Matthew chapter number 24. Matthew chapter 24. Tonight's going to be a foundational message that will set the tone for the remainder of our study as we look at end time events and we answer the question, what's next? We look around us at a world that is turned upside down. we hear of wars and rumors of wars, don't we? It seems like that on every hand there are prognosticators out in the world that are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it, whether it be through climate, or whether it be through natural disaster, or whether it be through man self-destructing through war. But if you listen to the prognosticators of the world, they do not believe that our world can go on as it is. Can I say to us that our world will not go on as it is? The God who created this world has a plan for His world. Wouldn't you agree? It was God who brought the world into existence. It is God who will take it out of existence. But yet we are in a day when people are asking, what's next? Well, you find that very question asked by the disciples. Look, if you would, in verse number 3 of Matthew 24. And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, The disciples came unto Him privately. They've just left the temple mount. They've been talking about the beauty of the structure of the temple, the great buildings, the complex, the place, the center, the heart and soul of the Jewish nation as it resided there in the temple and the worship of Jehovah. And Jesus tells them, listen, don't get caught up in all these buildings. There's coming a day when there's not going to be left here, verse 2, one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down." He's actually prophesying the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jewish people that would last for 2,000 years. It took place in 70 A.D. when Titus, the Roman general Titus, brought his legions into Jerusalem to put down a Jewish rebellion against the government of Rome They crucified so many Jewish men along the roads that there was no more wood to crucify them. They destroyed the temple. They set the city on fire. They brought in oxen and plows and they plowed up the land and they sowed it in salt with the idea that there would never again be a Jewish nation. They dispersed them in their minds forever, and to add insult to injury, they renamed the land of Israel, formerly known as Canaan, they named it as Palestine, or Palestina. That is the name given to it by the Romans, not the people who are claiming the land other than the Jewish people today. The people that are claiming Palestinian ownership for the land of Israel are not being intellectually honest. They are not being historically truthful. The ownership of the nation of Israel to the land there in the Middle East dates back over 4,000 years when God gave it to the progenitor of the Hebrew race, a man by the name of Abraham. It is their land given to them and deeded to them by God. Two times God expelled them from the land for their sins. The first time was in 586 B.C. The Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar came in and destroyed the temple, destroyed the city, and dispersed the people. They were in Babylonian captivity for 70 years. At the end of 70 years, a man by the name of Zerubbabel and Ezra brought back a remnant of believing Jews that resettled the land and rebuilt the temple. The temple that Jesus is talking about here, that He actually preached in and taught in is the very temple that was rebuilt by Zerubbabel back after the Babylonian captivity, after the first exile. It has been expanded. It has been enlarged, especially by Herod the Great, alright, who loved architecture and building, and it is actually one of the wonders of the world. Jesus said, don't get caught up in it. There's going to come a day that it's going to be destroyed a second time. That is what He's telling them. The disciples in their mind relate this in some form, some fashion, to the coming of Jesus because Jesus has promised a kingdom to Israel. Lord, if you're going away, if the temple's going to be destroyed, if there's not going to be one stone left on another, what is next? It's almost a confusion to them because in their mind, they have been hearing for three and a half years that repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The King is here. If you'll receive Him, we'll set up a kingdom. For the second time, the second time, Israel has rejected God's plan for them. They're going to crucify their Messiah. For 2,000 years they will bear the chastening hand of God for crucifying and rejecting the Son of God. They will say, we have no king but Caesar. What shall I do with your king? We don't have a king but Caesar. Crucify Him. His blood be upon us and our children. For 2,000 years they've suffered the chastening hand of God on His earthly people for the rejection of their Messiah King. The disciples ask a question. Look again at verse 3. As He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? When is the temple going to be destroyed? The Lord Jesus answers that question in the Gospel of Luke. He does not answer that in Matthew's account of what we know of the Olivet Discourse. And then he asks two more pertinent questions that he does answer. And what shall be the sign of thy coming? Lord, if you're going to go away, if they're going to destroy the temple, what is going to be the sign that you're going to return and the end of the world? Lord, what's next? Isn't that what's being echoed even by Christians today? What's next? What shall be the sign of thy coming? That word coming has to do with an arrival. They're asking the Lord, what is the sign of Your full presence with us? That they were referring to a second coming is evident by the fact that the Lord Jesus was presently with them when they asked the question. He was there. They were talking to Him personally. They knew that there's something getting ready to take place. They knew He's going to have to come a second time to set up a kingdom. When are you going to come? The disciples were asking, when are