Jesus is returning. As surely as He left this world, He will return to this world. Michael Brown, delighted to be with you as this entire month we focus on the return of Jesus, the last days, what Bible prophecy says that is relevant for today, different views of the end times, different beliefs within the church.
That's what we're going to unpack this entire month here on the Line of Fire broadcast. If you have a question that you want to ask about the end times, go to thelineoffire.org and ask if we can answer your question on the air. If we get enough questions on certain subjects, that will indicate to me a greater need or greater clarity that's needed on certain things based on what you're hearing in your churches and things like that. So go to thelineoffire.org, click on contact, and send us your question about the last days, the second coming, things you've heard may have confused you a little bit from different teachers of the word.
Maybe I'm saying some new things to you. So write to us. We want to answer some of your questions and some we'll just answer off the air.
We'll have our team respond to you. And if you're not getting our frontline newsletter, it's meant to equip you, to empower you, to help you engage on the front lines. Just while you're there on the Line of Fire, click on subscribe.
It'll take you just a few seconds. So do it now if you can, so you don't forget thelineoffire.org, right on the homepage, click subscribe, and we will get you in our welcome tour as well. Jesus is coming again. Jesus is coming again. This is the great hope. This is something we look forward to with incredible expectation for so many reasons.
And I want to give you a fundamental concept today that I think you're going to find really helpful. Let's concentrate on the what more than the when. Well, the when does matter, and we'll be getting into this. When can we expect the return of the Lord? But let's focus on the what more than the when. Because if you think about it, every generation that's lived up to now has died without seeing Jesus return.
And yet the promise of his return has been relevant to every one of them. If the when was the only thing that was relevant, then it's only relevant for the last generation. It could be us, could be the generation after or after that. I'm 69. I'm 69. Let's say God gave me 30 years. Let's say I live to be 99 years old.
Well, there are some that are also listening and you're holding your baby in your arm, you're home nursing your baby that's six months old. And that child should outlive me by many, many, many, many years, maybe their generation, the generation after that. The bottom line is, every generation that lived up to now, every generation that predicted Jesus return in their lifetime, every generation that said he's coming again and we know it's in our lifetime, we've worked out all the prophecy, they're all gone.
Every generation that said it, they're all gone. So I want to encourage you to focus on the what more than the when. And I want to give you a couple of main reasons why we should focus on the what more than the when. First, we could get into endless debate about exact setting of dates based on the Bible. Does the Bible give us enough information to predict maybe the rough year of the Lord's return?
My contention is absolutely not. Now we will know. Paul makes clear in 1 Thessalonians 5, I don't need to write to you about times and seasons because the coming of the Lord will be like a thief in the night. But because you are children of the day, children of the light, it won't overtake you as in darkness. And when everyone's saying peace and safety, sudden destruction is going to come. But it won't surprise you because you're not asleep at night, you're not drunk during the day, you're sober and alert during the day.
So if he's coming like a thief in the night, and you're awake in the day, then you'll be awake, and you'll be ready when he returns. So I believe that we will know in clear ways, and that there are even biblical signs that indicate the coming of the Lord is near. But when we are getting close, it's going to be overwhelmingly clear.
It's going to be overpoweringly clear. I've had people say, I believe we've entered the tribulation, or I believe I don't pay it any mind at all. It is so far away from biblical prophecy about the end of the age to say what's happening now, this is it, everything's in place, it could happen any second. No, I don't believe that biblical prophecies that are laid out in terms of how you will know that the coming of the Lord is that near. You won't know the day or the hour, but you'll know it's that near.
We are nowhere near that. Now it could happen overnight. It could be tomorrow, everything's shaking so dramatically and accelerated so dramatically that we'd only take a hundred years, is unfolding in a day or two. I'm not saying it can't happen quickly. All I'm saying is, I do not believe that there is sufficient information in the Bible to predict, say, this is the year of the coming of the Lord. And everyone who's done it so far has been wrong.
100 out of 100, unless they picked a date that hasn't come yet. So last year, or again, depending on when you're listening to this, so in 2023, people start referring me, Dr. Brown, have you seen this? Have you seen this?
Have you seen this? There was a book, but then more importantly, a YouTube video that had gone viral and it predicted the return of Jesus. It guaranteed the return of Jesus by the end of 2023.
Could be before that, but by the end of 2023, most likely no later than September, 2023. And the video was posted in 2018 and of course had millions of views. And first thing, the methodology, the Bible interpretation was 100%, not 10%, not 50%, not 90%, 100% wrong. It alleged that there were secret pictographic meanings of Hebrew, which is a terrible misconception. And by the way, I can speak with a little authority about this with a PhD in Near Eastern languages and literatures and as a published Hebrew scholar, I can speak with a little authority about this.
