At the beginning of WWII when the Philippines were about to fall to the Japanese, General Douglas MacArthur was ordered by President Roosevelt to evacuate his staff immediately. Before he left, he made a now famous promise to the Philippine people: �I shall return!�
He wasn�t able to make good on that promise for another 3 years but all during that long period, short wave radio broadcast support to the underground often repeated MacArthur�s promise to return. Finally, on October 22nd 1944, he waded ashore and said, �I have returned!� It was a promise that shaped MacArthur�s entire strategy for all those years, one he intended to fulfill it no matter what the obstacle.
Arnold Schwartzenegger became famous as the Terminator with the line �I�ll be back!�
Over the Christmas break I took the teens to see Return of the King, the last in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Actually I took my grandsons too so I saw it twice - matinee prices of course. Though the trilogy is more about good versus evil and the battle to destroy the evil ring, there was a sub-plot about Aragorn son of Arathorn�s return as king of Gandor.
Like these examples, Jesus made a promise nearly 2000 years ago when He said �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.� (John 14:2-4)
It�s a promise that�s been repeated again and again over the centuries in every Christian church on the globe. It�s a promise that shapes Jesus� entire strategy for all eternity and should profoundly affect our strategy and approach to our physical lives.
II. WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE?
Revelation 19 tells us what it�s going to be like when Jesus does come back.
A. CELEBRATION
God describes an event of great excitement, a party. And He uses the imagery of one of the most festive activities known to man.
Read along with me from Revelation 19:7-9
�Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'" And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God."�
In Jesus� day, a wedding ceremony was an elaborate affair, usually beginning in the evening as the groom and his friends made their way thru the city to the bride�s home where she and her family were waiting.
There, at the Bride�s home, their union was stated and blessed by a Rabbi. Then the entire party noisily led the bride and groom back to the groom�s own home in a procession lit by torches and lamps. What followed was a great feast that sometimes lasted as long as a week.
Our weddings today seem pale in comparison. But no matter what culture you visit, marriage ceremonies are times of anticipation and excitement. And that�s the message God wanted to communicate to us: because of our salvation in Christ, we�re now the bride of our Savior and we wait for the excitement and festivities of His coming to claim us as a groom would claim his bride.
Even today, the relationship between marriage and the church is hard to miss. For example, Ephesians 5 compares the relationship between a husband and wife to Christ and the church.
**** In one of those mega-churches that can afford a large staff, one of the staff in the wedding department had the opportunity one day to baptize a new convert. Apparently he had a busy week and his mind was a little distracted because on Sunday morning - in front of the entire congregation after the man�s confession he immersed the man and said, �I now pronounce you�.�
When he realized what he was saying he paused, and then finished his statement by saying: �I now pronounce you� baptized!� ****
When Jesus comes again, it�ll be as a husband coming for His bride. It�ll be a time of excitement and rejoicing like you�ve never seen or experienced. But, for some, Jesus� words �I am coming� are not so much a promise as they are a warning.
**** A small country church was holding a Revival and the building was packed. It was so crowded that night that they had to put up chairs everywhere, even up by the pulpit. The Evangelist was preaching about the second coming of Christ and he�d really warmed up on his subject.
He was one of those fire and brimstone preachers who literally marched up and down the platform shouting and waving his arms. And at one spot in his sermon he leaned over toward the audience, pointed at them and shouted out Jesus� promise: �I am coming soon!� He marched up and down the stage some more and then leaned out again over the edge of the stage and said loudly �I am coming soon!�
Several minutes went by and again he shouted out �I am coming soon!� BUT this time, he got tangled up in the microphone cord and lost his balance. He tumbled off the stage and landed on the lap of a couple sitting in the front row. The husband looked at his wife and said: �Well, I guess we shouldn�t be upset. He warned us 3 times!� ****
When MacArthur came ashore that day in 1944, NOT everyone was happy. In the battle to retake the Philippians, over 100,000 Japanese soldiers lost their lives. For them MacArthur�s words of promise were a declaration of a coming judgment.
B. JUDGMENT
In Revelation chapter 19:11-16 we see Jesus in all His glory. He�s coming BUT He�s coming in judgment:
�Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.�
Notice:
When Jesus comes, He�ll come to make war (v. 11)
When Jesus comes� His eyes are like blazing fire (v. 12)
When Jesus comes� Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. (v. 15)
When Jesus comes� He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. (v. 15)
There are people who deny Christianity - who deny Christ - who deny the authority of God. Not because they have a sound theological reason, but because they realize the wickedness of their own lives and they fear that IF God really does exist; IF there is a day of judgment coming, their deeds WILL BE exposed and they WILL BE condemned.
**** For years Bill Bennett was like a prophet in America. He denounced the violence, and sex and other forms of wickedness that were destroying this country. Many in the media and in the entertainment industry hated what he had to say because it condemned things they approved of - things that were part of their life styles.
Just last year, the news came out that Bennett had lost huge amounts of money gambling. Like sharks in a feeding frenzy, the press was all over it, struck by the hypocrisy of it all. More recently they�ve done the same thing over Rush Limbaugh�s drug abuse.
