Charlene and I want to thank all of you for your friendly reception of us. We've had wonderful fellowship. Christian fellowship is always wonderful, but you get a group like this that really knows the Lord. It's all the more wonderful. We've enjoyed it here at the church as well as in the dining room and other contacts we've had. And you folks have been very faithful in attendance. We've had such good attendance at all the meetings. We're very grateful for your response. And we trust that somehow what you've heard will be a stimulus to you to look for the Lord's return. anticipating the possibility that he may come very soon. I've been trying to give you reasons for that, good, solid reasons out of our present world situation, all of which point to the early return of Christ and with the corresponding invitation to get ready for it, first of all by salvation and then by commitment to Christ. Now tonight we come to what could be the capstone of prophecy, the second coming of Christ. This tremendous event when Jesus Christ is coming from heaven to earth, to claim the earth, and bring him all the saints and angels with him from heaven to the earthly sphere for his one thousand year reign on earth before eternity really begins with the new heaven, new earth, and the new Jerusalem. Now, the last book of the Bible is dedicated to this subject, the revelation of Jesus Christ, and is talking about the fact that when he comes in his second coming, everyone will see him. It's preceded, of course, by all the terrible catastrophes we've described in previous messages that are found in the Book of Revelation from chapter six through chapter eighteen. But now, finally, the climax when Jesus Christ comes back, and you and I, who have been raptured earlier, we believe, will be coming back with him to reign with him on the earth. Now, we want to begin tonight with the nineteenth chapter. All the preceding material is anticipatory of his coming. In the nineteenth chapter, we are told the time has come for the wedding feast. Now you'll bear in mind in the customs of the time that there are three phases to a wedding. There is the legal stage where the parents of the bridegroom would pay the parents of the bride a dowry, a sum of money, which would be the binding marriage contract. This was done by the parents. The young people didn't have to do it out of courting. they relied on the parents to arrange a marriage. Often, no doubt, they were consoled, but in any case, the parents did the work. Now, once that diary was paid, they were married, but usually another year went by at least before they began the second phase of the wedding. And that was when the bridegroom would go through the streets with his male friends at midnight and go to the home of the bride, and she would know he was coming, and she'd be ready with her maiden friends, They join the procession and go from the home of the bride to the bridegroom. The third phase was the wedding feast. This went on for several days after this, depending on the wealth of the people involved. Now, all this is, of course, the way marriage was conducted in biblical times, but it corresponds to God's plan for us, because we are the bride, the church is the bride, and Christ is the bridegroom. Now we're joined through Christ in the symbol of marriage. When he died for us on the cross, he paid the dowry. He paid the price. And we have been bought with the price, even the precious blood of Christ. That's why in Scripture for a Christian to love the world is infidelity, you see. We belong to Christ. We should give him our supreme love and commitment. And that already should have taken place. Now the second phase, the bridegroom coming for the bride, is fulfilled at the time of the rapture. and he's already come for his bride and taken her to the father's house now here in revelation nineteen we come to the third phase of the wedding the wedding feast now of course that makes evident that before the second coming that the bridegroom has come for his bride and she's already in heaven in the father's house and so we have this described in chapter nineteen in connection with it and beginning in verse seven he says let us be glad and rejoice and give glory for the marriage of the lamb has come literally it's the marriage feast it's the Greek word gamas which means the marriage feast they didn't have a ceremony such as we have today but this is a wedding feast that was the climax the marriage feast of the lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready she's already his wife you see and to her was granted to be arrayed in fine linen and clean and bright for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And then he said to me, Right, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. It's the same word, marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, See that you do not do that. I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus, worship God for the testimony of Jesus. is the spirit of prophecy. And so they announced the wedding feast. Now Bible scholars differ as to where this feast is going to be held. You've probably seen this picture of this dining table. It goes out into infinity. And of course, there's going to be millions of people involved in this. And so while I'm a literalist as far as interpreting prophecy is concerned, I think we have to understand that this