A Daily Walk

John Randall: Get on fire for Jesus. Next on A Daily Walk. You want a heart on fire for Jesus? Allow the Lord to open the scriptures unto you. That'll cause you to be on fire for the Lord. This is the fuel, friend. You can't be on fire without the fuel, and the word of God is the fuel, and the spirit of God lights the flame in the heart of a Christian. Listen, you want to be on fire for Jesus? Understand what the Bible says. Can't be on fire without it.

Guest (Male): Well, we hope you're ready to dive back into God's word here on A Daily Walk. As Christians, we all have a lot to be thankful for, not the least of which is the wonderful place God has prepared for us called heaven. In our verse-by-verse study through Revelation, we reach chapter 19 today.

Now, after all of the wrath and destruction we've read about in the last few chapters, we finally get to the really good news here in chapter 19. The incredible panorama of heaven we see described here is enough to take your breath away. We're about to see what we're going to experience at the marriage supper of the lamb and at the second coming of Christ. Here is Pastor John Randall with the details.

John Randall: During the tribulation period on this earth, the bride is safely tucked away in the Father's house, celebrating with her bridegroom. But did you know what would happen in the Jewish celebration after seven days? After seven days of being together, the couple would kind of honeymoon right there on the spot. Little odd, I know. And they would have their own special room, and the family would be bringing food and hand it to them. Seven days, but at the end of seven days, do you know what happens?

The bride and the bridegroom come out in front of the family at the end of that seven days, and he presents his bride to everybody there. Folks, listen, after seven years being safely tucked away with our bridegroom, Jesus Christ, the church comes back with the bridegroom and every eye sees. What a celebration that will be. John tells us here what the bride will be wearing. It says in fine linen verse eight, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Fine linen, an expensive cloth. Clean, it means pure. There was a purity to this bride. Bright, it speaks of the radiance of the bride.

It's always amazing when you attend a wedding, and I've attended many, and as you stand there alongside of the groom and you watch as the bride comes down that aisle. Every bride I've ever seen in a wedding is always beautiful. There is a radiance, there is something pure, there is something wonderful as they walk down that aisle and the groom's waiting there. I always love to get a shot of the bride, but then I love to watch the groom. And you just watch the face and the anticipation and often the tears, sometimes ugly cries. I mean, it is powerful to watch this thing happen, and you see the connection and the moment that they've been waiting for. It's finally here, and here she comes and he's there and it happens all right there in that moment.

It's the most beautiful experience, and it's just like something so wonderful that God does, and you're there and you get to see it. Friends, I want to tell you something. That pales in comparison to how the Lord feels about you, his bride. He is waiting there. He is waiting for you. He is waiting for us. It's a matter of time before we are reunited with our groom. What a day that's going to be.

And here she was clothed in the righteous acts. Folks, the only righteousness that God will receive when you stand before him, and every single person has an appointment with God. When your life ends here, you will stand before God. And the only righteousness that he will receive that gives you access into heaven is the righteousness of Christ. All of our righteousness, the Bible says, is as filthy rags. Any works that I've done to try to attain righteousness, they pale in comparison to the righteousness of Christ that is imputed to me and given to me when I accept Christ as my savior.

And when I stand before him, that's the righteousness that the Father accepts, and he allows me to come in. You can't get into the wedding celebration without the wedding garment, and the wedding garment that's provided is the righteousness of Christ. And if you don't have that, you can have that today. In fact, before our time is over here, I'm going to give you a chance from wherever you are. If you want to get right with God, if you want to know that you're saved, if you want to participate in this marriage supper of the lamb. Friend, listen, you want to be a part of this marriage. I got your invitation. It's found right here, but you got to receive it.

You ever got one of those invitations and thought, who's getting married? Where's it at? Where'd they register? I can't make it. I mean, you just you disregarded the invitation and you're not going. I don't want to wear a suit. Forget about it. You missed it. But listen, you don't want to miss this invitation, friend. This goes out to the world. He's inviting you to the marriage. It's up to you. And so there is this blessed invitation in verse nine. He said to me, 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.

