Episode Transcript
Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, go therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to go teach all nations, bringing you Christ teachings through australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter, Pastor Robert Stankovic.
You remember last or two weeks ago I took part one of three about the second coming of Jesus. And the focus of part one was why will Jesus return? And we discovered some of the reasons why he wants to come back. One, he wants to eradicate sin.
We want no more sin and suffering. But most important, we want Jesus to come. We want to see him face to face because we have a forever friendship with Jesus.
This morning I want to talk about how will Jesus come? Because there are all kinds of interesting ideas and beliefs out in the christian world and sincerely believe some of these thoughts that I'm going to share this morning. But before I do, just invite you to bow your heads as we pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, may you give me the words to speak as I share not only scripture, but anoint me with your holy spirit, that I may share thoughts in an appropriate way, in a wise way that will encourage people to put their trust in your word.
And not usually always what other people say. But we pray, Father, that your word will be uplifted and your presence and glory will be magnified today in Jesus name. Amen.
So we're discovering that the return of Jesus is real. It's going to happen whether you like it or not. And we've discovered that there are various terminologies that describe that amazing event that will escalate and bring on the return of Jesus.
The blessed hope, the glorious appearing, and various other words that describe him coming back. Because he came the first time as a helpless babe. He's coming back as the king of, king and lord of lords.
Okay, so before I share how Jesus will return, let me just share how Jesus will not return. Okay, that's probably helpful because these are some interesting beliefs and not very truthful and maybe misapplied and misunderstood scriptures that I want to share with you. And then we're going to give you why I believe from scripture that Jesus is coming in such a way that we can know that it's him and not some impostor or a friend that's not ours.
Now, who's heard of the left behind series? They've made them into movies from books. And usually the main key thing is something happens in these movies sort of towards about halfway through, and then they're all surprised about something. What happens in these movies? Yeah.
There is this thing called the secret rapture, and we're going to understand a little bit about more what that is, particularly some of the scriptures that they read and think that there is a secret rapture. And we'll discover what the word actual rapture means as well. It's not a bad word.
It's a good word. It's a biblical word. It's just the secret behind it that bothers me.
So let's first find out what is the rapture? Does anyone know what the word rapture means? When someone is raptured, they are, what, two different things. It's an emotion, but it's also an event mixed together. Because I don't know about you, but when Jesus comes, I'm not going to say, lo, this is our God in whom we have waited, and he's finally here.
Yes, Jesus is here. And I might do some cartwheels, which I won't do it now because I'll probably knock everything off the stage here. So it's an emotion.
It's an ecstatic, as it says here, an intense pleasure or joy and enthusiasm. Happiness, excitement, ecstasy. Oh, that doesn't sound right, does it? But, yeah.
Exhilarating passion, joy, delight. Every good emotion is going to come out of us when the world stops as we know it. And we look up in the skyd and the world above, above this world is literally covered with tens of thousands and millions of millions of bright angels of heaven and Jesus right in the centre of that, the world as we know it will stop.
You think Covid stopped the world? You ain't seen nothing yet. That was just a warm up. If one sudden thing could suddenly stop the world in its tracks, I know this vent will not be missed, not even secretly, because the Bible gives us some interesting things.
So here is one of the verses. Well, not this verse, but how will Jesus not return? He definitely won't return secretly because we're gonna look at some key words that come up in scripture when he had spoken these things. This is Jesus just about to levitate and be taken up into the clouds.
And the disciples are all gathered around him. And while they watched, there's the word watched. There's nothing secret about that.
It's not like they stood there and all of a sudden, boom. Oh, where's Jesus? It's gone. Oh, his robes just dropped to the ground.
His body just left his clothes and he's gone. That's not what happened. And he was taken up.
There's that word rapture taken up. That's what rapture is. It's the secret thing that's the issue.
And the cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel. These were two angels, the same, probably the same two that were in the tomb that said, he is not here, he is risen.
Who also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up? There's nothing secret about all those adjectives. Watched, sight, looked, gazing up into heaven. This same Jesus who was taken from you into heaven will so come in like manner, as you saw.
There's the other adjective. Saw him go into heaven. So it's going to be a very visible event.
Definitely. Now, here is a scripture that many sincere christians are caught up with and misinterpreted the context of why Jesus spoke these words in Matthew 24. But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my father only.
