I say that, I don't know how
many more lessons we'll have in Genesis. We're in the next
to last chapter, but we'll just look at a couple of verses tonight,
so we may have several more lessons before it's over. And verse 1
of chapter 49 tonight, Jacob called unto his sons and said,
gather yourselves together that I may tell you that which shall
befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together and
hear, ye sons of Jacob, and hearken unto Israel, your father. I'll take some liberty with the
text tonight and talk more generally about the subject of the last
days than what is encompassed in this verse itself. But we'll
look at the verse, too, and it'll be key in our understanding of
the end times, the last days, the latter days, what the literal
translation there is, in your latter days. I'll tell you what's
going to happen. I hear people say all the time,
we're living in the last days. I know you've heard that. People
have been saying that for a long time. I've heard that since I
was a little boy. We're living in the last days. And I've been asked several times. I don't get asked a lot of questions,
and it's probably my own fault. And that's fine. I don't have
many answers. But I've been asked this quite a bit. Do you think
we're living in the last days? Or more frequently it's asked
this way, don't you think we're living in the last days? I can
tell by the way they ask it that they think that we are. Well,
there's two answers to that because of the way that people mean that
question when they ask it. People like to talk about the
last days and And a lot about the signs of the times, the reason
that they think it's the last day. They love to talk about
that and quote some scripture. Everybody likes to point out,
you know, that there's more earthquakes now and other natural disasters
than there have ever been in history. And I'm not, I'm not
ridiculing that. I think there are some things
we need to understand, though, about the last days that will
help us. And as I said, I'm taking some
liberty with this text, but we'll get back to what Jacob was talking
about here too. But we'll speak more broadly
on the subject of the end times and what is normally meant by
that and what the scripture says about it. The first answer to
the question is yes, we are living in what the scripture refers
to as the last days. The last days began when our
Lord came to this earth. That's clear from the word of
God. Job said, oh, that my words were now written. That they were
printed in a book. And they are. That they were
graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever. For I know
that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter
day upon this earth. And he has. Job said that from
ancient times. Paul said, God, who at sundry
times and in different manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophet, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, and by whom also
he made the worlds. He that made the worlds came
into this world, was born into this world, born of a woman made
under the law that he might redeem them that are under the law.
And these are the last days in a scriptural sense, but there's
another answer because what people mean by this question is, are
we going to be alive when the Lord comes? Isn't that what they're
asking? Are we going to be alive? Three simple words about the
last days, about his coming back. Discourage everybody from trying
to predict it. He said three simple words, no
man knoweth. And yet it doesn't seem to have
discouraged everybody from trying to predict and be an expert on
the second coming of our Lord and all these, what they say
are signs of it. Turn to Matthew 24 with me. Verse 35, shall not pass away. But of that
day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven,
but my Father only." But here's what we know. Here, you're going
to tell us some things about it. Here's what we know. Somebody
says he's coming back on, you know, June the 21st of 2013.
You know, all they're really accomplishing by doing that is
narrowing it down by a day. Because the one thing you can
count on is it's not going to be that day. But that doesn't
really narrow it down that much, does it? No man knoweth. If you say, I know, you're wrong.
But I know this, it's going to be like it was before the flood,
as in the days of Noah. So shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. For as in the days that were
before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew
not until the flood came." They knew not. Some perhaps believed
that something was going to happen, but they didn't know when. Most
didn't think anything was going to happen at all in Noah's day. They just thought Noah was a
rambling old man. They didn't know what he was
talking about. Then the flood came. and took them all away. So shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. Then shall two be in the field,
the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be
grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other
left. Watch therefore, for you know
not what hour your Lord doth come, But know this, that if
the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief
would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his
house to be broken up. If you heard somebody planting
it, I'm gonna break into Cunningham's house on Friday night, about
2 a.m. when they're all asleep. You
know where I'd be. That's a clear picture, isn't
it? The scripture says, in another place, he comes as a thief in
the night. Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as
ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. Who then is a faithful
and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household,
to give them meat in due season? Now you think about that. How
are you to be ready? You know, let's sell everything
we have and go up on a mountain somewhere, no? That's not what
he said to do. He's talking about a watchman. Look at what it said. Who then is a wise servant whom
his Lord hath made ruler over his household to give them meat.
