Sermon from November 7, 1999
"The Second Coming of Jesus Christ"
Revelation 19:11-21:8

Some time last spring, I was typing out a sermon, and I wrote something about the Second Coming. When I did the spell check on my computer, it told me that I had made a mistake. I looked in the window that gave me possible options to my misspelling, and I discovered that the only mistake I had made was a failure to capitalize the two words. I thought to myself, "That is pretty amazing. Someone at MS Word knew enough and cared enough about the Second Coming to be sure writers capitalized it."

A fairly small matter like that gives evidence of the unexpected importance of that Christian doctrine to our collective thoughts. That importance gives Christ a foothold in the souls of millions of people. Several themes of Christian eschatology have found their way into our end-of -the-century consciousness. We have a TV show called Millennium. Han Solo's spaceship in Star Wars was called The Millennium Falcon. Hollywood produced a movie called Armageddon, and that word peppered conversations during the Cold War's nuclear threat.

Nothing, however, has quite captured our fancy like the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It is a central, non-negotiable doctrine of Christian faith. The Apostles' Creed has nothing in it about the Millennium or Armageddon, but it does confess, "I believe in Jesus Christ... who will come again to judge the living and the dead."

Jesus Himself taught us to believe it. The Apostle Paul often referred to it, as did Peter and the Book of Acts. What has struck me has been how much more thoroughly Revelation sets forth the Second Coming of Christ. He devotes 34 verses to that event and its meaning. No one else in Scripture does that. It is time to let John speak.

John's description in verses 11-16 is without parallel. I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes 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. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

This regal figure comes to fulfill the deepest longings of mankind, which have been frustrated by the forces of evil. He deals first with the earthly embodiments of Satan's malignant purposes - the beast and the false prophet and their minions in verses 17-18. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, "Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great."

The language here and in verses 19-21ties together a loose end that has been dangling in our minds since chapter 6:15-17. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hid us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

Those last words of verses 17 clearly mean that the sixth seal brings about God's climactic judgment on the sins of the world. But nothing came of it at the time. John went on to other matters until he came to chapter 11:15-19.

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever."

The end is at hand, and heaven senses it. Verses 16-18: And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great - and for destroying those who destroy the earth."

Verse 19 prepares for the divine endgame. Then god's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm. Only it does not happen. There will be another delay in chapters 12-14, while John goes into more detail about the spiritual combatants in this spiritual warfare for the soul of Man.

Finally, the end comes with the pouring out of the last bowl in chapter 16:16-17: Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!" Now, verses 19-21 tell us the outcome of Armageddon, at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were throne alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This horrible place is the destiny of all unrepentant evil. The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

It is the Book of Revelation that takes us beyond Armageddon. Next Christ deals with the root of evil in verse 1-3. And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

A dozen questions beg for discussion here. Don't let them turn us aside from a great victory and a great mystery. The most troublesome thing about collective human experience is deception. The Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact that sealed the fate of Poland, the lies of the Johnson Administration about Vietnam, Watergate, the Savings and Loan frauds of the 1980s - these are some of the more egregious deceptions of the 20th century. Ten thousand lesser ones give substance to what the Apostle Paul meant when he called the devil the spirit who is not at work in those who are disobedient (Eph. 2:2). At the Second Coming the mastermind of human deception will be removed, and for a thousand years many people will come and say,

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
     to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
     so that we may walk in his paths ...
He will judge between the nations
     and will settle disputes for many peoples ...
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
     nor will they train for war anymore," (Isa. 2:3-4)

The great mystery of this chapter says in verses 7-8 that when the thousand years were over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth - Gog and Magog - to gather them for battle. The final rebellion will be brief. Verses 9b-10: But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

And then justice will be done. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Did you notice? First, the beast and the false prophet are thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Then aftter his brief rebellion the devil ... was thrwon into the lake of burning sulfur. Now, in verse 14 death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. At the blowing of the seventh trumpet the 24 elders had said, The time has come for judging the dead, and ... for destroying those who destroy the earth," (11:18). One by one the Lamb returning on His white sheed has stayed their hand and removed them from His creation. The time has come for the renewal of all things.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or morning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

John will return and we with him to the theme of the b ride, the New Jerusalem in 21:9-22:9. For now, I want to make one brief observation about these five verses. I believe the last clause of verse 5 interprets the first clause of verse 1. When John says he saw a new heaven and a new earth, he does not mean a remaking of the physical universe; he means that the old order of human life - human life as we have known it for millennia - has come to an end. I believe Venus will shine down brightly on the same earth, but, as John says, our eyes will no longer look back at it froma world of death or mourning or crying or pain.

It is in that sense that he who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He will slake our final thirs.

Finally, john, who never forgets his pastoral responsibility, brings to an end his vision of the Second Coming by addressing his congregations, as I must now address you. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbeliving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

The Apostle Paul's statements in Acts 17:30-31 give the best commentary on John's pastoral exhortation. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.

The appointed Day and the appointed Man have yet to come. We live in the in-between time. We wrestle with the beast and the devil and death and Hades and with our own fallen nature. But the appointed Day and the appointed Man are coming. Let us take heed to John's pastoral counsel and ask ourselves, "Is that me? Am I among the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, thoes who practice magic arts, the idolators and all liars?"

If we are, then let us repent our sins and renounce anything that lures us back into them. They have no place in the New Jerusalem. They will flee away from the Lord's presence when He comes to judge the living and the dead. They who have clung to them will themselves be driven from His presence, clinging still to the doomed remnants of the old order. Do not cling to them now. Flee them. Cling to Him.