Jesus Is Coming Again - Nathan Yoder

Greetings to one and all in the name of Jesus,

to each one that has gathered in tonight for this

final service. A week of meetings like this indeed look

different from this end than from the other end. It's

just life's like that. But it has been a good

week for me. It's been a challenging week. It's been

a little stretching, as meetings like this are to try

to discern the will of God day by day in

preparation for the next evening. But it has been it

has been a blessing. I want to thank you for

your attentiveness and attention and attendance here this week. That

has been a blessing as well. I want to especially

thank and Lindsay for their hospitality. We enjoyed their little

house and their front yard there this week, and it

was very suitable for our needs. We enjoyed being there.

Also appreciate the hospitality of many who invited us into

your homes. We would have enjoyed being in all of them.

We don't need to eat that often, and so we

weren't in each one's home, to be sure, but we

very much enjoyed the hospitality of those that where we

were able to be there with you. I want to

thank you too for the kind gift this afternoon that

was given to us. Understand, these things originated, for the

most part in Oregon, and we will remember you as

we enjoy those things things. Indeed, this has been a

new territory. I'm not one to just stay at home.

We get about probably more than is ideal. And yet

between Virginia and Canada and Minnesota and Tennessee, we don't

often stop in Oregon on the way there, and so

it seems kind of off the path. But we have

pondered these things. I guess for about five years that

Leyland first contacted us, and we've talked about this. At

that point, twenty twenty six seemed like a long, long

ways out in the future, and here it is, And

who knows what the future holds. I certainly don't. I

don't suppose any of us do. But the truth of

the matter is it is here. Another week has gone.

I'm reminded of the fact that tonight we are seven

days nearer our Lord's return than we were last week

this time even Monday night, and those days continue on.

And I know there's some that are not here who

have attended or elsewhere with a funeral. And isn't life

just that way? The days go on and one by

one we pass from this life, and that's part of

the plan of God. I'm so thankful that God doesn't

get older. It was mentioned tonight that he's outside of time,

and I truly believe that our Lord Jesus is anticipating,

waiting for that time when our Father says it's time

to bring the church home and there will be that

great reunion in the sky. Like to bless you with

the words of Paul to the Ephesian brethren, where he says,

and now, brethren, I commend you to God and to

the word of his grace, which is able to build

you up, to give you an inheritance among all them

that are sanctified. And that is my desire and prayer

for you, that the Lord would continue to work in

your midst and purify unto himself a people zealous of

good work. And how's the orgon? I know there's temptations

and situations issues here, just like there are on the

East Coast. And I don't think that kind of a

geographical difference makes much difference to our enemy. He's after

our soul. But we have a good God who loves

us and has provided all things that pertain to life

and godliness, and we can trust him. I invite your

attention tonight the First Thessalonians, chapter four. There's a scripture

here that I want to consider and look at in

somewhat of an expository way. That's my preference in preaching.

I will do topical if a sign, but my preference

is to look at a portion of scripture and try

to understand what that scripture would teach us, and to

expound it from there. I love First Thessalonians. So many

truths here in this good book. And in the first

part of the chapter he tells us what the will

of God is. Many people, like I said the other night,

they say, if we know the will of God, we

would do it. Well. Here we have a verse that

tells us what the will of God is. In verse three,

it says, this is the will of God, even your sanctification,

and that is the idea of holiness and of being

set apart for the Master's good work in our lives.

The scripture that I have in mind is from chapter

four and verse thirteen through the first section of chapter five,

And there are two verses that are repeated in this

that give me the impetus or the context for this message.

The first one is in chapter four, verse eighteen, and

the other one is in chapter five, verse eleven. You

may want to pay special mind to those as we

read this portion chapter four, beginning in verse thirteen. But

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 we believe that Jesus died.

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 them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall

descend from heaven with a shout and 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.

And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore

comfort one another with these words. But of the times

and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write

unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of

the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

When they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction

cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child,

and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not

in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief.

Ye are all the children of light and the children

of the Day. We are not of the night nor

of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others.

But let us watch and be sober. For they that

sleep sleep in the night, and they that be drunken

or drunken in the night. But let us, who are

of the day, be sober, putting on the breast plate

of faith and love and foreign helmet the hope of salvation.

For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to

obtain salvation by our Lord, Jesus Christ, who died for us,

that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together

with Him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another,

even as also ye do amen to this beautiful passage

of scripture. The subject that is on my mind to

not tonight. The central theme of this portion that I

read simply points to a major event that is yet

to come, and that's the return of our good God.

And that is the title. I'm going to leave it

with a very simple thought that Jesus is coming again.

