Why Jesus Must Return, Part 2

Father, we thank you so much for the truth of your word and the opportunity to study this evening. We ask, Lord, that as we understand more about the return of the King, you would enable us to live for the glory and honor of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We pray in your blessed name.

Amen. Turn with me in your Bible, if you would, to Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1. We are looking at the return of the King. Asking and answering why Jesus must come back again.

We began this a couple of weeks ago, and we're going to do it this evening and, of course, next week. And then we will progress through our understanding of prophecy and eschatology and the return of Jesus Christ to this earth. But 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, was here.

He walked the earth. It was prophesied that the Messiah of Israel would come. It was prophesied that He would live on this earth and that He would die.

It was prophesied that He would be crucified. It was prophesied that He would be raised from the dead. And sure enough, Jesus came.

He lived. He was crucified. He died and rose again.

After He rose again, He appeared to some 500 different individuals, and He talked to them about His Kingdom. In Acts chapter 1, He spent 40 days with His disciples. It says this in verse number 3, To these He also presented Himself alive after suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the Kingdom of God.

As you recall, Jesus, when He came, came preaching about the Kingdom of God. In fact, in Luke chapter 4, He said, I must preach the Kingdom of God. I must fulfill the purpose of my Father.

So when He came, He came preaching the Kingdom. He was the King. And the King presents the Kingdom to the people.

Well, after He died, because Israel would not have that King, according to Luke 19, rule over them, He rose again. He spent 40 days particularly talking to His disciples about things pertaining to the Kingdom. That is the sphere of God's rule.

When you think of a Kingdom, you think of the reign of the King, the dominion of the King. And so we know that there is a universal Kingdom. We know that because Psalm 103 verse number 19 talks about the Lord God and His sovereignty, how it rules over all.

There is a universal Kingdom. That is, the Lord God rules the universe. We also know there is a spiritual Kingdom.

We know that because Romans 14, 17 says that the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Colossians 1, 13 tells us that we were transferred from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of God's dear Son. So there is a spiritual Kingdom.

It's a Kingdom in the hearts and lives of people who have submitted to the rulership of the King. But the Bible also speaks of a literal Kingdom. That's why when we pray, we pray our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

There is a prayer taught to us by our Lord that we are to pray for God's Kingdom to come to Earth. Well, the Lord would teach His men about that Kingdom throughout His ministry. But 40 days after His resurrection, He spent time talking to them pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

That's important. Because as you read on, it says this in verse number 6, and so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the Kingdom to Israel? That question is very important. What would prompt the question? 40 days of discussion about the Kingdom of God.

So the question comes, is it at this time you are going to restore the Kingdom to Israel? So evidently the Lord had talked to them about restoring the Kingdom to Israel. So now they ask the question, is now the time? And Jesus did not deny He was going to restore the Kingdom to Israel. He just said these words, it is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.

In other words, God has fixed the time to restore the Kingdom of Israel. God has fixed the time, the era, in which that's going to take place. You're not to know that at this point.

And then He says, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. Now you must admit that the disciples had maybe a little bit of a selfish motive as to the Kingdom of God coming to earth and the Kingdom being restored to Israel because they were promised that they would rule over the tribes of Israel. And so there was a certain rulership that they would have if the Kingdom was restored.

And Jesus' response was simple this, you need not be concerned with ruling with Me in eternity, but revealing Me to humanity. That's what you need to be consumed with. And then this happens.

After He said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on. And a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.

Stop right there. It doesn't say they were angels. It says two men in white apparel.

They could possibly be Moses and Elijah. We don't know that. It doesn't tell us.

It's two men in white apparel. And it says this, And they said to them, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taking up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven. In other words, as He literally and physically ascended, He will literally and physically descend.

That is very important to understand. Because it speaks to the fact that Jesus is going to come again. It is a certainty.

We don't know when that time is going to happen. But we expect that time to happen. Because He's going to restore the kingdom to Israel.

The two men in white apparel said, He will arrive just as He left. Physically He left. Literally He left.