What do you think that's talking about? There's just one food
for the people of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. What did he say
to Peter? Feed my sheep. The way to be
ready is to do what he said do. What has he told us to do? To
go and preach to every creature, everybody that will listen. Blessed
is that servant, look at verse 46, whom his Lord, when he cometh,
shall find standing there gazing at the sky. No, shall find doing
what he said to do, doing the work. That's what he did when
he came to this Preach the word, the work of
the ministry. So doing, verily I say unto you
that he shall make him ruler over all his goods, but and if
that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his
coming and he shall begin to smite his fellow servant and
to eat and drink with the drunken, the Lord of that servant shall
come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour that
he's not aware of and shall cut him asunder. appoint him his
portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. So clearly whenever somebody
predicts a day, we know that's foolishness. But there's something
else we need to understand about this too. We need to, because
it's revealed, we don't, there's a lot we don't know about the
last days and when the Lord will come back. There's a lot revealed
about it too. You know what? I know the reason
for the delay. Don't you? 2 Peter 3. You knew where I was going. 2
Peter... I'm going to keep you in remembrance
of these things. The truth of Christ, the gospel
of Christ, that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken
before by the holy prophets. They've all written concerning
him and saw his day and rejoiced and Christ has been revealed
from the beginning and that the commandment of us, the apostles
of the Lord and Savior, what he told us to preach the kingdom.
That's what I want to do. Knowing this first, as this happens,
understand something about the last time. There shall come in
the last day scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying,
Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
For this they willingly are ignorant of." We talked about that recently,
didn't we? Willing disobedience. We're willing victims of Satan. Willing, obstinate unbelief. that by the word of God, the
heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and
in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed
with water perished. But the heavens and the earth,
which are now by the same word, are kept in store. God established
this earth and he destroyed it once and he's going to do it
again. That's what Peter said. By that same word, these things,
the heavens and the earth are kept in store now, reserved under
fire. Against the day of judgment.
He said I'm not going to destroy the world with water again, but
he's going to destroy it with fire In the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men, but beloved don't be ignorant of
this one thing. I Understand this, when you see
that things continue as they were from the beginning of time,
the sun comes up and the sun goes down, and it just, you know,
you get to thinking, well, he's never coming back, or you get
discouraged. Understand this, a thousand years
with the Lord is as one day, and one day is as a thousand
years. His perspective of time is not
like ours. Seems like a long time to us.
It's not. It's not. And know this, too. Don't be ignorant of this, either.
The Lord's not slack concerning His promise. He doesn't make
promises like you do. Like the promise keepers do.
They're promise keepers. That's what we are. The Lord's
not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness.
But here's what He is. When he, you know why he didn't
come today already? Today's not over yet, he may
yet come today. But he hadn't yet, you know why?
It's not because he's. Ones that Peter's writing to,
his people, his elect. There were some who would hear
their message and come to believe the gospel through the preaching
as God has ordained. And he said, the Lord's not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
And they're all going to. They're all going to. All that
the Father giveth me, he said, they shall come to me. And this
world is not going to end until that happens. That's the reason
he made this world. He's not going to destroy this
world until that happens. That's why he made it. But the day of the Lord will
come. Nobody's going to perish that
he's saved, that he's redeemed. They're all going to come to
repentance. And then the day of the Lord will come as a thief
in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth
also and the works that are therein shall be burned up, seeing then
that all these things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons
ought ye to be? This is the benefit of thinking
about it. The Lord said, be ready. Watch and be ready. How do you
do that? In all holy conduct and godliness. Let's be about his business.
