The Coming of the Lord

a wise man who lived long, long ago by the name of Daniel was a man determined to serve the Lord.

Every time the king had a dream or vision from God, Daniel was called upon to interpret it.

One particular night, Daniel was on his bed when he received a vision from God.

Listen to what he wrote about it in

Daniel 7:13–14 NKJV

“I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.

“Daniel approached this man; known as the Ancient of Days and he was led into His presence.

Daniel begins to tell about this man that he saw;

He said;

He was given authority, glory and sovereign power;

all nations and peoples of every language worshipped Him.

"His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away,

And His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed."

In this vision,

Daniel says that he saw the Son of Man,

that is he saw Jesus, coming with the clouds of Heaven in glory and power.

And the people of every nation worshipped Him!

Daniel saw a vision of an event that had not and still has not taken place

He had a vision of the rapture of the Church

Many; if not all of us have heard of this event.

It is an event that will take place and I believe it will be in the near future.

The Rapture of The Church

This is where Jesus is gonna return for His people and we will be taken up with him in the clouds.

The bible tells us that the dead in Christ will be caught up first…..

and We which remain and are ready will be caught up after.

and The Lord Himself will take us to heaven.

And those that remain and are not ready to meet Him;

will go through what is known as the tribulation.

And we will talk more about that later

But Daniel wasn't the only one who mentioned this event.

The Apostle Paul wrote in ,

"For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a shout,

with the voice of the archangel

& with the trumpet call of God,

& the dead in Christ will rise first.

“After that, we who are still alive & are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

And so shall we ever be with the Lord forever."

Friend:

Hear me tonight

The Lord is coming back!

And He is coming for those who are ready to meet Him.

,

Peter asks a question, "What kind of people we ought to be?"

Then Peter answers his own question by saying,

"You ought to live holy & godly lives as you look forward to the day of the Lord

when I read this my heart is excited about this great event

I am anticipating this event

I am looking forward to this event

This event brings hope to me

Yet my heart also breaks; because the reality is that so many and possibly some in this room tonight are not living holy.

not living Godly lives

so many not looking for the day of God’s return.

Real quick

let me test you to see if you might be or might not be ready should the Lord come today.

Did you spend quality time in prayer today.

Did you read your bible today.

Did you tell anyone about the Lord today.

Did you spend anytime doing anything for the Lord today.

Did you invest your money in God’s kingdom today.

What does your playlist on iTunes look like

What does you internet history look like

The scriptures tell us that He is coming for those that are awaiting Him.

If today has been all about you

If you have made this life all about you

You might want to re-evaluate where you are

I want us to like at this tonight.

I want to preach on the subject:

The Return of the Lord

Real quick; lets look at four question about His return

I. HOW WILL JESUS RETURN?

Well, we don't have to wonder about that, because the Bible is clear about how Jesus will return.

.

"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, & all the nations of the earth will mourn.

They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power & great glory.

“And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, & they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other."

Church;

Every eye will see him,

every knee will bow before Him, &

every tongue will confess that He is Lord!

but what you need to understand is that this time He's coming with glory and power!

Jesus will return in the clouds; and this old world is gonna be turn upside down

It’s gonna be the greatest and at the same time the worst day in existence of man kind.

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God

What a day that will be

Can you imagine

The bible tells us that the creator is gonna shout with the voice of the archangel

That tells me He will have the attention of everything under the sun

Every man

Every woman

Every child

The Mountains and the Hills will stand at attention

The raging rivers will come to a stand still

Every rock

Every tree

The sun, the moon, the stars, and the clouds will give attention

The return of Jesus will not be in secret

It will not be behind closed doors

and it will not be a quite event

Its gonna be a shout—

Greek word for shout is:, “signal,” it means a “war shout.”

Jesus will be represented as a victorious King,

giving the word of command to the hosts of heaven for the last onslaught, at His final triumph over sin, death, and Satan

The trump of God is represented by a trumpet blast that is always followed by the manifest glory of God.

In other words

The Lord Himself is coming on the scene.

How is the Lord coming

He is coming in all His glory.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to day.

II. WHEN WILL JESUS COME?

This is a problem for some;

Because “as a people we” in our society, we like to be prepared.

Most of us will be prepared for Christmas because we have a deadline to work with.

We know that we need to have our presents bought by Christmas Day, or else.

But the problem we have with “the coming” of Jesus is that we don’t when

Jesus spoke of this in ,

"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

“For in the days before the flood, people were eating & drinking, marrying & giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;

And they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.

“That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.

Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch

"and would not have let his house be broken into.

So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him."

Jesus says when you least expect Him, that's when to expect Him.

Paul wrote in ,

"Now, brothers, about times & dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night."

Paul tells us to avoid setting dates & getting all wrapped up in thinking we know when Jesus will return because His return will be like a thief in the night.

The bottom lines this:

No man knows the day or the Hour

So we need to be watching

We need to be waiting

We be on the look out.

Because just because we don't know when doesn't mean He’s not coming.

It’s gonna happen

Look at your neighbor and tell them

You need to be ready;

You need to be eating

you need to be looking.

1: How is He coming? in all His glory.

2: We don’t know when; we just need to be ready

III. WHY IS JESUS RETURNING?

We have looked at how Jesus will return, when Jesus will return, & now I want us to look at why Jesus is returning.

There are really two different reasons why Jesus is coming back.

A. First of all, Jesus is coming back for His followers - for me & for you, so that we will be with Him forever.

The evening before Jesus was taken to the cross He told His disciples something of great significance

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

So Jesus is coming back because He has been preparing a place for us………..

but there is a 2nd reason why Jesus is returning.

Jesus came the first time as a servant, to be a sacrifice for our sins.

And the very ones He came to save rejected & crucified Him.

But this time He will not be coming as a servant.

This time He will come to reign as King of Kings & Lord of Lords!

John wrote in ,

15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying,

The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,

17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.

Paul wrote in ,

"Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place & gave Him the name that is above every name,

"that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven & on earth & under the earth, & every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

He is coming back because He is coming back as the King.

You can either confess Him now enjoy His kingdom for all eternity

Or you can confess Him on that great day and spend an eternity in a devils hell.

Many of man have rejected and are rejecting Him as king

But I’m telling you tonight friend

Every eye will see Him on that day for Who He truly is

You might as well quit running from the Lord

You might as well quit fighting against the grain

Go ahead and surrender you heart now and enjoy the goodness of the Lord.

Why is He coming back?

He’s coming back for His people

And He’s coming back to show the world that He is who he said He is

we looked at the how of Jesus' coming,

we have looked at the when of Jesus' coming,

& we've looked at the why of Jesus' coming.

There is one more thing I want to share with you as we close;

IV. JESUS is Coming Back to fulfill His Promise

when Jesus returns He is returning to give us a gift that will never wear out.

He is coming to give us eternal life,

the privilege of sharing eternity before His glorious throne.

James wrote about this in

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

I don't know about you, but I'm excited about His coming.

I don't know what hour or day it will be, but there is one thing I do know - He is coming again!

He is coming back for those who have received Him as King & Lord of their life.

And when He comes there will be no mistaking who He is.

He will be riding the clouds of Heaven & His radiance will flood the universe.

I pray that you will be ready when He comes.