Let me remind you that next week we take a break from the Revelation series to spend five weeks leading up to Easter. So that begins next Sunday. And then we will come back to Revelation after that. Verse number 7, Revelation chapter 1 verse 7: “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. And all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so. Amen.”

Let me give you real quickly the three acts. We are exploring Revelation with Act number 1, Christ revealed. It is from Him. It is about Him and not merely from Him. We are looking at how the Old Testament supports the book of Revelation and all that it teaches. And then we are trying to apply the truth of what it says. This morning we are focusing on, we are going to have Act 1, the revelation of Christ, which will be heavily involved. Act 2, the Scriptures supporting this. And then at the end we will come down to the application of truth.

Verse 7 describes the ultimate revelation of Christ and His glorious return. Now let’s remember that this book is written to the church. Verse number 1: “The things He has made it known to show His servants.” Verse number 4: “John to the seven churches who are in Asia.” It is a book written to the church, for the church, and is not intended to be a book of speculative predictions. They were talking out in the foyer before church today with all the stuff going on with Iran. And all of this speculation is bubbling up again. The Lord could come today. But we do not depend on that based upon what is happening in the world at large.

Michael Wilcox says this in his commentary on Revelation: “The Almighty God is sending grace and peace to us, His servants, in the long letter that follows. Grace and peace, be it noted, not perplexity and puzzle. We shouldn’t come to the book of Revelation looking for mysteries to solve and predictions to define. We should be looking for grace and peace. This is the reason He has written the book to us.” Right there in verse 4: “John to the seven churches that are in Asia. Grace and peace to you from,” and we looked at that concept a few weeks ago.

It is also important to note, we can affirm that this isn’t a mystery to be unraveled because of the fact that John and Matthew both quote this passage of Scripture. Listen, note the comparisons between verse 7: “Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, 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.” It is something Matthew has already said, Jesus has already told us. So we don’t come to the book of Revelation looking for mysteries and puzzles to solve. We look for the manifestation of His glory and the encouragement that He gives to the church.

This reminds us that the book of Revelation is not an uncovering of new mysteries, but a restating of previous revealed truths. Remember that two-thirds of the references, two-thirds of the passages in the book of Revelation are Old Testament allusions or quotes. It is the Old Testament being brought together, God’s plan being consummated, if you will, in the end time, and it is not meant to be a speculative and unraveling of puzzles and the latest evangelist saying, “Here’s something God showed me this week about what’s going on, etc., etc.”

The glorious return of Christ, pictured here in verse 7, conveys hope and assurance to the suffering church, especially as it is followed by the affirmation of verse 8 that God rules all things. We looked at this last week with the concept that He is sovereign over time and circumstance. Nothing can affect us eternally, ultimately. Yes, we have heartache. Yes, we have despair. Yes, we suffer persecution. Yes, we suffer loss. But we never are separated from God in His mercy and His grace and His goodness. He is sovereign over time and circumstance.

Again, Michael Wilcock, speaking about verse 7 here, says: “Because He is sovereign over time and circumstance, because He is the ruler of all things, His plan will be accomplished in the earth. And we need not fear that it would not be, whether as it relates to us individually, or as a congregation, or as a nation, or as a member of planet earth, God’s plans will always succeed.” And if we don’t hold on to that, if we don’t have that deep in our hearts, what do we really have to offer the world? After tens of thousands of years of human machinations that have produced nothing but more bloodshed, more war, more heartache, where will we turn if not to Christ and God Almighty, according to the revelation of His Word?

Now, this is very important. Christ revealed, which is what happens when He comes again, is the expectation of His ultimate revelation. This is what’s going on in verse 7. We see Him coming. We’ll come back to that. But this, again, provides a connection to the Old Testament. Because this passage is a quote from Daniel, chapter number 7: “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days, and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” This is where John is drawing his thought, this imagery, which, of course, appears in many other aspects of the Scripture. He’s talking about the coming of Christ.