Attending this wedding feast will not only be the church as the bride of Christ, but others as well. Folks, think about who's going to be at this celebration. All the Old Testament saints, all believers in every age a part of this beautiful gathering with Jesus Christ, a glorious celebration.

Now when John sees all this, he hears the sound of the Hallelujah chorus. It's deafening, it's overwhelming, the scene in heaven as he gets a preview of coming attractions and the bride of Christ clothed the way that she is and around the throne and singing. It is overwhelming, and so much so that it says in verse 10, I fell down at his feet, that is in front of the angel, as if to worship. But he said to me, see that you don't 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.

As John sees this scene, the angel standing there, he just falls down as if to worship one of the servants. But the angel immediately said to John, don't do that. Do not worship me. Worship God, worship Jesus. Friends, we don't worship the servants of the Lord, we worship the Lord. We get our eyes off man and we get our eyes on Jesus. God uses people, but God's the one who gets all the glory. Never forget that. Worship him. No pastor, no preacher, no ministry, worship Jesus. He's the one that's worthy of praise. And if any pastor worth his salt is standing on a platform, he better be pointing people to Jesus. I'm speaking to myself here. I want to be pointing you to Jesus, not to me. I'm no savior, Jesus is the savior. But praise the Lord, we can look to him.

So he tells John, don't worship me, worship the Lord. And then he says something that is so powerful I do not want you to miss this, friends. Look at this verse 10. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The Bible declares that in the volume of the book it's written concerning Jesus. That all of the Bible points to and emphasizes one person primarily, the hero of the story, it's Jesus. That's what this book is about, it's about him. Jesus is the theme of both Old and New Testament. The life-saving and transformative gospel message centers around Jesus. That's what it's about.

And prophecy points to Jesus. Prophecy at its core is designed to unfold the beauty and the loveliness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This book that you hold, this is a book of history, yes, but it's also a book of prophecy. It's the word of God. And over and over, the authors of the Bible rightly foretold of future events that would take place, often hundreds, sometimes thousands of years in advance.

The Bible is literally filled with hundreds of specific detailed prophecies about persons, about places, about events, many of which have already come to pass. You're not going to understand it just on your own. You need to first be introduced to the author, and once you understand the author, he'll open the book to you. You got to come to Jesus and this will begin to make sense.

The Old Testament was completed 400 years before the birth of Christ. It contains more than 300 references to the Messiah that were fulfilled during Jesus' lifetime. Imagine that. Prophecies written about where he would be born, how many pieces of silver he would be betrayed for, the kind of death that he would die before crucifixion was ever invented, the tribe in which he was born. I mean, we could go on and on about the prophecies, 300 that were fulfilled.

You remember when Jesus was walking down the road to Emmaus after his resurrection? There were two troubled disciples beside him. They were leaving the city, they were so saddened by the fact that Jesus had died, and Jesus came up alongside of them. And he said, what's wrong? Tell me what's going on. And they said, are you new here? Like there was this guy Jesus. Jesus is like, all right, tell me about Jesus. Who is he? Tell me what you think about him. Well, we thought he was going to be the Messiah and we thought he was going to be the hope of Israel, but you know what? He died, they crucified him, they put him in a tomb. There were some ladies, they said he rose from the dead, but you know how that goes. They were emotional. They're totally disregarding the eyewitness testimony.

And Jesus just listens to them tell Jesus about Jesus, about him. And he said, oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that was predicted in the psalms and in the prophets. And starting with the Old Testament, Jesus began to expound in all of the scriptures all things concerning himself. What a Bible study it would have been. And the guys are just sitting there walking like, okay.

