Soldiers of Christ, hear from God's word, Revelation 22, 12 through 17. Take note, I'm coming swiftly, and my reward is with me to give to each one according to his work. I'm the Alpha and the Omega, beginning and end, the first and the last. Blessed are those who do his commands so that they may have the right to the tree of life, even to enter through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices a lie. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify these things to you in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star. Both the spirit and the bride say, come. And let whoever hears say, come. And let whoever thirsts, come. Whoever wants to, let him take the water of life free of charge. Amen. Father God, we thank you for the free invitation of the gospel that this section concludes with. You are so generous, so gracious and inviting, whosoever will, that you even give the willingness, you even give the faith. Father, you are generous and kind and we bless you for the privilege that we have of being your servants. And we want to grow in our understanding of your word, understanding of your kingdom, and how we can be involved in advancing it. And we pray that you would open up our eyes, the eyes of our understanding, as we look into your word now, in Jesus' name, amen. When you look around on the web, and you will find that atheists love to quote this verse. and a very similar verse to it in Matthew chapter 16, where it uses the same language, but they use it not to worship Jesus as we do, they use it to mock. And to say that Jesus was a false prophet, the Bible is an error. They bait Christian theologians with the question, did Jesus really come soon? And I have seen theologian after theologian absolutely embarrass themselves because they're holding to an eschatology that puts them in a corner. And scripture never intended them to be in that corner. One website quoted Matthew 16, which just adds, it's almost identical language, but it adds the detail that some of the apostles would not die before they saw Jesus coming and beginning his kingdom. And after an analysis of the exegetical options, which were fairly well presented, he said, in very simple terms, Jesus told those in front of him that he was coming back before they died. No ifs, buts, or quid pro quos. I tell you that some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. As there is not one 2,000-year-old man or woman known to anybody, this means that Jesus lied, his prophecy was false, or the end of time happened 2,000 years ago and we all missed it somehow. Jesus was a false prophet, and the Bible says he should be put to death. Oh wait, he was. So you can see the mocking tone, and you see that all throughout the atheist websites, but Christians struggle to answer critics like this. Atheists will pull together scriptures that predict a soon resurrection, a soon judgment, a soon coming of Christ, a soon beginning of the kingdom. Bertrand Russell wrote a book defending atheism, and said that if Jesus was wrong in the timing of his coming judgment, he could not be trusted on anything else that he said. Another website, after listing Revelation 22, verse 12, and many similar verses, said this, to anyone not already indoctrinated into Christianity, reading the above passages is crystal clear that according to the Bible, Jesus was supposed to return in the first century of the Christian era. That has not happened. Yet the Christian religion persists with the majority of its adherents still awaiting the return of their savior. How have they reconciled their scriptures to reality? There are several lines of thought in Christendom about this, and that site then proceeds to systematically tear to pieces the lame arguments that Christians have put forward why something that is supposedly imminent for us was also imminent and soon for the first century apostles. C.S. Lewis was embarrassed by this doctrine, didn't quite know what to do with it. By the way, what I'm going to present to you today is something that the older Reformed people fully understood, many of them. There is a divide amongst Reformed people on this passage. Good men disagree on it. But today's theme is just going to be on verse 12. Originally, I was gonna preach verses 12 through 17, and I just didn't see any way of getting through those. So the theme today is did Jesus come soon? and you're gonna see my answer is absolutely yes. This text gives no wiggle room, none whatsoever. The importance of the theme of the first judgment can be seen in the first two words, take note. And as I've mentioned before, that's one Greek word, it's iddu. Most translations translate it as behold. Pickering sometimes translates it as wow, because it is like a surprising, astonishing event that he's gonna introduce with those words, a very, very important event. Anytime that that word ado occurs, the author is wanting us to pay close attention to the verse that follows us, that follows it. We need to really study it. And one of the reasons I decided I need to focus entirely on this verse rather than tackling all the verses 12 through 17. Now we're gonna see shortly that the central theme of the whole paragraph is the first judgment and the dawn of the kingdom. Now, many Christians don't think AD 70 has anything whatsoever of significance for the Christian church, certainly not of central importance, but throughout the New Testament, the soon to happen coming of Christ in judgment was declared to be of critical importance. So I think I'm justified in spending an entire sermon on this verse. So he says, take note. Next we see Christ's personal involvement in the first judgment. Christ says, I am coming swiftly. So he's not gonna be sending his angels to do it. So we can't get around the atheist argument by saying, well, Jesus wasn't visible, but hey, his angels did appear, they did bring judgment. No, Jesus says he himself would be personally involved. Unless people have doubts that this could happen, God establishes the certainty of this coming and judgment by giving a three-fold testimony in this epilogue. Remember, starting in verse 6, this is the epilogue to the book. It's not part of the seven major sections. But in verse seven, Jesus said, take note, I'm coming swiftly. In verse 12, he says, take note, I'm coming swiftly. In verse 20, he says, he who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming swiftly. Oh yes, come Lord Jesus. And I know that there are many people, myself in the past included, who applied this to the second judgment at the end of history. But the second judgment is consistently connected with terminology that is the opposite of soon. It is to occur after the thousand years, after the kingdom. It's far off, it's distant, it's after a long delay. And we'll look at some of those words later on. We do believe in a second judgment. We do believe in a second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the future. But I believe, and I side with other Reformed people who believe, that only a first judgment interpretation does justice to these words. We're not escaping from the atheist so-called