Last week we were considering. The 1st and the 2nd coming of Christ, and remember the key thing that I was trying to communicate last week was that the 1st coming of Christ and the 2nd coming of Christ, even though separated by millennia, they're part of one work, one work, one mission. If we don't understand that, we are going to misinterpret many passages of scripture, especially those passages of scripture, that feature the 1st and the 2nd comings in the same verse.
And what we're going to do is that we're going to interpret part of the verse that deals with the 1st coming in a literal way, and then we're going to try to cram 2nd coming prophecy into the 1st coming, and we'll spiritualize it when we do that. That's what people do. No, you've got to pass them.
You've got to distinguish them between each other. And that's a very key part of biblical interpretation. We don't spiritualized Bible.
Not in this church. There are churches and they're good, they're godly people, they are Christians, there are brothers and sisters. But in their interpretation of prophecy, What they tend to do is they tend to spiritualize and say this text applies to the 1st coming of Christ.
Not the 2nd coming of Christ. And that's unfortunate. I don't personally speaking here.
I think it's very difficult to, um, point an unbeliever to the veracity and the accuracy of scripture. If you insist on spiritualizing it all the time. Because basically what you're admitting is that, well, it doesn't really mean what the words on the page say.
We have to reinterpret those words. They have a higher deeper meaning, yes? That's not a very good.
Higher and deeper forget that. Um, But they have a meaning that's not on the surface of the page. That's not a way to win a person over to the accuracy of scripture or to the fact that scripture is the revelation of God.
What our job is, is to believe what the Bible says. Yes, believing, and understanding the metaphors, understanding the similes, understanding the use of poetry and so on. But also realizing that those things have literal counterparts.
They point to something that's real. Yes? Just as, you know, the romantic poets of the lake district in England in the 19th century, you know, they would use different language to speak about birds, larks and doves and the countryside and all of that sort of stuff, but we understood from reading their poetry that they were speaking of something that we could see.
And they were trying to create an atmosphere of that literal understanding of things. That's what we should do with scripture. And so to our text, At the end of book of Revelation, the book of Revelation, not an easy book, uses a lot of symbolism.
It uses a lot of language that we need to hold and say, well, yeah, I can see that that's a that's a metaphor. Or that is a figure of speech. But we must... not automatically, um, confine that figure of speech into the spiritual realm.
We must find a literal reference for it. And so verse 11 of chapter 19 starts with a very dramatic event. John says, now I saw heaven, heaven, opened.
There are many times in scripture when heaven is opened that we might think that that's something that is impossible, with our understanding of the way that things are, our present cosmology. I don't know, I can't I don't have all of the answers to this. But John saw something happen in the heavens that seemed to, there seemed to be an opening.
A supernatural opening in the sky. And what proceeds out of that open sky. A white horse.
A white horse. Oh, but we've seen a white horse before in this set of sermons. We've seen a white horse in Revelation chapter 6.
When we were talking about the tribulation. In Revelation chapter 6, let me remind you what it says here. Now I saw when the lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the 4 living creatures saying with a loud voice, like thunder, come and see.
And I looked and behold, a white horse. Oh, there we are. Is that Christ?
Is that just a preview of the 2nd coming of Christ? It continues here. He who sat on it, had a bow and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
Is that the 2nd coming? Well, probably not. And the reason is because of the fellows that follow him.
You see, he's one of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse. The others don't sound like constituents of heaven. There are fiery red horse, and one takes peace away from the earth, Then there's a black horse, and he brings famine and want and need.
And then there's the pale horse rider, of course. And he brings death and a sword. I mean, if that lot are up in heaven and, you know, what's heaven like?
No, these are um, these are all agents, certainly agents of God. He uses them, but they are, they bring about evil. So the White Horse rider in Revelation chapter 6, if you recall, is not Christ.
But the Antichrist. The Antichrist, and we studied the Antichrist. He has a bow, no arrows.
So probably the idea is that he has power, but he uses persuasion and so on, not force, at least at the beginning, to get influence. But he does come on a white horse, which means that he does come as a ruler. He comes as a false Christ.