you going to come in the fullness of all of your glory as Israel's rightful king and Messiah? Can I go ahead and give us some perspective tonight? That's what's happening before our very eyes in the Middle East. What is going on in the nation of Israel is as much spiritual as it is military. Satan hates God's earthly people, the Jews. All of the covenants of the Bible were given to them. We get to get in on it as Gentiles. God has a plan for His earthly people, the Jews. We're going to see that in our study. Okay? Jesus has promised, we'll see that in the book of Zechariah, that He will return to the Mount of Olives. He's going to come back to the very place from which He went back to heaven. His feet will touch down there when He rescues the nation of Israel from all the nations of the world that will gather against them. in the end times as it relates to the nation of Israel. Satan knows this from Bible prophecy. He is stirring up the world with the mindset of eradicating the Jewish nation so that Bible prophecy cannot be fulfilled. They don't understand that at the UN. They don't understand that in the halls of our government, by and large. The average American in our Ivy League schools, our young people, have absolutely no understanding of this. You say, preacher, why? Because they do not believe the Word of God. God is saying to those who believe on Him, I'm going to let you in on what's next, but I'm not telling the world what's next. They don't even understand it. They can understand it, but in order to do that, you have to, number one, be a believer. Number two, you have to understand and believe the Bible. Wouldn't we agree with that tonight? And so we have to understand that. Notice the word world in verse number 3. That word world is not talking about the destruction of our planet as we know it. Okay? It's an interesting word. It comes from a word which means ages. God has not only created the world, but within that He has created ages, or what we would call dispensations. They're economies of time in which God is dealing with men at different times throughout human history. And they're asking, what is the end of the age as it relates to the Jewish people? You have to recognize these guys are Jewish, they're of the nation of Israel, that is what their mindset is, and that is the question they're asking. What is your program for our nation? What's next for Israel? And the Lord is going to teach them that His plan will culminate in His coming. that His coming kingdom, that He will sit upon the throne of David. He will rule and reign over this world from the city of Jerusalem. He will inaugurate a kingdom that will last for a thousand years. We call that the millennium. When you go to Revelation chapter 20, we won't look at it tonight. He's going to repeatedly say over and over and over again about a kingdom and ruling and reigning for a thousand years. Understand that when Jesus comes again, that is not the destruction of our planet. It is the culmination of God's plan of what's next. Once Jesus comes back to this earth, there is another thousand years of human history in which Christ will rule personally from His throne on earth. Now whenever you and I study Bible prophecy, I'm going to give you some stuff to fill in on your paper here in just a moment. I'm laying some groundwork. There are two dangers. The first one is sensationalism. Our world is rife with sensationalist prophetic preaching. Date setting. talking about red heifers. Can I help us? They've been looking for red heifers forever. Can I help you understand that Jesus is not waiting on them finding a red heifer to cleanse the temple to come back? He will come back at the appointed time. We need to recognize that. Quit trying to find sensational happenings in our world to try to date set the coming of Jesus. Here's why. Because Jesus said, no man knows the day nor the hour. If somebody says, hey, I figured it out. I know when He's coming. You know automatically. I don't care what name He carries. I don't care if it's Baptist or Pentecostal or assembly of God or whatever. He is a liar. Because Jesus said nobody knows. That's important to understand. It's also important to understand that we don't interpret the Bible by what goes on in our world. If we did, as Hitler's armies rolled through Israel and the Middle East during World War II, The Lord would have missed a wonderful time to come back if that's what it takes for the Lord to come back. Every time there's a happening in Israel, the headlines, and now that you're rife with social media and uninformed pastors even in our own movement, and you say, what's our movement? Let's just say independent Baptist churches like ours. Let's just put it that way. That will get on their social media, they'll give you outlines, they'll give you this, they'll give you that. They're not rightly dividing the Word of Truth. And here's what happens. They cry wolf. Here it's happening. He's coming. Can I help you understand something? We're closer to Jesus' coming today than we were in Paul's day regardless of what happens in the Middle East. You say, why? Because we're 2,000 years on the other side of His promise. We have to be closer. Just common sense. But He's not waiting on something to happen to come. Understand that if you're coming because you think I'm going to give you something sensational, then I'm going to disappoint you. I'm going to give you something scriptural. Because our faith must be rooted in the Scriptures. You say, preacher, are you ever going to get to the outline? I promise. The other extreme is scoffing. The Bible says, in the last days, scoffers shall come. saying, where is the promise of His coming? How many times do we hear out in the world, I've been hearing that all of my life. Everything continues as it was. There's either sensationalism or scoffing. He's not coming. Can I tell you there's a better view? You say, preacher, what is it? It's called the Scriptures. I'm going to take you back to the Bible because our faith is based on the Bible. I appreciate well-meaning