The Book of James, chapter 5, and verse 8. It says there, Be ye also patient, establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord through His Name. Be ye also patient, establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord through His Name. If you notice on your timetable for tonight, the topic is the blessing of the Lord's return. So, what do we say is second coming? We'll turn our Bibles now to the book of Ephesians, chapter 1. We'll read a few verses from there. The book of Ephesians, chapter 1. Verse 1. It says there, speaking with God, having made known unto us the mystery In the dispensation of the administration of the fullness of times, ye might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. For ye are reading the lessons of the Colossians, another way it is proved, is so that Christ might be made the head over all things. in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated with qualities for the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his own will. And then we'll read together in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 53. It's really the last part of the verse that I'd like to remind you of. It says there, He has pleased the Lord to bruise him, him being the Lord Jesus. He has put him to grief, but now shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, he shall pray long days. And then his next phrase is, I guess what will form the center of our meditations this evening. And the pleasure of the Lord, the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in His hand. His hand being the hand of the Lord Jesus. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. When we come to think of the second coming of the Lord Jesus, the blessing of His return, the blessing of it to ourselves, the blessing of His coming to the world, You come to find, and as you look through the Scriptures, that there is in fact so much of the purposes of God, so much of the will of God, His desire which He had for the foundation of the world, things that are still yet to be fulfilled at His Second Coming. In actual fact, when you come to think of it, at His First Coming, when the Lord Jesus came to lie on the cross and to shed His blood, to be like, as we read here, a sacrifice for sin, The Lord Jesus was here, and God was here, establishing the ground upon which He could bless both us and the world at large. And after the Lord Jesus came the first time to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, in the letter to the Hebrews it tells us that we who look for Him, He will come again the second time, but this time, apart from sin, unto salvation. So in actual fact, many of the purposes of God, many of His desires, His will toward you and me, and His will toward the world, is going to be fulfilled at His second coming. And the lovely thing is here, when you look at it in verse 10 of Isaiah 53, it says, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands. of God, the will of God, shall prosper in the hands of the Lord Jesus." I'd just like to make a few quick remarks before we get started. The first thing I'd just like to point out to you is that the will of God is beautiful. In fact, the Bible tells us that it is good, it is perfect, and it is most acceptable. God's will towards mankind is not being something In fact, God's will toward mankind is good, and it's perfect, and it's acceptable. And contrary to popular belief, and contrary to what the world may say, it is in fact in the will of God that man will find his blessing. Outside of the will of God, it will just be misery. And that's why when the Lord Jesus came into the world the first time, the angels of heaven all did sing and say, Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, the good pleasure of God in man. Why? Because at His coming there the Lord Jesus was establishing the ground upon which He could righteously bless man. I have a desire to walk. And the question that I will have to each person here is this. Have you submitted yourself to the purpose of God, or not? Have you put hand in hand with God, and have you submitted to God's desire, which we know of, which is what? To make Christ the head over all things, and in it you will find your blessing. not to say to you that if they'll look at it tomorrow night, it will be a very terrible ending. It's only a curse. And the second thing that I'd just like to remark and say is that it says here that the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. And with that God, that God committed His pleasure, His purpose, His eternal desires into the hands of the Lord Jesus. That they weren't committed into the hands of any other. Because every other person fails. Every other person stuffs things up. But with the Lord Jesus, when the will of God, the desire of God was committed into His hand, what does the Bible tell us again? That the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. In other words, it will come to pass. the pleasure of God will be fulfilled. And in spite of every obstacle that the Lord Jesus may have had to face, what does the Bible tell us in Isaiah of Him, He shall not fail, neither will He be discovered. But even when He came to the cross, and the fearfulness of that sin, and the Him being made sin and He knew no sin, Despite the agony and the pain that he felt, and his soul which was exceedingly sorrowful even unto death, yet what did he still pray and say to his Father? Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine will be done. It is the pleasure of God prospering in this life. And what you will come to see is, in fact, after the Lord Jesus has laid down the foundation from which we can bless both us and this world, and He would send them to heaven. And now we are waiting for His second coming, in order for His purpose to actually be fulfilled. Now, what I thought of doing is in considering the purpose of God. To consider it first amongst us, as Christians, amongst those who are saved, what the purpose of God is toward us. And then in the second place, the purpose of God towards this world, for creation. When we think of the purpose of God to all of us, and we'll turn to the beginning of chapter one. to himself, according to what he did pleasure with his wife, and he predestinated us unto the adoption of children. That you and I are the children of God. When we return to the letter to 1 John, there the Apostle John says to us, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God. It's a great thing that God has made us His children. This is what He predestinated us unto. This is the purpose which He has in mind for you and for me. That which He wants to arrive at for you and I. That Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren. That we would be conformed into His image. That's what God has in mind for everyone of us. Apostle John goes on to say, he says, Even now are we the sons of God. Right now, everyone who has received the Lord Jesus, who has the forgiveness of sins can say that they are a child of God. But my question is, is your state and my state now, is this all that it means to be a child of God? John goes on to then say, after he says, even now we're the sons of God, he says, and yet it does not yet appear what we shall be. In other words, he's saying, we are going to be something else. But what it is, we don't know yet. It hasn't yet appeared. When you look now at children of God, you look around the world, for instance, you see many of God's children being trodden down upon. You see them being persecuted, you see them being afflicted, you see them being oppressed, you see them being killed now in the Middle East, in Syria. Is that what it means to be the child of God? If you would happen to be the child of the king or the child of the president, you would not be treated in such a way. You wouldn't be poor like many of the Christians in this world. Why would you expect to have disease and sickness and all these things if you happen to be the child of God? Take for instance human life. Perhaps we don't face those sorts of things here. But we face other things. Think of it as a comment to all Christians. Temptation. A desire in you which is some sort of, a desire that comes up in you which loves sin, which wants to sin, but there's this war inside of you that says, but no, I shouldn't do that, no, I don't want that. And this constant battle inside. But what about your divided desires? And sometimes you have a desire to serve God, but at the same time you find this pull in the opposite direction. This constant struggle within. To the degree that when the Apostle Paul experienced that, he cried out and he said, O wretched man that I am, Is that what it means to be a child of God? To be in such a state? That's not what it is. But what we will be, it has not yet appeared. But what does John go on to say? He says, but we know that when he does appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. That's what it means to be a child of God. What we are yet to become. And when will that be? When we see Him. That is to say, when the Lord Jesus comes to receive us to Himself, at His second coming, then it is that you and me will have the purpose of God fulfilled in us, the receiving of the adoption of children, fulfilled in its fullest. We'll be like Him, morally. You know the Lord Jesus, pure and holy? Not a single desire towards anything, nothing selfish, nothing sinful whatsoever, doesn't even know sin. That's what you will be like. In heaven, you and me will be without sin. And one of the obvious things about heaven is that when you get there, there will never ever be such a thing anymore as temptation. Never ever will you experience this divided heart, Desire sometimes to sin and this war within you, it will be over. Finished. When you get into heaven, you know what David says in Psalms? He says, then I shall be satisfied when I awaken to the light. Every desire of your heart will be completely satisfied. Fully. Right now, it's difficult to know such a thing because of sin that dwells in us. But then when we get to heaven, you will never have such a thing as a divided heart. But all that you could ever wish for, you will find. And true satisfaction, true happiness, you will come to know. And you will have it forever and ever and ever. And John says to us, that's what it means to be a child of God. It's to be like the Lord Jesus. To be free from sin, like He is. To be enlightened morally. You know what else it means also? To be enlightened morally. It's not just to be enlightened in a moral sense. And it's a lovely thing to think about that no more such a thing as temptation, no more such a thing as a divided heart, no more such a thing as, you know, ah, I want to serve God but I'm just worried about how much it will cost me in this struggle. No more such a thing as that. the children of God in its fullest sense, there will be no more grief, no more sorrow, no more sadness, no more such a thing as death and parting and leaving your loved one. That will all be over. There will be men like unto Him in the physical sense too. The Bible tells us When you look at the body now, He says to us that there is such a thing as an earthly body. There is such a thing as a natural body. And He says to us, even as we have borne the image of the earthly, so shall we also bear the image of heavenly. And this natural body will one day become a spiritual body. It will be changed. In fact, the Lord, in Philippians chapter 3, the last verse, He tells us