problem passage, we are addressing it head on. Now, of course, I'm already acting as if I have settled the question of which judgment this is. Obviously, not all evangelicals agree with me. In fact, I would say probably a majority of the commentators that I have on my shelf disagree with me. They think that this coming is a still future second coming. Now, that is actually what gets them in trouble, but I will point out, hey, atheists will go after any Christian. They go after me as well, and they say there is no historical evidence whatsoever that Jesus came in judgment in the first century as he said that he would, and we'll show they're absolutely wrong. But let me quickly dispose of the two strongest arguments that the futurists will bring to this passage, and they're actually pretty decent arguments. It's, uh, I'll point out before I get to those arguments, it's not the word coming itself that proves anything. And, uh, these commentators will agree. Um, that does not settle the timing of verse 12. The Greek word air is used of historical judgments of Jesus upon nations. It's used of Jesus coming one time to the apostle Paul in the middle of the night. You know, Erechemai, he comes to him, he speaks to him. It's spoken of as coming to a church, bringing judgment upon a church. For example, everybody agrees that John 14 refers to a personal, intimate coming, even though it uses the word Erechemai, same word for coming. Those verses in John 14 say, I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. Likewise, Revelation 3.20 says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with me. Revelation 2.5 says to a church. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. And there are other verses that use the word Erechemai. So that by itself does not settle anything. The arguments that they put forward are different. The first argument that they put forward is that verses six through 20 come after verse five. So obviously this is dealing with the future, it's dealing with the second coming. They fail to see that structurally verse six begins a new section, but just for the sake of argument, let's assume that they are right, let's assume that verse six is the second coming, then they still have a problem because verse five happens after history is finished, and after eternity has begun. And therefore, since verse six is on the last day of history, on their interpretation, that is, verse six of necessity occurs before verse five. You see, from chapter 21, verse one, all the way through 22, verse five, John is looking at the new Jerusalem from the perspective of the first day of eternity, okay? So it's beyond history. They're now in eternity. Well, if that's the case, even on their interpretation, verse 6 happens before verse 5. The only question that needs to be settled is how far before verse 5 does it occur. It's clear on their interpretation you have to go backwards in time. Now that means that the placement of verse 6 and all of these other verses after verse 5 has nothing to do with sequence, it's just starting a new section. And if you look on the back side of your outlines, you'll see a structure of the book. The structure of the book shows that verse six, that's right at the bottom left-hand side of the page, verse six is beginning a brand new section. We're no longer dealing with the seven major sections of the book. So this is the epilogue. And in terms of the chiastic structure of the book, it's parallel to the prologue. which began when? AD 66. So I think it's helpful to remind ourselves of what the bulk of this book dealt with in chapters one through 20. It dealt with a lot of turmoil and trouble and wars and rumors of wars. Anyone who had been familiar with the Olivet Discourse and the hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament knew that the beginning of the kingdom, and this is something we agree with premails on as well, that the beginning of the kingdom starts with darkness, tyranny, warfare, evil, death. Now it would have been very easy for people to get very nervous about what was coming upon them because this was likened to birth pangs that a woman went through when she gave birth to a baby and God prophesied there were going to be birth pangs that would give birth to the kingdom. Nobody likes birth pangs. The Old Testament predicted deep darkness before the kingdom would be birthed. Now here's a very legitimate question that people raise. Was not the kingdom conceived and legally established in the cross of Jesus Christ? And I say yes, absolutely yes, but it's still in the womb. It's conceived, but it's still in the darkness of the womb. Was not the kingdom resourced and given extra power at Pentecost? Yes, and it grows after Pentecost, but it's not really until AD 70, the time of the first judgment that the kingdom is born. And I've become more and more convinced of that fact as I have read and studied various commentaries on this. Now let's go on to their second argument. Second strongest argument is that there is only one day of judgment, and that day is future. And here's another place. You've seen all through this book how I have learned from the premills, postmills, all mills, from all of them. Even the idealists, there's a lot of applications that they make. Well, this is another place where I agree with the premillennialists. in saying that there are two days of judgment. They and we would disagree with the amillennialists who see one general day of judgment in the future. Daniel, I think, is quite clear that there is a first judgment at the beginning of the kingdom, and there is a second judgment at the end of the kingdom, when the kingdom is handed over to the father. and numerous, numerous scriptures that show this. Daniel 7 verse 22 says, the ancient of days came and a judgment was made in favor of the saints and of the most high, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom. So he says before the kingdom could be possessed, there has to be this first judgment. Acts 17, 30 through 31 says, God has appointed a day in which he is about to judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained, He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. And I'll be reading more of those scriptures in a moment. But I just give an introduction to it to say that the arguments are really not that strong, but there are respected people who hold to that, and we do need to respect that. But I want to give you several arguments of why I believe that this is referring to Christ's literal coming in judgment upon Israel, and we saw that just as with the premillennialists, there is a first literal resurrection at the beginning of the kingdom, there is a resurrection at the end of the kingdom, there was a resurrection, there was a day of judgment in AD 70, and there will be another one at the second coming of Christ at the end of time. So, let me give you some of the arguments in favor of this. First of all, if you look at your text again, he says, take note, I am coming swiftly. Swiftly. Now the Greek word is tachou, and it means shortly or soon. So here's the key point. Jesus was not saying, hey