Stubbs, John: The Saints 04 Appearing Of The Saints At The Manifestation

Now, our meditation tonight is the appearing of the saints in glory, the truth of the second advent of Christ. We're still looking to God in prayer for guidance for tomorrow's meeting. It will be on something prophetic, and we just look to God to definitely guide. Now, would you turn, please, to the book of Revelation again in the same chapter as last night, but further down. Revelation chapter nineteen and verse number eleven. And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he had deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone, and the remnant was slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. Solemn chapter. A very frightfully exciting chapter in many ways, the section we've read, and we trust that God will bless it to us. So, beloved, we come to this tremendous subject, the second advent in glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We dealt with the rapture of the church, the meeting of the Lord in the air, according to First Thessalonians chapter four on Monday, and we refer to that as the assembling of the saints in the air to meet the Lord at the event of the rapture. So we have to distinguish, and this we try to do on Monday, you remember, uh, between the rapture and the revelation. The descent of the Lord to the air, meeting the church, and then taking the church back into heaven with him. But now we're going to look at the revelation or the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, his coming to earth. Last night we saw that the first ten verses of Revelation chapter nineteen specifically refers to heaven. It's a heavenly scene, whereas very clearly from verse eleven John the seer gives us this wonderful vision of the manifestation in glory to earth of our Lord Jesus, what is called the second advent of Christ. As we think of the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth, in many ways it does contrast with the first advent or coming of the Lord Jesus into the world. Let us, for our meditation and indeed, eh, our love for the Lord Jesus Christ and our desire to consider his person, let us just for a few moments contrast the first coming into the world of the Lord Jesus and the second advent, the second coming of the Lord into the world. You remember in his first coming, we see him at Bethlehem as a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. But here in Revelation chapter nineteen we see the Lord as a king, and he has a vesture dipped in blood. How different. At the first coming, he was rejected by the nation of Israel. In his second coming, he will be accepted by the nation. He will be the governor of the nations. He will be the king of the kings, as we've just read, and lord of the lords. You may remember, and of course you will, I'm sure, that in the first coming and the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, they took up stones to throw at him, to stone him. And at the second coming, men, according to Revelation six and other passages, will, will cry for the stones and rocks to fall on them. In the first coming, he was smitten with a reed. Here he rules with a rod of iron. In his first coming, wicked soldiers bowed the knee in mockery to him and abused him and made sport of him and, uh, and insulted him. But at his second coming, soldiers of the world, a vast army, will cringe, uh, before him and will fear and fall down before him. What a difference, what a contrast. In the first coming, the Lord Jesus Christ wore at Calvary a crown of thorns. Here in Revelation nineteen, we read, upon his head were many diadems, speaking of the many glories of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then again, we could continue on, and the list could be quite long, couldn't it, as we think of the contrast between the first coming into the world of the Lord Jesus and the second coming, his advent into the world of the Lord Jesus Christ. For example, uh, his feet at Calvary, uh, were nail pierced. But as far as the feet of the Lord Jesus at his second coming is concerned, Zechariah chapter fourteen, that grand climatic chapter of Zechariah, we are told in verse four, his feet, his feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives, and it will cleave in two. And you remember the prophecy of Isaiah of the Lord, the Messiah, the King, the man of war who will come to deal with Israel's enemies. He treadeth, there's the feet, he treadeth the winepress alone. In his first coming, he opened not his mouth. Here we find, when he comes to the earth, there will be a two-edged sword which will proceed from his mouth. You know, if we were spending time in devotional ministry tonight, and I trust the ministry this week and tonight will not be without its devotional side of things, but it would be preferable and, uh, and should be profitable, uh, to to spend the whole ministry tonight, uh, just contrasting, uh, these things between the second coming of the Lord Jesus here in Revelation nineteen and his first coming, the contrast between his first advent and his second advent. Now, I want to ask the question tonight, why