Christ Is Coming Again

My subject today is Christ is
coming again. I'm going to read from the first
chapter of the book of Acts, verse 10 and 11. If you would
take your Bibles and look at verse 10 and 11 of Acts chapter
1. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? 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." Now, four great events shine
forth in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, four outstanding
events in the gospel of redemption. First of all, John tells us in
chapter 1 of the book of John, he, the Word, was made flesh
and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He,
he who made the world, was in the world, actually came into
this world, actually was born of a woman, actually was made
in the likeness of sinful flesh, he, the Son of God, came down
here to this earth and robed himself in human flesh and walked
on this earth. He knew what it was to labor,
to work, to have calluses on his hands, to earn his food with
the sweat of his brow. He knew what it was to be hungry,
what it was to be thirsty. what it was to be tried and tested
and tempted in all points as we are. He knew what it was to
suffer, to bleed. He knew what it was to die. He,
the Son of God, came down here to this earth. He actually became
a man. The Son of God became the Son
of Man. Who is this Jesus Christ? God
Almighty. God Almighty. Paul, speaking
to the elders at Antioch, said, you feed the Church of God which
God purchased with his own blood. That's right. And then in Hebrews
chapter 1, the scripture says, speaking of the Son, the Father
said, Thy throne, O God, is forever. Jesus Christ is God. Isaiah wrote
way back before he was born. Under us a child is given. Under
us a son is born. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God the everlasting Father. God was in
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. That's what I'm
preaching, and that's what the Bible teaches, that Jesus Christ
is not just an example. Jesus Christ is not just a messenger
sent from God. Jesus Christ is actually God
in the flesh. He's the God-man, put a hyphen
in between God and man, the God-man, the God-man. He's no less God
He's no less man, he's the God-man. Divine nature and human nature
merged into one. That's the first great event.
Now the second great event, or the great event that shines forth
in the gospel, he died on the cross. He who knew no sin was
made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. He actually bore our sins in
his body on the tree. The Son of God died. You say,
God can't die. God in the flesh can die. The flesh can die. Your flesh
will die. My flesh will die. And the flesh
that Jesus Christ bore died. It bled and it died. See from
his hands, his head, his feet, sorrow and love. flowed, mingled
down. Did e'er such love and sorrow
meet, or thorns compose so great a crown? Yes, that one on the
cross is God in human flesh, my substitute, my redeemer, my
surety, who came down here and took your place and my place,
obeyed the law for us, and died under the guilt of our sins. The third great He arose from
the grave. That Sunday morning, the first
day of the week, the women came to the grave, and the stone was
rolled away. And two men stood there in white
apparel, the two angels, and they said to them, Why are you
seeking the living among the dead? He's not here. He's risen. He's risen. Christ Jesus the Lord arose from
the grave. He's risen for our justification. His sacrifice and his offering
is accepted by the Father, and we are accepted in him. Christ arose for our justification. And then the fourth great event
is this. He ascended back to the Father.
He ascended, and there at the right hand of God, he sits. He's
seated at the right hand. The right hand of God is the
hand of power, the hand of love. the hand of acceptance, the hand
of special favor. That's the reason they used to
say, grant that my son may sit on thy right hand when you come
into your kingdom. Our Lord Jesus Christ is seated
at the right hand of the God of God. There is one God and
there's one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Paul wrote in Hebrews 7, 25,
he's able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him,
seeing he ever liveth. to make intercession for them. He intercedes for us. He's at
God's right hand as our representative, as our advocate, as our mediator.
