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Psalms
89:8-24 O LORD God of hosts, Who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your
faithfulness also surrounds You. You rule the raging of the sea; When its waves
rise, You still them. You have broken Rahab in pieces, as one who is slain; You
have scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm. The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all its
fullness, You have founded them. The north and the south, You have created
them; Tabor and Hermon rejoice in Your name. You have a mighty arm; Strong is
Your hand, and high is Your
right hand. Righteousness and justice are
the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face. Blessed are the people who know the joyful
sound! They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance. In Your name they
rejoice all day long, And in Your righteousness they are exalted. For You are the glory of their strength, And
in Your favor our horn is exalted. For our shield belongs to the LORD, And our king to the Holy One of Israel.
Then You spoke in a vision to Your holy one, And said: "I have given help
to one who is mighty; I have
exalted one chosen from the people. I have found My servant David; With My holy
oil I have anointed him, With whom My hand shall be established; Also My arm
shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him, Nor the son of wickedness
afflict him. I will beat down his foes before his face, And plague those who
hate him. "But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him, And in My name his horn shall be exalted.
Father God, we give you all the Glory, Thanks, Praise,
and Honor. I ask that you bless all of those that read these messages, and to
bless their loved ones. Open our hearts to comprehend your words, our ears to
hear your words, and our minds to be changed from any false beliefs, to the
truth that lies in your words. In Jesus name I pray. Amen!
Revelation 1:7- 8 NKJV
Last
week we covered the introduction and greetings of this great book and this
lesson will contain the theme of how Jesus is coming, who will see Him, who
will fear Him, why they will fear Him, and His Almighty Wisdom, Power, and
Judgment.
7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every
eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth
will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.
Behold,
He is coming with clouds;
When Jesus comes at the end of the Great Tribulation He is coming with clouds
and not on a cloud. Many think He’s coming in a cloud, on a cloud, or through
the clouds. The clouds spoken of here, is all of His Saints and it will be a
cloud of Saints. That is what the word “with” is pertaining to.
These Saints, as explained
in previous lessons are Born Again Saints, true believers that have accepted
Jesus Christ as their Saviour, and have ask Him to come into their hearts to
rule and reign their lives here on earth so they will have eternal life in
Heaven with Jesus. This massive cloud of Saints will be from the past, present,
and our future. Those that will go up to Heaven by means of the Rapture will
also be included in this cloud of Saints. These Saints spoken of here are not
man proclaimed saints. We have religions that proclaim an individual to be a
saint due to their acts of good deeds and kindness in society and around the
world. Now don’t get me wrong here, I’m not judging these man proclaimed
saints, because it is very possible some of these individuals have lived by
faith and not works, and if that is the case then they are Saints in God’s
eyes. God sees what is in the person’s heart we can’t. I’m just merely stating
that mankind tends to believe what man says and not what God says. Why, maybe
due to the fact that they haven’t read or understand what God’s Word says. Here
are some verses that refer to the Second Coming of Jesus; Acts 1:9-12 Now when He had spoken these things, while they
watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while
they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by
them in white apparel, 11 who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you
stand gazing up into heaven? This same
Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as
you saw Him go into heaven." 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount
called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. Jude 1:14-16 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam,
prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten
thousands of His saints, 15 to execute
judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly
deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things
which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." 16 These are
grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth
great swelling words,
flattering people to gain advantage. I Cor. 4:5; II Thess. 1:10; Heb.
10:37; Rev. 1:7; 3:11; 22:20.
Every
eye will see Him;
This phrase doesn’t mean that every eye on the face of the earth will see Jesus
when He returns because Jesus is going to return at the same place that He
ascended into Heaven, which was at the Mount of Olives. See the verse above Acts 1:12. The two men adorned in white states
this to the Apostles, and also for us to know. Where Jesus is going to return
is also stated in Zechariah
14:1-7 Behold, the day of the LORD is
coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will
gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into
captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the
city. 3
Then the LORD will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in
the day of battle. 4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of
Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be
split in two, From east to west, Making
a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half
of it toward the south. 5 Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, For the mountain valley shall reach
to Azal. Yes, you shall flee As you fled from the earthquake In the days of
Uzziah king of Judah. Thus the LORD my God will come, And all the saints with You.
6 It shall come to pass in that day That there will be no light; The
lights will diminish. 7 It shall be one day Which is known to the LORD
Neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen That it will be light. Did you notice that Jesus is going to
divide the Mount of Olives for His people to escape just like God parted the
Red Sea? Awesome! Did you also notice that the sun or moon will be greatly
diminished? All this will take place in the evening and that Jesus will be the
light that is needed, fore He is the Light of the world and the light of those
with eternal life? Genesis
1:16 Then God made two great
lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the
night. He made the stars also. Revelation 21:23 The city had no need of the sun or
of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.
Does that mean that those
around the world won’t observe this event? No, I believe with modern technology
meaning TV, those around the world that are left behind, meaning believers that
proclaim with their lips and not with their hearts will view this
earth-shattering event. Matthew
15:8-9 'THESE
PEOPLE DRAW NEAR TO ME WITH THEIR MOUTH, AND HONOR ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT
THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME. 9 AND IN VAIN THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE
COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.' "
Even
they who pierced Him;
Do you know who this phrase is referring to? Mainly of course, the Jewish
people that rejected Jesus as their Messiah, but also the Gentiles that reject
Jesus as the Saviour. Anyone that had not accepted Jesus as their Saviour has
also had a part in putting nails through His hands and feet and piercing His
side. There were Jew and Gentile alike at Jesus trial and they all cried out to
crucify Him because they rejected Him. Some denominations read the Passion of
Jesus Christ on Palm Sunday and some have plays portraying this event. With the
reading of the Passion it was always the people’s part in the church to cry out,
“crucify Him”. As a young adult this really bothered me because Jesus was and
is my Saviour and I believed in Him and what He did for me, therefore I just
wouldn’t say it. If the church you go to does this, does it bother you?
