Revelation 19:11-21 – The Second Coming of Jesus

[0:00] Chapter. Before we get into this chapter, I want to tell you that I have been waiting a long time to preach this chapter.

[0:11] ! So just a story from fairly recent history. I remember it vividly, 24th of March 2020, early in the morning, I was sitting in my study thinking, what on earth ought to next?

[0:30] Month bring, two months bring, six months bring, year bring. It was the day after Boris Johnson put the country into lockdown.

[0:41] And I was thinking, what's next? I probably did the worst thing and Googled what's next.

[0:54] It didn't help. But I do distinctly remember the desire to preach that following Sunday, albeit via video, on the coming again of Jesus.

[1:12] That's like where my heart went. And I distinctly remember that the Lord wasn't telling me to do that and he was telling me to preach something else. And so I did. I preached Psalm 23. He lays a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

[1:28] And so all that to say is that I've been waiting a long time to preach this sermon and now we finally arrived. I feel incredibly inadequate to do so.

[1:39] And so I think it would be good for us to pray and then open the scriptures to Revelation 19.

[1:50] So let's pray together. Father, we just open your word, Lord. We want to say, first of all, Lord, that whatever you have to say to us this morning, we want to agree with.

[2:02] Lord, just let our hearts be in that place. Lord, as we as we see you as a picture of you crowned with many crowns.

[2:13] Lord, may that be true of our own hearts this morning crowning you. And Lord, with that, may we say, Lord, whatever. We're facing today or whatever we're facing tomorrow.

[2:27] Lord, may we draw strength from the fact. That you are crowned. Lord, may we draw strength from the Lord. And that you're coming again. And that you're coming again to heal wounds.

[2:44] To judge iniquity and sin. To deal with all of that. Lord, and again, our hearts, we want to say that we're okay with that. Lord, maybe we come to your word this morning and we're a little bit.

[3:05] Well, maybe we're just a little bit lukewarm. Lukewarm to it. Lukewarm to. What your spirit says through it. We're ready to listen, but we're.

[3:18] Lord, we don't hear so well. We don't do so well. So Lord, help us. Exhort us this morning. Lord, to make these verses different in our lives tomorrow.

[3:39] And Lord, more importantly, I guess, than all of that, Lord, we want to say thank you. That we have a God who is coming back. Lord, we recognize, Lord, that things aren't getting any easier.

[3:53] Things aren't getting any better. Lord, it seems that sin is winning. Righteousness is failing. It seems that your word is not as powerful as it used to be.

[4:06] Certainly in this country, but many of us will testify to in our own lives. It doesn't have the same hold on us as it used to. Lord, we. Want to ask, Lord, again, Lord, that your word would be like water to this earth and water it and not return to your voice.

[4:26] Lord, help us to understand these things. Lord, whether we need strength and encouragement, whether we need exhortation. Lord, we believe your word speaks. And so we ask that you would speak to us today in Jesus' name.

[4:38] Amen. Maybe you've seen the film. The scene is at Helm's Deep. And Helm's Deep is this giant walled fortress set into the side of a mountain.

[4:56] And it's under attack from Saruman's army of orcs. If you don't know what an orc is, it's basically the average teenager the moment they wake up.

[5:11] Those in the city are under attack, awaiting the fall of the city, crying out, who is it that can save us? I was going to read to you from Tolkien's The Two Towers, but this does it better.

[5:30] Amen. Amen. Thank you.

[5:53] Thank you.

[6:23] Thank you.

[6:53] Thank you.

[7:23] Thank you.

[7:53] Thank you.

[8:23] Thank you.

[8:53] Thank you, fellas for the rings. So, Tolkien's description of the white rider. And you know what I mean by teenagers look like orcs first in the morning, right?

[9:04] If you need to identify which one was which. The white rider coming to save. In Revelation, we see God's description of the white rider.

[9:17] And at the end of the great tribulation period that we've been looking at over several months as evil is intensifying. What we've seen is that Satan will launch an attack on God.

[9:31] We read that in chapter 16. We read that in chapter 16. Here's what John said. Paul said, that he may not go out naked and be exposed.

