The Second Coming of Christ - Part A

This is the Church in Heaven, the Church from Pentecost all the way to the Rapture, betrothed to Jesus. We've been waiting for Him to come and literally sweep us off our feet, or we will be with Him.

Jesus' Second Coming is the culmination of redemptive history. Today on Connect with Skip Heitig, Skip shares what you can look forward to when Christ returns to the earth. But first, did you know that Skip has important updates and biblical encouragement on social media? Just follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to get the latest from him and this ministry.

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Thank you. Now, we're in Revelation Chapter 19 as we dive into today's teaching with Skip Heitig. In the newspaper industry, there is a font that is used, a typeface in newspaper printing known as Second Coming Type, and that is really big headlines for really major events. For example, December 7, 1941, we were bombed in Oahu. It merited Second Coming Type. That was a big announcement.

When Israel became a nation in 1948, State of Israel is born. Once again, Second Coming Type. President JFK, November of 1963, when he was assassinated, of course, that was major news around the world. Second Coming Type, another assassination when we got Bin Laden. A little bit smaller, but still big news. But now, imagine a headline that read this.

Yeah, now that's a headline. And that really does merit Second Coming Type, right? Because the Second Coming of Christ is headline news. It's the biggest event ever. It is the culmination of all of the hopes of all believers for the last 2,000 years. It will be when our prayers are finally answered, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, because he is going to bring his kingdom to the earth. Time Magazine a while back did a little poll called Future Poll, where they polled 800 Americans to see what they think. And according to this poll, 22%, this is 22% of Americans, predict the earth will be under the rule of a one-world government by the end of the 21st century.

We're in the 21st century. Not only that, 11% think there will be a single worldwide religion, and more than half in this poll, 53%, expect the return of Jesus Christ within this millennium. And we're talking about the Second Coming of Christ.

The world knows about the First Coming, and the world's okay with that. You know, that's Christmastime, right? That's when you get presents and stuff. I like the First Coming of Christ.

We get gifts, even though it's not our birthday, we get gifts. But the world is knowledgeable of the fact that Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem. They know about the shepherds, they know about the angel making the announcement, they know about the magi, and the world is really comfortable with baby Jesus in a manger.

The problem is they don't want him to grow up. One author put it this way, the world likes a complacent, reasonable religion. And so it is always ready to revere some pale Galilean image of Jesus, some meager anemic Messiah, and to give him a moderate, rational homage. The problem with all that is we get to Revelation 19. And Revelation 19 shows us a Jesus you can't control, shows us a Jesus who leaves the manger and grows up, and in this chapter demands our attention and demands our submission, because he is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

That's how he gets introduced. Well, we've been doing, just for refreshment, a series on truth, on Bible doctrine. And we've covered theology and Christology and pneumatology and all theologies, right? And the last few weeks we've been looking at last things, eschatology.

So three, two weeks ago we did the last days. We talked about are we in the last days and showed you marks of that. Last week we looked at the rapture of the church. That's the event we're looking for as believers. And today we look at the second coming of Christ. But as we get into this study, I just want you to know that we as New Testament believers, the church, we're not looking for immediately to come the second coming of Christ. We are looking for his coming that we talked about last week, what's called the blessed hope. Paul said, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

That's what we're looking for. There's a great little story. I have a friend who wrote a book and in the book he talks about that he was visiting an institution for mentally handicapped children. And it broke his heart as he was touring this facility. And what he noticed as he was going from hallway to hallway and room to room is that all of the windows that face outside had little handprints on them, fingerprints. And so he wanted to know what's up with that. And the director said, the children here love Jesus and they're so eager for him to return that they lean against the windows as they look up to the sky.

And I read that and I said, if that's what it means to be mentally handicapped, let me be so afflicted. Because here you have these kids eagerly waiting for Jesus Christ to return. But now we come to the second coming. Now we fast forward from the event we looked at last week to the end of a period of time typically known as the tribulation period. What Jesus described as the worst time ever on planet earth.

It'll make the pandemic look like a cakewalk. We talk about judgment of biblical proportions. The world's going to set a whole new standard of biblical proportions when it comes to the last part of that coming period of wrath called the great tribulation. I've had you turn to the end of that, Revelation chapter 19, and I want to show you the event as described by John in the vision, but I want to show you four facets of the second coming of Jesus Christ to the earth.

And here's the first facet and we're just about to read it. The second coming of Christ will be preceded by a supper, a very particular event. Verse one of Revelation 19, after these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God.

For true and righteous are his judgments because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication. It's a reference to Babylon. The last world government will be dubbed Babylon.

The economic side is seen in chapter 8 and the religious side is seen in Revelation 17. All that's past. That's over. And it says, He has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her. Again, they said, Alleluia, her smoke rises up forever and ever. And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne saying, Amen. Alleluia. I mean, they're getting Pentecostal now.