things at times, but confusion of God's people and creating hysteria, does not bring about a godly outcome in the lives of His people, nor does it... I can remember a day, Brother Vernon, you'd remember this, you was going to have a prophecy conference, buildings would be packed out. You have prophecy conferences today, hardly anybody shows up. You know why? Because sensationalism. trying to make it seem more than what it is in the headlines. You always interpret the headlines by the Bible. You say, preacher, are you tore up about what's happening in the Middle East? I am grieved at my heart at the terrorism and the destruction and the death that took place when terrorists came in and they looted and they destroyed and they killed. You say, well preacher, Israel brought it on theirself. Again, that is an absolute lie. Absolutely. You say, well, that's a prison. If anybody made Palestine or Gaza a prison, it was the terrorists. It wasn't the nation of Israel. That's fact. You see, what you have is satanic anti-Semitism that has taken our nation because our nation is no longer a Christian nation. Cultural Christianity in America is dead. That's just a fact. It used to be that pastors were respected, churches were respected, the Bible was respected, the things of God were respected. No longer is that the case. Our nation is becoming more and more hostile to biblical Christianity. You can believe in God. You can even believe the Bible. But just leave it in your house. That's where we are. You say, preacher, I'm seeing things happen around us. Yes, you are. Those are not signs. They are a setting of the stage. And there's a difference. Now when we talk about the second coming of Jesus, it's going to happen in two phases. Now we're in your notes tonight. In two phases. Phase number one is what we know as the rapture. Okay? We're going to look at that in detail in a doctrinal study of the rapture. The rapture of the church is the catching away or the snatching away of the saints of God prior to the wrath of God in the tribulation period being unleashed on our planet. Every saved person will be taken to heaven prior to the unleashing of the wrath of God on planet Earth. Let me just stop and say, our world will not get by with what it did to Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago. The second phase of the Lord's coming is His return. His return. That is His return to the earth. Let's give a little bit of differentiation between the two. And we're going to deal in a message with both of them. The first one is in the rapture He will come in the clouds. He will step out. The Bible says He comes in the air. Alright? He does not come down and touch down on planet earth. The Lord comes into what we would understand our atmosphere and He will catch away all who are saved. We will be taken supernaturally, escorted or translated to heaven. At the return, Jesus Christ comes in the clouds to this Earth. That's the difference. The disciples don't even understand the rapture fully yet. They're asking about His return to the earth and what signs will precede that. Alright? The rapture will be secret. What do you mean by that, preacher? That means it's going to happen so sudden, so quickly, every saying of God will be translated to heaven and the world won't even know it's happened until it's happened. The Bible uses this phraseology, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. At His return to the earth, it will be visible. It will be public. Every eye shall see Him, the Bible says. At the rapture, the saints escape wrath. That means we're taken out before the wrath of God comes. Alright? But at His return, unbelievers will experience wrath. Alright? That's important to remember. We're differentiating between the two phases of the Lord's coming. Alright? At the rapture, Christ will come for His saints. At His return, He comes with His saints. I like that, don't you? We get to come back with Him. At the rapture, it is imminent. I want you to write that word down and you need to understand the doctrine of imminency is very important. Many people believe the churches of Revelation 2 and 3 are prophetic. I do not. I do not believe the seven churches are prophetic of seven church stages and we have to wait until we get in the Laodicean church age in order for the Lord to come. You say, preacher, why do you not believe that? Because Paul was looking for Him in his day. If there has to be a Laodicean church age or the seventh church age for Jesus to come, it's not imminent. You're having to wait on something. What the Bible says is He can come at any moment, even before we finish the service tonight. It's imminent. The return occurs at the end of the tribulation period. We're going to do two Sunday night services and we're going to do an overview of the tribulation period in two Sunday nights. That will be a sprint to the finish. Amen? And then, write this down. This is not going to be on the screen. I added this. At the rapture there are no signs. No signs. Nowhere does the Bible tell us as believers in this day of grace to be looking for signs. He tells us to be looking for the Savior, the Son from heaven. We're to love His appearing. As it relates to the second coming, there will be signs. Remember what they said? What shall be the sign of thy coming and the end of the age, the world, as it relates to the nation of Israel? Now this is very important. There are the last days of the church. Alright? II Timothy 3.1, In the last days perilous times shall come. You know what he's talking about? The last days of the church age. They're perilous for Christians. It was perilous in Paul's day. It's perilous in our day. You see? When he talks about in the Old Testament the last days, it's not referring to the church. You say, why? Because Isaiah didn't know anything about a church. Ezekiel didn't know anything about a church. Jeremiah didn't know anything about a church. Daniel didn't. They all related to the nation of Israel and the latter days that they talk about had to do with the day of the Lord