[10:01] And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. And then we see the downfall of the world chaos system that we've seen in chapter 18 and 19.

[10:12] And the announcement that the bridegroom is on the way and to prepare for his return. And as he does, there is a war being made ready. And we said previously that this war was probably a spiritual battle with a physical component.

[10:29] And it will be a time when the gods assemble to wage war with Jesus as a fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 14. But that it will have a physical component where Israel will be asking who is there who can save us.

[10:48] Just like Helm's Deep. This passage can be divided as we're going to look into three sections. And John is going to see three things.

[11:00] It's coming on the screen. He's going to say, I saw the King, King Jesus coming in glory, verse 11. In verse 17, he's going to say, I saw the judgment of Satan's followers.

[11:14] And then finally, he's going to say, I saw the victory of Jesus. And so keep in mind that this is about the rider on the white horse coming to save.

[11:27] And the question, not only in the future about how Jesus saves us, but how Jesus is saving us today. And so have a look, verse 11, chapter 19 in your Bibles.

[11:42] John said, I saw heaven opened. Like sometimes we just skip over that, but like I saw heaven open. What must that have looked like? And behold, a white horse, and the one sitting on it called Faithful and True.

[12:00] And in righteousness, he judges and makes war. And his eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.

[12:13] And he is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. And the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

[12:27] From his mouth came a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron. And he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.

[12:40] And on his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I'm going to make a bold statement. And the bold statement is that what I think we are seeing is the second coming of Jesus to the earth.

[13:00] That's the bold statement. And it's a bold statement because just before we kind of get into the text, and just to lay it out so you know that where I'm coming from, is that many Christians don't believe that this text, this passage, shows us Jesus' return.

[13:20] Some believe that the white horse represents the ongoing victories accomplished by the church through the word of God throughout history.

[13:34] Jesus said he would build his church. That's worth an amen, right? He said he was going to build his church, right? And so what they say is that because Jesus promised to build his church, this is representation of that continuing work of God through the church.

[13:53] Otherwise, others put a more nuanced kind of slant on it and say this is the establishment of the, the creating of the established church in 312 AD by Emperor Constantine.

[14:05] Others see it just as a symbol of the gospel going out into the whole world, overcoming the seductive world systems. Here's the issue. And this is just something for you to think about.

[14:18] There is nowhere else in the Bible where Jesus, where we see Jesus returning other than here. Now you might say, well, why is that important?

[14:32] It's important and significant. Why? Because every other primary doctrine about Jesus is not only predicted by the prophets, and then explained by the apostles, it's also seen in a story.

[14:50] Every single one. So the primary doctrines about who Jesus is and what he has done is predicted in the Bible by the prophets, is then explained to the church by the apostles, but it's also described in a story.

[15:08] So the incarnation, Jesus coming as a man, the crucifixion, Jesus suffering for the sins of man, the physical resurrection, Jesus raising from the dead to give life to man, the physical ascension back to heaven, Jesus going to prepare a place for man.

[15:30] They're all primary doctrines of the Christian church, all about Jesus. What that means is, is if you don't hold to those, you have a very, very skewed idea about who Jesus is and what he has done.

[15:46] But look, all of those are predicted by the prophets in the Old Testament. They are explained to the church by the apostles, but they're also, crucially, they're also seen.

[15:58] So the incarnation of Jesus, predicted by the prophets, explained by the apostles, seen in all four Gospels. You can turn to any of the Gospels and look at the incarnation.

[16:12] We celebrate every Christmas, right? The crucifixion, predicted by the prophets, explained by the apostles, seen in all four Gospels. The physical resurrection of Jesus, physical resurrection of Jesus, predicted by the prophets, explained by the apostles, seen in all four Gospels and the book of Acts and the book of Revelation, seen.

[16:37] Physical ascension back to heaven, predicted by the apostles. Did you get a picture? The coming again of Jesus, the physical return of Jesus by the way, which has been an official church doctrine since 325 AD, the Nicene Creed.

[16:56] Where do we see the coming again of Jesus? It's predicted by the prophets. It's explained by the apostles. It doesn't appear in the Gospels. It doesn't appear in Acts.

