Witnesses for His Return

00:06 Good morning to each one. Let the church say, Amen. It's good to be in the house of the Lord this morning. And children, we still have a little bit more to say to you this morning, although it's all for you as well. But sometimes we want to just make it special for you. 00:24 And I'm thinking this morning of something 00:29 we can't see it right here, right now, but it's kind of an eye spy with my eye. And I need you to try to figure out what it is because it goes along with our text this morning. And this thing that I'm thinking of this morning helps your body, helps your body so it works right. 00:51 So you think about that. What is it that would help your body work right? Well, there's a lot of things that will help your body work right. But this thing really does because it helps you with your vitamin D, vitamin D to help you so that you get strong bones and good blood cells and a good immune system to fight off diseases. 01:13 And not only that, but it helps you sleep better at night. And this might throw us off just a little bit. But this thing, actually, if you get it early in the morning, it will help you sleep better at night. Yeah. 01:32 If you get it early in the morning, it will help you sleep better at night. 01:35 And especially for older people who may have a little bit of a hard time sleeping at night, and maybe they don't get quite enough of it. 01:46 But it will help them sleep because they say that your body has kind of an internal clock inside that it knows when to go to bed and when to get up and then when to go to bed and when to get up and when to take a nap and when to eat and all those good things. And this thing helps regulate that clock. Anybody know what it is yet? Okay. 02:09 The sun. 02:09 The sun. Yeah. How many of you were thinking that? Yeah. Yeah. You'd have thought about it if you had the chance, right? Okay. Well, it's the sun. And not only that, but it helps us avoid disease. And the sun even helps you lose weight. Some of us need some more sun. 02:30 Yeah. And it helps make you feel more happy. The light, light makes you feel more happy. That's why people kind of get depressed in the wintertime because it's so long days of darkness and long nights of darkness. And when you get that boost of sunlight, 02:50 it helps the chemicals in your body that make you feel happy. It can keep your eyesight healthy. If you don't get too much of it, you don't want to look up at the sun. But it will help keep your eyesight happy and even help your body. I'm sorry. I'm out from under my leash here. 03:10 It will even help you get rid of poisons out of your body. Like when a baby is first born, sometimes they turn yellow. Have you ever seen a yellow baby? Red, brown, yellow, black, and white. They are precious in his sight. These babies get kind of yellow-skinned. And it's because what's called bilirubin builds up in their system. And they need light. 03:30 And the light helps pass that bad stuff out of their system so that they can be healthy. Yeah. And it actually helps people to shed pounds. Morning light also seems to help people keep the fat off. You need 20 to 30 minutes between 8:00 a.m. 03:51 and noon to make a difference. But the earlier you get it, the better it seems to work. Scientists think the sun's rays may shrink fat cells below your skin surface. And so that's light, light. Well, I think you're kind of wondering, where's that in the Bible? Where's that in the Bible? Well, 04:09 if you have your copies of the Scripture, you can turn to the book of Malachi. The Bible says that you who fear His name, the Son of Righteousness will arise. That's not S-O-N, but S-U-N, S-U-N, the Son of Righteousness. 04:30 There's coming a day when Jesus comes back where He'll take care of all disease. He'll take care and eliminate all sickness, all viruses, anything that makes people sick and die. He'll take care of old age. He'll take care of weeds in the garden. 04:49 He'll take care of everything that is not the way that God created the earth in the beginning. And there will be healing. There will be healing for the soul. There will be healing for the body. There will be healing for the spirit. 05:04 And all of our problems will be able to melt away when the Son of Righteousness shines. And I think this is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of Righteousness. But He will come with healing in His wings. And so remember, next time you get sick, 05:23 children, you remember the time when the Son of Righteousness will come and take away all sickness. And next time you have to weed the garden, remember when the Son of Righteousness will make only good things grow. And next time that you're sad, remember that the Son of Righteousness, 05:44 eternal day, no more night, will shine upon us and give us eternal happiness and joy. You think about that. Well, the Bible says in verse 4 of Malachi 4, "Remember the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, 06:06 with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 06:14 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse." In our last message on the first couple of verses of chapter 4, we looked at the pictures. We looked at the furnace and the burning-like straw and having no root or branches left. 06:36 We looked at the Son of Righteousness healing in His wings. We looked at the calves of the pasture and the ashes and dust under our feet. We looked at the separation, the separation between the righteous and the wicked that one day, like a combine, will gather together all of the stuff, all of the people of the world. 