The Coming of the Son of Man

Introduction and Prayer for Illumination

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, June 5th, 1988, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. May I urge you to turn in your own Bibles, please, to the 13th chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Mark and the 13th chapter.

0:36 And I shall read the first four verses, and then verses 24 through 27. In our consecutive expositions, we have come to the paragraph bounded by verses 24 to 27. But in order to put this entire discourse once more in its very clear setting, I read the first four verses.

1:07 Recording the activity of our Lord, Mark writes,

1:16 Teacher, behold what manner of stones and what manner of buildings. And Jesus said unto him, Do you see these great buildings? There shall not be left here one stone upon another, which shall not be thrown down. And as he sat on the Mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him, Privately, tell us, when shall these things be?

1:52 And what shall be the sign when these things are all about to be accomplished? In Matthew's more enlarged account, their question was twofold. When shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the age?

2:15 Now verse 24. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he say, Send forth the angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Let us pray and ask God by the power of his Spirit to grant us, by the illuminating and powerful ministry of the Spirit, to sense something of the wonder and the glory of that which our Lord, speaks about in this paragraph. Let us pray.

3:26 O God, our Heavenly Father, as this morning we are brought in your providence to this paragraph in which our Lord Jesus Christ himself speaks of his own second advent, the day when he will come with power and great glory. O how we plead that his own Spirit, will be present in this place, removing from our minds all idle curiosity, all preconceived prejudice, all of the things that would keep us from receiving with meekness the engrafted Word. And we plead that the Holy Spirit will so attend the preaching and teaching of the Scriptures, that we shall, as it were, with the eye of faith behold our returning Lord, and by your grace be so prepared to meet him that the cry of our hearts at the end of our exposition will be that parting cry of your servant John, even so come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Review of the Olivet Discourse Context

4:49 Now, in our expositions of Mark chapter 13, verses 5 and following, commonly called the Olivet Discourse, we have had occasion to note and to underscore several times that the two great events which form the focus of our Lord's response to the question of the disciples concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction of the world, the destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction of the world, and the utter destruction of the temple, the two events that are brought into focus are the destruction of Jerusalem, an event which occurred in 70 A.D., and then his own second coming in power and glory at the end of the age. And in the opening up of this discourse, these two events stand in a place of constant prominence.

5:53 And as we've expounded the passage, I have suggested that verses 5 through 13 envision those conditions which in themselves will be no sign of the end of the age. For in response to their question, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign when these things are all about to be accomplished, when shall these things be, when shall these things be, when shall these things be, when shall these things be, when shall these things be, Our Lord's answer is, take heed that no man lead you astray. Don't be led astray by false signs. And then our Lord describes the conditions that will characterize to greater or lesser degrees the entire inter-advental period, the entire period from the time that he spoke through the destruction of Jerusalem and onward. To the very end. And it will be a period marked by religious deception, international disruption among men, both men with men, and great upheavals in the elements, earthquakes in diverse places and famines, and vicious opposition to the gospel and to those who espouse it. However, the people of God are not to be led astray

7:21 by the deception, nor are they to be troubled by the disruptions, for these things, Jesus said, are but the beginnings of travail, but the end is not yet. And they are not to be led to denial of Christ by the vicious opposition, but rather they are to persevere in believing and obedient confessional faith even unto the end. Then in verses 14 to 20, our Lord focuses upon those events which will clearly indicate the approach of the destruction of Jerusalem. And we saw in our exposition last Lord's Day that the organizing principle of verses 14 to 23 is the command of our Lord to those contemporaries to flee unto the mountains. And there are five, five distinct aspects that cluster around that command to flee to the mountains in conjunction with the abomination of desolation, whatever it was, it would be the temporal signal to the people of God that it was time to flee Jerusalem, to flee with urgency,

8:47 to flee in spite of the difficulties that would be experienced by pressure, pregnant and lactating women, to flee in spite of any difficulties in the elements, pray that it be not in the winter. And then our Lord indicates that the necessity for this flight was rooted in the great tribulation that would be associated with the destruction of Jerusalem, a tribulation that up till then was without precedent and subsequent to that time would be without precedent. Parallel, for in those days shall be tribulation such as there hath not been from the creation which God created until now and never shall be. And then our Lord gives the final hindrance to a quick flight and that would be the announcement that deliverance is coming in Judea from some messianic personage. And He says, believe them not, even though they are not in the world, even though they seem to attest their identity with signs and wonders, I have told you beforehand, when the abomination of desolation appears, flee. And even if someone says, no, I am Messiah, here are my miracles, I will deliver you, do not heed them, but flee for your own safety.

