I’ll never forget when I was a boy of 15, when I learned that Jesus was coming again. I had had no interest in Jesus. I didn’t know about Jesus. I’d never opened a Bible before that time. My sister’s Bible used to sit on the… the desk in the front hall just before the front door, wrapped in cellophane paper, and you never thought of opening it. It was just one of those magical, serene, and respectful icons and objects that you just left there. But I went to this meeting, and this man stood up, and he described the second coming of Jesus. Well, let me tell you, I was on cloud nine. I had no issue about whether I was a sinner or not, or whether I didn’t know anything about being saved and not being saved. I was just filled with immediate belief and hope. And I hardly, I had joy. This is no exaggeration, I assure you. I had joy nonstop. day and night, waking up in the morning, going to bed at night, believing that Jesus was coming soon and probably in the next few months. It was an awesome experience. And it has always made me feel that there is this marvelous destiny for the world that at least destiny for those who believe in him and trust him, because Jesus divides the sheep and the goats at the second coming of Christ. The second coming of Jesus is a division of the world, and it is the judgment that is a reconciliation of the world, a bringing of these two together in salvation. So we mustn’t confuse the two realities. What is more astonishing than ever as I go on in my Christian life is that all we know about Jesus, those of us who might find it difficult to swallow his walking on water, his miracles of feeding the 5,000, his healing the sick and raising the dead, Those of us who find that difficult, I don’t find it difficult. I want to tell you I’m simply talking about one or two out there who might find that difficult. Nevertheless, find the statements that Jesus makes about his second coming even more extraordinary. He says, for example, For he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now, why are we talking about this? Well, because we are at Romans chapter 13, where Paul urges us to continue to serve the world, do good to the world who needs us, bless our enemies, do not curse them, all of these good things. And then he says, and do this knowing the time, that now it is time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. And I’m an old man now, and I first believed this when I was fifteen, and so I can tell you it’s nearer now than it ever was before. And so I imagine Jesus descending from heaven. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all 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. There’s nothing hidden here. Every eye shall see him, it says in Revelation. And so we will see Christ descending from the skies. I mean, I know it’s sometimes hard to swallow this. I have to take a large slice of faith to trust in the promise of Jesus, but I do. And I say to you, and I testify before you today, that I believe in the second return of Jesus Christ, this time in all his glory, shining like the sun, with all the angels with him. And the earth will mourn. Now, why will this mourning be? I do not believe it will be because they will all be lost, but because they will realize the one whom they pierced is actually the Son of God coming to save the world. You remember what it says in Zechariah chapter 12, And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication. Then they will look on me whom they pierced. Yes, they will look on me whom they pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem like the mourning at Hadad-Rimon in the valley of Megiddo. and the land shall mourn every family by itself. And of course, we learned and have learned many times here on this broadcast that what happens to Israel happens to all the world, that Israel is a prototype of what will happen to all the world. And the world will see finally that the one they ridiculed, they persecuted, or they denied, or laughed at, is the Son of God coming to save the world, and the world will mourn. It is not going to be a mourning of death, but a mourning of grief that the world has failed to recognize the one who is their Savior. Now Luke also talks about this, that is, Jesus also talks about this in Luke chapter 21, verse 25 onwards. “‘There will be signs in the sun and moon and in the stars and on the earth, distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men’s hearts failing them from fear, and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’ Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near. Remember, this looks like a scary time, and yet we are to look up and lift up our heads, because it’s about redemption, not damnation, for those who trust and believe. Yes, the world will go through its trials during the final judgment, but finally the world will also come to see that Jesus is the one slain from the foundation of the world, the one sitting on the throne as one slain, like a lamb. And so the second coming of Jesus is separation, the sheep from the goats, and the final judgment is reconciliation, the time when all the world will bow before him and affirm and every tongue shall confess and every knee bow that in God alone is their righteousness and strength. now paul has a wonderful description of this in the first thessalonians chapter four verses verse thirteen onwards but i do not want you to be ignorant brethren concerning those who have fallen asleep lest you sorrow as others who have no hope For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout. with the voice of an angel, archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. It’s an amazing and wonderful account. So you see, we’re not all going to be… Paul’s talking to those who are concerned about those who have died. And he says that if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, well, then you can believe that about the people of God who have died, because they will rise again, because Jesus rose from the dead on behalf of all humanity. He broke the power of death for all humanity. And so, we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede or go before those who have fallen asleep, those who have died. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. So you see, the dead, they’re going to be the ones who rise to see Christ first. And then, we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds. It’s like a grand welcoming committee. We are going to welcome the Lord by rising up and going forward into the air to meet him. This is something this world simply cannot comprehend, and even we Christians have a hard time understanding it and comprehending it. But it is going to be a tremendously massive welcoming committee that is going to receive Christ when he returns, because he’s coming back for his people, you see. So Paul describes it this way in 1 Corinthians 15. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, this is verse 51, but we shall all be changed. Oh, okay, we’re not all going to die, you see, because some of us, many of us, will be alive at the coming of Jesus. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, there goes that trumpet again, for the trumpet will sound, and it’s a trumpet of celebration and victory. That trumpet will sound. The dead will be raised incorruptible, that is, they will be raised with bodies that will never more corrupt, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal, that is, bodies subject to death, that’s what mortal means, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Wow, what just a marvelous truth this is, that the end of the world is not to be death, but life. God is bringing life back into this planet. And Jesus says it in the most lovely way in John chapter 14. Let not your heart be troubled, he says, verse 1 of John 14. Let not your heart be troubled. In other words, don’t worry, don’t stress out. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions. That can be translated many rooms, many homes. In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? So Jesus is preparing a place. And in preparing that place, he’s preparing hearts and preparing people to fill that place. I will, 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. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Comfort one another, you see, with these words. You see, we can know that we will never be alone anymore. We’ll never be lonely. We’ll be in the home of God himself. We’ll be in the home of Jesus Christ. We’re waiting for that day. It is a marvelous day to expect. And so lift up your heads. We have a blessed hope, as it says in Titus 2.13, and that blessed, that happy hope is the return of Christ to receive all his believers, raising them from the dead, changing them into immortality, that they may live with him forever. Thanks for listening today. Colin Cook here. You can hear me any time of the day or night. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in how it happens with Colin Cook when you get there. And if you would consider a donation, thank you so much. Make it online at faithquestradio.com. See you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