wedding feast is not exactly a sit-down dinner. But rather it's that those that are not part of the church are going to rejoice in the fact that the bridegroom has claimed his bride and they'll be celebrating this event. Some think it's just before the second coming. Some think it'll be celebrated in the first part of the millennial kingdom. But in any case, we now consummate the three phases of the wedding. Now in verse eleven, it goes on to picture the glorious second coming of Christ. Now you'll bear in mind, as I've been talking in previous evenings, about the different points of view on the rapture of the church, and the one view, of course, that I'm attempting to show is not the correct view, is the so-called post-tribulational view that the rapture occurs in connection with the second coming. What I want you to see in this passage is how dramatically different the second coming is from the rapture. According to First Thessalonians four, at the rapture, he comes bodily from heaven. He brings the souls of Christians who have died with him. When he gets to the air above the earth, he commands Christians who have died to be resurrected, and he commands Christians who are still living to be instantly changed and be given bodies and natures that are suited for heaven. They rise from earth, meet the Lord in the air, and then, as he promised his disciples in John fourteen before he left them, he said he was going to come to take them, to the Father's house. So destination is heaven for the rapture. It's a movement from earth to heaven. Now the second coming is an entirely different event, as we're going to see. It's not a simple act of taking the church out, but it's a grand procession involving millions of saints and angels as they come from heaven to earth. You see, just the opposite of the rapture. It starts in heaven, ends on earth, because now Christ is going to take over the world, and install his kingdom of righteousness and peace for one thousand years. Now notice the description we have here beginning in verse eleven. Now I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true. And in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire. On his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, and white in clean, followed him on white horses. Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations, and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron, He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And on his robe and on his thigh a name was written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It's obvious this is the Lord Jesus Christ coming back in glory. But a contrast this was to his birth that was so silently given and so ignored by the Jewish leaders when Christ was born in Bethlehem. And what a contrast this is to the rapture, where there is no judgment, where there is no revelation to the world of Christ in his glory. But the church is taken out and taken to heaven. This is something, as we learn in Revelation one, seven. Every eye will see it. The saved and the unsaved will all know that this is the second coming of Christ to the earth. In contrast to his first coming, this time it's a glorious coming of a king and a judge who's going to judge a wicked world. that has turned his back on God. Then in verse seventeen we have the beginning of the awful spectacle of the judgment that's going to take place on earth when this occurs. Now at the rapture there's no such judgment. But now he begins to deal with the wicked world. Now we've reconstructed several times the events leading up to it and you recall that in the months just preceding his second coming a great world war has broken out. We call it Armageddon. Armageddon is the Mount of Megiddo, a geographic location in northern Israel. But multiplied millions of men are fighting it out for power. Because of all the judgments of the Great Tribulation, they are dissatisfied with the world ruler and now are striving to get power for themselves. And as far as we can tell, the war is unresolved and seesaws back and forth across the land of Israel, perhaps a hundred miles north and south or more. and from the Mediterranean all the way east to the Euphrates. This whole area is one gigantic battlefield at that time. And on the very day of the second coming of Christ, there is house-to-house fighting in Jerusalem, according to Zechariah, fourteen one to three. And in the midst of that, Christ suddenly appears in the heavens, and this gigantic procession begins to take place. Now that takes place, the armies of the world that have been assembled there by Satan, because he wants all the military might of the world there when Christ returns, reunite instead of fighting each other to fight this army from heaven, but it's all so completely futile. You notice I read here about the sword out of his mouth, as you're going to see in the verses which follow, he just speaks the word. And these armies are all instantly destroyed with their beasts of burden. It's an awful picture of judgment. When God judges sin, it's not a pretty thing. Notice what we have here. I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying, To all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven come, and gather together for the supper of the great God. Now, you have the marriage supper, the lamb, for the saved. This is a judgment supper, as the vultures