We watch the evening news or we read news on our phones, iPad, whatever screen you might have, monitor you might have, whatever place you go to, and you begin to look around you at the happenings in the world, and there is a cry coming out of the heart of every person, and it goes like this, Is there any hope? Will it ever get any better? Is it just only going to get worse and worse and worse? Is there any hope for our world? I'm glad you asked that question. Because I can report to you today, there is hope. And His name is Jesus Christ. It is. Look in your Bibles, Mark 13 verse 24, the Bible said, But in those days, after that tribulation, the time that we know of that will come upon this planet and engulf it, the wrath of God upon this earth, a seven-year tribulation period, and he's talking about here the particular part of the last three and a half years, that final three and a half years, the great tribulation. Notice, the sun shall be darkened. and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall He send His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When her branches yet tender and put forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you in like manner, when you shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh even at the doors. Verily I say unto you that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. I stake My eternity on His words that won't pass away. What about you? Verse 32. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the sun, But the Father taketh ye heed, and watch, and pray. For ye know not when the time is. For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter, the doorkeeper, to watch. Watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at eve, or at midnight, or at the cock crow, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning. Lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping, you are not ready. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, watch. He's simply saying, be ready. That's what He says. Be ready. I want to talk to you this morning about the second greatest event this world will ever experience. Now, the first greatest event took place a little over 2,000 years ago when Jesus came the first time. There He came to bear the sin of mankind. We'll see that here just shortly. when we move on into the Gospel of Mark, is He will die for your sins and my sins, three days later, arise from the dead. He will ascend back to glory. He sets the stage for the second greatest event in human history. And friend, that is the second coming of Jesus Christ to the earth. When we come to verse 24 of Mark 13, we have now reached the climax of the Lord's Olivet Discourse, the message that He gave on the end time events on the Mount of Olives, and it's there He gave it to His disciples. He preached this particular message three days before His crucifixion. what the future holds for our world as it races toward its final days. He answers the questions of His disciple concerning His coming and the signs surrounding that momentous event. And this morning, I want you and I to look at these words that the Lord Jesus spoke so many years ago, so thousand years ago, and to remind ourselves the truth that is going to come about when Jesus comes. Again. I don't know about you, but I'm glad that He's come again. Hey, there's hope today. There's hope in Him. Man doesn't have the answer. Science doesn't have the answer. Society doesn't have the answer. But I'm glad I know the One who does. Amen? Let's pray together. Father, we love You. Thank You for a wonderful congregation this morning and live stream viewers. God, meet with us. Lord, help us to lift up Your Son. I pray we'll see Him today. Lord, help me to be a voice. God, I pray that I'd be a voice, that people would see Him today. And Lord, that Your Word would be powerful in our hearts. Lord, I just sense today that somebody needs You. Lord, they need to be saved today. Lord, there's somebody that maybe needs to be brought back into fellowship with You. They're out of Your will, haven't been living for You, God, and maybe today they'll come back to You. Lord, Your love drawing them with cords of love. God, we need to be strengthened today. Your people need hope. Lord, we live in a difficult, dark, dangerous day. And Lord, sometimes we lose hope. We get down and depressed. And Lord, we wonder if there's anything ever going to change. But I'm glad, Lord, that You're going to see us through this time. You are. That doesn't mean that there's not going to be days that are good in our lives and in our future, but I know one thing for sure, Lord, as I read Your Word, there is a better day ahead for the people of God, and I just thank You for it. I thank You for it. God, be with our brothers and sisters around the world today, and work in our hearts this morning. We'll thank You for it. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Well, we're looking at this wonderful truth when Jesus comes again. I'm glad He's coming, aren't you? And it begins with a sequence of events. A sequence of events. God's going to help us to sort of see a timeline here in these verses. Look if you would at verse 24. He said, but in those days. He's talking about the days of the tribulation. And He's going to talk specifically of the aftermath. Notice He said, but in those days, after that tribulation. Did you notice that? And then He's going to use this little conjunction, and. You'll see it in verse 25, and the stars of heaven. Verse 26, and then shall they see. Verse 27, and then shall they sin. And what you're seeing here is a sequence or a progression of chronological events that God says, the Lord says, is going to come upon the world and they're going to happen one right after another in continuous succession. And sort of like the hard labor pains of a woman right before she gives birth to the child. And God said right before my son arrives, there's going to be some events, there's going to be some things that are going to take place in rapid succession that will lead up to and then after the arrival of my Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice he said, after the tribulation of those days. Now you know what? We talk about two words that are