[17:07] There's only one place in the Bible where we see the physical return of Jesus, and that's in this passage. Let me give you six biblical truths about the second coming of Jesus.

[17:21] They're going to come on your screen all at the same time, and now I'm going to give you some verses as we go. So, the return of Jesus is going to be personal.

[17:32] What that means is He is actually coming. He is not coming in a wave of good deeds done by people. He is not coming as the church takes over.

[17:45] He is not coming in some other spiritual way. Jesus is actually going to come again. Zechariah chapter 14, verse 3.

[17:57] And there's a whole bunch of other verses that I could give you that frankly we don't have time to look at this morning. But He is coming back. Zechariah 14, verse 3.

[18:07] Then the Lord will go out, fight against those nations as when He fights on the day of battle. On that day, His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives. You can't do that spiritually.

[18:19] Right? You say, I'm going for a walk. I go for a walk on the beach. Did you hit the sand now? I was just thinking about it. Well, you didn't go, did you? Right? It's personal. It's physical. The Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley so that one half of the mountain shall move northwards.

[18:38] The other shall move southwards. You shall go and flee to the valley of my mountains for the valley of the mountains shall reach Azel. And you shall flee as the... And look, it's personal.

[18:52] It's going to be historical. What that means is that it's going to actually happen. And it's physical. So Matthew chapter 24, this is Jesus speaking. He says, Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man and then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn.

[19:09] It's going to be a sign. Everybody's going to know it. All of the tribes will know it. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

[19:25] It's going to be visible. Acts chapter 1 verse 9. When he had said these things, this is Jesus. As they were looking on, that is the apostles and the disciples, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.

[19:43] And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by in white robes and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? Like, why are you still there? What are you expecting to happen?

[19:56] This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. It's going to be visible.

[20:11] It's going to be victorious. We're going to see that in this text in Revelation 19. And look, there are going to be benefits that are cosmic.

[20:24] Romans chapter 8. One of the most underrated passages, I think, in the New Testament. Romans chapter 8, verse 18. Paul says this. He says, I consider that the sufferings of this present time, this is an eschatological verse, all right?

[20:40] So the sufferings of right now are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. When?

[20:51] Not one Paul is writing still yet to be revealed. He says, for the creation, the cosmos waits.

[21:03] Like, this is just absolutely mind-blowing. I don't even know whether we covered this in detail when we did Romans last year or the year before. creation is waiting with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God for the creation was subject to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

[21:33] For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. Like, this is Paul's great statement about Jesus coming again and liberating creation.

[21:49] He says, not only the whole creation has been groaning together now in the pains of childbirth until now, not only the creation, but we ourselves. Do you feel it?

[22:00] Do you feel that groan? Like, I'll tell you what that groan feels like. It's getting up in the morning. It's getting up and your body's aching and your mind can't concentrate and everything's just working its way downwards.

[22:18] He says, not only creation, we ourselves who have the first fruit of the spirit, even us who have the first fruit of the spirit, we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons and redemption of our bodies.

[22:32] For in this hope we were saved. That's what we were saved for. Now, hope that is seen is not a hope for who hopes for what is seen.

[22:46] But we hope for what we do not see for we wait with it in patience. So, in our text today, this is where we see what the prophets predicted and what the apostles have explained.

[23:07] Shown to us. So, John says this, he says, then I saw heaven open. What a glorious thing. The wait is over.

[23:19] Jesus is returning to mend the broken, to heal the wounded. The dawn of a new day has come. He says, behold, a white horse and one sitting is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

[23:39] Look at the title of Jesus given to him, faithful and true. You know what the word faithful means? It means that it's someone who shows up and steps up.

[23:53] That's what faithful means. And because of that we can trust him. Someone who shows up and steps up is the person who does what they say they're going to do.

[24:06] Where have they said they're going to? In the prophets. The prophets have predicted it and Jesus says you can bet on it because I'm faithful. But interestingly, you know what?

[24:18] This is what God calls us to be. He calls us to be faithful. Faithful. He doesn't call us to be perfect. He doesn't call us to be amazing.

[24:31] He doesn't call us to be brilliant. He doesn't call us to make sure that we're first in line and the best that we can be. He calls us to be faithful. 1 Samuel 12 verse 24 Fear the Lord.

