Mr. Ed Smith

Sermon Transcript

July 7, 2001

Behold, Your King is Coming

Isaiah 9:6. "That unto us a child would be given. And the government would be upon His shoulders. His name would be Emmanuel and He would dwell with us therein."

Over there in the 52^nd and 53rd chapters it talks about how He would be beaten, spit upon, cursed, ridiculed, and His life taken from Him. So there are many scriptures, not only in the Book of Isaiah, which, of course, has so many of them. Isaiah the prophet has more to say about the Messiah, His first coming, His second coming and the new age than any other writer. Paul, in the New Testament wrote continually and advised the churches -- admonished the churches - to be prepared for the coming of Christ is at hand.

So as we look into the first coming, let's look just for a moment to see why it could be that with all the prophecies back in the Old Testament predicting the virgin would conceive and bear a child - he'd grow up as a tender plant, he'd be rejected, a man of sorrow. Now, how could it be that His own people, the Jewish people, would reject that? Do you remember in John I it says He came to His own? But His own received Him not. But to those who would receive Him gave He power or authority or the right to become the sons of God. Maybe they didn't realize the Jews looked at time as in two ages. Judaism looked at the present age in which we're living, in which is a cruel, un-curable, hate-filled world. And they see no hope for it. Now, you go back and look - all they're got to do is go back and look through the history of their nation, and they're quite avid historians. They trace all of the things that Rabbis had said, what the prophets had said, what the history shows. And they have been a persecuted people. They've been a scattered people. They've gone through all kinds of things. And yet, to them, that's it. The age in which we live.

But at the same time they can look into The Bible and they can see there is what they call the other age, or the golden age. The golden age being that time when all the prophecies that you read back there in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and all those, especially if you look in Isaiah 35 when he says, "The Deliverer will come to Zion and turn away ungodliness from Jacob; they'll sing the new song; the blind will see; the deaf will hear; the lame will be walk." Beautiful times. He said they'll not hurt nor destroy in all My holy nation. All of those things we read in Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 when the Kingdom of God is set upon the earth." They call that the golden age. But how do you get from the age that now is, which is a futile, frustrated, impossible world to get into the golden age? Well, they believe the Day of the Lord is the only way to do that. There must come the coming of a Messiah. Now, not as a babe in a manger who grows up and is rejected of men. That's why, when Jesus was on earth, even His own Disciples questioned Him … is it at this time that you'll restore the kingdom to Israel? It could have been one of the reasons that Judas Iscariot betrayed his Master, because he was banking heavily on the fact of having an important role in the golden age, of the Kingdom of God, the messianic age set upon this Earth.

As so, as we look into some of these matters, it's good to see that The Bible plainly tells us we can be thankful that we have been called of God, had our minds open to understand Jesus came to this Earth as a Savior for man. That the Jews rejected because that's the way to get from the age of the now and the problems of now, into the golden age. It is through Jesus Christ. And through His calling and through our preparation for it. That's the only way it will happen.

Now the Day of the Lord will come. The Bible talks over and over about the Day of the Lord. Very much misunderstood. So much so you go to some of the places like Revelation 1:10, read most of the translations and they'll say on Sunday morning I was in the worshipful mood and I began to see these visions. That's not the way it happened at all. John was projected, as it were, into the Day of the Lord. Just as Ezekiel was called up and saw the wheel within the wheel and saw all of the visions of the things to come. But … so it's there. Man tends to reject that, or deny that, or does not understand that at all. But we can. We can understand about the age to come, the return of Christ, the golden age, the age of the Kingdom of God, the messianic rule of Jesus Christ.

Now the Jews, of course, are trying - you remember here a couple of years ago, they tried to bring a big cornerstone into Jerusalem. They were advised not to. Do you remember hearing about the red heifer that was going to be slain, have them lay the cornerstone, build a temple, restore the sacrifices and get ready for Moshe ben David. Or the Moses, the son of David, or Jesus. But he didn't come. And it hasn't come and it won't come. Not until God and His timing send Jesus Christ to this Earth. And so I'd like for us today to look at just a few scriptures to renew, review again in our minds the inevitable coming of Jesus Christ and the golden age that will follow, the Kingdom of God upon this Earth.