guys, watch out, I'm going to be coming in 2,000 years. No, he is coming swiftly, soon. And atheists have a heyday when Christians try to make 2,000 years out to be soon in God's sight. And so they all parallel passages where God says, it's coming as soon and it's coming as far away. And they'll say, which is it? Is it far away in God's sight and soon in God's sight? Which is it? Anyway, there's a lot of difficulties there, but I think that that word soon should settle the question right out of the chute, but there's more evidence. This phrase, my reward is with me, also shows something that is about to happen. Now the word for reward is wages. Okay, it's misthos, and the language here is presenting a picture of an employer who's come out to his employees with a bag in his hand, and he's ready to distribute his wages to all of these people. Now, we looked at Judgment Day in the future, and all of the rewards God's going to give to us on the final Judgment Day, but there was also, for Old Testament saints, a Judgment Day in AD 70. So, The imagery is a picture of payment that is about to happen. He's not going to his house to get that bag. No, he's already emerged with the bag in his hands. He's about to pay his employees. That's the imagery. But when you realize that this phrase is actually a direct quote of the Old Testament, then imminence is doubly emphasized. Commentators point out, this is a direct quotation from Isaiah. And it's actually repeated three times in Isaiah. Isaiah 40 verse 10, 49 verse 4, and 62 verse 11. And each one of those passages indicates a first century judgment and long history after that judgment as God advances the gospel. That's the key point. For example, immediately after Isaiah 40 verse 10, and verse 10 speaks about the Lord coming And His reward being with Him, identical language to Revelation 22 verse 12. And the very next verse says, He will feed His flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with His arm and carry them in His bosom and gently lead those who are with young. He's definitely dealing with New Covenant history. It's not the language of eternity, because you've got mothers who are pregnant, and God is gently leading those mothers, and there's others who have already given birth, and God is holding those infants in His arms, right? We're very familiar with this passage. So it much better fits first judgment context than the second judgment, because the first judgment has history after it. The second judgment ends history. Third, we'll see next week that the titles given to Jesus definitely highlight the beginning or the dawning of the kingdom. Every one of those titles shows that. I'm just going to look at two. The title, the first and the last, is a quote of a title that is used of God three times in Isaiah. And each time it is used, it's connected with the beginning of the kingdom. So not only is Jesus declaring himself with this phrase that he is Yehovah God, it's just remarkable. We'll look at that more next week. But he's also saying that this title he connects with not only in terms of his divinity, but in terms of the kingdom itself that it was connected with. Well, when you read through each of the chapters where that title is used, you see that the titles give courage to God's people that Yehovah's servant will bring light out of darkness and will rule the world that seems to be in such turmoil. So it's showing the beginning of something new. Now, of course, some apply the servant language to Cyrus rather than to Jesus, and so they would interpret Isaiah 41, verse four, is that God used Cyrus as his servant to restore the exiles back to Israel and to reform a new nation. But it doesn't matter. Whether you're looking at the type You know, the symbol of the new kingdom, Israel, or whether you're looking at the new covenant kingdom itself, the antitype, either way, it's dealing with the birth of the kingdom out of darkness, not the end of the kingdom. And Isaiah 44, verse 6, 48, verse 12 are the same. We'll look at those on another Sunday, but I think it's crystal clear. It's dealing with the dawning of the kingdom, not the end of the kingdom. So verse 12, I believe, is dealing with the alpha of the kingdom, not the omega. The omega deals with the finishing off, right? At the end, in the second coming, he will have put all enemies under his feet. It's the omega of the kingdom. This is dealing with the first, the alpha, the beginning. Next, if the Greek word idou shows that this is the central theme of the book, then one would expect this coming to refer to the book's primary message of first judgment rather than the secondary message of the second judgment, the second coming. The heart of the book dealt with the trouble, the turmoil, the wars, the rumors of wars leading up to AD 70. These were all labor pangs that were going to give birth to the kingdom. But the next argument is that exactly the same wording was previously used in chapter one, verse seven, which we saw clearly referred to the first judgment. That verse indicated that it was not a coming to earth as will happen at the second coming, but it was a coming on the clouds of heaven while there were still distinct tribes of Israel. There are no distinct tribes of Israel today. You talk to any Jewish rabbi and he'll tell you they're all amalgamated. Yet the same verse indicated that every eye would see him. So this is not a secret coming. Every eye will see him, which leads to my next point. It's not a secret coming. Then one would expect that there should be some first century eyewitnesses that show that it did indeed occur. And there are. There are Roman, Christian, and Jewish witnesses to the fact that Jesus did indeed come in the clouds of heaven. I've given you quite a few testimonies in the past. I'm just going to review for you two of those. There's an ancient Jewish author whose writings have just recently been translated, actually. His name is Yossipon. And he said, now what happened after this, that there was seen from above over the Holy of Holies for the whole night the outline of a man's face, the like of whose beauty had never been seen in all the land, and his appearance was quite awesome. So this non-Christian Jew said the people in the first century saw the appearance of a man of stupendous size in the sky, having a beauty that was awe-inspiring. Everyone saw it, but he goes on to point out that this man was not alone. He had armies with him, angelic armies. He said, there were seen chariots of fire and horsemen, a great force flying across the sky, near to the ground, coming against Jerusalem and all the land of Judah, all of them horses of fire and riders of fire. The priest heard within the temple something like the sound of men going and the sound of men marching in a multitude, going into the temple, and a terrible and mighty voice was heard speaking, let us go and leave this house. Now the sights and the sounds of Christ coming in judgment were impossible for anyone to miss. And as I've mentioned before, this unbelieving Jew would have had no reason to make this kind of stuff up because that would be propaganda