[24:47] Serve him faithfully. Show up. Step up. 1 Corinthians 4 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.

[25:03] Proverbs 3 verse 3 Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you. And look, God honors the person who shows up and steps up.

[25:17] Proverbs 28 verse 20 A faithful man will abound with blessing. God rewards those who shows up and steps up.

[25:28] Matthew 25 verse 23 His master said well done. Good and faithful servant. Not good and well qualified. Not good and top of your game.

[25:43] This is encouragement for Southampton fans isn't it? It's good and faithful. You have been good and you have been faithful.

[25:57] You've been faithful over a little thing. Enter the joy of your master. And the reason that we are to be faithful and the reason that we are then rewarded for being faithful is because God himself is faithful.

[26:16] It's a character trait of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 9 God is faithful. Simple as that. God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ.

[26:30] Another way of saying that is God is faithful you were called to be like Jesus who is also faithful. The fellowship. God is faithful.

[26:43] He shows up when all hope seems to be lost. He steps in for us. The one riding this white horse is called faithful.

[27:00] He's also called true. He's true to his word. You could think of it like this. God is faithful to do what he said he will do. When he says it you can count on it. It's true.

[27:10] And so the white rider his very name is faithful and true. And in righteousness verse 11 he judges and makes war.

[27:21] His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems. Diadems are crowns. They're not garlands of victory as we see quite often in the in the Bible.

[27:37] These are royal crowns diadems. Reminded of that old hymn crowned him with many crowns.

[27:48] That's where it comes from. The lamb upon the throne. And he has a name written that no one else knows but himself. So there's lots of things that we don't know about Jesus right?

[28:00] There's lots of things that we don't know but he knows. And one of those is that he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He's clothed in a robe dipped in blood.

[28:13] Isaiah 63 speaks of this as being the blood of his enemies. And a name by which he is called the word of God. That's one of John's favorite phrases.

[28:23] Right? The word of God. To talk about Jesus in his gospel. He said in the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. The word became flesh, dwelt amongst us, and we beheld his glory.

[28:37] One of John's favorite phrases about Jesus. And now John is seeing that glory come. Verse 14 says that the armies of heaven, so the rank upon rank of armies, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him also on white horses.

[29:02] And so look, their clothes were white. Here's a scattered in blood. What a great picture of how his blood, through his blood we are made pure. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and he will rule, that word is shepherd.

[29:22] He will shepherd them with a rod of iron and he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. And on his robe and on his thigh is a name written king of kings and lord of lords.

[29:38] He is king of kings and he is lord of lords. That's a Hebrew way of saying that there is no one like him. There is none like him.

[29:52] There is none like him in majesty. He is more kingly than any king. And there is none like him in power. He is lord over all the other lords. And so this is a powerful and good thing for us to think about isn't it?

[30:11] That he is king of kings and he is lord of lords. Jesus coming again. He is coming in judgment as the king of kings and the lord of lords.

[30:27] Now look at this second section. This is what he has come to do. Verse 17. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun.

[30:40] And the idea is that he's standing in the way of the sun. He's not literally standing in the sun. He is standing in the way of the sun. He's blocking the light of the sun if you like.

[30:53] And with a loud voice he calls to all of the birds that fly directly overhead. Come gather for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of kings the flesh of captains the flesh of mighty men the flesh of horses and their riders and the flesh of all men just in case you don't use the word escaping both free and slave both small and great.

[31:24] Now notice a couple of things with me that it's interesting that the angel pronounces the victory before the battle has taken place I like that and he's already inviting the dinner guests before the dinner has been cooked like that too now in verse 9 we read or excuse me in yeah verse 9 we read that this angel cried out this we looked at last week blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb chapter this chapter is the tale of two suppers and you want to be at the first one not the second one because the second one an angel puts you on the menu and that's not so good now a moment ago I said that it was a powerful and good thing for us to think about this and what I've been mulling over is how we respond to sure and future judgment how do we respond today because this hasn't taken place yet how do we respond today to this kind of judgment if