But now what happens when Christ comes? There is a predictive element in this verse that you will have seen, but I will reread it: “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him.” Now this presents a question. Does this mean 16 billion eyeballs will see Christ if He shows up today? Is it meant to be taken in that kind of very literal, wooden sense, “every eye will see Him”? Or does it mean, rather, every eye, every person, will have the experience of encountering Christ after His return?

You may not know this, and many of you may not know who I’m talking about here, but Pat Robertson, who founded the Christian Broadcasting Network, the 700 Club, used this verse as the basis for establishing a satellite Christian network so that they could broadcast Christ’s return when He comes again. That is, Robertson argued that that Scripture would be fulfilled because when Jesus comes, we will have the cameras on the ground to broadcast to the entire world that He has come again. And this is the way that Scripture would be fulfilled.

Now, without diminishing Dr. Robertson and any of the work that he did or his institution is still doing, I remind you that that viewpoint removes it from relevancy for the first century Christian. The first century Christian had absolutely no concept of the technological communication abilities we have today. Many people here are, I’m, well, Gloria’s not here today, so I can honestly say I’m, Tom is older than me, and Bev’s just a little bit older than me, but I’m one of the, well, move on, Pastor, will you? People that were born after the year 2000 have no idea what a world without computers and cell phones is like. But you have to remember, it’s only been about 100 years ago, 1926, they were just getting radio going, much less, they hadn’t even imagined television. People in the first century had no concept of that kind of technological, and that would have been the last thing.

When they read, “every eye shall see him,” they would have not been thinking in some kind of technological concept. By the way, not only does it do that, it removes it from them. People in the first century were not stupid. They knew that you could not see across the hill. You could not see across the hill as he was on the other side. They knew that. They would not have instantly thought that this would be a, “every eye will see him.” Now you say, “Well, Pastor, couldn’t it have been a vision? A vision is not seeing it with your eyes. A vision is something that you see internally. It looks like it’s outwardly, but it’s in your mind’s eye, if you will. Remember, Paul saw a vision of Christ on the Damascus Road. Nobody else saw the vision except him. So that argument does not do it.”

We also must remember that Jesus, since His incarnation, has a physical body. He was resurrected in that physical body. The basis of our resurrection is His resurrection, and He has a physically recognizable body. That, not subject to the limitations of this flesh, nevertheless, comes in a certain form and shape, and it would be impossible for every person on the planet to look into the air and see this person of Jesus there. Thus, we should not take “every eye” literally. It is a metaphor for the fact that every eye will have, every person will know of His coming. They will have experience of it. They will hear about it. They can take advantage of it and see Him personally if they wish, but it does not mean every person will see that.

Now, it is also important to notice that “coming on the clouds,” because this ties into the rest of the verse: “Behold, He has come with clouds. Every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him.” There is implied here judgment. The Christian has the hope of deliverance with the coming of Christ, but those who do not know Christ have only the fear of judgment. Coming with the clouds is almost always related to judgment.

Listen to Jeremiah 4:13: “Behold, He comes up like clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined.” And that was in regard to the Babylonians coming to destroy Jerusalem. Matthew 16:27: “The Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay each person according to what he has done.” The Christian, the repayment is rewards for service. The lost, it is eternal damnation.

Now here, we should also note the distinction between His ultimate coming, which is real, and He’s going to come physically, bodily, back to earth. But there is, and this is a difficult concept, and I’m just going to pass it on to you, the difference between His ultimate coming and His frequent coming in judgment. That is, whenever the Scripture talks about God judging, it can be called, it can be viewed as a metaphor for His coming. For example, in the Old Testament, it talks about God visiting the people with judgment. This was a form of the coming, and you see this in Matthew 27:26 rather. Jesus said to him, to the high priest, “You have said so, but I tell you, from now on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” The high priest did not see Christ come again. He died before the end of the first century. He has not seen Christ. What is Jesus talking about? He’s talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., and again, that’s very involved to give it to you. But it’s important to notice this concept that His coming for the lost is not a word of celebration, but it is a word of grief and crying.

