His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Today on His Perfect Love, we turn our attention to the second coming of Christ, and Pastor Matt has us consider how frequently it's referenced in scripture.

Matt VanderVen: The second coming of Christ is referenced many times in scripture, well over 1,500 passages in the Old Testament. Just one out of every 25 verses in your New Testament—just think about that—in some way or another speaks of Messiah's return. One out of every 25 verses in your New Testament speak of Jesus's return.

Guest (Male): Welcome again to His Perfect Love with Pastor Matt VanderVen. When Jesus came the first time, it was to bring salvation. But when Jesus comes again, it will be to bring judgment, and He will establish His kingdom on earth.

We'll learn all about the second coming today and how to be prepared for it. If you're a believer, will you be around to see it? We'll answer that as well. So find your place in Revelation chapter one as we hand things over to Pastor Matt on His Perfect Love.

Matt VanderVen: All right. Well, just as a way of context, I'm going to start back in verse one. We'll work our way to verse seven, and then we'll start exegeting going line by line or word by word in verse seven thereon.

The revelation of Jesus Christ which God—that word God you may remember is *Theos*, so it speaks of two words, that name *Theos* being obviously Jehovah, but also Elohim, the plurality of God: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—gave Him to show His servants—they are Jesus's, we belong to Jesus, we're blood-bought servants, that's the word *doulos* in the Greek.

He's telling us we're bondservants. This was something that we willingly accepted when we received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior—things which must happen or take place shortly. Now, this word "shortly," it's very interesting. It's *tachos*. We talk about it in the Greek, and it's the word we get for tachometer. And it means very—well, I think we would think of it more or less an indication.

It's telling us that these things are going to happen and it's moving along a line. We know in other passages in the Gospels, we know that God has told us that these things are going to happen, and the reason that it hasn't happened yet is because God, Jesus, is long-suffering, desiring that none should perish, right?

So we know these things are shortly going to take place. And He sent and signified, right, again this *semaino* in the Greek, this word for signification. He says it by His angels. So He actually gave us a sign, and a sign to everyone that would read this, that it would be signified specifically to John. That it wasn't something that John just had this vision because he had bad pepperoni, but that he actually was sent an angel and the angel testified to John of this truth.

So it was signified by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness—that word witness is record, it's the word we use "martyr," okay—to the word of God, again *Theos*, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.

Then he says *makarios*, that's the Greek word for blessed, okay, is he who reads, those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep these things and even to the obedience of these things we read which are written in it, for the time is near. This adverb we talked about that last time, it's the same word for "time is near" that we read in Revelation chapter 22, verse 10. It's that idea as Jesus saying that it is happening, okay.

Now in verse four, he says John to the seven churches, the *ekklesia*, which are in Asia. This is today—we would know that as modern-day Turkey, okay. And he's talking to the churches there. There are seven. We talked about how seven brings the completion or the fullness, so not individual churches; certainly, we don't take that away from it, there are seven individual churches, but seven being that Hebrew number for completion, he's speaking to the church and every church.

I believe as we read can be in some capacity run through the grid of scripture and found in chapter two or three, find a place within that. Lord willing, all in the church of Philadelphia, right? We would Lord willing want to see the church we attend, the *ekklesia*, being placed in that church, the church of Philadelphia. But the reality is we need to run every church, our lives, through the grid of scripture.

He says, "Grace to you and peace from Him who is, who was, and who is to come," speaking of Abba, our Father. And he says, "And from the seven spirits." We looked at this last week. We know the seven again, it's the full manifold witness of the Holy Spirit. We looked at that in Isaiah. "Who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ."

So we see the triune God here: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He's recorded as the faithful martyr or witness, the firstborn from the dead, speaking of a clear picture of the resurrection, and then in light of that, obviously, the ruler over the kings of the earth. He's now presented to you and I here this morning as the glorified King. He's above the King of Kings.

"To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood," reminding us exactly why Jesus Christ came the first time: to wash and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. "And has made us kings"—we looked at this last week too—we're heirs and co-heirs eternally with God. "And priests"—a twofold ministry.

The priests were always to bring people, right, to bring God to the people and bring people to God. For you and I as new covenant New Testament believers, we do the same thing. Our corporate prayer, our prayer in general, intercessory prayer is we're bringing people to the Father, bringing people to God. And when we bring the gospel, right, we're bringing God to the people.