[32:39] Jesus is coming back what is our best response today to that there's a number of ways that we could look at it a number of ways we could approach it a number of ways we could just agree and we could just say that's a theological truth and yes amen and have no real bearing on what we think about or how we conduct our lives we could then as is often the case you know maybe isolate ourselves and say well I'm thankful that I'm not part of that they deserve it and so and then we're done many different approaches but look what is our best response because even though God had said in Ezekiel 33 he said I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live that is true but it's also true that he's also said in

[33:50] Romans chapter 12 verse 19 never avenge yourself but leave it to the wrath of God for it is written vengeance is mine I will replace how do you marry those two things up verse 11 in our text says this in righteousness he judges and makes war how do you marry in yourself the idea of the goodness and righteousness of God making war even though he would prefer and doesn't take any pleasure in the death of what takes place next and what do we do about it how do we live our lives now one of my favorite films one of my favorite types of films don't judge me for this is vigilante films I like vigilante films where the good guy gets so bad that he takes out the bad guys for good it's basically a vigilante film right did you ever see the film falling down no one seen the film falling down yes

[35:03] Jeff thank you it's Michael Douglas and Michael Douglas is this seemingly ordinary guy who is going through the day just becoming more and more frustrated with the things that are putting in his place that he has to overcome like there's one scene he wants to walk down the road and he stopped by walking down the road by guys who aren't fixing the road they've just put the cones!

[35:42] he gets more and more frustrated he shows up to it's not McDonald's it's kind of Wally burger or something and he shows up four minutes after they stop serving breakfast and through a sequence of events he shoots the place down he gets mugged he turns his baseball bat into this you know bag of weapons and in it is like an anti tank missile and it's hilariously stupid and all he wants to do is not be late for meeting his daughter and we go through the film at least I go through the film and I see this guy this normal guy who's turned into a psychopath trying to right all the wrongs that he's encountered and there's part of our heart that just right all those wrongs how dare you stop selling breakfast at half past or whatever it is now like we were talking briefly on

[36:53] Wednesday night about Star Trek now I don't want to open a whole different can of worms about Star Wars versus Star Trek but let me just say look in Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Khan which is one of the premier films of all time not that Khan is on a mission to destroy Captain Kirk and he says this he says I'll chase him around the moons of Nimea around the Antares Maelstrom around perditions flames before I give up and we're like yeah or in other films someone does something wrong out comes Batman not not out for justice because he wants revenge and mostly we're okay with that why because the difference between justice and revenge often has a blur but a passage like this in

[37:54] Revelation 19 and the inclusion of words like righteousness because God is faithful and true we understand that he will outlast deal with every wrong that has ever been made now we all agree with that and we're like yeah about time bring it on we nod enthusiastically theologically we're on the same page but it's much harder to go into the office tomorrow or to stay at home this afternoon or if we're lucky just to get out of church in one piece and make this an application for our every day maybe it's better to put it like this how do we talk about those we disagree with knowing that one day Jesus is going to come and judge that's a harder question isn't it it's a much more sobering question you see the description of

[38:59] Jesus return as a conquering warrior also signifies the defeat of evil and the establishment of God's righteous kingdom it's not just about dealing with sin it's about establishing righteousness what I hear too often is what we hear too often what I hear my heart echo too often is Christians who have values that align way more closely to the very thing that Jesus is coming to defeat than the thing he is coming to establish where does your heart go when the government make a decision that you don't agree with how do you talk about the failings and sins of others in the knowledge that Jesus is coming back to judge do we talk about them gleefully joyfully or with deep sorrow how do we approach those who have wronged us are we quick to seek reconciliation and forgiveness are we practicing the values that of the kingdom that

[40:20] God is coming to establish at the same time as calling sin sin you see this idea of the coming again of Jesus isn't just a future reality the question is are we longing like we read in Romans chapter 8 are we longing for a king to come and reign over us are we submitting to that future reign today you see how this passage moves us from a place of probably pride to humility really really quickly if Jesus is coming back and he's coming to judge sin and he's coming to establish his kingdom is my heart ready to submit to that today and am I practicing that submission today the truth is that we all struggle with this

[41:33] I'm hoping that's a truth otherwise I'm on my own and so we say like those at Helms Deep who can save us Romans chapter 7 Paul said a similar thing he said oh what a miserable person I am like quite frankly we don't need other people to say that of us do we we are able to say that of ourselves who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death thank God the answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord and with that we move into the third section verse 19 the victory of Jesus where John says, I saw the beast, Antichrist.