that the Christians could use against his religion because they denied the coming of Christ. They denied Jesus was even the Messiah. And so Christians could use this to prove the truth of revelation. But it's a clear reference to Jesus coming with his angels to bring the first judgment just as he promised he would do. So the atheists are absolutely wrong. There is evidence of Jesus coming in the first century. I'll give you one more quote. This one from a fourth century Christian historian, very respected church father by the name of Ambrose of Milan. Now based on first century manuscripts he had in his possession, he said, also after many days, a certain figure appeared of tremendous size, which many saw, just as the books of the Jews have disclosed. And before the setting of the sun, there were suddenly seen the clouds of chariots and armed battle arrays by which cities of all Judea and its territories were invaded. Moreover, in the celebration itself of the Pentecost, the priests entering the interior of the temple at nighttime, that they might celebrate the usual sacrifices asserted themselves at first, to have felt a certain movement and a sound given forth afterwards, even to have heard shouted in a sudden voice, we cross over from here. But he too testifies to this human figure of tremendous size, leading the armies of heaven. This is Jesus coming within one generation, just as he had promised that he would do. And since John wrote Revelation in early AD 66, we can say that it did indeed happen very soon within months. And earlier I gave accounts of this from Roman historians as well, and others from Jewish and Christian sources. Now, if you would, please turn with me to Matthew 16. This is a passage that speaks of Jesus coming to reward each one. In fact, several atheist sites, they love to quote this passage. Commentators point out that the verbal parallels show that both passages are talking about exactly the same event. So let's begin to read at verse 27. Matthew 16, verse 27. Jesus says, for the Son of Man will come. Now I'm gonna stop reading there, because if you don't read Greek, you're gonna miss something that is very important, at least in this version. Some versions translate it literally. But the word will is the Greek word mello, and means about to. Now it's so sad to me that futurist translations completely ignore the word mellow in certain places. In other places, yeah, they translate it literally. But it refers to something that is on the verge of happening. So it's usually translated as about to. Now the New King James ignores this, but what I find remarkable about that is because the Greek word mellow is right at the beginning. It's the first word in the sentence emphasizing the about to-ness of this whole verse. That's how you emphasize the importance of a word in Greek. You put it right up at the beginning. It's not like our order. It's not a throwaway word. He's emphasizing, there's something significant about this word mellow. So let me read it, translating it literally. For the son of man is about to come in the glory of his father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom." So just as Revelation 22 verse 12 says that Jesus was coming soon to reward each one according to his works, This verse says the same thing, but it accompanies it with two things. The word mellow, which shows that it must happen soon. And secondly, the fact that some of the disciples would die before it happened, and some of those standing before him would see it before they died. Okay, so, in the, And there's debate on whether it's just the apostles he's talking to or whether there's crowds. But either way, within that crowd's generation, he was going to come back and he was going to do this. Had to happen within one generation. Now, that sentence means some had to die, which rules out the transfiguration. Some people say, oh, well, they saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration. Isn't that seeing Christ coming in his kingdom? Well, actually, Christ himself denied that the kingdom had come yet. Um, so that doesn't fit. And secondly, no one had died in the next six days. If you read the next verses, it said six days later that that would happen. So that actually does not fit. So that sentence means that some had to die ruling out the transfiguration interpretation, and some would not die ruling out the second coming and the second judgment in our future. This is a judgment that would happen within the lifetime of that generation then living. And of course, isn't that what Matthew 24 was predicting? He predicted that the current generation would not pass away till all the things in the previous verses were fulfilled, including a coming of Christ in the sky, gathering, sending his angels to gather the elect from the earth, wherever their bodies were scattered. But lest you think that the imminence of this coming and judgment can only be proved with a few verses, and maybe they're difficult to understand, what I wanna do is I wanna pour on the verses, and I've given you more in your outline than I am going to go through, but these verses use the Greek word mello, which is about to, the Greek word engizo, which is very near, and the Greek word takos, which is soon. And hopefully that chart will be helpful to you in the future. I'm just going to take a select few from these. Over and over, John the Baptist and Jesus promised that the kingdom of heaven was at hand or was near, which means it was not there yet. It was near, but it wasn't there yet. Then he tells his disciples to go out and preach that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So even when the disciples have gone out and preached, the kingdom hasn't come yet. It's near, it's at hand, but it's not there yet. In Luke 18, verse eight, he promised that he would come soon to avenge his saints. That's a kind of judgment. And he had a question about whether there would be any faith to ask for that judgment in that day. And you know, the church was almost wiped out by the time of AD 70, but there was faith that God preserved. But Luke 21 is particularly clear. The immediate context of the verses I'm going to read are that Jerusalem will be surrounded by armies. The city is going to be leveled. God's gonna take many of the Jews out into captivity, but before that, he's going to allow Christians to escape from that city. And Jesus says this, then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now, when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near. Now, that is a visible coming of Christ in the sky in connection with Jerusalem being surrounded by armies. So I think it's really hard to get away from that. He mentions redemption, and people will say, well, how did redemption come? Well, if there was a resurrection in AD 70, that is a part of redemptive history. The first resurrection, and then the scripture says, the rest of the dead do not rise till the thousand years is finished, that's in our future, that's at the end of the kingdom. But Romans 8 says that the resurrection of bodies, in that case it was Old Testament saints, was the redemption