Mm. It's anticipated throughout Scripture. It's the focal point of revelation and it's the longing of everyone who calls themselves Christian. Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah examines the second coming of Christ.
How it differs from the rapture, how it's described in Revelation, and what it means for his followers then and now. Listen as David introduces today's message, the second coming of Christ. And thank you for joining us here on Turning Point. We have been studying the book of Revelation together, and we're coming now to the very end of the book. And, of course, at the end of the presentation, Period of the tribulation, we are confronted with the second coming of Christ.
It's described in the Bible in such dynamic and glorious way that It concludes the battle of Armageddon, and it is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, not for his saints, but with his saints. The Bible tells us: before the tribulation takes place, the Lord Jesus will come and receive his own unto himself. We call that the rapture. And after the seven years of tribulation happen on this earth, then the Lord Jesus will come with his saints and all his angels, and they will confront the evil that is on this earth, and once and for all it will be defeated, and Jesus Christ will reign over the whole earth. The Second Coming of Christ is a wonderful study, and we have two days to look at it from the 19th chapter of the book of Revelation.
We'll get started in just a moment. Before we do that, however, I want to remind you that our book for the month of July, our resource, is a brand new fiction book which we have written, My First Ever Venture into Fiction after Over 100 Other Books. But I had a lot of help because my friend Sam O'Neill has come alongside and he's written the fiction part of it. And we have told this wonderful story. It's a page turner.
It will capture your attention. It will make you feel like this is happening right now and could happen to anybody and could happen to you. And I want you to have a copy of this book. And it's yours for the asking when you send a gift of any size during the month of July. Just send your gift and say, please send me Vanished, and it'll be on its way to you.
It's a beautiful book, but it's a wonderful message, and it's full of hope for those who may be looking for some hope during these days.
Alright, here we go with part one of the second coming of Christ. This is one of my favorite messages in this series.
So open your hearts and your Bibles and let's receive the truth of God together. You know the Bible has for years been studied with the view To the personal, visible, bodily second coming of Jesus Christ into the world. It is not a fact that we can ignore, for the Scriptures are filled with its truth. It is dealt with some 1,845 times in the Bible. 318 of these are in the New Testament.
The return of the Lord to this earth is emphasized in 17 Old Testament books, and seven out of every ten chapters in the New Testament refer to this prophetic event. If you went through the Old Testament prophetic sections, You would read the prophecy of Zechariah, who wrote, And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. Zechariah 14, verse 4. Jesus Christ himself announced that he would return. The angelic messengers who appeared at his ascension said, This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.
The apostles declared that Jesus Christ was coming back again. For Paul wrote concerning his rapture that the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 1 Thessalonians 4, 16. And almost the last words in the New Testament are the words of our Lord, which say, Surely I come quickly. In spite of the overwhelming evidence from the scripture that Jesus Christ is going to return, for centuries the scoffers have asked. Where is the promise of his coming?
2 Peter 3, 4. That question, as we study the book of Revelation, is about to be answered. There are many scriptures that anticipate the second coming of Christ. This scene that is before us is found, as I've already mentioned, in dozens of passages, both in the Old and the New Testament. But let me just share with you two key passages beside Revelation 19 that prophesy the second coming of Jesus Christ, one from the Old Testament and one from the New.
Perhaps the key passage in the Old Testament is Zechariah 14, verses 3 and 4. And this is what that passage of Scripture says. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof, toward the east and toward the west.
And there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. Zechariah 14:3 and 4. In the New Testament, apart from the book of Revelation, perhaps one of the best passages we might cite is Matthew 24, verses 27 to 31. Listen to these words: For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west.
So also shall the coming of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven. And the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.
And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven even unto the other.
Now, it is made clear both in the Old Testament and in the New. And here in the book of Revelation, That the second coming of Christ is going to be a glorious event which all the world will behold, both believers and unbelievers alike. It is compared to lightning that shines from the east to the west. Illuminating the whole heavens. If you have ever been in a thunderstorm, you can get a picture of that when lightning strikes, and in the midst of darkness, the whole sky is illuminated.
The climax to all of the events which we have been studying in the book of Revelation is the return of Christ Himself in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, accompanied by all the saints. That is the event of all events.
Now, in order to expedite our study, we shall look at these verses in four categories. Notice, first of all, the advent of Christ, verses 11 through 13. Verse 14 tells us about the armies of Christ. Verses 15 and 16. discuss the authority of Christ.
And verses 17 through 21. Detail the avenging of Christ. The advent of Christ, the armies of Christ, the authority of Christ, and the avenging of Christ.
Now the scripture tells us In this passage, That there is coming a time. When Jesus Christ Himself shall return. Verses 11 through 13 say, And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself, and he was clothed with the vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.
Now, I want you to note that in this verse, right at the beginning, John once again sees the door of heaven opened up. Two times in the book of Revelation, heaven's door is opened so that we can look into it. The first time it was opened in chapter 4 and verse 1. And when it was opened that time, it was opened in the book of Revelation so that the church might go up and enter into heaven. Then the door is shut and it is not opened again.