feed on the dead bodies, that they may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sat on them, and the flesh of all people free and slave, both small and great. In other words, this is an awful, awful spectacle. And I saw the beast, and he's the world ruler, you know, the Antichrist, the kings of the earth associated with him and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. and the beast was captured, that is, the world ruler, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, this is the false prophet mentioned in Revelation thirteen, by which he deceived those that perceived the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image, these two, that is the beast and the false prophet, were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest, that is the army, were killed with the sword which proceeds out of the mouth of him who fell on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. In other words, at the second coming of Christ, there is a dramatic judgment upon a wicked world that is accepted as the ruler in God, a person who's alive with Satan, and now this is all over. Christ casts the beast, the world ruler, and his associate into the lake of fire. Now, finally, subnote here. When unsaved people die now, they go to a place that the New Testament calls Hades. The Old Testament calls it chill. Sometimes the word means the grave, but sometimes it means what we call the intermediate state. And in Luke chapter sixteen, it's described as a place of consciousness. And the rich man, you know, is in torment in Hades. And the poor Lazarus, who was saved, was in Abram's bosom resting there. And so prior to the cross of Christ, there seems to have been two compartments to Hades and Sheol, the intermediate state, with part of it for the saved and part for the lost. Now, with the resurrection of Christ, many believe that this situation ended. And what was called paradise, where Christ said he'd be with a thief on the cross, you remember, is now one and the same as heaven. Some people think it always was that way. But in any case, now Christians who dies do not go to Sheol or do not go to Hades. They go to the immediate presence of God as far as their souls are concerned. Their bodies, of course, are buried in the earth until the day of the resurrection and the rapture of the church. And so these are actually the first to be cast into the lake of fire. Up till now, it's empty. Now, Matthew twenty-five tells us it was created for the devil and his angels. That's where they're headed for, ultimately. But Christians who are saved go to heaven, but those who are not go ultimately to this lake of fire. Later on, we learn that this becomes reality at the end of the millennial kingdom a thousand years later. But these are the first two cast in. And so at the second coming of Christ, There's this awful judgment on the world. Now, I want you to notice something. I've said it several times before that in the study of prophecy, you should pay close attention to the details, because so much false teaching comes about when we ignore the plain teaching of the details. Then, on the other hand, we shouldn't add to it. Sometimes teachers on prophecy add their own speculation, and then they have to revise their book a month later because it doesn't work out. We have to stay close to what the Bible doesn't say. Now you notice in this chapter there's not a word about rapture, not a word about even resurrection. In other words, that doesn't occur on the day of the second coming. You read on the next chapter we discover when it does occur, but there is no resurrection, there is no rapture in connection with the second coming of Christ immediately. Now in chapter twenty, and following, we deal with the aftermath of the second coming. Now here we run across, of course, the teaching that there's no future millennium on earth after the second coming. And of course, I think they're wrong. Let's take a look and see what the Bible itself has to say. First of all, in chapter twenty, one to three, it talks about how all this affects Satan. John writes, I saw an angel coming down from heaven. having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for a little while. Now notice in these three verses the difference between what John saw and what John heard. What did he see? Well, it tells us this angel had a great chain, that he took a hold of Satan and bound him with his chain and threw him in the bottomless pit, which is the home of the demon world. That much he could see. But he was told... that Satan was going to be bound for a thousand years and not released until after the thousand years. Now I understand that the book of Revelation has symbols, but as in this case here, it's quite clear what it means. It says that Satan is rendered inactive. The whole demon world is now harnessed and rendered inactive for the thousand years that follow the second coming. And Satan is bound with this chain. And I take it that that's exactly what it means. Now, there are those that try to get away from the millennial kingdom, and they say, well, this goes back to the first coming of Christ. That's the first coming of Christ. Satan wasn't bound. The New Testament says very plainly that he's still going around as a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour. If a lion came in that door back there, it would get your attention