Back to Revelation 19. The heavens open, here comes Christ. The White Horse Rider, but he's different than the one in chapter 6.
It says here, and he who sat on him was called faithful, and true. And it says, in righteousness, he judges, and makes war. So, Let's not be, um, mistaken or let's not misunderstand what the 2nd coming's about.
The 2nd coming is about war. Particularly war declared upon the inhabitants of the earth and also the Antichrist and the false prophet who will be there. And the war is coming from the one who people like them crucified 2000 plus years ago.
The one who allowed himself to be crucified and then rose from the dead, he is coming back. And he's coming back not to just say, I'm the king. He's coming back to impose.
The fact that he's the king. Upon not just Israel, but upon the whole Earth. If you would turn quickly to Mark chapter 13.
I want to read a little bit from there, again. Listen to the impression of the passage from verse 24 of Mark 13. Mark 1324.
But in those days, after the tribulation, The sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars of heaven will fall. And the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
This sounds like a auspicious and frightening situation. Then, They, that's the inhabitants of the earth, will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. You might recall in John 19 that Jesus, before Pilate, And also before that when he was dealt with by the Sanhedrin.
He said, because they ask him, are you the Christ? He said, it is as you say. And it says, henceforth, you will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
It's quoting from Daniel, by the way. But Jesus was talking about even that was before his crucifixion, but he was talking about something that he knew would happen at the 2nd coming. And this is it.
He comes in the clouds with great power and glory. Now, you know, we can use our imaginations, we can try and think about, what would that look like? In Matthew, he says, uh, as the lightning flashes between, you know, from the east to the west, so shall the coming of the sun of man be.
It's not going to be something that is an isolated incident. It's not like somebody's saying, you know, I saw Bigfoot, or at least, you know, a little bit of Bigfoot behind that tree. And some believe in some don't believe.
This is going to be very, very public. Everybody's going to see this. Everybody is going to understand who this is.
He's going to come with great power. That's irresistible power. Now, when it says great power.
This is not earthly power. This is heavenly power. Which there's a lot more power in heaven than there is on earth.
And glory. We boast or men boast about their glory. They boast about the utopia that they try to make.
But when Christ comes, his glory will shine greater, far greater, far more brilliant than in any worldly or earthly scenario. And it says, and then he will send his angels. So his angels are coming with him and gather together his elect from the 4 winds from the farthest part of the earth to the farthest part of heaven.
So, It's going to be a world-shaking event. And when I say world shaking event, I mean world shaking a way that 911 wasn't. Although 911 was.
But compared to the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ, 911. Or the Hindenburg disaster or the sinking of the Titanic or any other thing that you can think of, even like the tsunami that wiped out so many lives, about 10 or so years ago, the 2nd coming of Christ will be far greater in magnitude. It will be a complete contrast to the 1st coming of Christ.
Now the 1st coming of Christ revealed who God is. Who God is in his willingness to save who God is in his willingness, to heal. To encourage.
To comfort, to advise. Of course, all of that was ignored by the majority. But it reveals the character of Jesus, who represents God, of course.
First coming. In Israel. Which was just a spot.
Not one of the most important places in the Roman Empire of the time. Not the central hub of what was going on in the Roman Empire, but he was there and he was there for a few years of ministry. And then he was dispatched.
And that was that. Although, of course, that life, that ministry has been the most impactful life that's ever been lived by anybody. But it was fairly low key.
Second coming, same person. Though resurrected and glorified. Oh, he's coming and he isn't going to get rejected.
He's coming in great power. And we need to try to imagine the magnitude of the 2nd coming. We go along, just think about, I don't know, just think about the days before the flood.
Just think about you and I, you know? Let's pretend we've ignored Noah. We can see that great big thing that he's built, and we think he's crazy.
We think he's insane. But it's built, it's ready, it's ready to go, but what on earth? I mean, there's you know, there's no water anywhere around here.
So, And we just go along with our lives. And we've gotten used to that thing being built. We've gotten used to that thing being there.
You know, in some of the shipyards, in both in America and also in Britain, you know, people who live close to the shipyards, they see these ships going, you know, being built. And sometimes, you know, these ships, these tankers, they're so big, they loom over the houses. Have you seen pictures of those?