Let's do what he's given us to do. Let's, like Paul said, not
live unto ourselves, but unto him that loved us and gave himself
for us. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of
God. Wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved,
and the elements shall melt with a fervent heat. Nevertheless,
according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness." We're looking for it because
he promised it. That's what faith is. If he promised it, you better
watch to fix it to happen. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found
of him in peace without spot and blameless and account that
the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. Don't complain
about him not coming back. Account of it this way. This
should be your reckoning of his delay. It's salvation to those
that don't know him yet. That's why he's waiting. He's
gonna bring that last sheep in and then, and then the day of
the Lord will come. What a name for that day. Every
day, you know, David said, I believe it was David said, it's the day
that the Lord hath made. Let's rejoice and be glad in
it. But what are you gonna call that day? When the prophet said,
the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. The Lord is gonna
come back according to His promise for His redeemed ones, and bring
them to be with Him forever. What are you going to call that
day? The Lord's Day. The Day of the Lord. That's a
pretty good name for it. The Day of the Lord will come.
The longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. Even as our beloved
brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him,
hath written unto you, That's it. If we write or say anything,
it'll have to be according to the wisdom that's given to it.
We don't have any of our own. God gave Paul some wisdom, and
he wrote some things. And also in all his epistles,
speaking in them of these things, in which some things are hard
to be understood. Have you found that to be true
in the word of God? Read the book of Revelation.
You tell me if you can understand all of that. In Paul's epistles
the same way which day that are unlearned and unstable rest and
they still do they still are They say well they speak dogmatically
on things that they don't understand As they do also the other scriptures
unto their own Destruction and the destruction of everybody
that will listen to them Unless God is gracious ye therefore
beloved seeing you know these things before beware lest ye
also being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from
your own steadfastness, but grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. While we're here, while
he delays, while he hasn't yet come, let's grow in his grace
and in his knowledge. To him be glory. Oh, there's
a reason why it didn't happen today, and it's a good one. Well, number three, and here's
where we reel it in a little bit and get back to our text.
As we see from our text, what is going to happen, what's going
to happen in the latter days, whenever that is, is already
known. It's not up in the air. Jacob
said, I will tell you what shall befall you. Why was he able to
do that? Because the Lord had given him
some light, just like John said about Paul here. According to
the wisdom given him, he wrote something. Well, the Lord had
given Jacob a revelation of some things that were going to happen
to his children. And he said, this is what shall befall. This
is not contingencies or possibilities or opportunities that are available
to you. This is what's going to happen.
This is the Word of God. The revealed things are known
by us. We know them. We know if God's
revealed it, I don't have to speculate about it, do I? I know
that what God said shall come to pass. And every detail of
everything that shall come to pass is known by Him who said,
I declare the end from the beginning. These things are known. They're
certain. They're fixed. Aren't you glad that the future's
not uncertain? Well, what's going to happen
if this happens? The same thing that was going to happen before
that happened, or if it never does happen? What God said is
what's going to happen. I don't know what's going to
happen tomorrow, and I'm not to boast myself of tomorrow and
those things that I don't know. James said, you know not what
a day may bring forth. He got me on that one. I don't.
He's right. Neither do you. But I know this,
I know what David knew in Psalm 31, 15. He said, my times in
thy hand. My early times and my latter
times, my end times, all my times are in God's hand. And that word
times, as we saw recently, it means events, experiences, and
fortunes. What's going to happen to me? I don't know. But it's in the
hand of God. It's not in the stars. It's not
in the newspaper, in the horoscope section. It's in God's hand. That's where I want it. What
does your horoscope say today? I don't give a flying hoot. Do
you? It's in God's hand what's going
to happen to me today, and tomorrow, and on my last day, and after
that. Aren't you glad? Isaiah 46, 10, declaring the
end from the beginning and from ancient times, the things that
are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will
do all my pleasure. Well, I'm glad for that. I'm
thankful. Somebody said, I think it's a
song. I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow.
