Turn, if you would, in your Bibles, first of all, to Matthew chapter twenty four. I don't know if you heard the story about the little girl who's seven, eight years old. Her grandmother was telling her all about creation and how wonderful God's creation was. And when the grandmother got finished, the little girl said, yes, grandma, and he did it all with his left hand. Well, she'd never heard anything like that, so she said to the little girl, so what do you mean he did it all with his left hand? He said, well, the Bible says that the Lord Jesus is sitting on his right hand, you see? She took the word of God literally, and it's a good thing to remember that God's word is unchangeable and true, and we should lay hold on it as we study it again tonight. We're going to read beginning with the seventeenth verse, excuse me, the twenty seventh verse of Matthew twenty four. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. And then that well-known passage over in John chapter fourteen. John chapter fourteen. We know this passage well, I'm sure. Beginning with the first verse, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. This is the Lord speaking to the disciples in the night in which he was betrayed. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. And then over in First Corinthians, another well-known passage in the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians. In the last verses, we'll begin reading at verse fifty one. And he says, Paul writing says, behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where's thy string- sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And finally, the passage in Thessalonians, chapter four. First Thessalonians, that is, chapter four. And we'll begin reading with the thirteenth verse. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep that you saw or not, even as others that have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. And this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. Now, I don't know how you are, but when it begins a year, I begin to wonder whether this is the year that the Lord's going to come. We know that he is going to come again, it's just not knowing when he's going to come again. But the Lord gives us some indications of things that we should be looking for as far as the coming again of the Lord, and we want to talk a little bit about what he has to say in these passages concerning these things. You know, our Lord Jesus came the first time when he was born in Bethlehem, and we've been remembering that last month as we celebrated the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what's known as his sec- first advent. And when he comes again, as we read to you from Matthew, that's going to be his second advent. And in between that is what we call the rapture, when you and I are going to be caught up from this world to be with the Lord, if we know Christ as our personal savior. Almost all prophecy in, in regards to the coming again of the Lord deals with the nation of Israel, the children of Israel, and they're told to watch for certain signs, and you and I read them, and we know what these signs are, that there be an increase in knowledge, an increase in earthquakes, an increase in storms, all of these things, increase in pleasure, an increase in travel. And we see a lot of those things coming to pass in the day in which we live. But the Christian is never told to watch for the signs as the children of Israel. The Christian is told to watch for him, to watch for the coming again of the Lord, to be prepared when he comes. Paul says that when he comes, he, Paul, is going to get a crown of righteousness, and he says it'll be also for everyone who loves his appearing. And I used to think, well, everybody'd get that, everybody wants the Lord to come, but we really don't all want the Lord to come, not right now, you know. You remember the story of the little boy when the teacher said, who wants to go to heaven? Everybody raised their hand except Johnny, and she said, Johnny, don't you want to go to heaven when you die? He said, oh yes, when I die. I thought you're getting up a group to go right now, see? And the thing is that, uh, all of us want to go to heaven eventually, but many times we're not prepared. One lady told me how much she enjoyed thinking about the coming of the Lord, and I said, wouldn't it be good if the Lord came today? And her face, her mouth kind of dropped. She said, well, you know, we're expecting our first grandchild in three weeks. And you and I have our foot so firmly planted in the world that if we look at our heart, maybe we really are not looking for the coming of the Lord. And that's what you and I as Christians are told to do. We're to look for the coming. And if you and I learn to live moment by moment looking for the Savior, when we get up in the morning and it's a cloudy day, do we think, well, today could be the day because he's going to come in the clouds, we're told. And, uh, it's, it gives you joy and peace and satisfaction when your heart is fixed on this wonderful promise that one day he's going to come again and receive us unto himself. In John, we read to you, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go, I shall come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. In Ephesians five thirty and thirty two it says, for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. It's been almost two thousand years, just what the rest of this year, and will be two thousand years since the Lord went home after the cross. And in all that two thousand years, he's preparing a place for his bride, for you and I, for the church. He's preparing a place in heaven for everyone who's put their trust in him as their personal savior. I