Mark 13:24-27
TRANSCRIPT
Take your Bible if you will and turn to the gospel of Mark chapter 13.
We are working our way through the all important details of what is known as passion week, the final week of Christ’s public ministry on earth before the cross, right up until the illegal all important details, all the all right up until the illegal unjust trials held in the middle of the night Thursday.
The emphasis of the first half of this week is on the judgment to come on Israel, God’s chosen people for rejecting him as their Lord and savior and their Messiah. Jesus has wept over Jerusalem, knowing of its coming judgment. He has rejected the multitudes praises on Tuesday, when he rode into Jerusalem knowing that it was only a self-centered demand aimed at making him their political leader, to lead them to overthrow Rome and restore them to their rightful place as the most powerful nation on earth. He has thrown the thieves and the merchants out of the temple, thus shutting down the financial theft of the Jews by the religious leaders.
Jesus then on Wednesday shut down the religious leaders multiple attempts to discredit him, each time sending them away in silence and humiliation. He has clearly and effectively pronounced and prophesied judgment on Israel, that would begin in AD 70, when Rome would decimate the temple and the nation of Israel.
Finally, late Wednesday afternoon, he says to the religious leaders in Matthew 23:38, one of the parallel passages “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate.” Their house is their man-made works righteousness system of belief and the predominant symbol of that false religion was the temple.
It is now Wednesday early evening, His public teaching ministry has now ended. And so Jesus leaves the temple courts with the 12. Right now we are at the end of Jesus’s pronouncement of judgment against Israel for rejecting Him as their Lord and their savior and their Messiah. They are as he has said without excuse. The religious leaders all want Jesus dead. They see no connection whatsoever between Jesus and the Messiah they have waited centuries for.
But because of the common Jews, including the 12 because they are still expecting Jesus to usher in the Kingdom of God on earth, Jesus must address the timing of the coming Kingdom, to give them a more realistic timetable. We looked at that in depth. You’ll remember, they never did understand the spiritual Kingdom Jesus would introduce in His first Kingdom coming. They were looking for a literal physical Kingdom on earth where Messiah would vanquish their enemies and restore them to their rightful place as the ruling nation on earth with Messiah ruling over the earth as the king and the Lord. That’s because primarily of the many unconditional covenants God had made with Israel when He chose them as His own people and as the apple of His eye.
Now, there’s still not going to understand what Jesus is saying about the beginning of the Kingdom on earth until after he has returned to the right hand of the father in heaven.
They do not they cannot understand that Jesus is not going to return to set up that earthly Kingdom for some 2000 plus years. And so Jesus now moves to give the Jews and us the characteristics of the last days that signal the beginning of the time when he will return.
But before he does that he needs to wrap up this detail about the temple being leveled to the ground and that’s what we saw back in chapter 13:1 look at that. 13:1 as he was going out of the temple each one of one of his disciples said to him teacher behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. Jesus said to him do you see these great buildings. Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down. Well that’s exactly what happened in AD 70.
Verse 3, as he was sitting on the mount of olives opposite to temple, well having crossed the kidron valley Jesus and his men ascend the mount of olives, they are now staring back at that magnificent magnificent edifice because Jesus has just said that the entire thing was going to be thrown down to the ground. Verse three and Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning him privately. Verse four tell us when will these things be. What will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled. For them that’s the key question. That’s the question they have been asking for some time now. That’s the question every Jew wanted an answer to.
According to the parallel passage in Matthew 24:3, their full question was tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? The point is, as I said, they are far more interested in the date of the coming Kingdom than in when the destruction of the temple will take place. They knew that the current age had to end for the Kingdom age to begin. They want to know when that will happen.
And here’s what you need to understand, the Jews did not understand that in God’s sovereign plan, Messiah would come to earth twice. 1st century Israel did not understand this. Israel today does not understand this, and so they reject the idea which is why the answer Jesus gives the 12 that day on the mount of olives is the single longest answer to any question Jesus was ever asked in the word of God.
