Transcript

We depart from our verse-by-verse exposition of Luke to cover the theme of the return of Christ. This is our second installment. It’s entitled “The Imminent Return of Christ.” Philippians chapter 3, now you’re going to have to stay diligent with me this morning, don’t grow lazy on me. We’re going to have to look at several passages. First just to lay the foundation, Philippians chapter 3 beginning in verse 18 going through verse 21. Paul writing to the church at Philippi says,

18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.

I’m going to stop right there is it not our world? Isn’t that our world? They glory in what they ought to be ashamed of. Their hearts and minds are just on what this world can give a man. Then he says, now here’s us, true believers, verse 20,

20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

The imminent return of Christ means quickly or at any time, in other words, we’re not waiting for something else to happen, Christ’s return is the next event on God’s timetable for planet earth. I. First let’s understand that there are no signs that precede it. No signs that precede this imminent return of Christ. Now, what I want to do right now is to unravel for you the difference between the imminent return of Christ, the rapture and the permanent return of Christ, the Second Coming. Those are two different things. There’s an imminent return where he will just appear in the sky and gather his children to himself and then we’ll go to heaven with him. Then seven years of tribulation will follow and at the end of those seven years will be his coming to the earth, not the sky like the rapture, coming to the earth to establish his kingdom.

We talked last week about this Second Coming to some degree, not the rapture but the Second Coming when in the Second Coming he will fulfill those irrevocable and unconditional promises he made to Israel of a future glorious earthly kingdom. There’s coming out there in the future a generation of ethnic Jews that will embrace Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and he will return from heaven, abolish Israel’s enemies and reign over and with Israel for 1,000 years on the earth. Now we mentioned last week also that before Christ returns permanently to reign on the earth, there’s going to be a lot of signs and wonders and miracles pointing that this coming to the earth is about to occur. Again, I’m not talking about the rapture but after the rapture, through that seven year period, there’s lots of signs and miracles and wonders and great tribulations, if you will. Just a few of them I mentioned: the Bible talks about wars; and earthquakes; and increase of false Christs; economic collapse; famine; the sun and moon, the sun turns black, the turns red; the mountains and islands are out of their places; the salvation of 144,000 Jews. It’s going to be so terrible the Bible even says, “That men will beg God to die and God won’t let them die.” Revelation teaches that when these signs are happening, you know the Lord’s coming to the earth is close. But that’s not what we’re looking for. Those are signs, again, of his Second Coming to the earth or what I call the permanent coming of Christ. Which again, is primarily focused on Israel but there’s another coming, a coming before that and it comes under that mystery heading. Mystery meaning God hid something from the Old Testament prophets. He only gave them little smidgens of images of it and that is that God has a separate program to save a host of Gentiles before this final coming when he’ll establish Israel on the earth.