The Relative Time of the Son of Man's Coming

10:16 Now we come this morning to verses 24 to 27, which to all, all reasonable students of the Word of God, apply to that second great event, which is the subject of this Ollivet Discourse, namely, the second coming or second advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the central concern of the passage, for you will notice that in the structure of verses 24 to 27, verses 24, 24 and 25 lead up to the theme of verse 26, and verse 27 flows out of that theme once it is announced. But in those days, after that tribulation, then our Lord describes certain cosmic conditions, and He says in verse 26, Then shall they see the Son of Man coming, and having seen, and having seen Him come, then shall He send forth the angels. And so the theme of this paragraph is the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And so we shall study the paragraph

11:43 under the general heading of the coming of the Son of Man, and there are four distinct elements with reference to that coming that are brought into focus and articulated by our Lord. First of all, we have Him referring to the relative time of the coming of the Son of Man. Then He speaks of the startling accompaniments of the coming of the Son of Man. Thirdly, the dominant characteristics of the coming of the Son of Man.

12:18 And fourthly, the central concern of the coming of the Son of Man. May God enable us then as I attempt to open up the passage to have our minds follow the track of Holy Scripture. First of all, the relative time of the coming of the Son of Man.

12:42 Now I use the term the relative time because our Lord Himself tells us in verse 32, but of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. And when anyone professes to have such insight to the prophetic scheme that He can tell you the precise time of the coming of the Son of Man, stick your fingers in your ears, run from Him, for He is speaking falsehood. He claims to have more knowledge than, than the incarnate Son of God in the days in which He spoke. So I use the term the relative time of the coming of the Son of Man because there are words that refer to time in verse 24. But in those days after that tribulation, verse 26, and then, adverb of time, they shall see the Son of Man coming, verse 27, and then shall He send forth. So there is a reference to the relative time of the coming of the Son of Man.

14:08 You will remember those who were with us that in our introductory overview of the Olivet Discourse, I stated that this discourse illustrates one of the vital principles of predictive prophecy in Scripture. And the principle is that predictive prophecy establishes definite sequence, but it does so in terms of indefinite time. Predictive prophecy most frequently gives us a sequence of events, but it gives us an indefinite time reference with respect to those events. And the classic illustration is that of the mountain, the mountain range. Looked at from one point of the compass, we may see that this particular mountain peak has a valley of three miles between it and the second peak, and a valley or a flat plain of seven miles between it and the third peak. But if from another point of the compass we look at those three peaks, they seem to be overlaid one against the other. And often predictive prophecy simply announces peak one, peak two, peak three.

15:24 But it is for history to bring us to that point where we can see the time period between those peaks. And it's exactly the situation that is described before us in this passage. Our Lord clearly teaches that during the inter-advental period between the first and the second coming, there will be these characteristics of deception, disruption, and opposition, but they are not signs that the end is near. But in verses 14 to 23, our Lord gives a specific sign that will indicate that the destruction of Jerusalem is near, and it is precise enough that the disciples recognized it and the people of God were able to flee from Judea. Now, our Lord says, those days in conjunction with the destruction of Jerusalem would be marked by these intense afflictions that were unprecedented and would never be repeated, and with reference to that great tribulation in conjunction with the destruction of Jerusalem between 68 and 70 AD, notice verse 24, but in those days,

16:51 which is classic, technical, prophetic language extracted from the Old Testament, after that tribulation. So what is the relative time of the coming of the Son of Man? Well, we can say this much with absolute dogmatism, the coming of the Son of Man will occur after the events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem. of Jerusalem. It could not occur before those days, or Jesus' words would not be true. Jesus said in those days after that tribulation. Therefore, the Son of Man could not and would not come before the destruction of Jerusalem. But sometime after 70 A.D., He will most certainly

17:55 come. But in those days, after that tribulation, then they shall see the Son of Man coming. Now, subsequent revelation given in Scripture may place others events as necessary prerequisites to the coming of the Son of Man. But no subsequent revelation can cancel or contradict the words of our Lord. So for those disciples living then, all claims that the Son of Man had come while the temple was still standing, they could recognize those claims as being utterly false, and not true. Nothing but the lies of the devil and his false prophets. For us, we are able to look back and see Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple was leveled. That great unprecedented tribulation did indeed

19:03 occur. And therefore, unless subsequent revelation from Christ and His apostles embodied in the Scriptures speak of any other tribulation, then we cannot say that the Son of Man had come. There are many other events that must occur after the destruction of Jerusalem and before the appearing of the Son of Man. Apart from that, we can say with certainty, as soon as Jerusalem is destroyed and the temple is leveled, then the Son of Man can come.

The Startling Accompaniments: Celestial Darkness and Cosmic Disruption

19:37 And that's the relative time of the coming of the Son of Man. I say no more about it. Because the text warrants me to say that much and no more. But then notice how our Lord describes in the second place the startling accompaniments of the coming of the Son of Man.