Jesus is coming again. Now oftentimes when we think about

the factor of Jesus coming again, it's given as a

warning message. And indeed there are aspects of this message

that are warning. That's not my impetus tonight. That's not

what I think is the central thought of this portion

of scripture. But indeed it is very sobering to ponder

in our hearts the idea of Jesus' return. The Bible

is clear that when he returns that there will be

no changes made at that point. The way we are

when Jesus returns is the way that we will be

throughout eternity. Therefore, it is imperative that we prepare to

meet our God. What will it be like to stand

before him? Romans tells us that every one of us

is going to give account of himself to God. The

person besides you is not going to be able to

vouch for you husbands. You're not going to be able

to do that for your wife or wife for husbands.

There will be no time for excuses. We should prepare now.

There's another sobering thing that comes to my mind as

I think of the return of our Lord, and that

is there are too destinations where every one of us

is going to spend the rest of eternity, whatever rest

of eternity is, because there is no time limit to eternity.

The Bible is very clear on that. We could look

at scriptures like in Matthew twenty five where it tells

us that there is coming a day And I'm not

going to try to put some of these events in

a very nice timeline that's outside of my thoughts tonight,

But there is coming a day when all nations are

going to be gathered before the throne of God, and

Jesus is going to be there, and the Bible tells

us that the books are going to be opened and

another book. He's going to be checking whether your name,

whether my name is in the Book of Life, and

it says there that we are going to be judged

according to our works, and he is going to separate

the one from the other, and there's no gray area

in that great step. It will be either on the

left hand or it will be on the right. Which

side will you be on? That's a pressing question for

us to consider tonight. Another thought is, as I think

of the coming of Jesus, is the fact that your

condition is terminal. I don't know what you're fussing with tonight,

but your condition is terminal. Now. Sometimes we find that

when somebody is they're diagnosed with cancer is probably the typical,

and somebody says you have about six months to live. Well,

the simple truth of the matter is that it is

appointed and too men wants to die. And after this

the judgment, you and I are going to die once

and after that we will meet God. And that is

a very sobering reality. It's like being It's like we're

on an airplane that where we have a one way

ticket and that airplane's go on a crash. We don't

know when, we don't know how long it'll fly, but

at some point in the future that thing's going down.

We aren't going to live here forever. It's a sobering

reality that we need to consider. And he uses a

word here in verse thirteen that is as a word

that kind of stops me in my tracks. I didn't

really pay mine to this until later this afternoon. I

was meditating on this portion of scripture, and he says

that we don't do it as those which have no hope,

no hope. I don't know if I can think of

a situation a more despairing description of people on the left,

then no hope. As long as there is life, there

is hope. You know, there's times that a critter is

sick and we give it shots and antibiotics, and we

still have hope. But we know what it's like when

you come out to the barnyard and something is laying there,

whether it be a calf or whatever you are farming with,

and we think it's kind of strange the way it's laying,

and then we kind of poke it and it's stiff,

and there's no hope. That animal will never live again.

It has passed the point of hope. And in Ephesians

he talks about a group of people that have no

hope and are without God. Tonight, we have hope. Tonight

we are in a time when we can still choose.

We can choose the direction that we want to go.

We are not in that position. But having given these thoughts,

this is not the heart of my message tonight. This

message is different. This message is for the child of God.

I'd like to bring a message of hope, a message

of encouragement, a message of spurring you on toward preparation

for the return of Jesus Christ, something that we look

forward to. It is as he says in verse eighteen,

wherefore comfort one another with these words. Now, the word

comfort here, the way it is used is not the

kind of thing where we help each other when we

are in grief and sorrow. I'm not quite sure why

the word is translated comfort. There in my Bible, there's

a little number there, and then there's another word in

the center column, and the word is exhort and that

is indeed, I think a better translation. It's that way

in verse eighteen, where he would say, wherefore, exhort one

another with these words, And indeed exhortation can be comforting,

to be sure. Chapter five and verse eleven exactly the

same word is used, and the same word in the

Greek is used in both of those places where he

says comfort yourselves together and edify one another. He says.

I think what he's saying there is exhort one another,

encourage one another, challenge one another, and edify one another,

even as also ye do. And in that edification and exhortation,

there is preparation that is being made for the time

when Jesus will return. Now thinking of that, actually that

word is paracleo, and that's a very interesting Greek word.

The Holy Spirit is called our paraclete. It's the same.

The word para has the idea of coming alongside. It's

a you know what parachurch organizations. Our parachurch is an

organization that operates in conjunction with, but beside or alongside

a church. That's a that's a parachurch organization. Well, here,

this here is a he calls it a paraclet. It's

a coming alongside. He says. We are to come alongside

each other and help one another. And it's translated comfort

in the in the King James version. But as we

come alongside each other, we are being we are being

paracleos to each other. And like I said, the Holy

Spirit is the paraclet because he comes alongside, he's actually

within us and he comes along, and he he helps us,

and he guides us, and he speaks to us, and

he ministers to us. He's the paraclet of God. And

so this is a very interesting word. It's very much

related to the Holy Spirit in what we do for

each other, in coming alongside and encouraging one another. And

we want to do that now in this portion, we

are well, let's to say it this way, we are

time bound. We heard in the devotional that our Good

God is outside of time, but it just so happens

that we're not. And we can divide time into three sections.