very important. I want to share them with you real quickly. The first one is what we know as pre-tribulation. Pre-tribulations. Hey preacher, what in the world does that mean? That means that every saved person will be taken to heaven prior to the rapture of the church. Excuse me, taken to heaven. Or the rapture will take place prior to the tribulation. Before one ounce of God's wrath falls on this world, Jesus will come in the clouds for His own and we will be raptured, translated from earth to heaven. We are a tribulation, rapture, church. Okay? And that's what we mean by that pre-tribulation. Alright? Alright? Alright? Then we're going to move, huh? Mid-trip. Alright, yeah. And then we're going to move on to pre-tribulation. Alright, so pre-tribulation. That's fine. Mom's got to do what they got to do. So we're going to move right on. We sure love Ms. Rachel and her family. Alright, so pre-tribulation. Pre-tribulation. That means that every saved individual will be taken to heaven, prior to the tribulation beginning. The rapture will happen pre-tribulation. Second word I'm going to use, and that is premillennial. You say, Preacher, what in the world does that mean? I mean, that's a big word, premillennial. Millennial is just a simple word. It means a thousand. It talks about the thousand years a reign of Christ, alright? So we are pre-tribulation, that means every saved person goes up in the rapture prior to the wrath of God falling on planet earth in the tribulation period, last seven years. At the end of that, we know Jesus is going to come back, set up a kingdom, and we believe that the return of Christ to the earth is before He sets up His kingdom. I can promise you we're not in the kingdom right now. You say, preacher, how do you know that? Because our world is in a mess. And if King Jesus was in charge, our world wouldn't be in the mess that it's in. I believe we could all say Amen right there. Amen? And so we find that that is a reality. And so he said, after the tribulation, that's where we get that. When the tribulation is over, here's what's getting ready to happen. Alright? And it's going to announce the coming of the Lord. The rapture, He's going to come for His saints. At the end of the tribulation, the Lord Jesus is going to come back from heaven with His saints. The one, He's going to come in the clouds. The other, He will come back to this earth. There is a sequence of events in God's prophetic program. Friend, listen, you say, preacher, where are we? I believe we're on the cusp of the Word coming in the air. I believe, listen, friend, that Gabriel might be licking his lips. I have no idea, but at any moment the signal will sound and, friend, every saved individual in a moment, well, this robe of flesh will drop and rise to seize the everlasting prize and will forever be with the Lord Jesus. That's where we're at. And we ought to be busy about His business. Amen? But not only is there a sequence of events. Number two, there's the scene in the heavens. Notice, here's what's going to happen just before Jesus returns. Look what He says. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken." There it is. There's going to be a scene in the heavens. He's describing a great cosmic disturbance as the stellar heavens will be in total disarray. The heavens will literally go dark. There's going to be a great cosmic power outage. The sun darkened. The moon refuses to give her light. The stars fall. They go black and they give no light. He's not necessarily talking about how the stars are going to be falling to the earth. He's talking about how the light of the stars, they're going to go black and it's going to be as if they fall and they're not in the sky anymore giving forth their light. The powers that are in heaven shaken. The movements of galaxies, planets, solar systems will be violently disrupted. It's going to be a scene that will be horrific as the heavens will look as if they're being rended apart. People believe the world is coming to an end. Luke says that their hearts will fail them for fear of the things that are coming upon the world. This cataclysmic upheaval in the heavens will be so horrific, so frightening, that men's hearts will fail them, literally expire. They'll die from fright. They will be so overcome by the fearful events that their hearts will literally stop beating with fear. When you study the Scriptures, darkness always accompanies serious events. Egypt. In Egypt, the ninth plague, you remember God sent a darkness over the land of Egypt and the Bible said it was a darkness you could feel. There's some places back where I'm from and there's a place where Caldwell County, Wilkes County, and Watauga County meet. It's a place called Todd and Triplett, North Carolina. Anybody know where I'm talking about? There's a few people been up in that area. Go there at night. There's no street lamps. There's no street lights. You come out of the woods there and you don't have a flashlight, buddy. I remember one night I was waiting on my hunting buddy to come pick me up. My flashlight, you know, I didn't want to burn it out and I'm sitting there and I'm just being honest with you, I could have took my hand just like right there and I'd never seen it. It was pitch black. We're not used to that kind of stuff. No. Can you imagine the heavens going pitch black? That's exactly what it did in Egypt that day. There was no darkness. There was no light in any dwellings. At Mount Sinai, when Moses drew near unto God in Exodus chapter 20, the Bible said that he drew near into the thick darkness where God was. At Calvary, we'll see this when we get to Mark chapter number 15. And from the sixth hour, Matthew put it this way, from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land of the ninth hour. Darkness had engulfed the planet during the final three hours that our Lord was on the cross. And actually, writers wrote about that event. And I'm going to share that with you when we get there. And we talk about the miracles of Calvary. And there, when Jesus hung on the cross, the sun refused to give its light. that the Prince of Glory during those three hours was bearing the weight of the world's sin, and the darkness was symbolic of judgment, the judgment you deserved it, and I deserved it. He was judged for my sin and for your sin. I believe that's why we're called the children of light. We've been delivered from the darkness and we're in His glorious light. Aren't you glad He bore the darkness for us? Amen. In the tribulation there's going to be a time of great darkness. Ezekiel said, And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven and make the stars thereof dark. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. Joel said it was a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of darkness and of gloominess. Zephaniah said that day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. During the fifth vial, Take the bold judgment in Revelation chapter 16 and verse number 10. When the angels of God pour out the undiluted wrath of God upon this earth, there will be a supernatural darkness that will engulf the kingdom of the Antichrist. And the Bible said that they'll literally gnaw their tongues for pain. You know what? That reminds me of the lake of fire, where there's weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I was reminded on my way in this morning, and I was just praying, talking to the Lord, and I was thinking about the joys of heaven, and I couldn't help but be reminded of the reality of a place called hell. And I just want to say, friend, there's nothing in this world worth spending eternity apart from God in a place called hell for. Not one. Not a person's pride. Not a person's lifestyle. Not one thing is worth spending eternity apart from Christ in a place called hell. where there's weeping and wailing, where people literally gnaw their tongues for pain. Friend, you don't want to go there. You don't. I would not be your friend if I didn't tell you that there is a place called hell. I would not be your friend. I love to preach on heaven. I love to talk about heaven. But friend, here's the reality of it. If a person dies without Christ, they'll forever be in a place of darkness. Darkness. Hear this cosmic power outage. Just prior to the Lord's return, God's going to turn out the lights in the heavens before He comes. There's the sequence of events. There's the scene in the heavens. There's the sign in the sky. The sign in the sky. Would you hold your place right here and turn with me to Matthew chapter 24? Would you go there with me please? Matthew chapter 24. Find your place there in the pages of God's Word. Find, if you would please, verse number 30. The Bible says, "...and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Did you notice He said in verse 30, "...and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man." That sign, this is the supreme sign of the Lord's coming and the end of the age. It's the answer to the question the disciples asked. What shall be the sign of thy coming? The lesser signs that we preached on merely pointed to His coming. This sign is the announcement of His coming. The early church believed this sign to be a great big cross that would illumine the sky and in the darkened heavens it would announce the Lord's coming. And while that's a wonderful thought, I don't believe that's at all what's going to take place. I believe that through Scripture we can understand exactly what this sign is. You say, preacher, what is it? It is the Shekinah glory of God Himself. Do you realize that Jesus Christ, listen to me, is more than just a man? He's God. In Matthew 17, Mark 9. The Lord was on the mountain with the disciples. He took Peter, James, and John with Him. And the Lord went a stone's throw away and He kneeled and He began to pray to the Father. If you see the pictures of the Lord in a garden and He's praying, it's a picture of the Lord praying on the Mount of Transfiguration. And many times you'll see a light shining on Him. That's not the case. The light didn't shine on Him. The light shone from within Him out. It was His glory. It was His light. The Bible said that His face shone with the brightness of the noonday sun, that His clothes glistened with light. It was the inherent glory that Jesus shared with the Father before the world was ever created. It was the glory that He veiled when He became a man. Friend, listen, the disciples just got a glimpse of that glory. But when Jesus comes again, friend, against the backdrop of the blackened sky, the glory is going to shine. And it's not just a light shining out from Him. It is His light shining out from within Him. And He's saying to the world, I am on my way. I'm coming. That's what it's saying. The sign. That was the glory that led the children of Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness. It was the glory that sat atop the Ark of the Covenant inside the Holy of Holies. I believe it was the star that led the wise men to the Lord Jesus. It was the glory that set ablaze the sacrifice in the temple where God literally set it on fire and He lit the fire on the altar. It's that glory. Friend, can I tell you when Jesus comes, He's going to come in power and in glory. Every eye shall see Him. In my early days, I would hear Bible prophetic teachers talk about that because of the Hubble telescope and satellite TV that every eye will see Him. Do you know that not everybody has satellite TV? Some just choose not to have it. But if you go to the Amazon, I promise you they don't have satellite TV. There's places all over our globe that don't have these things of technology. They don't. Can I tell you that when Jesus comes, you won't need technology to see Him? Matter of fact, I don't even think the satellites will be flying. The Hubble telescope is not going to do you any good. I don't believe it's going to be a television screen that broadcasts it. Friend, when the heavens go black and the glory begins to shine, everybody's going to know who it is. They're not going to miss it. Every eye shall see Him. and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven." When you see the sign, you see the Son. The sign is the coming of Christ Himself. In that same area, context, Luke says this, and when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. I hear that verse taken out of context so often. They'll talk about something happened in the Middle East. Some will talk about movements of nations or this or that. or whatever, and they'll say, lift up your heads! Friend, that has nothing to do with you. That verse has everything to do with that generation of saved Jews and Gentiles that will be during the tribulation period because you think it's bad now. It's nothing what that generation of believers will live through. What we experience is a walk in the park to what they're going to experience. And He says when you begin to see these things start happening and everybody else around you is filled with fear and fright and their hearts are failing, He said that's when I want you to look up because I'm on my way and I'm coming for you. That's what He's saying. Isn't that a powerful passage of Scripture? Imagine the sun gone black, the moon gone, the stars gone out, and against that backdrop the Lord comes in all of His glory. Paul has called it the brightness of His glory. It's amazing. Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him. And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Friend, can I tell you, you talk about shock and awe. The Bible said that men will literally beat their breasts with grief. They'll scream with fear because the one they hoped didn't exist, the one they believed didn't exist, the one that they said didn't exist. Here He is! He's come! And He's coming to judge. You'd think that when you preach these kind of messages and you'd think even in that day when people experience it. John writes about this in Revelation. You would think as these events are taking place that there would be great revivals. That all the world would go running to God, but they don't. They run from Him. Instead of repenting, they'll rebel. It's amazing. It's almost incredulous that John will write under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and they repented not. And then began to list the sins. Men love their sin more than they love God. And they won't repent. And one day they're going to face Him. And the truth is everybody in this room is going to face Him. And one day all the world is going to be gathered to Him. Let's go back to Mark 13. I'm getting ready to bring the message to a close. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. When the Lord comes, He's going to defeat the armies of the antichrist. and then He's going to gather the wicked and they're going to stand before Him to be burned. He'll gather the saved to enjoy the blessings of the kingdom. This is not the great white throne judgment. This is not the end. No, there's another thousand years of the Lord's reign on the earth. This is where God's going to gather the world, the nations of the world. It's the judgment of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25. And those who have lived and survived the tribulation period will be brought before the Lord. They'll be judged. The sheep on one hand, the goats on the other. Those who are alive and saved will enter into the kingdom. Those who are not saved will be thrust out. Then he goes down and talks about the fact that about the fig tree. And he mentions that when it begins to shoot forth, he said, then you know that summer's near. He said, when all these signs start, you know that the end is near, that I'm coming. That's what he says in verses 28 and 29. Verse 30 he said, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. That's not necessarily our generation. It could be if the Lord came today. What he's saying is, whoever is alive on the planet Earth when the tribulation begins, that generation will not pass away till all the things that he says in this prophecy will be fulfilled. Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. He said, don't be a date setter. Verse 32. that day that at hour knoweth no man, nor not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father, because the saved are going to be gathered." Isn't that a blessing? Isn't that going to be a blessing? Isn't that a blessing? And He's telling them, you watch. Look what He says in verse 23. There's the last time we had this word, take ye heed, pay attention. Watch and pray, for you know not when the time is." And then He gives a little parable and He's going to tell them to watch again. Verse 36, why? "...lest, coming suddenly, He finds you sleeping, you're not ready." That's what He's saying. And what I say unto you, Jesus says, I say unto all, watch. Be ready. Friend, listen. One day in the not too distant future, God is going to put the final period to the last sentence of the last paragraph of the last chapter of human history. He is. He's going to wind it all up. Jesus Christ. Listen, He's going to do it when Jesus comes again. But when He comes a second time, friend, can I tell you it's going to be different. He came the first time in grace. He's going to come the second time in glory. He came the first time to a tree. He's going to come the second time to a throne. He came the first time and He bore a cross for you and for me. When He comes a second time, He's going to wear a crown. He's not going to come to a crucifixion. He's going to come to a coronation. He's not going to come to save men. He's going to come to judge men. And the message to the people in that day on the earth when this happens is, be ready. Be ready. Be ready. Preacher, what's God's message to us today? Be ready. That's it. Be ready. Because the rapture will take place before anything that I've preached in this passage over these last weeks will take place. In a moment, the Bible says, a twinkling of an eye, the saved of this earth will be translated glory. Friend, if you're not saved, you'll be left. You'll be left. Left behind to face the judgments of the tribulation period. Left. Left. What a terrible state to be left. You say, Preacher, how can I make sure that I'm not left behind by receiving His Son, Jesus Christ, as your Savior? Because He died for your sins. He was buried. He rose again. And He wants you to be saved. He wants to wash your sins away and make you His own. He's going to gather His people before the rapture and after the tribulation. You know what? We live before the tribulation. That means He'd come at any moment. Any moment, any moment. I'm just going to ask you again, are you ready? Are you ready? Let's bow our heads in prayer.