20:01 Now in this building, we've had a number of weddings. My own daughters have been married in this building. And we've had many marriages since then, and it looks like some others are about to happen. And who knows what secrets some of you may be carrying in your hearts. But when we have weddings, the central figures are always the bride and the groom.

20:25 But then they have their entourage and their accompanying friends. And when we stand at the front and we see the bridesmaids and the maid or matron of honor coming, we know that they are the precursors and accompaniments. And so the first sounds of the music that bring in the attendants are the accompaniments of the coming of the bride that she might be joined to her bridegroom. Well, in the same way, our Lord describes those things that will accompany and be part of the heavenly entourage. Of the Son of Man at his coming. And they are nothing less than startling accompaniments of his coming. Two things are predicted by our Lord as the accompaniments, the context, the attendants, the entourage of his own return.

21:34 The first is celestial darkness. Verse 24. But in those days...

21:43 After that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light. Now as we think in the light of the original account of creation, the sun, the luminary given to the earth for the day and the moon by night, the moon deriving its light reflectively from the sun. Whatever these words may mean...

22:13 They are taken at face value. They announce a startling accompaniment of the Son of Man in terms of this description of total celestial darkness. The sun shall be darkened and of course, and as a consequence, the moon shall not give her light. And then the second thing our Lord describes is cosmic disruption.

22:42 Verse 24. Verse 24. Verse 24. Verse 24.

22:43 Verse 24. Verse 24. Verse 24. Verse 24.

22:44 Verse 24. Verse 24. And the stars shall be falling from heaven. And the old ASV captures the tense of the verb in that translation.

22:55 The stars shall be falling from heaven. There will be a process of the total disruption of our universe as we know it. Cosmic disruption. The stars will be falling from heaven.

23:10 And the powers that are in the heavens shall... And the powers that are in the heavens shall be shaken.

23:16 And what that means with precision, only God knows. And the second advent will reveal with certainty. But now these two things are the startling accompaniments of the coming of the Son of Man. But you ask, what do they mean?

Literal vs. Figurative Interpretation of Accompaniments

23:38 Well, if we had the time and we don't, we could turn to many passages in the Old Testament. And from which this language is extracted. We find in Isaiah 13.10 and 34.4, the book of Joel, chapter 2 and verse 10, chapter 3 and verse 15, Ezekiel 32, 7 and 8, and Amos 8 and verse 9, and several other passages, this kind of language about the sun being darkened, the moon not giving its light, celestial bodies playing leapfrog one way... One with another and coming into collision one with another.

24:19 And in all of those passages, that language is connected with the announcement by the prophets of a coming of the day of God in which Yahweh will come forth for unusual activities of judgment and of mercy. So that language came to signify language that points to the intervention of God in human history among the nations, both in judgment and in mercy. Now that leads to another question. How literal will these things be in conjunction with the coming of the Son of Man?

25:04 Is the celestial darkness purely figurative? Is the cosmic disruption purely figurative? Or will these things find a literal fulfillment in the return of the Son of Man? A literal fulfillment of which every previous figurative fulfillment prophesied in the prophets was but an adumbration and foreshadowing and earnest.

25:38 Well, some would immediately dismiss out of hand any literal fulfillment, but however, when we turn to the subsequent revelation of the Holy Spirit concerning the return of our Lord, we cannot do that and be responsible students of the Word of God. For when Peter describes the coming of the Son of Man in 2 Peter 3, notice his language. 2 Peter 3, verse 10, But the day of the Lord will come as a feast, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Verse 12, Looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements, and you'll notice the marginal reading, the heavenly bodies shall melt with fervent heat. But according to his promise, we look for new heavens and new earth wherein dwells righteousness. I resent being called a crass literalist when I suggest

27:05 that it could well be that our Lord is enunciating things that will come to pass in a very short time. In the light of the analogy of Scripture, surely it will not only be in a figurative sense a great day of Yahweh's intervention, so tremendously important and strategic that there is the figurative sense of the disruption of the nations and the overturning of existing institutions and structures. But we know from substance, consequent revelation, that at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, there will actually be an intervention that will impinge upon the substance of this earth and the substance of our cosmos as we know it, as our Lord purifies and renovates it and ushers in the new heavens and the new earth. And so we are back to the second great principle that I enunciated in our introductory sermon, which is to study that with regard to predictive prophecy, the only infallible interpreter, if it is not our Lord or one of his apostles, is history.

Contrast: First vs. Second Advent

28:26 And the event itself will be the infallible interpreter as to how much literalism is to be understood. But this much is clear, and this is the point that is vital. The first advent when the Son of Man came through Mary's womb, to take up his residence among us, to live out his life of voluntary humility, to effect that obedience to the law of God as the representative head of the new humanity, that obedience which was even now carrying him to death and rejection and to the cross and to the tomb and to glorious resurrection. May I say it reverently, the Son of Man came into the world, the first time, and there wasn't even a twitch in the whole world system.