Now, it is true that every eye will see God and Christ at the great white throne judgment. Every person who’s ever lived will look upon Him and see Him with every eye. And this is also part of the connotation of His coming again. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and hell gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, every one of them, according to what they had done.

So there is a sense in which every eye will see the Lord. I see Sarah waving. Is anybody else warm? Cindy’s cold on the other side. This side, cold and hot. I think there’s scripture for that, isn’t it? Cold and hot. I just want to think we’ve got a long way to go yet and I don’t want anybody to be overly this uncomfortable.

So every eye will see Him, but not in the sense that we popularize it in our culture. So the first question, will every eye see Him? And the answer is yes. Every eye will ultimately see Him, but not at the moment that He returns because His return, as we believe, will be in the Middle East and people on this side of the globe will not see that happen. But they will know and hear about it.

Now that brings us to the second question from verse 7: “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him.” The second question is, does “wail” or “mourn” refer to wailing and repentance? Oh God, forgive me. Or does it mean wailing and remorse, but that they are being lost forever? Now this is the important consideration. Many people, first I have to make sure, and you’ll forgive me, I’ve got a bunch of notes on my notes. We need to make sure we understand the distinction between repentance and remorse. Repentance and remorse. Repentance is a genuine “I’m sorry for my sin.” And that is not a natural human inclination. Remorse is “I’m sorry I got caught. I’m sorry I’m going to suffer punishment for what I did wrong, but I’m really not sorry for what I did wrong.”

Remember, this is an important consideration if I can jump over here and show you this this morning. From chapter number 9, here’s all this destruction and judgment in chapter 9, and listen to verse 20: “The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshipping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood which cannot see or hear or walk nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.” People say, “Boy, this judgment comes and people are really going to get serious about God and what you see is they don’t get serious about God. They harden their hearts and they go on in their sin.”

This is something, again, people have said, “Well, if we just see miracles, if God would just move and we could see people raised from the dead, people would believe.” Jesus raised people from the dead and they did not believe. If you read the book of John, you will find that after He raises Lazarus from the dead, the Pharisees decide to kill Lazarus and Jesus. They don’t repent. This tells us repentance is not something that’s natural to the human heart. God must give us repentance from heaven, and this is so very important.

So this idea, when it says they’re wailing and many people believe, and I’m going to unpack this, I hope, that God will save, but this is not what this verse is saying. Now this idea that the wailing is repentance comes from the second Old Testament passage that John is quoting. Zechariah 12:10: “I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn.”

Now it is important to notice that John quotes this in his gospel. He talks about the piercing of Christ and this means that part of this passage was fulfilled when Jesus died. The soldier pierced Him in John’s gospel, chapter 19. He stuck a spear in His side and then John says this was done to fulfill what was written in the scripture, “they shall look on Him, on whom they have pierced.” This is a passage that is applicable to the crucifixion, but it remains whether it means wailing in repentance that leads people to salvation or wailing because of the judgment that’s coming.

Now it’s important. There are some who hold that it does have to do with people getting saved. Christ shows up and people get saved. Robert Wall in the New International Bible Commentary says: “John does not say whether the lament which issues from those who have rejected Christian faith then results in repentance and a universal salvation. However, such a notion is not inappropriate to John.”

Now, notice this. Here’s one of those examples and there’s two places we have to be really careful, children. The first one I’ve spoken of many times. Well, I know what the Bible says, but. The other side of the coin is, well, the Bible doesn’t say this, but. And we have to be very careful with either one of those considerations. It is very important to see. We should be praying for people to come to salvation and I believe in praying and believe that God is going to do a great work in the earth. But I believe it happens before Christ comes and not when He comes.