That's pretty good. Number four, and maybe this is
the most important point of all in thinking, if you're going
to think about the last days at all, think about this. Jacob
here, when he's talking to his sons, he's not talking about
the last days. He's talking about their last
days. Think about that. Why is that
so important, Chris? Well, because you and I need
to understand that whether our Lord comes back in three years
or 3000 years, Today might be your last day on this earth.
I don't know if we're living in the last days in the sense
that you and I will be alive when our Lord comes back, but
I'll tell you this, I'm pretty sure about this, we're living
in my last days. What's more important to me?
Now, more monumental and more consequential are the last days. Don't misunderstand me. But whether
I see the last days or not, my business is to honor Him, to
worship Him, to serve Him, as though this were my last day.
And this is important that we understand, and there's some
reasons for that. One of them is that time is precious.
Time is a precious thing. Now, time is not going to mean
anything, and God's going to discard it. Did you know that?
Time will be two words. No more in the book of Revelation.
There should be no more time. But right now, time's precious. Turn to Colossians 4, verse 2. Colossians 4, 2. Paul said, now
continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. with all praying also for us,
that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery
of Christ, that was his business, for which I am also in bonds,
that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak, walking wisdom
toward them that are without, redeeming the time, redeeming
the time, because the time, is precious because it's valuable
that word to redeeming there and in the other scripture also
that we're about to read it means to buy and usually is translated
by time is precious and valuable and he's saying here make it
count redeem the time make it count for something don't waste
it don't squander it In what sense, Paul? Walk in wisdom toward
those that are lost, redeeming the time. Let your speech be
always seasoned with grace, seasoned with salt that you may know how
you ought to answer every man. Walk in wisdom toward them that
are without. He just got to say and pray that
I'd be able to speak the mystery of Christ, that a door of utterance
would be opened by God. You see the tenor of what he's
saying here? When you think about the loss,
when you think about the reason that the Lord has delayed, that
his purpose of grace is being played out in this world, in
time. And Paul says here, redeem the
time. Ephesians 5, look at Ephesians
chapter 5, verse 8. With regard to those who are
lost, redeem the time. Speak with your words to them. Say things that are in your speech. Be seasoned with grace when you
do it because of the time. Redeem the time. Ephesians five
and verse eight. For ye were at one time darkness,
but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the Spirit is
in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable
unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For
it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of
them in secret. And all things that are reproved
are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever doth make manifest
is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou
that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give
thee light, see then that you walk circumspectly, that you
walk carefully, that you walk with some thought given to the
way that you walk, some consideration given, not as fools, but as wise,
redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye
not unwise, but understanding, what the will of the Lord is.
People say, well, I just want to do the will of God. Do you
have any idea what God is doing? If you're going to do His will,
you have to know what His will is, the gospel, the work of the
ministry. What we saw there in our study
in Romans, where he talked about how he saved sinners. That's
what's going on in this world. And when that happens the last
time, When somebody goes, is sent by God, and preaches somewhere,
and that message is heard, and believed in the heart, and confession
is made with the mouth by that last sheep. There's not going
to be any reason for this world to exist anymore. He's going
to make a new one that we're all going to live in with Him.
So it's all about that, doing His will. What? the work that
he gave us to do, the ministry, the gospel. And so that's what
we do. Redeem. Redeem the time. You've heard the expression,
I'm sure I need to buy some time. Well, that's not what this is
talking about. You can't do that. But it's talking about the time
that we have is precious and valuable and we're to make it
count by God's grace. It's important to live acknowledging
what we do not know. That's clear from God's Word.
In Proverbs 27, it says, don't you boast of yourself of tomorrow. It's important to live that way.