29:25 Apart from the visitation of the heavenly host and the angels to some Judean shepherds, the world did not even twitch when the Son of Man came the first time. The bustling crowds were gathering there at Jerusalem under the edict of the Roman authority. Everyone was going, and everyone went in дв як в Н часть for facing His glory, and everyone hung there their bathing-bedди object. It was just a dodgy process and it was not meant to be single-minded practices.

30:04 Christ did not have enough money to spend the wouldlng for His own sake, but this was all that the person would do, and no one would ever receive it pricey. He did not take it from reproach for these events, nor could He fragen the people, for how it was. and the moans and the occasional shriek of a young maiden as she expels the God-man from her womb. And the world goes on without a twitch. But my friend, listen, at his second advent, when the Son of Man comes in his second advent, not only will the world twitch, the sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, and the powers in the heavens shall be shaken. God is announcing to the entire universe the appearing of the Son of Man in glory and in power. And one of the great motifs of Mark in presenting the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man and the mighty worker and the suffering servant is that,

31:22 following suffering comes glory, after humility comes exaltation. And though in his human mind our Lord had not received revelation from his Father about the day and the hour of his coming, he had received revelation concerning the startling accompaniments of his coming. And he knew, as surely as he knew, as he tells us in chapter 10, that going up to Jerusalem the Son of Man would be betrayed, handed over to the Roman authorities, be killed in the third day, rise from the dead. He knew that whenever the time of the second advent came in the will and purpose and appointment of the Father, he would come amidst these startling accompaniments of celestial darkness and of the Lord. And he knew that when the time of the second advent came in the will and purpose, far as there were saves of the Heckler and Koch family, He would not go to Jerusalem successfully, nor near Israel unless any hour of the third advent of our Lord and the Father were given. Then he showed a groaning display of his spirit and then showed a gentle, gentle speaking. And so he left Jerusalem in testing, he saw the falseoming of the Jews over the years, to lightly container the Lord, and then, with a flash ofuj Totallylichting from all makins of the Holy

32:45 Spirit, he saw Jerusalem and over it adorn Trials of the world and it was round and ordered, and it was filled with the power of thekr that He was in glory at the end of the year. And such things as that were to be spice in the according to the words of our Lord Himself? Well, first, it will be a personal coming of the Son of Man. Notice the language.

Dominant Characteristics: Personal and Visible Coming

33:05 And then, at that time, with those startling accompaniments, then shall they see the Son of Man coming. Now, when Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man, He's referring to nothing less than His own personal coming. Jesus of Nazareth, who as the Son of Man was on His way to Jerusalem to die, that same Jesus of Nazareth, that same personal Son of Man, would Himself return at the second day. Advent. You will notice in chapter 10, in verse 33, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles. They shall mock Him, spit upon Him, scourge Him, kill Him, and after three days, He shall rise again.

34:22 Now, listen carefully. When Jesus now says, after these things, after the tribulation of those days, and with these startling accompaniments, the Son of Man shall come, do you think the disciples would have had the slightest clue that He was speaking about a personal activity of the Son of Man in chapter 10, just a few days before? A personal activity involving rejection and suffering and death and resurrection, and now He uses the same terminology, the Son of Man comes, but there He means not His personal coming, but a coming by His Spirit, a coming by His other presence in the person of the Holy Spirit, a coming to set up His internal kingdom. Dear people, don't make our Lord guilty of playing verbal tricks on men. I'll not weary you with why men have forced that interpretation on the passage, suffice it to say they attempt to, and in so doing they twist the Scriptures. Our Lord is answering their question.

35:34 What shall be the sign that these things are all about to come to pass, which according to Matthew includes His personal coming again at the end and climax of the Messianic age?

35:50 This ties in with the analogy of Scripture, for you'll remember, the last sight that the disciples had of Him on that mountain, Acts chapter 1.

36:05 They are talking with the resurrected Christ. They are gathered about the resurrected Christ. They are making inquiry of the resurrected Christ. And our Lord tells them in verse 8 of Acts 1, you shall receive power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you.

36:27 Now verse 9, And when He had said these things, as they were looking, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. They saw the person of the Son of God, the Son of Man, Jesus of Nazareth, taken up out of their sight. And while they were looking steadfastly into heaven, as He was, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was received up from you into heaven. Who was that Jesus? The Jesus with whom they had walked. The Jesus whose hands had touched the lepers.

37:24 The Jesus who had been asleep in the stern of the boat, amidst the storm. The Jesus whom they had seen wrestle in prayer in Gethsemane. The Jesus whom they had seen impaled upon a Roman gibbet. The Jesus whom they had seen risen from the dead.