But as the days of no or worse, so also will be the coming of the son of man, so he's paralleling as it was in the days of Noah. So remember that, days of Noah, the flood, you know, when they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark and did not know until the flood came. And did what? Took them all away.
They were what? Taken. All right, keep that word in mind. They were taken.
Not from this secret rapture stuff. They were taken. Where were the people that were taken in the flood? And what happened to them? They were lost.
They were destroyed by the flood. They were taken. All right, let's keep reading.
Suddenly taken. So in this movie, taken. No, not taken.
I left behind. There's another movie called taken, but that's different. That's very literal.
Nothing secret about that. So in the movie left behind, people are walking around, and all of a sudden, when the moment that heaven strikes a bell, whatever that is in their thinking, the secret rapture begins. All of a sudden, you see this Boeing 747 going down.
Why? Because the pilot's a Christian and you see their clothing sitting flat on the seat, shoes on the floor. Out of body, out of mind, out of sight, gone. Vanished.
No one to fly the plane. People are walking, a couple with their kids, one of the kids and one of the parents disappear. And the mother looks around and, oh, where's my husband? Where's my daughter? They're gone.
Clothes just sitting flat on the ground. And so on. Different depictions in that movie, the secret rapture people disappearing because they call the secret rapture the early return of Jesus, the secret one before the main one.
So. And then it says there, watch, therefore, for you do not know what hour your lord is coming. But know this, this is the key thing, but know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
Therefore, you also be ready, for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. It's not talking about that. Suddenly people will vanish and suddenly people will remain.
That's not what it's saying. It's speaking about the heart's preparedness, that you will not be caught out, unexpected in your walk with God. God wants us to always be in a spirit of readiness in our hearts, walking at peace with God without holding a grudge against somebody, without unresolved issues and an unforgiving spirit.
So that should we pass away and be left out of a relationship with Jesus, would be caught out and be lost. That's the warning message that the Bible is trying to talk about. It's not talking about people suddenly vanishing.
There is another verse where it talks about the thief coming. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Has anyone ever here been robbed? Has anyone ever here been robbed? And when you came home, you saw things missing.
You didn't see the robber, but you saw things missing. It hasn't happened to me. I've heard of other friends that have happened to them.
They come home and things have gone missing. And then I've heard of other stories where in the middle of the night a thief comes to try and break in and the father's got a baseball bat and ready to, you know, challenge the intruder and gets away. But the Bible talks about it as a thief in the night.
But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you've got no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labour pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape.
Now, this is the key thing. It's always important to read around whatever we read. It's always important to read in context of what Jesus or the apostles are trying to say.
But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief. Again, preparedness. Watchfulness.
Watching our soul, our heart, our walk with God. Where is our faith? Are we walking with God today, have we committed our day to him this morning? Every morning are his mercies new? Every morning for you. Have you approached your Lord and saviour Jesus this morning? Have you spoken to him? For you are all sons of light and sons of the day.
Because when we receive Jesus, we have light, because he is the life and the light of men, his grace, because we've accepted his salvation. He's called us out of this darkness, this sin, this life of sin, because we're walking with God. We have a relationship with Jesus.
We make mistakes, but he picks us up and we walk with him. We run to him rather than run from him. That's the difference.
Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. Let's not be drunk with the cares of this world. Let's not get caught up with the busyness and distractions of this world, that our heart is stolen from our desires for God and eternity.
Whatever interests will rob us of a relationship with God. That's where he says, watch, be sober, don't get caught out. Not this sudden disappearing business or thief in the night.
That we don't see Jesus come, because we consciously need to receive Jesus daily, that he comes into our hearts. Jesus says, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That's the inner coming.
The outer coming is coming soon. All right, another verse that Jesus tells us, you know, when the disciples says, Lord, tell us, when will you come back? When will we see you come back? And the very first thing he says, before he even tells of all the signs of the natural disasters and all these other things, he warns them, he says, you know, if anyone says to you, look, here is Jesus, or there's Christ, or do not believe it, do not believe your senses. Because if this false Christ, or this Christ that professes to be Jesus, speaks anything other than the word of God and it contradicts your relationship with God, don't believe it.
For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders, to deceive, if possible, even the very elect. See, I have told you beforehand. Therefore, if they say to you, look, he's in the desert, do not go out.