But the people just get used to it. You just get used to this happening. And so, yeah, the people, you and I, going along with our lives.
Until we see Noah going up the ramp there with just a few other people. The animals are all inside. And we see the door close.
And then we hear rumblings from underneath, and then we hear thunderings from above. And in a very short period of time, Reality changes. Our whole world changes.
And we have to have that quick realization because it's forced upon us. We're in panic mode now. What was doesn't matter.
What is, is about to swallow us up. We feel very small. Very powerless.
In the face of it. That is something that like what the 2nd coming of Christ will produce in people's hearts. Oh, we were going along in our world and we were having our plans and we were, you know, dealing with ourselves and doing our 9 to 5s and so on and so forth.
And but then, Things change. The heavens open. Out from heaven is this white horse rider, angels come out with them.
It appears that the saints are going to come out with him too. According to one Thessalonians. Three.
And um, Everything changes. What you were doing 5 minutes ago before the heavens opened is of no account. It's pointless, meaningless, not worthy of a 2nd thought.
Now all your attention is to the white horse rider, this supernatural appearance, this frightening individual. Let's read a little bit more about him. What makes him frightening?
Oh, well, how about this? His eyes were like a flame of fire. And on his head were many crowns.
He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name's called the Word of God. And then he has the armies of heaven coming with him too.
Now, just the armies of heaven on their own would have been frightening enough, but then, you know, they're general. He's really scary. Eyes like a flame of fire.
Is that going to attract you? Is that going to push you away? Is that going to, are you going to want to come to him or are you going to want to run away from him?
Yes, the Bible says that you are going to want to run away from him. You're going to want to go onto the mountains and the stones and say fall on us. Well, you've got to be pretty desperate to do that.
You've got to be scared, stiff. To want the mountains, the rocks to fall on you, as it says in Matthew 24. So this 2nd coming of Christ is very unlike the 1st coming.
He's not coming to mess around. He's not coming to give the preach the good news. He's not coming to be rejected and spitefully used.
Nobody's going to spitefully use Jesus at his 2nd coming. They're going to be running from him. They're going to be scared of him.
What is this that it says in verse 13 about his his robe being dipped in blood. What's that about? Is that just a bit of theater?
Oh, actually, no. If you'll turn to Isaiah chapter 63. This is what it's referring to.
A prophecy. 600 years plus Before the 1st coming of Jesus. Isaiah 63. Let me read this, some of this passage to you.
Who is this who comes from Eden? With dyed garments from Basra. That's modern day Jordan, that area.
This one who is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength, I, who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. That's the one that's coming. Coming in righteousness.
Now notice he's mighty to save, but before he saves, He's going to knock some heads together. Why is your apparel red and your garments like one who treads in the wine press? You notice the language here?
Answer, I have trodden the wine press alone and from the peoples, no one was with me, for I have trodden them in my anger, and trampled them in my fury. Their blood is sprinkled upon my garments. And I have stained all my robes for the day of vengeance is in my heart.
And the year of my redeemed has come. Now. Just as we see in Isaiah 61 in that passage that we looked at last week.
Um, You have Jesus coming in the 2nd coming. As a man of war, But he also after he's dealt with those his enemies, dealt with those that refused him, he then introduces peace. He brings peace in.
He brings salvation in. But he's going to go to war first. And the 2nd coming of Christ, in its basic meaning is about dealing with the wickedness of the world and of wicked people and bringing the judgment of God upon them.
You know, that judgment that people say will never come. That judgment that people mock at or forget about. They don't think it's a big deal.
Again, As soon as they see this white horse rider, they'll be thinking again. This age, according to Galatians one, is called this present evil age. You think God is going to put up with it forever?
He's put up with it for a jolly long time, hasn't he? And he tends to do that. I mean, it took him over 400 years to deal with those awful Amalekites who were sacrificing their children and so on. 400 years.
It took him a long time to drive Israel out of the land. God is very long suffering. God puts up with stuff.
But not forever. This world is an awfully wicked world. Now I'm not saying, please understand me.