When it is opened the second time in chapter 19 and verse 11, it is opened so that the saints of God can come with the Lord and come out of heaven down here to the earth. One time it is opened so that we might go up. And one time it is opened so that we might come down. The first discloses the rapture, and the second, the revelation. Those two terms are important to remember.
When you're talking about that event which can take place at any moment, the right term is the rapture. We are not waiting for anything to happen before Jesus Christ comes and we are caught up together to meet Him in the air, and so we shall be with Him forever. But the revelation of Christ is not when He comes for us, it is when He comes with us. And we together with him will come and fight in that great battle of Armageddon and then set up the kingdom here on this earth. There are some notable differences between the rapture and the revelation.
or the rapture and the second coming. When you think about the rapture, you are talking about Jesus Christ coming for his saints. In the second coming, he comes with his saints. In the rapture, We will meet Jesus Christ in the air because he will not come clear to this earth. In the second coming, his feet are going to.
Touched down on the Mount of Olives. In the rapture, it will be a coming of the Lord with great blessing in mind. In the Revelation, it will be a coming of the Lord with great judgment in mind. The rapture is imminent. That means it could come at any moment.
But the second coming is at least seven years away as of this moment. Because it cannot come until the tribulation has been completed. And as we have been studying, the tribulation is a period of time that lasts for seven years.
Now, the Bible teaches us that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended unto heaven from the Mount of Olives. In Acts chapter 1 and verse 11, the angels said, This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven. Our Lord is not only going to come back according to the teaching of the Word of God in like manner, which means he's going to come visibly and physically, but he's actually going to come back to the very same place. from which he left. The Mount of Olives.
When his feet strike the Mount of Olives, according to the passages that we have studied, the Mount of Olives will divide in two. There's going to be a cleavage in the Mount of Olives, and some Bible commentators have indicated that this is going to be a natural division between the two high points of the Mount of Olives, which will just actually come unglued, come in two, and it'll create a new passageway from Jerusalem down to Jericho at the Jordan River. It may become a gigantic causeway from the Jordan River out to the Mediterranean. There are many ideas as to what's going to happen at that time, and we're not going to get off on that except to say that when Jesus comes back again in the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, he is going to come to the Mount of Olives, and it will be a geological cataclysmic event. For you think of an earthquake, this will be an earth moving.
That will be unlike anything that has ever happened on the face of this globe. when Jesus comes back again.
Now, in the 11th verse, we are introduced not only to his advent, but we are introduced to some specific titles that are given to him that are very particular in regard to his second coming. Notice that it says in the 11th verse. That He is called faithful and true. He is called faithful and true. In fact, on through the text, there are three names: faithful and true, the Word of God, and King of kings.
These three names for the Lord Jesus Christ are very significant because they represent who He is in His coming again to this earth. In the passage we have just read, there is a description of the Lord. He is described as one whose eyes were as a flame of fire. And on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself.
And he was clothed with the vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.
Now, these attributes, which are represented by his clothing, are very significant as well. For instance, in verse 12, when we are told that his eyes are as a flame of fire, we are not new to that term. That was given to describe Jesus Christ way back in the first chapter of the book of Revelation in verse 14. And it's found again in chapter 2 and verse 18. When the Lord comes in his revelation, he is pictured as a judge.
And as you remember our study of that term, he has X-ray eyes that will go into the motives and the details of a man's conduct. It will go past all of the facade and the outward expression into the very heart and motive of a person. He will see what we really are. He will see what is really true of the nations who are here when he returns. It goes on to speak about him as a person whose head is crowned with many crowns or diadems.
That is simply a picture that he is king, that he is sovereign. He possesses a name which no man knows. And he is also pictured as the lamb who is slain. And that is another picture of his redemption. I personally believe that throughout eternity, Jesus Christ is going to be to us the Lamb.
The most important and wonderful thing we can know about our Lord is this: not even that He is King of kings, and as important as it is, not even that He is the Creator of all the world, but He is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth, so that we might be redeemed. Before we leave this first section, which is just these two or three verses on the advent of the Lord. Let me add some thoughts about the symbolism of our Lord's return that comes to us from the writings of Meryl Tinney. He helps us to understand this picture as it would have been understood by those who read it in the beginning. Nothing in the Bible is without imagery, and especially here in the book of Revelation, pictures and symbolism abounds.
Listen carefully to what Dr. Tenney has said about this picture of our Lord's return. He says it is the pattern of a Roman triumphal procession. When a general returned from a successful campaign, he and his legions were granted the right to parade up the Via Sacra, the main street of Rome that led from the Forum to the Temple of Jupiter on Capitoline Hill. Mounted on a white horse, the general rode at the head of his troops, followed by wagon loads of booty that he had taken from the conquered nation and by the chained captives that were to be executed or sold in the slave markets of the city.