Now the Jews always saw their Savior as coming to the earth, destroying Israel’s enemies and establishing that earthly kingdom with Israel as its center and then they would rule and reign there with their promised Messiah. What they didn’t understand is what you and I are now experiencing: the church age. The age when the Gentile world would get the gospel and their hearts would be open to receive the gospel and God would collect for himself a people from all the tribes, peoples, tongues and nations. Remember, the early church had a real problem with accepting that non-Jews could receive the Savior. That was a mystery to them. As a matter of fact, look real quick to Acts 1:6 -8, would you do that? Here in the Lord is about to ascend back up into heaven and isn’t it interesting what this Jewish group of people say to him? Acts 1:6, “So when they had come together,” he’s risen from the dead, he’s going to ascend in a moment, “when they had come together they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?'” They’re still there. Do you know why they’re still thinking about the Savior, the Messiah is coming to restore the kingdom to Israel? Do you know why they’re believing that? Because he never told them any different. He hasn’t told them there’s the abolishing of Israel which is not going to happen, by the way. Though some people teach that, I respectfully disagree. They teach that the Israel that’s going to be restored is the spiritual Israel which is just the church. I disagree with that. Even to this point, these disciples are just saying, “You’ve risen from the dead, is now the time, is now the time?” This is the perfect spot for Jesus to say, “By the way, there is no restoration of Israel. It’s only going to be all believers and we’re all going to be one big happy family.” He doesn’t say that but what does he say? Acts chapter 1: 7, “He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.” Now those two words “times” and “epics,” one means “a point in time,” one means “a period of time.” Here’s what Jesus is saying, “God has appointed times he’s going to do some things. He has some seasons of time when he will do some unique and special things but that’s in God’s mind and in God’s business, that’s not your business. What I want you to do,” verse 8, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Here is what he’s saying, “Don’t you worry about my timetable for what I’ll do with Israel and the kingdom. You take care of being filled with the Spirit, preaching my gospel and building my church during this church age.” But you see, it was a mystery to them. It was still unfolding in their thinking. They didn’t understand it. All they thought was the Savior comes, establishes Israel, abolishes Israel’s enemies and rules on the earth. But there is this mystery they didn’t know about. Romans 11:25, “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery – so that you will not be wise in your own estimation – that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” And there are many other verses but for time, I’ll not read all of my notes. That is: there is a season of time that God ordained whereby he would harden Israel and turn his gospel to the Gentiles, the fullness of the Gentiles will come in and then he’ll turn his gospel back to Israel and fulfill those promises to her. So let’s not get those two mixed up. The imminent coming of the Lord is the rapture that’s for the church age. We were the mystery in the Jewish mind. They didn’t understand how that was going to work. And then seven years after the rapture there will be the Second Coming to the earth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now the biblical text we’re going to look at in just a moment, if we interpret those in their natural and literal meaning, they will teach us that we are not looking for this sign or that sign, this wonder or that wonder. We’re not looking for an awful tribulation. We are looking for Jesus. That’s what we’re looking for in the church age, for Jesus. Even the early church reformers taught this very truth. Luther for example said, “Let us not think that the coming of Christ is far off. Let us look up with heads held high. Let us expect our Redeemer’s coming with longing and cheerful minds.” John Calvin, “Scripture uniformly enjoins us to look with expectation for the advance of Christ.” John Knox, “The Lord Jesus shall return and that with expedition.” Latimer, “The last days cannot be far off peradventure it may even come in my day.”

Now to summarize this point that there are no signs that we’re looking for. This is an imminent return. The signs are before the Second Coming not before the rapture. Let me summarize the difference between the rapture and the Second Coming. This is not all of it, is just a few things. Number 1: when the rapture occurs we’ll meet the Lord in the air. Seven years later when the Second Coming comes, the Lord will come all the way to the earth. Zechariah 4:14, says, “He’ll put his feet again on the Mount of Olives.” Very different. If you interpret these texts in their natural meanings, two very different things. It’s really impossible in my mind to wrap them all up and they all mean the same thing. It would be very, very contradictory to come to that conclusion. I think that it’s also interesting that he’s coming to the Mount of Olives and that’s the same place where he gave the Olivet Discourse which is his pronouncement to national Israel of how the tribulation would come against her and they would finally be saved. So when he comes back for Israel primarily at the end of the seven years of tribulation, he’s coming all the way to the Mount of Olives. So rapture, meet the Lord in the air; Second Coming, he comes all the way to the earth.

Number 2: In the rapture, we immediately have glorified bodies; in the Second Coming, that’s not mentioned. They are glorified eventually but there are events that unfold on the earth first.

Number 3: In the rapture, believers leave for heaven; in the Second Coming, believers come with Christ from heaven to earth and all the earthly believers at the Second Coming remain on the earth.

Number 4: At the rapture the world is left unjudged and in sin; at the Second Coming when he comes all the way to the earth, the earth is quickly judged and destroyed and righteousness is established and, of course, the thousand year reign.

Number 5: At the rapture, there is a deliverance of believers from the coming wrath; at the Second Coming, there is the deliverance of believers who endured the wrath of the great tribulation.

Number 6: There are no signs that precede the rapture; there are many, many signs that proceed the Second Coming.

Number 7: The rapture is a New Testament doctrine only. You might ask, “Well, why wasn’t it told in other places?” Because the Old Testament is a Jewish book. It’s about Israel and God’s dealing with Israel. They were shocked and overwhelmed that the Messiah would reach out to Gentiles at all. As a matter of fact, remember Peter wouldn’t even eat with some of the new Gentile converts and Paul had to rebuke him for it. So they had just a Jewish mindset but when you get to the New Testament, the mystery is unfolded, it’s revealed and so we have the revelation of how God would deal with his church, the rapture. Of course, the Second Coming is taught in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

Number 8: At the rapture, Satan remains free; at the Second Coming, the Scripture says Satan is bound and then thrown into the abyss.

