“Understanding Jesus” Part 4: What Jesus is going to do in the future – Sermon #16 “Jesus is Going to Come Back for HIS People!”

1. Over the previous 15 sermons in this series, I have taught about “WHO JESUS is” “What JESUS said” “What JESUS did” “What JESUS is doing” and now… we come to “What JESUS is going to do in the Future!”

2. Of course, JESUS is going to do lots and lots and lots of things in the future, so – as the LORD allows – I plan to take at least 5 more sermons to answer the question… “What is JESUS going to do in the Future?”

3. This morning I want to explain what the Word of God reveals as the very next thing HE will do… HE is going to Come Back for HIS Church!”

4. While there are lots and lots and lots of godly, intelligent Christian men and women who hold to lots and lots and lots of different views of the future, I remain persuaded that the Premillennial and Pretribulation view of the future is the Biblical view!

5. While I have lots and lots and lots of reasons for believing this to be the Biblical view – as you know, I wrote my Doctoral Dissertation on this subject – I just want to focus this morning on one of the key reasons that I believe this!

6. That reason is that JESUS, HIMSELF described HIS return on different occasions providing very different details, which must mean that HE was speaking of TWO DIFFERENT PHASES OF HIS RETURN…

First, JESUS described a time when Believers will be raised from the dead and every living believer will escape death!

John 11:23-27

(23) “Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” (24) Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” (25) Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, (26) and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (27) She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to describe this glorious event in minute detail…

1^st Thessalonians 4:16-17

(16) “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.       (17) Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

So… Believers who have died are resurrected, and the Believers who are still alive at the time are taken up to Heaven while still alive!

Four things happen at that time: The LORD RETURNS, Believers who have died are RESURRECTED, living Believers are RAPTURED, and all Believers are REUNITED to forever be with the LORD!

Second, JESUS also described HIS return using very different details in Matthew 24:29-31

(29) “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

(30) Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the 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. (31) And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

In John 11, JESUS is describing a time when HE will come “in the clouds” and raise those Believers who have already died and rapture those Believers who are still alive!

In Matthew 24, JESUS is describing a time when HE will HIMSELF return physically to the earth and stand on the Mount of Olives and destroy the Antichrist and his armies as the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle John to write in Revelation 19:11-16

(11) “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. (12) His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. (13) He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.   (14) And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. (15) From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. (16) On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Since we know that JESUS cannot make a mistake and the Bible is the Word of God and cannot contradict itself, these two descriptions must be two different events!

7. So here is the “Biblical Order of Future Events” as given in the Word of God… DON’T PANIC – THESE EVENTS WILL MAKE UP THE REST OF THIS SERIES OF SERMONS !!!

The NEXT THING prophesied in the Word of God is the “rapture” of the Church as described in John 11 and 1^st Thessalonians 4.

The NEXT THING AFTER THE RAPTURE will be the 7 Years of Tribulation on the earth as described in Matthew 24:4 – 25:46

The NEXT THING AFTER THE TRIBULATION will be when JESUS returns to earth, defeats Satan and the Antichrist at the Battle of Armageddon and then sets up and rules over HIS KINGDOM on earth for 1,000 years as described in Revelation 20:1-10.

The NEXT THING AFTER THE KINGDOM will be the Battle of Gog and Magog followed by the Great White Throne Judgment of the unsaved dead of all the ages followed by the onset of The Eternal State as described in Revelation 19 – 21.

Amen!