The Lord Is Coming

Q: What does the Bible say about Christ's second coming?

The Bible teaches that Christ will return in glory to gather His elect and judge the world. Scripture reveals the certainty and glory of Christ's second coming, making it clear that it will be a public event witnessed by all. Mark 13 discusses the dramatic signs accompanying His return, such as the darkening of the sun and the falling of stars, symbolizing a universal convulsion of creation. When Christ returns, He will come with power and great glory, emphasizing His majesty and authority as the reigning King. Believers can find comfort in this promise, knowing that His return will lead to eternal salvation for those who look for Him.

Q: How do we know Christ's return is certain?

Christ's return is guaranteed by His promises in Scripture, which cannot fail. The certainty of Christ's second coming is grounded in the faithfulness of God's Word. Jesus Himself declared, 'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away' (Mark 13:31). This assurance indicates that despite the passage of time and the challenges believers face, God's promises remain true and will be fulfilled. Historical messages of hope from early believers, who anticipated and proclaimed the return of Christ, further affirm this certainty. The nature of God is such that He fulfills His promises, making His return an unavoidable reality for all creation.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to expect Christ's return?

Expecting Christ's return encourages believers to live in holiness and hope. The anticipation of Christ's return is vital for Christians as it motivates a life of faithfulness and hope. Living in expectation of His coming shapes our priorities and actions, encouraging us to pursue holiness and righteousness. In Mark 13, Jesus urges His followers to remain vigilant and prepared, reinforcing that those who are awaiting Him will not be caught unaware. This expectancy not only instills peace but also offers comfort amid life's difficulties, knowing that our King will rescue and reward His people. Thus, this hope is foundational to the believer's life and encourages spiritual growth.

Q: What happens during the gathering of the elect?

During the gathering, Christ will send angels to gather His chosen ones from all corners of the earth. The gathering of the elect is described in Mark 13:27, where Jesus promises to send His angels to gather together His chosen ones from the four winds and ends of the earth. This event occurs at His second coming, signifying the fulfillment of God's redemptive plan. The gathering emphasizes God's sovereignty in salvation, as all individuals chosen for eternal life will be brought to Him without exception. It is a joyous event for believers, who will be united with Christ and one another, highlighting the love and grace of God towards His chosen people.

The end. The historians tell us that the early believers used to greet one another with these words, he is risen. And upon parting, they would say, the Lord is coming. Thus, they constantly encouraged one another in the faith, and they constantly reminded one another of both the accomplishment of redemption and the certainty of Christ's coming and our resurrection and eternal glory with him. Before our Lord Jesus left this world, he assures his disciples that just as surely as he arose from the dead, just as surely as his body came out of the tomb, declaring that the sins he bore in his body on the cursed tree were now put away, just as surely as they saw him in his flesh after the resurrection, so surely he would come again in glory to raise us up to himself, to gather his elect into heaven. Now, that's the subject of Mark chapter 13, verses 24 The title of my message this morning is The Lord is Coming. I want by the Spirit of God to stir up our hearts that we may ever be mindful of this fact.

The Lord is coming. I don't mean one day he shall come. I mean the Lord is coming. I don't mean one of these days he's going to get around to coming back. I mean, the Lord is coming. He is now on his way to this earth. Ever since he went back to heaven, he has been on his way back to the earth. And that work of coming is that which is being accomplished day by day, moment by moment, in his good and wise providence. May God give us grace, therefore, ever to live on the tiptoe of faith. Oh, for grace ever to live in the immediate expectancy of Christ's return, ever to live looking for Him.

Looking for the Lord looking for the great glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ the Lord Now in this passage here in Mark chapter 13 beginning at verse 24 We see our Lord Jesus in the midst of his Olivet discourse Declaring that he is coming again I want to show you four things clearly set before us in this text.

The bulk of our time, of course, will be dealing with this first point in verses 24 through 26. And that is the glory of Christ coming. And then we'll look briefly at the gathering of God's elect. And thirdly, just a brief word about the parable of the fig tree. And then finally, the certainty of God's word. First, let's consider the glory of Christ coming.