Can you imagine how those
that will be left behind from the Rapture will feel, when they see Jesus coming
on a white horse with His cloud of Saints? The Jewish people will suddenly
realize what they have done and will cry out loud in mourning, they will be
grief stricken. This is all prophesized in Zechariah 12:10 "And I
will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit
of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes,
they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son,
and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. They not only rejected Jesus, but they
accepted Cesar as their king. John
19:15 But they cried out, "Away
with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said
to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered,
"We have no king but Caesar!"
Stop and take a few
moments and try to imagine how Jesus must have felt. His own people not wanting
anything to do with Him, in fact they want Him killed. Is it a mystery to you
as to why Israel couldn’t see who Jesus really was? Ponder this thought for a
while. Jesus wasn’t their Messiah because their view of a saviour was someone
that was going to deliver them from the Roman empire, and the Jewish nation
would rule and not be ruled by the Romans. They were looking for a King not a
Saviour. They wanted something to satisfy their flesh and not their spirit. They
were looking for something they could see, touch, feel, and experience. Not
something they could not see or touch like eternal life. This is the down fall
of mankind. As human beings we tend to believe in tangible things and not
intangible things. This still holds true for today and the reason why so many don’t
believe.
So not only will the
Jewish people mourn at the Second Coming of Jesus, but anyone living in sin,
and has a knowledge of the Gospel will be in mourning, because they too have
denied Jesus as the Saviour of the world. When one rejects God or anything of
God, it comes down to a total rejection of God. If you claim to be a Christian,
do you accept God’s Plan of Salvation and Sanctification? If one does not
accept the finished work of the Cross and goes in another direction, then they
become blind, a veil is placed over them causing a spiritual blindness. Ephesians 4:17-18 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord,
that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the
futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being
alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them,
because of the blindness of their heart.
All
the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him; Mourn means to grieve over, wail, cry
out, or moan. All of Israel tribes around the world will mourn because they
will all of sudden realize what they have done. Every Gentile will mourn
because they will come to the realization of living a life of pleasing
themselves. This event will bring forth the realization of the destruction of
the inherited sin nature that inflicts every human heart.
This fear of Jesus second
coming, and mourning when He does come is proof that deep down in one’s spirit,
not soul, that mankind believes in eternal punishment. They know they are
guilty and judgment will be placed upon them. If they were innocent, then they
would have nothing to fear. Some believe God is so loving and kind that all who
die go to Heaven. If this were the case then why do so many people fear death? If
one fears death, where is their faith?
To put this in
perspective, let’s say you are in a vehicle accident that was your fault. While
texting on your phone you cross the line into oncoming traffic, luckily the
person in the other vehicle was ok and you required first aid by the
paramedics. When the paramedics arrived on the scene and came toward you, were
you fearful of them? No, because you knew the paramedics would not place
judgment on you but just fix you up and help you to feel better. This for the
most part is what the modern day church does, makes one feel good. Now the
State Trooper approaches you, what is going through your mind now, as he comes
towards you. Some fear sets in because you know you were in the wrong and you
will have to pay the consequences. This is what will happen to those when they
see Jesus coming with a cloud. Before they see Him they will think they are
doing and living right, but as soon as they see Him a terrifying fear will set
in from deep within, because they will realize they will have to give an
account for their lives.
Jesus is coming to judge,
to see who will be worthy to enter into the Kingdom Age where Jesus will rule
from Jerusalem. He will judge the nations and how they treated Israel. He will
fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant. Genesis
12:3 I will bless those who bless
you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the
earth shall be blessed." This
judgment is talked about, and we studied it in Matthew 25:31-34 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the
holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
33 And He will
set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you
blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world.
Even
so, Amen; This is a double expression of so be it, assuredly, certainly.
The idea which John is conveying is that the coming of the Lord Jesus, and the
consequences which he says will follow, are certain to happen.
8 "I am the Alpha
and the Omega, the Beginning
and the End," says the
Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
Jesus is proclaiming that
he is the first and the last and one and only that ever was, is, and will be.
He is coming in all of His splendor and might. He is almighty and over all of
creation, and capable of all that is stated in this final book of the Bible. He
has his hand on all things, is all knowing, all present, and all powerful.
Knowing this, all we have
to do is place our faith in Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to work within us
to sanctify us. With a proper relationship and faith in Jesus we will be taken
care of as sons and daughters. 2
Corinthians 6:18 "I
WILL BE A FATHER TO YOU, AND YOU SHALL BE MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS, SAYS THE LORD
ALMIGHTY."
Romans 1:16 For I am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is
the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…...
Psalms
51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit
within me.
John
3:3
Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I
say to you,
unless
one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Bill Wiesbrock
Last Week’s Trivia: Who was Aeneas?
Answer: He was a paralytic in Lydda who had
been bedridden for eight years. Aeneas was healed in the name of Jesus Christ
by Peter. Acts 9:33, 34.
This week’s Trivia: Who was Agabus?