Listen to Revelation chapter 15, verse 4: “Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.” This is a passage that Dr. Wall quotes as a justification for the view of universal salvation following the coming of Christ. But notice this passage as well. Matthew 24:37 says, “31 says, He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather deal of people getting saved when Christ returns.”

Now, could that perspective be correct? I will argue that it is not and based on several things. First, first, we’ll have a slide for that. Revelation 15:4, which we looked at a moment ago, is followed by the seven bowls or vials of judgment. It seems very odd to say here, this verse means God’s going to save a bunch of people and the next thing you see is God pouring out more judgment on these people. So that doesn’t seem to fit. Matthew 24:31 speaks of His elect. It does not say all people. It says His elect will be gathered from the four corners of the earth. And then, in every scriptural reference regarding Christ’s coming, it is followed by a separation of the sheep from the goats and the wheat from the tares. If everybody was going to be saved, then there would be no reason to separate those two groups of people.

Listen to 2 Thessalonians, which just ratchets it up a little more. 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 6-8: “God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It isn’t just, I’m here, everybody welcome into the tent, and we go on like nothing happened. The righteous are rewarded, the wicked are judged, and this is happening when Jesus comes again. It’s so very important to understand that.

Greg Beal points this out, that John has altered this quotation from Zechariah 10. And in Zechariah 10, it says, “when they look upon Him,” and in Revelation, John refers to every eye, the whole earth. The warning of them doesn’t apply just to Israel, but to all those, not only those who pierced Christ and His crucifixion, but to any and all who have rejected Him. It’s no longer just Israel that is in the crosshairs here. It’s every human being who has rejected Christ and lives in opposition to Him.

I always have to point out the last part of that verse, and there are other passages like that, “who do not obey the gospel.” You’re not supposed to just believe certain things. We are supposed to live a certain way. We are to order our lives according to the Word of God.

Now, then we come to the truth applied. The truth applied. How does this, how should this expectation affect the manner of our lives? How should the belief that Christ is coming again affect how we live? Well, first, it should provoke an affirmation of the rightness of God’s judgment. A lot of people in our culture today, because we’ve lost biblical literacy, a lot of people think God should just forgive and get on with it and not worry about it, and Christians shouldn’t be talking about judgment. Let’s talk about love. Let’s talk about grace. Let’s talk about mercy. Let’s do that. But what do we get if we reject the love and the grace and the mercy? We get judgment. It isn’t just, here it is. There’s a response to it.

Now, you can see this in the last part of the verse. Let me read it again, the whole verse: “Behold, He is coming with the clouds. Every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so. Amen.” Even so, amen. In other words, despite the fact that judgment is coming, despite the fact that this horrible time is going to unfold, come Lord Jesus, even so, amen. Let it be according to your plan and your will.

Now, the “even so” is a double affirmation with negative connotations. Even so, amen. Even so is in Greek. Amen is in Hebrew. It’s a double affirmation. The rightness of God in judging. By the way, you see this throughout Revelation as we will see as we journey forward. Listen to Leon Morris, the noted Australian commentator, as he comments on this verse. He says: “John’s, ‘so shall it be, amen,’ is a vigorous expression of approval that causes difficulty to some. It is felt that this enthusiastic approval is rather less than Christian. But John is not being vindictive. He records in vivid symbol the overthrow of the wicked and the vindication of God and of good. And he does this not as a mildly interested spectator. The overthrow means the triumph of good and the vindication of Christians who have suffered so much. John exalts in this. He doesn’t apologize for God’s judgment. He celebrates God’s judgment because God’s righteousness is being demonstrated and His people are being defended.”