Look at verses 24, 25, and 26. But in those days, after that tribulation, now remember the context. He's talking about in those days, describing what he has just spoken of in the preceding verses, the abomination of desolation, the appearing of that terrible, terrible abomination of desolation. He says, now in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened. And the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

In the ninth chapter of Hebrews, hold your hands here, turn to Hebrews chapter 9. In the ninth chapter of Hebrews, the writer to the Hebrews explains to us the purpose of Christ's incarnation, the purpose of his ascension, and the purpose of his coming again.

First, in verse 26, the Son of God appeared once to put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. That was the purpose of the incarnation. The Lord Jesus Christ assumed human flesh and lived in this world as a man so that he might die at Calvary for the satisfaction of divine justice with our sins being imputed to him. There was no other way for God to put away sin. but by the satisfaction of justice, and no other way for justice to be satisfied, but by the shedding of Christ's precious blood, the blood of the incarnate God-man, our Savior. Look at verse 26.

For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world, that is, if there were many sacrifices for sin. Oh no, there were many sacrifices in the Old Testament, but no longer. Those who would suggest that somehow there's got to be some other atonement made for sin, that somehow there's a fresh crucifixion of Christ in the mass, or any other way in which sin is paid for, speak that which is utter blasphemy. There is no more sacrifice to be made for sin.

But now, look at this, once, one time, in the end of the world, in this last day, and remember the whole of the gospel age is described as the end of the world, the last day, the last time. He says, now once in the end of the world hath he appeared, what for? to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

And blessed be his name, he did the job. He has put away the sins of his people, which was imputed to him by the sacrifice of himself. Now look at verse 24. Here is the purpose of his ascension. Our Lord Jesus came here on purpose to put away our sins. He has now risen from the dead, ascended to heaven, been exalted with glory at the Father's right hand. And we're told in verse 24 that our great advocate and high priest now appears in the presence of God for us, making intercession for his elect according to the will of God.

For Christ entered not into the holy places made with hands. He didn't go into the holy of holies in the temple. Oh, no. He went into the holy of holies of which the temple was just a picture. He rather has those things were figures of the truth. But he has gone into heaven itself. now to appear in the presence of God for us. Now, this is what he does as he intercedes for us. I don't know what all he does. I can't even begin to think about that. But this is all that's necessary as he intercedes for us. He appears. There's no need to say a word. He appears. Appears in the presence of God for us.

He who sits at the Father's right hand appears there meritorious, effectual as our sin-atoning Savior, and therefore the Father never will impute sin. to those for whom he appears in the presence of God. If any man sin, what does the scripture say? We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He constantly makes intercession by his appearance in heaven for us. And then in verses 27 and 28, we see the purpose of our Lord's return. He came here to put away our sin. He appears in heaven to make intercession for us and is coming again to consummate His great work of redemption and salvation. Our great Savior at the appointed time will once more appear on this earth to consummate His great saving work of His people, saving us entirely from our sins. Verse 27, As it is appointed unto men once to die.

Now you listen carefully to this preacher. Pay no attention to this preacher. Listen to this book. Listen to this book. It is appointed to you to die. And I don't mean just by that one of these days you're going to die. I mean by that that God Almighty has marked the instrument and the day and the time and the place at which you're going to be taken out of this world and brought before him into eternity. It's appointed to you to die. And at your appointed time, you're going to die. You're going to die.

There's no question about that. But after this, the judgment. Honestly, if only the first part of that sentence were true, it wouldn't be too sobering. Wouldn't be too sober. If all you had to look forward to was just dying, just cease to be, die like a dog, just die and have no other existence, that wouldn't be so bad. Oh, my soul, having appointed the day when you will take your last breath and the means by which he will take it, the Lord God has appointed also that you will stand before him in judgment.

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him, to those who have learned to expect him, to those who are anticipating him, to those who live looking for him, shall he appear the second time without sin. Blessed be his name unto salvation. He who bore my sins, put away my sins, stands at the Father's right hand now and soon is coming again without sin to bring me into the everlasting completion of salvation with Him. Now then, back in our text here in Mark 13, our Savior describes His second advent in this Olivet Discourse And in doing so, he makes this obvious, as it is throughout the scriptures.