of their bodies. So he says, your redemption draws near. Now I'm going to skip over most of the verses in the gospels, jump forward 20 years to Acts 17, verse 31. In about AD 51, Paul preached saying, truly these times of ignorance got overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent because he has appointed a day on which he is about to judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. Now, if this was the second judgment, he would not have used the word mellow, the Greek word mellow. So there is a near or a soon judgment. Jumping forward three years to AD 54, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7 29, the time is short. The time for what? Well, in context, he's indicating they're going to be going through incredible tribulation. In fact, most of them probably would not survive this tribulation. This is the greatest tribulation Christ said that the world would ever see, or the church would ever see. previously or for the rest of history. Second, judgment day would initiate such great changes that verse 31 says, the form of this world is passing away. Now that process began in AD 70. One year later in AD 55, Paul said in Romans 8 verse 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which is about to be revealed in us. And again, the Greek word mellow, there was something glorious about to happen. Well, if there was a resurrection of Old Testament saints in AD 70, how could you get more glorious than that? And there were other glorious things that we have looked at in the past that were connected. And as we get closer to AD 70, you're going to see more and more emphasis, more and more repetition of this doctrine of imminence. Romans 13, 11 through 12 says, and do this knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. And again, there is this imagery. of the night when only the morning star was shining, giving way to the sun rising. And so prior to 8070 was the darkness when the morning star of Christ was shining. After 8070 is the time when the sun is shining. And two times, Twice in those verses, angizo is used. The dictionary defines angizo as something approaching or drawing near. For salvation to be almost at hand, again, means something in redemptive history must be very close to happening. And that part of redemptive history, according to Romans, is resurrection. Resurrection's the application. So if you don't have a resurrection in AD 70, I fail to see how you got any redemption happening in AD 70. Ken Gentry, even though he holds very similar things to myself on this book, he sees no resurrection as happening in AD 70. I don't see how all of these passages that link an imminent aspect of redemptive history could therefore be fulfilled. And we looked at that redemptive part of history in depth in Revelation 20. In Romans 16 verse 20, Paul says, and the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. So even the binding of Satan was said to be a part of redemptive history and it was about to happen. Now we saw in previous sermons that the saints did indeed judge Satan and he was bound. Now his angels weren't bound, they're still around, some of his angels were, but Satan himself was bound in 8070. And to insist that Satan won't be bound until sometime in the future I think makes a mockery of the word shortly. shortly. How many times did Paul say he was going to do something soon, same word for shortly, or ask other people, would you please do something for me soon? You know, just imagine that Paul tells Paul tells Timothy, and there is a verse where he tells Timothy, come to me soon. And Timothy thinks, well, you know, the soon passages all talk about 2,000 years from now. So yeah, Paul, I'll come soon, within 2,000 years. I mean, everybody knows what the word means, and yet people say that in this passage, soon has to mean soon. And a few verses later soon has to mean 2,000 years later. It doesn't make any sense to me. So all of these verses confirm that the first judgment, the first resurrection was indeed imminent, where full Preterists don't take seriously the far away passages, the distant, the long time away passages. Futurists don't take seriously the soon and the near passages. They are quite different from each other. In the next year, AD 58, just eight years away from the coming of Christ and judgment, by the way, a seven-year tribulation, exactly in the middle of that seven years, Jerusalem and temple were torn down. You count forward from the burning of the temple, 1,335 days. That's Masada falling. I mean, all of these details are just remarkable. but I shouldn't go down rabbit trails or I'll lose my place. Ephesians 1.21 contrasts the old covenant age that they were still living in with the age that is about to come. It says that Jesus was raised, quote, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is about to come. Now keep in mind, Hebrews 8.13 says that the old covenant age was growing old and was ready to vanish away, but it hadn't vanished away yet. It doesn't vanish away till 8070. There's this overlap in ages. Was there an age about to come? Yes, 8070 would end the old age, fully usher in the new, and it was only eight years away. On anybody's timetable, eight years is something about to happen, 2,000 years is not. Now in the same year, Philippians 4, 5 says, the Lord is at hand. Wow, I mean, that sure sounds like an imminent coming. Colossians 2, 17 says some of the old covenant types were, quote, a shadow of things about to come. Though the kingdom came legally in AD 30, it began to be possessed in AD 70. By the way, if you have difficulty in seeing how that happens, let me just give you two symbols. Israel was a symbol of the New Covenant Kingdom. So Israel legally was given the land when they left Egypt. And when they crossed the Red Sea, same day Jesus was resurrected, festival of firstfruits, they were constituted as a nation. They were baptized as a nation, right? 50 days later on the day of Pentecost is Mount Sinai. They're equipped for the nation, but they don't possess the kingdom until 40 years later. Just like the church is redeemed in Christ and his resurrection, the kingdom is established legally at that point, but he doesn't begin to possess his possessions until 40 years later. And I've given you the other image of a baby. Yes, the baby is conceived in the womb. But she's born nine months later, not 40 years later, thankfully. Nine months later, but there's a wait. So really there is no contradiction in these images. Now let's look at a few more scriptures. Around 8060, Paul spoke of an imminent resurrection in Acts 24 verse 15. He said, I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept that there is about to be a resurrection of the dead. There's that Greek word mellow again. There is about to be a resurrection of the dead. These are the old Testament saints, right? Still speaking to Felix, verse 25 says, now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control and the judgment about to come, So there was both a resurrection and a judgment about to come when he spoke those words in 8060. After 4,000 years of longing for this resurrection, I think that 10 years is not a stretch to say it's about to happen. 