The Return Of Christ
Notes
Transcript
Good Morning
At our prayer meeting I asked my pastor to pray for my hearing. He placed his hands on my ears and prayed. Afterwards, he asked if my hearing was better. I said I wouldn’t know until Monday when I appear before the judge at the courthouse.
Praise to God - Mrs. Carolyn is back with us this morning.
Keep all the students, teachers, administrators and workers at the schools in your prayers this week as they start back.
Today we are going to be in Mark 13:24-27.
Last week we talked about the abomination of desolation and what Jesus told those who are in Judea at the time to flee. They were not to get anything to take with them, just get out of Judea and flee to the mountains. He told them to pray that it doesn’t happen in the winter time because that will make it that much worse. He felt sorrow for any women who were pregnant or who had a small child with them, it was going to be especially hard for them. He told them that there would be tribulation as has not been from the beginning of creation until now and never will be. Those are going to be dark, hard times for believers. It is going to be so bad that if God hadn’t had compassion, none would have been saved, all would have died. But for those whom God has chose, He shortened the days. Jesus also warned them that many will say that look Christ is here, or Look, there He is. Jesus tells them to not believe it. Many false christs and false prophets will arise and they will do many signs and wonders to try and lead astray the elect. It will be perilous times for those who are children of God. Jesus ended by telling them to be on guard! Keep a watchful eye out for these signs, for He has told us all things beforehand. He loves us enough to let us know that things will be bad, but take heed, He is in control and He will see us through these tough times. Jesus is our provision! He is all we need!
Today we are going to look at the coming of the Son of Man. Jesus is going to give us hope for these dark days that are coming. He is going to remind us that He is God and that He is going to come back for those that the Father has given to Him. We have had several weeks of tough and hard scriptures that foretell the coming tribulation and persecution of believers. Today, we get to look at the hope that we have in our King. The day that He is coming back in all His power and authority. What a glorious day that will be!! No matter how bad it gets or how out of control it seems, we can rest assured that God is in control and that Jesus is coming back! That is the hope of the Good News! Our Saviour is coming back and this time He is coming in all His power to rule as the King that He is!
Please stand as we read God’s Word
24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
Jesus starts out by saying but in those days. What days are those days? He is talking about the tribulation that we talked about last week. The days after the abomination of desolation happens and the Antichrist takes the seat on the throne in the temple. Those are the days that Jesus is talking about here.
He says that after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not shine. He says that the stars will be falling and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. If last week wasn’t bad enough! Now it is going to be dark 24 hrs a day. The sun and moon are going to loose their light. This isn’t going to be a darkness like we have at night. This is going to be a darkness that we have not experienced. There will be no light. The sun will go dark! That is where the moon gets it light from, it reflects the light of the sun, so it will be dark also. The stars are going to be falling randomly. It is going to be a bad time to be on earth. It is going to be an earie darkness all the time. Jesus is describing the full and final effect of the sin curse on the planet and the heavens. All the forces of energy that hold the earth and space together and keep everything constant, and which Jesus Christ controls, He will allow to become random and chaotic. Everything that we know about how the earth and the heavens work together, that is all going to change. The end is near, the earth and the heavens are going to be destroyed. Nothing will seem like it is normal, everything will appear to be out of control. But we can remember that Jesus told us this is going to happen, this is part of God’s plan, He is in control. He told us this was going to happen over 2,000 years ago. He knew this was going to happen from the beginning, before He created everything!
Right when we think the end is near and everything is out of control, we will then see Christ , the Son of Man coming in the clouds. Clouds throughout the Bible are used to represent God. In Exodus, God led the Israelites by day in a pillar of clouds. God covered Mt. Sinai with a great cloud when He was there meeting with Moses. When God met with Moses in the tent of meeting, He filled it with smoke(cloud). Jesus was taken up to heaven in the clouds and just as He was taken up, He will return in the same way! The disciples knew this and would have understood what Jesus was telling them. He was telling them that He was God and He was going to return. He will return at the darkest hour! That is by plan I believe. When does a light shine its brightest? When it is darkest out side! Not that Jesus needs it to be dark for His light to be bright, I think God uses the darkness to reveal His power and authority.
Right when everyone thinks God has lost control of what He created, Jesus will return and He is not coming the same way He came the first time. He is not coming as a meek baby in a manger. He is not coming as a humble saviour and servant! This time He is coming in all His power and glory. He is coming as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! He is coming to rule over His kingdom and receive the ones whom God gave to Him. It will be a sight for our sore eyes. All that darkness and chaos, all that tribulation and persecution, then Jesus in all His glory will appear in the sky and everyone will know it and know who He is! No one is going to have to send out a text to let their friends know that Jesus is here. All will see Jesus coming in the clouds! I can’t explain how someone on the other side of the earth will see what I am seeing, but I don’t have to understand to believe! I know will happen because Jesus said it will. My Bible is a red letter Bible, all these words are in RED! These are not Marks words, or Peters words! These are the words of Christ Himself! He is coming back and He is coming back in all power and glory! Praise God!
This last verse should be get all believers excited! He is going to send out the angels to gather all His people from all the corners of the earth and the ends of heaven! Praise God, He is going to send the angels to come and get me and escort me to Him!! I’m going to have a driver take me to meet my King! He is not going to let me try and find my way to Him, He is going to send a angel to specifically come and get me and take me to Him. All believers, those past saints and those who are still alive will get this special escort to meet our King. We will get to experience this great coming and His power and glory by being escorted up to meet Him in the air! What a glorious day!
Most of Mark 13 is very tough and has a lot of hard things that we are told we will have to endure. Even these first 2 verse today are very hard to take in. It will seem like we have lost and everything we had believed in and hoped for is over and done with. It will be dark days, literally and figuratively. But God and all His glory knows when to send His Son. Right when it is darkest and we might lose hope, there He will be in the clouds coming in all power and glory. Praise God!
We can have hope by study these things and committing them to memory, so that when they happen, we can remember that He told us this would happen and remember that He is coming back and the time is getting very close.
Verses 26 and 27 should remind us of our hope in Jesus and give us the resolve to endure to the end. He tells us that He is coming back for all that His Father has given to Him. He will not lose or forget about a single one. All who are His will be called to meet Him in that air that great day!
Our hope is in Jesus, not in how things are going here on earth or in our lives. He tells us that our lives will be filled with trials and tribulations. We will have tough times, will feel like we are forgotten sometimes, but He tells us that we are not forgotten, He is coming back! He is our provision!
Don’t lose hope just because things are hard or things have been hard for a very long time. That is what we are to expect! The world hated Him first. They will hate us also. Jesus suffered and endured many things so that we could have the opportunity to be His bride! His chosen people. His life was marked by things that we will never have to endure, but He endured them so that we could be there on that day when He returns! He died so that we could live. He endured so that we could have reconciliation with God. He has done everything that He said He would do, He will return. He is coming back in all His power and glory to rule His kingdom.
Are you going to have an angel escort to meet Him in the sky?
You can, all you have to do is repent and believe in Jesus Christ as the only Son of God who died for you sins.
As Kyle told us a couple of weeks ago, Christ died for all. He died for whom so ever would call upon His name as Lord and saviour.
If you haven’t repented and believed, you can today, it not too late! Do it today.
Let today be the day that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you will be called to meet Him in the clouds when He returns.
Let today be the day that you gain that hope that all believers have in that final day!
Let’s Pray