He ascended right in their presence. And sure enough, He will descend one day. This made a big impression in Peter's life.

Big impression. A big impression on all the apostles' lives. Because they lived in the light of the return of the king.

They lived in the light of that promise. They lived not knowing when the king would return. But he had spent 40 days talking to them about the events surrounding the kingdom of God.

They knew there was going to be a restoration of Israel. Because that was a part of the conversation. And Jesus reaffirmed the fact that He was going to come by telling them that the Father had fixed that time.

And it wasn't important for them to know the exact time when He would arrive. Because they had a responsibility. And that was this.

They had to reveal Him to humanity. And what did they have to reveal to the world about Christ? That He was the king and the king is coming again. There's a king with a kingdom and that king is coming to establish that kingdom on earth.

That's the message. And that's what they did all through the book of Acts. That's what they did in the epistles.

That consumed them. And so we believe in the return of the king. We believe that Jesus is going to come again.

And we know the Bible says in 2 Peter chapter 3 that in the last days there will be scoffers. Who will say where is the promise of His coming? Peter would talk about the scoffers who would come. He would talk about them because the Lord had given a parable during His earthly ministry.

A parable in Luke chapter 12. So I want you to turn with me in your Bible to Luke chapter 12 for a moment please. Luke chapter 12.

In Luke chapter 12 the Lord gives a parable. It's prompted by a question by Peter. We told you on Sunday that Luke chapter 12 is a pivotal section of scripture because it talks about how Christ presents the kingdom to people.

That they might be a part of that kingdom. How they must embrace God the Father. Embrace God the Son.

Embrace God the Spirit. And set aside all covetousness. Why? Because the king is coming.

So in verse 35 and following he talks about the readiness of people. That they might be on the alert. That they might be dressed properly awaiting the arrival of the king.

And so Peter asks this question. He says Lord, verse 41, are you addressing this parable to us or to everyone else as well? And the Lord said, He gave a parable. Who then is the faithful and sensible steward? Who his master will put in charge of his servants to give them their rations at the proper time.

Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says in his heart my master will be a long time in coming or my master will delay his coming.

Or in other words he scoffs at the arrival of his master. And begins to beat the slaves both men and women and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him.

And at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will shall receive many lashes. But the one who did not know it and committed deeds worthy of a flogging will receive but a few.

And from everyone who has been given much shall be required and to whom they entrusted much of him they will ask all the more. Now remember Peter heard the parable. He knew that there would be people who would scoff at the return of the master.

Now remember in those days they didn't have watches, they didn't have clocks you know. So the master was going to say you know what I'm going to be back tomorrow at two o'clock. When the master left on a trip and he left his slaves in charge to be responsible for that which was there they had to be faithful stewards.

They had to fulfill their obligations. And they did not know when the master was going to return. And there were two groups of people in the parable.

The faithful and the unfaithful. Among the unfaithful there were those who were cut into pieces. There were those who received many lashes and there were those who received just a few lashes.

But all of them were unbelievers. All of them were. But there was one who was faithful.

He lived in the expectation of the return of his master. Because you see the characteristic of a believer is because we are the bride we live in anticipation of the coming of the bridegroom. We do.

That's what makes the return of the king so important to us. We are the bride, the church. And we live in anticipation for the call of the bridegroom to take us home.

That's how we live our lives. I've never met a bride who never lived in anticipation of her wedding day. The moment she's engaged she lives in anticipation of that one great event in her life that she will remember forever.

Hopefully it's a good event. Hopefully it's a good day. It goes well.

But she lives in anticipation of that beautiful union. Well the church, the bride of Christ, lives in anticipation of the arrival of the bridegroom. We are the ones who the Bible says are looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

That is 2.13. We are the ones who as Paul said in 2.48 love His appearing. A characteristic of a believer is that he's looking upward and loving the arrival of the bridegroom. Can't wait to see him.

The faithful the faithful slave did what the master had asked, was responsible with that which was entrusted to him while his master was away. But there was a certain slave who said I'm not sure he's coming. He may not ever come back.