You look over in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. We call them the Olivet prophecies. But let's look at Matthew 24. In Mark you only see it mentioned twice. In Luke you only see it mentioned twice. But here in Matthew he goes to great length in the prophecies and all the answers to when will these stones be thrown down and what will be the sign of your coming and all of that.

Let's notice here in Matthew 24. He said in Verse 2, do you not see all these things when they departed from the temple? "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly I say to you not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down." Did you ever stop to think what he's talking about there? Have you studied into the stones that went into the temple, Herod's temple, and the beautiful temple so glistening white that it almost blinds you to look at ait? Some of those stones were over 20 feet. It would take 3 men standing with their hands to each other to go around some of the columns. It would be kind of like the pyramids in Egypt. How did they get those massive hundred-ton weight stones in place? Now to look at that and see all of the beauty there and grandeur and say not a one of these will be left upon another. They said well how could that come about? It took many years to get them up there and you say they're going to come down. Well, he was of course projecting into AD 70 when General Titus and the Roman, who were because of their anger for the Jews and their resentment of them because they would not submit to Roman law, that they came in and literally demolished and torn down the stones so that they were not left one upon another. And a lot of them to this day have been found in excavation.

Now, they said, "When will these things be?" Verse 3. And then he adds something that Mark and Luke don't. "And what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?" or the consummation or the close of the age. Right before Christ comes and sets up His kingdom. Now, all you've got to do is look at some of the scriptures and you could find real quickly as they literally say the Day of the Lord will be a time of judgment. The Day of the Lord will be at time where God will vindicate his wrath upon rebelling, opposing, warring mankind. And when's this going to be? What will be the sign of your coming? Well, we can look over here in the latter part of this verse, "And what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?" Now that's the first place we'll begin to see it.

He goes on and tells them a lot of prophecy. We won't take time; you're very familiar with that. But let's just pick up a few of the places where He mentioned He would come again. Now, this word "coming." I should interject right now the word "coming" here, and this is where a lot of the problems, a lot of the difficulty, a lot of the misunderstanding happens today. Because the Greek word for "presence" or "arrival" or "coming" is paraskeue. And this word has been interpreted by some -- when you get into I Thessalonians 4 it has kind of a two-part thing. Christ will come secretly, for His saints, then all of the sudden they go to heaven or somewhere for three and a half years, or some say seven years and then He'll come back with His saints back to the Earth, that we'll read off in I Thessalonians 4. So they've got it a two-part split thing.

There is no such thing in the Greek.

You take and study some of the men like Zodiates, Vines, Strong's, and some of those men. And they say it is literally a time showing the arrival of a king, of a dignitary. Back in the classical Greek that's exactly what it meant. The coming of the emperor, or the king, and it was of such import that when he was going to come they got ready for it. They even levied taxes to have gifts for the king. Golden crown, all of the other things that they could give to this king. Now keep in mind there was preparation for the king or the emperor who was to come. They would even strike a coin to commemorate his arrival. They would even start counting time as a new age or epoch from his coming.

And it was that which of course signified the arrival of a king who would hear petitions of people; who would right the wrongs; it could even be used as a returning or the coming of their healing god who would heal people of their needs. This word paraskeue. So you put it all together and you can begin to see that's exactly what Jesus Christ is saying. Be prepared, be ready, and be watching, I'll come in a day when you're not aware of. He says He will come and right the wrongs; He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. He will then restore health and living streams of water. And the lame will walk and the sicknesses of man be healed. Now, that's what paraskeue is actually talking about. And we'll see that in a little bit as we go along.

Matthew 24:27, "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west so also will be… the paraskeue, or the coming, or the revealing, or the advent, "… the return of the Son of Man." Now I was driving around 275 today, I mean when the lightning flashed across the heavens, I don't know whether you saw it or not. It's very apparent when it flashes and goes from one side of the sky to the other. It's very visible. Very apparent. We've got a lot of electricity, static charges in the air because of the clashing of the cool air and warm air and humidity and all that. He said it's going to be just like that. The coming of the Son of Man will be apparent to all.