37:43 This same Jesus, in all the integrity of His glorified state, as the God-man, the Son of Man, this same Jesus, shall so, shall so, come as you have seen Him go up into heaven.

38:03 Dear people, though the coming of the Holy Spirit is an epical and glorious and advancing event in redemptive history, to confuse the coming of the Spirit with the personal coming of the Son of Man is to turn the Bible on its ear and to denude it of meaning. Know the dominant characteristics of the Son of Man begin with this, it will be a personal coming of the Son of Man. But secondly, it will be a visible coming of the Son of Man. Look at the language of the text, verse 26, and then shall they see the Son of Man coming. And here is a veiled hint, you see all through Mark 13, He said, you, you, you, you, you, you, you. But now He says they. Why did He do that?

39:06 It's a veiled hint that the second coming will not occur in their experience. Then shall they, He doesn't say then shall you. You see, if this coming is a coming of the Son of Man in power by the Spirit, they did see that. They were witnesses.

39:29 They were in the upper room when the Spirit came. He could have easily said, And you shall see. That is spiritually perceive the coming. My friends, that is twisting the word of God.

39:41 And if there is anyone here today who has been exposed to that opinion and determined to hold it against the clear teaching of Scripture. You have got a cause to defend, my friend, that you ought to seriously question in the face of the words of Jesus. They shall see the Son of Man coming. Amen.

40:03 They shall see him, unlike his first advent, when God, as it were, slipped his Son into the world by stealth. As I was wrestling with words to describe it, I said, Lord, is that irreverent to describe it that way? And I said, no, I don't think it is. He slipped his Son into the world by stealth.

40:25 He was here and no one knew it, except a few shepherds and some angels that announced it. But as far as the world was concerned, business as usual. Oh, in his second advent, it will be a visible coming of the Son of Man, particularly as it will be a coming amidst darkness and disruption. They shall see.

Dominant Characteristics: Universally Visible Coming

40:58 Notice, they shall see the Son of Man. But you say, Pastor, the they is indefinite. Who is the they? Is that just believers who will see him in a secret rapture?

41:12 Well, turn to the parallel passage in Matthew 24 for your answer. And to the confirmation in Revelation 1. But look at Matthew 24 and verse 30. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.

41:31 That's the Son of Man himself. He is the sign. Lord. What is the sign of thy coming?

41:36 He said, my coming will be the sign. I myself will be the sign. Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man who all the tribes of the earth. It will be a universally visible coming of the Son of Man.

41:59 And notice the explicit language of Revelation 1 in verse 7. And it grieves me that so many of the so-called great teachers of prophecy who love to give us an interpretation of every toenail of the beast and every horn overlook something so clear as that introductory statement. John is writing to the seven churches in Asia. Verse 4.

42:29 Grace to you and peace from him who is and was and is to come. And from the seven spirits that are before the throne and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness. Verse 7. Behold he comes with the clouds and every eye shall see him.

42:52 And they that pierced him and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him. Even so. Amen. People tell us.

43:04 Well. Matthew's account cannot be considered. That was written for the Jews and therefore the church is not in vision when it says the tribes of the earth shall mourn my friend to whom is Revelation written. To the seven churches in Asia Minor.

43:23 And the great comfort of the church is not that God who brought his Son into the world by stealth at the first coming will take his people out of the world by stealth at the second coming. Amen. The great and glorious hope is that he who came by stealth will come and every eye shall see him. Every eye shall behold him.

Dominant Characteristics: Majestic and Awesome Coming

43:49 It will not only be a personal coming of the Son of Man. It will also be a visible coming of the Son of Man. But thirdly it will be a majestic and an awesome coming. Look at verse 26.

44:04 A majestic and an awesome coming. Notice the emphasis falls on these words. He shall come. The Son of Man shall come.

44:18 In clouds and with great power and glory. And Matthew adds the word great to the word glory.

44:31 Mark omits it. But Matthew adds it. So we have every reason to say that our Lord's full word was. But.

44:41 The Son of Man will come in clouds and with great power and great glory. And those words refer to what I'm calling the majesty and the awesomeness of his coming. He will come in clouds. Revelation 1.7 says with the clouds.

45:05 The disciples saw him ascending up into heaven and it says a cloud enveloped. And took him out of their sight. Why all this emphasis upon the cloud? Well if you lived in Palestine you didn't often see clouds.

45:23 And that's why the cloud had much more significance as the sign of God's special presence. You remember it was the cloud by day that hovered over the tabernacle. The pillar of fire by night. The symbol of the special majestic presence of God.

45:41 And what God would come. Come in theophanies as he did upon the top of Mount Sinai. It was amidst fire and thunder and clouds and lightning. And as we read through the prophets we see that the clouds are the symbol of the special presence of God.