He did what he wanted to do. He abused those that were under him. He ate, he drank, he did whatever he wanted to do.

Within the parable context of Luke chapter 12 it deals with the Pharisees and the religious elite. And there were others who necessarily weren't anticipating the arrival of their master. They just did not do as much.

And they received many lashes. There were others who didn't know what to do and they just still received a few lashes. It talks about the degrees of punishment in hell.

Referring specifically to the more you know the greater the responsibility, the greater the punishment. The less you know you're still not off the hook because you'll still be punished. Because the law of God is written on the heart of man and man by nature suppresses the truth according to Romans chapter 1. The point being is that the master is going to come back and there will be people who scoff and people who are skeptics about the return of the king.

We believe that Jesus is going to come again. We live in the light of his return. The believers live that way.

We want to see the bridegroom. And we told you last week we live anticipating the future. And yet there are people today we call them preterists.

People who believe that everything in the future has been pushed into the past. That's what a preterist is. There are people who take prophecy and push it into the past.

Particularly the happenings of 70 AD. There are two kinds of preterists. There are hyper preterists or full preterists.

And then there are partial preterists. It takes you know quite a while to figure out what it is they believe because there are no two preterists who agree on the same thing. That's how you know their view of scripture is invalid.

But someone who is a hyper preterist or a full preterist. They're called people who believe in realized eschatology. That is eschatology the end time has been realized.

In other words they believe that there is no return of the king because he already returned in 70 AD. They believe in no rapture of the church. They believe in no tribulation.

No seal judgments. No trumpet judgments. No bowl judgments.

They don't believe in an abomination of desolation. They don't believe in a battle called Armageddon. They don't believe in a new heaven and a new earth.

In fact they believe that this is the new heaven and the new earth. That's a hard sell for me. I don't get that.

But this is the new heaven and the new earth. And they believe that Satan has already been bound. Well if that's the case why does he go about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

And why does John say that the whole world lies in the lap of the evil one. You see it's important to understand what people believe because there is so much error out there. It's important to realize that when you read scripture that there's something to anticipate.

And that's the return of the king. If you're a hyperpreterist or a full preterist you live beyond the book of Revelation. You live in the concordance of your Bible.

You live in the map section. You live in the back flap of your Bible. In other words you live outside your Bible if you're a hyperpreterist.

Okay. And there are many theologians who fall into that category. So the question comes how does someone read the Bible and come up with the view of hyperpreterism.

Answer. You don't. You learned what you know from somebody else who doesn't take the Bible literally.

That's how you come up with the false view. Nobody can read the Bible literally and come up with a view other than what the Bible actually teaches about the return of the king. And yet people will listen to those who don't take the Bible literally who come up with all these different ideas and they begin to glop onto those ideas and say they are theologians.

Well the problem with that is is that it denies it denies the crucial doctrine of the return of the king and what the Bible has to say about that. The second coming cannot be trivialized. It cannot be diminished.

In fact to diminish the second coming is to diminish the glory of Christ as consummator. Doing what the evolutionist does by diminishing the glory of Christ as creator. That is so important.

If you trivialize the second coming of Christ. If you diminish the second coming of Christ. If you just kind of pass it off as well maybe it will happen maybe it won't happen.

You have denied the glory of Christ as consummator of all things. I'm not sure you want to go there. I'm not sure you want to go that direction.

So we're here to teach you what the Bible says about the return of the king. And so we told you last week point number one the person of God demands a return of the king. God the father, God the son and God the Holy Spirit.

And we told you there were the teachings of the father, tidings of the father, the teachings of the son and the testimony of the spirit of God. The triune nature of God God the father, God the son, God the spirit demands the return of the king. And we told you last week and we've told you on many occasions that there are 333 prophecies in the Old Testament about the arrival of the Messiah.

And there were 109 of them fulfilled in His first coming. All literal fulfillments. None of them symbolic.

