Basic/Fundamental Issues, Part 2

Introduction: The Certainty and Centrality of Christ's Return

0:01 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday evening, July 15, 2001, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I invite you to turn with me in your own Bibles to Paul's first letter to the infant church at Thessalonica, 1 Thessalonians, and follow please as I read, beginning in chapter 4 and verse 13, and reading through to verse 11 of chapter 5, remembering that when the apostle wrote this letter there were no chapter divisions, let alone no verse divisions, and

0:45 this is a unit of thought that we ought always to keep connected as the Spirit of God has connected it. Verse 13 of chapter 4, But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning thyself. But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep, that you sorrow not, even as the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

1:19 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we that are alive and are left shall together with them be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort.

2:00 One another with these words, but concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that anything be written unto you for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night when they are saying peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall in no wise escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief, for you are all sons of light and sons of the day.

2:41 We are not of the night, nor of darkness, so then let us not sleep as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that are drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, since we are alive. Be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

3:08 For God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore, exhort one another and build each other up. Even as also you are doing. Well, let us again pray and ask God's blessing upon our study of his word.

3:38 Our Father, we have sung these majestic hymns in which our hearts and minds have flowed out in the language of the hymn writers, expressing not only our confidence in the return of our Lord Jesus, but our anxious longing that he would hasten the day of his return. And we pray that as we come to the scriptures, that you, by the Holy Spirit, will illuminate our minds, that you will move our hearts to meet the word with faith and with obedience,

4:17 that you would be with me and give me utterance, that I may speak your word as I ought to speak. May the Holy Spirit be present with preacher and listener alike, and may your sovereign purposes for this time together in the scriptures. Be accomplished in this place, even in this hour, we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

4:43 We have read these words of the apostle, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven. And these spirit inspired words written by the apostle Paul in the plainest of language affirm the truth of scripture that our Lord Jesus will return again in power. Amen. Amen.

5:07 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

5:07 Amen. Amen. And in glory at the end of the age. We come tonight to the seventh message in a series that I've entitled, The Return of Christ in New Testament Belief and Experience.

5:21 Having considered six passages which explicitly declare that eagerly awaiting and loving the return of Christ was normal New Testament perspective and experience, we then examined at least four reasons as to why we should be in the New Testament. So why true believers who are in a healthy spiritual state eagerly await and truly love the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then this morning I began to take up with you some fundamental issues or foundational facts concerning the return of Christ. Though we have looked in the previous messages at a number of passages which highlight various things.

6:06 That. I felt it wise to collate a number of scriptures and to bring into sharp focus some of the most foundational issues with respect to the biblical teaching concerning the return of Christ. And I stated that we would be doing this under four major headings. We covered the first two this morning.

6:29 As to the event of the return of Christ. We saw that it is certain. We briefly consulted no fewer than 15 or 20 texts from the New Testament. Noting that one would literally have to emasculate the entire New Testament to remove from it its constant reiteration and unified prophetic voice declaring the truth pronounced by the two angels to the eleven apostles that this same Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have beheld him go into heaven.

7:12 And then secondly, as to the place of the return of Christ in redemptive history. We saw that it is central and climactic. I defined redemptive history as the sovereign activity of the triune God working out his saving plan and purposes in the theater of real. Of the real.

7:36 The world of space, time, material and immaterial entities and human beings. And we then saw from the scriptures that subsequent to the death, the resurrection, the ascension of Jesus and the sending forth of the Holy Spirit that the next significant event in the history of redemption is the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I tried to demonstrate. From the scriptures that that event is central to redemptive history and it is also climactic that in the return of Jesus there will be realized the fulfillment of all of God's redemptive

8:21 acts in both mercy and in judgment, thereby ushering in the eternal state. And as we leave that and come to the third heading, I want to quote the words of a very perceptive. And commentator, a man by the name of Douglas Moo, commenting on the passage in James that we considered, which speaks of the Lord being at hand these words. But what is crucial is to understand that this nearness in the appropriate temporal framework is that of salvation history with the death and resurrection of Jesus and the pouring out of the spirit.

9:04 The last. Days. Late. Of the day.

9:08 This was inaugurated. You remember what Peter said on the day of Pentecost. He said this is that which Joel the prophet spoke about it shall come to pass in the last days that I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh and so the descent of the spirit inaugurated the last days and this final age of salvation will find its climax in the return of Christ in glory. But, and here is the crucial point, the length of this age is unknown.

9:40 Not even Jesus knew how long the last days would last, Mark 13.32. What this means is that the return of Christ as the next event in the salvation historical timetable is from the time of the early church to our own day near, at hand, or imminent. And that's the truth that I sought to set forth from the scriptures this morning.

The Precise Time of the Lord's Return: Imminent, Indefinite, and Unknowable

10:10 So we have seen as to the event of the return of Christ, it is certain. As to the place of the return of Christ in redemptive history, it is central and it is climactic. Now we come in the third place. To consider as to the precise time of the Lord's return, for us it is imminent, indefinite, and unknowable.

10:39 As to the precise time of the Lord's return, for us it is imminent, indefinite, and unknowable. Now the word imminent, that's I-M-M-I, not I-M-M-A. The imminent. The imminence of God means God is everywhere present.

