The Second Coming | Sunday Message

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here. You're listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, and my objective is to deliver, hopefully, compelling practical insights in faith, culture, and current events from a biblical perspective. To find out more about our ministry, just go to our website, harvest.org.

So thanks for joining me for this podcast. I got a traveling salesman that was out on the road. He had a really long, hard day. He returned to his hotel room. Sitting at the edge of his bed, he took off his shoe and just let it drop to the ground with a big thud, and then it dawned on him, oh my. You know, it's late at night. There's someone below me. I might have woken them up. So he very carefully and quietly took off his second shoe and put it on the floor.

A half hour passes. There's a knock at the door, and the salesman opens the door. And there standing before him is a man with dark circles under his eyes, and he said, would you just let the other shoe drop so I can get some sleep? You know, in many ways, the world today is waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. And that's what's happening here in Revelation 19. The other shoe is dropping, if you will, as Jesus Christ is now visibly returning to the earth and what we call the second coming. Is the event the church has been praying for for centuries. In the Lord's prayer, Christ taught us to say to the Father, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is effectively a prayer for the return of Christ.

And now here in Revelation 19, we see this prayer is being answered before our very eyes. You know, newspapers have a certain kind of type they say. They say for mega events, and guess what it's called? It's called second coming type. They use it for special events. It's much larger than the normal type. This is the type that was used when the Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor. This is the type that was used when President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. The event type, they call it second coming type.

Why do they call it that? Because they're actually acknowledging there is no bigger event that is coming to the world than the second coming of Jesus Christ. By the way, it's not just Christians that believe this. I read a Gallup poll that said 66% of the American people believe that Jesus Christ is coming back to this earth in the future. And that poll was taken quite a long time ago.

I wonder if that percentage is not higher with all that is going on in our world right now. Make no mistake about it, Christ is coming again. And at the second coming, Jesus is going to come back to this planet.

He's gonna judge his enemies. He's gonna set up his kingdom and he'll rule over the earth for a thousand year period that is called the millennium. Satan's heyday will be over and he'll be chained up for a thousand years. The second coming of Christ is mentioned many times in the Bible. It's mentioned 1,800 times in the Old Testament and 300 times in the New Testament. Specifically, one verse in 25 mentions the Lord's return in the Bible. It's referred to in 27 Old Testament books and also in 23 New Testament books.

Listen to this. Great prophecies about the second coming. So clearly, this is a theme in the Bible that is repeated over and over again. The great British preacher C.H. Spurgeon once said, quote, the sound of his approach should be as music to our ears, end quote. And he said, the sound of his approach should be as music to our ears, end quote.

The sound of his approach should be as music to our ears, end quote. Even so, come Lord Jesus. And that should be the response of every believer. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You know, after Jesus was crucified and rose again from the dead, now he was going to ascend to heaven.

Why do you stand here gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus who was taken from you into heaven will come again in like manner as you saw him go into heaven. So know this, Jesus Christ is coming again. The incarnation without the coronation would be like the east without the west.

It's repeated over and over. One of the more familiar passages is Matthew 24, also known as the Olivet Discourse. He speaks of this and he says, immediately after the tribulation of those days, and remember, there's gonna be a great tribulation period that lasts for seven years. So the second coming is at the end of the tribulation period. So Jesus says, as this is happening, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give her light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heaven will be shaken, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. All the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. No, it doesn't say great glory.

Great glory. I actually think I'll be there, though, and if you're a Christian, I think you'll be there as well. I'll tell you why I believe that in just a few moments. But the second coming happens at the Battle of Armageddon, and the Battle of Armageddon is at the end of the tribulation period. What are we going to be doing as followers of Jesus while this is happening? I told you on my last message, I believe we'll have been caught up to meet the Lord in the air, we'll be in heaven, but what are we doing after the rapture and before the second coming, Revelation 19, verse seven addresses that.