So this is an imminent return. It can happen at any moment. Before I finish this sermon, the rapture could occur. The imminent return of Christ. No signs to prepare you for it. II. No saints shall miss it. No saints shall miss it. Now I say this because the Bible spends quite a bit of information or time on speaking to the saints at Thessalonika who were sure they’d missed it. Let’s look at some of this. Look over at 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5 first of all and look at verse 1. Paul is writing to these folks. He says, “Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you.” Now that’s interesting again. Same thing Jesus said in Acts 1, times and epics, there’s points in time when God does things, there are seasons of time when God’s doing unique things and he says, “That’s not really for you to worry about.” Why is he telling a Gentile believing church, “Don’t worry about the times and epics? Because it doesn’t have anything to do with you. You’re going to get raptured out of here before any of it even happens.” That’s the only way that could really make sense because if they were to go through the times and epics, they needed to know about the times and epics but Jesus says when he’s starting his church, Acts 1, “Don’t be too concerned about that.” Paul said to the Thessalonians living in the church age, “Don’t pay any attention to that much. God’s going to take care of all of that. That’s not really your concern.” Now what’s the context? The context is these Thessalonikan believers thought the rapture had already occurred and they were already in the tribulation period because they were going through great suffering and great persecutions. So jump down to verse 9. He says, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I tend to believe that’s pointing out that God has a plan for those believers in the church not to endure the seven years of tribulation wrath but to be saved and delivered from that through what we call the rapture.

Now let’s go to another part, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, he said, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.” Now again, they were fearful that they had missed the rapture of the church and they thought, “What’s going to happen? Our brothers and sisters who are departed and in the grave, what’s going to happen to them? They’re supposed to be already resurrected. Did we miss the rapture?” And so Paul writes to assure them, “You haven’t missed anything. You can’t miss it if you’re a child of God.”

Notice what he says there in verse 14, “For if we believe,” you could say “since,” it’s the class condition that means affirmed positive, “Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.” Now when he says, “God will bring with him,” the phrase “bring with him” has the idea of inclusion. In other words, when God shuts this whole thing down for the church, your beloved, departed, believers, brothers and sisters, are not going to be left out. They’re going to be included. God’s going to bring them along also, alright?

Then verse 15, Paul says, “This isn’t my doctrine, this is God’s doctrine.” “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.” So he says, “By the word of the Lord.” He’s wanting to say, “Look, don’t be terrified any longer. Don’t be troubled anymore about you’ve missed God’s coming. Don’t be worried about your brothers and sisters in the grave. All that’s going to be taken care of when the rapture occurs.” This is God’s doctrine.

Then he talks about how it’s going to happen. Verse 16, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout.” This word “shout” is the same word that’s used for a military command. It means authority. It has power behind it. An authoritative military shout like a call to troops to fall in line. Then he says, “with the voice of an archangel.” It’s not “the,” it’s not the definite article, it’s “an” archangel. I don’t believe the archangel’s voice is actually heard, it believe it’s a voice like the archangel. Now what does that mean? Well, humans had at some times heard the voice of angels and they knew for example, Isaiah when he had the heavenly vision and saw the angels crying, Holy, holy, holy,” or John on the isle of Patmos and other times angels had intervened in human affairs. The point is: this shout comes from heaven with an archangel-like command and authority. It has a heavenly distinction to it. In other words, it’s like no command you’ve ever heard on earth before. Far greater, far more powerful, far more distinctive than any earthly commander could give.

Then he said, “with the trumpet of God.” The trumpet of God I’m convinced means a calling to assembly. From time immemorial the trumpet was sounded to call the troops or rally the troops to gather. That’s what that’s picturing. Then he says in verse 17, “Then we who are alive and remain,” in other words, the dead in Christ are going to rise first, verse 16, then “we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them.” Now the Greek in the phrase “called up together” only means one thing: it means to seize and to carry off. This is not a picture in any way shape or fashion of Christ coming to establish anything on the earth. He’s in the air and he’s seizing his believers, his children, and he’s going to carry them off. That’s what that means. If you went to plunder a guy’s sheep and you grabbed some of them and ran off, this would be the word that you would use. You’d take them, grab them and go somewhere else with them. That’s what Jesus is going to do to us: he’s going to come to earth, grab us and go somewhere else with us.

