FAITH BIBLE CHURCH - www.faithbiblechurch.net

SERIES: THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, WEEK 4

TITLE: A POWERFUL PREVIEW

TEXT: REVELATION 1:7-8

INTRODUCTION: (1) JOHN PHILIPS IN HIS COMMENTARY, EXPLORING REVELATION WRITES AND I QUOTE:

*ONE OF THE MOST STIRRING PAGES IN ENGLISH HISTORY TELLS OF THE CONQUESTS AND CRUSADES OF RICHARD I, THE LIONHEARTED.

**WHILE RICHARD WAS AWAY TROUNCING SALADIN, HIS KINGDOM FELL ON BAD TIMES.

***HIS SLY AND GRACELESS BROTHER, JOHN, USURPED ALL THE PREROGATIVES OF THE KING AND MISRULED THE REALM.

****THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND SUFFERED, LONGING FOR THE RETURN OF THE KING, AND PRAYING IT MIGHT BE SOON.

(2) THEN ONE DAY RICHARD CAME!

*HE LANDED IN ENGLAND AND MARCHED STRAIGHT FOR HIS THRONE. AROUND THAT GLITTERING COMING MANY TALES ARE TOLD, WOVEN IN THE LEGENDS OF ENGLAND.

**(ONE OF THEM IS THE STORY OF ROBIN HOOD)

***JOHN’S CASTLES TUMBLED LIKE NINEPINS. GREAT RICHARD LAID CLAIM TO HIS THRONE, AND NONE DARED STAND IN HIS PATH.

****THE PEOPLE SHOUTED THEIR DELIGHT. THEY RANG PEAL AFTER PEAL ON THE BELLS, THE LION WAS BACK! LONG LIVE THE KING!”

(3) NOW JOHN PHILIPS WENT ON TO SAY IN APPLICATION OF THAT STORY, “ONE DAY A KING GREATER THAN RICHARD WILL LAY CLAIM TO A REALM GREATER THAN ENGLAND.

*THOSE WHO HAVE ABUSED THE EARTH IN HIS ABSENCE, SEIZED HIS DONATIONS AND MISMANAGED HIS WORLD WILL ALL BE SWEPT ASIDE.” (END QUOTE)

**NOW ONE DAY THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH WILL RETURN TO THE EARTH. AND THE KING OF KINGS WILL LAY CLAIM TO HIS THRONE.

***AND HE WILL DESTROY HIS ENEMIES AND HE WILL RULE AND REIGN WITH POWER, GLORY, AND GRACE.

****AND BELOVED JESUS CHRIST WILL RETURN TO THE EARTH AS THE SOVEREIGN KING, AS THE RULER OF THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TO TAKE BACK WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY HIS, THE EARTH!

(4) AND TO ME THE CONTRAST BETWEEN HIS FIRST AND 2’D COMING ARE DRAMATIC.

*IN THE FIRST COMING AND INCARNATION TEARS, AND IN HIS 2’D COMING TRIUMPH.

**IN HIS FIRST COMING HE CAME TO REDEEM, BUT IN HIS 2’D COMING TO REIGN.

***HIS FIRST COMING WAS MARKED BY LOWLINESS. HIS SECOND COMING WILL BE WITH CLOUDS REPRESENTING THE MAJESTY OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD.

****IN HIS FIRST COMING HARDLY ANYONE NOTICED HIS BIRTH, BUT IN HIS SECOND COMING ACCORDING TO OUR TEXT TODAY, EVERY EYE WILL SEE HIM.

(5) THE FIRST TIME HE CAME IN HUMILIATION; THE 2’D TIME IN EXALTATION.

*JESUS CAME THE FIRST TIME TO BE KILLED; HE WILL RETURN TO KILL HIS ENEMIES.

**JESUS CAME THE FIRST TIME TO SERVE; HE WILL RETURN TO BE SERVED.

***HE CAME THE FIRST TIME AS THE SUFFERING SERVANT; HE WILL RETURN AS THE CONQUERING KING.

****AND TODAY IN OUR TEXT WE GET A POWERFUL PROPHETIC PREVIEW OF CHRIST’S SECOND COMING TO EARTH.

(6) WE RECEIVE A VIEW, A GLIMPSE OF WHAT IS TO COME, AN ADVANCE IDEA OF WHAT IS TO COME, A POWERFUL PREVIEW UNLIKE ANY MOVIE OR TV SERIES PREVIEW.

