The Coming King – Part 1

Hi, I'm Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to serve as your Bible teacher every day on this great radio station. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Now, when we get to chapter 19, this chapter is divided into two distinct parts. In verses 1 and 10, the rejoicing of God's people over the fall of Babylon, the empire of the Antichrist. And in verses 11 to 21, the theme is the triumphant return of Jesus Christ, the coming king. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress.

In 2011, over 100 million people tuned in to watch the royal wedding ceremony between Prince William and Kate Middleton. Now, it was indeed one of the most extravagant events in modern history, but today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress teaches about an even greater celebration to come, the wedding feast of the Lamb. Now, here's our Bible teacher to continue our series called Final Conquest.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Have you ever had the privilege of seeing Alaska with your own eyes? I once heard somebody say, if the earth proclaims the glory of God, then Alaska is one of his loudest megaphones.

That's so true. And this coming June 15th through 22nd, 2024, I want you to see God's masterful creation for yourself. You're invited to join us on the Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska. We'll have as our special musical guest, Michael O'Brien and Rebecca St. James. Dennis Swanberg will share his comedy, and I'll be teaching from God's word. Again, the dates are June 15th through 22nd, 2024.

So go to ptv.org, take a look at the schedule for the tour and the wonderful itinerary, and most importantly, reserve your spot while there's still room. A quick reminder before we begin the message for a limited time, you're invited to request my brand new book called Mysteries of the End Times, five little known truths about God's plans for the future. This teaching series will conclude next week, and I don't want you to miss out on this new resource. My book distills five of the most complex references in Revelation and helps you grasp what these references mean. Subjects like The Day of the Lord, The Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and America's Role in Bible Prophecy are discussed in this book. I'll be sure to send you a copy of my book Mysteries of the End Times to your home when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.

I've prepared other resources for you as well that will be described later in the program, but right now let's give our undivided attention to Revelation chapter 19. I titled today's message The Coming King. In January of 1961, a few days before he was inaugurated as President of the United States, President-elect John F. Kennedy invited Billy Graham to join him in Florida for a round of golf. On the way back from the golf course, President-elect Kennedy asked Billy Graham this question, Billy, do you believe that Jesus Christ is coming back to earth one day?

Dr. Graham said, yes, sir, I do. And then the President-elect said, well, if that's true, Billy, why do I hear so little about it today? The fact is you don't hear much about the return of Jesus Christ. It's a subject not even addressed in many pulpits across America today.

But even though it may not be talked about a lot, the fact is certain. Jesus Christ is returning to earth one day to reward the righteous and to punish the unrighteous. And it is our hope, the only hope that we have. And it is that certain visible literal return of Jesus Christ that we have come to in our study of the book of Revelation. If you have your Bibles, turn to Revelation chapter 19 as we talk about The Coming King. It's hard to believe we've been in this book of Revelation for almost a year.

And in a very real sense, everything we have studied this past year is simply a prelude to what we're going to look at today, history's most important event. But before we get into the text itself, let me just answer the question, why is a literal second coming of Christ important? And I want to mention four reasons that Christ must return to earth.

First of all, Christ must return to fulfill the promises made in the Bible. If Christ doesn't return, then it means hundreds and hundreds of prophecies will be left unfulfilled and therefore the Bible is unreliable. But remember, in the Old Testament itself, there were 1,800 references not to the first coming, but to the second coming of Christ.

Did you know that? 1,800. In fact, for every one prophecy in the Old Testament about the first coming of Christ to Bethlehem, for every one prophecy about that, there are eight prophecies about the second coming of Christ. In the 260 chapters of the New Testament, there are over 300 references to the return of Jesus Christ. The second coming is not just incidental, it's essential, it is the theme of the entire Bible, the Old and the New Testaments. Secondly, Christ must return to judge unbelievers for sin.

If Jesus Christ doesn't return, sin and wickedness will only intensify in the world today. Thirdly, Christ must return to depose Satan from his earthly dominion. Remember, Satan is the great usurper. He has temporarily stolen this world which belongs to God. And if Christ doesn't come back to reclaim this earth, then Satan has won. Do you think God's going to allow Satan to do that?