45:59 In other places clouds are likened to the chariots of Jehovah. And here is the picture that the coming of the Son of Man will be utterly and indescribably majestic. He will come in clouds. Visible, striking, unmistakable manifestation of God.

46:21 And listen. If the darkening of the sun is to be literal. And the veiling of the moon literal. Can you imagine how startling it will be?

46:31 Against the darkness of the universe. As dark as that midnight in Egypt. Suddenly the appearance of the brilliance of the Shekinah glory. And the person of the Son of Man in the midst of the clouds.

46:49 No wonder every eye shall see him. How could any eye do anything other than turn at this striking manifestation of the majesty of the returning Son of Man. He will come in clouds. It will be a majestic coming.

47:12 But with great power and great glory. But with great power and great glory. But with great power and great glory. It will be awesome.

47:18 You see, power is the opposite of weakness. The scripture tells us he was crucified through weakness. Self-imposed weakness marked the ministry of the Son of Man. Weakness coming to its culmination in death.

47:37 Voluntary, yes. But he was crucified through weakness, the scripture says. And what a contrast. In his second coming.

47:47 He will come with power. The opposite of weakness. And it will be power unleashed according to the determinate purpose of God. In order to bring blessing and judgment.

48:03 And then he comes, it says, with great glory. What is glory? It's the outshining of the perfections of God. The glory of God is the outshining of his perfections.

48:15 And when the Son of Man comes, this will be one of the characteristics of his coming. It will be majestic and awesome. Because there will be the total removal of the veil that is, it were, kept from men's sight. Who he really was.

48:33 And the veil will be taken away. And all of the inherent glory of the God-man will be contained by that glorified humanity that is God. The divinity of the incarnate God and all the brilliance of God's glory will shine forth from the returning Son of Man. No wonder Paul says in Titus 2, and I have a new appreciation for this text after my study this week, Titus chapter 2, he says we should live soberly, verse 12, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for the blessed hope.

49:14 And appearing. Of the glory of the great God and Savior Jesus Christ. What is the blessed hope? The blessed hope is not that we're going to be snatched away in secret before things get too hot.

49:30 The blessed hope is, my Lord, in terms of his weakness, every eye shall see him in his majestic glory. Every eye shall see him. And be strengthened. Be transformed.

49:53 Be transformed. And captivated. And captivated by the majesty of the outshining of his deity. Some of you familiar with the scriptures know that this language is rooted in Daniel 7, 13, and 14 and I have no time to take you there.

50:09 But it was his very reference to this before his accusers in Mark 14, 62, that became the final straw. They said hereafter, he said, you'll see the Son of Man coming in clouds and with good glory. The Son of Man, it's in heaven, it's in the heavens. And you will see the Son of Man coming in clouds and with gloom.

50:22 and with glory. And the high priest said, What further need have we of witnesses? He's a blasphemer. He claims to possess that which deity alone can lay claim to.

50:33 Coming on clouds with power and glory is the prerogative of God. And Jesus fully knew that. And though He did not know the day nor the hour of His coming, He knew that the coming would be majestic and awesome. And how could words be made more plain?

Central Activity: Gathering the Elect and Banishing the Impenitent

50:58 How could God make more simple and clear to us those things we need to know about the coming of His Son than to speak to us in these words? And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. Now having considered the relative time of the coming of the Son of Man, the awesome circumstances that will surround His coming, the dominant characteristics of His coming now fourthly and finally, notice the central activity at the coming of the Son of Man. What is the central activity which He Himself announces? Verse 27, And then, at that time, when the entire created universe sees the Son of Man, the Son of Man coming in clouds and with power and glory, and then at that time He shall send forth the angels and shall gather together His elect from the four winds from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. And here again using language taken from the Old Testament that speaks in terms of all the extremities of God,

52:25 God's created order, the central activity of the returning Son of Man will be what? It will be that of a universal gathering together of His elect. But it will not be a mere corralling of His elect. It will be a gathering of His elect unto Himself.

52:49 For in 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 1, Paul uses the same root word as, as is translated here, gathered together His elect. And he says, I beseech you by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto Him. Our gathering together unto Him. And is not that the emphasis of every passage that addresses the second coming?

53:21 Wherefore, Paul says, we shall ever be with the Lord. Comfort one another with these words. The central activity of the Lord Jesus Christ at His coming as the Son of Man will be to culminate and bring to its fruition all of the saving mercy that He purchased in His life of humiliation and suffering and death. It is then that we will be given our resurrected bodies that living in the Holy Spirit will be the first thing that we will be given that living in the Holy Spirit will be the first thing that we will be given that living in the Holy Spirit that living dead will be glorified.