Then he says in verse 17, we’ll “be caught up together with them.” Now notice how specific Paul is here. It’s as if he wants to point out the location is different than something else you may be thinking of. “Caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” This is not Jesus Christ placing his feet on the Mount of Olives. This is Jesus only to the atmospheric heavens, gathering his sheep together in the air. And then the text says there at the end, last part of verse 17, “so we shall always be with the Lord.” And then, “Comfort one another with these words.”

So kind of summarizing what he’s saying to the Thessalonian Christians, “You didn’t miss the Lord’s return in the rapture. You’re not right now in the tribulation waiting for the final judgment when the Lord will plant his feet on the earth, that’s not going to happen because the rapture hasn’t happened. Your departed loved ones haven’t missed the rescue of God from earth and earth’s judgment, in fact, they’re going to beat you to the Lord when he comes in the rapture.” That seems to be the most logical, literal, natural interpretation of what the text is saying.

Now one another one: 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1, would you turn there? There’s another insight that comes out here that I think shows us that the chronology of God’s times and epics is that he rapture’s church and then the great tribulation and after that the Second Coming to the earth. First of all chapter 1:4 to set the context, “Therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God,” here it is, “for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure.” Once again: they were going through such suffering based on what Paul had taught them already they thought the tribulation was on them. Paul is saying, “It is not. That hasn’t happened yet.” So in verses 1 and 2 of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, he says, “We request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” now notice this, “and our gathering together to Him.” Not his coming to the earth with us, us gathering up there with him. This “gathering together” is the same word you have in Hebrews 10:25 when the Bible says, “Don’t neglect the assembling of yourselves together.” So Christ is coming to gather to himself all of his children. Again perfectly pictures the doctrine of the rapture. So this gathering together to him is not the permanent coming of the Lord to the earth at the end of the tribulation but again the meeting of the church with the Lord in the air.

Now look at verses 3 and 4, “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.” He’s saying, “None of these things have happened, have they? You haven’t seen the man of lawlessness take the throne of the earth. None of that has happened yet. So you don’t need to be concerned and worried about that.” So what is Paul’s point? You haven’t missed the imminent return of Christ. If you’re a saint of God, you cannot miss it. His permanent return to the earth which is called the Second Coming, is not yet at hand. There are lots of signs that have to precede it. He points out one of them: the man of lawlessness will be revealed first.

Now look at verses 6 and 7, “And you know what restrains him,” he’s talking about the man of lawlessness, the antichrist. What’s restraining the antichrist today from taking the throne of the world? From exposing himself and leading the world as he’s going to? What is going on? You know what restrains him now? “So that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.” So who is the restrainer of the man of lawlessness? It’s the Holy Spirit of God. But it’s more than that. It’s the Holy Spirit of God working in and through the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s the restraining influence of God that’s holding back evil in general but in specific, is holding back the spirit of lawlessness from doing his work of raising up the antichrist. So it’s kind of interesting how he says it here.

So the mystery of lawlessness is at work already, verse 7, “only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.” So there’s going to be a point in time when the Spirit of God working in and through the church will be taken out of the way. It will be removed and the restraining power will no longer be in effect on planet earth. Now isn’t it true when the church is true and when the church is spiritually strong, lawlessness is held in check in the culture but when the church is absent or the church is spiritually weak, then lawlessness increases in the culture. That’s why Matthew 5:13 and 14, listen, Jesus said, “You’re the salt of the earth,” not the salt in the church you are that but you’re the salt in the earth. Next verse, “You’re the light of the world.” What is he saying? The church that is spiritually empowered has a positive and good effect on the world. There is a sense in which God through his Spirit uses the church of the Lord Jesus Christ to hold back sin and wickedness and lawlessness and even the coming forth of the man of lawlessness, the antichrist himself. But he says here in our text, “when it is taken out of the way,” that is when the church is removed in the rapture, then the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit will cease and lawlessness will begin to multiply and the spirit of lawlessness that is already present in the world will be allowed to birth its hideous child, the antichrist.

