The Return

We know that the tribulation period will be a very bloody scene, a very horrific scene, but it gets better. And the better part happens when Jesus comes back. He's going to end all that has happened on the earth. He's going to tell the politicians, move over boys and girls.

I'm going to show you how it's done. And Jesus will take over the earth that He Himself created. Billy Graham once said, Bible teaching about the second coming of Christ was thought of as doomsday preaching, but not anymore. It is the only ray of hope that shines as an ever brightening beam in a darkening world. Today, we continue our countdown of Skip's top 40 messages on the Connect with Skip Heitzig YouTube channel. In the number 37 spot is his message, The Return, in which Skip considers five aspects of Jesus' return and shows you how you can be prepared for everything ahead.

Right now, we want to tell you about a resource that will take you on an incredible journey as you explore God's vast love for you. The year was 1962, and the United States was behind in the space race. Boldly, President Kennedy threw down a strong claim. I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. Three, two, one, zero, and liftoff. When JFK made this challenge, America had little space experience.

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That's connectwithskip.com or 1-800-922-1888. Now, as we join Skip Heitzig for today's teaching, we're in Revelation chapter 19. Most of us know that Jesus was raised in a little town in northern Galilee called Nazareth. And I don't know how you pictured it, but it's not until you actually go to Israel, and you look around that you see and you understand something that Jesus had growing up.

And that is a view. He had a view from Nazareth. This is the view from Nazareth.

And that is the valley of Armageddon stretched out, 375 square mile valley stretched out at the bottom of Nazareth. So I just want you to think in your minds of Jesus as a little boy playing, and what thoughts would have gone through his mind as he played and looked over every day of his life, of his upbringing, over this valley that would one day host a battle that would only be stopped when he returned to this earth the second time. As you turn to Revelation 19, we're going to look beginning in verse 11 at a very important vision that John the Apostle has of the return of Jesus Christ. Jesus comes to stop a battle, but also he comes to start a kingdom. And I'll warn you as we go through this study, I'll warn you that this is going to be a veritable fire hose of a sermon.

That is, it's like drinking from a fire hose. Because this is such a monumental event, I'm going to give you so much scripture because so much of the scripture talks about this event. And we're going to overview it and see how it's going to come down.

It's not a pretty scene. We know that the tribulation period will be a very bloody scene, a very horrific scene, but it gets better. And the better part happens when Jesus comes back. He's going to end all that has happened on the earth. He's going to tell the politicians, move over boys and girls.

I'm going to show you how it's done. And Jesus will take over the earth that he himself created. I have a friend in the ministry who some years ago went and visited a mental institution for children. He said as he was walking down the corridors, he noticed these tiny little handprints on all of the windows.

And he asked the director to explain those handprints. And the director said, well, the children here love Jesus, and they are so eager for him to return, they lean against the windows as they look up to the sky. When I first heard that, I thought, if that's being mentally handicapped, then let me be so afflicted as to look for and long for the return of Jesus. Jesus Christ is coming back.

He is coming back. And that is the most wonderful news ever. You know, in the newspaper industry, they have an actual print type called second coming type. And that is referring to when there's a big event, they put this banner capital letter print across the top of the page. If a president gets elected, or a president gets assassinated, or there's an attempt on his life, or we make some kind of a journey into space, they use what they call second coming type.

So I don't know how the newspaper is going to cover this, but it is a headline event. Jesus is coming back. Now we're going to look, beginning at verse 11, down to verse 21. And what I'm going to give you is I'm not going to drill down into every single verse and explain every single nuance.

That would be a series in and of itself. But what I want to do is give you five aspects to the return of Jesus. Now when I'm talking about the return here, I'm not talking about the rapture. I'm talking about the second coming.

We have seen those differences before. So let's get right to it beginning in verse 11. Now I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse. And he who sat on him was called faithful and true. And in righteousness he judges and makes war.

His eyes were a flame of fire. And on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself.

He was 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. Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations. And he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, king of kings and lord of lords.

There's the headline right there. And then I saw an angel standing in the sun. And he cried with a loud voice saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather together for the supper of the great God. They cried with a loud voice that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great. And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth and their armies, gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. And then the beast was captured. And with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of him who sat on the horse.