11:01 But to be imminent means that something is likely to happen without delay. And the scriptures always present the second coming in this way. We saw this morning from 1 Peter 4 and verse 7, that there in the first century the apostle Peter declared, but the end of all things is at hand. It is near.

11:27 It is imminent. And James in chapter 5 verses 8 and 9 uses similar language. He tells us in chapter 5 verses 8 and 9, the coming of the Lord is at hand. Behold, the judge stands before the doors.

11:48 Now, does this mean that God has revealed nothing concerning anything that must happen before the return of Christ? No. No. No.

11:56 No. No. No. No.

11:56 No. No. No. No.

11:56 No. No. No. No.

11:56 No. No. No. Answer and unembarrassed, no.

12:01 Peter knew that he would live to be an old man and that he would die before Jesus would return. And yet he says, behold, the coming of the Lord is at hand. Yet Peter knew the Lord would not come before he became an old man and died. How did he know that?

12:22 We'll turn to John chapter 21. Many of you perhaps have already thought of this incident. the Lord is restoring his backslidden Christ denying apostle there by the shore of the sea of Galilee the Tiberias sea and this is what our Lord says after drawing out from Peter the threefold affirmation of his love and recommissioning him verse 18 of John 21 truly truly I say unto you that is to Peter when you were young you girded yourself and walked where you would not

13:00 but when you shall be old you will stretch forth your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you would not now this he spake signifying by what manner of death he should glorify God our Lord clearly tells Peter he's going to live to be an old man furthermore he tells him he's going to die a martyr's death not a natural death the death in which he is taken by coercion taken by force of another into a place that naturally he would not go but you asked did Peter understand it that way yes he did because he tells us turn to second

13:43 Peter and here's Peter's commentary upon these very words second Peter chapter 1 verses 13 to 15 wherefore

13:56 second Peter 1 verse 13 I think it right as long as I'm in this tabernacle that is in this present body to stir you up by putting you in remembrance knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle comes swiftly even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me yes I will give diligence that at every time you may be able after my decease after my departure after my exodus to call these things to remembrance and then it's interesting he

14:34 launches right in to another dissertation on the second coming for he goes on to say we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ here is Peter then one of the apostolic instruments stirring up first

14:56 to be buried in the Bosnian Gulf of the Orient plus I will be devil's saw the law make you my son ego and proportion is the creation that therefore we honor the creator it is not the creation of God that we glorify I am God that I am read in groups we glorify a whole long line with did the signs of your face the works are the Urglass in your work your lives standing o'er and in your body sonow into other matters not 1 dances on the賽 bank I am this into another Holy Seат until a century Christians to live in the light of the immanenceelle return of Jesus yet he knows Christ will not return till he's become an old man until he dies a martyr's death so for Peter knowing that the Lord Jesus could not and would not come according to his own word till he became an old man and died a martyr's death yet Peter lived in and love of the return of the Lord Jesus and exhorted others to do the same. Similarly with the Apostle Paul, he knew that whenever the Lord Jesus would come,

15:39 Jesus would not come till he had borne witness to Christ at Rome. And furthermore, he tells us that he knew he was going to die before the Lord Jesus returned. Look at Acts 23 and verse 11. Acts 23 and verse 11.

15:58 In the night following, the Lord stood by him, that is, Paul, and said, Be of good cheer, as you have testified concerning me at Jerusalem, so must you bear witness also at Rome. And so when the Lord speaks to Paul there in Jerusalem, he knows Jesus will not come till he has been brought safely to Rome and he has had opportunity to bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. And furthermore, in 2 Timothy, familiar words, he knows that he is about to die and he is confident that he is going to have his life taken from him.

16:42 He, like Peter, will die the death of a martyr. He says in 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 6, I am already being offered, not as a drink offering, the time of my departure is come. Now, you see, for people who say, if anything must occur between the moment in which I now think of myself and my circumstances and the coming of Christ, then we don't believe that the coming of the Lord is imminent. That doesn't hold water biblically.

17:18 The coming of the Lord, Peter says, is at hand. And yet Peter knows he is going to live, to be an old man and be martyred. Paul is the great protagonist of living in the light of the Lord's return, yet the very man who teaches the infant churches to live in the sense of the imminence, the nearness of the coming of Christ, calling it the blessed hope of the glorious or the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, he knew that the Lord would not come until he got, and he knew later the Lord would not come before he was to die as a martyr.

18:01 And furthermore, it is the same apostle who, writing to the Thessalonians in his second letter, quiets their minds and hearts concerning a teaching that was floating around the church that the day of the Lord had already come, that Christ had already returned. Notice what he says in chapter 2 and verse 1 and following of 2 Thessalonians. We beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him, to the end that you be not quickly shaken in your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit or by word or by an epistle as from us,

18:45 as that the day of the Lord is just at hand. That's a poor translation of the Greek word. It should be, do not be troubled as though, the day of the Lord has already arrived, is already present. Apparently, people were floating letters and signing them, the apostle Paul.

19:06 Others were saying, I got caught up in the spirit. I have a prophetic utterance. The day of the Lord has come. And Paul says, no, don't be troubled by some so-called utterance of the spirit or by word or letter from us as that the day of the Lord has arrived.

