why this verse is even here. We don’t know whether there is any connection with verse seven at all. Well, it seems though John just says this and we don’t know that it has any significance at all in the context.

But when I read it, I understand why it’s here. Do you know answer? Say God is saying if you think this may not happen, I just want to affirm who is in charge of this event and who is he? So the Lord God says the speaker is Jehovah, the sovereign God of all creation. This and another way of looking at it is his final signature on the certainty of the second coming. To me this is absolutely magnificent. Magnificent Guide. Puts his signature on this prophecy by emphasizing three of his attributes. Oh, three very familiar ones by the way, from Old Testament.

Number one, his omniscience. I’m the Alpha and Omega order. Alpha and Omega, first and last letters of what? Greek Alphabet. What does that mean? Oh, you’re going to know what it means when you get into Genesis. Do you realize a molecule of your DNA is made up of 547 indifferent. Atoms to make your hemoglobin of 20 of 20 alphabetic representations? Do you know what the probability of that is? It’s absurd. The probability factor in in according to mathematical measurement says it will never happen. But he did. Say an Alphabet is an ingenious way to to store and communicate all knowledge.

How many letters in our Alphabet? 26. How many words can be formed out of that? An infinite number of words out of 26 letters. It’s a rather ingenious thing in Alphabet. 26 letters in our Alphabet arranged in almost endless combinations. We hold and convey what all knowledge think about that. There’s no combination of letters outside our Alphabet that makes any sense. Especially if you only can speak English. If you throw some crazy thing up there that doesn’t work with our Alphabet. It isn’t familiar and doesn’t belong. It’s really nonsense to us can understand. So in other words, our Alphabet, as demonic as it is, contains all knowledge.

26 Letters contains all knowledge. So what is God saying? I’m Alpha and Omega. You’re saying I am the supreme sovereign Alphabet in which is contained all knowledge. That’s what he’s saying. I am Alpha to T, I’m Alpha to Omega. I am A to Z. Because somebody might come along and say. Well, you say Jesus is coming. Well, maybe you don’t know if everything. Maybe there’s something that can thr this deal that you don’t even know about. Well that’s nonsense. And what God says, I am A2Z. I contain all knowledge. There is no information. There is no knowledge.

There is no truth. There is no understanding. There’s no wisdom outside of what I know. You can’t make it up. Your opinion doesn’t matter. The truth only resides with me. So when I say Christ is coming, I’m telling you there won’t be any surprises. Because there’s nothing outside of his knowledge. He says, I am Alpha to Omega. I know everything. And since I have all knowledge, there’s nothing I don’t know about. There is nothing that exists or could happen to ever foil this plan. Ephesians 1, 2, and 3. Because there’s nothing I don’t know about. There are no unknown factors that could sabotage the Second Coming.

Why? Because it was done in heaven before the. Before the foundation of the world. This whole thing was done before you were ever born and before this earth had one speck of matter created. Second attribute, he points out, is omnipresence. He identifies himself as the one who is and was and who is to come. This is really an astonishing statement, by the way. He doesn’t say, I’m the one who was there. I’m the one who is here, and oh, I’ll be the one who’s over there. Doesn’t say that. He says, I was, I am, and I will be.

I am that I am. He always has been, he always will be, and he is. See, God’s present is not bounded by any constraint. His presence is not limited by time or by space. Our physical reality part of our four dimensions. Somebody might say, well, you know, who might know what you know, because you know what you know about the places you’ve been, so for forth and so on. God says this. I am everywhere, all the time, at all times. And so there’s nothing outside of where I am. There’s nothing that can happen before I’m around, and there’s nothing that can happen after I leave.

Because there’s nothing I. Nothing. I’m sorry, but there’s never a before I I’m there and there’s nothing a time when I’m gone, He’s always here. In other words, you think you can go into a closet and hide, or go into the bathroom and close the door and say, you know what? I’m just in private. No, you’re not. You have no privacy to God. None. When you say Jesus is coming, it’s settled. Because all manners, all issues, all persons, all events, all places and all realities for all eternity are visible to What Him? When he says, I’m coming, I’m coming, and I see everything and you can’t stop it.

