In this episode, we delve into the profound message of joy and fulfillment found not in self-discovery, but in service to God and others. Our culture often elevates self above all, but as our speakers illustrate, true joy stems from prioritizing Jesus, others, and then oneself. This counter-cultural message resonates deeply as we explore the biblical narrative of humility and servitude. We continue with an illuminating discussion on the Second Coming, drawing from Revelation chapter 19. The imagery of Christ’s return is depicted in vivid detail, demonstrating His power and righteousness. Through biblical passage analysis, listeners are invited to
00:24:23 Conclusion and Invitation to Next Episode
SPEAKER 01 :
Years ago, we used to hear this acrostic on the word joy. J stood for Jesus, O stood for others, and Y stood for you. You was at the bottom. Isn’t it interesting how our culture has put it at the top? Like supposedly we, finding out who we are, can discover happiness. How foolish we are. We find happiness as we seek to serve God and others. And it’s so easy to be deluded in this because we live in this culture. Don’t waste a single minute working on who you are. Spend all your time finding out who God is and you’ll just be happier and all get out because you’ll find out he’s wonderful. He’s a lot more wonderful than looking at you.
SPEAKER 03 :
The culture says, find yourself. But the Bible tells us joy isn’t found in the mirror. Joy is found in the majesty. And soon the whole world is going to see that majesty break through the clouds. Revelation chapter 19 says heaven will open and the king of kings will ride forth in power and glory. Every crown will fall. Every voice will tremble. And the one we’re made to serve will be seen for exactly who he is. This is Hope for Today with Bible teacher David Hawking. And today, David continues his study called The Second Coming from Revelation chapter 19. Currently, we’re looking at verses 17 through 21. Go ahead and turn there now, and we’ll be back in the Word in just a moment. First, Matt, we have a listener letter today that comes from Oklahoma. As it turns out, this is Jay. And I love this note. Go ahead and share some of that.
SPEAKER 02 :
It says, I’m writing to express my deep appreciation for your ministry and to enclose a donation. I’ve been a longtime listener and have found tremendous encouragement through your broadcasts. Every morning on my drive to work, I tune into your online radio stream and it has become a cherished part of my daily routine. Though I am a member of a church here in Oklahoma, I must say that Pastor David Hocking is my favorite preacher. His teaching has consistently challenged and uplifted me in my walk with Christ. I pray that the Hope for Today ministry continues to thrive for many years to come. I love your slogan, the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible. And I’m grateful to be able to support this ministry in a small way. I love that. Thank you so much, Jay. Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Jay, you’ve been listening for years. I’ve been listening to David for 30 years. I’ve listened to him for 55 years. Well, I produced the program and Matt is David’s youngest son. But to God be the glory. Amen, first and foremost. The great things he has done. We are so thankful to Jay for your note. And folks, if you have a note for us, if you’d like to share something with us, a prayer request, do get in touch. Stay tuned. We’ll tell you later how to do that. But right now, turn to Revelation chapter 19, verses 17 to 21. And here’s David to continue our look at the second coming.