We find it here in Mark 13, the parallel passage Matthew 24 and 25, and then in Luke 21. And do not miss this all important detail here, the 12 asked Jesus a very important question. It is a question that every Jew and every true disciple of Jesus Christ, Jew and gentile has wanted the answer to since God cursed all of his creation following Adam and Eve sin in the garden of Eden.
The Jew wants its political power and prestige and property return. A true follower of Jesus Christ, Jew and gentile wants God to right every wrong to eliminate the results of sin in this world. Understand the return of Jesus Christ is the pinnacle of human history. For the true follower of Jesus Christ, it’s called the blessed hope. The Apostle Paul’s Titus in Titus 2:13 that we are all to be looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior Christ Jesus.
We are to be those who love his appearing, 2 Timothy 4:8. We are to eagerly expect his second coming, 1 Corinthians 1:7 and 1 Thessalonians 1:10.
Now remember, at the moment of the true follower of Jesus Christ’s death, we wake up in the presence of Jesus Christ in heaven, 2 Corinthians 5:8. But we do not receive our glorified bodies until the rapture of the church takes place, that’s 1 Corinthians 15:51-54, 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 John 3. Following the rapture then, we will be in heaven worshipping God for that seven-year period of time. Meanwhile the seven year tribulation will be taking place on earth, at the beginning of the tribulation there will be no believers on earth. They’ve all been taken out. After that time of judgments and salvation and the tribulation, the Lord will return to this earth with His raptured Saints in their glorified bodies along with the angels to destroy His enemies and establish His promised millennial Kingdom on earth. And that has to happen, or God has lied to Israel in making all of those unconditional covenants. They don’t depend on Israel, they depend on God and his faithfulness. And so what we have here, are some of the details Jesus is giving His men and us in answer to the question the questions that were asked of Him. That’s the purpose of the olivet discourse.
Now what I want you to understand here is that Jesus at no time, ever wrote the word of God to confuse the true follower of Jesus Christ, that would be useless. His intent in giving us the word of God is so that we will know God and understand God. And while we can’t know everything about God and understand everything about the future, what He has given us, He’s given us in such a manner that we can understand it. He wrote clearly, so that we might understand clearly. And so to allegorize or to spiritualize the text will always lead you to an unbiblical misunderstanding of what He has clearly said.
And so beginning then in verse five of chapter 13, Jesus begins the longest answer, in the olivet discourse, in all of scripture. And what Jesus does here is He explains what is going to take place throughout the world, specifically emphasizing those events that will immediately proceed His physical return when He will set up His physical Kingdom on earth. The Jews are looking for a Messiah to return to earth and set up His Kingdom on earth and they want to know when is that going to happen.
He begins by giving five key characteristics of the intervening time between His first coming to earth in His incarnation and His return to earth in His second coming to set up His Kingdom on earth were for 1000 years. He does not give specific dates, because as He said only the Father in heaven knows such things, Acts chapter one verse 7.
Now the preliminary signs that He mentions are not uncommon to life in this fallen world, which is why He says in verse eight, these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. They don’t describe the moment of the birth, they’re the beginning of the birth pangs. And the point He is making is that thousands of years down the road, these events will only increase in occurrence and severity when the seven-year tribulation finally begins. And you can read about all of that as prophesied in Daniel Chapter 9 verse 27 and detailed in Revelations chapters 6 through 16.
Using the metaphor of birth pangs, the beginning of the process that ultimately results in birth or in this case His physical return, Jesus explained, that this time will be characterized by false teachers and false messiahs and wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes and famines and violent persecution against believers. Read the news, that’s exactly what is happening all over the world. But again, as He said, this is merely the beginning. It’s the beginning. Well then we looked at verses 1 through 13 of chapter 13, we looked at that I should say in those first 13 verses of chapter 13. In other words, Jesus very clearly tells His men and us, that the world is only going to get worse and worse and worse, until that time when Jesus Christ finally returns to set up His Kingdom on earth. This covers the thousands of years we now know have passed, between the historical event of His first coming to earth, and His second coming which has still not taken place. He doesn’t mention the rapture at this point, because the church has not yet been born. Aand therefore as the word of God tells us, it is still at this moment what the Bible calls a mystery, something not revealed to us in the Old Testament that is in the new.