to hurry, wouldn't it? Because he'd be on the loose. Satan is still on the loose, and the Bible says that. It says he's as an angel of light, deceiving even the elect if he could. He's opposing the work of God. Anybody who tries to do the work for God soon discovers there's a very active Satan, and he certainly is active, and he's working, and that continues. Now, it's always been true that Satan had an omnipotence. He doesn't have unlimited freedom. We have a good picture of this in the book of Job, where Satan couldn't get at Job unless God permitted him. And then when God gave him permission, he only could go as far as God permitted. First, he, remember, took away his children and his wealth, and then Satan was allowed to afflict his body, and he had all these terrible sores and so on. But then he was not allowed to take his life. One of the things we're going to learn in heaven is how God has protected us as Christians. If you have any testimony for God at all, The only reason you're here and alive is because God has protected you. Satan would love to exterminate every Christian, everyone who has any testimony for God at all. And sometimes we see God allows Satan to afflict people. And Christians can have some real satanic opposition. But it's always under control. But Satan is not bound. He's certainly not inactive. He's a very active person. And the idea that chapter twenty... goes back to the first coming of Christ as absolutely no basis in the text. We obviously are dealing here with things that come out of the fact of the second coming. What's more natural in Christ when he comes, he judges the world, men, and then second, he judges Satan. You see, that's a very natural thing to follow. Now in verses four to six, we have a second thing that follows the second coming. And we're not told how long it is after the second coming, but I take it it's not the same day, perhaps some days later. And it describes the resurrection of a special class of people. It says that John writes, I saw thrones and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus, And for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Now who are these people? Well, it tells us. You see, in the three and a half years leading up to the second coming of Christ, the world dictators in charge. He's the beast, and he demands that everybody worship him or be put to death. And apparently thousands of people are killed who will not bow to him because they're Christians. And these are martyred dead. When did they die? Well, in that three-year period before the second coming, just before Christ returned, you see. Now what's God doing here? He's raising them from the dead. And what's he raising them for? To reign with Christ one thousand years. It should be very obvious that this is not the first coming of Christ. These people didn't live at the time of the first coming, and the beasts and the false proffer are not in power then, but now, at the time of the second coming, they are raised from the dead because they are the martyr dead. And so you see, on the one hand, there is a resurrection after the second coming of Christ, and there's also a purpose for it. They're going to reign with Christ for a thousand years. And here we have the millennial kingdom stated in plain terminology. I was talking to a gentleman who some of you know that is trying to date the rapture on September seventh. Now, strange to say, he's a very peculiar person because he's also an amillenarian. He doesn't believe in the millennial kingdom. But he claims that all of his dates and proofs are in the Bible. I read his book and He'll make a statement, no scripture references. Make another statement, no scripture references. Yet he says it's all in the Bible. Well, I've yet to see it, of course. But I finally asked him what he did with a thousand years. No, he said you can't take that literally. In other words, he invents dates that he wants to invent. When he comes to a literal date in the Bible, then he can't take it seriously. It's obvious that this is a specific thing. There's nothing imaginary about a thousand years. There's nothing uncertain about what a thousand years is. And the fact is the circumstances justify a literal interpretation. And these people resurrected are going to reign with him for a thousand years. That's what it says. And in this passage, as you trace it through, you find the term six thousand is repeated six times. How often can God have to say something before we believe it? You see, it's very obvious that God emphasizes this fact. Now he says in verse five, But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. In other words, here's a resurrection before the thousand years, then another thousand years has to lapse before the rest are raised. Who are the rest? Well, you see, everybody at the time of the resurrection of the second coming of Christ is either raised from the dead or saved. There are no righteous in the grave after this event. They're all resurrected. Even the Old Testament saints, according to Daniel twelve, one to three, are raised in connection somehow with the second coming of Christ. Doesn't tell us specifically what time, but they are raised at that time. And of course the rapture of the church occurs much earlier. But you notice he says that they are blessed to reign with Christ for a thousand years. But then he says this is