It. The third attribute is omnipotent. At the end of verse eight, he says, I am what? The Almighty. Now somebody’s going to come over and say, well, yeah, I believe that. But maybe he’s omniscient and he knows everything and maybe he is everywhere and there’s nothing anywhere that he is not fully aware of. But maybe there’s somebody who is more powerful than him and that somebody can overthrow the plan. And so God says this. If you’re thinking that. If you just think that. Let me remind you of something. This is like a father talking to a child.

Oh, guys, you want to test me? Just let me show you how that test is going to go. God says, I’m the one that has all power. It wouldn’t do much good to have all knowledge and to be everywhere present if you don’t have what, all power? Doesn’t make any sense. Logically. It doesn’t work because all that information and all that observation. Oh, think about atoms. Atoms only respond based upon how you observe them. Think about what we’re talking about here, guys, all right? You control creation, the atoms, by how you observe them. Your life, your creation individually is different from everybody else’s.

Do you understand what I’m saying? Your observance of the world is different than mine, David. Your difference is mine, sans your difference in mine, Pat, is your difference in mind. Our world is different by how we observe it. What’s the basis of observance? The truth. See, if we don’t understand that the truth is Scripture and we observe the world by the truth. We’re observing the world by our what? Ego? Ourself. And did you create this world? No. You have no control over this world. You don’t make things happen. Oh, you cause things happen to you. Just go look in the mirror when you have issues, But the truth makes you free.

The Almighty God, by the way, is used nine times in the Book of Revelation. He is the supreme power. He has all the knowledge he has ever. He is every and everywhere present. And he is the absolute, sovereign, complete control of every single thing. And when John says he’s coming, he’s coming. And God is going to guarantee that he’s going to come in a glory cloud and the whole world is going to see him. The Jews are going to mourn and be saved. The Gentiles are going to mourn and be destroyed. And the response ought to be yes, yes, let it happen.

And God says, believe me, it will. Just like this in verse seven, in it’s true because God guaranteed it. Because his person in verse 8, Jesus Christ once left heaven for earth in humiliation to be back in exaltation. He once left heaven to be killed. He will do it again to kill. Think about the opposite. Think about Genesis to Revelation. He once left heaven to serve. He will do it again to be served. He once left heaven to be to offer grace. He will do it again to demand justice. He once left heaven to seek and to save.

He will do it again in search and destroy. The question always in this book is what? Are you ready? Are you ready for a single event? What is that? Single event is coming. Because what you experience, what you’ve been taught, is not going to be how this ends. Remember what did I say? The end is not going to be for everybody. John Phillips writes this. One of the most stirring passages in English history tells us the the conquests and crusades of Richard the First, Richard the Lionhearted. While Richard has always trunching Saladin, his kingdom fell on heart, on bad times.

His sly and graceless brother John usurped all the prerequisites of the king and misused the realm. The people of England suffered, longing for the return of their king and praying that it might be in very soon. Then one day Richard came. He landed in England and marched straight for his throne. Around the glittering coming many tales are told woven in the legends of England. One of them is the story of Robin Hood. John’s castle trembled with nine pins. Great Richard led claim to his throne and none dared to stand in his path. The people shouted their delight.

They rang pill after pill on the bells. The lion was back and they cried, long live the king. Then one day a king far greater than Richard will lay claim to a realm far greater than England. And those who have abused the earth in his absence and those who have seized his dominion, I mean domains and mismanaged his work, his world will all be swept aside. Left are only those who love him, bow the knee to his sovereignty and participate in his kingdom. The book is a drama. It has every functional experience that one would ever want in any drama story.