is the Lord Jesus Christ going to come back into the world? Why do we have this tremendous passage bringing before us the coming into the world of the Lord Jesus? What will be the purpose of his coming? Why, simple question, is it necessary for the Lord Jesus to come back to this world? Well, broadly speaking and basically speaking, while there are many reasons, I want to highlight and concentrate just on three reasons why the Lord is going to come back. Number one reason, dear child of God, he is coming to conquer the enemies of Israel. Number two reason, he is coming to convert the nation of Israel. Number three reason, he is coming to control the whole world in the kingdom age. So he is coming to the earth, back to this world, for a threefold purpose: to conquer, to convert, and to control. May I put it to you like this? The Lord Jesus is going to come in his David character. David, different to Solomon, his son, a man of war. The Lord Jesus is coming back to the earth in his David character. He'll be the warrior Messiah, the warrior king, coming back in his David character to conquer. But he will also come back in his Joseph character. The wonderful story of Joseph, Genesis, and in particular Genesis chapter forty five. after putting them through so many different tests and preparing them for the revelation of himself. We refer to this another night, maybe last night. Well, you find that the Lord, that that that Joseph won over his brethren. He converted, as it were, his brethren, and they bowed down to him. And that's the story of Joseph. And that's a lovely picture, isn't it, of when the Lord Jesus Christ will come back to the earth. He will win over his earthly brethren, the nation of Israel. He will convert the nation. There'll be a tremendous national awakening. The spirit of grace will be poured upon them. They will recognize him whom they pierced. What a wonderful revelation that will be to the nation of Israel. It was a tremendous revelation, a shock, as we referred to it last night, I think, for his brethren, Joseph's brethren, to, uh, have Joseph revealed to them in that way. Yes, a shock. It will be a far greater shock, won't it, when the Lord comes back to this world and the Jews will see who he is, will recognize him, and will be converted by him. So you, he will come in his David character to conquer Israel. He will come in his Joseph character to convert, and then he will come in his Solomon character to reign for one thousand years. Solomon's reign, I judge, we'll not go into it now. It would be an interesting side sidetrack, but inviting as it is, Solomon, Solomon's uh, uh, kingship and rule is a, a picture of the millennial glory of the Lord Jesus. So I submit this to you in the second advent of the Lord Jesus. He is going to come in his David character. He is going to come in his Joseph character. He is going to come in his Solomon character. He's going to come, yes, to conquer and to convert and to control the whole world. Now, we have read concerning this second advent of the Lord Jesus into the world in Revelation nineteen and verse eleven here to the end. The second half of this passage is a very solemn passage. It is a tremendous passage. It's certainly all that. But I want you to notice in this passage we have four very interesting and very expressive names of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a fourfold description of the one who is coming. Who is he? Well, notice, please, we read in verse eleven, he is the faithful and true. Then in verse number twelve, he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. Then thirdly, in verse thirteen, his name is called the Word of God. Then finally, in verse sixteen, he is the king of the kings, as it should read, and the lord of the lords. This fourfold description, I suggest to you, is a contrast to the fourfold description of the devil in the next chapter. Notice verse two: He laid hold on the dragon, two, the old serpent, three, the devil, four and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, so that for the whole course of the millennial reign of our Lord Jesus, the devil, described in four ways in this verse, verse two of Revelation twenty, will be confined to the abyss, imprisoned there. This is one great reason why there will be universal peace in the time of the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. It would be interesting, I'm not attempting to do this to this evening, to contrast the names of the Lord, this fourfold description of our Lord Jesus Christ, with that fourfold solemn description of the arch enemy of our souls in the next chapter, chapter twenty and verse number two. So he's faithful and true. This tells us of his loyalty and his faithfulness, his integrity. He has a name written that no man knew but he himself. This would bring before us the mystery of his person, the fullness of the Christ of God. He is the word of God. This would tell us of his deity. That's how John's gospel commences. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He starts with the Lord Jesus as the revealer of God. When he came the first time, he, as the Word of God, revealed God in grace. But when he comes the second time at his second Advent here, he's the Word of God still, but not now revealing God in grace, revealing God, how solemn, in judgment, because he comes to inflict a devastating, destructive blow, final blow upon Israel's enemies, to subdue them and to be the king, Israel's king, and so he is the word of God. This stresses the inscrutability, the, the, uh, the deity, the eternal deity of our Lord Jesus. He's the faithful and true. His loyalty, his integrity. Faithful to his word. He has a name written that no man knew but he himself, the great mystery of his person. He's the word of God, emphasizing his deity. He's the king of the kings and the Lord of the lords, and this highlights the sovereignty of his position. So, beloved, there's much in these four names, isn't there, of our Lord Jesus Christ. But to get into this passage, and to speak in a little more detail of the second advent of the Lord Jesus into the world, may I just outline it in this way? First of all, what a following the Lord will have when he comes, verse fourteen. Then, what a fright the world will have when he comes, verse fifteen. Then, what a feast, what a feast the birds of prey will have when he comes, verse 17 and twenty one. The supper of the great God. Then what a force, a force the devil will have, he'll muster together when our Lord comes. The greatest army ever assembled together in the history of the world will be there on the plains of Megiddo for this final crisis in the campaign of Armageddon. What a tremendous force it is. Oh, how futile the attempt will be. How foolish of man to think that he could overcome he who is the word of God, he who is the faithful and true, he who is the king of the kings and the lord of the lords. What a force the devil will have when he comes. Never an army, never so many seen as this. And then, what a face, a fate. What a terrible fate the beast will have when the Lord comes. Look at verse twenty. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had to receive the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. How exceedingly solemn this is. What a fate! What a terrible fate faces ultimately the beast, the Antichrist, and the false prophet. They'll be put into, initially taken as prisoners of war, but then put into this lake of fire. How terrible. And there they will be for the whole course of the thousand years and more beyond. That's their final destiny. They'll be there forever. I say to you tonight, what a fate these beasts will have when the Lord comes. What a following the Lord will have when he comes. Look at verse fourteen. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean. This, beloved, must be the same company as we talked about last night in verse number eight, the bride described there with fine linen, clean and white. And here, the clothing of the army. Again, we read, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Who is this army? You've got two um armies in the chapter. You notice that, don't you? The devil's army. What a combined force that will be. Hmm. Perhaps nearly filling the entire plain of Megiddo. What a sight it'll be. I've stood there. I've looked down from a vantage point on that great battleground of the future. I've seen it too from a high point in Nazareth. You know what I thought when I stood at Nazareth last year and looked towards Armageddon, battleground Megiddo. I thought my savior was born at Nazareth, at Bethlehem, but brought up at Nazareth. There he was the carpenter. There he served in loneliness. How amazing this is. Who would have known those who, who knew the Lord and nothing? That he was destined to be the king of kings and to rule universally the world. And he would smash this evil army of the devil, led by Antichrist. Jesus the Nazarene. Now the King of Kings. What were my thoughts, beloved? Who are these armies that will form the train of the Lord when he comes down from heaven to earth, swiftly and suddenly and suddenly? Certainly angels will accompany the Lord Jesus, angels of his power, says Paul in second Thessalonians chapter one verse eight. What a description of angels. Angels are numberless. Christ has his own angel. Unlike the rapture coming for the church, when the Lord himself shall come, he will be accompanied by angels. While that is true, I do not believe that the armies in verse fourteen mentioned by John here in this prophetic vision are angels. I have no doubt it's the same company as verse eight, the church. The redeemed for mankind, those who believed on the Lord Jesus as Savior, those who are saved. What an army. Friend tonight, here is an army that has white uniforms, if I can put it like that. You know, warfare is a dirty game. I'm not too sure, I doubt very much whether there has been an army with what you may call white uniforms. Soldiers in battle can get their uniforms dirty. And especially in battle, in jungle warfare, or whatever it may be, uh, they can have a uniform that camouflages their conspicuousness or appearance. They would camouflage itself. But this army, no need of being camouflaged. Their clothing will not