Matthew 25, last Monday morning,
I did what I usually do. I opened up the scripture to
the books that we're currently going through to see what would
be next and see if the Lord would begin to give me some thoughts
on it and hopefully give me a message from it. And I want to open this by giving
you a little play by play of last Monday morning's experience
for me. We are going through Matthew
and we're going through Daniel. And I opened Matthew first and
looked at the next verse for us, which is verse 31. And when I read this verse, I
got completely lost in it. Just completely lost in this.
Verse 31 says, Matthew 25 verse 31, it says, when the son of
man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him,
then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. What a verse. When
the Son of Man shall come in His glory and all the holy angels
with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." Does
that excite you at all? That just really grabbed me. In reading that one verse, I
first got lost in the thought of eternity. Just think about
glory. The thought of glory. This place is so full of sin
and so full of sickness and so full of misery and I mean our
lives are drowning in all of that. Just think about glory. I got lost in the thought that
what makes glory glory is the fact that it's His glory. That's what makes glory glory
for all of eternity. He will sit on the throne of
his glory. I almost want to break out laughing
again. This is hitting me again, just like it did Monday morning. He is the glory of glory. That's a thought to get lost
in. He is the glory. of glory. And then, and again,
I'm just telling you how this went for me. Then I got to thinking
about the fact that he is going to come back to earth in that
very glory. Verse 31 says, when the son of
man shall come. In His glory. How many times
did our Lord say, when I come back, I'm coming in my glory. He's coming back in that very
glory. You know, He veiled His glory
the first time that He came. He veiled. In Him, there was
nothing that any man should desire Him. He veiled His glory the
first time that He came. But He is not going to veil at
the second time. Every eye standing on this earth
is going to see his glory. And then I got to thinking about,
and I got to studying what that glory is. When we talk about
his glory, what is that? What is that? I looked up scripture
after scripture on what his glory is. And then I looked at that verse
again and it really struck me who it is that has this glory. Who it is that's coming back.
Who it is that's going to sit on that throne forever. It says
the Son of Man. Think about that. The Son of Man. You know in You know, this is too generous
speaking on our behalf, but in the simple, limited ability that
we've been given to understand Him, we do understand Him to
be the Son of God. That's too generous toward us,
but in the small amount we have been given, we understand Him
to be the Son of God. But think about this. He's the
Son of Man. He's the Son of Man, one who
was born of a woman, born of a virgin, of the incorruptible, eternal
seed of the Holy Ghost, but one who was born of a woman just
like you and me. I'm looking at sons of men right now. In
Ezekiel and in different places like that, over and over, you
know, referring to Ezekiel, they'd say, oh, Son of Man. I'm looking
at sons of men. A flesh and bone man. One who was born of a woman,
just like me and you. One who was born of a woman. When I read that verse, I had
these separate segments of things that grabbed my attention, and
it went in order. I had total focus on one thing,
and then the next thing came, and I had total focus on that
thing, and the next thing came, and I had total focus on that.
And after all those thoughts, I thought, well, that's done.
I was done. And I looked at it one more time, and it hit me
that when the Son of Man comes in His glory, all of His holy
angels are coming with Him. Is that not an amazing thought?
An innumerable company, the scripture says. Unnumberable. The first time he came alone. The first time he came alone.
The second time he is bringing all of heaven with him. Now let's just take a second
and ponder each component of this together. The first thing
is this, the son of man is the one who is coming back. This
man of sorrows, this man who was acquainted with grief, this
man who they said to him, aren't you the carpenter's son? He looks
just like a carpenter's son to me. Don't we know your brothers and
sisters? Don't we know your brothers and
sisters? Aren't you the one who came from
that no good place called Nazareth? Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? Aren't you the one who's not
even 50 years old and claims that Abraham saw your day? You're a man. Behold the man. Crucify the man. Lay the man in a grave. What happened to that man? Where is the man? Where's that son of man? Where'd
he go? The disciple Stephen said, I
know where he is. I know where the son of man is.
