1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I told your place there for a
few minutes. I want so much for us to get
hold of this blessed fact and for this fact to get a grip on
our hearts. The Lord Jesus Christ our Redeemer
is coming again. Would to God We understood clearly
that he is coming. Not he shall come, he is coming. Everything he is doing is but
another step he takes in bringing himself to us and bringing us
to him. Christ is coming again. The scriptures declare unto us
that as our Lord ascended up into heaven, his disciples watched
him go away, the angels spoke. and said, This same Jesus, which
is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner,
as you have seen him go into heaven." The Apostle Paul tells
us that the grace of God that brings salvation teaches us ever
to be looking, standing on the tiptoe of faith and looking,
looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. The title of my
message this evening is When Jesus Comes. I want to show you
from the word of God what is going to happen when the Lord
Jesus Christ comes again. First, understand this. Our Lord is coming now. He could arrive at any moment. Behold, he cometh, the scripture
says. There is nothing necessary to
prepare for his coming, no signs to be looked for, no outward
visible thing by which we're to measure the dates and say,
now it's time for him to come. Oh no, we're bidden in scripture
to look for him who is coming right now. He has ascended into
heaven, and as he works his will in providence, he is moving toward
his church again to that day when he shall gather us unto
himself. And when our Lord Jesus comes, he is coming in power
and in great glory. Now hold your hands there in
1 Thessalonians and look at 2 Thessalonians for just a moment. 2 Thessalonians
chapter 1. The apostle writes here by inspiration
and says, To you who are troubled, rest with us. When the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and 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 is believed in that day. Now I've read that
to you to make this statement, because I realize we live in
this day of prophecy mania, when everybody presumes there's an
authority on things with regard to the second coming, and almost
everyone has been taught to expect that one of these days there's
going to be a secret coming of the Lord Jesus, and he's going
to secretly rapture his church out, and then there's going to
be seven years of tribulation, and he's going to come again.
And so they're teaching that there's two second comings of
Christ. And the word of God never teaches
such. Nowhere in this book will you
find the slightest indication that when the Lord Jesus comes
again, it shall be some kind of a secret appearing. Oh no,
when he comes, he's coming in flaming fire to take vengeance
on them that know not God, and every eye shall see him. They
also which pierced him, and they shall wail because of him. That
means that our Lord Jesus, then, is coming in a real body. Every
eye shall see him. I will not attempt to say what
the glory of his body will be, or how it is that every eye shall
see him. But these two things are sure.
Christ is coming in a physical body, in that same body in which
he hung upon the cursed tree. And when he comes, that body
will be so glorious, so bright, so dazzling, so brilliant, that
every living creature shall see him. And all the earth shall
melt before him. And then when our Lord Jesus
comes, there's going to be a mighty resurrection of the dead. Turn
to John chapter 5. Again, hold your hands in first
Thessalonians. Look at John chapter 5. Our Lord Jesus has just declared
that the hour of his grace comes and the dead hear his voice.
And believing on him, they're raised from the dead and made
to walk in the newness of life. That he says in verse 25. And
then in verse 28 he says, marvel not at this. Don't think it a
strange thing that a man is born again by the power of God's grace.
Don't marvel when I tell you that I'm going to cause my people
to live spiritually, to be raised from spiritual death to spiritual
life. The hour is coming, look at this,
in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. Everybody. Everybody out there
in that cemetery. Shelby and I drove by yesterday
and they built a nice, large mausoleum out there. Folks can
be buried above ground now, you know, in a nice, nice mausoleum. But the fact is, everybody out
there, everybody out there is going to hear his voice. Everybody.
Everybody at one time. He says, all that are in the
grave shall hear his voice. And every one of them shall come
forth. they that have done good unto the resurrection of life.