Let's read it together. Jesus made herself ready, and her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, and the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And then he said to me, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and he said to me, these are the true sayings of God. Now imagine hearing this, and John is just overwhelmed as the angel delivers this message to him, and John says, I fell to his feet to worship him, and he said, don't do that. I am your fellow servant, and of your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus, worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. You know, more than one occasion, the Bible compares the church to a bride, and Jesus to the groom. In fact, our Lord used this illustration many times in his parables. Remember it's a story that he told of a man who was invited to a wedding, but he refused to wear the garment that was given to him at the door.

That's a picture of people that think they don't need to believe in Jesus to get into this great feast, this great promise that God gives to us. Jesus told the parable of the 10 virgins. It's played, the melody is played on the keyboards, dun, dun, ta-da, and we all stand up, and we look back, and there stands the bride dressed in white, usually escorted by her father, and she comes down the aisle, and then she's joined to the groom. Three o'clock in the morning, and there was an announcement given. Behold, the bridegroom is coming, and if you were asleep, you'd miss it.

Snooze, and you lose. So Jesus used that picture to say we need to be ready for this great event that is coming. You wouldn't like go through a drive-thru restaurant on your way to your wedding like Taco Bell. You don't want refried beans on your wedding dress now, do you?

Both of you want to look your best. And now it's interesting because we read here in Revelation 19 of verse eight about this fine linen, which is the righteous acts of the saints. What does that mean? Here's what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean you have to live a perfect life to get to heaven. We've said to you before, heaven is not for good people.

It's for forgiven people. So when you've turned from your sin, and you've put your faith in Christ, you now have the hope you will go to heaven, and then when you get there, we have the righteous acts of the saints. In other words, it's not what we've done to get to heaven, but it's what we've done in light of the fact that God has called us to heaven and purchased our salvation. We're saved by human effort.

The Bible says it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done. And one of the more familiar passages on this topic is Ephesians 2.8. Paul says, by grace you've been saved through faith, not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So we know that, but that verse goes on to say the following, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good work. That God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Listen to this, works don't save a man or a woman, but they're a good evidence that he or she is saved. You can have works without faith, but you cannot have faith without works.

What are you even talking about? By works, I mean evidence, results. Let me ask you this question. If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Now by evidence, I don't mean by how many Bibles you have. I have a collection of Bibles because I don't think I've ever thrown a Bible away.

I've given some away. So I have a stack of Bibles on my desk going back decades of Bibles that I use. They're all pretty beat up, but that's not evidence that I'm a Christian. It's evidence to have a lot of Bibles. The evidence is found in the way that I live. The evidence is found by the things that I say.

The evidence is found in what the Bible describes as fruit, spiritual fruit. The Bible says we should bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance, and sometimes you'll see a person who says they're a Christian, but they're contradicting it by the way that they're living. Oh, I'm a Christian, they'll say, but they're getting drunk and partying the weekends away, or maybe even other days of the week. They say they're a Christian, but they're in an immoral relationship. They say they're a Christian, and they're doing something else, and you'll say, hey man, I don't really know if you're living a life that a Christian should be living, and of course, they're gonna push back and say this to you. Hey, judge not lest you be judged, right? So you could just say, well, I don't know that I'm judging you.

Think of me as a fruit inspector. Jesus said, by their fruits you shall know them, and if you're a real Christian, there will be spiritual fruit, i.e. results, there will be works, there will be evidence that confirms that you are a follower of Christ. That's important because something's gonna happen in heaven that some Christians don't know about. It's called the judgment seat of Christ, and every Christian will be present at the judgment seat of Christ.

It happens after the rapture, and it happens before the second coming. Now, you might say, wait, wait, I thought we weren't gonna be judged. Well, you won't be judged at the great white throne judgment.

We'll talk about that next time. That is that judgment where the small and the great, the rich and the poor, every person stands before God, and if your name is not found written in the book of life, you're cast into the lake of fire. This is not that judgment. Not only will a Christian not be judged then, but they will not even be present at that judgment, in my opinion. What I'm talking about is a different judgment that's sometimes called the bema seat, or the judgment seat of Christ. And that is the judgment that we're gonna stand before as followers of Jesus Christ.