So if there are 224 yet to be fulfilled why would the Lord all of a sudden make those symbolic and not literal? In fact if He doesn't fulfill them literally as He did the 109 of the 333 then His character is called into question. The validity and the veracity of His nature is called into question. Why would He promise something that would literally be fulfilled and then leave us hanging with the majority of the other prophecies about the arrival of the Messiah to be unfulfilled or fulfilled in some symbolic kind of way.

Why did God give prophecy? To prove the validity of His nature. His trustworthiness. You can count on Him.

He is faithful. So when the Lord God makes a prophecy when God says to Noah I'm done with man I'm going to destroy him at the face of the earth. It's going to rain and they will all die.

And Noah preaches that. He is the faithful preacher of righteousness. So for 120 years he preaches God said it's going to rain.

God is going to destroy the earth. You've got to repent. They laughed.

They scoffed. So what did God do? Fulfill His word right? To show you that He was trustworthy. That you could count on Him.

Well that's the way God is. God's not going to give you a prophecy and then not fulfill it literally and physically just like He said it. So the tidings of the Father are at stake.

Everything He said about the arrival of the Messiah in the Old Testament is true. And we take it at face value. And then we told you there were the teachings of the Savior.

The Son. Jesus said if I go away I will come again and I will receive you unto Myself. In Matthew 24 and Matthew 25 He kept talking about how the Son of Man is going to return.

In fact He referred to Himself as the Son of Man. Over and over again in the Gospels. So that people would automatically go back to Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14 to know about the arrival of the Son of Man which was the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy.

We also know that Jesus made it very clear in different parables. The one we read this evening in Luke 12. Also the one in Luke chapter 19 about the nobleman and his return.

Always spoke about the fact that He was coming again. In fact six times in the book of Revelation Jesus shouted it from Heaven. Behold I come quickly.

So Jesus wanted you to know that He was going to return. And He even gave a preview of His return on the Mount of Transfiguration. When He took Peter, James and John up onto that mountain and unzipped His flesh with Moses and Elijah there to give them a preview of the coming Kingdom of God.

And that made such an impact in Peter's life that he would record that event in 2 Peter chapter 1 to help us understand the importance of it. And when He did He said that we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty. We beheld the glory of God.

And He would explain to us the importance of that time. And then He said these words. He said this.

We ourselves verse 18 heard the utterance made from Heaven and we were with Him on the Holy Mountain. And so we have the prophetic word made more sure or more certain or more firm to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. In other words listen you don't have to believe my experience because there is something more sure and more certain than what I saw.

And that is what you read in the text of Scripture. He affirmed the authority of Scripture. He wanted the people who would read His epistle to understand that you have something more sure than what I saw.

You have the written word of God. And that's why He would go on to say but know this first of all that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. And that's a testimony of the Spirit of God to prove the return of the King because the Spirit of God would prompt the writers to talk about the coming King and His Kingdom.

So the person of God demands the King return. God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit. That was last week.

Okay? Now the purposes of God determine it. The purposes of God determine it. The purposes of God number one for the church.

The purposes of God number two for the nations. And the purposes of God number three for Israel. Notice them carefully.

The purpose for the church is joy with God. The purpose for the nations is judgment by God and the purpose for Israel is to be justified by God. All those purposes will be fulfilled in the return of the King.

And God has a determined purpose that He will fulfill in the life of the church, the nations and the nation of Israel itself. Let's begin with the church. If you have your Bible turn with me to Acts chapter 15.

Acts chapter 15. Peter is at the Jerusalem council. He's given a report about Gentile conversions.

He's talking about all these Gentiles who are coming to faith. It's a great story. Acts chapter 15.

And we pick up the narrative in verse number 13 and it says, James answered saying, brethren listen to me. Simeon who is Peter has related how God first concerned himself about taking out among the Gentiles a people for his name. Stop right there.

Peter affirmed the fact that God was calling out people for his name. The church is the ekklesia. The called out ones.

Ekk meaning out. Kaleo means the called. We are the called out ones.