personally do not believe that, uh, that the Christian is going to live in the father's house. I believe perhaps the Old Testament saints may, but not the New Testament saint of this day. That verse I read to you said that a man would leave his father and mother and joined on his wife, and they too shall be made one flesh. Whenever we read about the Lord coming for us, it says he will receive us unto himself. You and I are going to be with him. Never mentions the Father in regards to the rapture. It always speaks of the Son. He him- himself will come from heaven. We read it to you in the sixteenth verse, for the Lord himself shall come from heaven. In other places, we're told that he's going to take us unto himself. Now, as you know, these passages speak of the coming again of the Lord, and as we said in Matthew, it speaks of his second advent. That's when he comes back in glory and judgment at the end of the tribulation period. In first Thessalonians, we're given the wondrous truth that some of us will be alive when the Lord comes, and the dead are going to be raised up and are going to stand with us before being raised up to be with himself. And in First Corinthians, we learn that our bodies will be changed to be like his. First John three two says, when we see him, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. In Philippians, we see both of these two things. He will come, and our bodies will be changed. I don't know when he'll come, as I said, because the signs of prophecy are mostly for the Jewish people, but we do have the sign that he's going to come for us. We do have God's promise that he's going to come from heaven with a shout and so forth. And we see the signs, and they indicate his coming certainly to us, although they're not specifically for us. I don't know about you, but we know that one day the world is going to be under one government, and we know that's going to be a European government. It's going to be a ten-nation confederacy. Now, I noticed in the last four or five years that German companies and British companies and French companies are buying up all kinds of companies in America, like Chrysler Corporation and Amoco and so forth. They're buying up these countries in America, radio stations, TV stations. In the state of Florida, they own almost all the concrete businesses, and they're buying up all these companies, and they're going to be the power in the world, the European nations. And when you read Revelation, you see that in the middle of the tribulation period, Rome is going to be destroyed, which is the headquarters, and all the merchants are going to moan and groan about that because their business has been wiped out. Well, this is one thing that you and I see in the day in which we live. Another thing that we see, of course, is the, the, um, uh, earthquake situation. I, I don't know how much you read about earthquakes, but prior to nineteen sixty, there was only three earthquakes every ten years that reached six on the Richter scale. And in, in nineteen sev- uh, sixty to seventy, there were thirteen. Seventy to eighty, there were fifty six. and 80 to 90, there was 109. And last year, all the earthquakes, the minor ones and the, and the big ones, all of the earthquakes in the United States was, in the world, I mean, was four hundred and eighty three. So we can see the increase in these things that God is bringing in the day in which you and I live to show us something of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming again. They used to wonder how in the world could, could there be a two hundred million man army? Now we know that, that, uh, China alone has a two hundred million man army. And so we see all of these things that point out the fact that the Lord is going to come again, that's given to, in prophecy to his children Israel, because they're looking for the Messiah as well. And, uh, all of us in the world meet for the first time. But when we know Christ is our Savior, we're never going to meet for the last time. We often sing that, don't we, with friends on earth I meet with gladness, while swift the moments fly, but ever comes the thought of sadness that I must say goodbye. I'll never say goodbye in heaven. I'll never say goodbye, for in the land of joy and song, I'll never say goodbye. Each of the New Testament writers shares the thought that, uh, you and I should want to go to heaven. Uh, he's preparing a place for us, and we have a reservation. You remember the dying thief said to the Lord, Lord, remember me when thou comest into kingdom, and the Lord said, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. And the moment you accept Christ as your savior, you're on your way to heaven, and you've got a ticket bought that'll take you safely into his presence. You know, um, I often in in in giving the gospel, remind people that God wants everyone to be saved, and God has given an offer to everyone. And at the bottom of the offer, it says RSVP. That means if you're coming, let us know. And there isn't anybody that's going to be left out of heaven because of their sins. They're going to be left out of heaven because their name is not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life. You see, if you have a big party and you put RSVP and you send it to a thousand people and three hundred answer, that's all the tables you're going to sit up, set up. So somebody comes and they say, I was invited. Well, what's your name? Well, your name's not on the list, and they won't let you in. You say, well, I got my invitation right here. It doesn't make any difference whether you got an invitation or not. If you didn't let them know. And that's what God says. If you don't let me know, if you don't accept me and s- let me know by