19:22 Verse 3, Let no man beguile you in any wise, for it will not be except the falling away come first and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Verse 5, Remembered you not that when I was with you, I told you these things? The apostle said, the very one who taught them the certainty and the imminence of the Lord's return had taught them that there would be a great apostle, and a manifestation of the man of sin, the Antichrist, prior to the coming of the Lord. Well, is he contradicting himself?

20:03 No, because there is no contradiction in the mind of the apostles that the coming of the Lord is the next great event in redemptive history. It is near at hand. The age to come has already invaded the present age, and that age is awaiting to come in all of its glory and its power. And to believe that certain things must occur because God has revealed them before Christ will come in no way undercuts the sense of the imminence, the nearness of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

20:43 In fact, John the Apostle writes in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 18, little children, it is the last, this is the last hour of the last days. How do you know that, John? He says, I'll tell you. You have heard that Antichrist comes.

21:02 Even now have there arisen many Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last hour.

21:10 Now, was the apostle ignorant? Was he in error? No. No, because it had not been revealed as to its precise time.

21:21 It was indefinite, and unknowable, but still was imminent. And seeing these Antichrists at work, John says, little children, it's the last hour of the last days. And the last hour has extended for almost two centuries. Are we all a bunch of fools sticking our head in the sand?

21:45 Should we not join the skeptical crowd saying, where is the promise of His coming? No, we don't do that. Because we, we have learned from Scripture as to the precise time of the Lord's return. For us, it is always imminent, but it is indefinite, and it is unknowable.

22:10 Listen to the very helpful words of Dr. Robert Raymond in his systematic theology in his section on the Lord's return. He says, the awareness of the necessity of these events keeps Christians from believing that the day of the Lord has already come, referring to the second Thessalonians passage. But since these aspects of the end time events, that's my rendering of his words, eschatological complex.

22:41 I would never throw two words like that at you in a quote. I change them. The awareness of the necessity of these events keeps Christians from believing the day of the Lord has already come, but since these aspects of the end time events may well also come, develop and transpire quickly without warning, their intervening character does not eliminate the expectancy of the Lord's coming. Because the return of Christ is the next great event in history, from the believer's perspective, the next great act of God, we must be prepared.

23:22 For it to delay until the time of the apostasy and the appearing of the man of lawlessness to prepare for Christ's return may well be too late. God was not using Paul or the other apostles to give a timetable or a schedule for the believers of the last generation of earth history, but rather a perspective upon earth history. Now failure to grasp that is what is behind the glut of end time books in which people find Russia and the coalition of the European nations and like a complex jigsaw puzzle say, we put it all together.

24:05 We've got all the details of the end of the end times. Here it is. This is nonsense. It is unbiblical.

24:13 John said, it's the last hour. I look at the scenario and say, he's at the doors, he's coming. And the last hour, he says, now. And the last hour will be until the one who's at the doors comes through the doors in glory and in power.

24:34 Thus every generation must be urged to live in the expectancy of Christ's return. For only in that expectancy does the servant live properly and serve well in the intervening time. Any other perspective gives the nominal Christian the very reason he's looking for to delay activity and obedience. But it is not only for this reason that a time unknown to any specific man or generation is indicated as the time when Christ will return.

25:10 And here's a classic statement. The only way for any specific man, I add, or woman, boy or girl, the only way for any specific man or generation, to be prepared for the coming of the Lord is for every man and every generation to be urged to be prepared for the coming of the Lord. And I say amen to Dr. Raymond's comments.

Warning Against Date-Setting and Prophecy Mongering

25:42 As to the precise time of the Lord's return for us, it is always imminent, at hand, even though certain things must unfold prior to that coming, even though certain things must unfold prior to that coming, even though certain things must unfold prior to that coming, Paul and Peter knew the things of their own life prophesied by their Lord who could not lie, yet they lived and taught others to live in the expectation of the return of their Lord which was at hand and which was near. And Paul fully acknowledges in the Thessalonian passages that there will be a great apostasy and a manifestation of the man of sin. And if anyone tells us the Lord has come,

26:25 there's been some so-called secret rapture. We say no, no, no, no. The day of the Lord has not come because these events have not yet unfolded. And so for us the time is indefinite and unknowable.

26:41 And Church history contains a record of the unwillingness of men to live with this biblically revealed fact. Look at the words of Jesus in Matthew 24 and verse 36. Look at the words of Jesus in Matthew 24 and verse 36. discourse dealing with the destruction of Jerusalem, the coming of the Lord, and the end of all things as they now are. Matthew 24, verses 15 through 18. Speaking of the destruction of

27:10 Jerusalem, note what Jesus says. When therefore you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, let him that reads understands. Then let them that are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him that is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house. And let him that is in the field not return

27:35 back to take his cloak. But woe to them that are with child and those that give suck in those days and pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on a Sabbath, for then shall be great tribulation. Here the Lord gives very specific signs of his coming, indeed. Judgment in conjunction with the destruction of Jerusalem, the dismantling of the temple.