When our Lord Jesus Christ comes again, there will be nothing secret about it. Now, all of you, I'm certain, maybe not all of you, but most of you, I'm certain, have been influenced to some degree or another by the terrible terrible delusion that some of these days the Lord Jesus is going to come in a secret rapture and then there's going to be a tribulation period and you're going to have a second chance to get saved. Well, there's nothing like that in this book. Nothing about anything like that in this book. When Christ comes again, there'll be nothing secret about it, and there won't be any second chances. When Christ comes again, he comes in power and in great glory.

He will appear in the splendor of his majesty and glory with such power and appearance as he come that every eye shall see him. Every eye shall see him. Now that's not to indicate that somehow he is so big physically that men will look at it. That's not it at all. But when he comes, he who is God will fix it so that everybody who has ever lived will see him. They also which pierced him shall wail because of him.

Now that's the language of Holy Scripture. Turn to 1 Thessalonians. I'm sorry, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Let's see if this is not so. 2 Thessalonians 1, when the Lord Jesus comes again, he's going to come in such dazzling, brilliant splendor, such dazzling, bright glory, that there will be absolutely no one in the universe who's ignorant of his appearance. 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 7, to you who are troubled, rest with us. Hang on, this trouble is not going to last long. To you who are troubled, no matter what the trouble is, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven.

Do you see that? Not when he shall sneak in from heaven, when he shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire. taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day. In this text back here, Mark 13 again, Our Lord speaks about the sun being turned into darkness.

He talks about the moon refusing to give her light. He talks about the stars falling out of the sky and powers of things in heaven being shaken. Now, that language, I won't even attempt to describe what it all means because I don't know what it all means. And I've read all the stuff that other fellows write on it and they don't know what it all means. But that language certainly means this. It conveys the idea of a great universal convulsion, a climactic dismantling of creation by the hand of God. That's what it's talking about.

God spoke and said, let there be light. And one of these days, God's going to speak and say, send darkness. God created the lights in the heavens. And one of these days, he's going to put out the light and he's going to dismantle this universe. He's going to tear it apart. He's going to destroy this world which he has made and make all things new.

That's the very language that's used by the Apostle Peter as he listened to our Lord. He was there when the master said the sun is going to refuse to shine. It's going to be turned into darkness. The moon will refuse to give her light. The stars are going to fall from the sky.

Peter heard that. And this is how he's inspired to report it. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Now, when you hear fellas talk about the Lord Jesus is coming as a thief in the night, Paul makes it plain. Read 1 Thessalonians 5. Paul makes it plain. That day shall not overtake you as a thief.

When he comes as a thief in the night, Bobby, he's coming as a thief in the night to folks who don't have enough sense to look for him. He's coming as a thief in the night to folks who have no faith. But to the believer, those who look for him, he's not going to surprise them, they're looking for him. They're not surprised when he comes. No, I wouldn't be surprised to see him in a minute. No sir, I'm looking for him. That day will not overtake you as a thief, but he'll come on this world as a thief in the night.

In the which, that is in that great and terrible day, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with a fervent heat. the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up." In other words, that which will immediately precede the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior shall be the conflagration of the universe. Now, the order of events when our Lord Jesus comes I gather these things now from scripture, just comparing scripture with scripture.

And I've looked at it a long time, but I wouldn't argue for a half a second about the order that I'm giving you. But this is what appears to me to be the order of events when the Lord Jesus will come again. These things certainly will take place. And I think this is the order in which they're most likely to take place. But remember, when he comes again, these things are not going to happen today and next month, next year, but they're going to happen. Just like that. This is the order of events.

Christ will come in the clouds of the heavens and he will Raise up those bodies of the sleeping saints who have come with him and their bodies and souls shall be reunited in glory. And then immediately we who are alive and remain under the coming Christ shall be called up, translated to meet the Lord in the air. That word meet is the very same word that would be used if if we heard that Well, maybe not this president, but if we heard that a significant president were coming down the road, and we were going to go out and meet him because he's coming to our house for dinner.

Well, man, he comes down the road. We go out there. But when we go out, we just meet him and say, this is the way. Come on in. We just walk right back with him. That's the word here. Not we're going out and going to meet in the air and hang around in the clouds a while. No, we're just going out to meet him.