be... be besmirched. Their clothing, to put it simply, will not get dirty, for they will not have to fight. The warrior king, the Messiah, the Savior, the Lord, the two-edged sword will proceed from his mouth. The Bible tells us in Paul's teaching, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. You see, here's an army with white uniforms. Here's an army without any weapons. Have you heard of an army? Could you call it an army that had no weapons? The only weapon is the two-edged sword that will proceed from the mouth of the Lord Jesus. You ever heard of a big army with no infantry? This is cavalry, isn't it? The Lord Jesus is seated on a white horse. How different, we might say, to contrast another point, with this first coming, when he entered in lowly grace on the ass into the city to present his claims and credentials to be Jerusalem's and Israel's king. He rode in on the ass. Ah, but when he comes a second time into this world, he'll come forth on that white horse. A horse in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, is a symbol and picture of warfare and conflict, and in that great description of the horse, marvelous. In Job thirty nine verses nineteen to twenty five, read it sometime, very vivid, very colorful, very graphic. Smelleth the battle of Pharaoh. The horse speaks of strength and swiftness. Power. Our Lord will come in swiftness. Strength and power to deal with the enemy. He'll come on the white horse, and the army behind him, forming the train and retinue behind him, will also be in white horse. You say to me tonight, is this literal? Will there be real horses? Well, I'm not sure, but I do try to be literal in the Book of Revelation wherever I can, and that's the clue very often to a proper interpretation of the Book of Revelation, unless the passage in the context tells you otherwise. You try to be as literal as you can. I shouldn't be in the least surprised because we are dealing with a divine program that the horses may be literal of a kind in a way, but certainly they're symbolical of power. I never could ride a horse. I tried it once and nearly fell off. And if these horses are literal, I'm not recommending you to go to a riding school and put in a bit of print. Because I can assure you, if these horses are literal, you will not fall off. What a tremendous moment it's going to be. What a momentous time it's going to be. What a terrible crisis it's going to be. And to think that we'll be there. That we will appear with him in glory. Do you remember the teaching of Paul? When Christ our life shall be manifested, then shall we also be manifested with him in glory. The world looks upon us as peculiar and strange. The Christian is an enigma to the world. They do not know the source, the secret of our power, but they will then. They will know the source, the origin, the secret of our power, the Lord Jesus, when we come forth with him at the second advent. I say again, these are tremendous things. Have you heard of an army that has gained a victory leaving the mopping up operations? I say to you tonight, what a following the Lord will have. And just to think that we'll be there, that we'll accomplish it, that we will come with him in his manifestation, that we will, man, we will to some extent participate in it, certainly we will witness it. Somebody has said, and I quite agree with the person. I'm not so much concerned how I'm going to get into heaven, for the grace of God will see to that I'll go into heaven. But I am concerned, he said, how I'm going to come out of heaven. But that depends on faithfulness and how like Christ I be and what kind of reward I'm going to have. You see, every one of us, when we come forth with the Lord Jesus at the second advent, will have a different responsibility. The kind of reward that we will have will be seen in the position of rule that we have in that coming day. God is going to give the church, the believer, a bigness that this world knows nothing of. My, you think of the statement in First Corinthians six: know ye not that ye shall judge angels? My, my. Judge angels. Not in the penal sense, please. But we're going to be over angels in the future in administration. Principalities and powers in heavenly places. We can't see them. They're there in the air. Well, we'll change places with them in the future. And we shall be over angels in the future. That's a marvelous, tremendous, staggering statement of Paul. We shall judge and administrate over angels. Have you read that before? I assure you it's been in the Bible a long time. How great is our destiny? How wonderful is our future? Despised as Christians now. Misrepresented, underestimated, all the tables will turn then in the future. But how I'm going to come out of heaven with the Lord, that depends, you see, not on the grace of God that took me to heaven, but my own faithfulness and responsibility. What kind of ruler position of responsibility I'm going to have? What a fallen the Lord will have. What a fright the world will have. Look at verse fifteen. I tell you, the revelation of the Lord Jesus, the sudden manifestation of Christ to the earth, is going to be a