*FOR THE POWERFUL PREVIEW POINTS TO A THEME OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE RETURN OF THE KING, THE RETURN OF CHRIST TO DEFEAT HIS ENEMIES AND ESTABLISH HIS REIGN.

**AND IN OUR TEXT TODAY WE RECEIVE THE FIRST PROPHECY FOUND IN THIS BOOK OF PROPHECY, JESUS IS COMING WITH CLOUDS AND EVERY EYE WILL SEE HIM.

***WE RECEIVE A GLIMPSE OF WHAT IS TO COME, A POWERFUL PREVIEW OF THE 2’D COMING WHICH IS THE TITLE OF OUR MESSAGE TODAY, “A POWERFUL PREVIEW.”

****AND UNDER THAT TITLE WE’LL LOOK AT JUST TWO POINTS AS WE STUDY REVELATION 1:7&8.

(7) NO. 1 THE CENTRAL THEME OF HIS COMING V.7 AND NO.2 THE CERTAINTY OF HIS COMING, V.8.

*AND WITH THAT OUTLINE TO HANG YOUR THOUGHTS ON, LOOK AT V.7 PLEASE WHERE WE’LL SEE OUR FIRST POINT, THE CENTRAL THEME OF HIS COMING.

I. THE CENTRAL THEME OF HIS COMING, (READ V.7)

A. NOW NOT ONLY IS THE 2’D COMING A CENTRAL THEME OF REVELATION, BUT ALSO A THEME OF THE BIBLE.

*FOR THE TRUTH OF THE 2’D COMING APPEARS IN MORE THAN 500 VERSES THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE.

**AND IT HAS BEEN ESTIMATED THAT ONE OUT OF EVERY 25 VERSES IN THE N.T. REFERS TO THE 2’D COMING.

***IN FACT, JESUS REPEATEDLY SPOKE OF HIS RETURN AND WARNED BELIEVERS TO BE READY FOR IT, IN MATTHEW 24:44 JESUS SAID, (READ IT)

****SO THE SON OF MAN IS GOING TO RETURN, AND IS A CENTRAL THEME OF SCRIPTURE AND THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

1. NOW AS WE GO BACK TO VERSE 7 NOTE THAT WITH THIS VERSE WE HAVE THE FIRST GREAT PROPHETIC ORACLE OF THE BOOK, THE FIRST PROPHECY, JESUS IS COMING BACK.

*AND THE FIRST WORD IN V.7 BEHOLD OR LOOK DEPENDING ON WHAT TRANSLATION YOU HAVE, IS A MOST FITTING INTRODUCTION TO THE CLIMATIC PROPHETIC MOMENT HERE DESCRIBED.

**FOR THE WORD BEHOLD, LO, OR LOOK IS USED 30 TIMES IN REVELATION AND IS A DRAMATIC WORD CALLING ATTENTION TO SOMETHING UNEXPECTED THAT GRIPS THE WHOLE ATTENTION OF THE SPEAKER.

***THIS WORD IS INTENDED TO AROUSE THE MIND TO CONSIDER WHAT FOLLOWS. DRAMA IS INHERENT IN THE WORD, CAREFUL ATTENTION IS DEMANDED.

****BEHOLD! LO! SEE! LOOK FOR YOURSELF! SOMETHING DRAMATIC AND CLIMATIC IS GOING TO TAKE PLACE SOMEDAY.

2. AND WHAT IS THIS DRAMATIC, CLIMATIC EVENT?

*JESUS IS COMING WITH CLOUDS AND EVERY EYE WILL SEE HIM!

**AND THE VERB IS COMING IN THE GREEK IS A FUTURISTIC PRESENT MIDDLE INDICATIVE VERB THAT SUGGEST THAT CHRIST IS ALREADY ON THE WAY, AND THUS THAT HIS COMING IS CERTAIN.

