I love a cappella singing. Would
you turn back to Mark chapter 13? Mark 13. Let me get this apparatus fixed. I'd like to read verse 26. And then shall they see the Son
of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. says, whom having not seen you
love. Think about that statement. We've
never seen him. Can't tell you what he looks
like, but we love him, don't we? We've never seen him, but he's not going to stay that
way. He shall come again. I've entitled this message, The
Second Coming of Christ. Now, the Lord makes this prophetic
statement about his second advent, his return, in the midst of what
is known as the Olivet Discourse given on the Mount of Olives,
just a day or two before his betrayal and his crucifixion. And that every word of the Lord
is special, but you think of his words, his last words to
his disciples. Now it's also found in Matthew
24 and Luke 21, and they all begin, all three of these accounts
begin like this, verse one of Mark chapter 13. And as he went
out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master,
see what manner of stones and what buildings are here. And
he's talking about the temple. It was one impressive structure. And Jesus answering said unto
him, Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone
upon another. But every one of them will be
thrown down, and he's speaking here prophetically about the
time of the destruction of Jerusalem. There's a lot of detail given
in Josephus about what took place in 70 AD. where Titus, the general
from Rome who would later become the emperor, comes in and lays
siege on Jerusalem. Now in 66 AD, four years before
this, they'd rebelled. And they had decided, we're not
paying Roman taxes, we're not going to be under the Roman thumb.
And Titus comes in and levels the city. It is completely destroyed. And Luke's account says, When
ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the
desolation is nigh. Now here he's speaking prophetically
of the destruction of Jerusalem, but the Lord is also giving prophetic
statements concerning His return. And both that time of The destruction
of Jerusalem and the time of His return are going to be TROUBLED
days. It's not going to be good. There's
going to be much conflict, there's going to be much trial, there's
going to be much tribulation. Now, He says in verse 24, But
in those days, after that tribulation, that great trial, the sun shall
be darkened. And the moon shall give her light,
and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are
in heaven shall be shaken." Now, what does that mean? Does it
mean the sun's literally going to become darkened and the stars
are literally going to fall? Maybe, I don't know. I don't
know how that could be, but if the Lord wills it, it can be.
But what I think that he's speaking of is everything that we consider
stable is going to be shaken and seem to be utterly unstable. When he talks about the stars
of heaven, what is supposed to be stable? How do people navigate
through the sea? Through the stars, don't they?
They're fixed. There are men who can Well, you've
seen it on TV, or maybe you've experienced it, you know, when
men are looking at the stars and knowing what direction they're
going in the ocean. And those are considered stable.
You can count on these, and you're going to find out you can't.
Everything that we think of as solid will be shaken, and there
will be no stability. Now, what happens? And then,
verse 26, and then they shall see. Who's they? Everybody. Everybody, without
exception. Then they shall see the Son of
Man coming in the clouds with great power. What a display of
his omnipotence when he comes back and with great glory. Now John tells us in Revelation
1 7, behold, he cometh with the clouds and every eye shall see
him. And they also which pierced him
and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail. because of him. Even so, amen. He will come as a thief in the
night, catching the world by surprise. The day or the hour
no man knoweth. When somebody makes Predictions,
and you know that people over the centuries have made predictions
and even given dates as to when the Lord will come back. Well,
the Lord tells us, as a man, he doesn't know, nor the angels
of heaven, only the Father. Now, somebody says, explain that
to me. I've got my ideas, but I'm not going to try. I'm not
going to try. Just believe it. I don't understand it completely.
That's all right. Son doesn't know when he'll return.
That's what is known only by the father. We know that the
son is equal to the father, and we know the son doesn't know
of his return. So you can do with that what you want. People
say, well, how is it that contradictory? No, it's not contradictory. No,
it's just so. And we believe what God says
in his word. He shall return again. I love that scripture that says,
as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even to
the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. And you've
seen a midnight sky and seen lightning flash and the whole
sky light up, and you see it, don't you? That's the way the
coming of the Son of Man shall be. Everybody is going to do. Now, the message of the Old Testament
scriptures can be summarized by this. Somebody's coming. The Gospels can be summarized
by this. He's here. And the epistles can be summarized
by this. He's coming again. Somebody's
coming. He's here. And he's coming again. That one We believe and haven't
seen that one we love and haven't seen is coming again. He said,
if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and receive
you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. Now someone is coming. This was announced right after
the fall of our first parents in the garden, wasn't it? Somebody's
coming. The seed of woman, he's coming. And he's going to bruise the
serpent's head. He's going to crush the serpent's
head. Somebody's coming. When Abel offered up that more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, he was saying by that sacrifice,
somebody's coming. He wasn't looking to the blood
of that lamb as the reason his sin was put away. He was thinking
of the one who is coming. As a matter of fact, every Old
Testament sacrifice said somebody is coming. I think of the prophecies
concerning his coming. I love Isaiah 714. Behold a virgin, someone who's
never known a man, shall be with child. Somebody's coming. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders,
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty
God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Somebody
is coming. In that day, a fountain shall
be opened, said Zechariah in Jerusalem, the place of his death. In that day, a fountain shall
be opened for sin and for uncleanness. And that's exactly what I need,
a fountain open for my sin and for my uncleanness. Somebody's
coming. Isaiah said he's wounded for