The idea that there are hidden pictographic meanings in the Hebrew letters that still are found in the Hebrew Bible, that is a myth. People think they get so angry with me when they say, you should see the hate mail we get. People damn me to hell for telling the truth about it. Oh, I'm serious.
You'd be shocked by how people are devoted to this. It is not true. There are not secret pictographic meanings still hidden in the Hebrew letters in the Bible, but it gets worse. This author and this videographer claimed that not only are there hidden meanings, but that those hidden meanings in the first seven letters, so the first word, brashit, in Genesis 1, unpack all of Bible prophecy and give you the actual date of the return of Jesus. You talk about bogus, you talk about misleading, you talk about wrong. So in 2023, I wrote an article demolishing this, and I did a video demolishing this, and I said this, mark the video.
Just go ahead, mark that video, mark my article here, save them, and let's come back to the end of 2023 and see which one aged better. You know the worst thing, the worst thing of all? I actually saw that not only has this person not published a public repentance, an apology for putting forth misleading information and said they're going to get some serious discipleship to work out the errors in their lives. I didn't see any of that. All I saw was a new video, a new end time video.
You've got to be kidding me. You know what it reminds me of? So I get saved, 1971, and I began to hear date setting and things like that, and then it would shift.
And so I joked. Now remember, I'm living in anticipation and readiness for the return of the Lord. I can't wait to see. And to this day, that's my hope, my dream that He comes in my lifetime. That's what I'm living for. That's what I want to see.
That's what I'm burning for. So I started to see all this date setting changing. So I said, you know, I'm going to write a book one day. I was just joking. Jesus is coming back in the 1970s. And then I'll put out the second revised edition, Jesus is coming back in the 1980s. And then the third revised edition, Jesus is coming back in the 1990s.
You know, I used to joke about that until it happened. There was a brother in Little Rock, Arkansas, that put out the book, went crazy. 88 reasons why Jesus is coming in 1988. Some of you remember that. They gave away tons of copies.
They sold tons of copies. Churches had rapture practices. We're going to jump up and down and get ready to be raptured. Out of here is going to take us. One day we'll jump up and never come down. And people went into heavy debt. Say, why?
Because they're out of here any minute. Jesus is coming back and even had the date September 12th, 1988. Even though you're not supposed to know the day or the hour, Jesus says, well, it's going to be September 12th, 1988. I remember one of my friends said to me, Mike, are you going to read that book? This was before that in 1988. I smiled. I said, on September 13th.
In other words, it's not going to happen. You know what he did? He put out a new edition the next year. Oh, I miscalculated by a year here.
89 reasons why Jesus is coming in 89. And then a few years ago I did a follow-up on that. I studied what happened. And he started, he put out another book and then ended up being a newsletter where he would update you each year on the signs. And how does this happen, friends?
How does this happen? Some of you remember the Bible teacher Harold Camping who had some really bizarre ideas, but a very influential radio program for many, many years. And he set dates. And he set dates several times. And then finally he made it really clear it's going to happen here. At this point he was probably 90-ish. And his followers, I remember running into them on the streets of Manhattan and they're saying, this is it.
It's happening by this time. They had the dates. They had the whole thing set. And he got big public attention. And, of course, came and went. And he's long since gone.
I remember him being very distraught and he couldn't figure out how he got it wrong. So, I want to encourage you, friends, don't focus on don't focus on the when as much as on the what. Because the what is always relevant. The what always matters. The what always counts. What are we looking forward to? What is yet to come?
What does the Bible say? All right, we're going to start to talk about the what on the other side of the break. I'm Paul Burnett, a board-certified doctor of holistic health. I have never met anyone deficient in caffeine or sugar, but I have met many people deficient in energy-supporting vitamin B12. Unlike other oral B12 supplements, Alfred Libby's slow-dissolve Super B12 is fast-acting because the formula is scientifically developed to dissolve under the tongue, bypassing the digestive process, making it immediately available for use in the body. Alfred Libby's slow-dissolve Super B12 is also formulated with other natural energy-supporting ingredients, such as folate, ginseng root, and other natural ingredients.
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Call 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584, or online at trivita.com. Thanks for joining us, friends, on the Line of Fire as we devote this entire month to the end times, to the second coming of Jesus, to Bible prophecy. What is a sober reading of scripture? What is sensationalistic? What is skeptical?