And to His God and Father, Abba, God the Father, right? "To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." Now, here we are, and this is where we've come as far. "Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, amen."

That's the truth. So be it. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is, who was, and who is to come." He uses the definite article here. He says, "the Almighty." Very powerful, very powerful verse eight. And what He's trying to communicate to us—again, this doesn't read like a little humble lamb that is without power and sovereignty.

No, this reads as Jesus Christ, the glorified King, standing or seated at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for you and I even right at this moment. As we're going to read, He says He holds the churches in His hand, the *ekklesia*. He's in the midst of us, as we're going to read right in the book of Revelation. He's even in the midst of us right now.

And so in verse seven, "Behold, He's coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him and even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, amen." Doesn't that sound interesting? I mean, you would think that when Jesus Christ comes back—first of all, what coming back is this? Is this the rapture?

Many of you know 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 16 through 18. There's two Greek words in there. You'll see *harpazo* and you'll see what? *Parousia* or *parasia*. Those two Greek terms—one means *harpazo* is what we know as the rapture. The word we get "rapture" is *rapturo* from the Latin Vulgate or your Italian Bible. If you can read Italian and you read in the Bible, you'll see *rapturo*. You'll actually see that word rapture. In our English, we don't see that, we just see "coming," right? But in the Greek, it was called *harpazo*.

But then in that same passage, he said that there's also a *parasia* or *parousia*. And that Greek term in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, he talks about a coming where He will physically come back and touch down on this earth. And He will establish a kingdom. He is coming in judgment, and He's going to bring a theocracy.

And all the nations are going to come against Israel in a final battle we know as Armageddon, in which God specifically will step in and give victory to Israel by His holy hand, by God's holy hand. And so John tells us that Jesus is coming with the clouds and that everyone alive at that time will see it.

Now, for those born-again believers here, that's not you. You're going to be looking down from the mezzanines, okay? You're going to be looking down and seeing these things. As a matter of fact, in Revelation chapter 19, as you will get there probably in five years—no, if the Lord should tarry, we'll get there soon—but as we get there, what we're going to see is that we actually will return with Jesus Christ, the *hagios*, the saints.

No longer will He say "church" or the *ekklesia*. He no longer uses that Greek word, but He uses a different word to describe you and I when we come back. And we are now looked at as the bride of Christ. He then references to us as the bride, this term of beautiful endearment. No longer the church, which there's nothing wrong with the church; it's beautiful, *ekklesia* is a beautiful word, a beautiful term, but He uses even more of a term of endearment: the bride. Just this beautiful bride.

And so he says that we will—or those that will be alive—it says that they're going to see the second coming of Christ. Now, I find that very amazing and interesting because you think about it. As we're going to make our way through chapters 4, 5, and 6, all the way really up to 18, we're going to see that roughly about four to five billion people—as we look at the numbers, currently there's somewhere between 7.4 to 7.6 billion people alive today, roughly.

Now, we don't know what the population's going to look like certainly when the Lord should come back or return. I don't know that. But if you use just current statistical numbers, we know that just even during the first judgments, 1.8 billion to 2.4 billion people will perish. Now, that's not you and I. Again, we've been raptured out.

But that doesn't mean we're indifferent. We're not indifferent. Jesus Christ has called us not to be indifferent, to desire to reach every soul that they would have a relationship, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. But those that willfully reject Jesus, you're talking between just the first three judgments, when you look at how it's poured out, some four to five billion people.

You just think about COVID and there were millions, and what that was like on this earth and how everything shut down and people weren't traveling. And in some ways, we couldn't get toilet paper. We laugh about it now; you weren't laughing then. What is it going to be like during the Great Tribulation where you have five billion people?

I cannot imagine what the blood, the judgment that's coming for a Christ-rejecting world. And yet no one needs to go through the Great Tribulation, not a single soul. And what was the response to what they saw? And the tribes of the earth, they did what? They raised holy hands and said, "Jesus, I'm glad you're here! It's crazy!"

No, your Bible and my Bible tells us that what did the people alive at that time do that were on the earth? They mourned. They looked at Jesus Christ's coming not as a good thing because He's coming in judgment, and they know it. And it says that everyone on the earth, all will see, right? It says every eye.