2,000 years, I would think, would be a stretch. One year later, in 8061, James 5.9 says this, Behold, the judge is standing at the door. Wow. What a powerful image of imminency. He's standing ready. He's about to come into the courtroom. And yet futurists want us to believe that he's been standing at the door about to bring judgment for the last 2,000 years. Previous verse to the one I just quoted, tied it in with the imminent coming of Christ, saying, you also be patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. So he's at the door and his coming is at hand. James also says, so speak and so do with those who are about to be judged by the law of liberty. And again, the Greek words mellow and engidzo are used by James to show that the first judgment is near. So again, we're not talking about a few scattered verses. We're talking about a doctrine of imminent judgment that is pervasive in the New Testament. And until Christians get these verses right, they're not going to have a good apologetic with the atheists. I've looked at so many debates and it's embarrassing. We've got to get these verses right. Now, just as a side note, I used to date James to AD 45. I've recently run across some very, very persuasive evidence that shows that it was written sometime between AD 60 and 61. Now, if that's true, it was definitely around the corner. In AD 65, 1 Peter 4 says this, they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. But the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers." In less than a year, the axe would fall on Old Covenant Israel and Temple and Jerusalem. Nothing would be left. All the sacrifices, the priesthood, it's all gone. Now, of course, it wasn't just Israel judged. 1 Peter 4.17 says, for the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel? So the tribulation that they were already facing was the great tribulation. Jesus predicted, again, that it was going to be greater than anything previously faced by the church or anything in the rest of history that they would face. But 1 Peter 5.1, predicts an imminent time when the church would reverse this process from defeat to glory. Now, some people think we're in the age of defeat, but after 80, 70, there was nonstop progress of the kingdom and see people say, well, we're never defeated. Oh no, there are scriptures that say that the church was defeated. Daniel 7.21 says that the horn was making war against the saints and prevailing against them. Satan was winning. And God sovereignly allowed him to win prior to 8070, but from 70 and on, there would be nonstop victory for the church. Anyway, 1 Peter 5.1 says, the elders who are among you, I exhort, I, who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that is about to be revealed. about to be revealed. There was something glorious that was going to happen in 8070. So with scriptures like these, you can see why the Puritans were thoroughly convinced that 8070 was a pivotal time in history. 2 Peter 2.1, There are also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false prophets among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and are bringing upon themselves a destruction soon. Okay, that's the literal rendering of that word, takos. Those persecutors were about to be destroyed soon, and we saw in this book, yeah, they were. 2 Timothy was written that same year, AD 65, about one year before Christ's appearance in the sky with chariots. And 2 Timothy 4.1 says, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is about to judge the living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. I mean, how could you get more clear than that? What is about to happen? He says, Christ's appearing, his kingdom, and his judgment. Hopefully, you're beginning to see that what Revelation 22 verse 12 is talking about is part of the warp and the wolf of the Gospels and the Epistles. There is clear evidence that a first century judgment that Jesus was going to usher in as his kingdom began. Now, in the same year that Revelation was written, 1 John 2, 18 said, little children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have come by which we know that it is the last hour. This was written just before Christ was seen in the sky and just before the last opportunity that anyone would have to be able to escape from the city of Jerusalem. But if the whole last 2,000 years is the last hour, then timing statements have been rendered meaningless by these exegesis. Absolutely meaningless, in my opinion. If the last hour, about to, soon, near, at the doors, and other terms of imminency can mean 2,000 years away, then they can mean 10,000 years away, or 100,000 years away. I take them much more literally. All of these imminency indicators show an increasing nearness as they approached 8070. And certainly the last hour indicates that the proverbial clock was about to strike midnight or doomsday. Now, earlier in the same year, Hebrews says about angels, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who are about to inherit salvation? If salvation is about to come, there must be something significant that happens in redemptive history. It's not the second resurrection. It's the first resurrection. Revelation 20 is clear. The second resurrection cannot happen till the thousand years is finished. That is as far away from imminency as you could possibly get. It's after the thousand years. Nobody's gonna think after the thousand years is soon. No, it's the resurrection that's soon is before the thousand years. So this is the kind of ammunition you need to have against atheists. We take the Bible seriously in its every jot and tittle. In Hebrews 2.5 he says, for he has not put the habitable world, about to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. He's not put the habitable world, that's oikumene. Oikumene is not referring to eternity, it's referring to the Roman world that Jesus is about to inherit, about to put under his feet. Now, people say, well, maybe this is talking about everything being put suddenly under Christ's feet. No, it's a progressive thing. According to 1 Corinthians 15, at the second coming, Christ gives the kingdom back to the Father. He has finished putting all things under His feet. That's not the time when all things are put under His feet. He must remain at the right hand of the Father till all things are put under His feet, then He hands the kingdom over to the Father. So this is clearly talking about something at the beginning of the kingdom. Imminently, it's mellow. In chapter six, Hebrews spoke of Jews who have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age about to come. Now, what is the age about to come? It's not eternity. We're 2,000 years after he wrote those words and that still hasn't come. He's talking of the age of the kingdom, when the proverbial second Joshua would begin to take the conquest of Canaan. That happened 40 years after Israel's redemption. And this happens 40 years after Christ's resurrection. Chapter nine, verse 11 says, but Christ came as high priest of the good things about to come with a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is not of this creation. So he's talking about the heavenly temple, the heavenly Jerusalem that was under construction ever since 8030. I go to prepare a place for you, but it was finished. in AD 70. We've seen that in the past. In chapter 10 he says, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. Now the day, everybody agrees, is judgment day. And the word for approaching is Zingidzu, it's drawing near. So he's saying that judgment day is very near. In verse 27, he speaks of the Jews of that generation receiving a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation, which is about to devour the adversaries. Who were the adversaries? Everybody agrees these Hebrew Christians were being persecuted by their fellow Jews, by the Jewish authorities especially. And that verse indicates Those Jewish persecutors or adversaries were about to be devoured by Christ's judgment. Verse 37 says, for yet a little while. 