that when the Lord Jesus will come from heaven, He will change our vile bodies to be fashioned like unto what? He says, to be fashioned like unto His body of glory, according to the power whereby He is able to subdue even all things unto Himself. We have a mighty Lord, a strong Lord. He is able to subdue all things unto Himself. When He comes, And if we have changed in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, He says, then will our bodies be fashioned like unto His holy Lord. Now what is now, are effected by sin. That's how death came into the world. Disease, pestilence, all these things. But what's worse is that when you look at the body, and you look at the person, and you see the body, it says there's nothing imponerable about it. In fact, do you remember, for example, the story of Lazarus? After Lazarus was given two full days, and the Lord wanted to roll the stone away so as to raise up Lazarus, what did his sister say? He would stink by now. He'd come to rot. You know, in 1 Corinthians 15, he tells us that our bodies, when a person comes to die, and they bury them in the ground, it says the body is sown in corruption. Corrupt case. It's sown in corruption. He says it's sown in weakness. It's a weak thing. It's not a sign of strength. It's sown in weakness, and it's sown in dishonour. He says, but when it will be raised, when the Lord Jesus comes and raises up all the saints who have died before, according to His mighty power, and He gives them a body like unto His body of glory, He says, then it will be raised, a body that is incorruptible, a body that is honourable, and a body that is full of glory. It won't be any more dishonor and weakness and corruption. No, no, no. It will be changed completely. And so it will be fashioned like unto His body in the world. We've received the adoption of children because it was in the heart of God, from before the foundation of the world, that He might conform us to the image of His Son, that He might be made the firstborn among men and women. The question is, when did the Lord Jesus lay down the ground upon which God can righteously do that with you and me, the sinners, and the cross? When He paid the sin? And when will the Lord Jesus, when will you and I receive this? We've already received the adoption of children. We're already, just like John said, the children of God. But when will it actually, when will it be actualized in us in its fullest extent? It is at His second coming, with blessing of His return to you and to me. You know what else is another blessing in the Lord's life? The Bible tells us that not only will we be changed in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, in the blink of an eye, but what question is, what of all the Christians, what of all those saints who were dying before us? Your loved ones. I don't know everyone here. You may have a loved one who has passed away. You miss it. But you know one of the most comforting things about Christianity is that it gives you a hope. Like I said to you at the start, the will of God is the hope of mankind and it's the hope of the world. It gives a hope. You know what the Holy Apostle Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4? He tells us to comfort one another with some particular fact, some truth. And what is it? He says to us in 1 Thessalonians 4, that when the Lord Jesus shall descend, do you know what will happen with the dead in Christ? It says that then in Christ you'll rise. And we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet them in the end. You'll meet your loved ones. You'll meet those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, whom you so dearly miss. You'll meet them again. We have our hope as Christians. That's why he says, you need not sorrow as others which have no hope in this world. They will be raised again. And when they will be raised again, Then, you know, when, versus Corinthians 15, he tells us that, when thou be raised to them, again, that this corruption shall put an incorruption, and this mortal shall put an immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying, death is swallowed up in victory. Do you see the graves now? Like, when you go past graves and graveyards, sometimes you think, you know, I'm not sure if you've ever thought across your mind, But where are they going to keep getting wounded? Like this world keeps on going, and people keep on dying. It's like it's this bottomless pit into which people just go and go and go, and death is never satisfied. And no one's ever come out of it, out of Christ. He rose again never to die again. He lives forevermore. And He obtained victory over death. And you know when He comes the second time, When He raises up those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, then will be brought to pass the same, and death is swallowed up in victory. And then they'll sing and say, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? And you know what gives us the victory? It's the fact of God. It's the utter victory of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Again, the hope of the world. The hope of ourselves. Victory over death. raising people up to die, never to die ever again. So death is being swallowed up in victory when? At his second coming. It tells us that the last enemy to be destroyed is death. Do you know when the destruction of death will be? It will be in your mind at his second coming. So you see again the blessing of his return. Death being swallowed up. But more than that, the blessing of the world to us all is when we think of the world of God. God has a desire to what was created by him. And we are at it in Ephesians and we are at it in Colossians. And it's that the Lord Jesus might be made the head of all things. And