There's that which is past, there's that which is present,

and there's that which is in the future. And the

things that have happened in the past. There are events

of history that we know about because they've been documented.

You probably have family history and church history. In fact,

Brother Leland gave us the church directory, which I appreciated

so much. It gave me the addresses so I could

find your houses when I was hungry. And it was

also interesting from the standpoint that for each of the

churches there's a history that's given and I enjoyed that

very much. To read through that and to see a

little bit of the background of the churches here in

the valley. But beyond that we have documented here an

incredible history. Of course, this isn't just a history lesson

or a history book, but it certainly does give us

the history of the last what thousands of years, six

or seven or ten. I don't know what your timeline

looks like. I'm thinking it's something along that line. It

certainly isn't millions of years, to be sure, but there's

a there's an accurate documentation here of the past, and

so we know things that happen in the past. Then

we have the present, and we have a certain assurance

of what's happening in the present. I'm fairly confident of

where I am tonight and in this church and with

these people and so on. We understand the present, but

the future five years from now, five months from now,

I don't know what will happen. Five minutes from now.

We have no guarantee of the moral. We have no

guarantee of the future in any way, shape or form.

We have ideas, we have plans. I have a ticket

to fly back to Virginia. Those kinds of things we

plan for. But the future is veil it is withheld,

and so what do we know about the future. The

interesting thing is that this same book that tells us

about the past, and that tells us about the present

some things that are happening today, also tells us about

the future. And so tonight I can, with total confidence

and absolute certainty tell you that Jesus is coming again.

There's no question in my mind. That's not an if

or a maybe. That's a certainty. We know that the

Bible says it and it is true. Who now, when

Jesus came the first time to Bethlehem, it's interesting to

compare the first time and the second time that Jesus

is coming, as it is given here in these verses.

You see the first time that Jesus came, it had

been prophesied that he would come. We're not going to

take time to look at those prophecies, but there's prophecies

in Isaiah. There's prophecies in the Minor prophets that there

is a redeemer that is going to come. There were

many details, of course, that were veiled and so on,

but it was told that a virgin would be with child,

and that it was going to be in Bethlehem. Of

Judea and that kind of thing. There were some that

were anticipating that time. In fact, way back Eve when

she bore Cain, and I don't know, I tend to

think Cain and Abel were twins. I don't have gospel

for that. But it doesn't tell us that she bore

Abel the later. It just says she bore Cain and

then her brother his brother Abel. But be that as

it may, I don't know if they were twins or not.

But the right after Cain was born, she named him Cain,

and she said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

And I think the reason she said that, I think

she thought Cain was going to be the redeemer that

reversed what the serpent had just done to her in

the garden. I think Eve was heartbroken and very sad

and repentant of the mistake that she had made. And

here she had been told in chapter three and verse

fifteen that there's going to be the seed, her seed

is going to smash, is going to crush the head

of the serpent. And here she had a boy, first

first birth, and I think she thought, here he is

I have gotten a man from the Lord. Well, all

down through history there were people that were looking forward

to that time, but he came, and there were people,

many people that never caught on. They saw Jesus and

they thought they just saw another man. They were not.

They never recognized him through his life. They criticized him

for the miracles he did, even to the point of

his death and resurrection. They looked at it with cross

eyes and with disbelief and said terrible things about it.

Now let's just move that forward to the Second Coming.

There's some unique similarities but also some differences. The first

one that I note is, just like the first Coming,

the second Coming is prophesied. We are told in Holy

writ over and over again that there's coming a time

when Jesus is coming back. Now we know from Peter

that there were those that said, come on, give me

a break. I mean, Grandpa was talking about Jesus coming back,

you know, and the years have rolled on and it

hasn't happened, and they said that it's it probably won't happen.

And he compares that to Noah's day, where Noah was

building the Ark and there was people that were a

little concerned at first, but as time went on and

there was no rain, the skies were blue, and Noah

kept preaching and he kept building the arc. Finally they said,

this is a bunch of bologney. This doesn't hold any

water whatsoever. And I didn't mean the pun there, but

there's water coming, and so anyway, they they finally just

shrugged their shoulders and said, so many years have passed by,

this is nonsense. Well, the water did come. The rain descended,

and the floods came, and that arc floated away. And

those people were of course not in the ark. So

it is prophesied, and there's some that are anticipating it.