SPEAKER 01 :
And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations and And he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun. And he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together under the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast… And the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. And the beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceedeth out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. Now we’ve been talking about the spectacular, there’s no other word really that I can think of that gets the point across, because it is indeed a spectacular description of the coming of Jesus Christ in verses 11 to 16. And we started in our last message in part one on the second coming. about how his names identify him clearly. Just a quick review of that, if you’ll look at your Bible. One, we dealt with the reliability of his name. He’s called Faithful and True, according to verse 11. Faithful and True. Not only the reliability of his name, but the recognition of his name. In verse 12, we are told that he had a name written that no man knew, but he himself knew. So nobody recognizes the name that he has except he himself. That tells us the depth of even the word name, not simply referring to a title, but referring to all that it represents in attribute and ability. We talked about the revelation of that name. He’s called the Word of God, verse 13. His name is called the Word of God. One of John’s favorite titles, Logos, in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. The revelation of the eternal God in human form. The Word became flesh, says John 1.14, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. And we also spoke of the royalty of his name, as we learn in verse 16, that he has the name on his thigh, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Not only do his names identify him clearly, but his nature… describes him powerfully. And I want you to notice five things here in these same verses. His nature describes him powerfully. His nature describes him powerfully. Notice five things. First of all, in verse 11, verse 11 of chapter 19, it says, I saw heaven opened. Behold, a white horse, he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. Number one about his nature is the attribute of righteousness, even when he makes war and brings his judgment. In righteousness he doth judge and make war. Turn back to chapter 15 and look at verse 3. Chapter 15, verse 3. You know, if there’s one event in which you do not think of righteousness being done, it’s war. In Revelation 15, 3, when they were singing the song of Moses and of the Lamb, it says, “…great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just,” same word, “…righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.” The Lord does everything. His ways are righteous. He does everything in righteousness and justice. Look at chapter 19, verse 2. When all heaven breaks out in praise to the Lord, it says in verse 2, for true and righteous are his, what? judgments for he had judged the great whore whenever he judges whenever he makes war it’s always in righteousness and justice in psalm 7 8 it says the lord shall judge the people and in psalm 9 8 it says he shall judge the world in righteousness It’s a constant theme in the Psalms. In chapter 35 of Psalms, verse 24, “‘Judge me, O Lord my God, according to thy righteousness.'” Psalm 50, verse 6, “‘And the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God is judge himself.'” In Psalm 67, 4, for thou shalt judge the people righteously. Psalm 72, 2, he shall judge the people with righteousness. It’s a constant theme. God’s judgment and God’s righteousness. Turn to Psalm chapter 96. Psalm chapter 96. In righteousness he doth judge and make war. The Messiah will do everything right. There will be no charge of injustice and we will not need the ACLU, praise God. They’ll be out of business. When the King of Kings reigns, he won’t need any help. And everything he does will be right and just and fair. In Psalm 96… Verse 11 says, Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad. Let the sea roar in the fullness thereof. Let the field be joyful, all that is therein. Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord. For he cometh… He cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth. Look back at verse 10. Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth. The world also shall be established that it shall not be moved. He shall judge the people righteously. Very strong theme throughout the Messianic Psalms about the Messiah. He will judge people. Righteously. Turn to Isaiah chapter 11. Isaiah 11 speaks about the coming Messiah who will be a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch out of his roots and the spirit of the Lord will be upon him. But look at verse 4 concerning the Messiah. Isaiah 11 verse 4. But with righteousness shall he judge the the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth. That’s quoted in our passage in Revelation 19. And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins and so on and so forth. Again, he will judge with righteousness. And what a wonderful attribute. describing the nature of our coming King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Back to Revelation 19 again. His nature describes him powerfully, and the first thing we notice is the attribute of righteousness as he judges and makes war. The second thing I’d point out to you is in verse 12, where it says his eyes were as a flame of fire. His awareness of all things is another awesome description of who he really is. There isn’t anything that he doesn’t see or penetrate. And when the eyes are described as a flame of fire, many people see judgment, but perhaps the English word scrutiny. He sees everything. Nothing escapes him. And the eyes as a flame of fire is a symbol of judgment. He sees and he knows and no one escapes his notice. The Bible says in Hebrews 4.13 that all things are naked and open under the eyes of him with whom we have to deal. You can’t run away. You