2019-12-22 Revelation 22:12-17,20 Jesus Future

JESUS FUTURE (Rev 22:12-17, 20) December 22, 2019 Read Rev 22:12-17, 20 – Who is Jesus? That’s been our question as we approach Christmas this year. We’ve looked at Jesus Past – His birth and extraordinary life, death and resurrection. Last week we saw Jesus Present and found He is very active today – as providing, protecting and praying for believers. Today – we move on to Jesus Future. High points, but worthwhile. During WWII, in early 1942 it became clear that the Philippines were about to fall to Japanese forces. Knowing General Douglas MacArthur could not be spared, Pres Roosevelt ordered him to leave the Philippines and the men he commanded. Against his wishes, MacArthur obeyed the order but promised, “I shall return.” And 2-1/2 years later he did exactly that – wading ashore in advance of an army that soon routed the Enemy and brought freedom again. In many ways, that sums up the Bible’s teaching about Jesus Future. He’s been here and gone. But He is coming again. And for good or bad, every one of us will be involved in the activities associated with that great event. So it behooves us to be ready. Here’s 3 great truths about His future -- and ours. I. He’s Going to Return Jesus is coming again. It’s a two-phase coming. First, He comes to take believers out of the world prior to a 7-year tribulation. Then He comes to stay in a thousand-year reign, followed by new heavens and new earth and an eternal rulership. The Bible is clear – He shall return! How do we know that? First – He said so. Several of His parables speak exactly to that with a lord or master who goes away and later returns. He was even more direct in a major sermon, the Olivet discourse, given shortly before His death. Therein Jesus predicts a time of great tribulation for Israel as a result of their rejecting their Messiah. Then He says, Mark 13:2627: “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.” He also promised His disciples Jn 14:3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” 1 NT writers also spoke of Jesus’ coming or appearing. Heb 9:28: “So, Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” The 2nd coming is the great hope of all believers: Titus 2:13: “Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” This has always been the expectation of the church. Unbelievers always laugh at this. They did even in the apostles’ day. II Pet 3:3 “knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 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.” But Peter had an answer. 8 “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 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.” God doesn’t count time like us. There’s no urgency in Him. Delay is for the purpose of allowing as many as possible to put their faith in Him. Scoffers presume on God’s patience and sign their own death warrant. Rom 2:4: “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” Jesus 2nd coming is guaranteed by His first. As Jesus left earth, the angels told the disciples, Acts 1:11: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” He’s coming again literally, bodily, personally and powerfully. Every prophecy of Jesus’ 1st coming was fulfilled literally – why would we doubt the remaining prophecies will be fulfilled equally literally? If I said, “John’s going to dunk the basketball – twice,” and he dunks once, you’d expect him to do it again and in the same way? Jesus himself predicted His own death and resurrection months ahead of time, so why doubt His prediction that He is coming again?! Jesus is coming again. His first appearance guarantees the second. II. He’s Going to Recompense What is recompense? It is a final accounting. Rev 22:12: “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.” Same idea is in Rom 14:12: “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” What a different world it would be if we actually believed that. Most don’t. We live in denial. Like Hubert Eaton who buried 2 the rich and famous at Forest Lawn in Glendale, CA. The setting is immaculate. Eaton’s aim was to “erase all signs of mourning.” Death became a “leave-taking”; the corpse “the loved one”, skillfully recomposed and situated in a slumber room. But the people were still dead. Truth denied is not truth revoked; and judgment delayed is not judgment canceled. The Bible presents 2 very different ends for mankind. Daniel 12:2: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Jesus concurs: Jn 5:28-29: “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” Everyone of us will face one of these two end-time judgments. A. Reprobation for Unbelievers – Final judgment for those who reject Christ is described in Rev 20:11-15. Given the Bible has been right in hundreds of predictions in the past, on what basis can we deny this one? It is a heart-stopping depiction: “Then I saw a great white throne [thus the name] and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.” Who is this awesome judge? Jesus of Nazareth! He Himself says in Jn 5:26-27: “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27) And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.” He’s the perfect judge. Because he is the Son of Man. No one will ever be able to say in that day, “But you don’t know what it was like!” He knows exactly what it was like – tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin – the perfect judge. Jesus details in Jn 12:48 “The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” The words of Jesus are everything, Beloved. That’s why He says, Mt 24:35: “Heaven and earth will pass away, bu my words will not pass away.” And His words aren’t complex. Jn 5:24: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” The only way not to come into judgment is to believe in Him. In the end, Jesus’ words will either be our salvation or our judge. There’s no middle ground. We may skate our whole life, but the day of accounting will come at the Great White Throne. Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to 3 what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.” The books – the record of each life – every word, thought and deed. Trillions of bytes of data. No problem for the one who invented it all. And the book of life is there. It is checked first. No person at this judgment will be listed there. So, the books are opened. Each can make his or her case from their life. But none will get beyond page one, for “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” So then what? 14 “Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” This is the final accounting and the final judgment for everyone who has only their own perceived goodness to offer. It will not suffice. It has trampled on the death of Jesus – rendered it of no effect. And final judgment will fall. Col Sanders tells in his autobiog how he was a God-fearing man – lots of good works, tithed his income. Yet, he worried it wasn’t enough. He went all the way to Australia to a church convention to find answers, but got none. Then one day Pastor Waymon Rodgers invited him to his church. Sanders heard Rom 10:9: “Bc if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead – you will be saved.” For the first time he realized it wasn’t what he could do; it was what Jesus already did. He says, “When I walked out of that church that night, I knew I was a different man. All my tithing and good deeds had never given me the sense of God’s presence that I knew then.” He passed from death to life, no longer subject to the judgment that awaits those who reject Jesus. B. Reward for Believers – The 2nd recompense Jesus brings – reward for believers. Good works don’t save them, but as the fruit of faith, Jesus rewards them. II Cor 5:10: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” Judgment seat = Βεμα. Different from the Great White Throne, and for a different purpose. This judgment is not about gaining eternal life; it’s about not wasting this life! Further detail is found in I Cor 3:11 “For no one can lay a foundation [for life] other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” That’s believers. 12 “Now if anyone (believer) builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of 4 work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” This is a metaphor. Every thought, word and deed will be judged by Christ – not to see if it merits eternal life. It doesn’t. But to see what was done in service to Christ (gold, silver, precious stones), – versus what was done in service to Self, either sinful or just wasteful (wood, hay, straw). The 1st will be rewarded. The 2nd will be burned and of no value. For those we “suffer loss” – the loss of something we could have had, but missed out on! All will suffer some loss. There are no perfect Xns. But some will suffer immense loss of what they might have had. Tho Xns, they largely squandered their earthly life. John Greenleaf Whittier wrote: “For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, ‘It might have been’. That’s the loss many will experience there – not the loss of something had, but the loss of what might have been. Not Wm Borden – heir to the Borden Dairy estate – a millionaire by the time he graduated high school, graduate of Yale in 1909. On a trip to Asia, the Middle East and Europe God burdened his heart with compassion for lost people. He went home, graduated Princeton Seminary, gave away his fortune and sailed to China with CIM. But while there, he contracted meningitis and died within a month at age 26. In the back of his Bible was found these words: “No Reserves; No Retreats”, and then in words written when he knew he was at death’s door, “No Regrets.” Waste life! Not to God!! Wouldn’t you like to say at death’s door: “No Reserves; No Retreats; No Regrets.” That’s the way to store up eternal treasure. Send it ahead! Jim Elliott: “He is not fool to give that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” III. He’s Going to Reign Tony Bennett had a hit song, “If I Ruled the World” describing the perfection that would exist if he were in charge. Naturally, we know it wouldn’t be true even if he were in charge. But there is coming a day! All the things he wanted and far more are described in Rev 21-22, when Jesus rules the world! Rev 11:15b: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” In Rev 21, John sees the New Jerusalem (heaven) coming down to a new earth – literally heaven on earth. Then Rev 22:3: “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.” And then, when it can’t get any better, it does because in v.5 we not only worship Him – we reign with Him forever and ever. 5 C. S. Lewis wrong in Mere Christianity, “Enemy-occupied territory – that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.” Those who let Him rule in their hearts now will be more than repaid when one day we rule and reign with Him forever. Conc – It was Jan 27, 1967. Sam Beddingfield was returning from dinner in Cocoa Beach, FL to the blockhouse on Pad 34 at Cape Canaveral. He was to conduct the final item on a test checklist for a space flight crew. As he came to the gate, the guards waved furiously at him to pull over. As he did so an ambulance sped past toward the launch tower. He followed wondering what in the world had happened and whether it would interfere with the last item he was to supervise. They were going to simulate an emergency to see how fast the astronauts for Apollo I could get out of the spacecraft. The test would never happen. A spark had set a fire in 100% oxygen atmosphere of the space capsule and all 3 astronauts (Grissom, White and Chafee) were dead within a minute, unable to even undo the hatch, let alone escape. Beddington’s test was too little, too late. Could that be your future when you take that first step into eternity? Will you see truth too little, too late. Jesus doesn’t want to be your Judge; He gave His own life so He could be your Savior. But if you reject Him, He will have no choice. Jesus Future – comes down to two things – Judge or Savior? Which it is for you depends on what you decide here and now. Let’s pray. 6