Matthew 24:30. When he says immediately after the tribulation of those days. There's nothing about a pre-tribulation, you know, pulling out here. Now, obviously there is, there are many scriptures and I won't take the time to go into that because that's another sermon or series of sermons, how that He has promised to protect His church from tribulation. He also says hairs of your head are numbered, not a hair of your head will perish. But He also said many of you will be tested and put to death. So how far will God allow punishment? Or some of the hurts that plague mankind which is brought on by the ruling powers before He does step in and do just what Verse 30 says? We don't know. We do know that when Israel was in Egypt they were right there when the water was turned to blood and they had the gnats and flies and the frogs and all of that. But it was only when they became subject to life being taken that He severed the land of Goshen and did not let the plagues go near the people of Israel. Do you remember there in, I believe it's in Psalm 90 along in there, where he says a thousand will fall at your left hand and ten thousand at your right hand, but no plague comes near your dwelling. God has a way to protect. When he says immediately after the tribulation the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give it's light, the stars will fall from heaven, the power of heaven will be shaken, and you look in the Book of Joel and it says, "Before the coming of the dreadful day of the Lord," that's what will happen.

So once these things have happened then the sign of the 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 immediately you know what fits right in with that. Acts 1 which says that He was there with them those 40 says up until right before Pentecost. And went out and was taken up from them into the sky into the clouds and they saw Him no more, and they said don't, you know, don't worry about that. This same Jesus taken from you will come again in like manner.

Over in Revelation 1:7, it says, "Behold He comes with clouds, and every eye will see him..." So it's going to be very manifested. Just like the lightning of the sky, just like the powers being shaken, the Son of Man, the sign of the Son of Man, and His coming, will be visible to all because He comes with the clouds of heaven. With power and great glory.

Matthew 24:31. "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other." And as Mark says, "From one end of the earth to the other most part of heaven." Wherever they are.

I Thessalonians 4 talks about the dead rising first to meet Christ in the air, then we that are alive being caught up with Him. We'll see that in a moment.

So you see here, when this happens He sends His angels, not before He came, but at His coming, when he gathers together the elect. So all of these things become apparent when you put all of the scriptures together.

There is a key verse in Matthew 24:36 that we need to stop off and think about for just a moment. Verse 36 is the key. When will it happen? That again is another problem.

During the days of Peter and Paul and John and the apostolic era of the church right into the time right around the time that General Titus destroyed and ransacked Jerusalem. And then heresy began to get going. And Gnosticism got to be going. And that's why John, who wrote the fourth epistle, which is not like the other three - they are of course what we call the epistles that are just like, almost alike, but John is different. And He is spelling out some of the things that were already beginning to happen. You see that in I John, II John, and III John some of those things that John had to deal with that had already crept into the Church. Now when they were preaching, they made no bones about it, He will come again they were preaching and teaching and being patient until that time comes.

Matthew 24:35. Jesus entered in. Heaven and Earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away."

Verse 36. "But of that day and hour no one knows." That's pretty plain. No one knows. Now all kinds of attempts at it have been made. For the hundreds and hundreds of years that followed the heresy and the movement that literally when the curtain came up, as Jesse Roberts says, we see a church totally different than the apostolic church.

They were not preaching the coming of Christ, the Kingdom of God being set up. They were the Kingdom of God already in their universal church. And for those hundreds and hundreds almost two millennia that followed, that was not a big issue, the coming of Christ. But not really a part of their doctrinal matters. But along in the 19^th century, along about the 1830s and 40s and so on, the Church of God actually became infected by date setting. 1843 it was going to happen. It didn't happen. Well, we miscued. We didn't allow for another date, you know, going from BC to AD, so it was in '44. Didn't happen. And that brought about a split in the Church of God at that time. Those who held on to certain visions or certain date setting and so on.

Along about the beginning of the 20^th century, again an attempt to set a date of 1914. Christ was to return in 1914. Didn't happen. World War I started in 1914. Lasted until 1918. So all of the sudden they began to juggle again the thinking. Now, you can go back and see what happened in 1843 and 1844. They juggled that to cover up their miscue and then began to say well that's when the investigative judgment and this and that and other things happened. 1914, of course, was the time when the kingdom did come. And the kingdom's here now, I don't know whether you're aware of it, but it came in 1914. It's been around now for 87 years. Get better and better and better, that's what's came to us to was to do was to get things better and better, but they're not, they're getting worse and worse. Obviously, the kingdom was not set up in 1914. Hadn't been set up here in 2001. But it will be. When? Jesus said no one knows. So we can get into a heap of trouble, as the Boon County Sheriff said. We can get a heap of trouble when we start trying to do what Christ Himself said He did not know. He said no one ones. No, not even the angels of heaven. Not He Himself. Only the Father would know.