We the Gentiles are called out to be a part of the church of Jesus Christ. Now do we have our little thing on the board there Peggy? Ah see, caught you sleeping up there didn't I Peg? Ah see. Now we are right now in the church age right here.

This is where the called out ones exist. The church age. Peter comes and explains that God is calling out Gentiles to his name.

We know about the conversion of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 and the vision that Peter had about Gentiles coming to Christ and the birth of the church in Acts chapter 2 and all that was taking place. But the conversion of Gentiles was a major event because it deals with the church of Jesus Christ. And so we begin to see that James says how Peter had talked to us about how God was taking out Gentiles for his own name.

Verse 15. And with this the words of the prophets agree just as it is written. Listen to this.

After these things. Now James goes and quotes the book of Amos. After these things.

What things? After God calls out from among the Gentiles people for his name. After these things I will what? Return. So there has to be a church age right here.

And when there is a church age James says quoting Amos that the king himself will return. But he can't return until God has called out the Gentiles for his name. So in the process of God calling out Gentiles we know that Jesus Christ does not call us home to be with him until that last Gentile for known only by God is finally saved.

When that person is saved whoop off we go whoever that person is. So you can talk about, listen carefully, all the end time events you want about how everything is looking for the return of Christ. Forget about all that stuff.

Has nothing to do with that. Has everything to do with the conversion of the last Gentile in the church age. And we don't know who that is.

But the Lord God knows. Right? Now follow with me. It says after these things I will return.

And then it says and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen and I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it. So God has a plan for the church. He is going to call out a people for his name among the Gentile nations.

Within that there are Jewish people who will be saved in the church age. And they become a part of the bride of Christ. Okay? And after they are called out, whenever that is then God says I will return.

I will return. And I will not only return but I will rebuild your ruins. In other words what he is going to do he is going to rebuild the tabernacle, I mean the temple of God.

How do we know that? Well we know from the book of Zachariah. Zachariah chapter 6. Zachariah chapter 6 says these words about the coming Messiah. It says verse number 12.

Behold a man whose name is Branch, we know that is a name for the Messiah, for he will branch out from where he is and he will build the temple of the Lord. Yes it is he who will build the temple of the Lord. Now if you go to the Temple Institute in Israel today they will tell you that the nation of Israel is going to build the next temple.

Well they are right they are. But they are not going to build it for the Messiah they are going to build it for the anti-Messiah. But they will build the next temple because Messiah is going to build his temple.

When he returns he will build his temple. So Acts 15 becomes crucial in terms of the church age in what we believe about the return of the king. After this, after this, after what? After the church age.

After the church has been built. God said I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Then I will return.

So the Messiah is not going to return until the church has been built in the church age. And then he will come back. Now there is a sequential plan in the mind of God plus there is a symbolic picture that God wants us to see.

So the Bible says these words in the book of Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11 verse number 2. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy for I betrothed you to one husband that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. Over in Matthew chapter 19 I'm sorry Revelation chapter 19 it says this Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready and it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen bright and clean for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And he said to me write blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

And he said to me these are true words of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him and he said to me do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus.

Worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It's important to understand that there is a picture a marital picture of the return of the king. We know there are three phases to a Jewish wedding.

First of all there's the legal contract then there's the betrothal and then there's the marriage feast. The legal contract happens usually before the two children are old enough to make a decision. In other words the family's making the decision about who they're going to marry.

Why do they do that? Because in a Jewish mind they go beyond the external romantic feelings that people have. They know that a marriage has more to do with family than anything else. They know that.

Those of you who have problems with your in-laws don't you wish you knew that? So they know that. So what they do is they sign a legal contract. So the father of the husband to be or the husband himself will pay a dowry.

And that dowry is paid for the express purpose of taking care of that bride in case something happens to that bridegroom. There's a legal contract that's signed and most of the time the young girl and the young man have no part or say in who they're going to marry. The parents come together.

They make that legal binding contract. And it's paid with by a dowry. Well Hebrews 13 tells us that in eternity past there was an eternal covenant made between God the Father and God the Son.