***THE PRESENT TENSE ALSO EMPHASIZES THE IMMINENCY OF HIS COMING, HIS FUTURE COMING IS IMMINENT NOT IMMEDIATE. IT MY HAPPEN AT ANY TIME IMPENDING, BUT ITS AS GOOD AS DONE, IT WILL HAPPEN.

***IT IS A FACT HE WILL RETURN TO THE EARTH RECORDED IN REVELATION 19:11-21.

3. BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH CLOUDS, AND THE WORD CLOUD OR CLOUDS IS USED 7 TIMES IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

*AND ALL 7 USES CAN BE TAKEN LITERALLY IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION. AND THAT JESUS IS COMING WITH CLOUDS WAS COMMUNICATED BY JESUS HIMSELF IN MATTHEW 24:30 WHERE HE SAID:

** “AND THEN THE SIGN OF THE SON OF MAN WILL APPEAR IN THE SKY, AND THEN ALL THE TRIBES OF THE EARTH WILL MOURN, AND THEY WILL SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY WITH POWER AND GREAT GLORY.”

*** AND THEN IN DANIEL 7:13 WE HAVE A SIMILAR DESCRIPTION WHERE IT SAYS:

**** “I KEPT LOOKING IN THE NIGHT VISIONS, AND BEHOLD, WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN ONE LIKE A SON OF MAN WAS COMING, AND HE CAME UP TO THE ANCIENT OF DAYS AND WAS PRESENTED BEFORE HIM.”

4. AND CLOUDS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH BOTH PHASES OF CHRIST’S SECOND COMING, PHASE 1, THE RETURN AND PHASE 2, THE REVELATION.

*FOR IN I THESSALONIANS 4:13-17, CLOUDS ARE MENTIONED IN ASSOCIATIONS WITH THE RAPTURE. (READ THEM.)

**NOW WITH ALL THESE SCRIPTURE IN MIND, WHY ARE CLOUDS ASSOCIATED WITH BOTH PHASES OF CHRIST’S 2’D COMING?

***WELL, CLOUDS IN SCRIPTURE FREQUENTLY COMMUNICATE GOD’S PRESENCE.

****FOR EXAMPLE, A CLOUD WAS USED AS THE VISIBLE MANIFESTATION OF GOD’S PRESENCE WITH ISRAEL DURING THE WILDERNESS WANDERINGS. EXODUS 13:21-22, EXODUS 16:10, AND NUMBERS 10:34.

5. AT THE GIVING OF THE LAW A THICK CLOUD UPON THE MOUNTAIN COMMUNICATED GOD’S PRESENCE, EXODUS 19:16, 20:21, 24:15-18.

*WHEN GOD COMMUNICATED WITH MOSES AT THE TABERNACLE THE PILLAR OF CLOUD WOULD DESCEND AND STAND AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE TENT, EXODUS 33:9 AND 34:5.

**BOTH THE TABERNACLE AND THE TEMPLE WERE FILLED WITH A CLOUD SHOWING GOD’S GLORY AT THEIR DEDICATIONS, EXODUS 40:34-38, I KINGS 8:10-12.

***AND THEN IN THE N.T. JESUS ASCENDED TO HEAVEN ON A CLOUD IN ACTS 1:9 AND BELIEVERS WILL ASCEND WITH CLOUDS AS I MENTIONED IN I THESS. 4:17 AT THE RAPTURE.

****BEYOND THAT IN PSALM 104:3 IT SAYS THAT THE LORD “MAKETH THE CLOUDS HIS CHARIOT.” HIS TRANSPORT.

6. NOW WITH ALL THAT SCRIPTURE IN MIND, THE CLOUDS IN REV. 1:7 SHOW US WHERE CHRIST’S DESCENT COMES FROM, FROM HEAVEN, FROM ABOVE.

*AND COMING WITH OR IN CLOUDS SHOW HIS GLORY, HIS PRESENCE, HIS POWER, THEY ARE HIS CHARIOTS AS HE COMES FROM ABOVE WITH GLORY AND SPLENDOR.