28:03 Our Lord says in this setting, when you see these things, flee, go to the mountains. And we are told that the Christians took this seriously and were wonderfully spared in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. But now turn to the parallel passage in Mark 13. Mark's account of the

28:26 Olivet Discourse. And note what our Lord says with respect to his second coming in glory and in power at the end of the age. He says in Mark 13 and verse 32, But of that day, having spoken of the things pertaining to the destruction of Jerusalem, and saying that that existing generation should not pass away till all those things were full,

29:01 but of that day, pointing to the day of his coming, of that day or hour, knows no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Verse 35, Watch therefore, for you know not when the Lord of the house comes, whether at even or midnight, at cockcrowing, or in the morning. Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping in what I say unto you, I say unto all, watch. And then note the very clear words of verse 33, Take heed, watch and pray, for you know not

29:45 when the time is. With regard to the destruction of Jerusalem, he says, you will know when the time is. You will see the armies compassing Jerusalem, the abomination of desolation, or the abomination that makes desolate. And when you see these things, flee to the mountains. But with respect to his

30:08 second coming, he says, no one knows the day, nor the hour, not even the angels, nor the Son, but the Father. Jesus says, take heed, watch and pray, for you know not when the time is. Year, month, day, you know not the time. And as I say, the history of the church is, a boy's heart is filled with the foolishness and the arrogance of men who would be wiser than the Son of God in the day of His humiliation. It's arrogant! The Son says, I couldn't tell

30:47 you the day in God's calendar. If I had reason to tell you, I do not know it. It is locked up in the mind of the Father. It is arrogant! Arrogant! To say I know more than the Son of

31:05 God in the days of his humiliation. Jesus has said it is always right in every age, in every unfolding epoch of human history, since my coming is at hand, to watch, to pray, for you know not when the time is. He does not tell us look for signs. He tells us ever live looking for his appearing. There's all the difference in the world being fascinated with a some kind of a so-called

31:41 Christian Ouija board to understand all the details of the future. It's another thing to be enamored with Christ and to have a heart that yearns for his return for those four reasons that we examine from the scriptures. Above all that we shall be with the one who is the object of our faith, and of our love. With respect to the second coming, there will be no signs to point to it. Yes,

32:14 there will be the manifestation of the man of sin and the great apostasy. I do not deny that, but in terms of the kind of tangible pointers that would be overwhelmingly persuasive, that ah, his coming is near. The word of God teaches that he will come as a thief, 2 Peter 3 and verse 10. And I want you to see how the thief motif has different nuances in scripture. After Peter has described the skeptics who say, ah, everybody in all the generations of

32:50 the people of God have been saying he's going to come, and where is that promise? And he says, don't forget this. God doesn't reckon time as you do. And then he says, don't forget this. The

33:01 very reason you're able to smart aleck the second coming is because God's long-suffering, doesn't cut you off in your arrogance and in your skepticism. He's long-suffering. But then he says in verse 10, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief. And what Peter is emphasizing is the fact that the thief does not make announcements about his coming. He doesn't

33:23 leave you five signs that on Tuesday at 1130 at night, he's going to break in through your back door and rifle the place where you keep your cash. No, the thief comes with no announcement. And in that sense, the coming of the Lord will be as a thief, both to the saved and to the unsaved. However, in the first Thessalonians passage, Paul says the coming as a thief will mean not only suddenness for both saved and unsaved, but here he focuses on the fact that the coming as a thief bringing destruction to the unconverted is the emphasis. And he says that day will not

34:04 overtake you. as a thief. That is, it will not result in you being plundered and having loss because you are in Christ and you are sons of the light and sons of the day living in expectation of his return. So don't take any flat concept from coming as a thief. There are different nuances in the

34:25 scripture, but the nuance of Peter is very, very clear that his coming as a thief, both to usher in the new heavens and the new earth and to bring destruction upon the enemies of God and of his Christ and of his kingdom, is underscoring its suddenness, its unexpectedness. And likewise, our Lord Jesus, in the well-known passage in the Olivet Discourse, says with respect to the time of his coming, Matthew chapter 24, after underscoring again in verse 36, But of that day,

35:03 an hour knows no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only. And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days which were before the flood, they were eating, innocent activity, drinking, as long as you drink the right thing, and in moderation, marrying and giving in marriage. They were doing, all the ordinary things. Why? Because there was nothing extraordinary that pointed to the coming

35:41 flood. That's the point. As in the days of Noah. Why not? The sun rises at 545. The sun sets at

35:54 822. Normal life goes on in normal rhythms and patterns. And it says, and they knew not. And they knew not until.

36:08 The flood came and took them all away. So shall be the coming of the Son of Man. What words could be clearer? As to the precise time of the Lord's return, for us, it is always imminent, near at hand. But the

36:26 time is indefinite, and it is unknowable. So I say by way of application to you, the Lord's people, run from date setters like the plague. At best, they are ignorant. At worst, they are arrogant. And

36:50 their disruption in the life of God's people has been unspeakable and incalculable. I've seen people get all wrapped up in trying to say, well, the Lord must come within this time frame. These prophecy mongers have been saying that once the nation of Israel was reconstituted in 48, Christ had to come within that generation. A generation is 40 years. What'd they do after 1988? They got to reshuffle their cards to save face. Beware of the

37:25 date setting. Beware of becoming a prophecy monger. If anyone wants to talk to you about prophecy, give you a book about prophecy, ask this question. Is what you're handing to me going to make me love my Savior more?