Then Jesus moves closer to His second coming in the text, with the details He gives to His men and us in verses 14 through 23, specifically He talked about the 2nd 3 1/2 years of the tribulation, which he calls the great tribulation. These are the details He says that will take place immediately preceding His second coming. And see He’s getting closer in time to the exact answer to their question. And so Jesus gives us the general details in an overview of the time up to the rapture of the church, then he gives us the specific details of the great tribulation, the 2nd 3 1/2 years of that seven-year tribulation.
And here, as we learned He describes three specific events that will precede the second coming of Jesus Christ to earth. Antichrist detestable and action. Antichrist detestable action, the Jews desperate situation and God’s detailed warning.
Look at verse 14, let’s run through this quickly. Verse 14, but when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be, let the reader understand, then those who were in Judea must flee to the mountains. So, just like Antiochus the 4th desecrated the temple in Jerusalem during the intertestamental period as a prefigurement of the final desecration of the temple, so Antichrist will break his treaty with Israel, halfway through the tribulation and desecrate the rebuilt temple, by forbidding the Jews to offer sacrifices and set himself up as a God to be worshipped. Jesus says, those alive at that time will be able to read what He is telling the 12th. He also tells those reading at that time that when this happens, they need to get out of Jerusalem and flee to the mountains where God will protect them.
Look at verse 15, the one is the one who is on the housetop must not go down or go in to get anything out of his house. He says if you’re at home don’t even go don’t don’t don’t even go down off your rooftop to get supplies, just get out of town.
Verse 16, the one who was in the field, must not turn back to get his coat. If you’re at work he says don’t return home to get supplies, just flee. Get out of there.
Verse 17, but woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days. It will not be good Jesus says for anyone pregnant because it will be so difficult to move as quickly as you will need to move.
Verse 18, but pray that it may not happen in the winter. He’s talking about urgency here. Urgency, pray, Jesus says that this doesn’t happen in the winter time because it will be so difficult to move as quickly as you will need to move to escape. Why?
Verse 19, for those days, will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred, since the beginning of the creation, which God created until now and never will. That’s pretty heavy. More devastating than an earth wide global flood that killed everyone but one family. Yes. Worse than the Holocaust. Yes. Because this time of great tribulation will be the single worst time of devastation the world has ever known and will ever known, you’ve gotta get out of there.
Verse 20, unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved. But for the sake of the elect whom he chose, he shortened the days. This time will be so devastating Jesus said, that had God not limited the time to 3 1/2 years, Antichrist would be able to kill every true follower of Jesus Christ.
Verse 21, and then if anyone says to you behold here is the Christ or behold he is there, do not believe him. If anyone claims to be Messiah or Messiah like for the purpose of saving you from the devastation of the day, do not believe them. Stay away from them. Ignore them.
Verse 22, for false christs and false prophets will arise and will show signs and wonders in order to lead astray if possible the elect. They will be so convincing with their words and their illusions that if it were possible to lead the elect away they would. But because the elect cannot be led astray, that will not happen.
Verse 23, but take heed, behold I have told you everything in advance. Now this doesn’t matter to the disciples. They’re not going to be here. They’re not going to be around. So when He says take heed, behold I have told you everything in advance, who’s He talking to? He’s talking to those reading this at the time of the tribulation. And He says pay attention. I have given you all the details you need in advance. And so Jesus has given the 12 and us the most comprehensive outline and details of the end of the age in the word of God. All that is missing is what? The sign of His coming.
That brings us to our passage for this morning. Follow along as I read it to you, beginning in verse 24. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will be falling from heaven and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send forth the angels and will gather together his elect from the four winds from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.
Here’s our outline five points. #1 The setting. #2 The scene. #3 The shock. #4 The sign. And #5 the Saints. We’ll get this one at a time, right.