What does the Bible say? “Vengeance is mine. I will repay.” The reason you and I are not supposed to strike back at people is because we have the confidence that God will set the record right in due season. This is the strength people need. This is the point. And again, this is made throughout the book of Revelation. Other times, there’s this picture of judgment coming upon the earth and the people in heaven are celebrating that judgment. They’re not falling over themselves trying to explain it away. They’re celebrating the vindication of God’s righteousness and the defense of His people.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 16:22: “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord come. Maranatha, to those who are familiar with the King James phrase.” And by the way, what happens at the end of the book of Revelation? Chapter 22, 18 and 19: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away His share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ And then John says, ‘Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Come.’ Despite the warning of judgment, come. Because the world must be set right. It must be set right. It cannot go on indefinitely in the way that it has gone for these many thousands of years.”

Here’s how John Gill, who died in 1771, summarizes what I’ve said here about verse 7. He says: “All the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. All the wicked in the several parts of the world will lament, will wring their hands, and express the inward terror and horror of their minds at His appearing. They will fear His resentment of all their wicked words and actions. Will dread His wrath and tremble at His righteous judgment. Even so, John says, even so, Amen, says John, and so say all true believers. When the wicked lament, believers rejoice. They desire the coming of Christ. They love it, looking long for it. They believe it shall be and wish it may be quickly.” This expression of faith in and desire after the coming of Christ is signified by two words, the one Greek and the other Hebrew, suggesting this as an article of faith among all the saints of all nations, Jews and Gentiles, for this is what they’re wishing and waiting for.

We don’t just want Jesus to show up. We want Him to set things right when He gets here. And part of that is to judge the wicked. And thus, we are encouraged to run to Calvary, to come to this table every time we have it, and to put our faith in Christ for salvation and deliverance so that we might be joyfully expecting Him and not fearfully expecting Him. In other words, Gil says, some who see Him will be humbled to repentance and others will be hardened to damnation. The same sun that melts the snow dries the mud.

Grant Osborne in his commentary on Revelation says: “I believe it is best to see a deliberate ambiguity in this verse with John intending to read or to see both a repentance theme from Zechariah and a judgment theme in Revelation in light of God’s wrath against evil in this book. The conversion of the nations and the condemnation of the nations occur and develop side by side. There will be some who come to Christ and there will be others who continue to reject Him in spite of all that He does and has done.”

Then, secondly, the Bible always answers this question. How should we live? It always answers that with an expectation of committed Christian living. This is tricky. This is touching. Because we don’t want to be micromanaging everybody’s lives. Can’t do that. There’s principles of truth that we are called to live by and we must do that. So I’m going to be careful here. But there is a case to be made that the person who has no regard for God’s will in their life cannot truly believe He is coming again. It is lip service. If we truly believe He’s coming, the Scripture says we live a certain way. People who are, people who are, whether we go by the name Christian or not Christian, who are indifferent to the call of God, to the obedience of the gospel. What is the basis for saying, “I’m looking for Jesus when everything about my life is contrary to His call and expectation?” This is a question you and I have to ask ourselves on a recurring and repeated basis. Because we’re human beings. We’re creatures of habit. We fall into patterns of behavior that are counterproductive. And we always have to come back and ask ourselves again and again and again, “Oh Lord,” as David says, “search me. Try me. Let me know whether I’m really genuine, sincerely about it.”

And here’s a little bit of an insight. If we are indifferent to the coming of Christ, we will be indifferent to the way we live as Christians. And the people who don’t have any regard, who make their own rules, we shared this sometime, Wednesday night, I think it was. Child of God, if you are making all the rules for how you will live as a Christian, He cannot be Lord of your life. Lord means you are submitting to Him in some area of the Word of God and eventually all areas of the Word of God. But the person who says, “I don’t have to do this, I don’t have to do that, I don’t have to do the other, this is okay, that’s okay, why do you call Him Lord?” And before you say that that’s my opinion, I would flip your minds over to Luke, chapter, you don’t have to turn there, but if you want to, you’ve got to do it quicker than me, of course. Luke chapter number 6, verse 46: “Why do you call me Lord when you do not do the things that I say?” That’s not your pastor talking. That’s not William Shifflett talking. This is Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you?” And by the way, that’s in Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount which ends in Matthew with, “I’ll tell you who a wise man is. The wise man is the one who does what I say. The foolish man is the one who ignores me.”