**BUT THOSE CLOUDS WILL NOT OBSCURE HIS GLORY BUT ADD TO IT, “AND EVERY EYE WILL SEE HIM.”

***AND THIS ANNOUNCEMENT BRINGS CLARIFICATION TO THE TABLE THAT THIS COMING IS HIS REVELATION, NOT THE RAPTURE.

****FOR THE SCRIPTURES THAT REFER TO THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH IN I JOHN 14:1-4, PHILIPPIANS 3:20&21, I JOHN 3:1-3, COLOSSIANS 3:3-4, I THESSALONIANS 4:13-18 AND I CORINTHIANS 15:51-57, GIVE NO INDICATION THAT ANYONE OTHER THAN THE RAPTURED SAINTS WILL SEE THE SAVIOR (EXPLAIN THE RESURRECTION OF THE JUST AND HIS APPEARING AND MEETING HIM IN THE AIR).

7. NOW, WHEN CHRIST COMES BACK IN REVELATION 19:11-21, IN CONTRAST TO THE RAPTURE PHASE 1 OF HIS COMING, EVERY PERSON ALIVE ON THE EARTH AT THAT TIME AT THE END OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION WILL SEE HIM. THAT’S WHY I CALL THIS COMING, THE REVELATION OF CHRIST.

*THE VEIL IS REMOVED AND THE ARMIES OF HEAVEN INCLUDING THE SAINTS THAT HAVE BEEN RAPTURED COME BACK WITH JESUS TO RULE AND REIGN WITH HIM, READ REVELATION 20:6.

**NOW AGAIN THIS COMING TAKES PLACE IN REVELATION 19 AND JOHN DIVIDES THOSE WHO WILL SEE THIS REVELATION INTO TWO GROUPS.

***FIRST OF ALL “THOSE WHO PIERCED HIM” WHICH ACCORDING TO THE PROPHECY OF ZECHARIAH 12:10 IS REFERRING TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE WHO SURVIVE THE TRIBULATION.

****ZECHARIAH 12:10 SAYS: “I WILL POUR OUT ON THE HOUSE OF DAVID AND ON THE INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM, THE SPIRIT OF GRACE AND OF SUPPLICATION, SO THAT THEY WILL LOOK ON ME WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED; AND THEY WILL MOURN FOR HIM, AS ONE MOURNS FOR AN ONLY SON, AND THEY WILL WEEP BITTERLY OVER HIM LIKE THE BITTER WEEPING OVER A FIRSTBORN.

8. AND AS WE CONSIDER ZECHARIAH 12:10, WE KNOW THAT PETER MAKES IT CLEAR IN ACTS 2:22-23 AND ACTS 3:12-15, THAT THE JEWISH PEOPLE WERE RESPONSIBLE AND BEHIND THE MURDER, THE PIERCING OF JESUS.

*ACTS 2:22-23 SAYS, “MEN OF ISRAEL, LISTEN TO THESE WORDS: JESUS THE NAZARENE, A MAN ATTESTED TO YOU BY GOD WITH MIRACLES AND WONDERS AND SIGNS WHICH GOD PERFORMED THROUGH HIM IN YOUR MIDST, JUST AS YOU YOURSELVES KNOW- (23) THIS MAN, DELIVERED OVER BY THE PREDETERMINED PLAN AND FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD, YOU NAILED TO A CROSS BY THE HANDS OF GODLESS MEN AND PUT HIM TO DEATH.

**AND THEN ACTS 3:12-15 SAYS, “BUT WHEN PETER SAW THIS, HE REPLIED TO THE PEOPLE, “MEN OF ISRAEL, WHY ARE YOU AMAZED AT THIS, OR WHY DO YOU GAZE AT US, AS IF BY OUR OWN POWER OR PIETY WE HAD MADE HIM WALK? (13)THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB, THE GOD OF OUR FATHERS, HAS GLORIFIED HIS SERVANT JESUS, THE ONE WHOM YOU DELIVERED AND DISOWNED IN THE PRESENCE OF PILATE, WHEN HE HAD DECIDED TO RELEASE HIM. (14) BUT YOU DISOWNED THE HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS ONE AND ASKED FOR A MURDERER TO BE GRANTED TO YOU, (15) BUT PUT TO DEATH THE PRINCE OF LIFE, THE ONE WHOM GOD RAISED FROM THE DEAD, A FACT TO WHICH WE ARE WITNESSES.