First, the setting. Look at verse 24. But in those days, after that tribulation stop, right there, that is a double time reference. That’s a time reference. The 12 want to know the timing. The sign of Christ ushering in the Kingdom on earth, back in verse 4, that’s what they wanna know, verse 7, when you hear of wars and rumors of wars do not be frightened those things must take place but that is not yet the end. That’s a time reference. That’s a time reference. Verse 14, let the reader understand, that’s another time reference. Nothing has been written down and wouldn’t be for years after Jesus is saying these words. In other words, for those who will be alive during the great tribulation, pay attention to what I am saying, that will be written down for you to read.
Here in verse 24 is another time reference. Notice He says, “But in those days”, not these days, those days, the days coming many years from now. Now we know it’s many years from then, right? Because it’s been 2023 years and he hasn’t returned yet. So, many years from now. The “but” there is not adversative as it often is, that what that conjunction does here, is contrast the self professed false christs, who are not to be believed in, with the coming of the true Christ. He’s setting up contrast here. But in those days, what’s the question? What days? The days what’s he say? After that tribulation. What tribulation? Well the days triggered by the greatest most devastating abomination of desolation in the holy of holies. The final 3 1/2 years called the great tribulation. That’s the tribulation He’s talking about. That time, verse 19, that will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now and never will.
So, given a literal, historical, grammatical interpretation of the context here, there is no other conclusion than that Jesus is talking about the days following Antichrist desecration of the temple in Jerusalem.
Secondly, the scene. The scene. What will happen? The scene. Verse 24, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. Verse 25. The stars will be falling from heaven. They’ll continuously fall. And the powers that are in the heaven will be shaken. Now notice there are four major once in the history of the world events. The sun will be darkened. This is not an eclipse. This is a permanent eclipse. The moon will not give its light. The stars will be falling from heaven. And the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. Jesus here, Jesus here describes the literal results of His judgment on the earth. This is not figurative. This is literal. And this is exactly how the Apostle John describes it at the end of the great tribulation in Revelation chapter six.
Look at Revelation chapter 6. This is what is known as the great, or or I should say as the 6th seal judgment. 6th seal, as in stamping an envelope. 6th seal judgment. Chapter 6 verse 12, I looked when he broke the 6th seal and there was a great earthquake and the sun became black, there it is, as sackcloth made of hair and the whole moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to the earth. He’s talking about the very same thing as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Now all of that is prophesied in the Old Testament. And therefore, the Jews knew those passages. They knew them well. The prophet Joel writing in Joel 2:10 and 11 and then verse 31 before them the earthquakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and the moon grow dark ,the stars lose their brightness, the Lord utters his voice before his army surely his camp is very great for strong as he who carries out his word. The day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome, who can endure it the sun will be turned into darkness, the moon into blood before the great in awesome day of the Lord comes.
Isaiah. Look at Isaiah chapter 13. Isaiah chapter 13. Isaiah 13:9. Behold the day of the Lord is coming. Cruel with fury and burning anger to make the land a desolation and he will exterminate its sinners from it for the stars of heaven and their consolations will not flesh for their signs, their light. The sun will be dark when it rises, the moon will not shed its light. Thus I will punish the world for its evil and the wickedness for their the wicked for their iniquity, I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud and abase the heartiness of the ruthless. I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold and mankind than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble and the earth will be shaken from its place at the fury of the Lord of hosts in the day of his burning anger. You know what? You find the same thing in Ezekiel 38, Haggai 2, Zephaniah 1:14-18, Zechariah 14:6.
This is just basic Old Testament prophecy. This is all Old Testament prophecy concerning the end of the times. And you should know, so much of what Jesus says about the end of the times are just quotes from the Old Testament passages. Jesus’s words are they they correspond exactly to what the Old Testament promises would take place during the eschatological day of the Lord when He will establish His glory before the watching world.
In essence what scripture pictures here is a heavenly earthquake, as star after star falls and the universe moves towards utter chaos. Earth’s own star dims and the moons reflected light is too little to see by. The point is, nothing like this has ever occurred on this planet. And it’s really hard to allegorize all of that away. Repeated so many times. These will all be a part of the signs, unmistakable signs in the sky, signs from on high to let the world know that Jesus Christ is about to return. How gracious of God, right? Sign after sign after sign to let you know I am coming.