What is gullible? We're going to do our best to sort it out together here on the Line of Fire. A book that we'll refer to often is the book written by Professor Craig Keener and me entitled Not Afraid of the Antichrist, Why We Don't Believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture. But for those to whom pre-trib rapture is very sacred and something you got saved with, this is not a divisive book.
This is not a mean-spirited book. Some of my best friends over the decades have held to a pre-trib rapture. And there are people I literally have worked with for 30 or 40 years side by side in the Lord. And I don't know where they stand on that.
It's never come up. We've ministered side by side. We've lived for Jesus side by side. We've sacrificed side by side.
And it's never affected us. So this is a book that you'll find really informative, eye-opening, edifying, regardless of your end time views. And it glorifies Jesus.
It glorifies Jesus. You can get a copy by going to our website, thelineoffire.org, right on the homepage, thelineoffire.org. You'll see. Just scroll down where you're able to order this for yourself. Or, if it's easier, just call 800-538-5275. 800-538-5275 to get your copy of Not Afraid of the Antichrist.
All right. Let's talk about the what of his coming. Let's talk about some of the things that take place. I want to go with you to Acts 1. Acts 1. It's a remarkable passage there. The disciples with Jesus, they've been with him now on and off for a period of 40 days since his resurrection.
Can you imagine this? They are firsthand with the master. And it says in verse 6, when they came together, they asked him, Ward, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Which was obviously a logical question because they must have been talking about the redemption of Israel and how the national leadership missed it when the Messiah came. And Israel rebuked him. He says, it's not for you to know times or seasons that the father is fixed by his own authority.
In other words, he'll do that at the right time. But you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea, Samaria and to the end of the earth. So when he said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven, as he went, behold, two men stood them in white robes, stood by them in white robes, obviously angels, and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. As he went up, literally, bodily, he will return literally bodily.
Where? To the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. That's one of the most sacred, glorious things when we stand there in the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and talk about his return when we do our Israel tours.
By the way, if you're on our email list, you'll know when we're leading the next tour to Israel. Look at what it says in Zechariah chapter 14. It's speaking of a time of final calamity and attack on Israel in Jerusalem. There's going to be world upheaval and Jerusalem will come under attack at the end of the age. And half of the city, it says, will go into exile, but the rest of the people should not be cut off from the city. Verse 3, then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, and when he fights, as when he fights on a day of battle. Now look at this. Zechariah 14, 4, on that day, when the day of his return, his feet shall stand.
Where? On the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward and the other half southward. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountain shall reach to us all.
You shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah King of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with him. On that day there shall be no light, cold or frost, and there shall be a unique day which is known to the Lord neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea.
It shall continue in summer as in winter. And the Lord will be King over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
Wow! That's what happens, friends, when he returns. Okay, what about our experience when the Lord returns? Now you may say this is a separate rapture event.
You may say that this is all right at the same time. We'll get into that, but for sure this is going to be our experience when Jesus returns. Look at what Paul writes.
Behold, well let me back up a little bit. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 50. This is going to happen, friends. If we are alive when he returns, this is going to happen. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 50. I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then Paul commenting on this as well, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
What does he say? 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 beginning in verse 13. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so through Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep, meaning believers who have died. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, yes, with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord, therefore encourage one another with these words. This is the what, friends. We can debate aspects of the when, but this is the what. This is what will happen when Jesus returns.
This is what will happen to us. And one more passage, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. And there are so many more passages I could read about the coming of the Lord, but I just want you to hear this and be edified.
This is going to happen, friends, maybe in our lifetimes, but certainly in the future. 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 5. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering, since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, inflaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in the saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed.
Wow, it's going to happen. The Lord is going to come inflaming fire, taking vengeance on those who don't know God. He's going to destroy the wicked who have disobeyed and mocked and he will rescue and deliver his people and we will be glorified with him. We will receive our eternal resurrection bodies, never to perish, never to sin, never to be sick and never to be apart from the presence of God.
That's the best of all forever and ever. It's going to happen when he returns. As surely as he left this earth physically, he will return to this earth physically. As surely as he left this earth from Jerusalem, he will return to Jerusalem and the final generation will see it with their own eyes and every generation prior that's died in the Messiah will be raised up. We'll all experience it together one way or another when he returns.
What a day that will be and that's why in 1st John, John says everyone who has this hope purifies himself even as he is pure because one day we're going to be like him. Wow, wow, wow. Yes, exciting.
All right friends, this is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in. Just a reminder that we are listener supported. If we have been a blessing to you, if you're being enriched in the word and prayer and your own walk with God through this broadcast, then stand with us so that we can reach many, many more and bless many, many more. Together friends, we're making a difference. So go to thelineoffire.org, thelineoffire.org and click donate.