big shock to the world. We read, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Oh, what a fright to the world. What a terrible shock it's going to be to the world. What a rude awakening. It'll be all that. You know, just before the Lord does come to the earth, just before this prophetic event, the vision that John gives us here from verse eleven to the end, just before it begins, just before the Lord comes out of heaven, when heaven is open, notice the Lord Jesus says, God is going to switch off the light of the sun, the light of the moon. And the stars in the heavens shall fall down. The Creator God will do this. He did it in a smaller scale at Calvary. He switched off the light of the midday sun, and there was three hours of darkness when the sun should have shone in all its splendor. For the miracle, God intervened. God was there at Calvary. What he did there, he's going to do in the bigger scale. From the dark, black, supernatural backcloth, our Lord will come forth. And the sudden awful darkness will strike men's hearts with fear. How do I know that? Because the Lord Jesus said in his prophetic teaching in Luke twenty one and verse twenty six, men's hearts failing them from fear. A terrible fear and dread will invert the world, its inhabitants. It'll be a shock. You know what the Lord Jesus speaks of in that passage? Listen to this. The seas and the waves roaring. Typhons, hurricanes, terrible storms, even that America may have, pale and insignificant. In contrast to what's going to happen, the sea and the waves roaring all around the coastline. It'll strike the hearts of men with fear. But here's a contrast. The same time is referred to in Psalm forty six, a lovely little Psalm. God is our refuge. That's how it starts. What does verse two say? Listen. Therefore will we not fear. Though the earth be moved, and though the mountains crash down into the midst of the sea, we will not fear. Hmm. It's the same time as Luke twenty one verse twenty six, but what's the difference? Men's hearts fill in for fear from here. That's the world, that's the unregenerate, that's the man of the world. But in Psalm forty six, the response of the faithful remnant in that day, the believer waiting for the Messiah to come, the faithful Jew will be different. His heart will not fail him from fear because he has searched the scriptures. He has read the word of God, Old Testament and New Testament. Don't think that after the rapture of the church, the Bible will be no more and be extinct. No! The scriptures will still be available and avidly read by these people, and they will see that what is happening, terrible as it is, is just the fulfilling of the word of God. It's God working to his own timetable, his prophetic program. It'll take place. How interesting to contrast the fear of men that the Lord speaks of. He knows even the feelings of men. The shock of the revelation of Christ that will have an upon them and how it will affect them. But how different in Psalm forty six. same time, oh, same time. They will not fear. Do you get afraid? The things that happen in the world? And worry? Certainly it's going to get worse and worse and worse. We live on a tottering globe. A world ripening for the judgment of God. What a terrible thing it would be to live in the time of the tribulation and the terrible plague that will happen then. No, we should not be afraid. For we have confidence in the word of God, and we understand God has a program. Whatever is happening, he is behind the scene, and he controls the scene. He's the sovereign governor of the universe. Let us hold on to that. The moral governor of the universe, let's hold on to that. His kingdom is unshakable. His purpose will achieve its end. The following, the fright, the feast. Horrible to think about. An angel standing in the sun, crying with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourself together with the supper of the great God. I had a track, a little tracks, oh, a few years ago, just opened out, opened out like that. Yeah, there was a picture of a vulture on the front of the... and the title was rather arresting, The Vultures Are Coming. And the man who wrote the track, whoever he was, I can't remember, was trying to make the point that there's a terrible increase and multiplication of birds of prey, of vultures in and around Jerusalem and Israel. I've seen one or two, two or three trips there to help the few assemblies. Nothing on the scale list I seem to think of. You know, that's kind of adding spice to the thing. I don't care how many vultures there may be in that land of Israel now. I couldn't even care where there's none at all. For the created God is well able to gather from the four winds of the earth such birds of prey. You see, this army, this army of the devil will be so utterly and completely destroyed. Everything will go. The birds of prey will have a terrible, great time of feasting on the body of these souls. Solemn? I know it's solemn. It's the supper of the great God. And God the Creator will do this. The following the Lord will have when he comes, you and I will be there with him in his train. The fright the