Book of Revelation tells us people recognize the signs and curse God for them. That’s depravity. The sin nature. Shutting off the blood supply to the brain. So that people can no longer think rationally. I don’t. Don’t miss the fact that these signs will make the devil’s signs and wonders look ridiculous by contrast. There will be no mistaking it when God finally moves on to the end time stage. Old Testament prophecy in the Book of Revelation tell us that at this time the terrible persecutions and purges carried out by Antichrist will have greatly decimated the believing population on the planet. With all the wars and famines earthquakes and disasters pestilences and persecutions, millions upon millions of people will be dead. But now, the armies of the Far East are mobilized in rebellion against the Antichrist in the West. The stage is set for this battle of Armageddon. Horrendous signs, horrendous signs in the sky will be God’s answer to man’s final pre advent insanities. They, they not only will signal the Lord’s immediate return but also will neutralize man’s ability to destroy the planet utterly.
MacArthur writes this, when the one who upholds all things by the word of his power Hebrew 1:3, when that one withdraws that sustaining energy the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. Indicating that the orbits of stars and planets will careen off course and cosmic bodies will begin to rip apart. Yet God will not allow the universe to disintegrate entirely, He will preserve it for the establishment of Christ’s domination.
I mentioned Haggai 2. Listen Haggai 2:6 and 7, for thus says the Lord of hosts, once more in a little while I am going to shake the heavens and the earth the sea also and the dry land. I will shake all the nations and they will come with the wealth of the nations and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. In essence, in judgment against Satan, Antichrist and all those rejecting Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is, in essence, going to shut off the lights. And then later, He will relight it in, during the, he will relight it during the millennial Kingdom, Isaiah 30:26.
Well what’s the response of the world? What’s the response of the world? That’s our third point, the shock.
Go over to Luke for a moment. Parallel passage, we get a little detail here that’s very interesting, Luke 21:25, there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars and on the earth dismay among nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves. See that phrase verse 25 there will be signs in sun and moon and stars and on the earth dismay among the nations? See that dismay? That we’re dismay is instructive it literally is translated as anxiety or anguish or terror or shock. Shock. And then following the dismay notice comes perplexity. It’s a word used only here in the New Testament, it means great confusion. The point being that people will be so shocked and confused because they are seeing things that have never been seen in the history of the world. The result verse 26, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. That word fainting, see it? It literally means to breathe out. In other words they won’t just fall over, they will die. They’ll be dead. When you breathe out so that you can breathe out no more, you are what they call dead. In other words, they will be so shocked and confused that they will die from it. People will literally be scared to death, not only because of what happening, what’s happening. Notice what it says but because of what they know is going to happen next. What is next. Well they have asked for the sign of Christ’s return to earth. Here it is.
4th. 4th in our outline the sign. Verse 26, notice He says “then”. That’s a time reference. That’s another time reference. After all the things we have just looked at, “then” not before, but “then”. Then they, who’s the they? The 12? No, they’re not going to be there. Those alive at the end of the great tribulation. Verse 20, back to Mark, sorry back to mark 13:26, then they will see, then at that time they, those alive at that time, will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
Now don’t miss the picture here. Jesus has basically turned out the lights in the universe. Nevertheless the entire world will see the Son of Man returning, 2 Thessalonians 1:7, He will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire. Why you turn out the lights? If possible to make the brightness of the fire even brighter. Scripture gives us the rest of the picture. Jesus uses the term Son of Man for himself because it emphasizes His humiliation. God come to earth, it identifies Jesus as the one who humbly ministered on earth. It’s the same one who would suffer and die and return with great power and glory.