can’t hide. Whatever you think you’re doing in the dark, the light of God’s knowledge is there. There’s nothing that he does not know. There’s nothing you ever thought or said or planned. There is no motive how terrible or gross that you’ve ever experienced that our Lord does not know. Our God knows all things. This wasn’t the first time, was it, that we saw it? Go back to Revelation 1. we’re reminded often in Revelation of that original description of Jesus, our resurrected, glorified Lord, who’s now ascended at the right hand of the throne of God. And one of those descriptions of him, we read in chapter 1, verse 14, the last phrase, his eyes were as a flame of fire. The same thing that’s quoted in Revelation. But look at it in chapter 2, verse 18, in terms of application. In the church of Thyatira, it was described as a message in which the Son of God had eyes like unto a flame of fire. And it goes on to describe the terrible condition of this church and that he knew all about it. Look at verse 23 in the middle. All the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts. I think it’s very clear that the reason why the description eyes as a flame of fire was used for this particular church because of their immorality and idolatry and what they thought they were getting away with, but they’re not getting away with it. There is one who searches even the reins, we would say intense motives of the heart. Reminds me of Jeremiah 17, 9 and 10 that says, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? It is I, the Lord, that searches the reins of the heart. God knows who we really are. Go back to Revelation 19. Look at verse 12 again. A third… thing that I would point out about his nature that describes him so powerfully here is not only his attribute of righteousness in which he judges and makes war and his awareness of all things, his eyes as a flame of fire, but his authority. I know that you know the Bible says his name is above every name and he’s above all dominions and powers, but it just really strikes me here in verse 12 when it says, on his head were many crowns. Now there are two words for crowns. When you and I read about the crowns given to the believers, we read about the word Stephanos. If your name is Stephen, it means crown. Maybe someone wants to crown you, but anyway, it means crown, one who is crowned. And a Stephanos was a kind of a wreath of twigs. It really wasn’t worth anything. It’s just the fact that it represented a victory. So if you had won a race and a Roman official placed a little wreath on your head, it was a sign, you know, a victory and a conquest. And so you received a Stephanos, a little crown. But when it comes to describe the crowns that are on the head of the Lord Jesus, Stephanos does not work. The word is our English word diadem. Diademata. Crown him with many diadems. It’s talking about a royal crown with its jewels. And he has many of them on his head. He’s king of kings and lord of lords. It’s quite a passage. Just don’t ever forget he’s in charge. He’s in charge of it all. crowns on his head, robe down to his feet, and you talk about glory and royalty. Hey, our Lord is in charge of everything. All these other people with all their titles, they’re nothing. He sets them up and takes them down whenever he wants to. He’s running the show. He’s bringing everything to a great climax. So don’t get bent out of shape at all the stupid things they’re doing. The Lord knows what he’s doing. He’s going to bring it all to a great climax. The whole thing may fall apart, but we know who’s in charge. We haven’t got anything to worry about. Aren’t you glad you’re on his side? I think it’s great. But you know, amen, he deserves it. But you know, there’s something that bothers me a little bit. On his head were many crowns. And in the Bible, he is described, as you know, as the head of the body, the church. And I just got to thinking about it with many diadems on his head. It’s like overwhelming you. One would be enough to say he’s a king. But he’s got many of them on his head to let you know that, hey, nobody else here deserves this kind of honor, this kind of submission and loyalty. But I got to thinking about it. How do you and I in our lives demonstrate our submission to that kind of authority? You know, we say he’s the head of the church, you know. Pastors are supposedly under shepherds to Jesus Christ. So I started thinking about that. And you know, I just came back to two simple things. It seems to me that if Jesus is this in my life, then number one, I’ll spend a lot of time reading what he says and submitting to it. And number two, I would spend a lot more time on my knees in prayer, seeking his advice and his will. Is he really head? Is he really number one? Then it’s prayer and the word of God. And everything else kind of fades into insignificance. It’s like, there they are again, two basic disciplines, prayer, the word of God. How else do you prove that he is Lord of your life? How else do you prove that he is really king of your life and that you submit to him? We submit on our knees in prayer and we submit when we follow the word of God and obey him.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s Bible teacher and author David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David will be back in just a moment to let us know where we’re headed next in our look at the return of Jesus Christ. So do, stay right there. First though, here’s Matt, and together we’re going to tell you about a resource that may just answer some of the toughest questions you or someone you know has ever dealt with.
SPEAKER 02 :
Matt? This month, Jim, we’re featuring our book, Life’s Greatest Questions. And let me just read a few quick lines from it. Many have no time for God, choosing rather to ignore and neglect his role and importance in their lives. But what has all the secularism and individualism produced? Is there a greater degree of happiness? Has our nation been delivered from its psychological troubles? Do our marriages and families reveal the blessings of selfism?