They're just, they're into it. Then a voice came from heaven saying, Praise our God all you his servants and those who fear him both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thundering saying, Alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed and fine linen clean and bright for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, Write, blessed are those here it is who are called to the marriage supper of the lamb.

And he said to me, These are the true sayings of God. A lot of times we talk about a marriage made in heaven. This is a marriage in heaven, a marriage feast in heaven.

Now let me just give you a quick background, quick. In Revelation 19 the camera shifts. The scene is different. Chapter 6 through the end of 18 takes place on earth.

All the focus is on the earth. There's several judgments that take place. There are seven seals on a scroll and each one gets busted off, judgments pour forth. After the seven seals come seven trumpets that are blown. With each blast of the trumpet more judgments hit the earth. After that seven more bold judgments where vials or bowls of judgment are poured out upon the earth.

Each one seems to get worse and worse and worse till it's finally over. And chapter 19 takes place in heaven and it's an incredible scene. It's a wedding scene, a wedding that will be bigger and better and more ground, grander than any royal wedding that you've ever seen on tv whether it's Charles and Diana or Meghan Merkle and Prince Harry. Is that right?

Did I get that right? So you know we love royal weddings. What's going to go on in heaven is going to make all those royal weddings look like a cheap Las Vegas presided over by a fake Elvis wedding, one of those kind of things. It is the marriage supper of the Lamb and the symbolism is pretty straightforward if you know your New Testament. The Lamb is Jesus, the Bride is the Church, for the Church is called the Bride of Christ and this is Jesus with the bridegroom in a celebration in heaven. Now last week we told you about the rapture of the Church and we talked about the coming of the Lord for his saints and we gave you the outline of a Jewish wedding. Do you remember that?

So just I'll refresh your memory really quick. This couple has probably been arranged to be married since they were little kids but the couple grows up and they're at the age to be married so the groom or the groom-to-be goes to the house where the bride lives, her father's house, and makes formal arrangements, a betrothal, an engagement. Lasts up to about a year, several months to a year. After that, after the betrothal, he goes back to his father's house and builds a room on his father's house where they will live after they're married. At some point in the future he asks dad's permission to go get his bride, dad gives permission, so the groom goes back to the bride's house. She doesn't know when he's coming. She always has to be ready. You know he can't text her 2,000 years ago and say I'm on my way, heads up, so he just shows up and when he comes close somebody with a shofar, a trumpet, blows it to let everybody know party's about to come down and then when he's close by the house of the bride he lets out a shout to let her know and let them know inside that he has arrived. Then he takes her with him back to the father's house where they have the formal wedding and a wedding feast that typically lasts for about seven days.

So that's the background of all of this. This is the church in heaven, the church from Pentecost all the way to the rapture betrothed to Jesus. We've been waiting for him to come and literally sweep us off our feet where we will be with him.

This is the language that Paul had in mind. In 2 Corinthians 11 he said, I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy for I have betrothed you. There's the idea that I've engaged you.

I have betrothed you to one husband that I might present you as a chaste chaste virgin to Christ. So we are in the courtship phase. There is no physical contact. There is no bodily contact. We're betrothed and we're awaiting the groom to come and take us away.

That's the background. Now question, the bridegroom here is referred to first as a lamb and it's interesting to me because of all the titles of Jesus Christ, why is the groom referred to as the lamb? Why is Jesus called the lamb? He could be called the creator. He could be called king. He could be called lord. He could be called master. He could be called prince of peace. But here it's the lamb and the bride.

Here's my thought. He's presented here as a lamb because it was the lamb that you fell in love with. You didn't fall in love with the creator God. You fell in love with the one who offered to take your sin and mine and wash it all away and that attracted you to him.

So you fell in love with the lamb because that was his chief ministry was to come and purge us of our sin. So it is the marriage supper of the lamb. Now you'll notice that it's quite a celebration. It's like the party of all parties. There's great joy, enthusiasm, there's celebration, there seems to be wedding guests. We have not only the 24 elders in verse 4 which I believe is representative of the church.

I don't have time to explain why that is. I wrote a commentary in the book of Revelation where I did that but it's a motif from chapter 4 and 5 of Revelation. So I believe the 24 elders are representative of the church. Notice also there are four living creatures. They show up in heaven also in chapter 4 and 5. These are four special angels of God's presence, cherubim, who are always around the throne of God to give him praise. Then in verse 1 John says, I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven.

Probably all those angels that John also told us about in chapters 4 and 5. And notice that they're using a word of praise here. They use it four times, the word Alleluia.

Now here's what's interesting about the word Alleluia. It's the only time it appears in the entire New Testament. It's an Old Testament word, shows up a lot in the book of Psalms but you don't read about it in the New Testament until here.