By saying that He’s coming in the clouds He is quoting Daniel 7:13. He comes in the same way that He returned to heaven after His resurrection. And these are not ordinary clouds. Whether they are clouds of glory or what is known as the shekinah cloud. The word for clouds was used in classical Greek of an army of soldiers. In the Old Testament God often manifested Himself in an energized blazing light called shekinah or glory cloud. No one could see it fully and live Exodus 30:20 And so it had to be veiled. But when Christ returns the second time the glory will be completely visible. So visible that the entire world will see Him. Revelation 1:7, behold He is coming with the clouds, quoted from Daniel 7:13 with a reference to Joel 2:31 and every eye will see Him even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be.
And understand that while Jesus Christ possesses great power and glory in and of Himself, His return will be accompanied with visible manifestations of that power and glory. He will redeem the elect. He will restore the devastated earth. He will establish His rule on earth. Now Jesus has mentioned several preliminary signs, but this is the ultimate sign of His second coming.
As I said earlier, this is what every Jew, and understanding the word of God every true follower of Jesus Christ is looking forward to. Hey, life here is great. Well not really. Most of the time great. Can’t compare to heaven. Our time in heaven will be great, but it can’t compare to our time in the new heavens and the new earth. And then all of eternity. That’s the best. You can’t imagine, how good that will be, even when you consider the best in this life. They, they’re not even in the same, you can’t even compare them. Go to heaven, we finally get our glorified bodies, that’ll be great. But for the earth to be ours and to rule with Jesus Christ, that’s the best. This is what we look forward to.
Look at Revelation 19. Revelation 19. This is the Apostle John’s description of Jesus, what Jesus is talking about, here in the olivet discourse look at verse 11, I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and He who sat on it is called faithful and true and righteousness he judges and wages war. People say well that’s got to be allegorical, right? A white horse? Give me a break. Hey you know what? If He could create an aardvark, He can ride back on a horse if He’d like. I could tell you this, it would be a horse unlike any horse you have ever seen. Don’t mess with the text, just leave it there.
His eyes are a flame of fire, on His head are many diadems, He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He’s clothed with the robe dipped in blood and His name is called the word of God. The armies which are in heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean are following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it He will strike down the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Then I saw an angle standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, come assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of the mighty men and the flesh of horses and those who sit on them and the flesh of all men both free men and slaves and small and great.
And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army and the beast was seized and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image, these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse and all the birds were filled with their flesh. This is exactly what we’re waiting for, on that day heaven will open to reveal the conquering king. Jesus will return with shekhinah glory in the midst of the desolate darkness. And as I said what a terrifying paralyzing sight will be to those godless men who were mobilized by Antichrist inspired by Satan and deceived by the false prophet who are amassed at magito.
They will see the Lord in all His glory, they will be terrified, they will conclude that the world is being invaded from outer space. Anyone not there will also see him descending as well. We talk about the battle of Armageddon, one glimpse of Christ and His His forces, from the greatest to the least. Every foe will be utterly paralyzed. The Apostle John tells us that the sword that comes out of His mouth, Revelation 19:15. The point being one word from Him and it will all be over. With perfect righteousness and absolute authority He will enact judgment on His enemies. Seated at last upon His earthly throne the Lord Jesus will unilaterally and perfectly rule the nations as their sole savior and king. Jesus Christ will set up His Kingdom and reign on earth for 1000 years. Antichrist and false prophet will be hurled into the lake of fire. Satan will be bound in the abyss for a period of 1000 years. The Lord will have returned at last.
So five characteristics of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the setting, the scene, the shock, the sign, sign, and finally the Saints.
The Saints verse 27, and then, and then He will send forth the angels. That’s a time reference again. And will gather together his elect from the four winds from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven. Let me give you the rest of the story here. When Jesus returns to earth in His second coming, He will come with an army of His angels, Matthew 25:31, but when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him. Then He will sit on His glorious throne, Mark 8:38 for whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His father with His holy angels. 2 Thessalonians 1:7, the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire. When Jesus returns to earth in His second coming, He will come with all of the redeemed Saints in their glorified bodies who have been with Him in heaven. And then finally the church having been raptured before the seven-year tribulation began will be part of that returning army with Jesus Christ. Colossians 3:4, when Christ, who is our life, is revealed then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. 1 Thessalonians 3:13, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, it says, with His Saints. One more Revelation 19:14, and the armies which are in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean were following Him on white horses.