I'll pause for a moment, lest I not survive to tell you later,
when he talks about men and women being those who have done good
and coming forth to the resurrection of life, he's not talking, Rex,
about us personally doing good, for there is none that doeth
good, no, not one. He's talking about those who
in the record of heaven have the righteousness of Christ imputed
to us so that His works are our works, and in Him we've done
perfectly good. And we shall come forth to the
resurrection of life. And they that have done evil,
those who stand before God and perish in their own sins, they
shall come forth to the resurrection of damnation. The resurrection
of the just is this, the people of God shall be raised to immortality,
life, and eternal glory. These bodies of flesh shall be
gathered from their dust, even those whose bodies were burned
to ashes and scattered to the seas and the four winds, they
shall be gathered together again at the word of God and raised
up in glory." Now you believe that? Well, sure I do. Sure I
do. I recall years ago I went down
to television station with Brother Mayhead and he was preaching
on the resurrection Somebody kind of whispered in the background
one of the fellows heard him said said nobody but a fool would
believe that Nobody but a fool or a Christian, that's all Just
somebody who whose absolute fool was somebody who believes God
You mean you mean to tell me pastor that that those bodies
that have rotted and decayed and gone back to the earth and
eaten of worms Their bodies are going to be gathered together
again. Oh, yeah and raised up in glory all at one time by the
power of his voice. I have no idea, I have no idea
what the grandeur of that day shall be, but grand it shall
be. And when we're raised up in these
bodies, with these eyes, we'll see him who loved us and gave
himself for us. Job understood that. The book
of Job, the oldest book in the Bible, that man who lived in
those earliest, earliest of ages, he said, I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth,
and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh shall I see God. He understood that. And there
will also be a resurrection of the wicked, the unjust. The ungodly,
the unbelieving, shall also be raised. Their bodies shall also
become immortal, united to their souls, to be damned forever,
to endure the everlasting torments of the wrath of God. This is
the second death. And at the second coming of Christ,
this world shall be destroyed, and he will create a new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. I have no problem understanding
that the heavens were made by the Word of God. I have no difficulty
understanding that our God Almighty, with the mere fiat of his will,
created all things out of nothing. And I have absolutely no difficulty
believing with confidence that when Christ comes again, just
like that, he's going to destroy this world, raise up the dead,
and make all things new. The people of God are not going
to spend eternity floating around like ghosts in the air. but rather
in these very bodies we shall live upon this new earth, created
new by the power of God, made to be suitable for righteous
men and women to live in forever and ever, and serve the Lord
in the joy of everlasting glory. Now then, let's look at these
last verses of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. In this epistle, the
apostle Paul gives clear, clear instructions to God's elect concerning
the resurrection of the dead and the second coming of Christ.
He does so for the comfort of our hearts, the encouragement
of our faith, and to enable us by grace to stand firm with confidence
in the midst of infidelity and unbelief on every side. Now,
he wraps up this thing of Christ's Second Coming in this fourth
chapter of 1 Thessalonians. It's interesting to note that
this is the first epistle written by the Apostle Paul. He writes
to these Thessalonian believers, and he spends a great deal of
time telling them that he knows their election, because the word
of God came to them in power, because they now do the works
of faith and love, and because they wait for the promise of
his coming. And he said, now let me tell
you, it's a good promise. It's a good promise. And it gives
four, five words of comfort in these last verses of chapter
four. First, he gives us a word of comfort about our departed
friends. Look at verse 13. I would not
have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them
also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this
we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive
and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent."
Now, write down somewhere in the margin of your Bible, if
you haven't before, that word prevent. It's an old Anglo-Saxon
word which means to go before or to proceed. It does not mean,
as it's used in Scripture, to hinder. They shall not go before,
they shall not precede them which are asleep. We've all have friends
and family we've taken to the funeral home and buried in the
cemetery. And here Paul admonishes us not
to sorrow as those who have no hope. I like the way Some things
are done in England, particularly with regard to those who have
died. When Brother Bill Clark died,
I was hoping to go over myself for the funeral service until
I found out my mother was dying. I got a note that they were having
a private funeral service on Friday evening, and Saturday
they had a Thanksgiving service. That's a good way. A thanksgiving
service. How come? Because one of God's
elect had been called to glory. Because God's been merciful.
God's been gracious. When the believer dies, you see,
he simply falls asleep in the arms of our Savior. You remember
what our Lord said concerning Lazarus? He said, fellas, y'all
have to pray it. Lazarus is asleep. Lazarus is
sleeping. And they thought, well, he's
talking about He just fell asleep, you think he'd be alright? He
said, Lazarus is dead, that's what I mean, but he's asleep.