And then finally, they sit down to break bread, he breaks bread, and in that moment their eyes are opened, he disappeared. That was the Lord. And then they said to one another, did not our hearts burn within us when he opened the scriptures to us? You want a heart on fire for Jesus? Allow the Lord to open the scriptures unto you. That'll cause you to be on fire for the Lord. This is the fuel, friend. You can't be on fire without the fuel, and the word of God is the fuel, and the spirit of God lights the flame in the heart of a Christian. Listen, you want to be on fire for Jesus? Understand what the Bible says. Can't be on fire without it.

The Old Testament completed 400 years before Christ's birth, it contains over 300 references to him as the Messiah that were fulfilled during his lifetime. And did you know that calculations were made using the science of probability for one man being able to fulfill just eight prophecies in his lifetime? These are things that were spoken hundreds, sometimes thousands of years before he was born. Fulfills eight, what's the probability? One in 10 to the 17th power. One in 100 quadrillion.

Imagine the entire state of Texas filled three feet deep with quarters. Imagine that. That's a lot of quarters. And imagine you're flying over the state of Texas and you take one of the quarters and you mark it, put an X on it, a red X, and then you're flying over Texas and you just throw it over and put it there somewhere in Texas. The probability that you would be able to make your way through Texas and pick up that one coin that was marked is the same probability of a man fulfilling eight prophecies in his life.

Friends, Jesus fulfilled over 300 in his lifetime. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. God keeps his word. And I also want you to understand that if you're a Christian here this morning, you have a testimony of Jesus, of what he's done in your life, and there is power in that testimony. People may be able to argue you down on some particular thing, but they cannot deny the transformation that's happened in your life. You are a living testimony, what God does, how God changes you. And we have seen multitudes of people transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit right here. People coming to Christ, people turning from their sin, seen marriages restored, seen addicted people delivered, seeing people transformed through the work of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that can be your testimony today, and no one can deny it. It's real.

As this vision of the Apostle John begins to unfold, he will see the second coming of Jesus Christ. And I want to point out to you that before we consider this, it's important to understand, and this is where some people are confused, there is a difference between the second coming of Christ and the rapture of the church. Often people misunderstand. They say, the Lord's coming again, and I would say he is, 100%. Are you talking about the rapture or the second coming? Aren't they the same thing? They're not. The Bible teaches two separate and distinct events from one another. They're not the same thing.

In fact, the Bible tells us at the rapture that Jesus comes for believers, and they are caught up to be with him in the clouds, and only those who are caught up to be with him in the clouds actually see him. John chapter 14 verse 3, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 16 and 17. It says that the trumpet's going to sound and we're going to rise, the dead in Christ rise first, we who are alive and remain will be caught up. In the Latin it's the word rapturo where we get the English word rapture, caught up. The Greek word is harpazo, caught up, violently snatched away to be with the Lord in the air. And not every eye sees him, only those that are caught up.

But at the second coming, friend, listen, a separate event. At the second coming, it's at the end of the tribulation period, he comes back with believers, not in the clouds, on the clouds, and every eye will see him. It's a different event. At the second coming, he descends with believers from heaven to earth. At the rapture, we meet Jesus in the air and are taken to heaven. And I do believe that that's prior to the seven years of tribulation that will come upon the earth. And at the end of that seven years, that climactic moment, Jesus returns as the Bible says here, and he establishes his kingdom upon the earth.

For centuries, God's people have anticipated and predicted prophetically this event known as the second coming. There are more predictions in the Bible of Jesus' second coming than in his first. In fact, the second coming of Jesus Christ is dealt with 1,845 times in the Bible. Somewhere around one out of every 30 verses deals with or mentions it in the totality of scripture. Seven out of 10 chapters in the New Testament talk about it. The second coming is mentioned eight times to every one mention of the first coming.