There's people that are ignoring it, just like in the

Old Testament or the Old like the first coming. But

there's a big difference here, and that is when Jesus

came the first time, there was only a few, a

small number of people that found out about it. There

was a mother and father of course that realized that.

And then the messengers came in the sky and told

the shepherds, and they found out about it. And as

Jesus did his ministry, there was a dozen young men

who followed him and they found out about it, and

then of course the words spread and so on. But

it was still just a small number of people. Not

so when Jesus come back the second time, nobody will

miss it. Nobody will miss it. Every eye will see him,

even those who pierced him, those who ignored him, those

who cursed him, those who love him, those who hate him.

Every eye will see him come back. The Bible tells

us that Revelation one seven. Behold he cometh with the clouds,

and every eye shall see him. A couple years ago,

we were over in Israel, and it was very interesting

first time that I was on that patch of real estate.

And the guide was showing us around, and it was

very interesting. He was a Christian, a Palestinian Christian, and

he had many interesting things to say about the different

things that we saw. And we were out on the

Mount of Olives and there's a little there was a

little shrine built there and way there was many many

people there also way to go in that building. I

didn't know what was inside. There wasn't much inside. It

was basically just an open room. But once it was

our turn to go in, we stood there. It was

it was a very thoughtful time. But there was a

flat rock there in that building. And he said, he said, right, here,

Right here, he said, is where Jesus was standing when

he ascended. And he said, right from here he ascended

up to heaven. And he went on to give a

little sermon, and he said, and when the Bible says

that when he returns, he's coming back right here on

this rock. And I listened, and I stood it about

as long as I could, and then I raised my

hand and I said, my friend, I beg to differ.

And he was shocked. He said, what he said, the

Bible says that. I said, where does the Bible say

Jesus coming back on this rock? And he said, he

says it in Acts one. He said that these when

Jesus ascended, that these two men were standing there gazing

up into heaven, and they saw him go. And the

angels came and told the men that as you have

seen him go in like manner, he is coming back.

And he said, like manner means the very spot. I said, well,

I said, that's one interpretation. I said, my Bible tells

me that every eye shall see him. I said, I

live in Virginia. And I said, if Jesus comes back

right now, when we after we get home, I said,

I'm going to see him come back. He said, no,

you're going to have to travel at Israel. I said, no,

my friend, I said, we're not. I don't need to

go to Israel. I said, well, you wondered how I figure.

You know, the earth is round and it's a long

ways from Virginia to Israel. I said, I don't know

how it's going to be. But I said, the Bible

tells us that when my good God returns, every eye

shall see him, even those that are dead are going

to see him come back. I don't know. I think

I don't know what he thought of the conversation. Let's

just begin here. There's a couple of ideas that I

want to explore. The first one is simply the certainty

of Jesus' return. I want to highlight that so that

it is an indelible factor in our mind. The certainty. First,

the chapter four and verse sixteen. Did you see it

when we read it, it says for the Lord himself

shall descend from heaven. There it is for the Lord

himself shall descend from heaven. He is coming back. And

of course there's many other scriptures that would indicate the same.

If we look at chapter five and verse one, he says,

don't be ignorant of these things. He said, is not

even necessary that I would write to you for yourselves. No,

perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh, the

day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in

the night, and so on. We could turn to First Peter.

I don't think we'll take time to go there now,

Second Peter. But in Second Peter, chapter three, and I

think it's verse ten he says, In fact, it's highlighted

in my Bible because I love it so much. But

it simply says, but the day of the Lord will come,

And I have that part of that verse highlighted because

it is precious. The day of the Lord will come

as a thief in the night. And he goes on

to say, what will happen there when those things take place? Now,

I find it interesting that the disciples did see they

didn't see when Jesus. What did they not see? They

didn't see him rise from the dead when Jesus was

in that tomb. I don't know for sure why, but

there was in early in the morning Jesus came out

of that tomb. The stone rolled away. I think Jesus

actually came out, and then later the angels rolled the

stone away so the people could look in. I'm not

sure which one happened first, but the stone certainly didn't

keep Jesus in there. But now I think had Jesus

just disappeared or not been around, I think the disciples

would have said, well, where is he is? Will we

meet him next week? Will we meet him on the road?

I mean, where is Jesus? But that's not the case.

As they went out there on the Mount of Olives,

Jesus was there with them. He talked with them, and

then while they beheld and as they were there talking,

suddenly he simply started to rise. And they stood there

and watched him go, the Bible tells us, until a

cloud received him out of their sight, and there he vanished,

And so they knew where he was. They saw with

their eyes they saw him go up into heaven, and

they knew he was there. And it says that the

angels came and said this same Jesus. And I'm sure

that was precious to them, because they loved this man.

