Somebody Loves You

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Thanks for making time to be with us today as we ponder what life looks like beyond what our eyes can see. He'll show us that in the Bible's final chapter, Jesus promises to return as a victorious King to come and take His people back with Him to heaven.

Keep listening today for a challenge to live in readiness for the glorious day that you meet your Savior face-to-face. Today's message is taken from Revelation chapter 22, beginning in verse 20, with the lesson, The Final Words of Jesus. Here's Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: It's interesting how people think that everything we possess will last forever. We die and we leave it for others. They die and they leave it for others, but one day everything will melt in the fire. It is really important that we invest into the kingdom of God because that's where the value of your heart really is.

Here in the Book of Revelation, John the beloved is the writer, and at the same time, Jesus is speaking in the last chapter. And Jesus says this: "Surely, I am coming quickly." And then John and every one of us, as a prayer, respond and we say, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Good prayer to maintain in our lips every day of our lives.

For we do not know if today may be that day that the Lord will come. And yet if we make that a standard, if we make that a model, then one day when the Lord gets ready to come back, He will hear from our lips again, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Look at chapter 22 of Revelation beginning with verses 20 and 21, the last two words of the New Testament.

When you think of the New Testament, remember that the Bible in the Old Testament, the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, started with a curse when Adam and Eve fell in the garden. They were kicked out of the garden because they sinned against God. Here we have now at the end of the Old Testament, in the book of Malachi, the last words are actually a curse from God to the people of God.

Then you have between Malachi and Matthew 400 years of silence where we have written for us the apocrypha books, historical books. Then when you come to the Book of Matthew chapter 1, immediately at the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it begins with the grace of God. The grace of God. And it concludes with the grace of God here in chapter 22, verse 21.

Let me read it out of chapter 22 beginning with verse 20 and 21. "He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming quickly.' Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. So be it." Now, we see that with these words, John the beloved is amening the nearness of Jesus Christ's return by repeating a prayer used often in the worship in the early church by the Christians. "Come, our Lord." That was their prayer in the early church.

When Jesus died on the cross and resurrected three days later, the disciples of Christ expected Him to come back again in their own generation, even Paul the apostle. But as time moved on and every one of the apostles began to die a martyr's death, except for John the beloved, many in the church by the second and third century, they began to lose that hope that maybe Jesus had made a mistake.

But let me say to you that the Word of God doesn't make a mistake. There are no mistakes. Whatever Jesus said, Jesus will complete and will fulfill in His time and not in our time. When you study eschatology, or the last things, or prophecy, you come to the understanding from the book of Genesis to the book of Malachi. Those are 39 Old Testament books that are given to us concerning the history of the nation of Israel and the way God dealt with them with His law.

When you come to the New Testament, from Matthew to the Book of Revelation, you have 27 books of the New Testament which speak of the life and the times of Jesus Christ, His birth, His death and resurrection, and also the promise of His coming again a second time to establish His kingdom on earth. How I thank God for the New Testament and for the promises that He gave to the prophets of old in the Old Testament.

Today and at His first coming, not only out of 500 prophecies made, 300 of them were fulfilled by Jesus Himself at His first coming and 200 more will be fulfilled at His second coming. Interesting when you study and you read the Word of God. Here in chapter 22 beginning with verse 20, we have the last written words of Jesus about glory. He says, "He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.'"

Three times in this closing chapter, the Lord Jesus Christ breaks in to remind us of His coming. It is quickly when you least expect it. In chapter 22, verse 7, He said, "Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book." In chapter 22, verse 12, He said, "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me to give to everyone according to his work."

Then finally, in Revelations 22:20, "He who testifies of these things says, 'Surely I am coming quickly. Amen,' or so be it. 'Even so, come, Lord Jesus.'" The last words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, to us, it seems like a long time since the promise was given almost 2,000 years. That's a long time to wait for the promise given by the Lord Jesus Christ.

And yet, Peter in 2 Peter 3:8 says, "But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day." Why? Because in heaven, it's eternity. When you get to heaven and you meet Peter, Paul, or John, or one of your loved ones, you're not going to be able to say, "How long have you been here?" because it's forever.

You see, we lose the track of time when we get to heaven. Right now on this earth, we are on a timetable. We live certain number of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years, and then the end comes. But Jesus can come at any time. One day is like a thousand years; a thousand years is like one day to the Lord. And that's why our prayer every day should be, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

Lord, I'm ready. I'm ready for You to come. We want to be sure that we are ready for the Lord to come. If you were to look at prophecy today and because we have chronologically in eschatology, we have a period of 7,000 years to be fulfilled, we know that right now we're getting close to fulfilling the last 6,000 years of history on the earth.

The next great event prophetically in the Bible is the rapture of the church where the church will be taken to heaven previous to the seven-year tribulation period that is coming upon the world, which you don't want to be here for that time. It will be a time of great trouble like the world has never experienced in life. The Bible says that unless those days were shortened, nobody will be able to survive it.

But because of the Jew, God will shorten those days. Otherwise, everybody would be killed. And yet, when we look at the prophetic calendar of God, we see that our redemption draweth nigh. Why? Because we will be coming back with Jesus Christ at His second coming, riding upon white horses, coming back as He sets up judgment on the nations.

Coming back to the Battle of Armageddon, the last World War on earth, as God destroys the armies of the world as they turn against Him. And there will be in the Valley of Megiddo 180 to 200 miles of men's blood, five feet deep, like the world has never seen before. A battle of battles. And yet to us as Christians, it is a glorious thing for the Lord to come.