SPEAKER 03 :
Are we closer to peace on earth, Matt? No, we’re not. No. Our questions of poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse, pornography, divorce, abortion, venereal disease, you pick the issue. Are these problems diminishing or increasing?
SPEAKER 02 :
And is everything answered by money? No. It’s time for Intellectual Honesty and Courage. Yeah, what are we looking for? What do we hope to discover by our obsession with pleasure and personal needs?
SPEAKER 03 :
Does God have anything to say about our experiences? Does he exist? Does he care? Is there anything he can do about our dilemmas? Wow, wow. Can he make us happy? Life’s greatest questions are consistently dealt with in one book. And of course, that’s the Bible. Its message, Matt, is like fresh air in a polluted atmosphere. It speaks with authority and clarity about human life and its problems. It sure does. And Matt, these questions address… pressing issues in our culture today.
SPEAKER 02 :
In many churches and even in our families, Jim, and it’s crucial we have the answers.
SPEAKER 03 :
Life’s Greatest Questions by David Hawking takes us into, where does it take us, Matt? Scripture for wisdom and answers. Scripture. The Bible can be trusted in every respect and it answers our deepest needs, doesn’t it? Amen. Life’s Greatest Questions, our featured offer is just $10. And your purchase will prepare, strengthen, and bring great blessing to your life. It’ll also be a blessing to your family and friends. and your purchase will help the ministry of hope for today. To get your copy of this powerful book by David called Life’s Greatest Questions for just $10, call us in the U.S. at 875-BIBLE or in Canada at 888-75-BIBLE. And Bible spells 24253. You can also order online at davidhawking.org. And if you’d like to give a special amount separate from the cost of the book, you can write to us at Hope for Today and our address in the U.S., Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin. Tustin is T-U-S-T-I-N, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO7OAKS.com. Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1. And friends, you know, when you give above and beyond the cost of any resource, and many folks simply send a donation by itself, in any case, when you do that, you’re doing far more than helping us cover the cost of a radio program. You are standing with a ministry that God is using and has been using for decades to teach the Bible clearly, faithfully, and without compromise. That’s our mission. That’s our vision. That’s our cause. And maybe you’ve felt it yourself. That moment when a verse comes alive or a passage you’ve heard so many times before suddenly speaks right to your heart. And you know something, that moment doesn’t just happen. God uses this broadcast to open his word in a way that reaches people right where they are, and we give him all the glory. And you know, when you give, you help make that moment possible for somebody else, someone who is hurting. They might be searching for answers. Maybe they’re wondering if God has forgotten them. Through your prayer support and your financial support, this broadcast reaches homes across America, small villages and large cities around the world, military bases, prisons, mission fields, and places we will never see until we stand before the Lord. Your gift keeps the teaching of the Word going out daily and encourages pastors, builds up the body of Christ, and brings hope of the gospel to people who may be hearing it clearly for the first time. You know, it’s truly amazing to think that God uses your faithfulness to do that. To send a donation, you can call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE, 888-75-BIBLE in Canada, or online at davidhonking.org. And you’ll find our mailing addresses on the website. Well, once again, here’s David.
SPEAKER 01 :
Wow, I hope you enjoyed that study of chapter 19, verses 17 and following. It’s pretty exciting. Here’s what we have. In verse 17 of chapter 19, I saw an angel standing in the sun. He cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together under the supper of the great God. Well, don’t make a mistake. This isn’t the married supper of the Lamb. This is calling all the vultures of the earth to feast on those who thought they could attack Israel. The Lord is going to come at the end of the tribulation and defeat and destroy the armies of the nations of the world that came together to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. It will not happen. The Lord’s going to come, and He’s got a great supper with the vultures of the earth to feast on the flesh of mighty men and even of their horses. This is absolutely a phenomenal passage of Scripture, and I hope that you are ready for our study. We just finished verse 17 and 18, and I need to come back again. and I hope that you’ll enjoy our study of Revelation 19, Second Coming. We’ll plan to be with us for our next broadcast. God bless you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, thank you, David. Well, that’s it for today’s program, and next time we’ll continue our look at the return of Jesus Christ. So join us right here on Hope for Today.