They loved Jesus, he was their friend. And they saw

him disappear, and the angel said this same Jesus is

coming again to the disciples in John fourteen. There's that

certainty is established there as well, where Jesus said, let

not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God. Believe

also in me and my father's house or many mansions.

He says, I'm going to go prepare them for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

what's the next phrase? I will come again. I will

come again, Jesus said, and receive you unto myself. That

where I am there ye may be. Also the certainty

of his return is unmistakable. It is firmly established in

scripture number two. When will he return? When will he return?

And how will he return? Well, there are various descriptions

given here. In verse two of chapter five, it says,

as a thief in the night, as a thief in

the night. And I think the idea there of a

thief in the night is simply the idea of suddenly

or unexpectedly, none of us expect a thief in the night.

And it's it's you know, there was there was no

prior warning that was for that specific time. And he

also in another scripture he tells us that but for

you that are looking for him. It's not so much

like a thief. We are expecting his return, and yet

it is. It's it's not. He doesn't give us the

time of day or the year, so it's unexpected in

that way. Another scripture that talks about his return says

it will be in the twinkling of an eye. I

think that's in one Corinthians fifteen, in the twinkling of

an eye, that that time is. And when Jesus was

here he said that no one knows when he's coming back,

but of that day or hour knoweth no one, not

even the angels in heaven. And there he says, neither

the Son, but the Father only. There's a similar thought

in Matthew. Now there he says when he says neither

the Son. I think that's the only place that it's

used in that way. And I'm not sure how to

think about that. When Jesus was here, somehow though he

and the Father were one, yet it seems as though

that was withheld from him. Is it today? I don't know.

I would tend to think that it's not. I think

in the unity of the Trinity, I don't think there's

any secrets there that's beside the point in a sense.

But this we do know. In Matthew twenty four, where

he's talking about his return as far as how he says,

for as the lightning cometh out of the east and

shineth unto the west, so also shall the coming of

the sun of Man b lightning. He said, it like lightning.

I don't know what you think of when you think

of lightning, but it doesn't take lightning long to get

from point A to point B. It moves very quickly.

I looked it up tonight before I came to church.

They say lightning moves at about two hundred and seventy

miles an hour, and that's quick. And they say the

light from the lightning is of course much faster, and

that runs at the speed of light at about six

hundred and seventy million miles an hour, and so it fast.

That is, that's faster than your car goes. Right, It's

very very quick. So it's kind of an instantaneous thing

in the speed of light. And he said it's like lightning.

How else, what else do we learn from lightning? Lightning

is unpredictable. We don't know exactly when it's going to

strike sometime during a thunderstorm. We watch, we hope, we wait,

but we don't know exactly where or how it will strike.

It's a very interesting similarity to the return of Christ.

But there's another thing that we know about lightning, and

that is it's visible. It's very visible. It's bright, you

can't miss it. It's the kind of thing that wakes

you up at night by the flash, the brightness of it.

And he says, that's the way the coming. He likens

that to the coming of the Son of Man. In

Luke twelve, when Jesus was talking, he said simply that

at an hour when ye think not, the Son of

Man cometh. And so there the implication is that it's

at a time when we're when when we're ho humming,

when we when we aren't paying attention, when we aren't

expecting it, when we are just living life day by day,

and so it behooves us to look up and to

to consider these things when he comes. Now, one thing

about his coming over and over again, the Bible speaks

of his coming as near at hand, that it is soon,

and that's a that's an amazing idea. The great day

of the Lord is near. It is near and hasteth greatly.

That's from Zephaniah. And like I said, this has been

talked about for long enough. There's people that get tired

of waiting. But Hebrews ten thirty seven says, for yet

a little while, and he that shall come will come

and will not tarry. So there he says, it's in

a little while. James five tells us, be ye, also, patient,

establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

And in revelation several times we are told, behold, I

come quickly, and my reward is with me, and so on.

So the timing for as for as hidden as it is,

it's something that we should be expecting and looking forward

to and waiting with patience for that time when our

Lord returns. A few thoughts from this portion on how

and here I know I may be running on thin ice.

I'm going to try to stick real close to what

the scripture says. But I'm impressed with the simplicity of

the order of events as it is given here. I

love it. Verse sixteen. Let's just look at a few

ideas here that it says. It says for the Lord

himself shall descend from heaven. Jesus in all his dignity

and splendor and majesty and glory, is coming back, not

as a baby, but as the Lord of heaven and Earth.

He's coming back. That's the first thing that is mentioned there.

It says he's going to descend toward the earth, descend

from Heaven. The second thing it mentions is that there's

going to be a shout. I did some research. I

still don't know what that shout is. When a person shouts,

there's a if you are shouting, generally, there's urgency. You're

trying to get something or someone's attention when we shout.

But it says here that the Lord is going to shout.