the first resurrection. Now this has derailed all sorts of people. In fact, The post-tribulation is land on this prophecy. When does it occur? Well, after the second coming. Well, he says, this is the first resurrection, and it must be the rapture. But they're wrong. The rapture isn't the first resurrection. That's not what it means. You see, there's a series of resurrections in the Bible. You can enumerate them. You wish there were seven of them that are very significant. There's, first of all, what? The resurrection of Christ. Obviously, that's finished. That's something that occurred back more than nineteen hundred years ago. Then in Matthew twenty seven it tells us that when Christ died and rose again that the tombs of some of the saints in Jerusalem were opened. The stones were rolled away and they appeared in the streets of Jerusalem walking. They were raised from the dead. Now the Bible doesn't explain this at all. But it seems to be the fulfillment of a type. You see in the Old Testament in Leviticus twenty three. At the beginning of harvest, they would bring a handful of grain to the priest. And this is a token of the harvest to come. But there's more than one stock. Now, at the end of the harvest, then there'd be another feast, another recognition of all the sheaves of grain that were gathered in for the harvest. Now, because when Christ rose to the dead, he was just one stock, it seemed fitting that there should be a token resurrection to symbolize resurrections that would occur later. And so that in Matthew, verse fifty in following, is the second resurrection, if you please. Now I believe the rapture of the church is number three. And this, of course, follows the resurrection of Christ by many hundreds of years. In Revelation eleven, we mentioned last evening the resurrection of the two witnesses that were protected for three and a half years in their testimony for God. And then God permits them to be killed. And their bodies lie in the streets for three and a half days. And then as the crowd is watching, it says the world is watching. It seems like that it's an anticipation of television. You can just imagine how this might happen. Here the world is bloating on the death of these witnesses that are making them all recognize the coming judgment of God. And while they're watching suddenly, they're raised from the dead. That's the next resurrection, number four, if you please. Now here, in this passage, we have what seems to be The number five, the resurrection of these martyr dead. Either before or after this resurrection, the Old Testament saints are gathered and resurrected. And so by the time you get to this point at the beginning of the millennial kingdom, all the righteous who died have been either translated or raised from the dead. Now there's also some that are still in their natural bodies. These are people, both Jews and Gentiles, who survived the tribulation but are saved. And they're going to go in the millennial kingdom in their natural bodies. But you see, there's nobody left in the grave. So that's why this is what it's called. Now, why is it called the first resurrection? Well, it's not first in the sense of number one. It's first in the sense of before. Now, picture a housewife, for instance, that says, I'm going to go downtown and shop, but first I'm going to put the roast in the oven. Now, it doesn't mean that's the first time in her life she put a roast in the oven, but there's an order of events. She's going to put the roast in the oven, number one. Then she's going to go shopping, number two. And that's why it's talking about here. This resurrection is first, before what? Well, the resurrection of the wicked. That's going to be a thousand years later. And so it's first, but not number one, or prior to all past resurrections. Now it says in verse six, Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power. And they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him. How long? A thousand years. It seems that God anticipated, we'd be a little bit stupid about this and say it doesn't mean what it says. So he repeats it and repeats it and repeats it. It's a thousand years reign. Now we're told in verse seven that the thousand years elapse and it doesn't elaborate on the millennial kingdom. There's plenty of passages in the Old Testament, long passages that describe this glorious kingdom like Isaiah two and Isaiah eleven and Psalm seventy two and Psalm eighty nine and go on and on. There's many passages that talk about the glorious kingdom of Christ on earth when all nations will rise and worship him and everybody will have the knowledge of the Lord from the least to the grandest. That's the future millennial kingdom. So it passes by the details and now it jumps from the beginning of the thousand years to the ending. Now here's what we learn. Now when the thousand years were expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle whose numbers as the sand of the sea. Now, who in the world are these people? Well, these are people apparently born in the millennial kingdom. Now, in the millennial kingdom, it's necessary for everybody outwardly to conform to faith in Christ. And there will be no open rebellion permitted. Everybody will be required to acknowledge Jesus Christ. But then, as now, it's possible to go through the outer motions without reality. And these are some who outwardly seem to follow Christ, but now when Satan is loosed, they show their true colors and they follow Satan instead of Christ. And so it describes the scenes it follows. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints in the beloved city, which is, of course, Jerusalem, and fire came down from God out of heaven. and devoured them. In other words, they are instantly destroyed by fire. And this is the final judgment upon these wicked people. Now you notice that Satan hasn't changed his ways. One of the sad things about hell, internal punishment, is that those who are wicked in hell don't change their ways. You recall in chapter sixteen when the great seventh a bowl of the wrath of God as part of the earth, or the cities of the nations are destroyed, and there's this terrible pelting of the earth with huge blocks of ice. You know what it says? That men cursed God. In spite of all these demonstrations of his power to judge and deal with wicked men, they still are cursing God. And heaven is not remedial. People don't improve in hell. And one of the reasons why hell has to be eternal is because there is eternal rebellion and that's true of Satan you see he hadn't changed his ways he's been bound for a thousand years but he's still the same old Satan and now the scriptures tell us that it's his turn to be punished and the devil who deceived them was cast to the lake of fire and brimstone now look at this where the beast and the false prophet are when did they go in the lake of fire a thousand years before were they destroyed no You see, they're still there. Hell is forever. That's what the Bible tells us. And it goes on to say they'll be tormented day and night, forever and ever. The lot of the wicked is an awful, awful end. But we have to face the fact that unless one is saved by the grace of God, he's not saved at all. There is no forgiveness. There is no passing up the judgment on sin. except as a person puts his trust in Christ. The Bible is abundantly clear on this. And those who hear the gospel and know that Christ died for them in the cross and rose again and paid the awful price for their redemption are certainly fools if they don't accept this as God's wonderful, loving gift to them of salvation full and free and eternal that will assure them of being the presence of God forever. And a person who rejects that rejects the only way by which their sins could be forgiven and they be reconciled to God. Now in verse eleven which follows, we find the aftermath of this. It seems that after this event immediately the present earth is destroyed. And as the verses which follow tell us, a new earth is created. And in the new earth there is the new Jerusalem. Let me I'll read about this. In verse eleven it talks about the final judgment. Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. This is, of course, the Lord Jesus. All judgments committed to him. And there was no found place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were open. Now who are these people? These are people who weren't saved. This is the host of the lost. And the books were open, and another book was open, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works. And by the things which are written in the books. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it. And death and Hades delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. It's the final death, you see. and anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. This is the final judgment that begins eternity. But then we turn to a much brighter picture in chapter twenty-one. It says, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. So it goes on to describe the new heaven and the new earth to the next two chapters. And putting it all together, we discover that it's going to be a totally new earth. There is no sun or moon, we're told. And the glory of God is going to lighten the city. There'll not be any darkness there. And I don't think there'll be any stars. I think God is going to put everything back to nothing like he did when he created. And this is a totally new order. If there were stars, you wouldn't be able to see them, you see, because the city is a blaze of the glory of God. So I take it there aren't any. It doesn't tell us much about the new earth, except that there's no more sea. Now our present earth is more than half covered with water. That's not true. In eternity, the new earth is different. But it does focus not on the earth, but on the new Jerusalem. And it's described as a gigantic city, about fifteen hundred miles square and fifteen hundred miles high. some debate whether it's a cube or a pyramid I suspect it's a pyramid because the throne of God's at the top and the water from it comes down and it's seemingly more seemingly coming down a pyramid than it would a cube which would make an immense waterfall and so it describes this place since the scene it's a source of blessing for every one who's been saved Israel's going to be there The walls of the city have gates on each side, twelve gates, and on the gates the names of Israel. Israel is going to be there. We read that the foundations are like the disciples of Christ, and pictured as wonderful jewelers of all colors, but the church is going to be there. And then it speaks of the saved of the Gentiles, the nations are going to be there. You see, we're all going to be, everyone who is