06:57 And it will separate. It will separate the chaff from the seed. I noticed there's been some wheat combining going on around as we traveled yesterday down to southern Indiana and back. There's some wheat stubble. 07:11 And what that does is it takes that wheat in and it takes all the wheat, all the stock, and it separates out the wheat from the straw and the stubble. And it discards the straw and the stubble. And then that precious wheat. And the Bible makes it clear that we are like that precious wheat that will be gathered into His barn. But He will destroy the wicked, 07:31 the straw, and the stubble. So we looked at that. We looked at the blessing of those who walk in the covenant of our Lord Jesus Christ will be delivered. They will be not subject to the wrath of God. They will be delivered from the wrath of God and the wrath that is to come, this great and terrible, dreadful day of the Lord. 07:50 And He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, of course, our childlike hearts to our Heavenly Father. And His heart is turned toward us. But He will come to set relationships right, the hearts of children to their parents and the hearts of parents to the children, especially the fathers. 08:09 And notice there's a curse that goes along with fatherlessness. And one of the problems in our land today is that there's a curse of fatherlessness in the land. And one of the leaders of the political group Black Lives Matter, which is a political group, it's not necessarily designed to liberate black people. 08:30 It's designed to cause destruction and mayhem. And it's a political organization. And one of their leaders was quoted. In fact, you can hear the tape of him that says, "It is our desire and our aim to destroy the nuclear family, mom, pop, and the kids." That's what the nuclear family is. It's the family upon which our society is based. 08:52 And their goal is to destroy the nuclear family, destroy the family unit. And there's a curse that goes along with fatherlessness, which is one of the reasons that our land is bearing the fruit of the broken homes, the broken families, the broken fathers. Studies have been done that have linked fatherlessness to substandard education and poor learning, 09:13 to poverty, to emotional instability. And just right down the line, there's study after study after study that have been done that link our social problems with fatherlessness. And He said in that day, "It's going to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, the hearts of the children back to the fathers. O Lord, 09:32 may it be when the Son of Righteousness arises with healing in His wings, He's going to heal the family unit in whatever way He chooses to heal. He's going to heal relationships. He's going to heal moms and dads and husbands and wives and parents and children and siblings and bring about the unity, the kind of unity that the world wants. But they want it without Christ. 09:53 They want it with themselves at the head rather than Christ at the center and at the head." And so what is this thing? I want to talk to you this morning about this thing of Elijah coming. 10:04 In verse 5, "Behold, I will send Elijah the prophet." And we cannot just end this passage of this book of the Old Testament without addressing this Elijah. What is being talked about? Well, of course, we know who Elijah was. 10:21 And we need to have a little bit of a historic perspective to understand what He's talking about with Elijah coming. And it seems like, it seems like, now this is subject to debate and interpretation. But it seems like when God gets ready to do a significant work, Elijah shows up. 10:45 When God gets ready to do a significant work, I'm talking about a significant transitional work, Elijah shows up. And so it was in 1 Kings chapter 17. Elijah showed up, kind of came out of nowhere. Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab, 11:05 "As the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there shall not be doom nor rain these years except by my word." And by three and a half years later, that place was dry as a desert. 