He told us all things being things in heaven and things in the earth. When God created the world, you read it in Genesis, it was perfect. It's a different world to what you and I know now. It was a world in which there was no death, a world in which there was no disease, a world in which there was perfect peace. Now, I want to read you a passage from the book of Isaiah chapter 11. I want to read you a description of what the world is yet to be like. We'll begin reading from verse 1. It says there, "...and there shall come forth a rod out of his stomach, Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of every tree." You sort of have to be familiar with the rest of the book of Isaiah, but what he's speaking of there is the Lord Jesus, and He was the King of Kings. Then if you go down to the verse, so then he sort of comes to the earth from the vessel in between and he rules the king. Now look at this description of the earth from verse 6. It says, The wolf also shall dwell with the man, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fat thing together, and the little child shall eat, and the cow and the bear shall feed, and the young one shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw, like an ox. And the sucking child shall play on the holy of the earth, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the proper Christ's head. They shall not hurt nor destroy them in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day again, that same day, there shall be a root suggested to Christ, which shall stand firm in the sight of the people, to which shall the Gentiles see, and his rest shall be glorious. It's a very different world that we're in at the moment. It's very different. Why is the world in the state that it's in at the moment? Why, for example, and I may seem like a small thing to you, but why, for example, is the lion in the world? Why is there constant killing? Why is there disease in the world? Why is there no peace? It's because there's sin involved. When the Lord Jesus went to the cross, do you know what He did? I've read it to you in Colossians 1. Colossians 1 verse 20. It says there, having made peace with the blood of His cross, it says, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. This is different to persons, because He goes on to speak about persons after it. So, to reconcile all things unto Himself, by Him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. And you, now persons. It says, And you that were sometimes heavy in exaltation and in disdain of my Father with the cross, that now has He reconciled you. Remember when Jesus died on the cross. He did not only die on the cross just to save you and me. He lost it for good sin too. It was as hard as I have to say it, but there was more than that even in the death of Christ. It was to redeem the world from the bondage of corruption that he suffered. And when the Lord, in Romans chapter 8, we read that the whole world groans and trembles together in pain even unto death. But the whole creation, the Bible says, eagerly awaits for the revelation of the Son of God. For you and me to appear with the Lord Jesus Christ at His second coming. Why does the whole creation eagerly await for that time? Because when the Lord Jesus comes to rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords on this earth, then will all of creation be released from the bondage and vanity that it is under because of sin. That's when you have a world like what we read up in Isaiah. When there will be rest throughout the whole of the earth. When His rest above us shall be glorious. When the knowledge of the Lord God will fill the whole of the earth. When no animals will ever fight against each other. But the lion, strangely, will even eat hay, just like all the animals. No more killing, no more death, no more diseases. It will be very difficult. And when will this happen? At His second coming. Do you see how Christ is even the hope of this present world? This world is never going to be released from all the trouble that it is in, and all the disease that it is in, and all the suffering that it experiences, except Christ comes to the world. This is the purpose of God, the eternal purpose of God, that He might reconcile all things in Christ. That He might be made the head over all things. If we turn to Psalms chapter 8, just to confirm this idea for you, Psalms chapter 8, It's a psalm I'm most interested in from the Hebrew. It says, look at the first one. It says, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth. You have set thy glory above the heavens. First three. When I consider the heavens and the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man if you are mindful of him, or the son of man if you miss him? But Thou hast made Him that is the Lord of the angels, and has crowned Him with glory and honour, and made Him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands. Thou hast put all things, notice, things again, when He's speaking about things to the creation, He says, Thou hast put all things under His feet. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, and the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the path of the sea. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy Name, and Lord of the world. Question. When will this happen and who is this man with whom this psalm is speaking? If you turn to Hebrews, in the book of chapter 2, it says in verse 5, it says, For unto the angels has he not put in subjection your world to come. That world to come of which we are hearing in Isaiah 11, it says that it's not to angels that he's put that world in subjection. In other words, the angels are not the head of that world. But one, in a certain place, testified saying, to speak of David, when he testified in Psalm, saying, What is man without mind to love him, or the son of man that can visit him? You made him a little lower than the angels, and you crowned him with glory and honor, and then set him over the world by hand. God has put all things in subjection under his feet. And then now, in the end of verse eight, he says, But now we see not yet, all things will come to you. But what do we see in the first line? That we see Jesus, who was made a little Lord in the ages, for the suffering and death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for every sin. What do we see in the moment? He says, the one who testified in the Psalms of this, that world that is yet to come, of which some particular man will be head over all, He says to us, he's actually speaking about the Lord Jesus. But he says, at the moment, what do we see? We see Jesus having been made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. Brothers, we see Jesus, Son of God, who was made a little lower than the angels so that He might experience death, so that He might taste death for everything. And so it happened, when He came to the world, He died on the cross at His first coming. And then He rose again. And now, where is the Lord Jesus? the right hand of God, crowned with glory and honor, but not yet to receive all things with its objection unto its feet. God promised him and said, God spoke to the Lord Jesus and said to him, ask of me and I will make thine enemies thy footstool. Islam chapter two. Has it happened as yet? Has it come to be fulfilled yet? Not yet. But when will this thing happen? At his second coming. And He comes again to rule upon the earth. Then will the Lord Jesus be made head over all things, as was the purpose of God from eternity past. Then it will be fulfilled. And then will there be blessing upon this world. Then will the world be in peace, and creation will be released from the curse of sin. And then will even the enemies of God remain peaceful. Second coming of the Lord Jesus. In Him is a great blessing. The new environment is too important, and the enemy is also addressing him as well. He is actually saying to them, like what was said in Isaiah 53, in the pleasure of the Lord, the purposes of God, the purposes of God in eternity past, they shall surely prosper. My question is, have you put hands in hands with God and submitted to His commandments? Have you now gone to the Lord Jesus Christ, even now when you have the chance, and bowed down to Him as Lord? Have you humbled yourself before Him? Or not? There is not a single person in this world, the Bible tells us, who has ever opposed God and Christ. Never have you. And will God fulfill His purpose? Yes, He will. Will anything hinder Him? Not one bit. The person who looks out is the one who is confused, who has decided to walk contrary to God. Does God feel good? Is His purpose good? Was there anything evil in what we have just spoken of? Does God have any evil intent towards you? Does He want to hurt you in any way? Not at all. God's desire towards man is a good one. He tells us that he desires that no man should perish, but that all should come to belong to the true God. That's his heart's desire towards us. My question is, have you accepted that desire? Have you said, thank you, Lord God, for your good and your perfect and acceptable will? Have you gone to him and confessed your sin? Have you gone to him to receive forgiveness? It came the first time that He suffered death on the cross, and His blood was shed so that He might make a righteous basis upon which to forgive you, and give you the adoption of sons, to make you a child of God, and bless you for all of eternity. And my question is, have you accepted what He's done for you? It's not about what wants you to do, There were people like him, the Lord Jesus was on this earth, who came to the Lord Jesus in the Gospel of John, and they asked him and said to him, Lord, tell us the works of God so that we can do them. And what did the Lord Jesus say to them? He said to them, do you know what the works of God are? That you might believe on Him whom God has sent. It's that simple. If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then you shall be saved. For in all your hope upon Him, Thank the whole of your eternity, all of your sins, and the forgiveness of them. Put that all upon Him, and trust Him with it. And like this anger, it's not a single thought will ever put their confidence in God, and it's ever a shame. God's desire is towards you. Just like the angels did sing, when the Lord entered into the world. Glory to God in the highest, and let it be a good treasure of God, of man. He has a good desire towards you, and a good will towards you. You need to bow yourself down to Him now. The truth is today is the day of salvation. The Lord comes a certain time, or it will be too late. You will still bow down to Him, but at this time it will be by force. Because Christ has said that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Look up. The Lord is strong in the heart. But if you bow down to Him today, you will have blessing on blessing now and in His memory. Should you refuse, it's a terrible thing. And it's not my own desire, my heart's desire. It's God's heart's desire. And every person here might know to give their success. Might learn themselves to be a child of God. Might put hand in hand with God. All we can do is to show him his purpose. The pleasure of the Lord in prospering in his hands. We will come to see the fulfilment of that. The actualization of bringing out many of God's eternal powers will happen with the second coming of Christ. We thank God that the pleasure of the Lord is in His hands and He is standing on His right shoulder.