The chief captives or rebels were remanded to prison where they usually were executed while sacrifices of thanksgiving were offered in the temple. When he comes back in that second coming, the Bible says that every eye shall see him. It will be an event that shall not escape anyone, no matter where they may be, all over this globe. I have had people ask me how that could be. It is becoming more understandable to us these days, isn't it?
It is Coming to pass in a way that we could now almost believe that every eye could see him.
Now some folks say we don't need technology, that the effulgence of his glory and beauty when he lights up the sky will be of such a nature that it will be viewable wherever a person may be on this globe. And if you want to take that miraculous viewpoint, that is quite all right, and I won't argue with you about that. But even apart from that, It is very possible. That through the satellite technology, which has become so sophisticated. that any event which takes place could be seen in every time zone, on every continent, in every corner of this world.
Even now, world conferences are being set up for major ministries and major industries.
So that people all over this globe can witness the same thing at one and the same time.
So it is not Impossible that when the Lord comes back, if perhaps through technology, it will be an event that will escape no one. He is coming back, and the scripture reports it carefully here in the 19th chapter.
Now, in the 14th verse, we discover that when he comes back, he will not come alone. He is coming with his armies. And the 14th verse says: And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Hold your place in the book of Revelation and turn back to the book just before Revelation, which is the book of Jude. And I want you to look with me at verses 14 and 15.
And then I want us to look at one other passage beside that. The Bible says that when the Lord comes back, he is bringing with him an army. And if we have gone up to be with him in the rapture, or perhaps have died ahead of time. We are going to be in that army. We are coming back with the Lord to make up his military regime.
Now the scripture tells us in Jude verses 14 and 15, and Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with 10,000s of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Notice how many times the word ungodly is in that second verse. The Bible says that when we come back with the Lord at the second advent, our purpose is going to be to help him execute judgment upon those who have denied him. And remember, they have been through the tribulation. They have had every opportunity provided with the 144,000 witnesses, with the two witnesses, with the Lord Jesus Christ's emphasis on evangelism, even during the tribulation period.
They have had opportunity to repent, but we have studied carefully the hardness of their hearts that as the judgment increased, their hard-heartedness increased and they would have none of it and they rejected and denied the Lord. And now the time of judgment has come. And we who are in the army of the Lord are going to be a part of that. That same truth is recorded for us in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 7 through 10. And to you who are troubled, Rest with us.
When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed, there's His revelation from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admitted in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day. Once again, the purpose of the second advent, apart from the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, is basically for judgment. Jesus Christ is coming back to this earth to finally, once and for all, put down rebellion and to judge those who have rebelled against Him.
Now, the armies of heaven. Notice it is plural. It isn't the army of heaven, it is the armies of heaven. The Bible says That the armies are coming back. Plural.
And of course, this could be any number of things, but it might be. At least this. It could be the Old Testament saints, the church, the tribulation saints that were taken up to be with the Lord during the period of tribulation. The most significant thing, however, is that they are dressed in a certain way.
Now, some of you are military people, and I do know that the Navy often dresses in white. But have you ever seen anybody go into combat dressed in white? Notice the scripture says here. That they are going to come back clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Those are strange clothes for the army of the Lord to be wearing if they're going to go to the Battle of Armageddon and fight.
I never realized this before. But I realize it now. It's quite all right for them to be dressed in white, fine linen, clean. Because though they're in the army, they don't have to do a blessed thing. All they have to do is watch, and when the Lord speaks, the war is over.
I could be in on an army like that, right? All you have to do is dress up in white. When they come back, the Lord's going to fight the battle. We are not going to be involved in some kind of hand-to-hand combat with the people in Armageddon. If you read the story carefully, you will discover that the reason should not be overlooked that they are dressed in white, not only representing the righteousness which is theirs by virtue of Jesus Christ.
But no member of the army of Christ that comes with him in his glorious appearing will ever do battle. No one will ever lift a finger, for the battle will be consummated by the spoken word of the Lord. Period. Mm. He is going to win the battle.
And that really does put meaning into the phrase, the battle is the Lord's, doesn't it? He is going to win the battle. But if you're a Christian, You will be there to watch. the glorious. victory of the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes to this earth.
the second coming of Christ. And we have one more time to meet around this subject, so we'll be there tomorrow. Hope you'll be with us as we finish up our discussion of this important time. that is coming in the future. This whole series on the book of Revelation is available in C D fashion.
That is, you can get all of the audio. It's also available in four different study guides that carry you through the whole book. Each of these study guides is about 140 pages each. And then there's a contemporary commentary from which this all originated called Escape the Coming Night. Which you can also get.
Go to our website, which is davidjeremiah.org, and look at all of this. take some of it to hearten. Make your life rich by studying this great book. We'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for listening.
For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's series Escape the Coming Night, please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected. Our monthly Turning Points magazine and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio or call us at 800-947-1993.
Ask for your copy of David's exciting new novel Set in the End Times. Vanished. It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International and New King James Versions, available in several handsome and resilient cover options. Get all the details when you visit our website davidjeremiah.org slash radio.
That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Escape the Coming Night on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