We have no reason not to take this metaphorically or symbolically. Jesus is not grammatically challenged. He said every eye will see Him. And I think this is important. The second coming of Christ is referenced many times in scripture, well over 1,500 passages in the Old Testament. Just one out of every 25 verses in your New Testament—just think about that—in some way or another speaks of Messiah's return. One out of every 25 verses in your New Testament speak of Jesus's return.

If you'd like, hold your finger here. Turn to Amos, one of our minor prophets, Amos chapter three, verse seven in your Old Testament. Amos chapter three, verse seven. There's a large amount of material that's been devoted to this important event: the coming of Christ. And it even underscores what God says.

Because again, we're not reading about Jesus here this morning as the suffering lamb any longer. Many of us again picture that suffering lamb, Jesus Christ with the lamb around His neck, walking kind of lowly in spirit, you know? When everybody was mocking Him when He was on the cross, "Well, if you're the Son of God or if you're God, take yourself off that cross right now," as they were mocking Him, jeering, spitting at Him, beating Him, punching Him.

And Jesus came as the suffering servant to do that work on the cross. He came to die. That's not the picture, that's not the unveiling, the *apocalypsis* that Jesus is giving you and I here in this book, this revelation that He wants us to now see Him: spiritual 20/20, who He is.

No, in Amos 3:7, it says, "Surely the sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants and prophets." He wants every one of us, everyone alive, everyone who's ever been alive to know what His plan is, what He is doing, and to be ready. He is a sovereign God, a sovereign Lord. And He said His servants—and isn't that what we just read in Revelation 1?

I mean, we couldn't get even past verse one, where it says, "The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave Him to show His servants," *doulos* or *doolos* if you prefer, bondslaves. Again, remember that term is a willing servant, not a forced servant, but one that has willingly given up their right because they've been blood-bought. That's you and I.

The Bible also refers to us as the *hagios*. What's the *hagios*? The saints, right? I know there's denominations out there, I know there's other churches out there that describe these saints that are somehow canonized or lifted up in some other way. No. You and I, according to the scripture, are the saints of God.

And all those that have received Him as Lord and Savior have become the saints of God. First we were the creation of God, and then we have become the children of God. That's what your Bible tells you, that's what my Bible tells me. So in short, the return of Christ brings about what is referenced to as the kingdom of God, okay.

What age are we living in again? We talked about this a few weeks back. We're in chapters two and three, speaking we're in the church age, right? *Ekklesia* still here, we met here this morning, yeah? Church age. The church is here. There's going to become a time where the church is removed, and it says that God will also remove His hand.

Did you know that everything—no matter what you might be thinking of what it says in Isaiah where he says the wicked, God is saying that they will say those will say what is good is evil and evil is good—even in what we're seeing today, this is still has God's hand upon it, withholding what really could be the depth of wickedness and evil? Just think about that for a minute.

This is not as evil as it gets. This is not without God's restraining power, without God's Holy Spirit present, indwelling His believers, His saints, His *hagios* on the earth, you and me: born-again believers who have been given the seal of the Holy Spirit, the *paraklete* as it says in the Greek.

No, there's coming a time where He will remove His holy hand and it really will be a form of hell on earth with such great tribulation that none of us can fathom. We don't even come close to fathoming it. We'll get close in reading Revelation, but even John struggles with the words. Remember, he's a human like you and I are human. He can only call from or only has at his liberty what he is seeing, what he has experienced. He is seeing all this in a vision, and he's trying to talk about things that he has never seen: technologies he's never seen, depths of destruction like he has never seen.

No, when Jesus Christ comes back—as it refers to here every eye will see even them who pierced Him—it's no longer going to be the church age, but the kingdom age known as the kingdom of God, with God's absolute rule over His creation including humankind on earth in the form of a theocracy once again before the nation of Israel, right?

You think about Israel and it wasn't until Israel themselves requested that there would be human kings. God knew that that would happen; He actually prophesied and spoke of it in Deuteronomy even before Israel requested that. He said, "When you have kings"—he wrote about a chapter, a whole chapter on "When you have kings, this is what the kings, human kings, will do"—even before there was a monarchy. Because before there was a monarch, there was what? A theocracy.