Turn with me over to Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7, Stephen here,
he preached the truth to these enemies of our Lord and the enemies
of his gospel. And when he finished preaching,
it says in verse 54, Acts chapter 7 verse 54, when they heard these
things, the enemies of the Lord and his gospel, they were cut
to the heart and they gnashed on Stephen with their teeth.
But he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up steadfastly into
heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right
hand of God and said, behold, I see the heavens opened and
the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Then they
cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and ran upon
him with one accord and cast him out of the city and stoned
him. And the witnesses laid their clothes at a young man's feet
whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling
upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled
down and cried with a loud voice, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep. He said, I see the son of man
standing on the right hand of God, the son of man. That's where
he is. That's where he went. The apostle John describing God
in Revelation chapter one. He said, I saw the Son of Man,
describing God. God is a man. You know, we think
of God, even though we've heard these things and been taught
these things, we think of God. I mean, how do you contain God? The heavens can't contain God. God is a man. God is a man. Revelation 14 verse 14 says,
I looked and behold a white cloud and upon the cloud one sat like
unto the son of man. The God of heaven is a man. Jesus
Christ is his name. Right here in Acts chapter 7
verse 59 says they stoned Stephen while he was calling upon God
and saying, Lord Jesus, Who's he calling on? God. What's
his name? Lord Jesus. Acts chapter one says this same
Jesus, this same son of man is coming back just as he went up.
Same one. Go back to Matthew 25. Verse 31 says, When the Son of
Man shall come in His glory. In His glory. What is His glory? What is Christ's glory? What is the glory of heaven?
Christ is the glory of heaven. But what is Christ's glory? Well,
Psalm 21 verse 5 says, His glory is great in salvation. Psalm 29.9 says, in His temple,
everyone speaks of it. Psalm 96.3 says, it is to be
declared to the heathen. His glory is to be declared to
the heathen. Luke 24.26 says, it was the after
reward of His sufferings. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things? and to enter into His glory.
What is His glory? From the scripture, let me give
you five things that declare what His glory is. His glory
is not limited to these five things, but these are five of
the things that declare His glory to us. Turn with me to Isaiah
6. Isaiah 6 verse 1, it says, In
the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon
a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims, each one had six wings. With
twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet,
and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of his glory. His holiness is His glory. When Christ comes back, He's
coming back in His holiness. He's coming back in His holiness. When Christ sits on the throne
for all of eternity, He will be sitting on the throne of His
holiness, the throne of His rightness. The fact that He's holy, it means
He must do right. It's the throne of His perfection.
It's the throne of His purity. He's coming back in His purity.
All eyes are going to see it. Holy, holy, holy. The whole earth,
namely that new earth, will forever be full of His glory, the glory
of His holiness. Look at Ezekiel 39. Ezekiel 39, in verse 21, our Lord said, and
I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen
shall see my judgment that I have executed in my hand that I have
laid upon them. His judgment is His glory. When Christ comes back, He is
coming back in His judgment. We know that to be so. He's coming
back in His glory. What does that mean? That means
He's coming back in His judgment. When He sits on the throne for
all of eternity, He will be sitting on the throne of His judgment. We see it by faith. We believe
it. I'm ready to see it by sight. I want to see that just righteous
throne of judgment. His judgment on men. He's coming
back in his judgment on sin. He's coming back in his judgment
on everything that needs to be judged. All judgment has been committed
to him. His holiness, His judgment. Now look at Exodus 33. Exodus
33 verse 18. And Moses said to the Lord, I
beseech thee, show me thy glory. And the Lord said to Moses, I
will make all my goodness pass before thee. His goodness is
his glory. His goodness is His glory. Think
about this, for comfort, for happiness, think about this.
When Christ, the Son of Man, comes back, He is coming back
in His goodness. Doesn't that make you smile?
