You know, when I say the words unexpected event, I wonder what pops into your mind.
Well, I can tell you for sure what pops into my wife Brenda's mind. It was April 1973, and we had been dating for two months. We were in the car on our way to see the movie Camelot when I turned to Brenda, told her that I loved her, and asked her to marry me. You talk about an unexpected event for poor Brenda. In fact, that's an understatement.
She was flabbergasted, and she said no. Yeah, really. Ah, but that's okay, don't worry about it. A month later I ask her again. And this time she said yes.
Hey, praise the Lord for that, huh? Yeah.
Well We're going to talk today about another unexpected event, this one occurring in the Bible. But it's an unexpected event that has enormous relevance to our lives today. Remember, we're in a series entitled People Jesus Met. And today we're going to look as Jesus meets his 11 disciples on the top of the Mount of Olives. And after this meeting, he ascends right in front of their eyes back into heaven.
We want to go back 2,000 years and see what happened at this meeting. And then we want to wind all that forward to today and say, well, what difference does that make for you and for me? Our passage is Acts chapter 1, and we begin at verse 1.
So here we go. The Bible says, In my former book, O Theophilus, we have no idea who Theophilus was, but the former book that Luke is talking about here, we know to be the gospel of Luke. In my former book, I wrote. About all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, the Bible says, Jesus presented himself to these men, the disciples, and showed them many convincing proofs that he was alive.
He appeared to them over a period of 40 days, teaching them about the kingdom of God.
So, the Bible tells us that after Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, which we're celebrating today, after he died on the cross, after he rose from the dead, that Jesus did not immediately return to heaven. Actually, for 40 days, the Bible says, he stayed here on earth. During that time, he stayed in constant contact with his 11 disciples, whom he now commissioned as the apostles. He walked with them, he talked with them, he ate with them. But as verse 3 of Acts 1 tells us, most importantly of all, he taught them about the kingdom of God.
He taught them. All about fulfilled prophecy. And he taught them everything the Old Testament said about the life, the death, the ministry, the resurrection, the true identity of the Messiah of Israel. And then he showed them how all of this in the Old Testament had been perfectly fulfilled in himself. Lastly, he gave these men authority.
Apostolic authority to write down in the New Testament everything that he had taught them. Hey, folks, when you read the New Testament, haven't you ever wondered where these guys, I'm talking Peter and Matthew and James and John, just ordinary fishermen. Haven't you ever wondered where these guys got all the amazing theological insights they had into the person and the work of Christ? Haven't you ever wondered where they got all the understanding of Old Testament fulfilled prophecy that they had? Haven't you ever wondered where they got all the deep theological insights and mastery that appears in the New Testament?
Well, they got it from the risen Christ Himself. He taught it to them for 40 straight days at the Jerusalem Theological Seminary, where he was the only professor and they were the only graduating class in the history of the school. That's where they got all this from. Verse 4. And being assembled together with them, remember they're on the Mount of Olives, Jesus commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, Jesus said, you have heard me speak about.
For John, that is the Baptist, baptized you with water, Jesus said, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. And of course, this happened in the very next chapter, Acts chapter 2. And at this meeting, verse 6, they asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? But Jesus said to them, It is not for you to know the times or the dates that the Father has fixed by his own authority. Jesus says to them, Hey, fellas, you know what?
This is above your pay grade. You know what, fellas? You are on a need-to-know basis, and you don't need to know. But Jesus said, Let me tell you one thing you do need to know. I'll tell you the thing you do need to know, verse 8: you need to know that you shall receive power.
When the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea. and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. You know, in his best-selling book, Built to Last, management guru James Collins says that any healthy organization needs at least one beehag. And he defines a bee hag as a big, hairy, audacious goal.
Well, did the Lord Jesus give us as the church a big, hairy, audacious goal or not? He told us to go out and impact the entire world. world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this explains, my friends, why we have the mission statement that we do here at McLean Bible Church. I want you to say it with me.