We're going to go back to that theocracy again. And that's what His coming and second coming is all about: judgment and Him establishing His kingdom on earth. When Jesus returns, He's going to be ready for war. People don't talk about that. First of all, most people don't even—Christians today, so many churches, pastors don't even teach the book of Revelation. They're afraid of it. People are afraid of it.

You and I received just in the first few verses a blessing: those who hear, those who can read this book. We're all blessed here this morning, right? We're all part of this *makarios* because He wants us to know. And just like we read in Amos 3:7, God doesn't ever do things without revealing His plan to His servants and prophets that way.

This is His unveiling. He wants us to understand that when He comes the second time, it's not for salvation. He's coming again but to make war. And you can look at that in Revelation chapter 19, verses 11 through 16. The nations are going to be gathered together to fight against Jerusalem. And God's hand is going to be a part of that. We're going to read that in a moment here.

We're going to turn to Zechariah, as a matter of fact. If you'd like to turn there now, we're going to turn to Zechariah chapter 14, verse two. It's called the battle of Armageddon as we know it and use this term. So if you just turn in your Bible to Zechariah chapter 14, please.

And I find it very interesting what he says right in verse one. I know our focus is going to be verse two and on, but I really want us just to see as we read through this section what he's communicating to us. Again, we're not going to be here, but he's revealed to us what will happen for those that are alive and have rejected Jesus Christ living at that time.

He says, "Behold, the day of the Lord is coming." Zechariah received this prophecy directly from Jesus, from the Lord. "And your spoil will be divided in your midst." Those that put all their faith and trust in materialism, in wealth, and all these other things. He says, "Your very spoil, the things that you count dear, the treasures that you've made your heart, these things are going to be divided and given to people that did not even work for them. They will be divided in your very midst." Things you've worked your whole life for and put all your emphasis and energy in, it's just going to be divided.

"For I will gather all the nations." Jesus is saying this. He says, "I will." This is not like so often we think. Just like in Ezekiel's prophecy when there's a war that breaks out between many of the Muslim nations and Jerusalem, which is separate and distinct from this. Many of us believe that will happen before this war actually happens: Armageddon, right?

Ezekiel 38, right? 36, the dry bones lived; 1948, Israel a nation again; Jerusalem, right? The people return to their land. God's chosen people, Israel, you with me? Historically they came back in 1948. That's chapter 36 when he said the dry bones will live.

Chapter 37 he goes on and starts speaking about the things that will then—the fruit of the land and how it will become wonderful again. And I think in the Middle East in that area, Israel's like the top third largest exporter of fruits. Last I checked, they're in a desert. I can't grow things in Boiling Springs, and they're living in an arid desert and they've got more fruits and vegetables and the technology and the things that they're able to do, it's remarkable.

And then chapter 38, he describes how there's Gog and Magog and a hook—do you remember this?—and he's going to put that hook in the mouth and he's going to draw. Who's the one that puts the hook in the mouth? It's not the surrounding nations, it's God. And God uses that hook to draw them in, and I believe he's talking about natural resources: oil, gas, things like that.

I believe Russia is in light of that context, that Russia will almost be baited by their lust for the natural resources, which haven't we seen that just even in the last decade? I mean, right now we just saw Putin traveled over to North Korea and they're talking about how they're going to support in some of the war in Ukraine and they were asking for additional support and help and what is North Korea going to get in return? Resources, natural resources, non-renewable resources. They're not looking for military armament in North Korea. As a matter of fact, North Korea is actually helping Russia with those things.

But he describes that. I don't want us to confuse what's happening here. I just want us to see there's another battle that's coming, but even in that battle, it's God that puts the hook in the jaw. Just like we read here, "Behold, the day of the Lord is coming and your spoil will be divided in your midst, for I will gather, I will gather"—God Himself is going to allow this—"all the nations to battle against Jerusalem."

Guest (Male): Pastor Matt VanderVen on His Perfect Love. Thanks for taking part in today's study of Revelation, a book that comes with a blessing attached to those that read and study it.

If you were blessed and encouraged by the Lord, we'd like to know. Email us while it's fresh on your mind there at our website: hisperfectlove.org. Be sure to include your prayer requests. Also at our website, you'll find an archive of these studies in Revelation, making it easy to replay a message you enjoy or catch what you miss on the radio.

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