And when we go out to meet him, he will burn up this present universe, this present world, and consume his enemies with the brightness of his coming. And he says, behold, I make all things new. And just like that, he makes all things new. Then comes the resurrection of the dead. The Lord God will call out the bodies of the damned to meet with their damned souls and thus to meet him in judgment. The great white throne judgment will be set. And after these things, Oh, after these things, eternal life, eternal life, eternal life. Oh, the glory. I cannot imagine eternal life with Jesus Christ.

Christ's second advent will be radically different from his first. Our Savior came the first time in humiliation, an infant born of a poor woman, laid in a manger at Bethlehem, unnoticed, unhonored, unknown, unwanted. His coming at the second time will be in power and in great glory, in royal dignity, with all the armies of heaven surrounding him, to be seen, recognized, known, acknowledged, and feared by all people, nations, tongues, and kindred. and to be admired of all them that believe forever. Our Lord Jesus came the first time to bear the sins of his people, to be made sin, to be made a curse, to be despised and rejected of men, unjustly condemned and slain.

He is coming a second time as the reigning almighty monarch of the universe to put down every foe, to put an end to all rebellion, to take possession of all the kingdoms of this world, to rule them in perfect righteousness, to judge the world, to destroy his enemies, and to be admired forever and all them that believe.

We would be wise to lay these things to heart. We would be wise to meditate upon them regularly. These facts are filled with comfort for every believer. Rex, our king, our all-glorious Christ is soon going to be right here again. Right here. And we shall with him inherit all things. We shall then exchange the cross we now must carry for a crown we will cast at his feet. We will enter into everlasting honor. everlasting bliss, everlasting righteousness, everlasting life in perfection. But for you who believe not, the facts revealed in this book about the second coming of Christ ought to be terrifying.

Indeed, I know they are. I know they are. If you pause for just a little bit to think about them, I know you quake before God. I have no question about that. You may deny it, you may say, no, that doesn't bother me any. You may lie to me and you may try to lie to yourself, but you can't convince yourself. You quake in your boots before God Almighty, quake in your soul before him when you consider these things. That Christ you now despise. that Christ you now mock, that Christ you now willfully, deliberately reject, whose blood you trample beneath your feet with contempt, that God-man whose grace you absolutely despise, that God whose name you blaspheme, one day will have you stand before his bar in strict judgment and justice.

And when he does, You're going to receive forever exactly that which is your just deal in strict accordance with what your own conscience demands you must receive. So that when he casts you into hell, while you scream with terror and torment, you will say, amen, God is just. He's done right. He's done right. Hell will be your everlasting portion. My God, what is hell? That will be the portion of your cup forever. And we all will say amen.

God's done right. Then verse 27 speaks of the gathering of God's elect. Our master tells us here that the first order of business and the primary purpose of his great second advent will be the gathering together of God's elect. I can't but remind you once more that throughout the scriptures, throughout the scriptures, Old Testament and New, We are told repeatedly that everything God does, Larry, He does for His elect.

Everything. Did He create the world? He says, all things are yours. Did He create man in innocence? He says, all things are yours. Did He ordain, decree, and permit the fall? All things are yours. Did He send His Son into this world to be crucified by the hands of wicked men? All things are yours. Did the Lord Jesus Christ rise from the dead? All things are yours. Is he coming again? This is for you. This is for you. All things are yours.

And the first order of business when the Lord Jesus comes again, the primary purpose will be to send out his angels to gather his elect. Look at verse 27. Then shall he send his angels and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds and from the uttermost part of the earth. to the uttermost part of heaven. Frequently in the Old Testament scriptures, God speaks of the scattering of Israel and the gathering together again of Israel. And those passages are not speaking, the promises in their fulfillment are not speaking of the literal gathering of a literal physical seed of Israel or of Abraham. Oh no. He's talking about gathering his elect, the Israel of God, from the four corners of the earth, from the four winds, whether he has scattered them in his wrath when we stand against him in the garden, and now we've been dispersed from him, but now in the last day he's going to come and gather them all to him again.

Certainly, there is an application of this to the preaching of the gospel. God's servants as the angels of God, as messengers of grace, go out and proclaim the gospel and thus gather together his elect under Jesus Christ. But the passage in its ultimate fulfillment certainly must refer to the coming of Christ at the second advent, when he will send out his angels, those heavenly celestial spirits created by God to be ministering spirits, to minister to those who shall be the heirs of salvation, and they'll gather God's elect.