I'm not saying that, uh, you know, to, if I was with you on your own, that, that I'd have to watch out for you knifing me in the back or anything like that. You know, I'm sure we'd have good conversations. I'm sure that I would go away liking you.
Hopefully you would like me. You know, people, most people are kind of okay that way. But then there are other people, who think about evil on their beds.
I mean, they actually lie down, they go to bed and they think about evil. Do you do that? I don't do that.
But there are people that do that. Oh, guess what? They're running the world.
They're running the world. They're scheming. How can I get more power?
How can I, uh, consolidate more power, more money to myself? I don't care about anybody else. I don't care what I have to do to do it.
And there are 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of these people. 1000000s of these people. And of course, they've got their underlings too. It doesn't take much of peeling back the onion to see that the onion, i.e this world is rotten.
And so these people, these people who have plans, you know, the plans are the powerful. And we don't know how much longer they'll have, maybe they'll be able to implement their ideas to drastically reduce the earth's population. You know that they want to do that.
They've declared it very openly. They want people in 15 minute cities. They want to put people together.
They want to control your finances. By electronic banking. You are aware of this, aren't you?
This is what they're openly talking about. It's not a conspiracy theory. It's real.
These are the same people that you find in the Epstein files. These are very wicked people. And they have plans, and they're devising plans all the time, and they won't stop because there's never enough.
What they have is never enough. They have goals and those goals, unfortunately, are not goals that are for your good. Do any of you know that Bill Gates is a eugenicist.
Did you know that? You say what's a eugenicist? He's a person that believes that you kill or do away with people that are useless.
Just useless feeders, useless eaters. You don't contribute anything to the world. It's good to get rid of you.
You start in the womb. That's his belief. That's the belief of many of these people.
And there are always people who will do their bidding. I'm just painting a picture because the plans of these people at the moment, it's just going on and on and it's just getting worse and worse. And people are just, you know, instead of thinking, they're feeling, And that's bringing about anger.
Usually at things that have just been made for them. They're not real, but they've just been made to feel angry at. That's the world, that's the way that we're going.
I think you recognize that or some of it. There's an anxiety about life right now. We read about things going out of control.
We read about people. Judges, letting these murderers, letting these awful people. They've been convicted 40 times and they let out and then they go and murder a little girl.
What is this? That doesn't take any common sense to figure out that you shouldn't do that? You shouldn't let that guy go.
What's happening in the world? I'm telling you, it's all planned. It's all part of a plan.
You say yeah, not everybody's like that. I know not everybody's like that, but the movement of things is that. That's what I'm saying.
Now, the reason that I just paint that little picture is that all of those plans, All of those schemes, all of that invincibility that these people think that they have, it's all gonna come to a shuddering hold. When the white horse rider appears. In judgment.
And just like, The rains, and the fountains of the deep, started to really upset their worldview and their plans back before the flood. So the 2nd coming of Christ is instantaneously going to stop these people. They will never, none of their plans will ever hatch again.
There's going to be a complete reversal, a complete reversal of the damage and the wickedness that they've done. And of course, I haven't even talked about the wickedness of the human heart, your heart, my heart. So he comes as a man of war.
And it says, yes. The reason that his robe is dipped in blood is because he's been stomping on people. And it says his name is the word of God.
His name is the word of God. Now, Jesus is the word. This is John writing, he wrote John's gospel, this is Jesus.
Okay? Jesus, when he speaks represents the will, the work of God. God the Father.
But also, of course, this book that we have in front of us, this is the word of God too, now not in exactly the same way, of course. But what we have in front of us is the word of God that has been given to us by God. And therefore it has the authority of God.
Why does it talk about the fact that his name is called the Word of God in the midst of the judgment because Written in the pages of this book are the judgments of God. The judgments of God that people push away. The judgments of God that they think are never going to happen to them.
That what fools are like. While they're dabbling in their lives right now at the present time, they're not looking out for what's ahead. But the 2nd coming deals with all of that.
He is frightening. And he's followed by the armies of heaven. Now, he could get the job done all on his own.