So there is a definite element. What is our response to the belief that Christ is coming again? Hmm. Well, I’m just going to, you know, hang with me because here’s a verse everybody knows, but I’ll just read it to you and hopefully I’m bringing it out in the appropriate way if I get to the right chapter of the Bible. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24: “Let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as the habit of some.” Now notice that, please. He’s not talking about missing church for weather or sickness or jobs or vacation. It’s a habit. And there are people who claim to be Christians but they’ve got a habit of not going to church rather than a habit of going to church. And listen to what the writer says: “not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawn here.” The closer we really believe we are to the coming of Christ, the more committed we should be to gathering together with brothers and sisters in Christ.

And I will tell you today without making any kind of elaborate predictions, God wants His people to be together because we need each other’s strength to stand in the hour of temptation and persecution. I’m sorry, didn’t Jesus say the very same thing in the Garden of Gethsemane? He says, “Can you not pray with me for one hour? Just give me one hour, boys.” Why was He doing it? We need one another. We need one another. And so there is this, if I really believe He’s coming again, it should increase my commitment to Christ, not lessen it.

Look at this from John. See how very much our Father loves us. This is from the New Living Translation, verse, edition two, second edition. “See how very much our Father loves us for He calls us His children and that is what we are. Dear friends, we are already God’s children but He has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him. For we will see Him as He really is in His glorified, majestic state. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure just as He is pure.”

If I truly believe, if I’m longing for His coming, if I’m just looking around me and said, “Oh dear God, how long can we go on like this?” If I really believe it, it should motivate my living for Him. Second Peter, the day of the Lord will come like a thief and then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done in it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? Truly believing that He’s coming again should motivate a commitment to Christian living.

You’re correct. We’re broken. We’re flawed. We’re failing. We get, we’re really good at this sometimes and we’re really bad at it other times. But what keeps bringing us back is this expectation, my Lord is coming, He is coming, and I want to, I want to be ready when He arrives. Titus chapter 2, verse 13: “We are waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” And children, can I tell you, can I remind you, you know these things. This isn’t merely deliverance from present struggles, it is deliverance from the problem we have that keeps creating the struggles and that is sin. The hope in Scripture is not just Jesus appearing, but the resurrection of the body, the transformation of the body that occurs with the resurrection, with His return. That’s the change, that’s the hope Paul has. We will once and forever be absolved of this problem of sin and brokenness.

Now, William Barclay says it like this about this verse, and we’re coming to a close. William Barclay says: “When a royal visit is expected, everything is cleansed and decorated and made fit for the royal eye to see. The Christian is the person who is always prepared for the coming of the King of Kings.” If we really believe He’s coming, they used to joke about that, you know, when the preacher was going to come by to visit, let’s make sure the magazines are put away and this and that is done. How much more is it true when it’s the King Himself who’s coming? Amen? Homer Kent says this: “The coming of Christ to claim His church and vindicate her by glorious display provides motive and stimulus for Christian conduct.”

When we come to verse 7 of Revelation chapter 1 and we hear “He is coming on the clouds,” there’s that connotation of judgment. Everybody on the planet will be moved by this coming as they hear about it. They will wail if they are not right with God. And it behooves us then every time we’re together to say, “Lord, search me. Try me.” See if you’re in the faith. See if you really believe. Examine your heart. Ask your Father to reveal the truth of your salvation. And He was always going to reveal that, not with a, “You’re okay.” He’s going to say, “Let’s look at your life compared to the word I’ve given as your Savior and Lord.” He’s coming to vindicate the church, to receive a people, and we must be living our lives in a way that says I expect that to happen.

Father God, thank You for this day for Your people.