confession, then you're going to be left out in that coming day. Now, I would like to suggest that there are really two phases to the rapture that the apostle is telling us in Thessalonians and in Corinthians. I believe the rapture of the saints, which are sleeping, and those of us are still alive and remain, will be caught up, as it says, in clouds in the air. Now, while we're up there, the tribulation period will be going on for seven years or so in this world, and you and I will meet the Father. We will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to be evaluated for our works in the flesh, not for our sins, but for rewards, and we'll, uh, have the, the, uh, wedding feast after we've been united with God the Son as his bride. And then at the end of that time, at the end of the time, you and I are going to come back with him in his final judgment and when he sets up his kingdom here in this world. So I would suggest that it's really one, one, uh, uh, what do I want to say? One coming, uh, two comings, but with one, uh, with two phases. In other words, it's just one coming with two phases instead of two comings. At any rate, we know that when he comes, we're going to be taken to be with him if we're believers in this day. Now, we read to you in Matthew twenty four twenty seven to thirty one, and you notice that the lightning comes before the storm, and it pictures the rapture at the beginning of the tribulation period. It says the lightning comes before the storm in the passage. Well, that's the way it is normally. The lightning comes before the storm, and you and I are going to be taken up at that time, at the beginning of the tribulation period, or before it starts, you and I are going to be taken to his presence. We are not going to go through the storm. That's the pa- the thought that's being, uh, brought to our, our, uh, mind, that we're not going to go through the storm. And when the end of the tribulation, those that are saved, mostly from the twelve tribes of Is- Israel, will set up an earthly kingdom. But this time, our Lord's glory will not be hidden. Today, you have to explain who you belong to if you believe you that you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to explain to him, to folks oftentimes, who the Lord Jesus is. In that day, you won't have to explain it. Everybody will know because his glory will fill the earth, and everyone will know who he is. It won't be hidden in that day, and they'll see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. In Zechariah, we're told his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. And we remind you it's when we see the clouds and the lightning flash. Then the coming is near. In between those times is the tribulation period, which is prophesied, as we said, to be seven years long. In verse thirty in Matthew twenty four, we see, as it were, the sun shining and the storm of God's judgment is over. There the storm is over, but at the beginning of the tribulation, you are and I are taken out before the storm, and then at the end we see it with the storm over. You and I are told in First Thessalonians that we're not going to be caught, that we are going to be caught up before the storm, shall not go through the storm. We shall be in heaven waiting for the storm to end. And you see, it says clouds, uh, uh, that you and I will be caught up above the clouds into the sunshine of his presence. I don't know how many of you have ever flown out of some of these northern cities in the wintertime. I flew out of Chicago, and you couldn't see the plane next to you, and it was a big plane out of the windows. It was so dreary a day. But, you know, we got out to the end of the runway, and they went down, and they got up like this, and in less than five minutes from the time we left, we left the gate, we were in the sunshine, up above all of the clouds and so forth. And so you and I, we're looking, we're looking for that day. And the, the hymn writer says, in hope we lift our wishful, longing eyes, waiting to see the morning star rise. How bright, how gladsome will his advent be before the sun shines forth in majesty. And then we also read to you from John, verses two and three, and it speaks in unison with the thought of First Thessalonians. We should begin by remembering that the situation in heaven is now different because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the Old Testament saints really went to heaven on credit. God saved them, but the price had not been paid for them. So they really went to heaven on credit, as we'd say. When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, he accomplished the work. To the spirits, it says in Hebrews, of just men made perfect. You see, the work of Christ made their salvation perfect. So the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints are all going to be one day caught up together because the Lord Jesus Christ has finished the work, and it's made it possible for you and I to be justified in him, and he's in heaven preparing a place for us. And as we re- reminded you, it's been it's years, and it's two thousand years in its preparation. The wedding hasn't taken place yet, but like many a bridegroom, he's preparing a special home for us. It said in First Thessalonians four fifteen that the Lord himself will descend with a shout. We don't know what those words will be. We don't know what the words are going to be. And in Revelation four it says, come up hither. And the Lord often used the word come. He may say, come, come away, come up hither, but we're going to hear the shout if we're his children, and we're going to caught out, out of this world and into his presence. hymn writer says, I am waiting for the dawning of the bright and blessed