11:21 Elijah bringing a pronunciation of judgment on the sins of the northern tribes under the kingship of Ahab. And he pronounces judgment. "I'm going to judge the land of Israel with three and a half years of no rain. 11:39 Not even doom is going to be on the ground." And then he went to the river and, of course, was fed and nourished by the brook Cherith, by the ravens. And he went down to the widow Azeraphath. And he ministered to her. And she ministered to him. 11:58 And, of course, you can read about Elijah's miracles in chapter 17 through about 21 or so. And then Elijah had a message for Ahab. And that was, "Get all these prophets, 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah. And we're going to have a showdown on Mount Carmel, 12:17 showdown on Mount Carmel." And so you know how that ended. The fire fell from heaven from the God of Israel. And the prophets of Baal and the prophets of Asherah could not produce what the change that was needed. They couldn't produce rain. They couldn't produce fire. They couldn't produce anything because they're dead gods. And, 12:37 of course, the judgment that came on those prophets, He said, "Don't let any one of those 450 prophets of Baal escape." He took them down to the river. And He slaughtered them by the brook Kishon and executed them. Judgment on sin, judgment on sin. And then suddenly, one day, 12:58 He disappears almost as mysteriously or more so as what He came, He's gone in a chariot of fire. But that's not the end of Elijah. It's not the end of Elijah. So we fast forward to Micah or Malachi. 13:19 And Malachi says, "Elijah's coming back because there's going to be another great move of God that speaks of judgment, repentance, and restoration." And that great move of God is found when Jesus came on the scene. What a greater move of God than Jesus coming. 13:39 And so in Matthew chapter 11, why don't you turn there? Matthew chapter 11, Jesus refers to John the Baptist. In fact, by the way, Luke chapter 1, the angel referred to John the Baptist. To Zachariah, John the Baptist's father, said this to John the Baptist's father, 14:01 Zachariah, "And many of the children of Israel shall He turn to the Lord their God. 14:07 And He shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." And so here you have the angel saying to Zachariah, 14:26 "This son that your wife Elizabeth will have will come in the spirit and power of Elijah, one of the greatest of the prophets." You see, Moses spoke of the law. He was kind of the pinnacle of the period of law. And Elijah spoke kind of of the pinnacle of the prophets representing the law and the prophets, Moses and Elijah. 14:48 And so he said, "Elijah's coming. God's doing a work here. He's going to do a tremendous work. Jesus is coming. He's going to prepare the way of the Lord. He's going to point people to the Messiah. And He's coming in the spirit and power of Elijah." And so in Matthew chapter 11, 15:10 verse 14, Jesus is talking to His disciples about John the Baptist. And He says in verse 12, "In the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force." He was talking about the superiority of John the Baptist, 15:30 the moral superiority of the greatest prophet up to that point in time. And see, verse 13, "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, He is Elijah who is to come." He came in the spirit and power of Elijah. 15:49 So He's representing Elijah, Elijah's prophetic ministry. But Jesus wasn't done with Elijah yet. Wasn't done with Elijah. And so go over to chapter 17, verse 11. There's a critical time just a few years later, again, a critical time. 16:09 Remember, when God reaches a critical time in His relationship with His people, here comes Elijah. He came in Ahab. Ahab had been one of the worst and wickedest kings in Israel's history up to that point. He did more evil, the Bible says in 1 Kings, 16:28 "He did more evil than all of the kings of Israel put together to that point." At a critical time, here comes Elijah. Boom, he's gone. 16:39 Here comes John the Baptist, a critical time in the nation of Israel. Messiah is coming. Messiah is coming. Here comes John the Baptist in the spirit and power of Elijah. Boom, Elijah's gone. John the Baptist off the scene. He must increase. I must decrease. Not done with Elijah. Chapter 17, Mount of Transfiguration, 17:01 Mount of Transfiguration. Who showed up? Here we have Jesus going to the cross. Critical time in God's salvation process, in God's salvation timeline. Jesus is ready to go to the cross. He's ready to institute the plan of salvation. 17:23 He's ready to suffer and die for the sins of the world. He's ready to build a church. He's ready to transition from Old Testament to New Testament. And verse 3 of 17, "Behold, Moses and Elijah," here they come, here they come. "They showed up. They appeared to them, 17:41 talking with Him." It's like here's Moses representing the law. Here's Elijah representing the prophets. And they're transferring their dispensation, if you want to use that term, to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Father comes along and says, "You listened to Moses. 