As my friend Tom Bidjarnit likes to say, he's my lawyer. He's
pleading my case. Now, each one of these great
events, Christ became a man. Christ died on the cross. Christ
arose from the tomb. Christ ascended back to the right
hand of the Father. where he's seated, enthroned
in power, exalted, given a name above every name. Each of these
events points to the fifth, the fifth great event, the fifth
great link in this golden chain. The same Jesus who came down
here through the womb of Mary and visited this earth as a man
is coming again. This same Jesus who bore his
cross, that heavy wooden cross on his lacerated back up that
steep Mount Calvary, and was nailed to that cross and died
between two fields, is coming back again. This same Jesus who
was buried in Joseph of Arimathea's borrowed tomb, who had the great
stone rolled in front of that tomb and the stamp of the Roman
Empire put upon it and the guards of the Roman army stationed about
it, the power of God brought him out of that grave, he's coming
again. This same Jesus who stood there
on the mountain with his disciples and ascended back to the Father
where he's seated at God's right hand, he's coming back again. If he had not come the first
time in humiliation, he would not come the second time in glory. If he had not been born under
the law to establish for us a perfect righteousness, he could not come
to receive the reward of his labors. If he had not died on
that cross, taking the sting out of death, he could not come
to destroy the enemy which he conquered on that cross. If he
had not risen from the tomb, the trumpet could not sound for
the resurrection of those who trust in him. and those who rest
in him and those who sleep in him. If he had not ascended up
to the right hand of God, if he had not ascended where he
is seated today in power, in exultation, how could he come
back from up there with ten thousand of his saints? The eleven disciples. Our Lord had risen from the grave.
He had appeared to his disciples at different times, different
And now they were walking together, the Master and the eleven disciples.
Judas had hanged himself, he was gone, but there were eleven
of them left. And they were walking along together, and they were
walking towards Bethany. They'd been that route before.
That was the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. And as they
were walking along, our Lord was talking to them. And then
they reached the brow of the hill, and our Lord lifted his
hands to bless his disciples. And the scripture said, as he
blessed them, as he blessed them. He was taken up from them into
heaven, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And as
he went away, they stood there gazing into heaven, and they
watched him till he went all the way out of sight, and he
just kept standing there gazing into heaven. And these two angels
appeared to them and said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye
gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, this same Jesus,
that's what I'm saying, which is taken up from you into heaven,
shall so come in like manner as you've seen him go. Now, his
first coming and his second coming are alike in many respects. There are many things that are
very much alike They have some degree of likeness in these two
comings. Now, let me point them out to you, and then I'm going
to show you how the second coming of Christ will be totally different
from the first coming. Now, both the first and the second
coming of Christ are personal appearances. This same Jesus. When Christ came to this earth
the first time, he came not as a spirit, he came as a real man,
having flesh and bones. He walked this earth. He ate,
he slept, he wept, he worked, he died. He was a real, live
human being. In fact, after he arose from
the tomb and appeared to his disciples, they were afraid.
They thought they'd seen a ghost. They saw him die. They saw him
buried. And now here he is standing in
front of them. And they thought they saw a ghost. And he said,
Be not afraid, it is I. handle me, feel the nail prints. Have you got something to eat?"
And they gave him a honeycomb and a fish, and he stood right
there in front of them and ate it. He said, a spirit does not
have flesh and bones as you see me have. Sometimes people want
to discuss what kind of body we're going to have when we're
raised from the grave. We're going to have a body like
Christ. When our Lord came forth from the tomb, he had a body
of flesh and bones, a resurrected And that's what we're going to
have. This same Jesus, the same body that hung on that cross,
is going to sit on the throne. The same hands that were nailed
to that tree are going to hold the scepter in a personal reign.
This same Jesus, personal appearance. And then secondly, the two comings
of Christ are both alike in that both of them are promised by
the Father. The early believers were thrilled
at the prospects of the coming of the Redeemer. The promise
of God for his Son to come into the world, to redeem the world,
made glad the hearts of early believers. Christ said, Your
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and he was
glad. What's he talking about there?
Abraham had the promise of the coming Redeemer. He believed
that promise. Moses wrote that. He said, The Father will raise
up from among you a prophet, like unto myself, him you shall
hear." And then when one of those people were converted there in
Samaria, they went to the people and said, Is not this the prophet
of whom Moses wrote? The Christ? Job sought his day. Job said, I know my Redeemer
liveth. Job is supposed to be the oldest
book in the Bible. And Job wrote even before Moses. And Job said,
I know my Redeemer liveth and he'll stand on this earth someday.