In Matthew 16:27, Jesus talking to His disciples in Caesarea Philippi said this to them after Peter made his confession, "You are the Messiah, the anointed one of God." He said, "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of the Father with His angels, and then He will reward each one according to his works." And then again, in the sermon to the disciples on the Mount of Olives discourse in Matthew 24:30, He said, "The sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

Think about how great power God will have at His coming where every eye will see Him coming back. And we, the church, will be coming back with Him riding upon white horses. Titus 2:13 says, "Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ." Secondly, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a holy and just coming.

In Revelations 19:11, he says, "And now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True. In righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His head were many crowns and had a name written on each one, and no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood."

His name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven were clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and followed Jesus on white horses. Guess who that is? That's you and me at the second coming. He says in verse 15, "And now out of His mouth goes a sharp two-edged sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron."

"And He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God Almighty. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." You see? He's it. Lord of lords, King of kings. He will be coming back at the second coming to take care of business on this earth. Many people think that God has forgotten to come back, but that's not true.

Because His coming, thirdly, will be a personal coming. Personal. In Mark 8:38, He says, "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with His holy angels." And then in John 21:20-22, John said, "And then Peter turning around saw the disciple who Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at supper time and said, 'Lord, who is this one who betrays you?'"

This is talking about Judas' betrayal. And Peter seeing him said, "Jesus, but Lord, what about this man?" He's talking about John. And Jesus said to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you, Peter? Follow Me." Peter, quit worrying about John and worry about yourself. You see, the Lord doesn't want us to get so caught up with everybody else that we forget ourselves that Jesus is coming.

You see, Jesus was telling Peter, "Peter, if I want John to live for a thousand years, that's none of your business. You better think about yourself, Peter." And it's really important in our own personal lives that we understand that the Lord will come again. In Acts 1:10-11, Jesus said, "And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven and as He went up to heaven, behold, two men stood by them in white dress, who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why are you standing gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will also so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.'"

In Zechariah chapter 14, he tells us in verse 1, that when He comes back and He fights at the Battle of Armageddon, His first stop will be on the Mount of Olives as He will place His right foot on top of the Mount of Olives as He's landing down and stepping down. And the Mount of Olives is going to go into a great earthquake and it's going to cleave in half to the north and to the east.

There will be a great valley there in the city of Jerusalem. It's really important that we understand what Jesus said in His prophecies of His coming. He promised it. He will keep His promises. Fourthly, the coming of Christ, it is powerful. Powerful, as we already saw in Matthew 24:30. "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

Great glory. Imagine that. And then in 2 Peter 3:10, he reminds us again, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with a fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up." This world, one day, it's going to be consumed by fire. No more water.

It's interesting how people think that everything we possess will last forever. We die and we leave it for others. They die and they leave it for others, but one day everything will melt in the fire. Nothing will remain. It is really important that we invest into the kingdom of God because that's where the value of your heart really is. Jesus said that in His Sermon on the Mount. Where your treasure is, there is your heart.

Very important that we understand that we're only here a limited time that God's given to us. We need to be looking for the coming of the Lord. And then fifthly, the coming of the Lord is going to be a visible coming. Everybody will see Him. I don't care where you are in the world at this time. In Mark 13:26, He said, "Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds and great power and glory."

In Acts 1:11, "Who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will also come in like manner as you saw Him go up into heaven.'" And then in Revelation 1:7, "Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him." Through television, through cable, through the internet, no excuse today. Notice. "And even they who pierced Him." Who's that? The Jews will see Him. "And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, amen, or so be it. Lord Jesus, come. Lord, we are ready for You to come."

I love these last words in verse 21, because as He's concluding with His coming and getting us set to His imminent return, then John concludes with the grace of God in our lives. He says, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. So be it." You know, how like God to close His book with a final reference of His grace. Unmerited favor that we don't deserve but yet He gives to us. Grace.

In Ephesians 2:8-9, he says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast." So as a believer, I understand that as I come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, I am saved by the grace of God. It is all of God and none of me. All I did was just believe and He gave me His love, He gave me His grace, He gave me His mercies, and He gave me salvation and eternal life.

He gave me the assurance that if I would die, that I would go to heaven. That's the grace of God given to each one of us individually. You see, the first thing we need to understand about grace is that as believers, we are under full grace. Not works, not the law, but grace. Paul the apostle in Romans 6:14 said, "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under the grace of God. Under the grace of God."

Secondly, as believers, we have received this beautiful gift of grace. In John 1:16, he says, "And of His fullness we all have received and grace for grace." You see? In Romans 5:2, he says, "Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." The glory of God because of His grace.

Lastly, as believers, we grow in grace every day. As we come to church and we sit and we study the Bible, as we read and take care of our devotional life during the mornings, and throughout the day as we walk by faith and we live by grace, everything amounts as God's gift given to each one of us individually. Peter said this: "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever and ever and ever. So be it." How awesome the grace of God to each one of us.

What a great testimony to our Savior's heart that His last statement to us is a promise to return and bring us home with Him to heaven.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Our study today was titled The Final Words of Jesus. For a donation of five dollars or more, we'll be glad to send you an unedited version. Just call us at 800-634-9165. Now, as you think about more of the greatness of Jesus' grace, we'd like to strengthen your faith with Raul's four-lesson series titled Heaven or Hell.

Available on CD and USB, this resource provides clarity into the need for redemption from sin while outlining God's plan of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul's four-lesson Heaven or Hell study. We'll send you the CD set for 18 dollars or the thumb drive for 10 dollars.

The number again is 800-634-9165. Or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, Post Office Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765. This radio ministry with Raul Ries is fully listener-supported. We are grateful for the tax-deductible gifts that enable us to keep sharing truth from God's Word.

And next time, as we begin a new series designed to encourage and motivate godly fathers, we invite you to join us. You'll see that the more personal time you spend with the Lord, the more equipped you'll be to guide and support your family as its spiritual leader. This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.