18:00 You listened to Elijah." Well, some of you did. Some of you didn't. You tried to kill the prophets. Some of the people listened. "I spoke through Moses. I spoke through Elijah. Now I'm speaking through my Son. Listen to Him." This is a critical time of what Jesus is doing. Here comes Moses. Here comes Elijah. And then they're gone. 18:21 Peter makes his declaration about the booths, which, by the way, wasn't all that far out of line. Sometime we'll talk about the Feast of Tabernacles. It wasn't as bizarre as what we think about it as it appears. But nevertheless, be that as it may, he looks around and all of a sudden things are back to normal. 18:44 In verse 11, "Jesus answered and said to them, 'Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.'" Now notice He uses the future tense and the present tense. "He is coming and will restore." Could it be that God's not done with Elijah yet? 19:07 "But I say to you that Elijah has come already. And they did not know Him but did to Him whatever they wished. Likewise, the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands." So here you got Jesus talking about John the Baptist and Elijah. And here we've got Elijah and John the Baptist, this thing going on. 19:29 And Jesus says, "Elijah has come. He came in John the Baptist." But that doesn't mean that Elijah is not going to show up again. 19:37 And that's what we're looking at because there is such thing as called the what's called the law of double fulfillment in prophetic scriptures. Prophetic scriptures, the law of double fulfillment is that a fulfillment of a prophecy can have more than one fulfillment. And so that's why Jesus is saying, "I believe that Elijah is coming. 20:00 And He already came." So how could He already come and still be coming? Well, it's very easy with the Lord. I think what Jesus is saying here is we're not done with Elijah yet because there's something else that's coming that's going to require Elijah to come and pronounce judgment and preach repentance. 20:21 Go with me to the book of Revelation chapter 11. 20:26 This gets exciting, brothers and sisters. This gets exciting. At a critical time in Israel's history, Elijah showed up. Then he was gone. At a critical time in Israel's salvation process, here comes John the Baptist in the spirit of Elijah and the power of Elijah. And he's gone. 20:46 A couple of years and he's gone. Then here comes Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration conveying something, talking with Jesus. And then they're gone. 20:57 And one more time, I believe Elijah is coming back to get ready the way of the Lord, to turn the hearts of the fathers of the children to the heavenly Father and the hearts of the heavenly Father back to His children as well as restore relationships. 21:14 Revelation chapter 11 has been called one of the most difficult passages by Bible scholars, one of the most difficult passages to interpret. And I do not claim to know more than what Bible scholars know in commentaries and so on and so forth. And if you go and you try to study Bible commentaries on who the two witnesses are in chapter 11 of Revelation, 21:36 you'll get all kinds of different answers. But you know what? The scripture gives us a lot of insight. 21:43 Like one chaplain friend of mine used to say, "The scriptures shed a lot of light on those commentaries instead of the other way around." The scripture talks about two witnesses who will appear before this great and dreadful day of the Lord. He talks about two witnesses. Verse 3, "I will give power to my two witnesses. 22:05 And they will prophesy 1,260 days closed in sackcloth." Very specific period of time. If you figure it out, it's three and a half years based on a 360-day calendar year, which is not uncommon in Old Testament and biblical times. 22:23 360 days times three and a half is 1,260. "Closed in sackcloth." Again, what does sackcloth represent? It represents repentance. 22:33 It represents bare bones, repentance and calling for repentance and and and and cutting through all the veneer of life, getting right down to the basics of life. "It'll be closed in sackcloth, poverty. 22:53 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth." What do the olive trees and the lampstands represent? 23:01 "Shining light in the power of the Spirit." So these witnesses, whoever they are and whatever they are, are going to stand before God as His representatives of the light shining out into the darkness in the power of the Holy Spirit. Of course, the olive trees, 23:21 olive produces oil, which is a picture and a symbol of the Holy Spirit. And lampstands produce light, which is a picture of the truth going forth. 23:29 "In the power of the Holy Spirit, the truth will go forth to the nations." Verse 5, "If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies." These guys are not non-resistant because they're representing the God of wrath. 23:48 We represent the God of peace as a church in the church age, the peace of our Lord Jesus, the peaceable kingdom. These men will not represent peace, but they will represent judgment. And so those who want to harm them, something happens to them. 24:07 "Fire proceeds from their mouth." It's the fire of the Word of God, a consuming fire and devours their enemies. "And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner." Don't know exactly what this means. Actually, like I said, this chapter is one of the most difficult chapters for Bible scholars to interpret and apply. It's shrouded in mystery. 24:27 "But we know there'll be a witness that will speak in the power of the Spirit and shine forth the light of judgment." And verse 6 tells us, gives us a clue as to who these two witnesses are. Let me just say something about these two witnesses. Some people say that these two witnesses represent the church. 24:48 And they may be right. I don't think so. And I'll tell you, I'll give you my opinion. They may be right because the church does shine forth and should shine forth the witness of truth in the power of the Spirit. 25:04 But I don't think they represent the truth or the church because the church has already been taken out of the earth in chapter 4 of Revelation. Again, that's the way I understand scripture. And not only that, but the church does not walk around destroying people and killing people. 25:24 We're to give life. That's an Old Testament prophetic thing. When the fire falls from heaven and destroys large numbers of people, that's not the church's responsibility. But it could be. It could be two groups of people. It could be tribulation saints. 25:43 It could be people that are saved during the great tribulation. Another reason I don't believe that this is representing the church is because all of those witnesses would have to die. In verse 10 and 9, rather 8, "These men are killed. These witnesses are killed. 26:03 They're destroyed. And their bodies lay in the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days." Now, if it's the church, that's an awful lot of people to be killed and lay in the streets of Jerusalem, at least if you're going to take Revelation literally where it can be taken literally. 26:20 And by the way, that's one of the hermeneutical principles of good biblical exegesis of the book of Revelation is where it can be taken literally, you take it literally. Where it cannot be taken literally, you take it allegorically or symbolically, more likely symbolically rather than allegorically. 26:38 And so verse 6 gives us a clue as to who these men are, these witnesses. "I believe there are two men, witnesses of God. These have power to shut heaven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy." By the way, who did that when he showed up? Huh? 27:00 Elijah. I mean, here he comes again pronouncing judgment upon the earth. God's ready to do a significant work of returning Christ Jesus, His Son, to the earth to set up His kingdom. "They have power to shut heaven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy. 27:22 And they have power over waters to turn them to blood and to strike the earth with all plagues as often as they desire." Who did that? Moses. Who met with Jesus and either gave him some instructions or he gave them some instructions? 27:43 Moses and Elijah. 27:47 I really believe that there will be two men. Now, whether it will be literally Moses and Elijah reincarnate, I don't know. 27:55 Or if it will be someone, two men who represent Moses and Elijah, I tend to believe it will be Moses and Elijah reincarnate, sent back to earth to finish up the declaration of the day of the Lord. 28:12 When they finish their testimony or at the end of the three and a half years, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit, that's Satan, will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. By the way, God cannot or nothing can touch you and kill them until you have finished your testimony. When God says you're finished, you're finished. 28:33 Until God says you're finished, you keep doing what God has called you to do. People ask me when you go on an airplane, "Well, have a good flight." Well, I'll have a good flight if the pilot has one. But if the pilot does not have a good day and God says, "You're finished," then I may not have a good day because I may be finished too. 28:51 But let me tell you what, I won't be finished unless God says I'm finished. And when God says I'm finished, then anything and everything can happen, but not without His approval. And so here you have God saying, "You've done enough. You've given your message. You've been faithful. And now the enemy is going to overcome them and kill them." And verse 8, 29:13 "And their bodies, their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." An apostate Jerusalem, an apostate group of people, 29:29 the Jewish people who thumbed their nose and shook their fist at our Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus told them, "When someone comes in his own name, you will receive him." It's exactly what they will do with the Antichrist. 29:44 They will receive him when he comes in his own name, making his own declarations until a certain time in about halfway through the tribulation when he sets himself up as God and they realize they've been had. "Sodom and Egypt, which are where also our Lord was crucified." He was crucified in Jerusalem. 30:06 Then verse 9, "These people or then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies." You see how literal scripture is? This was not possible just a few years ago. In fact, yeah, most time in my lifetime, you could see it via satellite now, 30:27 but not the whole world maybe. But now the whole world will see these men's dead bodies in the streets of Jerusalem. The ultimate shame for a Jewish person would be to not be buried, to not have the dignity to bury these bodies, but to allow their broken, dead, battered bodies to lie in the streets. 30:48 And to tell you how pitiful people's response will be, those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and it'll be like Christmas. These two gifts and send because these two and send gifts to one another because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. 31:07 It'll be a celebration while they watch these battered and dead bodies in the streets of Jerusalem. 31:15 My, you'll be able to pull it up on your cell phone. Scripture is amazingly accurate. "Now, after three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet." Now, people are going to see this too. They're going to see this too. And it's not going to be it's going to be celebration over, 31:37 party time over. "And great fear fell on those who saw them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, 'Come up here.' And they ascended to heaven in a cloud. And their enemies saw them. In the same hour, there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake, 7,000 people were killed, 31:56 and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven." And there goes Moses and Elijah just as mysteriously as they came 32:06 to pronounce that something of great importance and ultimate significance is coming. And that is the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to set up His kingdom. Wow. 32:19 Now, you say, "Brother Todd, that sounds like a rather far-fetched idea to me." But we're just trying to take what the scripture says and look at it, apply it. The one thing that is not far-fetched and one thing that you cannot argue about or dispute about is that the scripture is very clear. 32:41 Jesus is coming. He is coming. Whether this is Moses and Elijah or two groups of people or or or or what, the point is still the same. Jesus is coming. And the Old Testament saints testified to His return. Job said, 33:01 "I know that my Redeemer lives and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." He's coming to stand. He's going to take His stand on the Mount of Olives, which by the way, will have a cataclysmic earthquake. Could be this earthquake here that will divide the east from the west. Or is it the north from the south? 33:21 Remember how that fault line lies. But there will be His standing on the Mount of Olives according to Job. David prophesied it in Psalm 96, "For He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with His truth." Gone will be the day when you can escape the truth. 33:42 It will all be laid out and laid bare. Jude recalls the words of Enoch, Old Testament prophet, the seventh from Adam, who prophesied saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with 10,000 of His saints." So the Old Testament prophets testified to the return of Jesus Christ. 34:04 The angels testified to the return of Jesus Christ. They witness it. They are witnesses for the resurrection, for the second coming, Acts 1:11, who also said, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven?" You remember when Jesus was taken up into heaven? Why stand you gazing? 34:24 He's real. He just left. He's in heaven now. But He's coming back. He's coming back. "This same Jesus, which is taken from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven." So the angels testify of that. The apostles testify of it. James in James 5:8, 34:44 "For the coming of the Lord draws an eye." Peter in First Peter 5, "And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. He will appear again." Hebrews, "So Christ was also was once offered to bear the sins of many. 35:04 And unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin and to salvation." The writer of Hebrews, whoever that apostle was, might have been Paul, said, "He will appear the second time. For yet a little while," Hebrews also says, "And He that shall come will come and will not tarry." That'd make a good bumper sticker. 35:24 "He that shall come will come." Get ready for it. It's going to happen. Paul in First Thessalonians 5:2, "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night." It's the day of the Lord. The Lord's coming back. It's going to be when you don't expect it. Second Thessalonians, "And to you who are troubled, 35:44 rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed 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." He's coming. He'll be revealed from heaven with His angels. John in First John, "Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. 