Come on, come on boys, it's time to go home. They'll gather God's elect, all of them, even gather their dust and ashes out of the grave, all of them. Gather them together unto Christ. Paul speaks of it in 2 Thessalonians as our gathering to gather unto him. What a great gathering day it shall be. Now I told you before that the gathering of God's elect will immediately precede the Lord's judgment of the earth. You see, our safety shall be taken care of when the Lord comes to judge the earth.

Nothing shall be done to destroy this world until God's elect have all been gathered out of the world. When God sent rain upon the world to destroy the world with the flood of his wrath, not one raindrop fell till Noah and his family were safe in the earth. When the Lord God sent his angels to judge Sodom and Gomorrah, not one, not one spark of fire, not one piece of brimstone fell upon those cursed cities until Lot was safely in Zohar, delivered by the angels of God. And when Jesus Christ comes to burn up this world, he will not send one spark of the fire of judgment upon the earth until all God's elect had been gathered up unto him. Then judgment comes. What a gathering. A great, great gathering. 10,000 times 10,000. Thousands of thousands. Described as 144,000, one place.

How come? To give a specific number. to show that all the twelve tribes of God's Israel are gathered together in God's kingdom in the city that God has established, and there'll be none lacking. But a multitude which no man can number, well that's contradictory. No it's not, not if you read the Bible. No, the 144,000 tell us it's a specific chosen number. the 10,000 times 10,000, thousands of thousands, a great multitude, no man can number, that tells us it's a bunch of folks. Bunch of folks, indescribably so.

And what a gracious gathering it will be. Gathered to glory, robed in righteousness, standing before God as chaste virgins. are drunks, whores, adulterers, profligate, vile, base, useless, publicans, harlots. They're all scouring of the world whom God has chosen, whom God has redeemed, whom God has justified, whom God has made And it'll be a common gathering. Ron will all be gathered to the throne for the same reason, on the same ground. And what a blessed gathering it'll be.

An assembly with no envy, no strife, no division, no coldness, just love, joy, peace, forever with one another, and with the Redeemer. And it'll be a permanent gathering. We'll be gathered to Him forever, never to be parted from Him, neither physically nor spiritually. Now then, look at the parable of the fig tree for just a second. Verse 28. Now learn the parable of the fig tree.

When a branch is yet tender and putteth forth her leaves, you know that summer is near. So you, in like manner, when you shall see these things come to pass, know that it's nigh, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till all these things be done. Now the parable of the fig tree is not some profound, deep mystery. If you stand out and look at the fig tree, and we don't have any around here, but if you go out there and look at my apple trees, and you see them starting to bud out, even if it's in the middle of March or late February, they start to bud out, you say, somebody's getting around the corner. They'll soon be here.

That's what the parable means. Boy, that's so simple. Usually is if you just read the book. And what he's saying is this, when you see these things come to pass, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, when you see that religion overwhelm the world, which is an abomination to God, you know that Satan's loose out of his prison to deceive the nations again for a little season. And the Son of Man's coming right now. This generation shall not pass away until he comes again. You mean he's coming right now?

I can't speak with absolute authority, nor would I endeavor to. I wouldn't even make the venture a guess. But we live in that generation of which John the Apostle spoke when Antichrist had gone out into this world. And God has fixed it so that you and I should live constantly looking with expectation to Christ because the fig trees putting forth our buds.

Someone's around the corner, the master is coming. Well, but it's been 2,000 years, how do you know he's coming? Here's the certainty of his word. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Jesus Christ the Lord is coming, and you're gonna meet him. You're gonna meet him. Blessed be God, we're gonna meet him, amen.

The Lord Is Coming

What does the Bible say about Christ's second coming?

How do we know Christ's return is certain?

Why is it important for Christians to expect Christ's return?

What happens during the gathering of the elect?

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The Lord Is Coming

What does the Bible say about Christ's second coming?

How do we know Christ's return is certain?

Why is it important for Christians to expect Christ's return?

What happens during the gathering of the elect?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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