Describing this in 2 Corinthians 5, 10, it says, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad. So think of this as more of an awards ceremony. Many of you who are watching may be very accomplished, and you have doctorates hanging on your wall and your degrees and things that you've done. Others may have shelves lined with trophies and ribbons that you've won for athletic events. When I competed in athletics as a kid, I always seemed to win the purple ribbon. And by the way, that was like the lowest ribbon you could win. You know, there would be the gold ribbon maybe, or the blue ribbon, and purple was given for just existing.

That was like what was given for the fact that you just were in the race and they acknowledged you lived, that's it. I had a lot of purple ribbons. I'm also reminded of when I was in school. I remember that we had a teacher who would give us a star on certain papers or reports.

Remember those? Some of you may have never seen them, but you get them in the stationery store, little gold stars, silver stars, blue stars. And the gold star was the big one. I never got a gold star. In fact, I just had blue stars, which again just meant, okay, you turned it in.

It wasn't that great. But once again, we acknowledge your existence. I literally went to a stationery store and bought a little box of gold stars and just put them on my papers because I wanted to see what it was like. But you know, we think about things like that, but we're acknowledged for what we have done. I know the trend in kids' sports today is to not keep score.

I know that because they have five grandkids and I've gone to some of their soccer games and they'll be out there playing and I'll say, what's the score? And someone will say, we don't keep score. But there are people always keeping score, of course, even if it's not official. But this is the idea that there's no winners, there's no losers, everyone's a winner. That sounds good, it's not true. It's not true in life, and guess what? It's not true in the Bible. In the Bible, there's winners and there are losers.

And guess what? God wants you to be a winner in the race of life. On more than one occasion, the Christian life is compared to running a race.

And Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9, 24, don't you realize that we're in a race and everyone runs in a race, but only one person gets the prize, so run to win. Run to win. If you're competing in the Olympics, go for the gold. If you're living as a Christian, go for the gold.

Run to win. And by the way, I'm not competing with my fellow Christians. My competition is not with fellow believers. My competition as a pastor is not with other churches.

He who has the biggest church wins, no, no, no. Because on that final day, God is gonna ask about my faithfulness. He won't say, well done, good and successful servant. He'll say, well done, good and faithful servant. I'll be held accountable for what God has called me to do. You'll be held accountable for what God has called you to do so we need to be faithful, but we must do the best we can do. My competition, if you will, is the world, the flesh, and the devil, not fellow believers.

And know this, there's coming a day when rewards are going to be given out in heaven. Again, this is like an awards ceremony. Think the Oscars or the Emmys. I watched the Oscars this year.

I have to admit, I was pretty disappointed by a lot of things, but generally, in the old days at least, there would be the big buildup and the screen would be split with a tight shot of all the potential winners. And they would say, and the winner is, with the Academy Award for Actor of the Year, Actress of the Year, Film of the Year, and then this is it, and they would announce it, and the person would jump up, and then he would see everybody else, and they would all be applauding. You know they're mad.

You know they're upset, but they're actors. Oh, that was a great choice. Instead of me, no, no one likes to lose, and then the winner goes and gets their Oscar, their Emmy, their Grammy, whatever it is. This is an awards ceremony where you would be rewarded for what you have done with the opportunities that God has set before you. And if you are faithful, there is a reward that will be given. I wanna come back to a verse I already read again. 2 Corinthians 5, 10, will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, whether it be good or bad.

Whether it be good or bad. This is an interesting phrase when it says bad. It doesn't mean bad as in evil. It actually means evil of another kind.

Another way to translate it is good for nothingness, or worthlessness. So I'm a Christian. This is not about if I get to heaven or not. In fact, this judgment happens in heaven. Again, this is a reward given to faithful service. So God's gonna look at the good and the bad, and are there things in my life where I just wasted opportunities? Jesus said if salt loses its saltiness, it's good for nothing.

You ever order a Coke and it's flat? That's worthless. Or how about the person that walks into a coffee place and orders a soy decaf latte? In my opinion, that's pretty much worthless.

They probably have a cat. I don't know why I'm even saying that. But my point is simply this. I mean, come on, man.