2,000 years later is not a little while. For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the word for tarry means to wait a long time. And I want you to notice that his coming will not tarry, but that he will come in a little while. 2,000 years later is definitely tearing. So he's not talking about the second coming. There is a first century coming of Jesus that will not carry. And I think nothing else makes sense of that verse. Speaking of the new Jerusalem, which is still under construction, chapter 13, verse 14 says, for here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one that is about to come. Now, the closer we get to the date of judgment day, the more repetition and warning is given about the coming judgment. Hebrews is absolutely full of it. And of course, I've given numerous scriptures from Revelation as well, written in the same year. I'm not going to read those to you because we've gone through most of them. Let me just repeat two. Revelation 119 says, write the things which you have seen and the things which are, and the things which are about to take place after this. In chapter three, verse 10, he tells the church of Philadelphia, because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth, et cetera. And I know it's a lot of scriptures, but this verse has been so mishandled by evangelicals, I think it is important to understand it. Because it has been attacked by atheists, it's good to have ammo to demonstrate to them, no, you're just playing wrong. Liberals mock at the idea that Christ's future judgment is near, soon, about to happen, or at hand. They say the Bible's mistaken. And your average evangelical interpretation supports them, supports them in that contention. But every one of those imminent passages was fulfilled imminently in one generation. And we have gone, as we've gone through this book, I've tried to show that there is abundant historical documentation for every detail that was predicted to happen soon. So those verses deal with the futurists. Let me deal very, very quickly with the full preterists who deny the opposite side. Give you a sampling of second coming verses that are a stark contrast to these near ones. These are verses full preterism tries to explain away. None of these are soon, not a one of them. Matthew 24, 25 speaks of the ruler telling his servant to give his household food in due season, a phrase indicating ongoing time and seasons. Verse 48 speaks of delaying his coming. Now, the Greek word is chronizo, which the dictionary defines as, quote, to stay away for a long time, unquote, okay? That does not seem like very soon, near, about to happen. Matthew 25 verse 5, while the bridegroom was delayed, again using the word for staying away for a long time. This is quite opposite to imminency. Matthew 25, 14 shows Jesus going to a far country and verse 19 says, after a long time, the Lord of those servants came. That's the second coming. That is a long time. Now let's look at the start and the end of the wedding feast, because this is something that has confused a lot of people. They've merged the start and the end together, and therefore they have, the full Preterists have tried to bring all of the end passages on that into the first passages. Matthew 22, seven through eight is quite clear that the wedding supper was ready after the destruction of Jerusalem. It talks about the city being burned, And then he says the supper is made ready. Matthew 22, seven through eight. Very, very important passage for understanding this. From that time on, the passage says, he's inviting people to the marriage supper of the Lamb. So during this whole age, we're inviting more and more people. There were Old Testament saints there already at 80, 70, but now we're inviting the whole world to come to this marriage supper of the Lamb. The consummation of the marriage doesn't happen until the last person is saved. But Luke 12, 36 begins the parable of the faithful servant by saying that we should, quote, be like men who wait for their master when he will return from the wedding. This is not going to the wedding in AD 70. This is returning from the wedding at the end of history. And verse five goes on to talk about that coming as being delayed for a long time. Now, full Preterists try to say, well, that long time, 40 years is a long time, they say. Of course it's a long time, between 80, 30, and 70, but we've just read a bunch of passages that say, no, those 40 years are not a long time. They are soon. So Hebrews 10, 37 says, there is a coming that won't be delayed, same word, and then there's three passages that talk about a coming that is delayed, all using the same Greek word. won't be delayed seems much different to me than will be delayed. Wouldn't you agree? And yet full preterists are forced to say that won't be delayed passages are referring to the same timetable as will be delayed passages. And bizarrely, they're forced to say that the short period of one generation is the same period of the thousand years. So they say the second coming has happened, the last resurrection has happened in 87, there's nothing more to happen. Jesus gave up the kingdom to the Father. We're now living in the eternal kingdom. I just cannot buy that. So both futurism and full preterism play fast and loose with the timing indicators. Romans 8 verse 19 says that the whole creation is groaning. And he's not just talking about our bodies, he's talking about the whole creation groaning with the results of the fall and waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. So there's a future second Judgment Day that will finish what was begun on the first Judgment Day. And we saw before that on the second Judgment Day, the whole creation will be completely renewed. That has not happened yet. Revelation 20 shows that there's a resurrection at the beginning and the end of the kingdom. The beginning is imminent, the end is not. Hebrews 9.28 says that there are those who will have to wait for Christ to appear a second time for salvation. Hebrews 10.13 says that Jesus is, quote, waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. He's waiting. 