You don't have any idea what's going to happen tomorrow, and
you need to acknowledge that. For you don't know what a day
may bring forth. James was quoting that in his
book. And you know what's sad? Our tendency is to boast about
what we don't know as if we knew something. Here's what we're
going to do. And our tendency at the same
time is to forget what we do know. It's important to live
knowing what we know. Acknowledging and being aware
of what we do know. Acknowledge every moment what
we know. What do we know about the end
times? Well, there's some things that
we know that are true all the time. That'll be true on the
last day that this earth stands. We know that all things work
together for good. That's true today, and it'll
be true the day this earth burns up. He's doing that for your
good. He's burning this thing up for
your good. And everything he does in between will be for your
good, believer, child of God. We know that. Do you live knowing
that? Do I? We know this, the judge
of all the earth will do right. That's what God's word says.
Whatever he does will be the right thing. That's why I'm so
glad that it's in his hand. He'll do with me what's right.
He'll give me what's right. Not what I deserve, but what's
right as he sees me in Christ. What I deserve and what's coming
to me because of Christ, my representative and savior. I know that all that
the Father gave His Son in the eternal covenant of grace shall
come to Him. That's what we read about a while
ago. The long-suffering of our Lord
is the salvation of those who haven't come yet. But they shall
come. All that the Father gives me
shall come to me. And I know this too, and let's
live this way too, knowing this, that everybody that comes to
Him, I will in no wise cast them out. as we are involved in this
work, in this ministry. Let's live that way, knowing
that. Isaiah 3.10, I know this, and
God told me to say it to you. Say ye to the righteous, it shall
be well with him. It's going to be good. It's going
to be all right. People say that, you know, it's
going to be all right, not knowing what in the world all right even
is. But I can tell you from God's
word, if you know Christ, it's going to be all right. It's going
to be well with you. It doesn't matter what it looks
like. Doesn't matter what you go through. Doesn't matter what
anybody else says or thinks or does. It's going to be well with
you. For they shall eat of the fruit
of their doings. Woe unto the wicked. It shall be ill with
him. That's true today and it will
be true on the last day. For the reward of his hands shall
be given him. The psalmist in Psalm 73 said
that he had been envious at the prosperity of the wicked. He
said, why, I try to honor the Lord and I serve him and I suffer,
but I look at wicked men who wouldn't give you a plug nickel
for the worship of God or anything of God. And they're prospering
in this world. And he said, I was envious at
that until. I went into the sanctuary of
the Lord. I heard his word. And then I
understood something. Do you remember what it was?
He said he understood. He said, then understood I their
end. That's what we're talking about.
I understood their end. And we know something about our
end too, don't we? And the psalmist said, oh, I
wouldn't trade places with him for anything. We learn better,
don't we, from his word. It's the end we're considering. The end of a matter, the word
God says is better than the beginning. Those who are in Christ. have
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus right
now. They're ours. He hath blessed
us with every blessing that God is able to bestow. You ever thought
about that? How rich can God be toward a
sinner? That's you. How much is he able
to give? How blessed is a person? How
blessed is blessed? You have everything God has to
give that's good. How blessed are you? And then
our end, our end, look at Revelation 21. John got a glimpse of it in Revelation
21 verse one. And he said, I saw a new heaven
and a new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. Peter
was talking about how that was going to happen, wasn't he? The
heavens shall pass away with a further heat. John said, I
saw a day when that has already happened. I saw a new heaven
because that first one, God had already burned it up. Like he
promised he would, and like Peter said he was going to, according
to his promise. He's not slack now. And John
said, sure enough, he's already burned it up and made a new one. All right. What's it going to
be like there? And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem
coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride. adorned
for her husband. That's God's spiritual people. That's not a group of buildings.
That's what we call a city, a group of buildings. This is God's Jerusalem,
God's people, God's Israel. His bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. And he will dwell with them.
We've talked about that before. We're going to be with him. I
know he's with us tonight. But I also know Paul said to
depart from here and be with him is better. There's a better
with him than this with him. Isn't that what he said? The
tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and
they shall be his people. And God himself shall be with
them and be their God. Isn't that what he said in that
new covenant? I'm going to be your God and you'll be my people.