Now look at verse 27 again. And then, what did I say that is? That’s another time reference. And then. So, we have all the redeemed Saints in their glorified bodies on earth from heaven, we learned from the prophet Joel and from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself that the Lord will now set up His judgment seat in the valley of Jehoshaphat, the unregenerate survivors of the tribulation will be summoned there for trial, the sheep and goat judgment, when it’s all over, there will be three companies of people: the Jewish remnant, redeemed during the tribulation now identified with Christ, the gentile believers saved during the tribulation and those who joined with Antichrist.
Verse 27, and then after the enemies of Christ are vanquished, He will send forth the angels and will gather together His elect from the four winds from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven. And with the blast of the great trumpet those believers who are alive on the earth having come to saving faith during the tribulation and survived will be gathered from all across the world and assembled together. This great number of redeemed human beings will include the 144,000 Jews who were supernaturally protected during the tribulation, that’s Revelation 7 and 14, along with myriads of other converts both Jews and gentiles, having never bowed their knee to Antichrist but remained faithful to the one true Lord, they will be rewarded by their king and welcomed into His glorious Kingdom. Joined by all the redeemed of all the ages, all the elect will be assembled together with Christ.
That double compound verb there, gather together, that conveys the thought that they will be gathered at a central rallying point, namely around Jesus Christ Himself. They will be gathered from both the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven. They will enter the perpetual joy of the Kingdom where they will reign with Christ for 1000 years. Those who rally around Satan, who will be released from the pit, Satan released from the pit at the end of the 1000 years, those, those people who rejected Christ during the millennial Kingdom, who rally around Satan, they will then be defeated by Jesus Christ one last time and cast into the lake of fire forever. And the redeemed of the millennial Kingdom will go right into the new heavens and the new earth for the rest of eternity.
This is the biblical picture of the second coming of Jesus Christ. Bottom line, the holy character and nature of God demands that He fulfill His unconditional covenants with Israel. Everyone of them, if He doesn’t, He has lied. His holy character and nature demanded He take back creation from Satan. I would just let that slide and we’ll just move ahead. No he’s the earth is in anguish, waiting for its redemption. Why? It was cursed. That can’t happen, until and unless, he physically and literally returns to earth, to to judge Satan and his helpers and the unredeemed. And set up his Kingdom on earth and reversed the curse and rule and reign over all the earth and righteousness and justice. This is what the true Jew and all true followers of Jesus Christ look forward to. This is, this is what the Bible calls the blessed hope, not as in, I sure hope this happens. This is the blessed culmination of the true follower of Jesus christ’s life.
Well Father thank you for our time in the text this morning. I know there are a lot of heavy details we cover here. It’s all in Your word or prophesied in the Old Testament, explained in the new. We’re so grateful for Your precious word. We’re so grateful that You’ve given us Your precious word. We’re most grateful of the fact that You did not, You did not give us your word to confuse us or that we might have to guess what You were talking about. We know that the disciples, even after this magnificent explanation they still do not understand, their eyes are so trained on that physical literal Kingdom that’s all they’ve ever looked forward to and they’re not gonna get it until the Holy Spirit comes and enables them to comprehend these things. We have the Holy Spirit and so we rejoice in all of this understanding with the end of time looks like. We’re so grateful that You hold all these things in Your hand and that it will be perfect and far more wonderful than we could ever begin to imagine.
All this Lord we thank You for and before I conclude my prayer, I, I need to mention that there are those here this day who reject You, You’re not their Lord, You’re not their savior, they have not denied self to follow You, they would never die for You, they don’t follow what Your word says, good possibility they’ll miss all of this when they die, they’ll wake up in hell, they’ll be resurrected at a later time judged for they’re rejection of You and then cast into the lake of fire for all of eternity, we pray fervently all the time that that not be the case with our loved ones those who would visit with us on Sundays and so we pray the only thing we can that You’d open their eyes to comprehend this truth draw them to Yourself this day, all this Lord, we pray in Your name, Amen.