Not on your life. He must return to depose Satan from his earthly dominion. And finally, Christ must return to establish his kingdom on the earth. The promise over and over again is that the Son of God is returning to rule this earth in perfect justice and perfect righteousness.

Don't we look forward to that day when this earth will finally be what God intended it to be? That period of Christ's rule on the earth is the period of the millennium that we will look at beginning next time. That's why Christ must return to earth.

Now, when we get to chapter 19, this chapter is divided into two distinct parts. In verses 1 and 10, the rejoicing of God's people over the fall of Babylon, the empire of the antichrist. And in verses 11 to 21, the theme is the triumphant return of the king. Let's look at the first 10 verses first in which the saints are rejoicing over the fall of Babylon.

Remember last time we saw how Babylon, the empire of the antichrist, is destroyed by God, both the city, the capital of the empire, as well as the religious and economic aspect of that rebellious empire of the antichrist. The silence of the ruined Babylon gives way to the praise in heaven by the saints over the destruction of Babylon. And that praise comes in the form of four hallelujahs. You know, in the book of Revelation, the term hallelujah is used four times, and it all occurs in this chapter, chapter 19 of Revelation. Now, the word hallelujah, we say it a lot without knowing what it means.

It's Hebrew for praise be to God. And notice the four hallelujahs in these opening verses. Why are the people in heaven so excited when Babylon is destroyed? First of all, verses one and two, hallelujah for the great harlot is fallen. After these things, I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God because his judgments are true and righteous, for he has judged the great harlot who is corrupting the earth. That great harlot, remember, is the false church during the tribulation, that for the first three and a half years will assist Antichrist in his rise to power.

But halfway through that tribulation, the Antichrist and the 10 kings who rule with him will decide they don't need that harlot any longer, and they themselves destroy her. And when we come to the book of Revelation in chapter 19, the saints in heaven are rejoicing over the destruction of this false church. Secondly, there's a hallelujah for the great city is consumed. Verse three, when Babylon is destroyed, they said in heaven, hallelujah, praise be to God, for her smoke rises up forever and ever. The third hallelujah, hallelujah for God has vanquished evil.

He has vanquished evil forever and ever. We find that in verse four, and the 24 elders and the living creatures fell down and worshiped God, saying, amen, hallelujah. And finally, hallelujah for the Lord God Almighty reigns. Even in the midst of the chaos of the tribulation, we're reminded that God is in control of everything that is happening.

Don't we need to be reminded of that today? Regardless of the racial unrest, the pandemic, the economic uncertainty, regardless of the chaos in this world in general or in your world specifically right now, no matter what happens, don't forget the Lord God Almighty reigns. Now, this four hallelujah chorus gives way to the final hymn in the book of Revelation. We've looked at a number of hymns in the book of Revelation.

Here's the final one. It's a hymn, a song for the lamb and his bride. Look at verse seven.

Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to him for, why? The marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. The reason we can praise God at this point in the tribulation is because a marriage has already taken place.

That phrase has come. The note's in action that has already been completed. We can rejoice because a wedding has already taken place. You say, wedding? Was there a wedding that I wasn't invited to? What do you mean a wedding has taken place?

Who is this wedding for? Well, it's the marriage of the lamb. And we know who the lamb is.

We've seen it over and over in Revelation. The lamb is Jesus Christ. Behold, the lamb of God, John the Baptist said, who takes away the sin of the world. The lamb, Christ, has gotten married. Well, who did he get married to? Well, his bride. The bride of Jesus Christ is you and me, the church of Jesus Christ.

Those who were saved in that unique period of history between Pentecost and the rapture of the church, that is the bride of Christ. So when did the wedding take place? How does it take place? How has it already happened at this point? None of this will make sense to you unless you understand the three phases of a Jewish wedding.

And there's gonna be an aha moment for you in just a moment as it all begins to make sense to you. In a Jewish wedding, there were three phases to that wedding. First of all, phase one, a marriage contract was drawn up and a dowry was paid. When two sets of parents decided they wanted their children to get married, they entered into a contract.

Why, the kids were just kids. And at that point, a dowry was paid by the father of the bride. That was stage one. A contract was entered into and a dowry was paid.

Stage two, phase two. Then the marriage ceremony took place in the groom's house. Once the children were of suitable age to marry, the groom-to-be and some of his friends would go to his prospective wife's house unexpectedly and they would take the bride-to-be with them back to the groom's home.

And there, the marriage would take place and be consummated. That was phase two. And then phase three, after the ceremony, the wedding feast was celebrated.

There was a great party, not a two-hour dinner, but a multi-day affair in which people were invited to come and celebrate the marriage of the groom and his bride. Now, do you see the picture here of our relationship to Christ? Phase one, the marriage contract was entered into. When did God decide that you and I were going to become the bride of Christ? Before the foundation of the world, that was determined.

That contract was entered into. God chose you. He chose me, not because of anything we did. We weren't even born yet, but it was all because of his grace and his plan. We were chosen before the foundation of the world, but the dowry was paid not by the bride's father, but by the groom himself, Jesus Christ. When he shed his blood on Calvary for our sins, that was the payment that was made to secure us as his bride.

That was when the dowry was paid. Step two, when is it that the groom is going to come and snatch us away unexpectedly to be with him? That's the rapture of the church. We don't know when it's going to happen. It could happen today, but unexpectedly, the Lord will come, not to come down to earth, but to take us up to be with him in the Father's house. That is the rapture of the church that is yet to come. After that rapture of the church, at a future day will be the great wedding feast after the marriage is consummated. We are united with Christ at the rapture, and then, at a time to be designated seven years later, he and his bride, Jesus and the church, will return to earth for the great marriage ceremony, the wedding supper of the Lamb.

Notice verse eight. And it was given to her, that is the bride, to clothe herself in fine linen, bride and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. The bride is getting ready during the tribulation. We, the bride, are in heaven with the groom. We're getting ready to come back to earth for this great celebration, the marriage feast of the Lamb. And how are we going to clothe ourselves?

With bright linen. That is, if you don't know what that is, it is the righteous acts of the saints. You know, a lot of people get confused about this. They think that our works, our righteous acts, don't matter to God. After all, we're saved by grace, not by works, right? It's true, our good works are meaningless. They are worthless to God before we are saved.

But God does care how you and I live after we are saved. And the good things we do for God, our obedience to God, it is like a white garment we put on the righteous acts of the saints. And so, when the church returns, the church will return clothed in her righteous acts. And so, the church is adorning herself with those righteous acts to get ready for the wedding feast of the Lamb. Now, look at this, a blessing for the wedding guests.

This is so interesting, verse 9. Then John said to me, write this, write this down, blessed, literally happy, are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is a happy thing if you receive an invitation to the wedding feast of the Lamb. Now, who's going to be the honored guest? The groom, Jesus Christ, and you and I, the church.

We're the ones who are being honored at that wedding feast. Well, who is it that are going to be the guest? Well, you're going to have the Old Testament saints there. David, Solomon, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ruth, Solomon, they're all going to be invited to be there. It's going to be the Old Testament saints. It's going to be the New Testament characters who died before Pentecost. John the Baptist will be there. Anna and Simeon, who prophesied about Christ, will be there. The tribulation martyrs will be there as well. Those who were saved after Pentecost and after the rapture. People who gave their life for Christ, they will be there. And then you and I will be there.

They're not going to feel like they're second-class citizens because they're not the honorees. They're going to be absolutely thrilled to be at that wedding supper of the Lamb. You know, I've often tried to picture what that wedding supper would be like. Just imagine what it would be like in a banquet hall surrounded by the saints of all of the ages.