So Paul’s point to the Thessalonians: the church is still here, the rapture has not occurred, the tribulation has not yet begun, the spirit of lawlessness is still restrained and the antichrist has not yet arisen. The Second Coming is not at hand, that’s later on. For time, I’ll not turn there but you remember the familiar passage in 1 Corinthians 15:53-58, where it talks about: the Lord will descend from heaven and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye we’re all going to be radically transformed. The perishable will put on the imperishable. We’ll become the incorruptible and the truth that that text is that there’s going to be the coming of the Lord, now listen, and an immediate, instantaneous transformation will occur. Then he says, “We’re always going to be with the Lord.” So once again, this doesn’t look like a coming to the earth at all. It’s an immediate transformation and a changing and a being with the Lord. So the Scripture wants to point out to us that if you are a child of God, if you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are not going to be left behind. No saint will miss it.

Lastly: no sorrow lies beyond it. Once God raptures his church, you listen to me, your days of trial are over. The time of your troubles ends when the Lord calls you to himself in the air. Your worries, your anxieties, your longings, your fears, cease. Once you’re with the Lord in the rapture, all of that is over. Last text John 14, would you turn there with me? Matthew, Mark, Luke, John 14. Now beginning in verse 1, “Do not let your heart be troubled,” be sorrowful, “believe in God, believe also in Me.” I’ve used this a lot but I’ve been a little careless in that I didn’t think through what the context was. Let’s look at the context, look up in verse 33 of chapter 13, “Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.'” That’s why they were troubled. That’s why their hearts were troubled. He said, “I’m going away. I’m about to leave you and I’m going to a place you can’t come to.” Well, they had forsaken everything for him. They devoted their whole lives to him. They had abandoned all for him and now he’s saying, “I’m departing from you.” I’d be troubled too wouldn’t you? Verse 36-37 of chapter 13, “Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, where are You going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I go, you cannot follow Me.'” Verse 37, “Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.'” Peter is just really, he’s the spokesman. He’s got to say something. “What do you mean you’re going away? I will go. Wherever it is, I’m going with you.” Jesus said, “No, I’m going somewhere and you can’t go.” So they were troubled. So he responds, 14:1, “Don’t be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.” His point is: I’m coequal to God. If you trust in God and believe his word is trustworthy, trust in me, my word is trustworthy.

Verse 2, John 14, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.” When he says here, “I’m going to my Father’s house, that’s that place I’m going to leave to but you can’t come to. There are a lot of dwelling places there and I’m going to go there and I’m going to prepare a place for you while we’re apart.” Now “go to prepare a place for you” is the exact same phrase that he used of the disciples when Jesus sent them ahead into Jerusalem to find a place for them and prepare it for them to take the Passover meal. So it’s a very beautiful picture of Jesus going on ahead, leaving them all behind. “I’m going to work out a place for all of us to,” if you will, “hang out together a little later on.”

Verse 3, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again,” not the earth to set up my kingdom. He doesn’t say that. He could have said that. He doesn’t say that. “I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” This receiving his children back unto himself, AT Robertson, the most eminent Greek scholar probably of the last generation says literally you can translate this, “I will come be with you and take you where I am.” So he says, “I’m going to come and take you to my new home which will be your new home,” but he just doesn’t say here in any way, shape, or fashion, “I’m coming to establish my kingdom on the earth. I’m coming to the earth and draw my elect from the four corners of the earth. I’m going to come to the earth and separate the sheep from the goats and then we’ll have the judgment.” That’s going to happen at the Second Coming. This is not the Second Coming. Then he says, verse 3, “that where I am, there you may be also.” “I’m going to take you to my Father’s house in heaven and you get to go there with me one day.”