He's going to stand on this earth. So the promise of his first coming
delighted and thrilled the hearts of the early believers. And today
the promise of his second coming delights and thrills the heart
of every believer. This is the way our Lord comforted
his disciples when he was about to go to the cross. They were
walking there in the garden, I suppose, or in the upper room,
and Christ said, he saw they were bereaved and troubled and
sorrowful, and he said to them, let not your hearts be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house and
many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you, I
go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again. and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there you may be also." He comforted their
broken hearts, their bereaved, sorrowful hearts, with the promise
of his return. And then down there in Thessalonica,
some of the people had lost loved ones. Their loved ones had died,
they had buried them. And you know what Paul used to
comfort these believers who had lost loved ones? He said, the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a with the voice
of the archangel, the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall
rise first. And then we which are alive and
remain unto his coming shall not precede them, but we shall
be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. Wherefore,
comfort ye one another with these words." What words? The coming
of Christ. That was the way he comforted
his disciples, and that's the way Paul comforted the people
at Thessalonica. Now, no man knows when Christ
is coming. These people who are always setting
dates for the coming of the Lord are playing the fool. Our Lord
said, He said, No man knows the day of the hour when the Son
of Man cometh. The angels don't know, the Father alone knows.
And it would be foolish for me to start setting dates for Christ's
return. I don't know and you don't know.
I think this about prophecy. I think we're going to understand
these prophecies and these promises when they are fulfilled. I think
it's like Peter standing on Pentecost when he preached the great sermon
when they spoke the gospel in other languages. He said, this
is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, saying, your sons
and daughters shall prophesy. This is that. This is what Joel
was talking about. And I believe we know very little
about what's going to happen in the future, and people that
get great crowds and astound people with their knowledge of
the future, prophecy, what's going to happen to Israel, what's
going to happen to Russia, what's going to happen, they really
don't know. That's all speculation. We only know this, Christ is
coming. When he's coming, we don't know. But we know he's
coming. And we're not leaning on speculation.
And when these things are fulfilled, When these prophecies come to
pass, we'll be able to look at the scripture which we have read,
and we can say, why, this is that which was spoken by John
in the book of Revelation, or Daniel, or Ezekiel, or one of
these others. And then the second coming, like
the first coming, will be unexpected by most people. 2 Peter 3, verse
3, they mock, they laugh, they say, where is the promise of
his coming? Since the fathers fell asleep, all things continued
just like they were. Where is your Christ? He hasn't come yet. Well, they
didn't expect him the first time either. When he came the first
time, he was in the world, and the world knew him not. He came
unto his own, and his own received him not. There was no room for
the Son of God to be born in the inn. He had to be born in
a stable. And when they saw him, they said,
there's no beauty about him that we should desire him. Who is
he? Everybody that was anybody turned thumbs down on him. They
didn't recognize him. And when he comes back again,
people won't be looking for him either. But somewhere, Simeon
was looking for him. Simeon took the child Jesus up
in his arms in the temple, and he praised God, and he said,
Father, Lord God, now let thy servant depart in peace. I've
seen thy salvation. Or blessed are the eyes that
saw him, blessed are the ears that heard him, blessed are the
lips that kissed him, blessed are the hands that touched him,
blessed are the hearts that loved him, those that look for him. And unto those that look for
him shall he appear the second time, without sin unto salvation."
My friend, have you touched him? Have your eyes seen him? Have
your ears heard his sweet, precious voice? Have you kissed the Son? Have you touched him? Reach out
and touch the Lord while he's passing by. You'll find he's
not too busy to hear your hearts cry. Some of you are getting
up in years. Have you touched the Lord? Would
you know him if he came? Are you looking for him? Reach
out and touch the Lord. He's passing by this moment.
Your need's to supply. Reach out. touch the Lord. Don't wait till he comes in judgment
to call on him. Don't wait till he summons you
to come to him. Don't wait till your ears are
deaf and try to listen. Touch him now. There are many
ways in which these two comings are different, though. He came
the first time as an infant. He's coming the second time,
beyond my vocabulary, as the infinite He came the first time
to a manger, surrounded by cattle, shepherds, poor people. He'll
come the second time surrounded by all of the glorious host of
heaven. He came the first time born to
trouble, coming back to indescribable glory. He came the first time
in poverty, he's coming back in wealth and majesty. He came
the first time as a lamb, and opened not his mouth. coming
back as the King of kings and Lord of lords. He suffered alone
the first time, he'll be accompanied by millions of saints and angels
and redeemed ones. Men cried the first time, crucify
him. They'll cry the second time for
the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from the
face of him that sitteth on the throne. There'll be a difference
in the treatment he receives when he comes back. The first
time the prophet wrote of him All that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out their lips and
they say, he trusted in God. Let's see if God will have him
now, if God delights in him. I am become a reproach, despised,
rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. But oh,
when he comes again, when he comes again, every eye shall
see him, every knee shall bow in heaven, earth, and hell. and
every tongue shall confess that he is Lord, absolute, unchangeable
Lord, in heaven, earth, and hell, to the glory of God the Father.