Look, he's in the inner rooms or secret chambers. Do not believe it. If he's at the United nations given out a speech, or if he's in Tel Aviv in Jerusalem, trying to make peace between Palestine and Israel, or he's in Ukraine and trying to make peace between Ukraine and Russia, don't believe it, because that's not what Jesus is coming back for.
So how will Jesus return? Let's look at some tangible signs that we can be clear to know that Jesus is coming back. And we've already seen some glimpses of it, and we've read that one that talks about when Jesus was taken up into heaven. So besides being visible, it will also be audible.
So if you see something and you hear something, it's very literal. It's not a secret event. So there is no secret event.
The only secrecy that there will be is if we do not repent of our sins and hold back secretly and not give all our hearts to Jesus in our own hearts, but walked consciously and surrendered to him. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a whisper. No.
What does it say? Shout, people, I'm coming. Nothing secret about that. And with the voice of an archangel and with a trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise.
You'll even wake up a dead horse. God will speak so loudly, so authoritatively, so powerfully, that the dead in Christ will hear his voice and wake up to eternal life. There's nothing secret about that.
No one's going to get missed out. You know, this secret rapture also resonates with some people. That puts fear in them.
What if I'm accidentally lost and I miss it like a thief in the night? Or I'm not taken up to heaven and I'm left behind? That's got nothing to do with circumstances outside of our control. It has everything to do with my choice to walk with God daily. We don't have to worry about the future or where we will be.
It's who we are and with whom we are now. The future is taken care of. The past was taken care of by the blood of Jesus.
The future has been taken care of because our names are written in the Lamb's book of life, because of our choice today. Let's not walk away from the faith and the first love that God has put in our hearts. Let's not allow the things of this world to rob us and take us away and steal us from our relationship with the almighty creator God.
Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up. There's that rapture again. Together, not secretly.
The wife says, oh, where's my husband and daughter? Together, we who are alive and we who have passed on and have come back to life with immortal bodies, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. We will meet the Lord where? In the United nations? In the secret place chamber, out in the desert, where we will be met in the air with one another to meet the Lord. Oh, let me just have a look.
Oh, yeah. And it sort of cements in one corinthians 1552, in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. That's powerful, that's audible, that's literal, that's visible, that's like, not secret or silent, that's in your face.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens, in the very same verse it says, the Lord will come as a what? Thief in the night. Hold that. And then in the very next breathe.
In which the heavens will pass away with what? Pass away secretly with a great noise. So how do you put that two together? If he comes as a thief in the night, I'm going to come, I'm going to surprise them and I'm just going to quickly grab Henri and I'm going to leave everyone else behind and I won't even know I came. I'm gone.
That's not what it's saying. And the elements will melt with fervent heat. When you read in.
Yeah, in two. Peter, when you read the verses around it, it's talking about the whole earth trembles, is shaken with earthquake and volcanic. I mean, when you have massive earthquakes and if you follow the fault line all around the earth, the whole earth will shake, it will erupt.
Every major volcano on that fault line, all major volcanoes are linked. Can you imagine the earth just seething with lava? But you know what? That's not a scare tactic, by the way. That's just how it will be.
It will be drastic experience, it won't be secret. But those who love his appearing, who love the Lord, will be safe in the arms of faith, will be safe. But it's also audible and visible in this passage.
Then at last, a sign that the son of man is coming will appear in the heavens and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. Why are people mourning? Is it because their houses got burned down by all the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and windstorms and who knows what else shook up the earth at his presence? What are they mourning about? Maybe they haven't been watching and praying. Maybe they've rejected the gospel message of salvation and they're mourning their eternal loss.
They'll realise that all the things that they've attached to did not bring them happiness. And there will be deep mourning among all the people of the earth. And they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
That's definitely not secretive. With power and great glory. What is that? It's the presence of God.
And we'll look a bit about that when Jesus comes back. And his presence and what it does for one group of people and what it does for another group of people. And he will send out his angels, myriads of angels, tens of thousands, as other verses talk about, with the mighty blast of a trumpet.
And they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world, from the furthest ends of the earth and heaven. So there is no worrying to think that we are going to miss out or be left behind. All God asks is this.
And Jesus says this, watch and pray, lest your heart be taken away, lest you be absorbed and caught up in the activities of the world. To the disconnecting from God, who loves you. For as the lightning comes from the earth.