our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Somebody's
coming. The entire Old Testament can
be summarized. Somebody's coming. The Gospels
announce he's here. That one who's prophesied. He
is here when the angels came to Joseph before the conceiving
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Virgin Mary's womb. He said,
you're going to call his name Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sins. That's why I came. Jesus Christ
came in the flesh. He was before he came. Oh, his
eternal deity as God, the son ever with the father. He came
in the flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. He was made flesh. And in the
flesh, He did what He came to do. He came to save His people
from their sins. And that is exactly what He did. The angel announced to Mary,
that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. And the heavenly host began to
exclaim, glory to God in the highest on earth, peace, goodwill
toward men. The only event we have of the
first 30 years of his life was when, as a 12-year-old boy, he
said, I must be about my father's business. That is what those
30 years spent in obscurity that nobody understood. His mom and
dad did, I guess, a few shepherds, but his brothers and sister didn't
even get it. He grew up with him and they
didn't understand. This is holiness with us. This
is the son of God. This is the God man for 30 years
living in obscurity. He worked out a perfect righteousness
doing his father's business. Isn't that a beautiful thing
to think about? Doing his father's business when he is tempted by
the devil right before the opening of his public ministry. Well,
the devil came, and after the Lord defeated him, the Lord said
this, the prince of this world has come, and he's found nothing
in me. He didn't find one thing he could grab hold of. You think
of what an easy time he would have with me or you. You reckon
he'd find anything in us that he could turn us inside out,
but with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ, he hath found nothing
in me. I love that passage of scripture
Mitch just read. He said to John the Baptist,
when John the Baptist said, you're asking me to baptize you? I have
need to be baptized in you. He said, suffer to be so now.
I know it seems inappropriate. What if the Lord asked you to
baptize him? You'd feel kind of not up for the task, wouldn't
you? Well, John felt the same way.
This is the son of God. And the Lord said, suffer it
thus to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Now, everything he did, he did
it in us. And when he was in the flesh,
in the days of his flesh, everything he did for his people, he fulfilled
all righteousness. And so did everybody else that
he represented. I love to Think of the disciples
when they saw him rebuke the wind and the waves, and there
was a great calm. And they said, what manner of
man is this? And I like to say, him that is
here. The one who was to come, and
he's here now. This is the God-man. when he
entered Jerusalem and he was entering to the cries of Hosanna,
they would soon be cursing him, but right now they're saying
Hosanna and the scripture says all of Jerusalem was moved saying,
who is this? This is he that was to come. Jesus of Nazareth, the son of
God, his life ended in a violent crucifixion, and just before
he died, he cried with a loud voice, it is finished. His father's business was completed. Mission accomplished. Everybody that he represented,
they are saved. He did his father's business. And I think this is glorious,
right? Before his death, when he's on trial, the high priest
asked this question, art thou the Christ, the son of the blessed?
I am. And you shall see the Son of
Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds
of heaven. He told them, I'm coming again. You know, the thief understood
this, didn't he? He said, remember me when you come again into your
kingdom. When he ascended back to the
Father, the angel said to the disciples, ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into the heavens? This same Jesus. The
one you're watching ascend back into glory in such awesome power
and majesty. This same Jesus who has taken
up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you've
seen him go into heaven. He's here. He came. The one who was coming has come. He did what he came to do. He lived. He died. He was raised
from the dead. And he goes back to his father. As I said, no one knows when
this second coming will take place, but it will take place. You know, there's so many theories
as to what's going to happen when he comes back. I'm just
concerned about this. He is coming back. It's Him who
is coming, and we are thrilled with that thought. Child of God,
you've never seen Him, but one day you will. You're going to
be just like Job in what they say is the oldest book in the
Bible. He said in verse 25 of chapter 19, For I know that my
Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon
the earth. This is talking about his second
advent. And though after my skin worms
shall destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God,
whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and
not another's. David said, as for me, I will
behold thy face. I love that song. We sing face
to face with Christ my savior. Face to face, what will it be? When with rapture I behold him,
Jesus Christ who died for me. David said, I behold his face
in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I awake
in thy likeness. Now would you turn with me for
a moment to Hebrews chapter nine. The writer of the Hebrews tells
us of his first and second advent in this passage scripture. Hebrews
chapter nine. Verse 25, nor yet that he should
offer himself often, This is not something he's going to have
to do many times as the high priest enters into the holy place
every year with the blood of others. Why did he do it every
year? Because none of those sacrifices put a waste in. They just pointed
to him who is to come. For then must he have often suffered
since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. Now, the reason he came the first
time is to put away sin. Now, believer, right now, I don't
have any doubt that you have sin on your conscience. sin you have committed even today. I would say if anybody denies
that, raise your hand, but I wouldn't want to know. I wouldn't want
to know. That sin has been effectually
completely, eternally removed and put away. It is not. It is cancelled. It is unrememberable. There's
nothing there to be remembered. It is blotted out. It's cancelled. It's expunged from the universe. It's not. That's why he came,
to put away sin. Did he put it away? Yes, he did. When he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. He was manifested
to take away our sins and in him, is no sin. Now, keep that in
mind, verse 27. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him.