Now let me summarize this text this way because this text is a sorrow smasher. It’s a sorrow smasher, that’s the whole point of it because you take everything that’s troubling you, everything that’s concerning you as a true child of God, your woes, your complaints, your woes is me, take all of it and grasp for a moment just the edge of the hem of the garment with Christ in the Father’s house, sorrow smashed. First of all, Jesus said, “I am God.” He said, “If you believe in God, also believe in me.” So he said, “I’m God.” Secondly, he said, “You can trust my word just like you trust God’s word.” Thirdly, “I’m going to leave you and you can’t come there.” But fourthly, “I’m going to leave you to go to a special place. Not just any place. It’s my Father’s house.” The emphasis is: there’s nothing better than the Fathers house. Fifthly, “While I’m there at the Fathers house, I’m going to build a special place for you to live.” Now literally the translation is not mansion, it’s dwelling place. It’s building a wing onto the Father’s main house. He said, “I’m going to build you a wing onto the Fathers main house,” because you want to be close to him. Mansion is what you have down here that’s going to be left for the heathen when you leave. Then he said six, “I’m returning to get you to take you out of this troubled world and take you to this new place in heaven called my Father’s house. And seventh, “You and I will be together forever.”

No sorrows allowed beyond the rapture. It’s all good from there on out. Here we have that precious remedy of that old disease of anxiety and worry. What is that precious remedy? Faith. Faith. We need to believe more thoroughly. We need to trust more entirely. We need to rest more unreservedly. Isaiah 26: 3, “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You.” Hebrews 13:14, “For here we do not have a lasting city,” we’ve got a city but it’s just not a lasting city. It’s all going to be destroyed but “we are seeking the city which is to come.” Here we dwell in tents and we dwell in tabernacles. We dwell in temporary lodgings but heaven is a place of permanent eternal housing. The Lord Jesus is first going to leave these disciples and he’s going to go to the cross and on that cross he will purchase the title deed to my soul and my dwelling place in heaven. Paid in his own blood. The house in heaven has my name on it. Then he’s going to ascend into heaven, a real place, and there he will build for us that perfect eternal dwelling that awaits for us even now. Now that’s something to think about: there is a dwelling place on the Father’s house in heaven with your name on it. It’s waiting for you. It could be that in creation Jesus didn’t create all the dwellings of heaven at the original creation. He waited until he went to the cross. Purchased our pardon, purchased the title deeds to our dwelling places, then went to heaven and designed every one of them just for us. Mine’s got a deer head over the fireplace. That’s ridiculous. You just let me see the Father and I don’t care if deer ever existed. I may shoot ten of them this winter but you compare that to the Father’s house, I’m not interested. Take me to the Father’s house.

We have a true friend while we live here. We have a true friend when we die. Our original text Philippians 3:18-21, “For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.” Then he has the contrast, verse 20, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we look for signs.” Oh no, no, no, no, no. We’re not looking for that. This is the imminent return of Christ. No sign. You’ll just be driving along, eating your baloney sandwich, rising up in the morning, whatever you’re doing and Christ is going to come. “We eagerly wait for a Savior.” Where is he coming from? Is he going to go and plant his feet on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem? Will we go and see him there? No, no, no, that’s coming later. This is the rapture. We look for him in the heavens, coming from the heavens. “Who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

So friends, I’m not looking for wars or rumors of wars. I’m not looking for earthquakes or false Christ’s or famines or economic collapse. Could happen. I’m not looking for that though. I’m not looking for one fourth of the earth’s population to die over a short period of time. I’m not looking for a great number of Christian martyrs that will happen later. I’m not looking for signs in the heavens such as the sun turning black or the moon turning red like blood. I’m not looking for the islands and the mountains to be moved out of their places. I’m not looking for the salvation of 144,000 Jews, that’s going to happen later. I’m not looking for hell and fire from heaven to destroy a third of the earth and a third of the ocean to be destroyed and a third of the freshwater to be destroyed. I’m not looking for locusts with stingers to come on the earth and torment men. I’m not looking for men to beg God to kill them and not being able to die. I’m not waiting for the worldwide proclamation of the gospel. I’m not looking for the son of lawlessness to take the throne. I’m looking for Jesus. The imminent return of Christ. That’s what the church looks for. That’s what we’re waiting for. That is our hope. That is the trouble vanquisher. That is the sorrow smasher. That is the hope we live for. The hope we breathe for. That’s why you get up in the morning. That’s why you look at those babies and look at those children and look at those grandchildren and say, “There is a future and there is a hope. Our Lord is coming. He’s coming.” Quit watching what the naysayers of this earth say. They are not in charge.

The times and the epics are in God’s hands and they are running right on schedule and the next event is him splitting the eastern sky and we say, “Even so, come Lord Jesus.”

Let’s stand together.