Jesus himself mentions his second coming 21 times. Countless exhortations are given to watch, to pray, and to prepare. Listen what the Bible says in Zechariah as he tells us even the location of his second coming. Where's it going to be? When's it going to what's it look like? He tells us. The Bible says, then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as he fights in the day of battle. And in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west, making a very large valley. Half of the mountain shall move toward the north and the other half toward the south. Tells us where it's going to happen. Countless other Old Testament prophecies proclaim the second coming of Christ.

But also New Testament passages. For example, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 26, he said, it is as you say and nevertheless, I say hereafter you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. It was prophesied, it's been predicted in Old and New Testament. The second coming of Christ has been the anticipation of God's people, the day when his kingdom would come and his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In fact, there is a cry from the heart of the prophet in Isaiah when he said in Isaiah 64, listen to this and maybe this is your cry. In light of the days in which we're living, in light of the things that we're seeing on the television, in light of all of the chaos in every direction you look, this might be your cry. Here's what it says in Isaiah 64, oh that you would rend the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might shake at your presence. As the fire burns brushwood, as fire causes water to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence. Is that not the cry of the heart of the church in this moment?

It's the only answer, friend. Jesus is the only answer for the world. Charles Wesley, for example, he used the second coming as the theme of 5,000 of his 8,000 hymns that he wrote. That's a lot of songs about the second coming of Christ. But of course the most amazing thing about the second coming is Jesus Christ himself and what it will look like on that day when he comes again.

Today we've established the fact that he is coming. And next week we're going to look at what it looks like when he comes. And I tell you this, it looks a lot different than when he came the first time. The first time he came as a suffering Messiah for what purpose? To die for the sins of the world. The sins that you've committed, the sins that I committed. He came and he took our place so that we could be forgiven, so that we never have to go to hell, but that we can go to heaven. That's why he came.

That we never have to be separated from God. Jesus was separated so you wouldn't have to be separated. He was forsaken so we would never have to be forsaken. And today he offers you eternal life. Friend, if you want to be a part of his second coming, you need to respond today to his first coming. And I'm going to give you that opportunity to do just that. Do you want to know that you have the hope of heaven?

I've done a lot of memorials in my day, more this last year than probably any other year in the past. And I can tell you this, more and more people get up and they give a testimony about somebody that he went to a better place, she went to a better place, they're in a better place. The only way you're going to a better place, and there's only one better place and that's heaven, is through Jesus Christ. To not have Jesus is not go to a better place, it's to go to the worst place imaginable, a place that Jesus died to keep you from, a real place, a literal place called hell.

But Jesus came and died so that you could go to heaven. He loves you. He wants you to be part of that marriage supper. The dowry's been paid, his blood has been shed, the price has been he the engagement ring, it's like he's he's standing there saying, will you take me? And you have to say yes or no. He's done everything necessary to provide a way for you and for me to be saved. But he'll never force his way into your life. For love to be love, there has to be a choice and the choice is yours.

He won't violate your free will. He stands at the door of your heart this morning and he knocks. And if you will open that door, then he will come in and he will change your life and you will never be the same. And if that's something you desire, I'm going to invite you to receive Christ today. For others of you, maybe you've known the Lord, you've gone to church, but you don't walk with the Lord. You don't live for him, but you want to get right with him. I'm going to invite you also to get things right with Jesus today. Don't let another day go by. There's no time to waste. We've seen so many things just ramp up so quickly this last year, and it's not stopping, it's not slowing down. Today is the day of salvation. If you can hear his voice, don't harden your heart. He loves you.

Guest (Male): Pastor John Randall on A Daily Walk, and what you just heard is a small portion of our journey through Revelation. You can hear it again at adailywalk.org or wherever you get your podcasts, or download our church app so you can listen through your mobile device. Just search for Calvary South OC. When a listener takes the time to write or call, it really blesses us more than words can tell. And yes, Pastor John reads your emails and letters. The Lord deserves all the credit for anything good that comes from and through this ministry, and it's an opportunity to praise and thank him for what he's doing. Share a praise report or a prayer request at adailywalk@gmail.com. That's adailywalk@gmail.com.

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