day, when the darksome night of sorrow shall have vanished far away, when forever with the Savior, far beyond this vale of tears, I shall swell the song of worship through the everlasting years. I'm waiting for thee, Lord, thy beauty to see, Lord, I'm waiting for thee, for thy coming again. Thou art gone over there, Lord, a place to prepare, thy home I shall share at thy coming again. And then we're told in John fourteen six, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. As we said, the Lord is going to present the church unto himself. Philippians three twenty, for our conversation, our way of life, is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior who shall change or fashion anew our vile body. Or we could say body of humiliation, that it may be like unto his glorious body. As you probably know, these, this truth is not mentioned in the three synoptic gospel, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It is in John and First Thessalonians. So the Lord, on the night in which he was betrayed, he just had to share with his disciples the wonderful event that you and I have to look forward. It's the great hope of the Christian. You and I can look forward to that day, that one day we're going to see him face to face. One day we're going to be called into his presence. And so Paul gives this more detailed account of his coming again. He begins by reminding us that the believer does not die. But I would not have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you saw or not, even as others which have no hope. It says asleep, it's speaking of natural death, but God never speaks of his saints as having died. They've been put to sleep by him to be called again in that coming day. And you know, it's a wonderful thing to be a Christian and to know that regardless of what comes into your life, you're going to go to be with the Lord, and for your loved ones who stand beside your grave and know that they're going to see you again. It's a tremendous joy and a tremendous peace. I'm sure you heard what, um, um, Vance Havner said about that. He spoke at a funeral. I mean, he spoke on the day his wife died. I meant to say she died in the middle of the night at the hospital. They informed him, and he went ahead and preached that morning, and during the course of the sermon, he mentioned the fact that his wife had died during the night. So afterwards, of course, everybody going out was offering condolences, and one lady said, I'm sorry to hear you lost your wife. And he said, oh, you must have misunderstood me. She said, well, I thought you said your wife died. He said, well, that's true, but when you know where somebody is, they're not lost. And you and I rest on the wonderful fact that we're going to see him again, and we're going to see each other again. We're going to be with him. And the Lord then reminds him in the fourteenth verse that he truly died. We are never going to die, but he died. For since we believe, it could say that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. The Lord Jesus died that you and I might have life. You see, when the Lord died on the cross, it was sin that caused his death. Behold, the Lamb of God, we heard this morning, taken away the sin of the world. It was sin, but it wasn't his sin. It was your sin and my sin that caused him to so suffer on the cross. And now, as a result, when we trust in him, we'll never see death. Now, Paul's additional purpose, it was to set at ease the hearts of the saints in Thessalonica. You see, these saints had put their trust in Christ, and they believed what they were being taught, correctly so, that they would reign with Christ. But they thought Christ was coming back in their time. They thought he was coming back while they were still alive, and now some of them were dying, and they didn't understand that. They didn't know what to do about that. And so Paul is writing to explain that to them. He writes to this young church, a healthy young church, not to correct, as he often did his letters, but rather to encourage. So Paul says to them and us that death does not separate us from the love of God or from our Savior, in whom all our blessings are found. And so he tells him of the two classes of Christians, those who have died and those who remain. You see, the church, God's chosen people, is one united thing as far as God's concerned. Some are up there, and some are here in this world, but we're all united as one church. And so Paul speaks of it, of those who've died and those remain. He, at that time, he felt that he was in the latter class, those that remain. But in his later writings, he knew that it was not so. Two Timothy four six, Paul says, for I am now ready to be dep- offered, and the time of my departure is, is at hand. You and I also have loved ones that have gone on to glory, and we're going to see those loved ones. I have parents, two sisters, uncles and aunts and cousins and dear friends. When we buried my uncle Chris a few years ago, Elliot and I in North Carolina, we were saying that we used to talk about the older generation. Now we are it. We are the older generation. And all of us are waiting for the Lord to come and receive us unto himself. And Paul says in verse thirteen that you sorrow not as others that have no hope. It's a sure promise from God, and you that it will take God's promise to save your soul, you'll find that's a sure promise from God. He doesn't say we don't sorrow, for we do. God doesn't suggest that we don't sorrow, he just says we sorrow not as others that have no hope. When you stand beside the grave of a dear departed loved one, you realize the helplessness and the hopelessness of death. You realize that you can't speak to that one or love that one anymore. My father leaned over in the coffin and kissed my mother goodbye just before they closed the coffin at the end of the service. And he said, I know you're not there, but he said, I want to kiss you one more time. He could do whatever he wanted to her. She couldn't do anything about it. But, uh, we don't sorrow as those that have no hope, but we do sorrow. You remember the Lord himself wept at the grave of Lazarus, his friend. He doesn't say we, we do not sorrow, but he says that when we plant them in the ground, we're going to hear the shout, and they're going to be raised again, incorruptible, and we'll s- be with in his presence in a moment. In our text in First Corinthians, it speaks of our new bodies. We quoted to you First John three two also. Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. It does not say we shall be made like him. It says we shall be like him. And let me suggest two thoughts. You can choose either one or have your own, but I believe that very possibly we could be changed on the way up. I believe when we stand in the world, we're going to be in these old bodies, but in that split second on the way up, we're going to be changed into his presence. Or secondly, in the world, as we view the Lord, faith day by day, in faith, we're changed, we're told, into his, into his likeness day by day. And, uh, when we see him face to face, he's going to complete that change in a moment. And when we see him in glory, face to face with Christ my Savior, the hymn writer says. Face to face, what will it be when with rapture we behold him, Jesus Christ, who died for me? And the text says, when he shall appear, we shall be like him. Then the corruptible would put on incorruption. The mortal shall have put on immortality, and then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Thanks be to God who giveth us a victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Paul said in First Corinthians, behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In Thessalonians, he says, I would not have you to be ignorant. The mystery was that they didn't know. It wasn't something mysterious, but prior to this time, the believers knew nothing, really, of the coming again of the Lord and what we celebrate, the coming again in the Lord and the rapture. You remember Mary, uh, Sister Martha said to the Lord when she came to Lazarus' funeral or graveside, said, if thou had been here, he had not died, and the Lord said he'll rise again. She said, I know he'll rise at the last day. But you remember the Lord gave her the wondrous truth of the rapture. He said, um, I am the, uh, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. And that's the assurance that we have here. It's a wonderful promise. Someday we're going to be with him, and we're going to be like him. I don't think we're going to be like him physically. I don't think everybody's going to look like the Lord, but I think we're all going to be morally like him. No more vestige of sin, sin forever put away, and we'll be in perfect spiritual bodies. In those days, every hindrance and everything that would obscure, everything that would prevent perfect fitness for seeing him as he is, morally and spiritually, will be forever put away, and the time of perfect vision will have come, and we at last will be able to know. I would suggest, as in first Corinthians fifteen fifty two, that when he comes, it'll be quickly, no time for decision making. In other words, it's going to be in a split second, in the twinkling of an eye, it says. And you and I that know Christ as our Savior, now is the time. When you get to glory, there's going to be no need for you to talk to people about Christ. When you get to glory, there's going to be no need to use your money and your time and your, and your good hands and arms to be a blessing to others, particularly those among God's people. There's going to be no opportunity for that in glory. Now is the time for all of those things. And if you're here outside of Christ, now is the time. One second after all of us are called home that put their trust in him, it's going to be too late for you. One second. After that, it's going to be too late. Now is the time that you can come into blessing with God. People say, well, I'll do something about it tomorrow, but there is no such thing as tomorrow. That's just a word. When you get tomorrow, it's today, so there is no such thing as tomorrow. You're talking about what might be. The restaurant owner put up a sign, free meal tomorrow, and when they came the next day, the sign was still there. You see, there is no such thing as tomorrow, and there's no such thing as yesterday. Those are just reminiscences. Now is all you get. That's all any of us get, is right now. God gives us right now. And then we would remind you that the Lord himself shall come from heaven, and those who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. And, uh, it says that you and I will not prevent, and the word really means precede. We will not precede those who, who are raised from the dead. I want you to think about that for just a minute. Millions and millions and millions of people being raised from all over the world, cities buried under miles of sand, cities that have fallen into disarray and, and nobody's lived there for years, and all of a sudden every believer is going to rise from the water, from the ocean, which makes up about sixty percent of our world. They're going to, all of those that died in the Lord are all going to stand up, and in a split second they're going to be reunited with us and taken into glory. Just imagine that. The word says that they shall come in the clouds, and and the is actually in italics. I I like to think that it we're going to come in clouds. There's