This is one of my favourite ones, in fact, you know, one of my first sermon, my very, very first sermon that I ever preached, and this is even before I even thought about even being a pastor, was like, not even in the radar. I was in my, I think, nearly about 20. So looking at about nearly 35 years ago, I have my original sermon notes and it's starting to fade, yellow edges.
And it was written by a ding oldies. Don't tell me, young ones, what am I doing? Typewriting. Typewriting, yeah.
But you know what? The reality of Jesus and the hope is still as fresh and young as ever. Even more deeper now than it was back then when I first typed that sermon. And it took me forever, because when you make a mistake, I didn't even have liquid paper.
Make a mistake. You know, you throw the paper in the basket and then you put another one, roll it in. Ding.
I went through a few papers, but anyway, so it's very, very precious. It's in my museum at home. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the son of man.
That's one of my favourite ones. Now, have you ever been in lightning? Not struck by lightning. I don't want to ask that, because you are here.
And if you survived one, praise the Lord. But when you see a lightning, I mean, a lightning is powerful. You know what I like about lightnings? It's bright.
It's like, you know, in nighttime, it's pitch black. And then all of a sudden you hear this. And for a split second, everything's daylight.
Like a bright sunny day, middle of the day, you can see everything. And all of a sudden, pitch black. You can't see nothing in front of you.
And then about depending how far the lightning struck, you count 1234. Boom. Shakes the whole house.
And then you know that it's x amount of kilometres away from where you are. And then all of a sudden and 2 seconds later, oh, it's getting closer and closer and closer. When all of a sudden the brightness and the bang is at the same time.
You know it's above you and you hope you don't get struck. Jesus is right. Very close.
It's like you remember in scripture. It says, the son of man will be like a woman gives birth. You know the contractions.
You know the minutes get narrower and narrower and the contractions every 15 minutes, ten minutes, five minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds, boom, the baby's out. That's how the Bible describes the return of Jesus. And we are ready to deliver.
The earth is ripe and are we ready? Are we ready to receive him? Because he's ready to receive us. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. Now let's keep that term.
The brightness of his coming. How many will see Jesus return? Behold, he's coming with clouds. If you read in other parts of scripture, clouds is also described as angels.
I'm sure there will be clouds in the sky, but I'm sure there'll be a lot more than just misty clouds. There will be majestic angels. And every eye will see him, even they who pierced him.
So not only will those who are in the prison, every eye will see him. No, no, not, not, not. Dad got taken up and daughter and mum got left behind.
And these empty clothes flat on the ground. No. Every eye will.
Even those who pierced him back. The Pharisees and the. And the roman soldiers, they will be resurrected, some special resurrection.
And they will see at that time the coming of the one whom they rejected. Then the sign of son of man will appear in heaven. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn.
And they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Now this is important as I'm wanting to. What time is it? Oh, good.
Okay, 510 more minutes. Who will see Jesus face to face? There's only going to be two groups of people in this world. There are many religions, there are many nationalities.
That doesn't matter. There's only two kinds of people and two kinds of heart responses to the return of Jesus, to the one that they love or to the one that they shunned. There will be those who are scoffers, those who got tired of waiting, who begin to mock and doubt his appearing.
It's not talking about unbelievers. It's talking about believers who once had the faith. Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, our ancestors, grandpa and all that, been always talking to me about the return of Jesus.
And here I am, 50 years later, I'm still here. And all the things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. These are the scoffers.
They are torn between the love of the world and the love for God. And somehow they're waiting. They're tired, and so they detach from that hope, and they attach to something else that will fill that void, whatever that is.
And then there's the other group, the seekers, those who are still tired of the trauma and the terror that sin has brought in this world, but they hope and love for his appearing. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, how long, o Lord, holy and true? Until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. Why are they vengeful? Because they're leaving vengeance to God.
Because they've either been persecuted at this time before the return of Jesus. They've suffered a lot, like all humanity has suffered. They haven't doubted God's goodness.
They've trusted in him, but they're also getting tired, but they're hoping for his soon return. And it says, also in another passage in Isaiah, oh, I forgot to put the text in this one. Okay.
It's somewhere in the New Testament, that's for sure. And those who are scoffers, they say, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come. And who is able to stand? They're not in a relationship with Jesus, and the sin that they've held onto has traumatised and terrorised their conscience.
And when the brightness of his beauty and passion and love appears, they're afraid. Not because Jesus is a yemenite, a fearful, vengeful God in that sense, but because they've harboured sin in their life and they haven't dealt with the issues and baggages in their lives. But the seekers, they cry out, behold, this is our God.