Here we go to make, come on now, come on, come on, to make an impact on secular Washington with the message of Jesus Christ. This is our mission because in carrying out this mission of ours, all we're doing is helping to fulfill the big, hairy. Audacious goal that the Lord Jesus gave the church two thousand years ago. Amen? All right, now.
Verse 9. After all of this, something very unexpected occurs. You talk about an unexpected event. Watch. Verse 9.
And after Jesus had said all these things, while they were watching, he was lifted up before their eyes, and a cloud received him out of their sight. You guys, everybody, we've all seen balloons filled with helium. You know, when you let them go and they just kind of drift up in the sky.
Well, this is exactly what Jesus did. He just kind of drifted right up into the sky and into the clouds. I mean, here's something you don't see every day, huh? Yeah.
And you say, well, Lon, just out of curiosity, where did he go?
Well, 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 22 says, Jesus has gone into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God. In other words, when Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives, he went back to heaven where he came from to begin with. Ah, but this is not the end of the story. Uh-uh. There's more to come.
Look at verse 10. And while they were looking intently into the sky as he was going, behold, two men in white clothing were suddenly standing beside them.
Now, this is exactly what happened on Easter Sunday morning at the garden tomb. Remember John chapter 20, verse 11. As Mary was standing at the empty tomb weeping, suddenly she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been. You say he loan. Do you think these two guys on the Mount of Olives could have been the very same two angels that were in the garden tomb a few weeks before?
Well, the Bible never really says, but I'll tell you what, I'd bet my retirement fund on it. I think they were the same fellas, yeah, and they say something to the disciples, verse 11. And they said to them, Men of Galilee, Why do you stand here gazing into the sky? Are you serious? Are you serious?
Why do we stand here gazing into the sky? Are you serious? We just saw somebody float like a helium balloon right off the top of the Mount of Olives and disappear in the clouds. What do you mean, why are we standing here staring into the sky?
Well, the angels went on to say, Don't worry about that. We have something important to tell you. This same Jesus, I love that. This same Jesus who was taken up from you to heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. Wow.
Now let's stop for a moment and talk about what these two angels just said. Let's stop for a moment and talk about the second coming, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Folks, in the Old Testament, when the Bible talks about the Messiah, it seemed like the Old Testament was talking out of both sides of its mouth. Because in some passages, like Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, the Old Testament talks about a suffering Messiah. And then in other passages, like Zechariah 14 and Psalm 110, the Old Testament talks about a conquering Messiah.
1 Peter chapter 1 in the New Testament tells us that even the Old Testament prophets themselves were confused about what God was telling them to write down. In fact, the rabbis that followed them had so much trouble fitting all of this together that by the time of Christ, they had come up with a theory to solve this. Contradiction. Their theory was there were two Messiahs. The first one, a suffering Messiah, who would come and die for the sins of the world, and then a second, different Messiah who would come and lead Israel in glorious triumph.
Now, thanks to the revelation of the New Testament, we understand today the solution to all of this, don't we? Namely, that there are not two different Messiahs. Rather, there are two different comings, two different appearings of the very same Messiah. In his first coming, Jesus fulfilled the role of the suffering Messiah. Ah, friends, but the Bible is clear that the Lord Jesus is coming back one day to fulfill the second part of his Messiahship, namely the role of being the conquering Messiah.
Here in Acts chapter 1, it's this second coming of Christ that these angels are announcing to the disciples. And let's see what they say. Let's go back and remind ourselves what the angels said. Here we go. They said, This same Jesus, wow, I love that.
Not some alias, not some substitute, not some intermediary, not some delegated representative. This same Jesus, the living, risen, resurrected, eternal, divine Christ Himself, this same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, this Jesus will. Come back. Uh-huh. We'll come back.
This is not an option. It's not a possibility. It's not a hope. It's not a guess. And it's not wishful thinking.
It is a guaranteed certainty, these angels say, he's returning. And the angels say when he comes back, he will do it in the same way that you have seen him go into heaven. But what does that mean?
Well, it means that Jesus is going to come back five ways, the very same way He went into heaven. He went into heaven five ways and He's coming back five ways. Let me tell you what they are. Number one, Jesus is coming back bodily. He's coming back tangibly.
He's coming back physically, just like he left. Number two, Jesus is coming back visibly. People saw him leave, and in the same way, people are going to see him come back again. Number three, Jesus is coming back supernaturally. I mean, under normal circumstances, people just don't float up like helium balloons off the earth.
This was a supernatural event, the ascension was, and therefore, the return of Christ is also going to be a supernatural event. Number four, he's going to come back literally. Jesus's return will be a literal, historical, chronological event, just like his leaving was. And finally, Jesus is going to come back to the same spot that he left from. Zechariah chapter 14, verse 4 says, And on that day, Talking about the Messiah's return, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.
Well, where did Jesus leave from? Hello, class. Yeah.
Y'all y'all all right out there? All right. Where did he leave from? The Mount of Olives. He's coming back to the same spot, the angels say.
And the Mount of Olives will split in two from east to west. Hey, in Acts chapter 1 on the Mount of Olives, when Jesus ended his first coming, he did it quietly. Oh, but my friends, in Zechariah chapter 14 on the Mount of Olives, when Jesus inaugurates his second coming, he's going to do it with such power and such glory and such majesty that he's going to shake the whole world, which includes splitting the Mount of Olives right down the middle. Praise the Lord. That'll be something to look forward to.
As a matter of fact, let's summarize and say that for we who are followers of Christ, this is the great news of the Bible: that one day we're going to see, Titus 2.13, the glorious appearing, not the suffering appearing, that's over. The glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Right there in the same verse, the Bible calls this the blessed hope of the church. It is the blessed hope of every single true believer in the church. And the best part of all is that it's not a hope-so hope.
Uh-uh. It is a no-so hope. The angel said it, and you and I can take it to the bank, my friends.
Now, That's as far as we want to go in this passage. Y'all still with me, yes?
Okay. Because now it's time for us to ask our most important question. And all of you at Loudoun, and all of you at Prince William, and all of you at Bethesda, and everybody in Edge, and all of you on the Internet campus, and everybody here at Tyson's, are we ready? Mm-hmm. You don't inspire me with great confidence.
But I know you're going to surprise me with how good this is.
So here we go. Deep breath. Woo! One, two, three. Oh, that was good.
Hey, you say, Lon, so what? Say, all right, Jesus is coming back. Visibly, ter supernaturally, literally, whatever. But if he doesn't do it today, what difference does any of this make to me? If he doesn't do it tomorrow, when I go out to run the carpool or get on the metro or go to work, what difference does this make to me tomorrow?
Oh, it makes a lot of difference. Listen. I was reading an article in Time magazine. Not long ago, about funeral homes and about the predatory practices of a number of funeral homes here in the United States. The article told about how, for example, some funeral homes mark up vaults 300% overcost, how some funeral homes deliberately try to steer grieving people into buying caskets that have the greatest price markup, and how these funeral homes, many of them, run each year with enormous profit numbers.
Time magazine said, and I quote, these people, that is funeral home directors, know full well that family members make funeral arrangements in a daze, which leads them to jettison the consumer instincts they would most certainly employ when shopping for a car, end of quote. And you know, reading the article made me angry. But friends, our whole world is full of this kind of stuff. Huh? Evil people who are working evil schemes on powerless individuals, and they seem to get away with it scot-free.
And as followers of Christ, we see this and we turn to the Lord and we say, Lord, what is going on here? You know, how are you letting these people get away with this? You know, why don't you do something? Oh, friend, not to worry. No, no.
Listen to the Bible. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 4. Paul says, Among the churches of God, we speak proudly about your perseverance there in Thessalonica and your faith in the midst of all the persecutions and afflictions you are enduring. God is just, Paul says. He will pay back trouble to those who are troubling you.
Watch. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.
Now, what's that event we just read about?
Well, it's the second coming, yes? Yes.
Okay. All right. You say, well, Lon, that's wonderful. I'm so glad to know that when the Lord Jesus comes back, he's going to pay back everybody who has persecuted people for their faith in him. And that's great to know.
But what about all the other evil things in the world people do that don't have anything to do with persecuting you? If they're just bad things that people do, ah, not to worry. Jesus has already taken care of that as well. Matthew 16:27, Jesus says, For the Son of Man is going to return in the glory of his Father and with His angels. We're talking about the second coming, right?
And what? And And then say the next three words with me. And then he will repay. He will repay. Every Person.
He will repay. Unscrupulous. Funeral home directors. He will repay the people who blew up Pan Am Flight 103. He will repay the people who assassinated John F.
Kennedy. He will repay heads of state who rob their people and pile up huge bank accounts in Switzerland. He will repay the person who backed into your car and didn't leave a note. He will repay. Every person.
According to what they have done. Hey, the point, my friends, is that Jesus is coming back to this earth. And when he does, he's going to right every wrong that has ever been done. He's going to bring to justice every wrongdoer who's ever seemed like they got away with it. Hey, the Bible is crystal clear, my friends, that when Jesus Christ returns, every unrighteous chicken that has ever flown is coming home to roost.
Praise the Lord. And this is why David said in Psalm 37: listen, he said, rest in the Lord. and wait patiently for him. Do not fret. When evildoers succeed in their ways and carry out their wicked schemes, a little while longer, and the wicked will be no more.
Though you look carefully for them, they will not be found. The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow. To bring down the poor and the needy. They plot against the righteous and they gnash their teeth at them, but the Lord laughs at them. Gosh, I love that.
The Lord laughs at them. For he sees that their day is. Is coming. Huh? What a picture that is.
He laughs and says, go ahead, do whatever you want. But your day is coming. He said, Well, on Okay, I just got one more question then. And that is, this is great. To know that God is going to enforce justice on everyone when Jesus comes back.
But is all of this justice postponed until the second coming of Christ? I mean, is there no justice from the Lord in the world today before Christ returns? Right now, can we expect no justice from God? Oh, yes, we can. Oh, yeah.
Listen to these verses: Psalm 7, verse 14. Says, he who conceives evil will fall into the pit which he has dug, and the mischief he planned shall return onto his own head. Why is that? Because the Lord will see to it. That's why.
Psalm 9, verse 15, the nations have sunk down in the pit which they themselves made. In the net they hid, their own feet have been caught. Why? Because God saw to it. Proverbs 5, verse 22, his own evil deeds shall capture the wicked, and he will be ensnared with the cords of his own sin.
Proverbs 26, verse 27, he who digs a pit will fall in it himself. And he who rolls a stone, that is to roll it on somebody else, the Bible says it will come back on him. Why? Because God will see to it. The bottom line is Numbers 32, verse 23.
God says, be sure. Your sin We'll find you. Out. And friends. Does God enforce justice here on this earth?
Of course He does. This is why Bernie Madoff's in jail. This is why Illinois Governor Rod Bogojevich was impeached. This is why Richard Nixon was forced to resign from the presidency. The bottom line is that true Godly, unbiased justice is going to prevail in this world.
Listen, some of it is going to prevail now while the world's still going on, and the rest of it is going to happen when Jesus returns. But either way, friends, you can count on the fact it's going to happen.
Now let's conclude and say this. That there's not a one of us here. Who hasn't seen some really unrighteous things being done to other people? I mean, cruel things, mean things, unfair things, unjust things, underhanded things, just plain wrong things. Elderly people being taken advantage of, and people with disabilities being mocked, and ridiculed, and embarrassed, poor people being used and abused, powerless people being run over, people of color being discriminated against, and then the people who do these things seem to get away with them.
Closer to home. We've all had people treat us personally in really bad ways, ways that are just plain wrong, whether it's at work or at school or in our families or in our neighborhoods, and they seem to get away with it. And you know what? Not only does it hurt, but it makes you mad. It makes you mad, and it makes us want to hurt the Perpetrators back.
Well, listen, I'm here on behalf of God today to say to all of us. Don't Do it. Don't do it. No, no. Don't lower yourself down to their level, my friends.
Don't go down and mud-wrestle with these people. Why? Because you don't need to. We don't have to. Listen to what Jesus said again, Matthew 16:27.
He said, For the Son of Man is going to return. In the glory of his Father and with His angels, and then He will repay every person according to what they've done. Jesus is telling us here in this verse: Hey, the wrongs that people have done to you, the wrongs that people have done to others you love and care about, Jesus says, Look, if I haven't already taken care of those things before I come back, you have my solemn promise. I'm going to take care of them when I do come back. Nobody is getting away with anything.
And friends, either way, whether Jesus handles it here or whether He handles it when He comes back, either way, the big so what for us today is that He does not need our help. He doesn't need our help. In order for true, godly justice to be done, the Lord doesn't need our assistance, folks. He doesn't need us to lower ourselves to these people's levels, and he doesn't need us to sully ourselves by engaging in cheap, ugly, personal revenge.
Now, let me clarify one thing just before we close. We are not talking here, make sure you understand this, about exercising our legal rights as citizens of the United States in response to criminal behavior done to us or illegal behavior. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about taking personal revenge against another person who has done us personal hurt. And the Bible says.
Don't Do it. Leave it with the Lord. This is why in Romans 12, Paul said, Never take your own revenge, my friends, but leave room for the wrath, for the justice of God. For it is written, Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. I love this.
I will Repay. You don't have to worry about that. I will repay. And I got to tell you, I don't know about you, but this gives me great comfort. It does.
To know that I don't need to lift a finger for justice to be done in this universe. God's going to take care of that. And you know what else it does? It enables me to take the high road when people do me wrong. It enables me to just smile on the inside and say, you know, just like the Lord, your day's coming.
Just like the Lord, I'm going to smile at you and say, Your day is coming. I'm not going to lift a finger to bring it. God's going to take care of it. But you know what? Friends, we need to remember: every one of us are going to get rewarded or paid back for what we do.
So that verse not only means that the people who do bad things to us have to worry about the return of Christ, it also means we need to live in such a way that we don't have to worry about the return of Christ, right? That we try to live honorable lives, that we try to take the high road, that we try to live biblically obedient lives, because that verse cuts both ways, huh? And so let's close today by saying that some of you here have been hurt this week. By people. Who've done things to you this week?
that were wrong. Unjust, unfair, unscrupulous? Hey, you know what? Give it to the Lord, my friend. Give it to the Lord.
He saw it. He knows what happened. He's aware. Let him have it. And you know what?
Whenever God takes justice on whatever was done with you, you're clean because you're not going to have a thing to do with it. Just let the Lord have it. You have his solemn promise. Nobody is getting away with anything. Let's pray.
Lord Jesus, you know that when we are Um hurt by other people. When people do unrighteous, unfair, unscrupulous things to us or to someone we love and care about. that our normal human Sinful response. is to want revenge. But I pray today that you would speak deeply to our hearts and remind us that we don't need to go there.
That you don't want us to go there. That you've seen everything we've seen and more. And that you are going to take care of it. either now or later, but it will be taken care of. And so, Lord Jesus, with that secure knowledge in our heart from your word.
Help us to take the high road. Help us return good for evil. Lord, help us to love in return for hate. Not because we don't think justice ought to be done. No, no.
But because we're going to leave that to you to do. and not us. And so, Lord Jesus, change the very way we live and the way we react to people because we were here today. And we sat under the teaching of the Word of God. Liberate some of us here today.
who are in prison. to bitterness and hatred. And retaliation, liberate us today. Help us turn it loose, Lord. and give it to you.
And we pray these things. In Jesus' name. And what did God's people say? Amen.