So literally it's blasphemous for us to say we know it's this date, that date or the other. Jesus said He didn't know. So we try to rise above Him and try to get it all figured out for God. Oh, no. God will do it in His own time and in His own way.

But notice Matthew 24:37. "But as the days of Noah were, so will the" -- paraskeue, or the "…coming of the King be." And then he goes on to say that we're eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage and all of that, went on their merry way, until the day Noah entered the ark and destruction came.

Did you know when Mt. Vesuvius exploded and buried Pompey did you know that they had been warned for 20 years Pompey will be buried, but the people didn't pay any attention. Went on their way. And they were doing all kinds of illicit and terrible things when the hot molten lava came down that mountainside and buried Pompey. Will it be the same way in our day? That they cried, but the people will not respond? We can preach and teach but they will not hear? Oh, sure.

Well, what about us in the Church of God? When we read these scriptures do we take heed to them or do we, as we read in Galatians 6:9, when he says, "Don't be weary in well doing." Mr. Kirkpatrick and I were talking the other day, you know about conditions of the world, conditions of things right now. And I asked him what do you think will be one of the problems that we as Church of God members have to watch out for and deal with? And he said just exactly what my same thoughts. I said you're right on. That's exactly the way I see it. We'll be weary in well doing. We'll begin, in our minds, subconsciously do as they did when Peter warned about in 2 Peter 3, he said there will come scoffers who will say where's the promise of His coming, for it says they fell asleep, just go on as they were. Where is this second coming of Christ, when's it going to be? And we'll tend to get weary in well doing and let down. We dare not because all through this 24^th Chapter he says, "Blessed is that servant when the Lord come will find His servants doing His work." His preaching and teaching of the gospel. Feeding the flock. Caring for the flock. And awaiting the arrival of our King. Jesus the Christ, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. And so you can go on and read other places here in Matthew.

But I'd like you to turn to John 14. This was written now toward the end of that first century. And here we read a verse as plain and plain can be. It should remove all doubt.

John 14:2. "In my father's house," or in my Father's kingdom, and his world, his government he will bring, He says, "are many abodes." Are many dwelling places, as the amplified shows it. "If it were not so, I would have told you." That's getting pretty plain. If it's not so, if it's not going to happen, if it's a farce, never happen, then what does that make Jesus? He said, "If it were not so, I would have told you." But it is so. "I'm going to prepare a place for you."

Now does that mean He's going to go put some stone and stick and so on and put it together and build us a little cubicle that we can live in? No. How will He build a place for us? By living in us. Coming in our lives, building the character that we need. Helping us to make right decisions, helping us in our trials to overcome. That's how He builds the place for us, as we yield to Him and submit ourselves and come into harmony with His will, and His way. Then there is a place for us. But it takes some preparation work, as we will see in just a moment.

John 14:3. "If I go," And He said He will go."… And prepare a place for you." In other words, I will come again into you through the spirit,

John 14:23. He said, "If any man will do My will, the Father and I will come and make our abode in him." He says continue in My love as I have continued in My Father's love. I will come and abide in your and the Father will abide in you. And that's how the place is prepared.

John 14:3. But notice once that is done, "I will come again, and receive you to Myself that where I am there you may be also." Now, is that worth submitting our lives to God for? Isn't that worth praying about? Studying about? Yielding ourselves for? Preparing for the King who will come? And say come to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Do you remember Jesus said I prepare a place for you, that you can come and sit and eat with Me at My banquet table in the Kingdom of God? And so, that's laid out for us. A place.

Now let's notice something as we come over into the Book of James. The Book of James was mentioned in the first message. That practical writer, James, who actually just says it as it is. This entire Book of James is literally filled with Christian instruction just basic Christian living would do well to heed. He's talking about the rich. How they held back the wages of the laborers who had mowed their field.