***NOW AGAIN, THE JEWISH PEOPLE WERE BEHIND THE PIERCING, THE DEATH OF CHRIST.

****AND ISRAEL’S MOURNING NOTED IN ZECHARIAH 12:10, WILL BE THAT OF GENUINE REPENTANCE.

9. FOR ALL THE JEWISH PEOPLE ALIVE AT THIS TIME WILL FINALLY SEE THAT JESUS IS THEIR MESSIAH THROUGH THE EVENTS OF THE TRIBULATION, THE TIME OF JACOBS TROUBLE THAT PREPARE THEIR HEARTS THROUGH THE 144,000 JEWISH WITNESSES, 12,000 FROM EACH OF THE 12 TRIBES OF ISRAEL, REVELATION 7:4 AND REVELATION 14:1.

* AND AS ZECHARIAH 13:1 AND 14:9 SAYS: “IN THAT DAY A FOUNTAIN WILL BE OPENED FOR THE HOUSE OF DAVID AND FOR THE INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM, FOR SIN AND FOR IMPURITY.” (14:9) “AND THE LORD WILL BE KING OVER ALL THE EARTH; IN THAT DAY THE LORD WILL BE THE ONLY ONE, AND HIS NAME THE ONLY ONE.”

**AND BEYOND THAT, ROMANS 11:25-27 SAYS, “FOR I DO NOT WANT YOU, BRETHREN, TO BE UNINFORMED OF THIS MYSTERY- SO THAT YOU WILL NOT BE WISE IN YOUR OWN ESTIMATION-THAT A PARTIAL HARDENING HAS HAPPENED TO ISRAEL UNTIL THE FULLNESS OF THE GENTILES HAS COME IN; (26) AND SO ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED; JUST AS IT IS WRITTEN, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FOR ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” (27) “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.”

***AND BELOVED I BELIEVE THE DAY ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED IS TALKED ABOUT HERE IN REVELATION 1:7 WHEN HE COMES BACK TO THE EARTH AND THOSE WHO PIERCED HIM – ISRAEL, THE JEWISH PEOPLE WILL BE SAVED.

****AND THAT’S THE FIRST GROUP TALKED ABOUT HERE IN REVELATION 1:7.

10. NOW JOHN DESCRIBES THE 2’D GROUP AS “ALL THE TRIBES OF THE EARTH”, A REFERENCE TO THE UNBELIEVING GENTILE NATIONS.

*FOR ALL THE TRIBES, ALL THE KINDRED, ALL THE OTHER PEOPLES OF THE EARTH, EARTH DEMANDING A WORLD WIDE SETTING, FOR THE EARTH CANNOT BE CONFINED TO THE LAND OF ISRAEL AND THE TRIBULATION WILL BE WORLDWIDE – GLOBAL.

**AND THE MOURNING FOR GENTILES THAT HAVE NOT BEEN SAVED UP TO THIS POINT (REVELATION 7:9-17) IS NOT THE MOURNING OF REPENTANCE, BUT MOURNING IN BITTER REMORSE AND REGRET OF JUDGMENT.

***FOR THE GREEK WORD TRANSLATED MOURN OR WAIL IS KOP’-TO AND IT LITERALLY MEANS TO STRIKE, TO CUT, TO BEAT ONES BREAST FOR GRIEF AND IN THIS CONTEXT APPEARS TO MAKE REFERENCE TO AN EMBITTERED WAIL.

****THEY WILL MOURN NOT FOR THE CHRIST THEY REJECTED, BUT OVER THEIR DOOM, THEIR JUDGMENT, ARMAGEDDON WILL TAKE PLACE AND THEY WILL DIE AND BE ETERNALLY JUDGED.

11. SO EVERY EYE SEEING LEADS TO BLESSING FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ON THE WHOLE JUDGMENT FOR THE UNSAVED GENTILE NATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN ALIGNING THEMSELVES WITH THE ANTI-CHRIST.

*AND NOTICE AT THE END OF V.7, IT ENDS WITH A DOUBLE AFFIRMATION.