Jesus is going to come with a shout, and he's

not going to be by himself. It goes right on

in the next few words and it says there's going

to be the voice of the arc Angel and the

trump of God, and that together the shout, the Archangel,

the trump. The whole idea is that it's an unmistakable

when he comes back. There'll be no missing it. The

between the shout and the trump and the voice, you're

going to hear it, You're going to see it, and

usually I expect this was referring back to the Old

Testament where when they wanted to call a solemn assembly,

when Moses wanted to call the people's attention to the uh,

to the tabernacle, or to make an announcement, they would

blow the trumpet. And when they blew the trumpet, the

people knew that it was time to pay attention. There's

announcement going to be made, there's a meeting going to

be called, there's a there's a gathering together. In fact,

usually they gathered together when the trumpet was called. In Corinthians,

it talks about when the trumpet is blown, if it

has an uncertain sound, the people don't know that they're

going to be gathered together. So we have Jesus coming back.

We have the shout that will that echoes across the world.

The next thing that we have is the third point.

It says the dead in Christ shall rise first. The

dead are going to be raised, And that's just an

incredible thought when you think of how many people are dead.

As I travel through the world, I notice the graveyards

in old countries they're much more crowded than they are here.

There's people being buried there much longer than they are

in America, and so there's often graves tight beside grave,

and graves stacked on top of grave and so on.

In the graveyards of Ukraine. At least we've been there

for a number of funerals. But one day it says,

the dead in Christ are going to rise first, and

how will they come out, and with what bodies will

they have? For Corinthians fifteen talks about that a glorious

body that comes out, there's going to be a change.

I'm not going to go into those details now. In fact,

I don't know much about it. The Bible talks about

new bodies, talks about change bodies in the immortal bodies

when it comes out when we arise. But it says simply,

in the order of events here, when Jesus comes back

and the shout goes forth, the dead in Christ are

going to rise first. And then notice what happens next.

These two groups of people, You're going to be in

one or the other, and so will I. The dead

in Christ are going to rise first. Then those who

are alive and remain will be caught up together with

them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

So there's an order that's given. The dead in Christ

rise first, and then those that are alive, and so

we expect that there will be faith on the earth

when that's still. When that happens, they will be caught

up to meet the Lord in the air. Philippians three

twenty one talks about who shall change our vile body,

that it may be fashioned like onto his glorious body,

and exactly how that will be. I think for those

of us that are alive, should Jesus come tonight, these

ceilings won't hold us. We will go right up through

there to meet the Lord in the air. And somewhere

in that transition we will have glorified bodies that will

be different from what we are now. And there, I

know there's questions we have. Will we recognize each other,

and will we know each other, and those kinds of things.

You know, we talk about meeting people in the in

heaven that have gone before us. I was discussing this

with an old evangelist years ago, and he said, well,

do you know these brethren and sisters now? I said yes, Well,

he said, you're going to be much wiser when you're there.

Certainly he figures that we will know each other there,

but it will be different. I have a wonderful wife,

but she's not going to be my wife an eternitive.

Jesus answered that question when he said that there's neither

male nor female in Heaven will be like the angels,

and I can't tell you how that is, but there

will be changes that will happen, and it will be

a glorious It's going to be. Okay, we can guess

what happens next. Perhaps he goes on there to say

that we're going to be caught up with the Lord

in the air, and so shall we ever be with

the Lord? I'm assuming that perhaps it is there that

we will be judged, that there will be a some

people call it a great White throne or another judgment

according to works and so on, but the eternal states

of everyone will be determined at that point. There will

be divide, there will be a separation that will take place,

and it will be final and it will be permanent.

And I know that's a perhaps that's too simple for us,

but I just love the simplicity of how Paul taught

the Thessalonians and how these events are going to take place. Now,

just a few other thoughts and questions that come to

my mind. What about those that have died already? I

know we've already answered that, maybe just a bit. But

in verse thirteen and fourteen, I find this very interesting

because he uses the word dead the dead in Christ,

and the word dead usually is not a very positive word.

It has a real ring of finality to it. But

I find another word that's used three times here that

has blessed me. In verse thirteen, he says there he

doesn't want them to be ignorant. Concerning those which are

not dead, he says, asleep those that are asleep, and

in verse fourteen them also which sleep in Jesus, verse fifteen,

where is it in verse fifteen the last phrase there,

we shall not prevent them which are asleep. Now, comparing

that with dead, there's some interesting comparisons and also some

very interesting ideas that arise from that. After a hard

day's work, when you have been up and about for

the last sixteen hours and giving it all you got,

what is more welcome than sleep? It is a time

of rest, it's a time of relaxation. It's a welcome state.

It's something we anticipate, we look forward to. The idea

of sleep is so different from the idea of dead.

And I know the idea of sleep. You know, people

sometimes catch a little bit in church or when they're driving,

and those are not ideal locations to do your sleep.