And all the birds were filled with their flesh. The first aspect of the second coming of Jesus Christ, the return, is that it is anticipated by prophecy. I want you to go up one verse. I know we began in verse 11 because that's where the event begins. But notice the very end of the 10th verse in chapter 19. It says this, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And then following that statement is John's vision of the second coming of Christ. The New Living Translation translates verse 10 this way, for the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus. In other words, Jesus Christ is the star on the center stage in the theater of biblical prophecy. He is what the prophets focused on more than anything or anyone else.

Both his redemption as well as his rule. You know scholars will often talk about the scarlet thread of redemption that runs through the entire Bible. In other words, what they're saying is that no matter where you read in the Bible, there are hints of his coming sacrifice on the cross.

That scarlet thread of redemption. But I also believe there's a golden thread of his rule, of his coming rule and reign over the earth that is also woven through the text of Scripture. Did you know that next to the subject of faith, no subject is more discussed in the Bible than the second coming. The second coming is dealt with 1,845 times in the Bible. 1,527 are in the Old Testament, 318 are in the New Testament.

You think that's a lot? This is what it translates to. One out of every 30 verses in the Bible either speaks of or alludes to the second coming of Christ or the end of days. It's a prominent subject. For every one time the first coming is mentioned, the second coming is mentioned eight times. For every one time atonement is mentioned, the second coming is dealt with twice. 21 times Jesus personally referred to his return and over 50 times the Bible tells us to be ready for his return.

Why? Simply this, the coming of Christ is the culmination of all redemptive history. All of God's people throughout all of the ages have all looked forward to this event. For 3,500 years the Jewish people have longed for their Messiah to come. Now he came and they didn't receive him and he is coming again.

3,500 years they have prayed this prayer, I believe in the coming of Messiah and even though he tarries yet I will wait for him every coming day. And that's because the prophets all spoke about him coming and the apostles all anticipated it in their writings. And now we are reading about the event itself in Revelation chapter 19. This is the time when the serpent's head will finally and fully be crushed. That takes us back to Genesis 3. This is the time when the scepter, the rule will once again be reinstated in Judah.

That takes us back to Genesis 49. This is the time when God's promised to King David that somebody from his family line would rule and reign forever. 2 Samuel chapter 7 would come to pass. This is that time that Isaiah the prophet spoke about when he said, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders and of the increase of his government and his peace there will be no end. This is the time that Nebuchadnezzar saw in a vision that was interpreted by Daniel the prophet. Nebuchadnezzar saw this large image representing a succession of world governing empires but he also saw in that vision a stone careening out of heaven and hitting the base of that statue and destroying that statue but it formed a mountain that covered the entire earth and Daniel interpreted that vision by saying the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed.

He will break in pieces and consume all of the kingdoms and this kingdom will stand forever. You see all of the prophets saw this coming one who would come from heaven to the earth who would dethrone that final antichrist leader and would set up his own kingdom. They all knew that human history would reach this culmination and by the way that's what Jesus taught his disciples to be praying for and effectively us to be praying for. You remember the prayer our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven beginning in chapter 19 in the following chapters that prayer is finally answered.