Until here. In the Old Testament it's spelled with an H, Alleluia, but it's the same idea. It means praise the Lord.

But four times at the marriage supper of the Lamb, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, just get into it. It's as if they have been restrained until now and now they let loose. Something else, look at verse 6, and I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, there they are again, but listen to how loud, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings. Does that sound quiet to you? That sounds pretty boisterous, right?

Sounds loud. So it shows me that heaven is a place of lots of lots of activity and pretty noisy. I say that smiling, see this is me smiling, because I think back to when I was a kid going to church and my mom always said, and I'd say, why? She said, it's church. Like, okay, it's church, so you should be quiet. It's God's house. God doesn't like noise.

You may want earplugs then when you get to heaven because it sounds and looks and reads like it's a very active, alive, and loud place. So that's the first aspect. That's the first facet of this second coming. It is preceded by a supper.

Second thing I want you to note is that it is predicted by the Scripture. Now I'm going to take you to verse 10 where that's highlighted. It says, and I fell at His feet to worship Him. Now this is the angelic being, that John sees and bows down to worship. I just think John is overcome with emotion. He's just reflexively doing this. He's not really thinking about, oh yeah, I shouldn't be worshiping angels. He just does it.

But He said to me, see that you do not do that. I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.

But here's the key phrase. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Let that phrase just sort of seep into your mind and soul. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Listen to it in the New Living Translation. For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus. You see, the central theme of all prophetic literature, the central focus is none other than Jesus Christ. And what's more, they had a lot to say about His second coming.

Listen to this. Next to the subject of faith, there is no subject discussed more in the Bible than the second coming of Christ. Next to the subject of faith, there is no subject covered as much as the second coming of Christ. The second coming is dealt with 1,845 times. So some dudes out there counting that. That's a lot of times. 1,527 times in the Old Testament, 318 in the New Testament. For every time the first coming is mentioned, the Bethlehem event, the second coming is mentioned eight times.

So it's a factor of eight to one. Also, for every time the atonement is mentioned, the second coming is mentioned twice. Jesus personally referred to His return 21 times, and 50 times or over 50 times we are told to be ready for it. So Jesus is the star on the stage of Bible prophecy, and the second coming takes a lot of that attention. And when the Bible makes prophecies, when the prophets were predicting, they were predicting principally one of two things, either His first coming or His second coming, as we've mentioned. We talk about the scarlet thread of redemption, right? We've talked about that before, that the sacrifice of Christ is seen through the pages of Scripture.

I wrote a book called Bloodline on that theme. But more than that, more than the scarlet thread of redemption is the golden thread of His righteous rule at the second coming. Now, the Jewish people, all Jewish people, Orthodox Jewish people, have looked for a Messiah for 3,500 years. Most of them don't believe He has come yet, so they're still waiting. But Orthodox Jewish people for 3,500 years have said a prayer like this, I believe in the coming of Messiah, and even though He tarry, I shall wait for Him every coming day.

I believe in the coming of Messiah, and even though He tarry, I shall wait for Him every coming day. That's been their prayer. That's been their anticipation. Well, the prophets predicted that He would come.

That's why they're waiting. But Jesus fulfilled those prophecies. We know that. We've seen that.

We've looked at that. But when the prophets were looking into the future, they anticipated not only His coming, but His coming in glory to reign. And some of those we are familiar with. We are familiar with Isaiah's prophecy when he said, unto us a child is born. Remember that prophecy? Undo us a son is given. You know when we usually quote that?

Christmastime. Listen to the whole prophecy. Undo us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Here it is. And the government will be on His shoulder. That hasn't happened yet. And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Here it is. Of the increase of His government, there will be no end upon the throne of David to order and establish it from this time forth, even forevermore. Even the Lord of hosts will perform this. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. That is about this event, the second coming of Christ.

That's Skip Heitzig with a message from the series 2020. Now we want to share about a resource that will help you cultivate an enduring faith through every season of life. What stands between you and a more fruitful walk with Jesus? Find out how four prominent women in the Bible faced their struggles in a new teaching series from Lenya Heitzig called Queens of the Bible. Here's Lenya on the Queen of Sheba. Hearing is the first step towards spiritual blessing.

Right now, hearing is a step toward blessing because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Hear more from Lenya as she explores the faith and the failings of four different Queens in Scripture. The Queens of the Bible collection of teachings is our way of saying thank you when you give $35 or more today to support this Bible teaching ministry. Look, the cost of following Christ is to go wherever He leads. Get your copy of these unique teachings when you call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer.

Connectwithskip.com slash offer. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares about the startling appearance Jesus will have when He returns to judge the world. It's far from what He looked like as He died on the cross. So He came the first time as Savior. He's not coming the second time as Savior. He's coming the second time as Judge.

He came to save and He still invites you to be saved, but He will come the second time not as the Lamb but as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, one who is in authority. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.