Then ye Pharisees step forward and try to entangle him in his
talk. Then ye Herodians, where is your penny to hold in his
face and try to test his loyalty to Caesar? Step forward now,
you Sadducees, have you no riddles to ask him? And Judas, you don't
have a kiss to plant on the cheek of the Son of God. Pilate, come
forward now and take your basin of water and wash your hands
in mock innocence, saying, I have nothing to do with this just
man. Ye soldiers, where is the crown of thorns now? Sit him
down in a chair and pluck out his beard and slap him on the
face and say, Prophesy, who slapped you? Go and get your mocking
robe now and put about his shoulders. Go and get your reed and put
it in his hand. Have you no songs of mockery
now? Oh, I know what your songs are
now. Oh, rocks and mountains, fall on us. Fall on us and hide
us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne. It's going
to be a lot different, a lot of difference in the treatment
he'll receive when he comes again. They'll cry, Lord, open to us,
and he'll say, the door is shut. You'll seek me and not find me,
you'll call upon me and I'll not hear you. And he says in
Proverbs 1, I'll laugh when your calamity cometh. Now is the accepted
time, today is the day of salvation. There's another difference in
the second coming and the first coming. There will be a difference
in the purpose of his coming. He came to endure the first time
the penalty of sin. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree. He paid the debt, all the debt
I owed. Sin left a crimson stain. He
took that debt, numbered with a transgressor, and made it white
as snow. But the second time he comes,
he's coming to receive the reward. My reward is with me. He came
the first time to serve. He said, I am among you as he
that serveth. He's coming the second time to reign. Do me no
poor little Jesus when he comes a second time. He came the first
time to save, he's coming back to judge. He came the first time
to open the door of grace, to extend his arms and say, coming
to me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest.
He's coming the second time to close that door. And he said,
God openeth and no man shutteth, and when God shutteth, no man
will open it. He came the first time to invite the guilty. Come
unto me, O everyone that thirsteth, come to the water. He's coming
the second time to separate the rebel, to hear him say, Depart
from me, I never knew you. He came the first time with a
sin offering for justice. He's coming the second time to
administer justice. Paul writing in 1 Corinthians
16.22 says, if any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him
be anathema maranatha. You know what that means? Anathema
means accursed. Under the curse of God, under
the wrath of God, under the judgment of God, accursed. Let him be
accursed. Well, what does maranatha mean?
When Jesus comes. If any man loved not our Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be accursed when Jesus comes." I dreamed
that the great judgment morning had dawned and the trumpet had
blown. All the nations had gathered
for judgment before God's white throne. From the throne came
a bright shining angel. And he stood, John said, on the
land and the sea, and he swore with his hand raised to heaven
that time was no longer to be. The rich man was there at the
judgment, but his riches had melted and vanished away. A pauper,
he stood before God, his debts too heavy to pay. The good man
came to the judgment, but his deeds, when death came, were
left far behind. The angel that opened the record,
not a trace of his goodness could find. The moral man came to the
judgment, but his self-righteous rags would not do, for the men
who had crucified Jesus had passed off as moral men, too. The man
who had put off salvation, not tonight, I'll get saved by and
by. No time for me to think of religion.
At last he'd found time to die. And oh, what a weeping, what
a wailing, as the lost were told of their fate. They cried for
the rocks and the mountains. They prayed. You've never been
to a prayer meeting like that one. You've been to a prayer
meeting where men prayed to God. Here they're praying to the rocks.
You've been to a prayer meeting where men cried for the lion.
Here they're crying for death. You've been to Pratt and Eaton
when men cried for God's presence. Here they cried for his absence.
They cried for him. They prayed for him. But their
prayers were too late. It's not too late now for me
and for you to think on things eternal, to set our affections
on things above, to prepare to meet God. He's coming again. He went away, but not to stay.
He's coming again. Join us next week at the same
time. Until then, Henry Mahan, bidding you a very pleasant good
day.

Christ Is Coming Again

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