37:41 Is what you're handing to me going to make me love him more diligently and more devoutly yearn and long for his appearing, that I might be fully like him and that he might have me as part of his eternal bride? Dear people of God, beware of date setters. Beware of prophecy mongers. They can do your soul no good, no good.

38:05 And then I say to all in the language of our Lord in Matthew 24, 27, you have one responsibility if you're not a Christian. That's to take the shortest route to becoming one, to get into Christ, to go to him in the way of repentance and the way of faith. Listen to the comments of another perceptive servant of God whose commentary on 2 Thessalonians has been feeding my soul in my own devotions for days. Philip Hughes, speaking of Paul's language in 2 Corinthians 5, where Paul is talking about the dismantling of the

38:42 present body as the dismantling of a tent and putting on his habitation from heaven, his glorified body, and yet recognizing that he may well join the dead. He says in the very text, he said, we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, he says, if we die, identifies himself with believers whom he knows or has every reason to believe will die and will not be alive at the Lord's coming, just as he associates himself with living things.

39:12 Saints, we who are alive and remain, we who die and put off the tabernacle, he associates with both and commenting on that, Mr. Hughes writes, this double possibility has been present to the minds of Christ's faithful followers in every age. It has at all times been a powerful incentive to holy living. Neither the day nor the hour of the bridegroom's coming is known to us.

39:38 Therefore, it is an event which is always imminent for the. Church, it is always probable that death will be forestalled by the parousia, the coming of Christ, and in accordance with our Lord's admonition to watch, we should live now and every moment as we would wish to be found living at the sudden instant of his return, or should that be delayed in the hour of our death? Can any Christian take exception to?

40:13 That live in such a way that if we knew he were coming in the next hour with good conscience, we could welcome him, or should we know we were to die in the next hour? That perspective, that dual perspective is the motivation that keeps the child of God saying with Paul, wherefore we make it our aim that whether present or absent, we shall be well pleasing unto him. The precise time of the Lord's return for us, it is always imminent, but indefinite and unknowable.

Events Connected with the Lord's Return: Clearly Revealed and Manifold

40:55 Now we come to the fourth category, and I can only begin this category tonight. In my final preparation this afternoon, I realized there was too much to cover it all tonight. We've considered as to the event of the Lord's return. It is certain as to the place of the Lord's return in redemptive history, central.

41:14 And. Climactic as to the time of the Lord's return for us, it is imminent, indefinite and unknowable. Now in the fourth place, as to the events connected with the Lord's return, they are clearly revealed and manifold as to the events connected with the Lord's return. They are clearly revealed and manifold.

41:41 Now, when I sat at my desk seeking to. Collate the massive bulk of material in the New Testament on the return of the Lord. And trying to think things through and how can they be laid out? I came afresh to the conviction that one can never take this biblical data on the return of Christ and try to put all of the pieces in a kind of sequential checklist.

42:11 This, this, this, this, this, this, this. Rather, we should think of the major categories. Of what will what events will be connected with the Lord's return and view them, not in a checklist, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, but in a circle like a pie. And in that pie, there are three major pieces.

42:32 There are the events connected with what the Lord will do for his own when he comes. And though I'll have to lay them out, one, two, three, four, five, please don't think of them in that kind of chronological or even logical order. Please. Please.

42:47 Please. Please. These are things of life and death. They are things of life and death.

42:51 They are things of life and death. Life is a chronological sequence. They are things that cluster around the coming of the Lord Jesus and what the Scripture says he will do with his own. And the second big slice of the pie is what he will do with his enemies, the devil and all the sons and daughters of the devil, those who are not in Christ.

43:11 What will he do with these enemies with unbelievers? And again, we must not try to fit. christ will do at his coming with respect to those who know him not and then thirdly the third big slice is what he will do with the cosmos what he will do with the created order at his coming and when we see the major events that are clearly revealed and are manifold then i trust our minds and hearts will be settled with an even more intense and biblically informed longing for the return of our lord jesus christ now i want to show you from the scriptures why we cannot take

43:54 this atomistic approach and say well this passage puts this here and this here and this one puts no most of the passages i'm not ready to say without exception but i am ready to say most of the passages in which there is significant teaching on the second coming are passages in which a practical pastoral issue is being addressed and in the life of the gospel of that pastoral issue, certain aspects of the Lord's coming are highlighted and others are overlooked. And once we understand that, then we realize we cannot take one passage and say everything must fit rigidly into this. No, there was a reason for that particular emphasis in that

Pastoral Context of Eschatological Teaching in Thessalonians

44:35 particular passage and that particular emphasis in that particular passage. Now, let me illustrate this in Paul's teaching to the Thessalonians. First Thessalonians chapter four. What was the pastoral concern that Paul was addressing? Well, he apparently heard from Timothy, who brought

44:56 basically a good report about the Thessalonians. You read about it in chapter three. But Timothy must have informed him that there at Thessalonica, some people had been taking Paul's teaching on the return of Christ. And we know from second Thessalonians, he taught them much of what he had taught them. And he had taught them much of what he had taught them.