** AND THE FIRST IS THE GREEK AFFIRMATION TRANSLATED, “EVEN SO”, OR “SO SHALL IT BE,” WHICH LITERALLY MEANS YES, VERILY, TRULY, ASSUREDLY, A STRONG GREEK AFFIRMATION!

***AND THEN WE HAVE THE 2’D AFFIRMATION WHICH IS A HEBREW AFFIRMATION, “AMEN”, LITERALLY MEANS SO BE IT, MAY IT BE FULFILLED, TRUTH, AGAIN A STRONG HEBREW AFFIRMATION.

**** SO WE HAVE THE GUARANTEE OF THE PROMISE OF CHRIST’S 2’D COMING TO THE EARTH WHICH IS A SEGWAY TO OUR 2’D POINT TODAY, THE CERTAINTY OF HIS COMING, LOOK AT V.8 PLEASE.

II. THE CERTAINTITY OF HIS COMING , (READ V. 8)

A. NOW IN V.8, CHRIST PUTS HIS SIGNATURE ON THE PROPHECY OF HIS 2’D COMING RECORDED IN VERSE 7 BY DESCRIBING 3 OF HIS DIVINE ATTRIBUTES AS GOD TO GUARANTEE THE CERTAINTY OF THE PROMISE OF HIS RETURN.

*IN OTHER WORDS, BECAUSE OF WHO CHRIST IS, THE CERTAINTY OF HIS COMING IS GUARANTEED.

**AND WE KNOW IT IS CHRIST SPEAKING IN THIS CONTEXT, BOTH FROM THE CONTEXT AND DESCRIPTIONS USED, BUT ALSO HE BEGINS V.8 BY SAYING I AM.

***AND IN JOHN’S GOSPEL, JESUS DECLARES HIMSELF AS THE GREAT I AM, THE SELF EXALTED ONE WHO IS GOD SEVEN TIMES.

****HE SAID I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE IN JOHN 6:35, I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD IN JOHN 8:12, I AM THE DOOR IN JOHN 10:9, I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD IN JOHN 10:11, I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE IN JOHN 11:25, I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE IN JOHN 14:6, I AM THE TRUE VINE IN JOHN 15:1, AND I THEN IN JOHN 8:58, JESUS SAID: (READ IT).

1. SO WE HAVE 7 GREAT I AMS IN JOHN’S GOSPEL AND HERE IN REV. 1:8 AND THROUGHOUT THE REVELATION AUTHORED BY JOHN HE USED THE GREAT I AM EXPRESSION IN TALKING ABOUT CHRIST.

*AND THE FIRST USE HERE IS “I AM ALPHA AND OMEGA,”

**AND MANY OF YOU ARE AWARE THAT ALPHA IS THE FIRST LETTER OF THE GREEK ALPHABET AND OMEGA IS THE LAST LETTER OF THE GREEK ALPHABET.

***SO IN THE ENGLISH ALPHABET JESUS IS THE A AND THE Z, THE BEGINNING AND THE END AS IS COMMUNICATED IN THE KJV AND THE NKJV MANUSCRIPT FAMILY THAT THEY USE.

****AND BY USING THE ALPHA AND OMEGA JESUS IS PRESENTING HIMSELF AS THE ALL KNOWING OMNISCIENT ONE.

2. A TO Z – KNOWLEDGE FROM BEGINNING TO END, HE KNOWS EVERYTHING FROM A TO Z, FROM ALPHA TO THE OMEGA, IN OTHER WORDS HIS KNOWLEDGE IS NOT PARTIAL BUT COMPLETE, HE HAS ALL KNOWLEDGE.

*AND HIS OMNISCIENCE GUARANTEES THE CERTAINTY OF HIS COMING. THERE ARE NO UNKNOWN FACTORS WHAT CAN DERAIL HIS COMING.

**NOW NEXT WE SEE THE DEITY OF CHRIST, FOR IT SAYS OF THE ONE SPEAKING THAT HE IS THE LORD GOD, MASTER GOD, KING GOD, SOVEREIGN RULING GOD.