saved, regardless of its background, is going to be in the new Jerusalem. Now we retain our identity. You're going to be you. I'm going to be high. The church is going to be the church. The Old Testament saints are going to be Old Testament saints. A Jewish saved person is a Jew. A Gentile saved person is a Gentile. Some are tribulation saints. Some are millennial saints. You see, they all retain their individual identity, but they're all together as trophies of the grace of God. And we're told there's no temple in this city because the whole city is the temple. It's the dwelling place of God. We will see his face. Now, there's all sorts of questions left unanswered. People say, what do we do there? It simply says, his servants shall serve him. You see, God created the human race because he wanted a race of people, holy men and holy angels, who would voluntarily serve him and worship him. He could have created a million tape recorders that said praise the Lord, but that didn't want that. He wanted moral creatures that are like God in some respects to worship and praise Him and serve Him throughout all eternity. And that's going to be our glorious future. Now, as much more could be said about it, I'm sure. But the point is, and that's what we're driving at this whole week, is when the rapture occurs, it's the beginning of this tremendous sequence of prophetic events that will be fulfilled. And for you and me, it's a glorious, triumphant moment as we leave earth, meet the Lord in the air, and then from then on are forever with the Lord. We're with him forever, and wherever he goes, we go in heaven or in the millennial earth or in the new earth, the new Jerusalem, wherever Christ goes, we go because we're to be forever with the Lord. And so this stretches on without further description in the Bible as going on forever and ever and ever. You know, we're living in exciting days. If you believe as I do that it could be very soon. What a transcending event it's going to be. To be involved in all these things, going to heaven in the rapture, coming back in the second coming. seeing God deal with this wicked world as he will in righteousness and judgment, and then experiences his loving care and grace throughout all eternity. All we can say is thank God. How wonderful it is to be a Christian. Now we've enjoyed speaking in this week. Obviously, we haven't been able to cover everything. There's many truths. We haven't dealt with the nation Israel very much. And there's other aspects of divine truth. We haven't dealt with the judgment seat of Christ. There's many things yet to be considered. And I hope you'll stop by the book table and pick up some books that will help to flesh out what I left unsaid in this conference. As I've told you before, they're a greatly reduced price, fifty percent off many of them, and we're going to pack them up after the service tonight and take them off. But here's your last chance to buy them. We trust you'll do it for your good. The purpose of the books is to extend the meeting after the meeting is over. But what a wonderful Savior we have. Hallelujah. Are you excited? Well, I preach on this pretty often, one way or another. I get excited every time. It's something worth getting excited about. If you really love the Savior, what could be more wonderful than to see him face to face? You just can't talk about it. There's no way to describe it. The wonder and the thrill when we seek Christ for the first time in all this beauty, glory, and grace. And then realize this is the one who died for me on the cross. Hard to understand, hard to believe, yet it's true. So you and I have a wonderful time ahead. Now we hope to get back sometime. They've invited me back. But you know I always say this, if I don't see you here, I'll see you in the hereafter. Christians don't say goodbye, they just say so long. because we're not going to be ending our friendships. These once begun on earth go on forever and ever. And we'll perhaps have some memory. I don't know how much memory we'll have in heaven, but perhaps you remember that we discussed some of the great prophecies of the Bible and the wonderful hope we have in Christ. Now, I've assumed that you have put your trust in Christ. Obviously, this is for Christians only. And it's so important to be sure of your personal salvation. If there's any uncertainty about it, seek someone who can help you. and lead you into a real faith in Christ. But then for most of us as Christians, the challenge is to be living for Him, in commitment of our lives to Him, to serve Him every day, in every way we can, until Jesus comes. And with John, who closed the wonderful book of Revelation with all his tremendous scenes, we pray, even so come, Lord Jesus. Shall we pray? Our Father, bless to our hearts. These wonderful truths, how beyond words to describe, the thrills and the words that should describe these things, and yet we thank thee, Lord, that it's all ours in Christ, that every promise God has given us will certainly be fulfilled. So speak to our hearts according to our need, and especially bless any who may have unusual promise tonight concerning their own lives or concerning loved ones or anxiety about one thing or another. teaches how to cast our need upon the Lord, and look to him, to a Christ who said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you, now for eternity to come.