53:58 The dead who have departed and gone to be with Him, their souls returning with Him shall join their resurrected bodies. 1 Thessalonians 4, 14-18. And our Lord's central concern in this passage and in many passages which speak of His return and the resurrection, it doesn't even mention many times the state of the unconverted, the state of the godless, the state of those who are not in the Holy Spirit. The state of those who died in impenitence.

54:27 Why? Because as we pointed out in another previous message, the focal point of prophecy is the salvation of God's elect. And that very terminology is used. Then shall He send forth the angels and gather together His elect.

54:44 Of all the terms that He could have used to describe His people, He wants us to know that what they receive in the culminating act of redemptive intervention, they receive as unworthy sinners who were sovereignly chosen to be the recipients of life and salvation. He shall gather His elect. But my friends, though that is the central activity, it's not the exclusive one. I want you to turn over to Matthew 13.

55:15 For those angels sent forth to gather His elect will have another mission at the same coming of the same Son of Man at the same time.

55:29 Matthew chapter 13. When our Lord is interpreting the parable of the wheat and the tares, notice His own infallible interpretation. Verse 40 of Matthew 13. As therefore the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be in the end of the world.

55:49 The Son of Man shall send forth His angels. Language parallel to Mark 13. Son of Man shall send forth His angels. To gather together His elect, yes.

56:02 But they will have another mission. The Son of Man shall send forth His angels and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that cause stumbling and them that do iniquity and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth then at the same time. Consequent upon that activity then shall the righteous shine.

56:29 Shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Oh dear friends, sitting here this morning, would to God all that Scripture spoke about was the activity of the Lord Jesus with reference to His elect that is coming and cast a veil of silence over those who are not His people. Would to God the Bible was silent, but it's not. And because, it is not silent, I cannot be sinfully silent.

57:03 For though the central concern of the Lord Jesus at His return focuses upon His own and gathering them unto Himself, He will surely and infallibly mark out everyone who is not His own. Every proud and penitent sinner, every indifferent, self-satisfied, smug sinner, every doubting, vacillating sinner who one day says, I should be saved, I ought to believe, but I've got other things to do and I have this to care for and that to care for, sinners of every stripe and every condition. His angels shall gather them and as tares they will be bundled up and cast into the lake of fire. My friend, do I need to expound the language? Isn't it horrible enough in just quoting it?

58:05 No wonder Revelation 6 says that when the great ones of the earth, the kings and rulers and servants and the lesser ones, when they behold the returning Lord and know that He's coming forth on a mission of judgment, they cry for rocks and mountains to fall upon them and to hide them from the face of Him that sits upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For though when He came as the Son of Man with stealth as it were, when God as it were sneaked Him into the world and there wasn't a twitch and it was business as usual and even right through to His death and resurrection the world went on its way and it goes on its way today as some of you do. The hour is coming when it will no longer be business as usual. The sun, the sun, the sun that lightens all around us today and you can see it through those windows, it will be dark. The moon will not give its light and when that darkness comes what will illuminate it is the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and with great glory and you're going to have feelings either to be gathered unto Him

Application: What is Clear Must Dominate Our Thinking

59:34 and forever to be with Him in the new heavens and the new earth or to be with Him in the new heavens or to be banished from His presence in the lake of fire forever and forever. That brings me in conclusion this morning to say just two very simple things in my final application and it's this. With reference to the second coming what is important is clear and what is clear must dominate our thinking. Do you hear me Christians?

60:07 With reference to the second coming what is important is clear what is important is clear and what is clear must dominate our thinking and what is clear He will surely come. The Son of Man shall come when He comes His coming will be known by all when He comes it will be the public vindication of Jesus of Nazareth. You see men struck through the earth now with all their opinions about Jesus of Nazareth there will be only one opinion when He comes. When He comes with power and great glory men will know Him to be what He claims to be in His word and what every true believer gladly confesses Him to be. That's clear. It will not only be the public vindication of Jesus of Nazareth it will be the visible manifestation of the success of His mission. People say Jesus was Prince of Peace how come there's war?

61:13 How come there's war? How come there's famines? How come there's blah blah blah? Jesus gets blamed for so much and the assumption is His mission has failed.

61:23 If His mission didn't fail there'd be no problems with crack and heroin and prostitution and AIDS. Whoever said He came to overturn those things? My Bible said at His conception Thou shalt call His name Jesus He shall save His people from their sins. There's not a word that says that.

61:45 There's not a word that says that. There's not a word that says that. There's not a word that says that. There's not a word that says that.

61:45 There's not a word that says that. There's not a word that says prior to His second coming He'll save the world order from the dominance of evil. No righteousness dwells at His second coming. Peter says after the fire of the final conflagration then will be the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwells righteousness and every square inch of God's earth and every square inch and every square inch and every cubic centimeter of the heavens above will have nothing but righteousness in it. Until then He has a mission and that is to call out His elect by the humble witness of weak vessels as we heard last week who preach about Christ. Christ in His unique person. Christ in His saving work.