Plus, we’re just setting the book up. Not got into the details of the book yet. We’re just continuing to set the book up. Any questions? Comments? Yeah, Dave. Tim. I’ve written a couple of notes down, but the one that stands out to me is you’ve always said that God’s always been patient with the Israelites and for him to have to wait until this happens for them to repent shows a huge amount of patience that he is prepared to just wait for them to realize how silly they’ve been. Yeah, David, let’s take that one step further. They will only repent when they see Him.

Think about that. In their hearts, they’re not going to be willing to repent. They only have to. What, be like a Missourian. I have to see it. So, Jim, what about the 144,000? Didn’t you say, does that happen then or already? It happens going into the tribulation. Oh, okay, all right. I misunderstood that. Okay, the 144,000. It comes out in believing of Jesus Christ based upon seeing him. Okay, okay, got it. Maria. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Okay. I have a comment about Alpha and Omega. You’re saying that he’s the first and the last. So God knows everything.

And then you brought up about Ephesians, that we were created in his mind before the foundation of the world. I. My question is to you is, did we have, since we were in the mind of God before we came into this world, Have it ever. Have you ever thought about that God was, was talking to each of us before we entered into this world? Well, basically, how could he know you if he wasn’t talking to you? Yeah. I’m just saying. Do you agree. Think about it logically. Logically, how would he know you? Because the scripture says he knew you.

Right. He didn’t. He didn’t say you were a thought in my mind. He says, I know you. And how do you know something without some type of conversation or history. Right. Fashion. So my question is, is that I just can’t help but think that, that God had a conversation with all of us before we entered into this world. And because he knew who was gonna, you know, accept Him. Do you already knew? I mean, you agree with that, right? He already knew who’s going to accept him? Well, I’m going to go back to. To use of words and not conjecture.

It’s not my opinion. It’s the truth from Scripture. You cannot know somebody without having some type of. Of communication to know who they are. Right. So it. Did God have that? Well, Scripture tells us. So is it my opinion that that happened? I don’t need my opinion because Scripture is the truth and they told us so. Right. He knew. He knew who you were before the foundation of the world. So could it, couldn’t he just. I think he probably even told us this is what you’re going to go through this is who you’re gonna marry, blah, blah, blah.

He didn’t tell you that. He didn’t tell you that because you have a free will. That’s right. You can make your choice along the way. If he told you who you’re going to marry, then, ladies, you would have waited to the person that you should have married, Which you didn’t in the majority of cases. Okay. And men the same way. Okay. Had he done that, we would have known he didn’t do that because you have a free will. Okay, I. I just have another question. Okay. Since he, we communicated with him before we entered into this world, he obviously knew who are his.

Oh, that’s called predestined in Ephesians, right? So he predestined to him, not for you. If you’re predestined to him, it’s only based upon when you are called to him, timing wise. If you’re not predestined to him, then you’re going to hell. Guys, just be blunt, okay? You’re either going to one or two places predestined to him, you go to heaven. Not predestined to him, you go to hell. But it’s still based upon your free will, right? Okay. Just because you’re pre. What’s predestined me means that basically that’s the direction you’re going to go, right? That’s what predestined is.

Right. The end result is based upon the outcome that you choose. You follow what I’m saying? So God did not put you into a silo that says these are going to hell and these are going to heaven. Why? Because scripture says all people have the ability to get eternal life. But you’re predestined. Your personality, your belief system, the what he knew you in foreknowledge of who you were, you’re predestined to go that way. That doesn’t mean the end result is going to end that way. Your free choice determines whether or not you turn or not. You can continue to go down that pattern and your end result will be hell.

You can, you can take a left turn and go down the narrow path and you have eternal way. But you’re predestined. You, you as an individual are predestined to go a certain way. That’s what predestined means. But it’s still your choice, Right? And Jesus had the same thing, didn’t he? Oh, yes, he did. Okay. Jesus could have what devil on four times in four gospels. He was tempted by the devil four times. He could any one of those time acquiesce to the devil and he was done. He had a choice. Why would the devil tempt him if he didn’t have a choice? Think about a lot.