1 Corinthians 15 and Colossians 1 both indicate that all things in this creation must be redeemed, placed under Christ's feet before he comes back. That's a long process. 2 Peter 3.9 does not deny that Christ will be slow to end history. He will be slow. He's just saying his reason for slowness is not the critic's reason for slowness. His slowness is because he's not willing that any should perish. He will not end his kingdom until the last of the elect has believed. The hope of the second coming is said to be something we should wait for with patience. And so back to Revelation 22 verse 12, some people say, well, if that's first century, then we have no comfort here. This passage is utterly irrelevant to us. And I really believe that's a ridiculous argument that if you followed it through consistently would relegate most of the Bible to the ash heap of irrelevant. Just think about it for a moment. If all of the passages that were fulfilled that predicted Christ's incarnation, His birth, okay, they're all fulfilled. If that made them irrelevant to us, no, not at all. We glory in the incarnation passages. Are the fulfilled passages about Christ's death and His resurrection irrelevant to us? No, we find power in them, we glory in them. And in the same way, there are many applications we could make. I'm just gonna make four quick ones from this passage. First, seeing hundreds of detailed prophecies fulfilled to a tee in the first century gives us confidence that we can trust absolutely everything the Bible says. Whether it says it about math, geometry, physics, it doesn't matter what it says, you can absolutely trust it. Now, it used to be that liberals would bring out all of these different prophecies about Babylon and Medo-Persian Greece and Rome and they would say hey, they weren't fulfilled the Bible's false It doesn't have history right and archaeology has over and over again shown how stupid the liberals really are So understanding the absolute precision with which ancient prophecies were fulfilled gives me confidence in everything else the Bible says. As Jesus said about the Bible, the scripture cannot be broken. John 10, verse 35. It is infallible, it is inerrant, it is useful, it is trustworthy. But if soon means 2,000 years or more later, I think it gives the enemies of the church all kinds of ammunition to throw against us. The second application, is that if the first judgment began the kingdom, as Daniel 7 and so many passages insist, hey, we're in the kingdom. That means we ought to live as kingdom citizens and dispossess the Canaanites, so to speak. Now, we don't do it with a physical sword, right? Hebrews says we do it with the sword of the word and the great commission and the gospel. We bring them by, they're conquered by becoming Christians, by becoming friends of the Lord. But these are kingdom times, and if we're in the kingdom, then kingdom law applies, and every nation should be brought in obedience to Christ's law. Well, isn't that exactly what the Great Commission tells us to do? If we're in the kingdom, it affects our view of everything. Third, if this coming refers to the dawning of the kingdom, wow, this gives us incredible comfort that things are going to get better and better over time. And people say, wow, it's never been worse than it is today. And I'm thinking, really? You want to go 2,000 years back in time, live under Nero? I don't think so. When you look at all of the things that we have, even non-spiritual things, there's been vast improvement. on lifespans, better medicine, common comforts that even kings couldn't afford before, technological advancement, speed of travel, cheaper food, et cetera, et cetera. Even 200 years ago, people had to work most of their days just to survive, okay? But people say things are getting worse. I question that. The kingdom is growing. There are 2.4 billion Christians in the world today compared to 3,000 in Acts chapter two. To me, this speaks of massive kingdom growth over the last 2,000 years, and that growth is not yet finished. Psalm 72 says that eventually every king of every nation will bow down and worship Jesus. And Isaiah and Jeremiah actually say it's going to be a completely converted world where you won't be able to find a neighbor that you can say, know the Lord. Oh, he already knows the Lord. And you go over here, know the Lord. They already know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord God. Okay, it's going to be incredible growth of the kingdom. 1 Corinthians 15 says that Jesus must remain at the right hand of the Father until all enemies are put under his feet. So if 8070 was the newborn baby, perhaps we are in the toddler stage of history. Okay, kingdom was conceived at the cross, If it's the newborn baby at 80, 70, we are perhaps in the toddler stage of human history. Now I think if you just think of the Church of Jesus Christ that has got so much poopy diapers out there, is so messed up, you think, oh yeah, they're still a toddler, we're gonna work on potty training, right? We're gonna work on trying to get the church reformed. You're gonna have much more patience with the church than if you think, hey, this is almost the end of history, they should have their act together by now, let's whoop up on them, no. We need to have patience. The church is immature. We're in the infancy of Christianity. One thing we can be assured of is that Isaiah 9 verse 7 is true when it says, of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. constant increase, encouraging words. And then finally, if Christ gave rewards to his first century, well, his Old Testament saints, really, we can have confidence that he will give rewards to all of his saints. We can rest assured that our labors in the Lord are not in vain. He's a generous master who loves to take care of his household and to do so generously. The same Christ who promised to come to start his kingdom will come again when he has completed everything that he has prophesied. That gives us confidence in the future. Amen. Father, we thank you for your word, even difficult passages like this that Christians continue to struggle over. We pray that as time goes on, you would give more and more clarity, more and more insight into your word, and that there would come a day when Ephesians 4 is fulfilled and the Church is united in doctrine. and no longer tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. We look forward to the time that Isaiah prophesied, when all Christians will see eye to eye and speak the same thing. We long for that unity, Father. But in the meantime, help us to be prepared with answers from your word to seek to bring reformation to the Church of Jesus Christ that we love so much. And we pray, Father, that they would see our love, that they would not see criticism, legalism, but they would see a generosity, a patience, a love, a care for where they are at. We bless you, Father, for the privilege that we have of serving you. And as we close out the service singing this hymn that Wendy composed, we pray that our hearts also would be committed to the advancement of your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray.