Christ our Coming King

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Matthew 24:3–14 ESV
3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Title Slide

Leanna and I bought our house about 5 years ago. It was our very first home that we bought and the biggest purchase that we made together as a couple. We were nervous and there were a lot of new things that we learned. One of them was the concept of down payment.
There are several different exceptions but in general when you buy a house you have to pay a percentage of the total amount when you sign the papers as a promise you are going to pay the full amount. Usually you have to pay 20% of the total amount, which is a considerable amount so that it confirms your seriousness and commitment to pay the full price.
When we bought our house we signed our papers in Aug and paid the down payment, then we had to wait. It seemed it was a long time waiting, because the house was rented it was only in October of the same year that we were able to “take possession” and move in.
Now, let’s imagine for a second that you would buy a house and for your down payment instead of paying the 20% you paid 100%, the full price. I don’t think there is any regulation that would not allow that to happen. Then you had to wait to take possession of the house.
If you had already paid fully for the house, it is absolutely certain that no matter how long you have to wait you will take possession of what belongs to you. So it is with Christ’s return. He already paid the full price for our redemption and of the whole creation. The price He paid was not a financial sacrifice, it costs His blood, not even a quick death, but a death that was full of suffering, He had to take our sin, and He received the judgment for our sins in His flesh.
I think we can all agree that it is ABSOLUTELY certain that He is coming back to take possession of what belongs to Him, of what costed Him so much. During the first coming He sweat blood when reflecting on the suffering He had to face. For the second coming He is not going to come as a suffering servant, but as the conquering King.
To date we have seen Christ as our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer and today as the Coming King. But some might ask, Will Christ come back?

Will Christ come back?

We know this and we long for Christ’s return, however the world around us think that at best it is a foolish talk. That He is not coming.
The arguments have not changed throughout the centuries, it is like during the Apostles time, like what Peter said in 2 Peter 3:4 “They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
We might not doubt Christ’s return, but we might ask, why O Lord you are taking so long to come back?
Peter tell us why… “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
This is amazing, even now when we look at the world we can see God’s patience in not bringing His judgment. Often we feel like He should have brought it a long time ago, however if it wasn’t for God’s patience none of us or even one dearly loved, would have been given eternal life in Christ.
However, even in this section of 2 Peter we see the next verse affirming with certainty the coming of the Lord. It says in v 10 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”
This verse, and many others, clearly point to the coming of our Lord. In addition, we already saw that it is logically certain that Christ will return because He paid the price in full. He said that He will come, and Christ never ever lie and never will, He cannot lie.
We can have great confidence in Christ’s word, because He said He was going to rise from the dead and He did. I’m sure it took a lot of faith for Christ’s followers to believe when Jesus said that He was going to rise from the dead. But, He said and He did. Now we can have great confidence He is going to fulfill what He said about Him coming back.
Jesus said in Matt 24:30 Jesus said “Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
PAUSE
It is clear we know and long for Christ's return, but are we there yet?

Are We There Yet?

We all have heard the story, or personally experienced, kids on a car trip asking likely several times… Are we there yet?.... so Are we there yet?.
This child’s inquisition is possibly because they are bored or just being annoying. But also they might ask because they lack a sense of time. They don’t know where they are and they don’t know the way to get there. As adults we have the advantage of knowing where we are, knowing the way to get there and in a sense being in control in getting there.
In a sense, we need to find this “vantage point” when it comes to Christ’s return.
As we do let’s look at the reminder found in Matt 24:36 ““But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”
Even though we cannot know the exact day and hour we have “markers” Jesus said in v32-33 32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.”
Before we dig more, let’s take a quick birds eye view of time… through a timeline of sorts
Timeline
God created the heavens and earth,
He made a covenant with Abraham
Christ came and died and was raised
Church age - time we live now
Great tribulation will come
Christ will return visibly bodily in power
Millennium and then
New Heaven and New Earth will be establish for eternity

Are We There Yet?

We have the privilege of looking back and seeing how to space what was prophesied… But we find ourselves now like the child asking “Are we there yet?”
Regarding the end times not every believer agrees with all the details of Christ’s return, however every believer should agree on the final result of Christ’s return. I think Grudem describes this well when he says:
Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Bible Doctrine D. All Evangelicals Agree on the Final Results of Christ’s Return

No matter what their differences on the details, all Christians who take the Bible as their final authority agree that the final and ultimate result of Christ’s return will be the judgment of unbelievers and the final reward of believers, and that believers will live with Christ in a new heaven and a new earth for all eternity. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will reign and will be worshiped in a never-ending kingdom with no more sin or sorrow or suffering.

Amen
You might not agree on the position that I personally hold on some of the details specially regarding the tribulation and the rapture. That’s ok, what is important is that you make up your own mind, not based on what I think, but by Scripture. And that you are looking/watching and living knowing this: Christ will return.
It seems to me that often our knowledge and understanding of the end times are often more based on what others believe or said or from a fiction book. Our understanding of the end times should be primarily based from our personal study of Scripture while asking the Lord to reveal this to you by Scripture.
There are two main sections of the end times that have different opinions and interpretations. The Millennium and the Rapture.
The first one is in regard to the Millennium described in Rev 20. Millennium is just a fancy word for a thousand years. In Rev 20 it describes Christ reigning on earth for a thousand years before the Last judgment that will come before the New Heaven and New Earth.
There are three main positions regarding this Millennium. We don’t have time this morning to fully describe each position, rather just a very brief overview. The first position is called Amillennialism, which holds that the Millennium described is figurative, so there is not a literal one thousand year reign of Christ on earth before the last judgment and that the Millennium is the time in which we are living now.
The second view is called the Postmillennialism which holds that Christ comes back after the Millennium. That the church age (the time we live now) will get better and better and the church will influence society more and more to a point where Christ will reign the world through believers. This one is less common nowadays, not many people say that the world is getting better and better. However, for some centuries in the past this was the most common view.
The last view regarding the Millennium is called Premillennialism. Which means Christ will come before the Millennium. After Christ comes back He will reign bodily on earth for a thousand years.
The Christian and Missionary Alliance at this point, holds to a premillennial view. It says in our statement of faith:
“The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent and will be personal, visible, and pre-millennial. This is the believer's hope and is a vital truth that is an incentive to holy living and faithful service.”
I personally hold to a premillennial view because when reading Rev 20 over and over again it is hard to not believe that Christ is coming back before the Millennium and will reign for a thousand years as it is written.
The different views of the end times does not end here. There are five different sub-positions under the umbrella of premillennialism. The variations are regarding the great tribulation and the rapture. This leads us to ask “When will we be raptured?”

When will we be raptured?

The word rapture means to be taken. It is based in 1 Thess 4:17 where it says: “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”
There are at least three main different views in when the rapture will happen, while each view is supported biblically, each view has its strengths and weaknesses. As a Bible believing follower of Christ you can hold to any of these positions regarding the timing of the rapture.
One of these views was popularized by the Left Behind Series books and movies by Jerry Jenkins. I like the books and the movies, I don’t have anything against them. However our view of the end times should not be based on a book or movie, it should be based on our careful study of Scripture.
The “Left Behind”series presents what today is possibly the most common variation of the premillennialism, the pretribulational premillennialism. These words might be a mouthful, they are actually very simple pre means before, therefore pre-mil means before the millennial, and pretribulational, means before the tribulation.
Here is a timeline from Grudem’s book.
The pre-trib holds that the church will be rapture before the tribulation. There are different Bible passages that support this view, especially 1 Thess 4:16-17. Then after the church is rapture there will be a great tribulation that last 7 years which is followed by Christ visible bodily return, ending with Christ reign on earth for a thousand years and final judgment.
The second view is called Midtribulational, which is very similar, but the main difference is that the rapture of the church will happen in the middle of the tribulation, or the middle of the 7 years. One of the Bible passage that is use to support this view is Dan 7:25 which says that the antichrist will have power over the saints for 3 1/2 years. The rest of the order of events is the same with the previous view.
The last view is the posttribulationism, which to complicate a little bit is also called by a different names, it could be called post-trib or Classic or Historic. For the sake of simplicity I will call it only as post-trib.
The timeline you see is very similar to the previous, the only difference is the placement of capital letter T, which stands for Great Tribulation
The post trib holds that the rapture will happen at the end of the tribulation. In this view the event of the rapture is close in time to the event of Christ returning visibly and bodily to reign on earth for a thousand years. This view then essentially holds to Christ’s visible return and the thousand year reign ending with the final judgment.

When will we be raptured?

If you are wondering why there are so many different views regarding the end times. The reason is that the Bible does NOT EXPRESSLY teach one view over the other. There are a diversity of opinions that at their best try to harmonize prophecies and different passages that teach about the end times.
However, this difficulty doesn’t prevent us from studying Scripture and forming our own opinion. In fact, you should know that Pr. Rick and my wife each hold to a different view than mine.
When I study all the different views and spend time just reading and studying all the passages that are related to the end times I come to the conclusion that the Post trib view is the one that to me seems better fit. The passage that jump out to me the most is Matt 24:29-31 where Jesus says:
Matthew 24:29–31 ESV
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
It seems to me that Jesus here is saying here that immediately after the tribulation is when He is coming back, and that is when the rapture happens as it describes it in v 31.
Also when I read the book of Revelation it indicates only one coming of Jesus, which is after the Tribulation. In addition, Rev 17 and 20 indicates the presence of saints during the time of Tribulation.
Many feel that this view seems a little pessimistic while the pretrib seems to be a more optimistic view. I confess that when I am studying the end times and the timing of the rapture, part of me wants to hold to a pre-trib view because is more optimistic, this idea gives me comfort that we will not see the Tribulation and that we will not suffer during the tribulation.
However, when I am studying Scripture I need to be willing to accept what it says and not what I feel. Independent of what view you hold, the Bible makes is clear that suffering for Christ’s sake is actually something that we should expect.
We see this in Matt 24:6 where Jesus says: “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake” and
2 Timothy 3:12 ESV
12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
John 15:20 ESV
20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
then in Rev
Revelation 2:10 ESV
10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
These passages makes it clear that no matter our view about the timing of the rapture we are all called to be faithful unto death. I don’t think we are called to be optimistic or pessimistic. It seems to me that every time Jesus talked about His return and the end times His calling is for us to be ready to watch for His coming, while watching how we walk.
So are we there yet? I can say with absolutely certainty that Christ will return at some point during the tribulation. If anything, from this past year, we have see how things can change very quickly.

What shall we do now?

What should we do now as we await? We need to remember what our returning King told us to do. He gave us a commandment before He ascended. A commandment that we need to follow until He comes back.
You all know this very well, it’s in Matt 28:18-20
Matthew 28:18–20 ESV
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
This should be our mission. I’m so proud of our church and how much we do care for missions. There are so many that have gone from this church, and how many we support financially and in prayer. I am proud of how often we have Missionaries speaking to us and encouraging us and telling us of God’s work in other places. We are living out the Missionary part of our name!
In addition, we see that Jesus relate the time of His coming with the great commission. He said in Matt 24:14
Matthew 24:14 ESV
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
This was a great motivator in the beginnings of the C&MA and the focus on missions, because they saw it as in a sense the hastening of Christ’s return.
Now we know that nations means more than political geographic nations, but it means people groups. There are 195 nations, but people groups is far more complicated, some estimate that there are 11000 others estimate 24000. The Joshua project estimates around 17000, within this last estimate there are around 7500 unreached people groups. That means there is still work to do.
I personally think that we will probably not know exactly when the gospel will be proclaimed throughout all nations, because how we define a people group may differ in how God defines a people group. Either way, we are called to obey His commandments until He comes.
So what should we do now? Continue bringing the gospel to the nations, to our country, to our neighbours, to our co-workers and family.
PAUSE
But you might say, what about what is happening around us, the freedoms that you grow up might be slowly being taken away. It is not so unthinkable anymore that pastors are going to jail and fined for insisting that the church should gather together to worship Jesus. What you never thought it could happen, that fences might be built in church property to keep people away, now is starting to happen. And we could go on and on about things that are happening.
We need to remember that God is above any and every government and He is working out His plan for Christ’s return. Perhaps He is even using these times to bring about a greater purpose.
The end times are completely in God’s hands. We need to remember that the exact day and hour of Christ’s return is unknown. There are several passages that talk about Christ return being soon, or imminent or unexpectedly, that we should be ready at all times for Christ to return.
In Matt 24 after Jesus was telling that no one knows the day or the hour, He turns to the hearers and tell them what to do.
Matthew 24:42 ESV
42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
Matthew 24:44 ESV
44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Jesus said to stay awake, to be ready. But what does it mean to be ready? I don’t think it means to grab a cardboard box and write on it The end is near.
I think it means to live now in the way that God has entrusted to us, our time, our gifts and abilities our relationships in way that is focused on Him and not on us, nor on the sin of this world.
We see the same idea brought up elsewhere in the NT. Peter after talking about the coming of the Lord he says the following in 2 Peter 3:11
2 Peter 3:11 ESV
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
And then in v14 he says:
2 Peter 3:14 ESV
14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
The theme seems clear that because Christ is returning We need to keep a close watch on our walk with the Lord,
We might be tempted to focus on the sins of the world, to focus on government, to focus on ourselves, to focus on what might happen. But we need to live with our focus on Christ. Living now in the way that God has entrusted to us, our time, our gifts and abilities our relationships in way that is focused on Him and glorifies Him.
If we are all honest we will recognize that there are always room for growth, things that we need to get better at. But we don’t need to be motivated by fear of Christ’s coming. We need to be motivated by love because in the end we want to please Christ.
The way we get ready is by focusing on Him, making Him our priority, in our time, our schedule, our finances, our devotion and attention.
Are you ready for Christ’s return, is there anything you need to change? If there is anything the Holy Spirit might be prompting you to do or change, then we should do it, not out of fear, but out of love and desire to please the One we love, because He loved us first.
Therefore, as we await for Christ return we need to be ready, stay close to Jesus and to keep the main thing the main thing, the focus on obeying His commandment to take the gospel to the nations.

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