Guys, you got to think logically here. This book is not about mythology. This book is about logic. If God is going to allow the devil to tempt Jesus Christ, there must be a reason to show us what? That we can overcome devil’s temptations. Right. Just like Christ did. So can you. If not, why did Jesus go through it? He had to. He was 100 man. Right? He had to. Just like you. But he showed you because he was 100 man, he could defy the temptations of the devil, which gave you the ability to do the same.

And how did he do it? Think about it. Did he just say, you know, I’m going to call down my army and I’m just going to take care of you? No. What did he do? He spoke the scripture of truth Rama words outwardly to Satan. And what does scripture say? You do that in the and Satan flees. He gave you the way to do it. And oh, but guys, I’m not trying to come down but we read scripture without any logical format of really what we’re told. We don’t tie together that what Jesus was doing was living us.

And we don’t understand that what Jesus did by living in us is exactly what the example that you need to use. One of you ever heard that. If Christ spoke Roma words, he spoke the scripture of truth to Satan and Satan had to flee. What in the world do you think you need to do in your spiritual war? Do the same thing. This is. This is a book of code. But the decipher is quite easy. We’ve just deciphered the life of Jesus Christ in temptation to the devil as it relates to you. You now know the truth.

You now know what to do. You know how to do it. Oh, but you know what it takes a little studying on your part. Why? Because you got to be sanctified in Jesus Christ to understand the truth of what to speak in accordance to the demonic influences in your life so that you could speak the right Rama words to what? Flee Satan. That’s your job. A true job. Yeah. Victoria. Oh, did was Maria. Okay? I’m sorry. In addition to that with the overcoming is not only just to. For me, what I’ve learned is that you speak the words, but it’s.

It’s sanctification where the. The scriptures become what you are thinking about. Because what you are thinking about, you bring about as we know you know about our thoughts. And for me, I’ve found that the learning the scriptures and memorizing the scriptures and repeating the scriptures or reading the scriptures daily, certain ones, they have become more of what I think about than the things that I’m trying to overcome, which is the enemy. It’s not about having fear in the moment and saying, oh, you know, I rebuke you and so on. So and so, yeah, that’s important. But you probably have less of the invasion of the enemy if you’re protected.

Like you’ve talked about knowing the scriptures and repeating them in your mind, maybe repeating them aloud, but they become a part of who you are. It’s really about letting go of that ego and the patterns that you’ve learned about. But I don’t think the patterns ever go away. Those, those, those negative patterns from what I could and gathering you’re sin highway of eight lane trucks, I mean of 18 wheel trucks are going down the highway constantly. The question is, is how do you navigate those trucks? Yeah, and so that’s why I wanted to add to that because we’ve talked about a lot, but I think it’s, you have to take almost take it a little bit further than just speaking the word out loud.

It’s, it’s become a way of life and I’m starting to understand that. So I wanted to say something else too. The alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Well, I thought we have eternal life. Why is there talk about the end? Is it, is it in context of the Bible? You know, but the end of the Bible, the historical. What does end mean? Why do we say end? Are we going to end? Because he knows that. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows the end from the beginning. Right. What’s the beginning? Ephesians 1, 2 and 3.

He knows everything that’s going to happen in this world before the foundation of the world ever begins. So he knows the end from the beginning. So therefore he’s not only the end, the guy who put it together, but he’s also the beginning, the guy who started it. So there’s no end though. There’s no end to your eternal life. It’s eternal. Okay, so now it’s clear, because I’ve always been questioning that. Why do we say the end? Well, because he is the end. You’re living in him. End. All the end. Yeah. Okay. And we were in. Get more, get more into Revelation.