62:48 Vessels of clay that call you to repent and to believe and seek poorly but really to manifest the saving power of Christ in our lives. My friends listen. The world may say ah Jesus' mission was a failure. Wars still go on.

63:07 He said they would. Didn't take Him by surprise. There shall be wars and rumors of wars. These are the beginnings of travail.

63:16 There are no signs of the end and there are no signs I'm failing. In my first advent I didn't count humanism in my first advent. I came to save my sheep. My people.

63:37 My elect. When He comes in glory the first thing He does is gather them all together. What a glorious public manifestation of the success of the mission of Jesus. Think of the likes of you and me will be as spotless as the new fallen snow.

63:58 God's eye won't be able to find one atom of sin in you or me. Think of it. Think of it. And we'll have bodies in which we can serve Him without sleep.

64:08 I won't have to feel what I felt this morning when after fighting up early yesterday prayer meeting elders meeting fighting traffic preaching in New York getting home after 10.30 getting to sleep about 11.30 alarm clock went off at 5.30 I said oh no six hours can't go that fast.

64:30 Push my weary body out of bed cry to God for strength to preach His word. Oh what will it be like not even to have to go to sleep and need the alarm clock. To have a body that can be the vehicle of a soul that will never have any dullness in its love to Christ. Never any flagging in its zeal for His glory.

64:54 Never turn to side to make an idol of His gifts. To have a perfected spirit dwelling in a glorified body. Oh dear people what a hope is ours. And when He comes it will be the vindication He didn't fail.

65:12 You and I will be part of Jesus' success story.

65:18 Now that's what's clear about His coming. Don't let anybody sidetrack you to lesser and secondary issues. Don't let people get you wrapped up in all this looking at the latest meeting of the commonwealth and the latest meeting. My friends don't even give your ear or your eye to that nonsense.

65:38 Keep the eyes of your heart upward. It wouldn't hurt once a day to go out and just look up and say someday someday someday someday these eyes will see Him.

65:55 The Son of Man shall come.

Application: Personal Concern for Salvation

66:00 And then my final word of application is this with reference to the second coming. There ought to be one great personal concern to every one of us. One great personal concern. And what is it?

66:13 It's this. Will He gather me with His own or will He banish me with the tares? That's it.

66:23 One great concern. Make it personal sitting there this morning. Were the sun to be darkened five minutes from now suddenly darkness shrouding this place the trumpet blast of God were to sound and He were to come would He gather you to Himself or would He banish you forever? My friend it will be one or the other.

67:00 One or the other. And if this preacher lives to be 80 and dies preaching this and goes to his grave and subsequent generations for a thousand years continue to preach the same message it doesn't change after the tribulation of those days and they have sometime the Son shall come and in glory will He gather you or will He banish you?

67:38 My friend if He gathers you it will only be because you've come under the canopy of His gracious salvation. If He banishes you it will be because you choose to remain an impenitent sinner loving your sin and hating the God who extends mercy to you in Christ. Oh dear people what a heartache I don't understand how God will do something in our renewed nature when He comes that will help us to feel no pain when we've looked into some of your faces for years and preached and pleaded and bled and wept for you and to see the Lord say to you depart from me I never cursed I never knew you ye cursed. I don't know how I could resist saying but Lord I preached to that man I preached to that woman I preached to that boy I preached to that girl Lord something of my blood is mixed with their damnation Lord I know God's going to do something that there will be no sadness in heaven but I can't conceive of it now because my dear unconverted man or woman it makes me sad to think that if the Son of Man came today He would come to your banishment and not to your gathering. Oh while the door of mercy is open while the Son of Man still takes the posture of the meek and the lowly Jesus

69:07 who receives all who come run to Christ run to Christ run to this Son of Man who died for sinners throw yourself upon His mercy and be with us when He comes to be glorified the scripture says in His saints. Think of it He will be glorified in the likes of us but that's what the Bible says. May God grant that you'll be among that number. Let us pray.

69:52 Our Father we are so grateful that you have not left us in the dark with concerns that cannot help but haunt the human mind as we reflect upon the passing of one generation and another the rise and the fall of nations we thank you that we know that it's not just going on and going nowhere but that every tick of the clock brings us closer to that hour when the Son of Man shall come O Lord O Lord Jesus come we pray take to yourself your people and yet we plead have mercy upon those that even in this place this morning would be banished were you to come today Lord for our sakes we pray even so come for their sakes we pray Lord delay your coming O God have mercy and draw them to yourself and help us as your people ever to live in the light of that glorious day when we shall see our Savior face to face hear our cry help us not to cast aside whatever probings of conscience and pressure of conviction has come to us today hear us and answer us

71:22 for Jesus' sake Amen