And that contract was made legal by the blood of Jesus Christ at Calvary. Acts 20 28 says that he purchased the church with his blood. Ephesians chapter 5 verses 25 to 27 speak particularly about how Christ paid the price for his church.

That he might be able to present her spotless and pure one day to his father. The legal contract was made by the blood of Jesus Christ. Then came the betrothal period.

The bridegroom and the bride would gather together. There would be some invited guests and they would sit and they would exchange gifts one with another. It wasn't a long ceremony but it began the betrothal period.

So people would begin to understand all that was involved in these two and their relationship. And those invited guests would come and there would be an exchange of gifts. Well we know, we know that there was an exchange of gifts when we received, as Ephesians 4 8 says, God gave gifts to man.

And the Holy Spirit gives us the power to operate those gifts and the Spirit of God becomes the down payment okay, the wedding wing, the guarantee of a marriage consummation. And after that betrothal period, or during that betrothal period, what would happen is that that bridegroom then would leave that ceremony and he would go and he would begin to prepare the home for his bride. And in those days they would build onto their father's house a room or rooms where the bridegroom would go, get his bride and bring her to that chamber.

Well that's exactly what Jesus did when he said I go and prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself. Now we don't know when he's going to come, neither did the bride know when the bridegroom was going to come she had to always be ready for his appearing. We don't know when the bridegroom is going to come for us, but we know he's going to return.

When he returns, okay, and calls, he calls everybody together for what we call the marriage feast. It could last a week, it could last several weeks, it depends on how rich the individual was and all that was prepared for that. There becomes that marriage feast and that marriage feast includes, listen carefully, a presentation of the bride and remember at a Jewish wedding it's the bridegroom who is the center of attention not the bride.

We have a hard time swallowing that today. And it's true that the bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ receives all the attention. And so what happens is that, what happens during the church age during this time in which there's been a legal contract that was signed, we are purchased by the blood of Christ on Calvary, the father sent the son, the son went back to heaven preparing a place for us and he will come again and receive us to himself.

And what he does, that's the rapture of the church, he will come and take us home to be with him and there begins the marriage feast. There it begins, it doesn't end there. Because the consummation of the marriage does not happen until the new heaven and the new earth, Revelation 21 verse number 9. So there's no consummation of the wedding between the bride and the bridegroom until the new heaven and the new earth.

What happens is that the feast begins here because amidst the marital feast there are festivities, there's a meal, there's a celebration and what Jesus does is present the bride to his father. What's the presenter? Pure, spotless virgin to his father according to Ephesians chapter 5. And that's what he does. And so he'll take us home, present us to his father, present us to the angels, present us to the spirits of those who are from the Old Testament who are in glory, present us there and then we will return with him and almost like there's another presentation, that's why when Jesus Christ returns he comes back with the phrase faithful and true because he made a promise to the church.

He made a promise to the church and the whole world needs to know who the bride is. And so he comes back with the bride so they might see him. And then the marriage supper of the Lamb, not only that, that's what began up here, now continues throughout the whole millennial kingdom.

It's one huge celebratory feast that happens that whole time. But the consummation of that marriage is what happened to Revelation 21 verse 9, the new heaven and the new earth. So why do I tell you that? God has a purpose for the church.

That purpose must be fulfilled. And so he will gather together a people for himself. He will build his church.

He's building his church because there's been a partial blinding of Israel, only for a while. We'll talk about that in a second. But he goes to prepare a place for his bride.

And they'll come at a moment she does not know but she must be ready. She must be alert. And they'll take their bride home to present that bride to his father.

And thus begins the celebratory feast. That's why in Revelation 4 and 5 there's a great celebration in heaven about the Lamb by the way, not the bride. It's about the bridegroom.

And there's a great celebration about the Lamb. It's called the marriage supper of the Lamb. And it's a beautiful picture, a symbolic picture of what Christ is going to do with the church.

So God has a purpose for the church. And that is joy with God. Joy with God.

He has a purpose for the nations. And that is judgment by God. Judgment by God.