[42:21] And the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.

[42:33] Now, just really quickly, something for some of you to think about, for us all to think about. One of the difficulties with this passage, at least for some, Jesus is coming back physically and personally to the earth.

[42:51] And that is, and linked to that coming very closely is a battle, physical and personal, same language, same context.

[43:02] And that battle is against a person and his armies, again, physical and personal, same language, same context. And the difficulty is concluding that one can happen without the other.

[43:19] That Jesus can return physically and personally to the earth and yet isn't met by a physical and personal battle and a physical and personal ruler called Antichrist.

[43:31] These things are dependent on each other. Jesus' physical return, his personal return, his visible return, his triumphant return is over something.

[43:47] And we're told that the beast was captured. It doesn't tell us by whom or how.

[43:58] The beast was captured. Antichrist was captured. And with it, the false prophet, who in his presence had done signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who had worshipped his image.

[44:10] All of that is based on there being a physical, personal battle with a physical, personal return of Jesus. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

[44:26] And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse. And all the birds were gorged with their flesh. Now, I know you're going to ask me about this whole bird thing.

[44:38] Who are the birds? What are they doing? How is that possible? Answer, I have no idea. I think... Don't think too much about it.

[44:52] And so look, in the face of our need for someone to save us and the brokenness of this world, again, the answer comes in the person of Jesus.

[45:07] The very same king who triumphs over evil in these verses is the one who offers us salvation and eternal life today. Exactly the same one. Ezekiel 33, verse 11 again.

[45:18] I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but the wicked turn from his way and live. That's really what is on earth.

[45:29] That's really what is on earth. Life. That's really the heart of the Lord. No pleasure in the death of the wicked. And it's as if that Jesus is showing us this through John in Revelation and he's saying, please, please, please, please, please, please don't be at that supper.

[45:48] Be at the supper before. Paul said towards the end of his life, in fact, many, many think that this was being written on his deathbed.

[46:02] He wrote to his friend, his good friend, Timothy, who was in Ephesus at the time. Paul was in prison in Rome and he wrote this.

[46:13] He said, I have fought the good fight. What is that good fight? Is that good fight the same as the fight that Jesus is having on our behalf? He said, I have fought the good fight.

[46:25] I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. I've shown up. I've stepped up. I've just tried to be as faithful as I can. As a result, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.

[46:43] Which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. And not only to me, but also to all who have loved.

[46:54] Notice, his appearing. Do your love his appearing? Are you longing for it? Are you living?

[47:05] Are you attempting to live in light of it? Are the things that we think, the things that we say, the things that we do, are they about the kingdom that he is bringing?

[47:21] Or are they about the kingdom that he is destroying? And I think that we can all say, Lord, who can save us? Who can help us?

[47:31] Let's ask God to do that together. Father, thank you for your word. Lord, we confess, Lord, that we have not always longed for your coming.

[47:49] And Lord, sometimes the things that we have thought and spoken and done, those things belong to the kingdom of darkness rather than the kingdom of light. And so we pray today.

[48:02] Lord, we want to say thank you that you have saved us and you are saving us and you will one day come again to save us.

[48:13] Thank you for that. Thank you, Lord, that our hearts can look forward to that time. That sure and absolute definite time where you will return.

[48:26] It's sure because you're faithful and true and you've always been faithful and true. And Lord, we pray that our hearts would grow in longing for it.

[48:43] Lord, and in the time between now and then, Lord, may your spirit be at work in us to produce the fruits that are likened to righteousness in our lives.

[48:58] Lord, we want to be people who walk as if we are today walking in that great kingdom of God that you're bringing. Lord, may our walk show the world where we're heading, what we're doing, whom we're following.

[49:19] Lord, we thank you, Lord, so much, Lord, that this passage is just rich and all about you. Lord, thank you that you are coming to save us and help us today to live in light of that.

[49:37] In Jesus' name, amen, amen, Amen.