***AND OF COURSE JESUS IS LORD AND JESUS IS GOD.

****NEXT JESUS DESCRIBES HIMSELF AS GOD THE FATHER DOES IN V. 4 AS THE ONE “WHO IS AND WHO WAS AND WHO IS TO COME.”

3. AND HERE AS WE STUDIED LAST WEEK, THE DESCRIPTION DESCRIBES CHRIST AS THE TIMELESS ETERNAL ONE, CHRIST TRANSCENDS ALL TIME, HE IS OUTSIDE OF TIME IN HIS DEITY AS LORD GOD.

*HE IS THE ETERNAL I AM; THE SELF-EXISTENT ONE WHO HAS NO BEGINNING OR END. HE IS THE ETERNAL ONE.

**AND THEN LAST OF ALL THE DESIGNATION OF CHRIST AS THE ALL-MIGHTY IS USED.

***AND THAT DESIGNATION COMMUNICATES CHRIST’S OMNIPOTENCE, THAT HE IS ALL POWERFUL. AND THAT TITLE OF GOD IS USED 9 TIMES IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION AND ONLY ONE OTHER TIME IN THE N.T. FOR A TOTAL OF 10 TIMES.

****AND I LOVE THAT DESCRIPTION BY CHRIST OF HIMSELF; I AM THE ALL-MIGHTY!

4. AND BELOVED, SINCE CHRIST IS ALL POWERFUL, NOTHING CAN HINDER HIM FROM CARRYING OUT HIS SOVEREIGN WILL.

*NO ONE OR NO THING CAN POSSIBLY PREVENT CHRIST FROM RETURNING IN GLORY AS DESCRIBED IN V.7. THE CERTAINTY OF HIS COMING IS GUARANTEED!

AND I WRAP UP THINGS TODAY: (1) IN APPLICATION, I REMIND YOU THAT JESUS CHRIST WHO IS COMING AGAIN IN GLORY AND SPLENDOR IS OMNISCIENT AS THE ALPHA AND OMEGA. HE HAS INFINITE KNOWLEDGE.

*HE IS THE ETERNAL ONE AS THE ONE WHO IS, AND WHO WAS, AND WHO IS TO COME.

**AND AS THE ALL-MIGHTY HE IS OMNIPOTENT, INFINITE IN POWER.

***NOW AS WE PUT ALL THREE OF THESE DESCRIPTIONS ABOUT CHRIST TOGETHER, I INVITE YOU TO REMEMBER WITH ME THAT AS CHRISTIANS, NOTHING CAN HAPPEN TO US APART FROM HIS PLAN.

***HE IS ETERNAL, ALL KNOWING AND ALL POWERFUL. NOTHING EVER OCCURS TO HIM AND HE IS THE ALL-MIGHTY SO EVERYTHING IS UNDER HIS CONTROL.

****NO SITUATION WE ENCOUNTER TAKES CHRIST BY SURPRISE, THERE ARE NO ACCIDENTS IN HIS PLAN, AND SATAN IS NOT ALL-POWERFUL. CHRIST IS.

(2) AND I REMIND YOU AND MYSELF OF THAT, NOT ONLY TO GENERATE AWE, BUT TRUST.

*AND ALSO TO REMIND YOU THAT IT IS THAT KIND OF GOD WHO CARES FO US.

**I PETER 5:7 SAYS: (READ IT)

***PSALM 34:15 SAYS: (READ IT)

****PSALM 50:15 SAYS: (READ IT)

(3) PSALM 55:22 SAYS: (READ IT)

*AND BELOVED, REMEMBERING THAT OUR GOD IS LORD OF HISTORY, THE ALL-MIGHTY, THE ALL-KNOWING GOD, PUTS OUR LIVES IN PERSPECTIVE.

**IN NO SITUATION WE ENCOUNTER WILL WE BE ALONE. NOTHING HAPPENS WITHOUT A GOOD GOD ORDAINED PURPOSE.

***AND AS WE ARE FACED WITH CHALLENGES TO OUR FAITH AND SETBACKS AND HEARTACHES AND GRIEF,

****LET US BE REMINDED THAT OUR GOD REIGNS AND HE WILL REIGN ON EARTH SOMEDAY. THE BEST IS YET TO COME, AND IN THE MEANTIME WE MUST REST AND TRUST IN HIS POWER AND KNOWLEDGE.