as it relates to the nation of Israel. Christian, listen. If you don't make a difference where God makes a difference, you're going to be confused and you're going to confuse other people. And that's what's happening in our day. There are preachers that are not making a difference where God's making a difference and they're bringing confusion. Never use a second coming verse for the rapture. And never use a rapture verse for the second coming. They're separate. They're not the same. When I talk to you today about the reasons why Jesus must come, why Christ must come, I'm going to combine the two because I'm going to give you some reasons why He must return in both the rapture and His second coming to the earth. I'm going to give you one of them tonight. Alright? And then we're going to come back and we're going to grab the rest of it and we're going to move it along. Okay? But I had to lay some foundation. For some, this will be the very first time you've ever heard anything that I'm talking about tonight. Line up online, preceptable precept. The more you listen to Bible preaching, the more you will understand end time events. And it gets in your heart and you understand the truths of God's Word. Alright? Number one, why must Jesus come again? Number one, the Scriptures demand His Second Coming. The Scriptures demand His Second Coming. When we study the Bible, there is a principle of interpretation called the Law of Proportion. You say, preacher, what in the world is that? It's this, that you understand the importance of a subject by the amount of attention given to it in the Bible. Now listen, how many of us would say, if God says something, One time it's important. How many would say that's important tonight? Alright. When God says something more than one time, how much more important is it? Can I tell you the second coming of Jesus Christ is mentioned more often in the Bible than any other biblical event, even His first coming to the earth. Of the 333 prophecies that relate to Christ's coming, 109 of them were fulfilled to the minutest detail at His first coming. We preach about that every year at Christmastime. Do you realize there are 224 prophecies yet to be fulfilled as it relates to Christ and they will be fulfilled at His second coming? How many of us would agree tonight if God fulfilled every prophecy about His first coming to the letter that He will fulfill every prophecy of His second coming to the very letter? How many of us would say amen right there? Amen. Do you realize for every one prophecy that mentions the Lord's first coming there are eight that mention His second coming? Seventeen books in the Old Testament contain prophecies of the Second Coming of Christ. Fifteen hundred and twenty-seven Old Testament passages point to His return. 300 references. There are 300 references in the 260 chapters of the New Testament that refer to the second coming of Christ. You cannot read the New Testament without reading one out of every 30 verses that will relate to the fact that Jesus Christ will come again. That's amazing. It's amazing. No less than 1845 times the Bible says Jesus is coming again. For every one time the Bible mentioned His first coming, there are eight that mention His second coming. No less than 50 times when people are given the warning to be ready for His return. Now listen to me church, to deny the second coming of Jesus Christ is to take your Bible and rip one fourth of the pages out of your Bible. One fourth. The Scriptures demand His second coming. The Old Testament looks forward to His first coming. The New Testament looks backward on His first coming. But the entire Bible looks upward to His second coming. Now let me give you some verses. You have some in your notes, I believe. Zechariah 12 and verse 10. This has to do with the second coming to the earth. He says, And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications, and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced. and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Do you know a nation that has rejected and crucified her Messiah will one day gladly and gloriously receive Him as their Messiah and their King and their Savior? And they'll look on the one that they pierced and they'll say, Oh, please forgive us. Oh, they'll look and they'll mourn for Him. because of what their nation had done to the Son of God. Do you know every day, every day, every day there are devout Jews who have rejected Jesus Christ. They don't even understand what they're praying for. They will go to what's left of the Temple Mount, the Western Wailing Wall is what it's called, and they will be every day. There will be Jews there except maybe the Sabbath. I don't know. I've never been there on a Sabbath. I've never been there any day. But I know they go there and you will see them rocking and weeping and wailing, and they're begging and they're praying for their Messiah to come. They don't realize they've rejected Him. They don't realize they've said no to Him. They don't realize they've crucified Him. But they know they're looking for Him to come. And friend, one day He's going to come. And they'll see the nail-pierced hands of the Son of God. And they will receive Him as their long-awaited Messiah King. Look at Zechariah chapter 14. It should be in your notes that I gave you. Zechariah 14, verse 3. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations. One day, friend, it's not going to be just a few nations or one nation coming against Israel. It's going to be every nation, including America. We're already seeing the turn in our nation. It's not a sign, remember? We're not looking for signs. It is a setting of the stage. Setting the stage and signs are two different things. It's not a specific sign, but we already have been watching the setting of the stage. As in the UN, they will not condemn murderous terrorists, but yet they'll condemn the nation of Israel. But God said, one day I'm going to bring all nations against them. as when he fought, look what he says, and he'll fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall cleave, it'll split in the midst thereof, toward the east and toward the west. And there shall be a great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And the Lord shall be king, did you see that, over all the earth. And that day there shall be one Lord, and His name one. Is Malachi 3 in your notes? Look at Malachi 3, verse 1. Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. This is John the Baptist. But then it's going to skip, do you realize, between the colon before me and the end, alright? I'll show you in just a moment. And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? Who shall stand when He appeareth for He is like a refiner's fire and like a fuller's soap. Here you have both comings in one verse. Do you see that colon there beside that word, me? He'll prepare them. And the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight in. That is His first coming. But watch this. Behold, He shall come, saith the Lord, and who shall abide the day of His coming? That's His second coming, all in one verse. Did you see it? Is Acts chapter 1 verse 9 in your notes? Let's look at it. And when He had spoken these things, here's the Lord Jesus after His resurrection. Forty days have passed. He's standing on the Mount of Olives. While they beheld, He's watching, they're watching, they're gazing. He, the Lord Jesus, was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up. Now, you know what? They're watching Him ascend into heaven. Sort of like you've seen a balloon go up and you watch it until it goes out of sight. Imagine the Lord Jesus is going up and they're watching Him until He goes out of sight, going back to where He came from. They're standing there watching. They're looking around. And a couple of angels show up. Look what the Bible says. And behold, two men stood by them in white apparel. They were angels which also said, You men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? Get busy! This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven. Did you see that? Revelation 1 said, Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him. And they also which pierced Him, that's the nation of Israel, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen. Now church, listen to this. Watch it. I have just read verse after verse that states that Jesus is coming again. The truthfulness of our Bible is at stake. If Jesus does not return, He's a fraud. You say, Purchase, how can you say something like that? If He does not return, He's a fraud. Because He said He would come back. If He doesn't return, the Bible is false. And the apostles and prophets were liars. But listen to what Jesus said. The Scripture cannot be broken. Matthew 24-35 says, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Friend, everything Jesus has ever said has come to pass. Everything He says is true. He is the truth. He has staked His very name on the fact that He'll come again. He said it in the Scriptures. Matter of fact, you're going to find that is point number two, that Jesus Himself declared that He would return. We'll look at that next week. Friend, listen, you can be assured Jesus is coming again. Now, let me just say something and I'm going to give an invitation now and we're going to go home. Where in the Bible does it say that for Jesus to come for His saints that it has to be a time of economic disaster and turmoil and difficulty and hardship and war? You ever read that in the Bible? I never have. You say, well, evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse. Yeah, but that doesn't mean that that's a sign of His coming. Evil men and seducers have always waxed worse and worse. Jesus can come in a time of world revival if that's what He chooses to do because He's not waiting on something to happen. He is the something that will happen. And when the time of four ordained by the Father, that moment Jesus Christ will come for His saints. and then the stage will be set for the second phase of His coming. Preacher, what are we to be watching for? Friend, I don't get all bent out of shape about what goes on in the middle. I'm praying right now for the peace of Jerusalem. Why? Because that's a prayer for Jesus to come. But if there is peace in Jerusalem for a period of time, If there was a short period of time that there was, can I help you to understand that that's not going to move the clock or the needle one second. The next happening, what's next preacher? It is Jesus coming in the air for His saints and translating us back to heaven. And only then the stage will be set for the clock to begin to tick. And I will tell you in the coming messages when that clock will start ticking. But it's not ticking right now. Right now God says to us, Titus chapter 2 and verse number 12, looking for that blessed hope, and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Folks, you need to get your eyes off of what's going on around you and lift your eyes to the heavens above you and start looking for Jesus to come because He's going to come. Any moment the Lord could come and we're out of here. We're with Him. All the heartache, all the pain, all the sorrow, all the sickness, No more death. No more death. Offering one eternal reunion for the saints of God. What a day! What a day! That will be when my Jesus I shall see. Now let me ask you a question. Are you ready tonight? because He could come tonight. Are you ready? Boy, if you're not, you need to be. If you've not been saved, friend, you need to be saved. And Christians, we ought to live every day of our lives in light of the fact that this could be the day that Jesus comes and we need to be ready to meet Him. Amen? Be ready to meet Him. That means there are things in your life that ought not be there. Listen, there's going to be some Christians that are going to be caught in some situations that they're not going to want to meet Jesus in. and our lives need to be right with Him. Amen? Boy, what a good God we have tonight. Let's stand to our feet, heads bowed, eyes closed. God's spoken to your heart tonight.