James 5:4. And the cries of the reapers who reached the Lord of Hosts, you've lived on the Earth in pleasure and luxury; you fattened you hearts as in the day of slaughter. You've condemned, you've murdered the just and he doesn't resist you. Now what's He saying to Christians? Therefore, be patient brethren until when? The coming of the paraskeue of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the Earth, waiting patient for it until it receives the early and latter rain. Having grown up on the farm, it makes very much sense. You know, you plow the fields, you sow the grain, you plant the corn, maize, or whatever you're growing and you wait for the rain. Some have said that farming is the biggest gamble there is. Because you don't know when it's going to rain. You don't know if the insects will eat your crops. It takes all of the, all of the God-given forces of nature to bring about the harvest. And He said that's they would wait until they received and latter rain and see the fruit of their work. That's what we have to do. The early rain. Which may have come upon us 30, 40, 50 years ago. And the latter rain which will come upon us right now. That is blessings from God. His presence and His guidance, and His power and His strength. He said you, as Christians, also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Or has drawn near. That's what some scoff and mock and said, well James, he just thought it was going to come in a little while. Paul thought it would come in a little while because he said, you know, I want you in the presence of Jesus Christ at His coming. And over and over he said the coming draws near.

That's why when he wrote to the Church in Thessalonica; let's keep that in mind. We must be patient for the coming of the Lord is drawing near. When? He said no one knows. Just the Father. Let's look at 1 Thessalonians because the Church of God in Thessalonica had been one of the ones that ran Paul off. You read back in Acts 17 where Paul went into Thessalonica and preached and they ran him off. They refused to listen to him. And he went to Berea and it says they were more noble in Berea, that they received the word with readiness of mind and searched the scriptures if they were so. But he was writing back to this Church of God in Thessalonica.

I Thes. 2:19. "What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing?" Is it not even you or to have you in the presence, and that word is paraskeue, "…in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming." Paul is saying he is coming.

I Thes. 3:12. "And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another, and to men just as we do to you. So that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ." There are numerous other ones over in I Thessalonians as well as others here, but I need to get into this chapter because this is basically how Paul had to answer some of the questions of what happened then and what happens now.

I Thes. 4:1. He said, "I exhort you in the Lord Jesus that you would abound more and more, just as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God." And then he goes on and talks about let brotherly love continue. We're to love one another, but then he comes down to Verse 13. Evidently they had written a letter to him, just like the Church at Corinth had written over to Paul and asked certain questions. And if you'll look in I Corinthians, that whole book is answering certain questions the Corinthian Church had asked. Well, evidently the Thessalonians, the Church of God at Thessalonica had written to Paul and said Paul, you said you wanted to have us at the presence of Jesus Christ at His coming. But we've got people dying over here in Thessalonica and the end has not come yet. What about them? Had they lost out? Is there no hope for those who've already died? Those who have fallen asleep or died? And if we die we don't have any hope then what's going to happen? Well, that then prompted Paul to write this. He said I don't want you to be ignorant. I want you to understand brethren, concerning those who've fallen asleep in death - the Greek implies.

I Thes. 4:13. "Lest you sorrow as other who have on hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so God will bring with Him or will lead up" that is up out of the graves as they rise to meet him, "those who sleep in Jesus." Or who through Jesus sleep the sleep of death. Now a lot are going to tell you, oh see, they're up in heaven. They're in all the beatific visions and all of these things, and they're going to come from heaven down.

No. Jesus said no man has ascended to heaven except the Son of Man who came down from heaven. Even had to tell them David is not ascended to the heaven. He's waiting, as Hebrews 11 says, until that time when we're all perfected, or glorified, together. So he said, look, "This we say to you by the word of the Lord," or by his authority, "that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord," I think we all hope and pray that. My wife and I - we've been in the Church 50 years. And we've been saying to each other we want to be alive when Christ comes back. But we're getting older. Whether we'll make it I don't know. I pray to God we will. I would love that. I'd love to rise up in the air to meet Christ in the heavens. With the dead who have gone up first and then we all meet together and come down in that glorious descent.

What it says there in Zechariah. 14:9. "The Lord will come and all of the saints with Him, and the Lord shall be King over all of the Earth." There in Zechariah 14.