Half the fun of a drink like that is the espresso that's in it, or at least the steamed milk, not soy. But the idea is this is something that is good for nothing. And I wonder when we stand before God if we will not be questioned about what we did with our time. So much time is wasted every single day. And guess what it's wasted on?

It's wasted on one of these. You probably have one, most of the population does, a cell phone. And this cell phone consumes so much of our time. Did you know that kids spend eight to 12 hours a day on a cell phone? And teenagers spend around nine hours a day. And adults spend 4.5 hours a day on cell phones.

And you know how it works. You just open it up in the morning and you just start scrolling, scrolling through Instagram, scrolling through Twitter, checking your Facebook page, going over to Pinterest, whatever it is you look at. And before you know it, you've burned up so much screen time and you've actually wasted so much time. It's a big waste of life in many ways. And I think we need to make a conscious effort to put these devices down. And to spend time with each other, talking to each other, listening to each other, not checking our phone or even our watch that will beep or vibrate.

No, but talk with each other. And most importantly, we need to spend time with the Lord. As you know, I've written a book called Billy Graham, The Man I Knew. And Billy Graham was asked the question if he had any regrets in life. And his response was, yes, he wished he had spent more time praying, more time studying the Bible. He wished he had spent less time traveling and taking speaking engagements. And then he said, I wished I had spent more time telling the Lord how much I love Him.

The Bible says, be still and know that I am God. Because one day I'm gonna be held accountable for what I did with my time. But it may not just be a waste of time, but it's missed opportunities. The evil of complacency.

The evil of neglect. Let me illustrate. Let's say you're walking down the street and a house is on fire. And you stop and you pull your phone out, not to call 911, but to take a picture. Then you keep walking. I mean, maybe you could be a hero and rush in and try to save someone.

At the very least, call 911. But if you were to just take a picture and keep walking when human lives are in danger, that's not just neglect, that's criminal neglect. Let me illustrate it another way. Let's say you're a medical researcher, a scientist, and you have cancer. And so you go into the laboratory and you spend years doing experiments and doing everything you can to try to find a cure for cancer.

And one day you succeed and you take this shot or gulp this pill or whatever the treatment is, and instantly you're cured of your cancer. Then you keep it to yourself and don't tell anyone else. Is that a bad thing? It certainly is. I think you know where I'm going with this. In the same way, here we are as Christians. We found something even better than a cure for cancer, as wonderful as that would be.

We have found the meaning of life on this earth and the hope of the afterlife with faith in Christ and knowing we'll go to heaven. Yet we never share that with anyone, so I'll stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And he'll wanna know, what did I do with my opportunities? Did I leverage them? Did I use the influence that God gave me? Did I address my sphere of influence? I know I'm supposed to go into all the world and preach the gospel, but did I go into all of my world and preach the gospel? Did I reach out to people that I know? How did I use my resources?

How did I spend my money? These things all will be reviewed at the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. And I think we'll be in for some surprises because we probably think that the winners are gonna be all the super Christians out there. Billy Graham will have so many crowns. He won't even be able to carry them all or people like Elizabeth Elliot or Corrie Ten Boom or someone like Joni Eareckson Tada with all that she's dealt with in life, how she'll be rewarded.

And I have no doubt that those saints will all be rewarded. But we might be shocked when there is a sweep of the awards at the judgment seat of Christ by some woman named Maude Frickenbinder. Have you heard of her? Well, she doesn't exist. She's just some person I made up.

But I imagine Maude Frickenbinder as a elderly little lady. She never wrote a book. She never preached in a crusade. You don't even know her name. But while all the others were doing their work, she was doing hers. While Billy was preaching in stadiums, Maude Frickenbinder was on her knees praying. She'll be rewarded.

Remember, this judgment is not about success as we like to define success. It's about faithfulness to the Lord. So this is all happening up in heaven. Well, our honeymoon is coming because we're now joined to Christ as his bride. Now it's time for our honeymoon. Where are we going?

Niagara Falls, Hawaii, Tahiti? Actually, we're coming back to planet earth with our bridegroom, Jesus Christ. Know this, at the rapture, God gives us a first-class round-trip ticket.