We know that John chapter 5 tells us that all judgment has been given over to the Son, right? All judgment has been given over to the Son. Well God has a purpose for the nations. He's going to judge the nations.

Now listen carefully. He's going to judge them on earth. How do we know that? Turn with me in your Bible to Joel chapter 3. Joel chapter 3 verse number 1. For behold in those days and at that time.

Now what days and what time? Well go back up to verse 30 and 31 of chapter 2. And I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire, and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. Well you cross reference that with Matthew chapter 24 and you know that the whole world is dark when the Son of Man returns.

So it's in those days at that time. When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. So this judgment happens on earth.

And then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of my people and my inheritance Israel whom they have scattered among the nations and they have divided up my land. So God is going to go into judgment against the nations. Where? In the valley of Jehoshaphat.

Look at verse number 9 of chapter 3. Proclaim this among the nations. Prepare a war. Rouse the mighty men.

Let all the soldiers draw near. Let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears.

Let the weak say I am a mighty man. Hasten and come all you surrounding nations. And gather yourselves there.

Bring down O Lord thy mighty ones. Let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat. For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

Put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe. Come tread for the wine press is full. The vats overflow for the wickedness is great.

Multitudes multitudes in the valley of decision. For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon grew dark.

And the stars lose their brightness. And the Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem. And the heavens and the earth tremble.

But the Lord is a refuge for his people and a strong hold for the sons of Israel. The valley of Jehoshaphat is called the valley of decision. The valley of decision the valley of Jehoshaphat are one and the same.

It's also called the Kidron Valley. Three names for one location. And the Bible says that God has a judgment of the nations in the valley of decision.

It's called the valley of decision because those who he judges did not decide properly about who the king was, who the Messiah was. He will judge them in the valley of Jehoshaphat. And so when you come over to Matthew chapter 25 in Matthew 25 you have this judgment.

Matthew chapter 25 verse number, I've got to find it here I'm sorry Matthew 25 verse number 31. Thank you Jack. But when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him then he will sit on his glorious throne and all the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them from one another as a shepherd separates a sheep from the goats and he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

This is the fulfillment of Joel chapter 3. This is not the great white throne judgment. Okay. The great white throne judgment that takes place at the end of the millennial kingdom right here.

This is not the great white throne judgment. This is the judgment that takes place at the return of the king to this earth. And what he does is he judges the nations.

The book of Revelation chapter 14 says the exact same thing. Revelation chapter 14 and the, I'm sorry Revelation 14 verse number 14. And I looked and behold a white cloud and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man.

Daniel 7 13 is the fulfillment, this is the fulfillment of Daniel 7 13. Having a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand and another angel came out of the temple crying out with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud put in your sickle and reap because the hour to reap has come because the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he who sat on the cloud swung a sickle over the earth and the earth was reaped.

It's the judgment of God among the nations. Remember we told you Jude 14, Jude 15 the first prophecy about God to man was a prophecy about the return of the king to judge all the ungodly ones. Enoch gave that prophecy.

We talked about that when we studied the book of Jude. 2nd Thessalonians 1 verse 68 talks about the judgment that God will enact on those who do not know him and who do not obey the gospel of God. There's going to be a judgment of the nations.

It's going to happen in a valley. A valley you can go to today. You can walk in today.

It's called the Valley of Decision. The Kidron Valley. The Valley of Jehoshaphat according to Joel chapter 3. Matthew 25 is the fulfillment of that when the king returns.

There's a purpose for the church. It's joy with God. There's a purpose for the nations.

It's judgment by God and there's a purpose for Israel. It's justified by God. Romans chapter 11 Romans chapter 11 says this this is so good.

Verse 25 For I do not want you brethren to be uninformed of this mystery lest you be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel. It's not a full hardening it's a partial hardening. Listen carefully until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

The word until is a reference to time. The word fullness is a reference to completion. There is a time of completion.