He's not really dead, he's just asleep. When Stephen was thrown
to death in Acts chapter 7, he fell asleep. And he fell asleep
in the arms of his Redeemer. It is truly a blessed, blessed
thing, a thing to be desired for one who is worthy to fall
asleep. Last night, Shelby and I got
in bed, After a couple of long weeks with little sleep, we laid
down. Man, just about time her head
hit the pillow, she was snoring. She was sound asleep. She didn't
have to have a sleeping pill. She just sound asleep. Didn't wake up all night long,
I don't guess. Me too. Shortly after that, gone to sleep
and nobody to complain about it. Man, looking forward to getting
in bed. Tired, just tired. And the scripture
says, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. for they shall
rest from their labors, and their works follow them." Certainly
it is true. When the believer dies, there
is sorrow, great sorrow in our hearts, for we miss them, we
hurt for their presence, we hurt because of their absence. We're
fretful with regard to that place which they leave empty and void,
but with regard to them, we don't sorrow like those who have no
hope. Oh no, no, no, no. We look upon
our brethren as sleeping in the master. And those who do, we
understand, will never, never leave this world until the appointed
time of God's purpose and grace has come. The hymn writer says mortals
are immortal here until their work is done. This is what that means, Paul
Wendell. Whatever God has for you to do on this earth, he's
going to accomplish in you for his glory and all hell can't
destroy you. Not until the appointed time
of mercy. not until the Lord God himself has appointed to
bring us home. Our departed friends are with
the Lord, beholding his glory, feeding upon the tree of life,
drinking from the fountain that flows from the throne of God.
Why should we weep for them? And when our Lord comes again,
their bodies shall be raised from the grave. Those who have
died in the faith will lose nothing for having gone before us. People's
I know when I was in Bible college, both schools I attended were
these prophecy schools, you know, and they talked so much about
second coming and all that stuff. Never taught anything about the
gospel because you can't teach what you don't know. But they
taught a great deal about second coming. And they always talked
about, oh, I want to live till Jesus comes. Shoot, that don't
make any difference. That doesn't make any difference. Those who have gone before We
will not prevent them, we will not precede them, we will not
go before them in the resurrection, but when the Master comes, we'll
wait just a second, just a split second, and the dead in Christ
shall rise first. And we will wait until they have
been raised from the dead, and then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together in the clouds with them to meet
the Lord in the air. This hope of the resurrection,
is a glorious, blessed hope for the believer, and it is a confident
hope, for the Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle, tells us in 1 Corinthians
15, is the firstfruits of them which sleep. And if he's the
firstfruits, then there must be a second at least. He has
risen from the dead as the firstfruits, and that firstfruit is the promise
of a full harvest. He who rose promiseth that we
shall rise by virtue of his resurrection. The apostle says, if in this
life only we have hope in Christ, we're of all men most miserable.
Now, that does not mean that Christianity, you know, if it
wasn't for eternity, Christianity would be miserable. That's not
what it means. It means this. There we live
in the hope of glory. Everything we've set our hearts
on has relation to the future. And if all we have is what we
have here, then we have a miserable hope. And we are of all men most
miserable, for we've deluded ourselves and deluded others,
and we've been deluded. But this cannot be. The Lord
Jesus arose from the dead. He took his place in glory as
the first place, and all for whom he took possession of heaven
shall soon follow him yonder to glory. All right, now look
at verse 60. Here's a word of comfort about
the second coming of our Lord. For the Lord himself, I like
that, don't you? Not a representative. The Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with the ease of total sovereignty,
with the ease of absolute victory, he shall descend. He's not coming
anxious about what's going to happen. Oh, no. He descends. Look at this. Descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump
of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Our great king
shall return with a shout of triumph and victory. The voice
of the archangel and the trump of God shall sound. The trumpet
blast will announce the coming of the king. Remember, the scriptures
are written in the language of those times when men and women
understood what a king was. And when the king had been gone
for a season, and he would come back to his palace as he approached
the city, runners would come ahead of him and say, the king's
coming. And they'd blast the trumpet, and everybody gathered
around to welcome the king. This trumpet blast is the sound
of the glorious year of jubilee for God's elect. For when the
trumpet blast of jubilee sounds, we shall be free at last. And
the trumpet blast announces the mighty conquest of the king.
When we hear the trumpet, then we know that death is swallowed
up in victory. Satan is thrown into the lake
of fire and every rebel is crushed beneath the throne of God Almighty.