I'm going to remember your transgressions no more. That which separates
us from God will be no more, no more. And God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain."
Everything that's bad, everything that hurts his people in this
world, he uses it for our good now. It's a blessing to us now,
the way the Lord dispenses these things. But there'll be no more
need for any of that then. The former things are passed
away. God's done with them. And he's throwing them away now.
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things
new. Are you ready for that? Do you
have any desire for everything to be new? That's a pretty good
word. And he said unto me, Write, for
these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It's done.
It's done. Well, John is saying, Wait a
minute, these are things that are going to happen. The Lord said,
It's done. That hadn't happened yet. It's done. God said it. That settles it. It's done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
thirsty. Oh, blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. For they shall be filled. I will
give him of the fountain of the water of life freely. That's
Christ. Oh, and he that overcometh shall
inherit all things. And I will be his God and he
shall be my son. But the fearful and the unbelieving,
that's them. You see, he's going to be ill
with them. Oh, but with those who are righteous in Christ,
it shall be well with us. It always will. Now look down
at verse 22, same chapter. And I saw no temple therein.
He's still talking about that city where his people, where
God's people are going to dwell with him. I saw no temple therein,
for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it."
Well, I don't know what that means, but there won't be any
need. You know, people talk about the sanctuary. Christ is our
sanctuary. And the temple, those things,
the tabernacle, those are just pictures. We dwell in Christ. And that's going to be realized
then. That's going to be reality then. And the city had no need
of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it. You're going
to make a new earth, but it doesn't sound like he's going to make
a new sun or moon. Don't need them. That's what
he said, don't need them. Why? For the glory of God did
lighten it. What's the glory of God? The
lamb is the light. I love to talk about this, don't
you? The glory of God did lighten
it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. The glory of God shines
in his face, and we can't see it now. We see by the light of
the sun physical things now, but there, everything we'll see
will be by his light. And the nations of them which
are saved shall walk in the light of it. That's that new Jerusalem. Them that are saved. Those that
He redeemed with His precious blood. Those ones whose robes
are white because they've been washed in the blood of the Lamb.
They'll walk in that light. Everything we'll see, we'll see
in the light of the Lamb. The very glory of God. And the
kings of the earth who bring their glory and honor into it
and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day. for there
shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory
and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise
enter into it anything that defile it. Neither whatsoever worketh
abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in
the Lamb's book of life. And he showed me a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of
it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of
life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit
in every month. And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and
his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face.
and His name shall be in their foreheads. We're going to see
His very face, and we're going to be His. We're going to be
stamped with His name. And there shall be no night there,
and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord
God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. When He comes back for us, that's
where He's taken us. to be with Him, to behold His
face, to behold the glory of God, and the Lamb, who is the
light. John said in 1 John 3, 2, Beloved
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be. People talk about that more than what they ought to.
They don't know what we're going to be. John said that under inspiration
of the Spirit of God. We don't know. It doesn't yet
appear. But there's some things that we know. We know this. When
He shall appear, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him
as He is. We're going to behold His face,
as John said there, and we're going to be just like Him. And
it will be well with you. It will be real well with you.
Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to one end. predestinate something is to
make something certain beforehand. To destinate something pre, before. What's our destination? To be
conformed to the image of his son. That he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. That's what we're going to be.
That's where we're going to be. That's who we're going to behold
and dwell with forever. And John said in verse 20 there
of Revelation 22, he which testifies these things saith, surely I
come quickly. Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus. No wonder he said that after
God showed him these things, he said, Lord, come. John was
living on the isle of Patmos and he had done a little time
in this world. He was an old man. And God showed him those
things. And he said, Lord, come now,
come quick. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, I
go to prepare a place for you. And he did. He went to the cross.
And he said, if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come
again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may
be also. Let me tell you what shall happen.
in your latter days. That's what this is. That's us. By God's grace, even so come,
Lord Jesus. Let's pray together.