I Thes. 5:15. "Those of us who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep." So wait a minute. It seems to me the dead in Christ may even have the edge. They will rise first. And then he says, "We will rise up to meet him. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel." We don't know if it's Gabriel, Michael, whichever one. "And with the trumpet of God." A trumpet calls for an assembly. "… And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with Him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord."

I don't know how much more comforting Paul could have gotten to the Church in Thessalonica. I don't know how much more comforting he could get to the Church of God right here this afternoon, than to tell us whether we're alive or whether we're dead, we will all live in Him and through Him and be with Him and in Him or eternity. Because we can meet Him in the air. And that's why He said comfort one another with these words. But He said, "Concerning the times and season, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves know perfectly that the Day of the Lord will come as a the night, when they will say peace and safety then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pain upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape." But you brethren are not in darkness. So that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are sons of light. Can we really say that and believe that and feel that to the depth of our being? We are thankful to God we're not in the darkness of this world who have no hope. That's why he said don't sorrow as others who have no hope. We have hope. And that of course is the great thing of the gospel. It is that hope of the good news of God's coming kingdom.

Let's go back to Matthew 21 as we wrap up now. Matthew 21. And here we find Jesus about to come into Jerusalem for His final trip in that would cost Him His life. His life would be taken there. Here in Matthew 21 Jesus said, "Go into the village now opposite you and you will find a donkey tied and a colt. Loose them and bring them to me.

And if anyone says anything to you you shall say the Lord has need of them. And immediately he will send them. All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet." Zechariah, of course. "Tell the daughter of Zion, behold your King is coming to you. Lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of the donkey." Or the little one of the donkey. "So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded. They brought he donkey, the colt, laid their clothes upon him and set Him on them. And a very great multitude spread garments in the road and cut down branches and threw them out and said, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna to the highest."

Now if you'll turn back to Zechariah we'll see exactly how that was spelled out for them. This is just merely a fulfillment of it. Jesus told them what to do, they did it and then it says that it might be fulfilled that was written by the prophet.

Zechariah 9:9. "Rejoice greatly, oh daughter of Zion. Shout oh daughter of Jerusalem. Behold your King is coming to you." Remember Jesus said, " will come again." He is going to come to you. He is just in having salvation. Lowly and riding on a donkey, the colt, the foal of a donkey. Now we have to stop right there because that's about that first coming and the triumphant entry into Jerusalem went. It said He would come with salvation. That He'd restore the Kingdom to Israel then. Was the Kingdom set up then? No. But notice, He said in Verse 10, "I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem." In other words rebellion, warfare, hurting man, destroying man will be over. The battle bowl shall be cut off, war will cease. He said they will learn war no more in Isaiah 2 and Micah 4. He shall speak peace to the nations. Did that happen when Jesus was there? No, He was willing to go to the stake and die for you and me. This is what we call prophet compression. The scholars call it prophetic compression. Which really means they tell you the prior meaning and then the end-time fulfillment of it. And not the timing in between. At least 2,000 year in between that time and now. Or approximately 2,000 years will have elapsed. Notice the ending of the latter part of what happens, when He says, "He will speak peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the Earth." Peace at last. Because the King has come.

Let's notice one last scripture here in the 19^th Chapter of Revelation. When he begins to see the visions of things that are going on in heaven, and the loud voice, the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God.

Rev. 19: 4. "who sat on the throne saying, Amen, Alleluia? Then a voice came from the throne saying 'Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great.' And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many crushing waters, and as the sound of a mighty thundering saying Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." The Church has made herself ready.

If a great dignitary, say the President of the United States, or the Prime Minister of Canada, or the Queen of England were to say to us, look you're invited to come to the big banquet I'm going to prepare when I come to your city. I'm not going to tell you when it is. But I will let you know when you're to arrive. What do you think we'd be doing? We'd be waiting for the arrival of that note, that letter from the King. We would have our banquet garments on, or the wedding garments, as the parable shows. So that we might be with the King.

And so today all I can say is what Jesus said. "Church of God, behold, your King cometh." Let's be glad, let's rejoice. Let's be ready.

© 2001 United Church of God, an International Association