The Lord's coming then will be a public visible, honorable coming. The coming of Christ will have
a reverberating sound that will go to the ends of the earth and
shake the very dead in hell. He shall come with power, with
a shout, with the truth of God. Every eye shall see it, and God's
elect shall be gathered from the four corners of the earth,
and the wicked shall wail because of him. This is our hope. Our Lord, our Redeemer, He who
stood in my surety, in the covenant of grace. He who lives as my
representative upon this earth. He who died yonder at Calvary
as my substitute. He who intercedes for me now
in heaven. He's coming again for his bride. He's coming himself, and he's
coming soon. Now then, look at verse 17. Here
is a word of comfort with regard to us who are living. then we
which are alive and remain. Isn't it amazing that the Apostle
Paul, writing by inspiration, writing by inspiration, considered the coming of Christ
to be so imminently at hand that he speaks of himself as being
alive when he comes again. That was his anticipation. The Lord's coming. The Lord's
coming. Somebody says, you know, we're
living on the brink of the 21st century and nuts are coming out
of the woodwork, books and papers, they come across my desk every
time. I got that email, I get something every day almost. Somebody's
predicting something else. The Apostle Paul didn't see the
calendar and he wrote by inspiration. He didn't see the timetable.
He didn't see the clock ticking. He just said, we which are alive
and remain because we live on the tiptoe of faith anticipating
Christ's return. Nothing precedes his coming. That's the next order of events
since he went into glory. He said, we which are alive and
remain shall be caught up, snatched up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be
with the Lord. Like Elijah, we shall be swept
up into glory in a full array. The dead in Christ will rise
first, and then we'll just be swept up to meet the Lord in
the air. Now then, here's a word of comfort concerning our glorious
reunion. Look at verse 17 again. Caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air. Wonder why that language is used. Well, it could be because Satan
is called the prince of the power of the air. And when our Lord
Jesus comes again, the transfiguration and reunion of God's redeemed
ones will take place right in the heart of Satan's territory. The lamb that was slain and all
the host of his elect shall be victorious over Satan, right
where he is called the prince of the power there. There he
shall be shamed, humiliated, and conquered publicly. Today
it appears that he's loosed for a little season, but his days
are numbered. Soon King Jesus will throw the
old serpent into the lake of fire, and in a moment A glorious
reunion will take place. All of God's saints, all of God's
saints, all of them, will be gathered together at one time. All who've ever lived, gathered
together. And so what's the order of events?
I really have no real interest in this. except to try to give
some order in my own mind and in yours to the best of my ability,
putting scripture with scripture, this appears to be what's going
to happen. And please understand, it's not going to happen, Rex,
over a period of days and months and weeks and years. Oh, no,
no, no. It's going to happen. Just like that. I mean, just
like that. Christ will come when he descends
from heaven. The dead, the believing saints,
who died in the faith shall be raised up together, and we which
are alive shall be snatched up to meet the Lord. And as we are
snatched up out of this world, our God shall destroy this present
heavens and earth and create all things new. And then we shall
come, the Holy City, the bride adorned for her husband, to the
new earth wherein dwells righteousness." The word meet that's used here
is used only four times in the entire New Testament. All four
times it implies a friendly encounter. It's the word that will be used
like this. When a king comes back, his loyal subjects go out
to meet him. Not to stay out, Shonda. Oh no,
they go out to meet him to turn around and come back with him.
All of us have had the experience of meeting someone. you're going
to go meet somebody at the airport, or meet them at the bus station,
or you've appointed a time to go meet them, and your purpose
in meeting them is to go meet them and bring them back with
you. And so we go out to meet the person we're anticipating,
and we come back with them. That's exactly what's implied
here. It is in this way that the kingdom of God shall come
to the earth at last. In that blessed hour, the Lord
Jesus Christ shall see of the curvail of his soul, and shall
be satisfied. All who were given to him in
the covenant of grace, all for whom he stewed his surety from
everlasting Every one of those for whom we said, Lo, I come
to do thy will, O my God. Every one for whom we lived in
righteousness and died under the wrath of God as our substitute.
All who sinned he bore away at Calvary. He will gather together
as one shepherd and one fold, and he will gather them into
his fold, and then his work shall be finished altogether. Would
you be part of that glorious reunion? Then come to Christ. Come on to Christ. Look to the
Lamb of God. The Spirit and the Bible say
come. Yea, whosoever will, let him come and take of the water
of life breathing. Now then, finally, here's a word
of comfort regarding our final position. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. Turn to Revelation 22. Verse
3. When our Lord backs this whole
thing up, there shall be no more curse. Oh, blessed day. Every single particle of the
evil consequence of sin will be gone forever. We were in the back, Paul mentioned
in his prayer the sin with which we struggle continually. Oh,
but blessed be his name, 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. There shall be no night there,
and they need no candle be the light of the sun, for the Lord
God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. We've been redeemed by him, we
shall be made like him, and we shall be forever with him. Earth's greatest blessing is
to find him. Heaven's greatest glory is to
be with Him. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Amen.