going to be so many of us coming at one time, so many of us that they're just going to be clouds and clouds and clouds of people, and yet everybody is going to see the Lord face to face. I believe the hymn writer is right when they say, face to face with Christ my Savior, face to face, what will it be when with rapture he behold, we behold him, Jesus Christ, who died for me. Now, John pictures it for us in Revelation four one that we read this morning, when it says that he heard like a trumpet say, come up hither, and I will show thee the things which shall be hereafter. And you and I are looking forward to the future. The past and the present are pretty well over for you and I, and so we're looking for the future. Now, when you speak about these things, people often ask, will I know my loved ones? And I think it's answered in the statement together with them. It seems to imply both reunion and recognition. We shall see them again. God gives us two examples, lest we wonder too much. Do you remember that, uh, the, the, in Matthew, I think it's the seventeenth chapter, they went out on the m- up on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the Lord Jesus was with them, and then there was Moses and Elijah, and they were conversing with him about his death, which was to be accomplished, we're told, in, uh, in Jerusalem. And the disciples said, Peter in particular, let us make three um, uh, altars, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. Now, how did they know it was Moses and Elijah? Neither one of them ever been on the evening news. How did they know it was Moses and Elijah? They had no way of knowing except as proof that you and I are going to one day recognize those that we come. I think God gives it. And the other occasion is, you remember, when the rich man and beggar Lazarus in Luke, you remember that Lazarus sat at this ta- at the foot of his table or at his gate, I can't remember which off the top of my mind, but he sat one of these places, and uh, he died, and he was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. And it said the rich man died and was in hell. He was in conscious torment, and uh, Lazarus was in conscious bliss. And Abraham, I mean, and and Lazarus looked into heaven and saw Abraham with uh, with Lazarus in his bosom, and he said, Father Abraham. How did he know it was Abraham? How did he know it was Abraham? God assures you and I that in that day we're going to know them. I'm going to see my my sisters that I've never seen, my grandmother that I've never seen, and so forth. In John seventeen, in the Lord's high priestly prayer, he says in verse twenty four, Father, I will that they also whom thou has given me be with me where I am. Earlier he said, keep through thine own name. Our Lord Jesus has promised that all who have put their trust in him, all who have put their trust in him, will be taken home safely to be with him throughout the endless ages of eternity. May God encourage your heart with these wondrous truths, and if you've never put your trust in him as your savior, may you consider seriously doing that which is right for you and best for you before much of nineteen ninety nine gets gone. I really believe that the Lord could come this year. I don't know whether he will come, but I believe he could come. I fe- find nothing personally in the prophecy to Israel that has not been, has not been fulfilled where the Lord could come. But beside that, the Lord could come at any time. He, he's not bound by the prophecies to Israel. What he is bound is his promise to you and I that if I go, I shall come again. The hymn writer says, midst the darkness, storm and sorrow, one bright gleam I see. Well, I know the blessed morrow. Christ will come for me. Mids the light and peace and glory of the Father's home. Christ for me is waiting, watching, waiting till I come. Oh, the blessed joy of meeting all the desert past. Oh, the wondrous words of greeting he shall speak at last. He and I together entering those bright courts above. He and I together sharing all the Father's love. He who in the hour of sorrow bore the curse alone, I who through the lonely desert trod where he had gone. And this is my favorite phrase of a hymn. He and I in that bright glory, one deep joy shall share. Mine to be forever with him, his that I am there. God longs to come because he loves you, and he wants to receive you unto himself. May we live in that blessed hope in the year nineteen ninety five, and may we share it with those who do not know our Savior, the wonder of the fact that he loves them, and he gave himself for them. Our gracious God and Heavenly Father, we thank thee for the privilege of again coming into thy presence. We thank thee for thy precious word. We thank thee, our God and Father, that we are privileged to minister the word, but we are not responsible for what people do with the word. And so we ask our God that thy spirit may deal with souls tonight, those who've never accepted Christ and those who are his children, that they may decide right now, tonight, to either accept him as their savior or go on for him as their Lord. We know, our God and Father, that we live in a dark world, and we have the opportunity to shine for thee. May God, may we know, our God, what it means to walk in peace and joy and satisfaction in thy love and care. We commit these things into thy care. We pray for everyone in this room. Thou knowest the needs of every heart, and so we commend them to thee. We ask thy blessing on this assembly and the meeting tomorrow night here. We ask now that thou would part us with thy blessing and take us to our homes in safety and give us a good night of rest, if it be thy gracious will. We ask it, giving thanks in his name. Amen.