Yes, I'm going up, but I'm gonna come back down again. Look at Revelation 19, verse 11. Now I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse. And he that sat in him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

His eyes were like a flame of fire. On his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself, and he is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses.

Wow, what a powerful passage that is. Look at verse 11, he's called Faithful and True. This is in contrast to the devil, who is unfaithful, and he lies. Jesus said in John 8, 44, to the Pharisees, you belong to your father, the devil, and you wanna carry out your father's desires. He's a murderer from the beginning, and he is a liar, and he is the father of lies. No, our Lord is faithful and true.

But of course, not everyone thinks that. For the non-believer, God is never fair in what he does. And when men go out and break God's laws that he gives us for our own protection, and then they face the inevitable consequences, they shake a fist in the face of God and blame him. But the fact is, he's faithful and true. And God keeps his promises, think about it. Jesus said, I'll never leave you or forsake you. Jesus said, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Has the Lord not kept his promises to you? Well, he's gonna keep all of his promises, including his promise to come again. Because he said in John 14, three, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again to receive you unto myself, that where I am, you may be also.

Now I wanna point out something. Judgment is not God's happy place. Do you have a happy place? Usually a person has something they like to do. Some people, it's when they're eating.

Another person, when they're exercising. I don't understand that, but they say there's this release of endorphins when you run. At least they experience it. I've never met an endorphin.

The only time I think I've had an endorphin release is actually when I was eating. But we have our happy place, things we like to do. I think some people think that judgment is God's happy place. Oh yeah, I've been waiting for this. I can hardly wait.

No, it's the opposite of that. Remember, we read in scripture that God is not willing that any should perish, and also we read God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Here's some things we learned from the verses we just read in case you're taking notes. Number one, the second coming of Christ will be public and it will be seen by everyone. The second coming of Christ will be public and it will be seen by all. There'll be no mistaking it when it happens.

People will not say, was that just a really bad storm? No, everyone will know because Jesus said, as the lightning shines from the east to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Number two, the second coming of Christ will be accompanied by sadness and weeping.

Yes, it's a happy day for heaven, but it's a sad day for earth. Israel will mourn as they realize that Jesus was their Messiah. Zechariah 12, 10 says, a look on me whom they have pierced, and mourn for him as for an only son.

They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died. And Jesus is coming to bring righteous retribution and vengeance. Let me say that again, Jesus is coming to bring righteous retribution and vengeance. Now, I know some people don't like the idea of a vengeful God. They wanna think of him as a loving God. He is a loving God. He is a forgiving God.

He is also a holy God and a righteous God. And in this instance, he is a vengeful God. Some would say, oh no, God, it is too good to punish sin. No, listen, God is too good to not punish sin. Romans 12, 19 says this. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.

Now, think about it. We all read of horrible injustice that happens in this world. Wicked acts of violence perpetrated on people. And innocent little children. And we think they can't get away with this and those people never get arrested. They're never incarcerated.

They never face the ramifications for their sin. They escape the long arm of the law. But listen, they will not escape the long arm of the Lord. There's a final judgment and everything will come out and this is that day. Now, again, I wanna distinguish between the rapture and the second coming. Two stages of the Lord's return.

The rapture is at the beginning of the tribulation or I should say before it. The second coming is at the end of the tribulation. In the rapture, he comes before judgment. In the second coming, he returns with judgment. In the rapture, Jesus comes for his people. In the second coming, he returns with his people.

In the rapture, he comes as a thief in the night. In the second coming, everyone will see. Let me say a word about us being there with the Lord. We're returning with the Lord. He's returning with mighty armies.

Because the Bible says when Christ who is our life shall appear, we shall see him as he is and we'll be with him in that day. So we're coming back with the Lord when he returns to the earth again. Now, notice he rides a white horse in verse 11. A white horse.