This is what Jesus spoke about when on the mount of olives he explained the end of days to his disciples and he said immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened the moon will not give its light the stars will fall from heaven and the power of the heavens will be shaken then the sign of the son of man will appear in heaven and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and with great glory. And by the way some of the greatest songs some of the greatest hymns that the church has been singing for a couple thousand years focus on the second coming. Did you know that Charles Wesley who was a great hymn writer in his lifetime guess how many songs he wrote one man wrote seven thousand songs my fingers are tired just thinking about writing seven thousand anything he wrote seven thousand songs five thousand it is estimated out of his seven thousand songs have as the subject the second coming. You should also know that come Christmas time when you sing joy to the world that song has nothing to do with Christmas. Isaac Watts originally wrote joy to the world the lord is come let earth receive her king he wrote that about the second not the first coming. Julia Ward Howe in the anguish of the civil war as the north and the south were battling it out she looked past all of that heartache to the second coming of Christ as she gave us what we know as the battle hymn of the republic and the language sounds like it comes right out of revelation 19. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the lord he is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored so many great songs both in our nation and of our faith that deal with the second coming of Christ so his coming is anticipated by prophecy second aspect his coming will interrupt hostility you know when he comes back he's interrupting a battle that takes place it's right in the midst of that war and that language is written here in this text now as we go through some of these descriptions of Jesus in our text we understand that this is a very different Jesus than the ones we read about in the four gospels right when we read the four gospels we read about Jesus looking on people with compassionate eyes here look at verse 12 and his eyes were like a flame of fire that penetrating gaze as he comes back as the judge in the gospels we picture Jesus wearing a crown of thorns placed on him by the Romans but here we read on his head were many crowns diadamata is the word it means crowns of rulership crowns of ownership crown of sovereignty crowns of authority in the gospels we picture Jesus standing before Pontius Pilate saying my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world my servants would rise up and fight but here we see Jesus coming to our world with the armies of heaven when we read about Jesus in the four gospels we can picture him as his blood stains the very garments that he is wearing but here in revelation chapter 19 chapter 19 we are told and he had a robe dipped in blood this is not his blood this is the blood of his enemies so this is a very different Jesus this is not the lamb this is the lion of the tribe of Judah this is the warrior king this is the Jesus described in second Thessalonians 1 by Paul the apostle when he said the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ what is going on in this passage what is going on is the end of a battle the mother of all battles called the battle of Armageddon it is hinted at it is previewed already in the book of revelation in chapters 14 and in chapter 16 in chapter 16 demons go out to convince armies to gather together in this middle eastern valley the picture that you saw at the beginning and march toward Jerusalem and Jesus speaks in revelation 16 in verse 15 behold I am coming as a thief blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame now listen to this and they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew Har Megidon Armageddon the valley around the mountain or the civilization of Megiddo an ancient battleground did you know Napoleon Bonaparte who fought there by the way said the battle at the valley of Armageddon was the most natural battleground he had ever seen in his life it was in this valley that Deborah and Barak fought Sisera in the book of Judges it was in this valley that Gideon fought the Midianites it was in this valley that Sennacherib the Assyrian king amassed his army to fight Hezekiah it was in this valley that Pharaoh Neko killed good king Josiah on and on and on blood was shed in that valley of Armageddon and more blood will be shed in that valley in fact all of those battles of the past are just harbingers of what is coming in the end of days so what's happening here in a nutshell this is the very end of the end and hostilities toward Israel will reach a fever pitch hence this battle and at the peak and height of these armies gathering together and marching on Jerusalem Jesus will come and interrupt it Zechariah 14 puts it this way behold the day of the Lord is coming I will gather all nations to battle against Jerusalem and then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as he fights in the day of battle by this time the Antichrist kingdom known as Babylon in the book of Revelation is in shambles by this time his economic plan is a failure his authority is collapsing and his coalition assembles in and around this 375 square mile valley and marches toward the Jewish headquarters of Jerusalem Jesus coming is an interruption and an overthrow of that battle you know I've talked to Christians who go all right man you know we're going to be in on that battle I can't wait to fight that battle you're not going to fight that battle it's not like we're the bride of Christ and by the way we wear army boots no there's only one weapon in this battle and that's the sword that comes out of Jesus mouth that's his word he's just going to come and stop the battle this is not a fighting this is a falling this is a falling that takes place this is a total victory an entry now there's something I want to make a contrast with in revelation 19 there are two suppers that are written about the first supper we didn't really read because we went right to the second coming but it's a supper that takes place in heaven called the marriage supper of the lamb that's verse seven and john gets very excited about writing about this what he sees this marriage supper of the lamb that's verse seven but in verse 17 it talks about the supper of the great god now that's a very different kind of supper that's armageddon that's the supper for the vultures the birds of the air devouring the corpses of those who fall in this battle it's a real gross kind of a supper so it's interesting that in the same chapter you have the marriage supper of the lamb and then you have the supper of the great god which do you want to go to first supper or second supper i'll take number one thank you that's Skip heitzig's number 37 message on our top 40 messages countdown it's from the series what's next now here's Skip to share how you can help keep this broadcast going strong connecting you and others around the world with god's word the bible is full of promises by a promise keeping god and our goal is to share all those 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can make you stronger as you wait for jesus return connect with Skip heitzig is a presentation of connection communications connecting you to god's never changing truth in ever-changing times