But he's uh, He's accompanied by angels and he's maybe accompanied by the saints too. And what's he coming to do? Just to, uh, Um, get rid of these ungodly, these wicked rejectors.
He's not just coming to do that. Okay, let's read. It says now out, verse 15 of Revelation 19, Out of his mouth goes a sharp sword.
Now that's a metaphor that with it he should strike the nations. Now that's connected, I believe, with the word of God in verse 13. And it has to do with his judging.
And he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. Now that's the millennium, and that's what we're going to look at next week, and probably for the week after two. But remember that.
He's coming to rule. That's the reason he's coming. He's going to take over the reins of government.
You say, which government? All of them. He himself treads the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God.
And he has on his robe. And on his thigh, a name written, king of kings. And Lord of Lords.
So he's coming and he's irresistible. You know, all the nukes in all of the arsenals of every country that has them can be launched against them, he'll just back them away. He's not to be resisted.
And he comes. In wrath. He comes in anger.
But please remember, this is not the wrath and anger of some unhinged tribal warrior who just doesn't like you because of your worldview, because of your religion, because of your skin color or whatever. No, this is the righteousness and the wrath that comes from patiently waiting, um, and looking upon all of the evil that is done in the world. This is the recompense.
Now we know there's a final recompense for evildoers in hell. And we've covered that. But this is God's showing at this time, his wrath, his anger against the wickedness of the world.
And nobody's going to go 10 rounds with him. This is him instantaneously crushing these people, killing these people, yes destroying them and everything that they've done. And he implements a just and righteous rule.
Look at verse 11 again. His name is faithful and true. His faithful to His own character.
As God who is immeasurably good. With no hint of evil about his character. Immeasurably wise and measurably just.
And so much so that he can actually be called faithful and true. There is a truth. There is such a thing as truth.
It's not an abstract thing. It's a personal thing. As Christians, you need to know that.
You need to understand that. Truth resides in God. There is truth because God exists.
But we go away from the truth. We reject the truth. We don't want to hear the truth.
We invent our own truth. Well, when it comes back, all of that inventing false truths. All of that, pretending that truth doesn't exist, it's all going to vanish.
And the rule that he will introduce will be just and righteous. A time has ended, but and we're going to talk about that just and righteous rule. Lord willing next week.
But I hope that I've left you with this impression. I want you to be somewhat jarred. As you go out the door today.
By the magnitude of this event. It's like nothing else has ever happened in history. In conclusion.
What's our takeaway apart from being jarred as we go through the door? Our takeaways is this, which is, you know, we've got more to say, of course. But our takeaway is that Amen, come Lord Jesus.
I'm so sick of the wickedness and the evil that is perpetrated in this world. I'm so sick of the suffering that's inflicted upon people weaker people, by stronger people. I'm very, I'm just sick and tired of the ungodly and unrighteous getting away with it.
You're not going to eventually get away with it. They're not these people that think that they rule the world. They don't rule anything.
There's no rulers in hell. So our comfort is this. It's going to change.
It's going to change. We don't know when. I don't know when Jesus is going to come back.
Of course, we believe in the pre-tribulation rapture, so we believe we're going to be taken away before, even the tribulation starts, but at the 2nd coming of Christ, He is coming and he means business. And he's going to bring about an earth shattering, change, and introduce a forever, an eternal realm. Lasts 1st for a 1000 years and then goes into new heavens and new earth.
But he's coming to change things forever. And so the 2nd coming of Christ marks the day when things change. Let's pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, The last prayer in the Bible is even so, come Lord Jesus. And we echo that, Father. We pray, Lord, we know that you have your reasons for tarrying and not sending Jesus, but Lord, We know that's the only hope for the world.
It's the only hope for the suffering, for the downtrodden. And we know, Father, you will be faithful and true to just, and just to bring your judgment upon the wickedness in the world. Lord, we've got wicked hearts.
But Lord, we have, hopefully, understood that that wicked heart can be forgiven. Forgiven because of what Jesus did at his 1st coming. Dying as a substitute for our sins, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
We thank you, Lord, that's the beginning of the story. The end or the beginning of the end is when you come in righteousness to judge the earth. So even so, come, Lord Jesus.