36:04 But we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is." Revelation 1:7, "John under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, recording what he saw, the words of Jesus, 'Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him. They also which pierced Him. 36:23 And all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.'" So you have the Old Testament prophets. You have the New Testament apostles. And you have, if that's not enough, Jesus Himself. Jesus Himself. Well, if the Lord Jesus would just tell us that He's coming back. He did. He has. 36:42 He is. This is the promise of our heavenly bridegroom. Matthew 16 says, "For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels. Then He shall reward every man according to his works." Those are from the lips of Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 26:64, "Jesus saith unto Him, 'Thou hast said. 37:01 Nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven.'" Luke 21:27, "And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Jesus said it again in John 14:3, "If I go and prepare a place for you, 37:22 I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." Jesus said it in Revelation 3:11, "Behold, I come quickly. Hold that which thou hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." And He said it at the back of the book, Revelation 22:20, 37:42 "He that testifieth these things saith, 'Surely I come quickly. Amen.' And the church replies, 'Even so, come, Lord Jesus.'" The words of our Lord Himself, "I'm coming." Don't be like those who say, "Well, you guys have been prophesying that and predicting that for thousands of years. 38:02 It hasn't happened. Hence the deduction it won't happen." And Peter calls them out and says, "Those are scoffers. They're unbelievers. Don't listen to them because the day of the Lord will come when they're least expecting it. 38:17 And the Son of righteousness will arise with healing in His wings." Oh, brothers and sisters, don't fear the tribulation. Don't fear what's coming upon the earth. Look beyond that. 38:35 Look beyond that to the glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory to set up His kingdom, which will be a kingdom that will never, ever be destroyed. Jesus, you see, like the songwriter says, 38:56 "Shall reign wherever the sun does its successive journeys run. His kingdom stretched from shore to shore till moons shall wax and wane. No more to Him shall endless prayer be made and praises throng to crown His head. His name like sweet perfume shall rise with every morning sacrifice. 39:19 People and realms of every tongue dwell on His love and sweetest song. And infant voices shall proclaim their early blessings on His name. Blessings abound wherever He reigns. The prisoners leap to lose their chains. The weary find eternal rest. 39:37 And all who suffer want are blessed. Let every creature rise and bring the highest honors to our King. 39:45 Angels descend with songs again, and earth repeat the loud, Amen." Let's pray. Lord, we've wanted this morning to encourage Your people, to encourage Your people that the return of Jesus is still on God's calendar. 40:06 It's still on the schedule. It's still going to happen. It's still coming. Jesus said He would. If we can trust Him about anything, we can trust Him about that. We trust You, Lord, about all kinds of things in the Bible. We trust You about when You said, "I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me." We trust You when You said You'll send a comforter, the Holy Spirit. 40:26 We trusted You when You said that You can forgive our sins. We trusted You when You said that You would prepare a place for us. And we trust You now when You said, "I will come again and take You to be with Me." We trust You now with that promise as well. 40:44 Lord, we thank You for the mysteries that surround these times in which we live as we might be able to see the plan of God unfolding. We thank You for the ministry of Moses and Elijah and all that they represent. 41:01 And we bless You, Lord, that You would give tribulation occupiers another opportunity to repent and get right with God. And so, Lord, make us ready. Keep us faithful. Let us not walk in fear, but in promise. 41:22 Let us not walk in doubt and scoffing, but in anticipation. And so much the more as we see the day approaching. Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. And let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner some is. 41:44 But so much the more as we see the day approaching. And so, Lord, we stand before You. We ask that if there is someone who is not right with the Lord, that they would get right with Jesus, that they would give their total being, spirit, soul, and body surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ, 42:05 repent of their sin, and walk in newness of life. 42:11 And to that end, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.