You should do that at another spot. But the implication

when we sleep is after labor, after toil, and we

get tired and we rest, and oh, it's so refreshing

to rest. Now, it's also interesting that when you sleep,

you are very much alive. Now that there may be

those that question that. I know there's people that when

they sleep, they do it in a very heavy way.

But the simple truth of the matter is, no matter

how solidly you sleep, you are very much alive during

that time. And if somebody throws some cold water in

your face or whatever they might do, you'll come to

pretty quick. You'll wake up. And he likens that to

those that have passed away and are dead. To be sure,

they have passed away and their spirits have returned to God.

Their bodies are buried in the ground. But he said

it's just like a sleep. And he said when the

Lord comes back boom, he said, they're going to wake up.

They're simply going to open their eyes, they will arise,

they'll awake to the return of the Lord. It implies

the resurrection. And when we think of waking, suddenly it's

not the I don't know how you feel, but I

don't fear going to sleep. I've done it many times

in my life. I go to sleep without fear at all,

because I have the full confidence that at some later

point I will awake again. And if not, it's okay.

My good God will take care of me if I

don't wake up. But you know what I'm getting at.

We can all asleep without fear. And the same thing

is true as we look at the return of the Lord.

We can look at that without fear. We can anticipate

it after our days, our life of work and toil,

and it's wonderful to anticipate the rest of sleep. And

then when the Lord comes, we open our eyes and revive,

just like you do in the morning when the sun

comes up. Now, as we think of that, and of course,

then in verse seventeen and eighteen, those aren't sleeping, he

leaves a category for those which are alive and remain

those who are are here. And obviously we know that

there will be a certain amount of people that will

be alive when the Lord comes back, and those will

not haven't fallen asleep. They will simply be changed in

a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. They will

go to be with him. Now, he says in verse

eighteen and five and eleven, he says, wherefore, comfort yourselves,

exhort one another with these words. And I have just

a few exhortations that I'd like to give to you

and encouragements in light of that return. The first one

is readiness. I'd like to encourage you and exhort you

to readiness Matthew twenty four and verse forty four, he says, therefore,

be ye also ready for in such an hour as

he think not, the Son of Man cometh. And so

that's something that we can do to each other. We

can encourage one another to be ready. And it should

be a deep concern to us if we see somebody

veering in a direction where they are obviously not prepared

for the return of the Lord, we should come alongside

and exhort and comfort and help return them to the

strait and narrow way. There's another encouragement, another exhortation, A

comfort is the idea of stewardship. Jesus gave this parable,

and he said, there was a man who gathered his

ten servants together delivered unto them ten pounds. And then

he gave them this injunction, and he said, occupy till

I come. Occupy till I come. That's my second exhortation

to you tonight, to occupy until Jesus comes back. The

word occupy simply there means to be busy, to be involved,

to use the talents and the gift that Jesus has

given you, to prepare for his coming again he will

we get to wow as a steward. What does a

steward do when his lord returns? He he came, and

he said, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. Your

pound has gained five pounds. Don't be like the one

who took his talent and buried it in the earth

because he was afraid of the Lord's return. We don't

need to fear. What we want to do is occupy

till he comes. In preparation for that time, how shall

we live until then? The third exhortation is to blameless

living first. Thessalonians five and verse twenty three. In fact,

there'd be a number there. You're still in First Thessalonians.

Look at that list in chapter five, where he says,

rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, quench, not the spirit, despise,

not prophesying. There's so many. These things are all preparations.

They are exhortations. In the Return of the Lord Verse

twenty three is what I want to come to, where

he says, in the very God of Peace, sanctify you holy,

and I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and

body be preserved blameless onto the coming of our Lord

Jesus Christ. Let's encourage one another. Let's exhort one another

to that end. And he also gives us another exhortation

in First John two. He says, and now little children

abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may

have confidence and not be ashamed, and not be afraid

before him at his coming. I don't know if there's

anybody here tonight that the return of the Lord strikes

fear in your heart, because you know you're not ready.