This is going to come out even more. So we’re going to get into. We’ll probably have this conversation at least seven times. Because every one of the churches have a different reference to the beginning and end. Yeah. Okay, so we’ll have this conversation in various ways. Seven times. So when you say end, you mean end of time. There’s no time in heaven. It’s timelessness. Okay. Say, get the physical reality out of your brain. You’re to think about the things of above and not things on this earth. Things of above is called timelessness. Things of this earth is bound to reality of time.

The scripture doesn’t deal with your physical life, does it? We’ve talked about this. The scriptures deal with your spiritual life. And what you manifest in your spiritual life becomes manifest in this physical life that God gave you the ability to obtain blessings from heaven because you what, walk with him in obedience in this physical life. Therefore, you can get blessings in this physical life called eternity. Of what? Heaven. Kingdom of heaven on this earth. Kingdom of heaven. Kingdom of God is heaven. So when he. When go. When Christ gave Peter the kingdom of heaven keys, he gave them.

Gave Peter the ability to talk to people about living eternal life on this earth. When God gave Paul the keys of the kingdom of God, he taught Paul how to move Gentiles into understanding the kingdom of God in order that they could live an eternal life in the kingdom of heaven on this earth. Because they didn’t live by the law. They didn’t have any understanding of the law. They didn’t know who. They didn’t who Christ was. So. So in understanding who Christ was, they needed to understand who. What the kingdom of God is not the kingdom of heaven that the law worked out in the Old Testament.

And, and beginning and end. Alpha and omega is completeness. There is nothing outside of him. Nothing. That’s the reason why I said we’re going to talk about this seven times. And that’s what we’re going to get into is the. Because I want to reference this in the completeness of the church. Okay. Because who’s the church? That’s you. So there’s seven different references in Revelation 2 and 3 dealing with beginning and end. The completeness. The completeness of the church based upon the conditions of the church that you see that you’re at. Why is that important? One more second.

Why is that important? Because you have different overcoming aspects or applications based upon the condition of the church. Go ahead, Billy. And. Well, you can’t. We can’t add anything to it. Nope. Okay. It’s. Yeah, it’s complete. There’s Nothing outside of God, beginning and end. You. You know, it’s complete, and we cannot add anything to it or to him. You know, completeness. Okay, that is absolutely 100 true. Because God is God. Whose God is God? He was. He was there. He was the starter of the star. He’s going to be the end to the end, blah, blah, blah.

But the church is you. You can screw this thing up. Even though he’s giving you completeness in understanding, your free will screws it up. That’s the reason why you have overcoming. That’s the reason why you have sanctification. That’s the reason why you have all of these things that you need to understand. Because who are you addressing in this world? Are you addressing Christ in conformance to you? Are you addressing you in conformance to Christ? See, and we tend to get that bass backwards. We think Christ needs to conform to how we think he’s the complete one.

We’re not. We have to conform to him. We have to be observant, obedient to him, not the other way around. Right. And I was referencing God. Yeah, I know. You know, I just want to. I just want to add bitter. You and I are so great together. I love it. Yeah, She’s. She’s my. My pillar. Oh, by the way, Victoria, I need to tell you something. I need to. In front of everybody, I need to tell you something. Oh. Oh. You have grown so much. You would not put forth what you put forth tonight two years ago.

What a blessing that is to everybody in your network of people that you influence. It’s such a great privilege, and I humbled myself to be only a part of it, just a part of that. But what you show is absolutely unbelievable. Love every minute of it. Don’t hold back. Don’t hesitate. Your knowledge base is growing so phenomenal. Unbelievable. Yes. Yes. Because she hungered and thirsted after God. Yeah. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled. She hungered and she still does. Oh, my gosh. I can see it, and I love it.

You know, even when. Even when you write me an email. What about this? Or what about. I can see it in the words that you use in the direction that you’re headed, how far you’ve come. And I just want to. I just want to. I’m not trying to honor you. I’m trying to say God’s doing a lot of work in your life. That’s what I’m trying to say. And it shows. The fruits bear. The fruits are being born by what you do. All right, thank you. It’s. You don’t usually notice that from this end, Sam. Well, Jim, Billy Ruth brought it up.