Not for everybody, them that look for him. You know, when
my name is called on Judgment Day, you know what I'm gonna
do? I'm gonna be looking for Him. I'm gonna be looking for Him. Right
now, I'm looking for Him to return. Right now, I'm looking for Him
to represent me before the Father. To them that look for Him. What's it say? Shall He appear the second time? It's talking about that second
advent. Shall he appear the second time? And look at those next
two words. Without sin. That sin he bore
is no more. And when he returns, child of
God, it's going to be without sin. And you are going to be
treated as one without sin because you are one without sin. First time he came, he came to
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And upon his second
coming, he's going to come without sin. It's been expunged away
out of God's universe, made not to be. The business of sin is
no more. Now, is there any reason to fear
His coming? You know, so many people think,
well, I'll be ready. Well, I'll be ready. Well, let me tell you
this. Every believer is ready because He's coming without sin. There won't be any sin to be
brought up. Now, when he returns, everybody
will know who he is. That's what it means when it
says he's going to come as the lightning shining in the night
from the east to the west. Everybody is going to know who
he is. The atheist, they'll know now. They'll know. The self-righteous
religionist, they'll know. The man who was utterly and completely
indifferent about him one way or the other. They'll know. Everybody is going to know. He cometh with the clouds, the
scripture says. What do you have to say now?
You who boasted in your works. What do you have to say now,
you who denied His existence? What do you have to say now,
you who did not believe Him and didn't care one way or the other?
I know what you're gonna say. You're gonna say to the rocks
and to the mountains, fall on us and hide us from the face
of Him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of
the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall
be able to stand? You see, when he returns, as you are then,
you shall be eternally. There will not be some time to,
you see him come and say, oh no, time to believe. No, that's
not gonna happen. When he returns, As you are then,
you will spend eternity. Turn with me to Revelation 22.
Verse 10. And he saith unto me, seal not
the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at
hand. Speaking of his second coming,
now look what he says. He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him
be filthy still. And he that's righteous, let
him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him
be holy still, and behold, I come quickly. Now he's speaking of
his second coming. And this describes every believer,
righteous and holy. And you're to stay that way for
eternity. And every unbeliever is unjust
and filthy. And you will stay that way until Now, some, for some, the second
advent will be the worst day of their lives. That's a solemn
thing to think about, isn't it? But to others, it will be the
best day of their lives. the best day. They're going to begin that day
a life of eternal bliss. I love what John said, it doth
not yet appear what we shall be. Is there anybody here that
can even imagine what it would be to be like to be sinless? That's beyond us. And John, speaking
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said, it doth not
yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall
appear, the great end of predestination will be experienced. For whom
he did foreknow, then he also did predestinate. For what reason? That we might be conformed to
the image of his son. John says, when he shall appear,
we shall be like him. So glorious is this vision. Charles Spurgeon preached a message
entitled The Beautific Vision. And indeed, this is the beautific
vision. When we see him as he is, Not
as He was, but as He is. We shall be like Him. Now, we'll have at that time
our glorified resurrection bodies upon His return. The dead will
be raised incorruptible, and we will have our glorified resurrection
bodies. There's not much I can say about
that. I can give the term. use the words the Bible uses,
but do I understand what all that means? Well, this is the
closest I can come. We'll be like him. What else
needs to be said? We'll be like him. There'll be
no sin, there'll be no sorrow, there'll be no pain, there'll
be no tears, there'll be no separation. We will be in our resurrected
bodies. We read that in 1 Thessalonians
4, that the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout with
the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the
dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. Now, picture that in your mind.
When the Lord returns, there'll be some people still alive. And
there'll be people who have been in their graves some thousands
of years. But when he returns, They're
gonna raise from the grave. They're gonna meet the Lord in
the air. We're gonna meet the Lord in the air. And so shall
we be ever with the Lord. And then Paul says, wherefore
comfort one another with these words. Now, maybe you're still
in Revelation 22. I think that this is very interesting.
In this third chapter of Revelation, three times he says, behold,
I come quickly. Now that was said almost 2,000
years ago. But remember, with the Lord,
there's no time. One day is as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as a day, and everything is in the present
with him. Behold, I come quickly. As a matter of fact, what were
the Lord's last words in the Bible? Look in verse 20 of chapter
22, he which testifieth these things
saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. And John's refrain and
the refrain of the Church of the Living God even so. Come, Lord Jesus." Now, when he comes, it'll be without
sin. And every believer will be treated
accordingly as people without sin. Nothing to fear. only that which
is to be anticipated with certain and joyful expectation. Behold,
I come quickly. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, Oh, may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness
alone, faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. Let's pray. Lord, we confess that this creation
was created for thy coming. And how thankful we are that
you came. How thankful we are that you
did what you came to do. And how thankful we are that
you're coming again. And Lord, we say with the Apostle
of old, even so, come, Lord Jesus. In his blessed name we pray,
amen.