He is coming back in His goodness. When He sits on His throne for
all of eternity, He will be sitting on the throne of His goodness. That throne is a throne of goodness. Goodness to his chosen, redeemed,
particular people. I love the thought of that. When
he comes to us, he's coming back to us. Let not your heart be
troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. I go to prepare a place for you. If I go, I will come
again to receive you to myself. When he comes back for us, he's
coming in his goodness. Oh, give thanks to the Lord for
He's good. His holiness came to us and His
judgment came to us on the cross of Calvary. That happened when the judge
of the earth did right in what was owed to us for our sin. But
His goodness came to us on the cross of Calvary when Christ
stood in our place and bore what was owed to us for our sin against
Him. Verse 19 says, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee. And I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious. His grace came to us on the cross
of Calvary. And he said, I will show mercy
on whom I will show mercy. His mercy came to us on the cross
of Calvary. It's his glory. That is His glory. When He comes back, that's what
He's coming back in. He's coming back in His grace,
His graciousness to every soul that He was pleased to be gracious
to. And He's coming back in His mercy
to every soul that He was pleased to show mercy to. And when He
sits on His throne for all of eternity, He will be sitting
on the throne of His grace. and the throne of His mercy,
and that's where we will forever be able to go for help in our
time of need. That's His glory, His holiness,
His judgment, His goodness, His mercy, His grace. That's His
glory. And our text said, when the Son
of Man comes in His glory, when He comes in His mercy and His
grace and His good holy judgment, It said all of his angels are
coming with him. All of his angels. Go back there
to Matthew 25. All of his people who have gone
on before, they're coming with him. All of them are coming with
him. Matthew 22 verse 30 says they are as the angels of God
in heaven. And all of them, every one and
everything that heaven possesses is coming back with the son of
man that he might be glorified and worshiped and praised for
gathering all of his elect. I, um, years ago, I worked for
a very large, well-known retailer and a bunch of us were on break
and I have not forgotten this yet. This woman, we were, a bunch
of people were talking, I wasn't talking, I was just standing
there listening, but she got real, she was serious too, and
she wanted to know, she kept asking, why are we here? Why
is the human race on this earth? Trying to figure out, what is
mankind all about? And these fools were spouting
their foolishness, you know, well, you know this and that,
And she kept saying, but why are we here? And I didn't say
anything at the time. I didn't know what to say at
the time, but I believe I know what to say now. We're here for
his glory. We're here for his glory. We're
here to glorify Him for His glory. That's what we're here for. You
want to know what the purpose of life is? I think that's what
she said. What is the purpose of life? I remember her saying,
why are we here? You know what the purpose of
life is? To glorify Him for His glory. We glorify him now. We're going
to glorify him for all eternity. Nothing's going to change. We're
going to glorify him for all of eternity. When he comes back,
the trumpets are going to resound and the rocks are going to cry
out. The graves of God's people are
going to break open to rejoice. All the trees of the field are
going to start clapping their hands. This is glorious, isn't
it? Gravity is going to let go of
God's people. Gravity has a hold on you right
now and it's going to let go. All sin and death is going to
be cast into the lake of fire the moment He comes back. Our
vile bodies are going to be changed and everything about us in the
blink of an eye is going to be conformed to the image of Jesus
Christ. That's His glory. That's what he's coming back
in. That's what we will forever be with him in, his glory. His glory is great in salvation. In his temple, everyone speaks
of it. And that needs to be declared
to the heathen. That's his glory. That's what
we will forever worship him for, his glory. Verse 31 right here,
Matthew 25 verse 31, it says, when the Son of Man shall come
in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He
sit upon the throne of His glory. And do you know what Ephesians
2 verse 6 says? It says all of His chosen people
will be sitting right there with That is, I don't even know what
to make of that. Reigning with Him. What do you
make of that? Reigning with Him, right there
in the throne of His own glory. That's amazing. That's a thought
to get lost in. Romans 9 says, Oh, the riches
of His glory on the vessels of mercy. Hebrews 1 says, Oh, the
brightness of His glory in Christ by Himself purging our sins.
That's the brightness of God's glory. Ephesians 1 says, It's
all to the praise of His glory. And all of God's people say,
Amen. To Him be all the glory. Come, Lord Jesus, come in all
Your glory with all Your holy angels and reign