That’s why I posted Hebrews 12:1, because it does. It talks about our encompass, our completion of that circle around his table. And on top of that, we read it backwards. Our faith. That’s us. That’s the church, the perfecter, the founder. That’s God. You know, we. We really need to do a deep research on these. Well, hopefully the self study is going to help you guys do that because we’re getting it. We’re getting into words and all kinds of stuff. But one point, and I know we’re getting late. We’re. We’re way past the normal time and I apologize for that.

But one point, Sam, I want to. Applying to what you just said, don’t take lightly communion. In regards to what we’ve just talked about tonight, Your dividing line. Is your table of communion in your heart with what you worship to. All right, you can’t have two masters. You can’t commune with the devil in Christ at the same time. But your tabernacle, your body is housing the table of communion of Christ. And why is that important? Because in understanding that, you understand that all of your inequities go to Christ. And what you get is a renewed body of him.

And your table is set. Your table is set. And we’ve talked about that in communion various ways. We had a long discussion on that at one time about, you know, the shift between two bodies and the analogy of Christ coming to you with the old body and then Christ coming to you with a new body and talks. And we’ve tried to give you various ways to look at it, but you know what? You control that. That is the point. That is the point of being sanctified in Christ. When your t. When your table of communion in your heart 100% represents Jesus Christ, you’re in communion with him.

In doing so, your new creature, your body skyrockets. Skyrockets. It goes off the charts. It’s when you want to hold your table under your control that you limit everything this, the universe has to offer you in this physical realm. And that’s important to know because, see, that is the declaration that Christ gave you. That’s something you can declare. That’s not. That’s not anything that you need to wish for, hope for or pray about. He declared that to you. What else? Guys, I could go on and on tonight. I’m really pumped. I could go on and on and on what else? Anything else? I love studying revelation.

It just. It’s like, okay, it’s like going into the gym and I come out with this. This, you know, mass of muscle. It’s just called brain power, I guess. But anyway. Which I hate chance now. Anyway, it’s it to me, I get pumped on this stuff. Studying today was just absolutely phenomenal. Just couldn’t believe what was going on in my mind. All right, guys. Anything else? Sure. All right, let’s put them. Father, thank you for this evening. Thank you so much for studying your scripture in the truth. Thank you for revealing yourselves in the scripture and the truth associated with that.

May all of this information and the blessings that come from it bear fruit in our individual life. Be present with each one of us individually. Give us not only the grace and joy that you dec. That you have given, declaration of that we automatically have it on a continuous basis, but farther reveal through that you. That’s what we struggle with because we can’t come to the knowledge of who we are unless we know who you. Who you. Who you were, who you are and who you are to become, which is knowing who you is. Who are you.

Father, we want to thank you for every blessing. We want to thank you for every trial because in those trials we grow. And we know that basically in those trials you’re in also in control. And we were, we’re told to give you thanks for everything. We want to thank you for those as well. While many people are in those, we just want to send a particular blessing to them. May you provide the shelter over their life as needed to get to give them the information necessary to seek joy and peace in your grace, brother. Again, bless this nation, Bless the troops abroad, and bless the troops at home.

Govern our nation. Leadership that while things are progressing in a manner far faster than what anybody can think about that we understand you’re in 100 control. And as those things begin to reveal themselves and unfold to us, may we see you in all things. Because we understand this is a biblical process of world change. You’re the leader. You’re going to be the person to provide the outcome and you’re going to be the blesser of all the nations. Father, we thank you for your son. Thank you for the death, thank you for the burial and resurrection and his ascension.

Without that, we wouldn’t have the ability to go home. Be with us the rest of this week. May we seek you, seek you only in that we have peace and comfort. We ask all these things in your son’s name.
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