Just imagine what it would be like for you to be there with your parents and your grandparents and anybody else who was instrumental in helping you know Christ as Savior. Imagine all the chatter that will go on through that dinner as people share with one another their story of how they came to faith in Christ. And then at a moment in that ceremony, John the Baptist stands up. And in his right hand, he has a golden chalice filled with that new wine. And he says, tonight, I want to propose a toast to the one who made all of this possible, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the earth, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And with that, everyone rises to a sustained, unending ovation. That's what it's going to be like at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Blessed is the one who is invited to that. Now, that sets the stage for the return of Jesus Christ. Before that wedding supper can occur, Jesus and his bride must come back to earth again. It begins at the beginning of his millennium, that wedding supper.

They have to return to earth again, but something has to happen before they get to earth, and that is all of the enemies of the groom and the bride have to be extinguished. And that's what we see happening at the return of Jesus Christ. Look at verse 11, the triumphal entry of the king. Now, again, let me set the stage what has been happening on earth. We've been through the seven years of the tribulation. The antichrist through the first three and a half years rises to power. People, frankly, are grateful for his leadership in bringing order out of chaos in the world.

But after that first three and a half years, a change occurs. The antichrist turns against Israel, and he begins to persecute Israel and the group of believers who are on the earth. It is during that time that God's judgments against the earth intensify. And those over whom the antichrist is reigning are getting sick and tired of all of the bad things that are happening during these last three and a half years. You know, there's an old adage, he who calls the shots takes the shots.

Every leader understands that. If you happen to be in charge when pandemonium is occurring in your organization, in your church, in the world, you get blamed for it, rightly or wrongly. Well, the kings of all of the earth are going to get tired of the dictatorship of the antichrist, and they plot to overthrow him. And we see in these final days of the tribulation, the kings of the north, the kings of the south attempt to overthrow the antichrist. But what he's particularly disturbed about is when word comes to him that a 200 million person army from the east is marching toward Israel, the side of the final world conflict. And so all of the forces of the world gather together in that valley of Jezreel, the valley of Armageddon, the place that Napoleon said is the most natural battlefield in all of the earth.

And why do they come to that place? Remember in Revelation 16, it says the demons entice them to come. The demons operating under the authority of God and all of these world forces together in that place known as Armageddon. Chapter 16 says the demons will entice all the nations of the earth to gather at Armageddon for the war of the great day of God the Almighty. Clearly the growing conflict in Revelation 19 is moving forward toward a final battle. The warnings for you and me are loud and clear, and we need to get ready because the time of our Lord's coming to earth again appears to be very soon.

Gratefully as Christians, we can live with joyous anticipation that He comes to rescue us, not to harm us. But it all starts with understanding the timeline that's mapped out in the Bible. So along these lines, I'm eager to share with you my brand new book called Mysteries of the End Times, Five Little Known Truths About God's Plan for the Future. Look, biblical prophecy can be confusing.

Sometimes the subject raises more questions than it answers. In my new book, I unpack five very common questions about God's plan for the last days, and I provide clear, concise, and most importantly, biblical answers for you. If you love Bible prophecy, then my new book Mysteries of the End Times belongs in your personal collection. But that's not all because I want to send you a brand new 50-page booklet as well. This one is titled The Major Characters of the End Times.

Printed in full color, this helpful resource provides a snapshot of 15 prominent figures that appear during the end times. And while supplies last, I'm pleased to send a copy of this booklet to you as well. Again, the booklet is called The Major Characters of the End Times, and it's yours simply for going to ptv.org and requesting a copy. David will provide our contact information now. And before we conclude this study in Revelation, be sure to request these two helpful resources. Both will be shipped to your home with my profound thanks for your generous gift sent to Pathway to Victory. David?

Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You're invited to request your copy of the brand new book Mysteries of the End Times when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Plus, you'll receive a copy of the booklet called The Major Characters of the End Times. Just call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. And when you give $100 or more, we'd also like to send you the complete CD and DVD teaching sets for this month's series on the book of Revelation.

It's perfect for a small group Bible study or maybe your Sunday school class. Plus, we're going to send along the best-selling book by Dr. Jeffress called Final Conquest. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. If you'd prefer to write, here's that mailing address, PO Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. Again, that's PO Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins inviting you to join us again Thursday for Part 2 of the message from Dr. Jeffress called The Coming King. That's right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.