We have waited for him and he will save us. This is the Lord, and we have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Isn't that interesting? I thought Jesus said that we're saved at the cross. Maybe what they're saying is the work that was completed at the cross and applied in their lives. And when Jesus come salvation of us from sin as well as from the environment of sin.
I complete salvation has come at the return of Jesus. Almost there now. How will he return? As lord of lords and king of kings.
They will wage war against the lamb and his people. But the lamb will triumph over them. Because he is lord of lords and king of kings.
And with him will be his what he's called. He's chosen his faithful followers. In the end, that's all that matters.
Any other issues are no longer an issue. That is the issue. And God is calling us to make that the centrality of our faith, the hope of his return and our preparedness of our hearts to serve him and serve one another.
And also he will come as conquering warrior. A faithful and true, just judge. Reason.
Word of God. The word says, I saw heaven standing open. And there before me was a white horse.
A white horse is a symbol of a conqueror. A victor whose rider is called faithful and true. This morning I chatted with the young people, the youth, about.
Sorry. Gonna take a sip. I spoke with the youth about God's justice and mercy.
One day when Jesus comes back, he will bring judgement. But you know what? He's a faithful and true judge. He will do everything he can today to make sure we're on the winning side.
He's not willing that any should perish. Isn't that what this word says? But that all should what? Come to repentance. That's what he's calling us to do with justice.
It means with fairness. Because the whole great controversy between good and evil has been about the judgement of God's character from the very beginning. He judges and wages war.
His eyes are like blazing fire and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. Isn't that interesting? You know, there's another verse in revelation that we also are given a name which is unique to us that no one else will know because of what we've individually gone through in our experience.
But what did Jesus go through? Why? It answers in the very next verse. He has a name written on him that no one knows but himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood.
Who else has done that? What other God of the universe that created our world has done that he's the only one. There's no other God on earth, no Hindu, no Buddha, no atheism. That won't matter anymore.
Because when the true and living God, the creator of the universe, is present, nothing else will matter. And his name is what? The word of God. In the beginning was the word who made all things in Genesis.
And then in John one in the beginning was the word, and the word was God. And the word was with God. And God came and dwelt among us, became flesh and felt our pain, brings healing, salvation.
That's why he has that unique name for us. So that's how Jesus is returning. I guess my question is for me, how am I returning to Jesus? Will I receive him when he comes? Or will I ask for the rocks and the mountains to hide me from the presence of him who reads me like an open book because I have rebelled and not repented of my sins? So what are we doing between now and when Jesus comes back? Because in two weeks time, I'm completing my three part series, and we've looked at why Jesus will return.
Today we looked at how Jesus will return. And in two weeks time, when will Jesus return? So we're going to look at all the factors and know how close his return is and how we are to occupy. As Jesus says, keep busy.
Occupy till I come. Keep busy till I come back. What does God want us to be busy with? What does God want us to be occupied with as we watch and as we wait and as we work for the Lord before his return? Let's pray.
Father in heaven, we want to be ready when you come, not because you're going to suddenly prance at us and catch us in surprise or come as a thief in the physical sense. But, Lord, we don't want to be caught off guard because we've been so caught up with the things of this world that we get caught out because our heart is not fully with you. You know each heart.
You know what holds us back, what pulls us down. I just pray, Father, that your spirit will take hold of each and every one of us to help us deal with whatever sin, whatever pain, whatever suffering challenges, doubts. Lord, may we trust you.
May we know that our identity is in Jesus and not in the things of this world or the circumstances of our lives. Whatever happens, Father, we are safe in your care here in eternity. Father, please forgive us where we've been doubtful, where we've been scoffing your return, not because we verbally say, Lord, where is the sign of your appearing? You know we're waiting forever and ever.
But our life says it all by how we occupy all our time. Lord, may we truly commit a portion of our time in spreading the everlasting gospel, in whatever talent and treasure and the time that you've given to each and every one of us. Thank you, Father, that we know how you'll return, not just physically, literally, audibly and visibly, but with majesty and power and with excitement.
To say, this is my beloved son. This is my son and daughter whom I love and I'm well pleased with him and her. Come and enter into my joy, Father.
May that be real for every one of us today. In Jesus name, amen.
This message was made available by the Bunbury Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit their YouTube page. Bunbury SDA.
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