45:12 And he had taught them much of what he had taught them. And he had taught them much of what he had taught them. And he had taught them much about the return of Christ, even the manifestation of the man of sin and the great apostasy that would preclude the day of the Lord. And some of them had been teaching, apparently, that if you were alive when Christ returned, you got a first class entrance into the eternal state. If you were dead, you were second class

45:33 citizen. And this was causing real grief because some of the believers had laid their loved ones in their graves. So Paul becomes aware of that. And what does he write?

45:42 Look at verse 13. But we would not have you ignorant brethren concerning. Here's his focal of pastoral interest and concern. We would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them that fall asleep, that is, those who die, that you sorrow not, even as the rest who have no hope.

46:06 So his pastoral burden is to dissipate the shades and the mists, of their ignorance concerning their dead loved ones. Do you see that in your own eyes in the Bible? You see that? All right. That's his pastoral concern. So he's not going to give

46:25 a full systematic theological dissertation on the second coming. The second coming is introduced to address this question. My uncle Harry died. People have been telling me that only those of us who are alive when Jesus comes go as first class.

46:43 A citizen's uncle Harry's going second class, or we don't even know if he's going to be in the caboose. And as a result, they were experiencing sorrow they shouldn't have experienced. A sorrow that was worldly. And he said, I don't want you to sorrow as those who have no hope. That's the pastoral

47:01 burden. So he's going to bring the second coming to bear upon that specific pastoral concern. Verse 14. For if we believe, and he knew they all did, that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus, will God bring with him.

47:22 The spirits of your departed loved ones will be present with Jesus when he returns. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and left to the coming of the Lord shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. I don't know who's been telling you that Uncle Harry's going to be a first class. I don't know who's been telling you that Uncle Harry's going to be second class or caboose at the second coming. But by the very word of the Lord who is

47:49 coming, I tell you, we who are alive and remain, we don't get preferential treatment. That's what Paul said. Whoever told you that, it wasn't the Lord. Because I tell you by the word of the Lord, we who are alive shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord himself

48:10 shall descend from heaven. With a shout, with a voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. And I must say, that's why there's no left behind theology here. Nobody's scratching their head wondering where did the bus drivers go. And the airplane pilots, all will hear the voice and the trump of God. And what will

48:33 happen? And the dead in Christ shall rise first. It's the only place where you have that kind of language of sequence. It's the only place where you have that kind of language of sequence.

48:44 The dead who are united to Christ, they are going to rise first. No second class, no caboose theology. They go first class. And when he's raised them up and joined them with their glorified spirits, then the Lord will take care of us who are alive. Then we who are alive and are left

49:07 shall together with them be caught up in the clouds. They're going to get first class treatment. We're going to catch up. We're going to catch up. We're going to catch up. We're going to catch up.

49:15 Catch up with them. And when we're all caught up, then the only thing that matters, we're with the Lord. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Do you see the focused pastoral concern and the aspects of the coming of Christ emphasized?

49:31 Now look at the same apostle to the same church, speaking of the same coming, not another coming, the same coming. Second Thessalonians 2. Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus and our gathering together unto Him. How anyone can say this is another coming subsequent to the rapture is beyond my understanding.

49:57 He said, so shall we be together with the Lord. And he said, now touching that event, when we will be gathered together to Him, to the end that you be not quickly shaken in your mind, nor troubled by spirit, word, by epistle, as that the day of the Lord has already arrived. Here was a different pastoral problem. Somebody, as we saw earlier, was teaching that the day of the Lord had come.

50:21 And people are troubled in heart. What are we doing still here? The apostle said, when the Lord descends, there would be shout and voice and we would be caught up. How come the day of the Lord has come and we're still here?

50:36 And we're true believers. And he says, you don't need to believe. That the day of the Lord has already come because I've already taught you that day will not come until there is a great apostasy, whatever that is, and the manifestation of the man of sin, whatever that is. Now, why didn't he mention great apostasy and man of sin in 1 Thessalonians 4?

50:58 That wasn't the focus of his pastoral concern. No passage gives the full theology. And as each passage grows out of distinct pastoral concerns, as we shall see, when we come to the parables of our Lord, of the ten virgins and of the pounds and of the talents, that all of those things were the Lord Jesus shepherding his people, giving them practical instruction with respect to the coming in glory and power of his own person at the end of the age. So I trust I've demonstrated from the comparison of these two passages that my method is a biblical method.

51:41 So I trust I've demonstrated from the comparison of these two passages that my method is a biblical method. Do you see that or am I talking to myself? Now, that just didn't come in three minutes at the desk, folk. And I hope you appreciate, if God's helped you to get hold of that, I hope you realize how that can just keep you from being shaken when people come along and say, ah, but look at this passage, and b-b-b-b-b-b, you go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute.

52:01 That's just a piece of the picture. And it goes into slice number one, part of what the Lord will do with his own. Slice number two, part of what he will do with the wicked. Part number three.

What Christ Will Do for His Own at His Return: Souls of Dead Saints

52:12 Slice number three, what he will do with the cosmos. Now, in the time that remains, we're just going to concentrate on what he's going to do with his own at his return. What's he going to do with his own?

52:27 And then, God willing, next Lord's Day morning, what he will do with those not his own and with the created order. But just this, what will Christ do with his own at his return? I've made the statement, as to the events connected with the Lord's return, they are clearly revealed. And manifold, while the time is indefinite and unknowable, and always imminent, the events connected with it are not unknowable.

52:54 The events are clearly revealed, and they are manifold. What will Christ do with his own at his return? Number one, he will bring the souls of dead saints with him, and reunite those souls to glorified bodies, that he will, will compose. I couldn't find a better word, I'm not satisfied with it, but I run out of time scouting through my Rodale synonym finder in my dictionary, so it's the best I have for right now.

53:26 He will bring the souls of dead saints, excuse me, with him, and reunite those souls to glorified bodies, that he will compose, having some form of continuity with the body in which, they died, or with which they died. Now how do we know that? Well, first Thessalonians chapter four, by the word of the Lord we know, verse fourteen, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

54:09 What is death for the believer? It is falling asleep, falling asleep, in union with Jesus Christ. And because of that union, the moment the believer dies, for as the body apart from the spirit is dead, the moment that spirit vacates that body, in an instant, it joins the company of just men made perfect, and all of the gracious saving energy of God, that fully purges the soul from every last, remnant of sin, will be put forth in an instant of time, by the Holy Spirit upon that departing spirit,

54:53 that it will enter the immediate presence of Christ, fully sanctified. That's what happens to the spirit of a departing saint. And you ought to know and be confident that's what's going to happen to your spirit the moment the doctor says, he's gone, he's gone, he's gone, but he's come, he's gone, but he's come. I desire to depart and to be with Christ, absent from the body, present with the Lord.

55:37 And the only way we could be at home in his presence, the presence of infinite holiness and burning light, is that our spirit, in the language of Hebrews, joined the company of just men, made perfect. Now then, at the coming of Christ, what will the Lord do? Our text says, those that are fallen asleep in Jesus, God will bring with him. The souls of departed saints will return with their Lord.

56:10 And you ask, how does he bring souls and spirits? I don't have a clue, but I know he's going to do it. You ask me how he spoke galaxies into being by the word of his mouth. I don't have a clue, but the Hubble telescope tells me he did it.

56:30 Did it! And the God who can speak galaxies out of the womb of nothing by the word of his mouth, he can preserve and bring intact all the souls of all his redeemed ones with him when he returns. And then what will happen? Well, the spirit will return, as the scripture tells us in this very passage.

56:52 Then the dead in Christ, verse 16, the dead in Christ, their union with Christ is not severed in death, and in a way again that I cannot explain, even their remains in the grave and in the region of the dead are still in union with Christ. The dead in Christ shall rise. It's not their spirits rising, he's bringing them with him. It's that body that went into the ground, that was eaten by the sharks, that has been consumed by the worms.

57:27 The dead in Christ shall rise first when he brings the returning spirit to join glorified bodies. They are bodies that he will compose, having some form of continuity with the body that we took to our graves. And how do we know that? Two very clear passages.

What Christ Will Do for His Own at His Return: Glorified Bodies

57:51 This is not speculative theology. This is just plain, simple exegesis of plain, patently clear text. Philippians 3, verses 20 and 21. Our citizenship is in heaven.

58:10 We are part of the commonwealth of heaven. Whence also we wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus. And as we await his coming, we wait in the confident expectation of this clearly revealed event. Who shall fashion anew?

58:31 Now notice what he fashions anew. The body of our humiliation. What's the body of your humiliation? It's the body in which you live.

58:41 My body of humiliation is this one in which I live. It's got the scars from the surgeon's knife into which I have to throw stuff several times a day to exist. That I have to put in bed every night in the kind of temporal death that I might live in the next day with some degree of sanity and strength. This body that has so much about it because of sin that causes the shrinking and the shame of our spirits.

59:10 This body of our humiliation. There's continuity between the body that dies and the body that he gives us when he comes. And he uses a fascinating compound Greek word. Metascomatizo.

59:26 He's going to metascomatizo you. And one of the linguistic authorities says that fashioning anew is not like changing a French garden to an Italian garden, but changing any kind of garden into a city. It's fashioning anew. He is going to fashion anew the very body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory.

59:53 And you say, how is he going to do this? Paul says, I'll tell you. According to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself. The Christ, who has all power in heaven and earth, who upholds all things by the word of his power, in whom all things adhere according to Colossians 1, that Christ at his return will bring the souls of dead saints with him.

60:24 Reunite those souls to glorified bodies that he will compose, having some form of continuity with the body that was laid in the dust. And 1 Corinthians 15 underscores this same truth in unmistakable clarity. Some at Corinth were doubting the doctrine of bodily resurrection generically. And Paul is out to demonstrate, if that's so, then we have no gospel, we have no hope.

60:58 And then recognizing that skeptics would say, wait a minute, bodily resurrection, verse 35, but some will say, how are the dead raised? And with what manner of body do they come? Paul, don't you know the facts of necrosis, what happens when somebody dies? Paul, don't you know that what's been in the grave and disappeared?