Some writers and commentators are literally delighted that these �paragons of virtue� have been brought down to their level. In their commentaries, you can hear their relief over Bennett�s and Limbaugh�s downfall. It�s as if they believe that had somehow the sins of these men had taken the power of judgment off of their own lives and their own deeds.
They think now they can ignore Bennett�s and Limbaugh�s criticisms and go back to living their lives the way they want to without the fear of someone standing around pointing fingers at them. ****
Revelation 19 is telling us the day is coming, when the wicked;
- won�t be able to ignore the condemnation any longer
- when they�ll no longer be able to pretend that they won�t be judged
- when they�ll no longer be able to ignore Christ
There�s going to come a day - says God - when mankind won�t be able to avoid Christ or their own condemnation. Because in the Day of Judgment, ��at the name of Jesus every knee (shall) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.� (Phil. 2:10-11).
Jesus is coming and when He comes He�ll come in judgment.
III. THE RIGHT FOCUS
We who call ourselves Christians should know that Jesus is coming back for those of us who belong to Him. And we should know that judgment is coming for those who don�t know Him. And we should have the right focus - on Jesus, not ourselves, and on rescuing those who are lost if possible.
We�ve read passages like the one Acts 17, where Paul says: �In the past God overlooked� ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.� (Acts 17:30-31)
But �religious things� that look like righteousness can mislead some of us who haven�t really grasped the Gospel or understood Grace. We can get impressed by things that remind us of God�s Will - things like Church going, being nice to others and living �good� lives.
We can get so impressed and distracted by these �signs� of righteousness that we miss the fact that;
Righteousness doesn�t come through church going
Righteousness isn�t created by being �nice� to other people
Righteousness doesn�t exist because we live �good� lives
TRUE righteousness begins and ends in Jesus. Because;
It�s at the name of Jesus, that people will repent
It�s at the name of Jesus that lives will be changed and hearts reformed
And when we miss this or fail to make it clear to those who want to be Christian, they can start believing that it�s personal righteousness that will save people. They can start thinking that �real� sinners shouldn�t be in their church because �real� sinners haven�t been righteous in the past.
And if they forget that true righteousness is �the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus� credited to us by the New Covenant, they�ll start looking at the people they live around - who live �nice lives� - and convince themselves that the �righteousness� of those individuals will get them into heaven, even if they�re not trusting in Jesus and even if they don�t honor God with the rest of their lives, and won�t make any attempt to educate and convince them that their only hope is to accept Jesus.
God fearing people, especially those who claim to be Christians, should realize that righteousness IS important to God. To ignore personal righteousness can also be disastrous. I�m convinced that these are the people Jesus is talking about in Matt 7:21 when he said �Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven.� Because He then says He never knew them and says they practice, or continue to do lawlessness.�
But when we focus on our own �righteousness� in relation to salvation, when we get distracted by actions that �look� like righteousness and forget that it�s ONLY Jesus that gives us our righteousness, we�ve taken our eyes off Jesus and we�re missing the boat - literally. If we�re trusting in our own righteousness we�ll be condemned by our own sin, no matter what good things we do because �all have sinned� and all are disqualified by that fact.
Even the Apostle John seems to have gotten dangerously close to focusing on the wrong thing here in the 19th chapter of Revelation. In verse 10 John writes, �I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."�
What was that angel telling John? He was telling John: �don�t look at me. Don�t get distracted by the beauty God has given me, or by the righteousness of God that I reflect. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Because, it�s Jesus that people need - AND, keep your eyes on Jesus� because nothing else can save you.
IV. CONCLUSION
The King will return and none of us knows when. What we do know is that when He does, it will be a great and glorious event for those who are His and a fearful and solemn event for those who are not. We also know that for the first time in human history, �every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord� - that He is the king.
For those who believe He�s coming, and maybe soon, the Bible calls us to be ready - not like the 10 virgin�s whose lamps ran out of oil, not like those who will say �Lord, Lord� and He will say �be gone�, but with our trust in the right thing and our focus on the task we�re here for.
The right thing to trust in is �the righteousness of God in Jesus� and the promise, the New Covenant, that �whoever trusts in Him SHALL NOT PERISH but have everlasting life�. It�s that simple. Let�s not complicate it by connecting our salvation with our personal righteousness and let�s be careful not to confuse those we tell either.
On the other hand, let�s also not forget that our personal righteousness is very important to God and is the clear evidence of a real trust in Him. Those who say they trust God and continue to live in unrighteousness will be left out - Jesus will tell them �be gone, I never knew you, you workers of lawlessness�.
The right focus is on those who don�t know this great news. We are here to show and to tell others that there will be a �RETURN OF THE KING� and they can be ready if they�ll accept what He�s provided and become part of His covenant.
In many churches across America there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about personal righteousness and salvation and a lot of neglect of those who aren�t saved today. Let�s not be like those confused and complacent churches that like the church in Laodicea risk being spit out of God�s mouth. It�s up to each of you - how will you live and who will you tell?