Now, think about when Jesus came into Jerusalem. He rode a little donkey, a little different than a white horse. We think a donkey and now a white horse. Well, this is how we expect him to come on a beautiful white stallion. On that first entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, on Palm Sunday, they said, hail him, hail him, hail him. And it was only days later that they said, nail him, nail him, nail him. But now he is returning as the risen Lord. And it's interesting, it's a white stallion. If you've been with us in this Revelation series, you may recall that Revelation six has the four horsemen of the apocalypse and the first is a white horse and that's anti-Christ, reminding us that anti-Christ comes on the scene trying to present himself as Jesus Christ or as the Messiah.

Remember, anti doesn't just mean against. It also means instead of, but he's a false Messiah. And remember, anti-Christ in Revelation six had one crown, but Jesus wears many crowns. Remember our Lord wore a crown of thorns when he was crucified. Now he wears many crowns as he returns on his white stallion.

This is air horse one, returning to the earth again. Sometimes people wonder, what did Jesus look like? Think of all the films you've seen that present Jesus and we've seen him presented in so many ways and people wonder what his skin color was, what his hair color was, how tall he was. Isn't it interesting that in all the Bible, not one gospel author, not one person stops to just say, oh, by the way, Jesus was like around 5'10, he had dark hair or whatever.

Not one person describes him. Maybe that's because God knows our propensity for idolatry and knew that we would worship an image of him, but here we actually have a description of the appearance of Jesus, but it is symbolic. Three things stand out, his eyes, his head, and his robe. First there are his eyes, verse 12. His eyes are like a flame of fire.

Now this conveys judgment. This conveys righteousness as he is looking at you. You know, when you meet someone, you look them in the eyes, you shake their hand.

I was taught my sons, you know, when you meet someone for the first time, you stand up, you firmly shake their hand, you say, nice to meet you. Some people don't wanna make eye contact at all. They say the eye is the window to the soul. Well, now you're looking into the eyes of Jesus.

Imagine that for a moment. His penetrating gaze cuts through every mask of hypocrisy because he sees the heart. We read when Jesus saw Matthew and called him in the gospels, he saw right through him, or literally, he gazed right through him. So here are the eyes of the Lord who sees everything. And then there's his head, verse 12. On his head were many crowns. He has many crowns because he rules many kingdoms, because he is Lord of all.

God is sovereign over the entire universe. He's the all-knowing, all-powerful ruler who is also a loving, compassionate savior. And then there's his robe, verse 13. He has a robe that's dipped in blood, and his name is called the word of God.

This phrase, dipped in blood, can be better translated, spattered in blood, reminding us that when he came the first time, he came to die for the sin of the world. Now he is coming to judge the world and return again. And he speaks his enemies out of existence with just a word from his mouth, the same voice that creates and stops storms and summons angels, speaks, and now that judgment has finally come. Now you would think when Christ is returning and these forces that are engaged in battle with each other in the battle of Armageddon, the kings of the east that we already read about, and the forces of the anti-Christ, suddenly Christ appears. Christ is returning. You would think that they would turn from their sins, here he is, the Lord returning to planet Earth. You'd think they would just say, God, forgive us.

No, that's not what they do at all. Look at verse 19. I saw the beast, that's the anti-Christ, the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on his horse and on his army.

So they take what little strength they have left and point it toward Christ and attack him. And now this final judgment comes, Revelation 19, verse 20. Then the beast, that's the anti-Christ, was captured. With him the false prophet, that's the anti-Christ sidekick slash religious guru leader.

Both of them are taken who work signs in his presence. And they were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. The anti-Christ, the false prophet, are immediately judged. These two are so wicked they go directly to the lake of fire.

Now those who have died rejecting Christ will wait for that final judgment, the great white throne judgment, and I will talk about later. This is amazing, amazing stuff that John's watching. He's just overwhelmed. And then we read in verse 10 that he fell at the feet of this angel that's delivering this message. And the angel says, hey man. Well, he didn't say, hey man, but he said, see that you don't do that. I'm your fellow servant and of your brothers. And then he makes this amazing statement, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So the angel's saying, hey, don't do that.