world will have when he comes, the feast the birds of prey will have when he comes, and the force that the devil will have when he comes. You know, when you look at that Megiddo plain where the battle will take place. It's an ideal plain for a battle. There's been battles fought there before. The battle of the crisis of Armageddon will not be the final battle. A battle will precede the millennial reign of Christ here in Revelation nineteen, when the Lord comes as the man of war to deal a final blow to Israel's enemies, to paralyze the man of sin, the Antichrist, put him and the beast, the false prophet, into the lake of fire. Oh, this is a battle that will take place just before the millennium, but there's going to be a battle that will take place after the millennium. It's called in Revelation chapter twenty verses seven to ten, when I call it the final. Has Satan learned his lesson? Having been imprisoned and confined in the abyss for the whole course of the millennium reign, one thousand ah years. Has he thought about his career? Has he improved himself and changed his character? Has he learned his lesson? No. Immediately he is let out of the abyss, set free. He gathers a gigantic force of people together. Against God and his Christ. And the final concentration of evil in man will be seen in that army. You said to me, how could such people, born in the millennium, in the wonderful reign of Christ, in a time of universal peace and prosperity. In such an ideal age, how could they be so quick to follow the devil and rally under his flag, as it were? Well, don't forget, dear child of God, people born in the millennium will be born sinners. Born needing a savior, born with a corrupt nature. And sadly, many of the people in the millennium will steadily grow discontent with the re- re- rule of Christ. They might feign in obedience. They might give every appearance that they're following the Lord. How terrible to think that throughout the millennium, during the reign of Christ, there'll be people like that. Putting up with Christ, rendering him vainly beaten and be discontent with him. That's the only way that we can conclude and see how easily the devil seems to muster such a final force and army. You know the secret of that, don't you? Fire from heaven came down and swiftly consumed that army. The final vestige in concentration of evil in man. judged forever. What a revelation we have in the Bible, the word of God. Are you glad you're saved? I am. Do you thank God for Calvary tonight? Do you bless God? You're going to have a glorious future, and while it will be solemn to see all this, and we'll come down with him. It's a terrible force. I said to myself, as I've done more than once when I've seen that plane, is it possible for such a vast army to fill that plane? The most righteous battle that ever will have taken place. It's the briefest battle that will ever take place. Oh yeah. It'll come to an end so quickly because of the two-edged sword that will proceed from the mouth of our blessed Lord as the word of God to slay the enemy. You see, when he comes, there'll be the sword in his hand to punish. There'll be the sickle in his hand to divide between those of the nations. Some goats. His true sheep. Into the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Separate the sword, the sickle, the scepter. Ah, the sword will not be only in his hand, and the, and the sickle will not be only in his hand, but scepter, the symbol of rule. God is going to vindicate his son in the very scene of his rejection. But as I said, what a fate awaits these evil beasts. Cast alive into the lake of fire. Are these the first inhabitants of the lake of fire? What do you think about that one? If this is the case, and I believe it is, how so? And you know that after that one thousand years reign, when the devil has gathered that army in that final rebellion, Revelation twenty verses seven to ten, The devil himself will be taken and cast into the lake of fire. So in the lake of fire, there is going to be a Trinity. The two beasts, that is Christ and the devil himself. That's the final destiny of these great, well, wicked men that will be on the stage enacting that final drama in that time. But please remember, God will be in control. He is sovereign. It'll all come about according to his plan. What a fate indeed. Thank God for you and I, beloved. The torment and the fire, our eyes will never see. Thy wounds, thy wounds, Lord Jesus. I think we sang it on Lord's Day morning. Thy wounds, thy wounds, Lord Jesus. Those wounds of Christ have set us free. And have saved us from sin, self, hell, and the judgment of God. How is this going to affect me? How is this meditation on the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ going to affect us? How are we going to react? Well, we should live for the kingdom. We should keep it in view. It'll help us in the trials of life and all the bigness that God is going to give us one day. It will help us one with another. It'll help us to love the Savior more. It should have many, many sanctifying practical effects. Yes, we're going to be manifested with him in his glory.