61:21 And integrated and interred in the earth and has given life to flowers and to vegetables and some have eaten it? Paul, don't you know the realities of what happens to a decomposed body? You know how Paul answers that? He says, you fool, that which you sow is not quickened except it die.

61:41 And that which you sow, you sow not the body that shall be, but a bare grain. It may be chance of wheat or some other kind, and God gives it a body as it pleased him to each seed a body of its own. Who would ever imagine when you look at a mighty oak that all came out of an acorn? But there is organic continuity between the acorn and the mighty oak.

62:02 And Paul says, you stupid one, you're asking me to justify what God can do in taking the saints dust that's gone into a thousand different ways and places and been absorbed. With what body do they come, you foolish one? You answer for me. How does the acorn become the mighty oak?

62:21 A grain of corn become a soil? Or become a stalk that gives three or four years of corn? You explain that to me. But then he goes on to say, though there is this marvelous transformation, there is continuity.

62:35 Look at verse 42. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. What is sown?

62:43 Our bodies. It, those bodies raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory.

62:51 It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a psychical body. It is raised a spiritual body.

62:59 It is a substantial, material body. But it is fit for the world of the spirit. When all of redemptive grace has been applied by the spirit to our total beings, body, soul, and spirit, we have a body suited to that existence in the presence of our God and of the Lamb. There is continuity.

63:23 So I find it very salutary, as I did even this afternoon when I took a shower, to say, Lord, this body that I'm washing, you're going to take it and by your mighty power, transform it into the body of your glory. What will that mean? What will that mean? This body, that is the body of our humiliation, shall be fashioned.

63:47 Shall be wonderfully changed. Shall be transformed. Shall be transformed. Shall be transformed.

63:55 Shall be transformed. But still continuity with the body that is. And then the great purpose of God in his predestinating love will be realized. For we read in Romans 8 in verse 29, whom he foreknew, then he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

64:15 And whom he foreordained he called, whom he called he justified, whom he justified then he also glorified. whom he justified then he also glorified. crucified, and that conformity will extend to the end of your fingertips and the end of your nose and to the extremity of your little toe on both feet. That's what God has stored up for you and for me as the people of God. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, but it does not yet appear what

64:44 we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is, like him in moral perfection, like him in physical perfection. For the very essence of image-bearer is the body, soul, entity of man, and our Lord is not done with us until in the totality of our humanity we reflect his perfect likeness. So he's going to bring the souls of dead saints with him, reunite them to those who are dead, and he's going to bring them to those who are dead. He's going to bring them to those who are dead, and he's going to bring them to those who are dead.

What Christ Will Do for His Own at His Return: Living Saints and Judgment Seat

65:22 souls those those souls to glorified bodies that he will compose having some form of continuity with the body in which they died and then he will affect a complete sanctification of the souls of the living saints and change their mortal bodies into glorified bodies in an instant of time and here the apostle makes that very clear again in first corinthians 15 in a moment verse 52 in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trump shall sound the dead shall be raised we shall be changed the living saints they get the full works in one installment most of us will get

66:05 it in two our perfected spirits the moment we die glorified bodies the moment he returns the living saints they get the perfected spirit in the glorified body at the instant of the lord's change return the apostle paul understood this and therefore he prayed for the thessalonians in chapter 5 in verse 23 and the god of peace himself sanctify you wholly and may your spirit soul and body be preserved entire without blame at the coming of our lord jesus christ faithful

66:43 is he who calls you who also will do it and then all the glorified saints the dead saints whose spirits have been reunited to glorified bodies the living saints who have been transformed in an instant they will all appear at the judgment seat of christ to give an account of the deeds done in the body and to be openly identified as true sheep and welcomed into the everlasting kingdom and in the light of the time i don't have time to open up the passages we'll have to let them wait this is new ground for me and preaching to you and i'll see you in the next chapter and i'll see you in the next chapter and it's difficult at times to know how much time i take with each of the text

67:26 but we're going to see that truth and then the fourth aspect of what he does with his own then christ will openly take his perfected bride to himself and sit down with her at the marriage supper of the lamb and so we shall be ushered into our eternal occupation of service of praise and of worship even so come lord jesus let's pray our father surely our hearts agree with your word that

68:06 i has not seen nor ear heard nor would it ever enter into the heart of man the things you have prepared for those that love you but we thank you that we can say with the apostle but you have revealed them unto us by the spirit and we thank you for the spirit's utterances in holy scripture that we may be able to hear you and we may be able to hear you we are led there today and we shall be of God's doświad EKM oh com there is no hand that can able to bring us from every heart to confronting ourselves do what you are inevitably looking for because all men,

68:50 after of animals in slim view may face death and the second coming of our lord jesus with unshakable certainty as to what will happen to us assurance and we pray for your children that you will strip away from us all inordinate attachment to this present world help us oh lord to live as those who have already been raised up to sit in heavenly places in christ may our affections be where we are even now in christ and where we shall be forever with christ oh lord cut the cords that tie us with inordinate love to this world and to all that it can offer and may we be a people whose hearts are set in the heavens

69:35 looking on the things that are not seen knowing that the things that are seen are temporal but the things that are not seen are eternal lord bless your word to our hearts we pray in jesus worthy name amen