Oh brother and sister, I encourage you tonight. Perhaps there's

a son or daughter here, Maybe there's a child that's

been contemplating these things, and the weight of sin is

on your heart. I'd encourage you tonight. Knock on your

parents' door, tell them you want to talk, you want

to pray, and parents be sensitive to children that reach

that age of accountability where they are considering the fact

of the return of God in the preparation of being

ready for that time. As I think of these exhortations,

there's so many we could look consider, maybe just a

few more. There's one that talks about the complete transformation

that's going to take place. In Philippians three and verse twenty,

he says, for our conversation is in heaven. From whence

also we look for the savior of the Lord Jesus Christ,

who shall change our vile body, that it may be

fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working,

whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

I am so thankful for that change. Now. There's doctors

today that fix things, and there are pill peddlers that

promise if you take this, it'll change you into a

youthful person, and so on. And these things may have

their but there's nothing like the change that is coming

when our Lord Jesus is going to change our vile

body to his glorious body. I think of this so

often when we visit somebody that isn't feeling well. I

don't know if Susan is here, if she's listening in,

but I was thinking of her this afternoon when I

was preparing this. There's a time, Susan, when your feet

won't hurt in your mind will be clear, and everything

is going to be changed and made better. They're at

Faith Mission Home. We work with handicapped children, children with

special needs, children who's mind brain, if you please, doesn't

function as well as yours in mind. And the simple

truth of the matter is we have our problems too,

don't we. None of us are perfect, None of us

have a perfect understanding or a thing above between our ears.

There's limitations that we fuss with. But I know this.

There's a song that comes to my mind over and

over again as I think of these things, and that

is the song about the Hallelujah Square where the writer

says that I saw a blind man and he was

tapping along, and he was losing his way as he

passed through the throng, and I said to him my friend,

I feel sorry for you, but he said, no, you

don't have to feel sorry. No that the first verse

has tears filled my eyes. I said, friends, you can't see,

and he said, when I get to Heaven, I'm gonna see.

I'll see all my friends in Hallelujah square. And the

second verse says, and then I saw a cripple and

he was dragging his feet and he couldn't walk like

I do down the street. And I said, my friend,

I feel sorry for you. And he said, when I

get to heaven, I'm going to walk just like you.

And then he says, I saw an old man gasping

for breath, and he he'd soon be gone, as his

eyes closed in death, and as he said, my friend,

don't look so blue, he says, I'm going to heaven.

How about you. I'll see all my friends in Hallelujah square. Oh.

I love that that change, that we still have to

look forward to. My concluding thoughts are simply an exhortation

to anticipation. An exhortation to anticipation. I have several scriptures

I invite you to turn with me too. They're familiar,

but I'd like to just cement them. Into our heart.

Turn to Titus chapter two. Titus chapter two and a

few verses there, Oh, what a glorious anticipation that we

can have as we think of the return of our

good God verse eleven. And following there he tells us

in Titus chapter two, in verse eleven, for the grace

of God that ringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.

And then it tells us here what it does. It

teaches us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should

live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world that's today.

But look what he says in verse thirteen, looking for

and looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing

of the great God in our savior, Jesus Christ, who

gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from

all iniquity and purify unto himself. A peculiar people zealous

of good works. These things speak and exhort and rebuke

with all authority, and let no men despise thee. I'd

like to just encourage us tonight to keep looking for

that blessed hope and the glorious reappearing of our good God.

He is coming again. We don't know when. Indeed, for

many of us, it may be that we will meet

him when we pass from this life in death. But

even then we can look for him even in that situation.

That's just a translation from here to another life. Paul

told Timothy, I have fought a good fight. I have

finished my course. I have kept the faith. And henceforth

there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,

which the Lord shall give me it that day, and

not to me only, but onto all them also that

love his appearing and turned with me. Yet to Second

Peter chapter three. I've already quoted one or two verses

from there, but it's a beautiful portion. I'd like to

show you the setting and the things that Peter was

thinking about here in Second Peter chapter three. I noticed

I had you think about verse ten, where he says

the day of the Lord will come, and he goes

on to say some other things that are going to

happen there. But I'd like to just take you forward

to verse twelve. Verse twelve, he says, looking for and

hasting unto the coming of the day of God, where

in the heaven being on fire, shall be dissolved, and

the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according

to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth,

wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing we look for such things,

be diligent, that ye may be found of Him in peace,

without spot and blameless. I don't know that this needs

much commentary. It is such a beautiful portion of exhortation

and encouragement for us to look for the coming of

the day of God. He says, it's going to be

a traumatic time. There's going to be fire, the heavens,

he says, going to be on fire. The elements melt

with fervent heat. There was a time when people said

that's impossible, elements can't melt, regardless how much heat you

put to him. Well, today we know that elements can melt,

atoms can be split. Can you imagine when all the

atoms in the atmosphere would be split. It's an incredible

idea to think about the elements melting with fervent heat.

But in that we look for a new heavens and

a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Like to conclude with

Jesse Strout's poem from one hundred years ago. He said,

lift up the trumpet, loud, let it ring. Jesus is

coming again. Cheer up, e pilgrims, be joyful and saying,

Jesus is coming again, coming again, coming again. Jesus is

coming again. Echo it, hilltops, proclaim it, e planes. Jesus

is coming again again, coming in glory the lamb that

was slain. Jesus is coming again. Even so, Lord, come quickly,

God bless you, and Amen. I'm going to turn the

time back to brother Eric