The time of completion is the time where the Gentiles are saved. Listen carefully. It says until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

A phrase used by Christ in the Gospels referring to entrance into the kingdom and entrance into heaven. It's a reference specifically referring to the salvation of man. So there's a partial hardening of Israel until the completion of the saving of the Gentile people.

The fullness of the Gentiles. When that is done there's the rapture of the church. Now God deals with Israel.

God has a purpose for Israel. That's why the tribulation, the seven year tribulation that occurs right here is called the time of Jacob's trouble. Because the tribulation is designed to purge out the rebels of Israel and to save a remnant of Israel.

The Bible says simply that God is going to save Israel. The Bible says in the book of Zechariah these words chapter 12 verse number 10 and I will pour out on the house of David and on the heavens of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication so 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. Chapter 13 verse number 1 in that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for impurity.

And it says in verse number 8 of chapter 13 and it will come about in all the land declares the Lord that two parts in it will be cut off and perish but the third will be left in it and I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name and I will answer them and I will say they are my people and they will say the Lord is my God. So in Acts chapter 1 when the disciples said is the kingdom going to be restored to Israel right now and Jesus responded by saying you know what that's a fixed time in my father's mind.

That's up to him. He's going to do all that. When's he going to do all that? He's going to do that during the tribulation period.

We know he saved 144,000 Jews right? Revelation chapter 7 12,000 from every tribe. Those 144,000 are saved because there are two witnesses in Revelation chapter 11. One like Moses, one like Elijah.

Unbelievable characters who are used by God in a supernatural way. Fire comes out of their mouth to devour and to incinerate all those who want to come against them and 144,000 Jews are saved and there's an angel that flies around in midheaven proclaiming the gospel of God according to Revelation chapter 14 and throughout the time of Jacob's trouble God is going to purge out certain ones over in the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 20 verse number 33 as I live declares the Lord God surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out I shall be king over you and I shall bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out and I shall bring you into the wilderness of the peoples and there I shall enter into judgment with you face to face and I shall make you pass, verse 37, under the rod and I shall bring you into the bond of the covenant.

I'm going to make you pass through the rod. I'm going to judge your fellow brethren and I'm going to bring you through that rod and bring you into the covenant and we know that there's a third of that nation that is saved during the tribulation and that remnant is the remnant that God brings into his glorious kingdom when he returns again. God has a plan for Israel.

That plan is based number one on his foreknowledge. Romans 11 verse number 2 Romans 11 verse number 2 simply says these words God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew the salvation of Israel is based on the foreknowledge of God. The salvation of Israel is based on the faithfulness of God.

Psalm 89 states it this way, verse number 30: "If his sons forsake my law and do not walk in my judgments, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments" - which they didn't - "then I will visit their transgression with the rod" - that's Ezekiel chapter 20 we just read - "and their iniquity with stripes. But I will not break off my loving kindness from him nor deal falsely in my faithfulness. My covenant I will not violate, nor will I alter the utterance of my lips. Once I have sworn by my holiness I will not lie to David. His descendants shall endure forever and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established forever like the moon, and the witness in the sky is faithful."

God will save Israel because of His foreknowledge. He foreknew them. He will save them because of His faithfulness. He made a covenant with David. He will not lie. He will save them because of His forgiveness. Jeremiah chapter 31, Jeremiah 31 verse number 31 says: "Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke although I was a husband to them," declares the Lord. "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the Lord. "I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the Lord. "For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more."

God has a purpose for Israel: to save them. He's going to save a remnant of Israel. That remnant is the "all" of Romans 11:26 which says "all Israel will be saved." The "all" is the one third that's left during the tribulation. They will be saved. God will restore the kingdom to Israel just like He promised. So God has a purpose for Israel, and that is they'll be justified. They'll be made right with God. Finally, He has a purpose for the nations: to judge them. He has a purpose for the church: that we would have joy with God forever. The purposes of God determine the return of the King.

Let's pray. Father, thank You for tonight, a chance to study Your Word, the joy that You give us through the text of Scripture. We pray, Lord, that our lives would be committed to Christ and we'd follow You with all of our heart. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.