Well, we're in this together. This is all about Jesus. And then he gives this very important message that shows you why we've studied the book of Revelation and why we need to know more about prophecy in the Bible. Why? Because the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Listen to this. If you have gone through this series with us and your heart has not been moved closer to God, if you can live in sin, breaking God's commandments with abandon, and yet say, oh, I believe in the imminent return of Jesus, Houston, we have a problem. The idea is if you really understand Bible prophecy, it should affect you in the way that you live.

As it says in 1 John, he that has this hope, that is the hope of the Lord's return they will purify himself even as he is pure. So hopefully studying these things has impacted you spiritually. Because ultimately the book of Revelation, and remember revelation, not revelations, there's only one, the book of Revelation unveils truth. That's what it means, unveiling. It unveils our future.

It unveils us to us. But most importantly, the book of Revelation unveils Jesus. Here's Jesus. It's all about Jesus. It's all about a relationship with Jesus Christ. So let me say in closing, if you're a Christian, there is a judgment seat. You will appear before. Again, not about whether you get in heaven or not because the judgment will happen in heaven. It's like a reward, an award ceremony where you'll be giving rewards for your faithfulness to the Lord. But if you're a non-believer, you will stand before the great white throne judgment. And I'll talk about that next time.

It's gonna be ominous and it's gonna be final. And there's no turning back if you get there. Listen, there are no chances after death, but there are thousands before. You have an opportunity to get right with God so you don't have to face that final judgment because Jesus already faced it for you when he died on the cross in your place. He voluntarily, willingly went to the cross and was nailed to it and bled and died for the sin of the world.

He bled and died for your sin. I mentioned earlier about how you can have a relationship with God. Let me ask you, do you know God in a personal way? Is Christ living inside of you? Do you have his peace in your heart that passes all human understanding?

Or do you find yourself just filled with fear and panic and anxiety and worry, especially with all that's going on in the world? And then you're afraid of death and then you fear the idea of the return of the Lord. That would indicate to me you don't have a relationship with him.

But you can have a relationship with him. As I've said before, being a Christian is not becoming a religious person. Being a Christian means you have a relationship with God Almighty. This is why Jesus died. This is why he rose again so you can know God.

Not just know about God, so you can know God. The same Jesus who died and rose again from the dead is alive and he's standing at the door of your life and he is knocking and he is saying, if you will hear his voice and open the door, he'll come in. You're saying hear his voice, like a literal audible voice?

Probably not. But there's sort of a tug, a tug inside of you. Because what I've said is resonating with you. It's making sense to you. You're saying this is it.

This is what I've been looking for. This is who I've been looking for. It's Jesus, how could I have missed him all this time? Maybe you've looked at all the various religious ideas, but you never once opened the Bible. Maybe you've tried all the drugs, you've tried all the parties, you've tried all the things this culture says you should have to make you happy and you're not.

Maybe you've even thought of taking your own life, you're so despondent. And here is Jesus saying everything you need is found in a relationship with me. And if you will come to me and believe in me, I will forgive you of all of your sin and you can know that you'll go to heaven and you can know that you'll be ready for the return of the Lord. Would you like Christ to come into your life? Would you like him to forgive you of your sin?

Would you like a relationship with him? Would you like to make a clean break with your past and have a new beginning? It can happen for you right here, right now. I would like to lead you in a simple prayer. A prayer where you will be asking Jesus to come into your life to be your Savior and your Lord. Now I'll pray it, but I would ask you to pray it out loud after me. So if you want Jesus to come into your life right now, if you want to go to heaven when you die, if you want to be ready for the Lord's return or you want to fill that big hole in your heart, you just need to ask Christ to come in and I'll lead you in this prayer. Stop what you're doing if you can and pray this prayer. You might even pray it out loud after me. This is a prayer where you're asking Jesus to come and live in your life.

Pray these words. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Now Jesus, I ask you to come into my life. Be my Savior, be my Lord, be my God, and be my friend. Thank you for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here. Thanks for listening to our podcast and to learn more about Harvest Ministries. Please subscribe and consider supporting this show. Just go to harvest.org. And by the way, if you want to find out how to come into a personal relationship with God, go to knowgod.org. Knowgod.org, that's K-N-O-W-G-O-D.org.