The Bible's message concerning the return of Jesus Christ is a weighty declaration, not merely a simple 'Maranatha.' This declaration, rooted in Daniel and Zechariah, begins with 'Behold,' signifying something significant that can be seen, heard, and understood. While the visible and audible aspects of Christ's return are yet to come, the truth of His coming is understandable now. The examples emphasize that the God who is, was, and is to come is faithful, drawing parallels to the Israelites' deliverance from Egypt and David's faithfulness to God's anointing. John, on Patmos, found consolation in Christ as the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over kings, leading to an explosion of praise. The sermon concludes by urging believers to focus on Christ's ultimate glory and dominion, rather than solely on personal blessings, reminding them that any hope of future glory is built upon Him.
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clear focus with the coming to gain of the Lord Jesus. So before we continue on in Romans five, I'd like to pause for a moment and emphasize the message of the Bible concerning the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. I take you to Revelation chapter one and verse seven. Revelation chapter one and verse seven. Behold, He is coming. with clouds, and every eye will see him, even they who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him, even so.
Amen." This is a formal, weighty declaration. It is not a simple Maranatha. Maranatha is not a word, it's a phrase, it depends how you divide the letters, what it means. It either means the Lord comes, or it means Lord come. Both thoughts are biblical thoughts. And when Christians met together, as we have met here this week, and when you separate, they would often embrace, and as they left each other, they would say, Maranatha, Lord come, or the Lord is coming. But this is much more than a Maranatha.
You find the roots of this statement in the book of Daniel and in the book of Zechariah. I repeat once more, it is a very serious formal declaration. And it begins with the word behold. In August of this year, Grace and I are going out to Vancouver, Canada. We are going to spend a month with our families, including our seven grandchildren. And I know already we'll have great times together. They gather round, some of them climb up on my knees, and they'll say, Granda, tell us a story. And so we will tell them some story. I've never yet, to my grandchildren, said, Behold.
I'm not sure they would understand what the term means. And if you were going to have a coffee break where you work and you sit down with your associates and you participate in ordinary conversation, not likely that you say to them, Behold. But it's one of the great Bible words. Grace and I were in Istanbul, Turkey some years ago. Our hotel was on the European side of that city. It's a unique city. The other side is in Asia. And one day we got on the bus and crossed the great bridge and went over into the Asian side of the city. There's a lovely boulevard that goes along that body of water from which you can look back over to the part of the city in Europe.
And I noticed that day there were a lot of people there. You could tell they were tourists with sophisticated telescopes and cameras, but no one was taking pictures and no one was looking through the telescopes. And I was somewhat confused. I said to Grace, there's something going on here today, but they were just chatting among themselves. And as we strolled down that boulevard, all of a sudden I heard this great cry, Look! And every head was looking up, and they ran for their cameras and their telescopes. It was the time of year when the great flocks of eagles come out of Russia on their annual migration down into northern Africa, and the people knew that, and they were there.
What caught their attention was the word look, the basic meaning of behold. It means something you can see, something you can hear, something you can understand. When it comes to the return of the Lord Jesus, there's not really anything you can see today. But this verse tells us when he comes, he comes with clouds. Daniel seven, the clouds of heaven, round about the one like a son of man, who is not an intruder, but he's escorted right up to the throne of the ancient of days. He belongs there. And when he comes back, he comes back surrounded by the glory of God.
We wait for that moment, the glorious appearing of the great God, our Savior Jesus Christ. But you can't see that today. You can't hear anything today. But when he comes, he comes with the trumpet of God and it will wake the dead. There will be a lot to hear on that moment of his return. But there is something we can understand with our minds and hearts today, that the Bible comes to a conclusion with this great declaration, Behold, He is coming. Let me ask the question, who made the declaration?
Who said, Behold, He is coming? Scholars talk about it often, you're really left with only two options. Either John makes this declaration, or else it represents one of God's rare interventions in the book of the Revelation. No angel, no messenger, but God speaks. To come to that conclusion, you go back to the beginning of the salutation in verse four. where you read after the first phrase, Grace to you and peace from him, who is and who was and who is to come.
I'm sure the logical Western mind would not have expressed the thought that way. We would have begun with the past, the one who was and who is and who is to come. But here you begin where you are, the one who is, the God we believe in. We've been singing about him today, and we've been talking about him all week. And sometimes we do not really understand what he is doing in our lives. Things may not be working out the way we would like them to work out.
And you go back and think of the psalmist And that time that he cried out four times, how long, how long, how long. You're not looking at me. You're looking in some other direction. We might not be as bold as the psalmist, but we might feel that way sometimes. When you feel that way, remember that the God who is is the God who was. So you turn around and look back into sacred history, and you find out in the Old Testament the revelation of its character. It comes to beautiful completion in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament there are facets of his character. Think of the Israelites down in Egypt, in Goshen, in a type of slavery that we really don't understand.
Little baby boys were born and immediately crushed and put to death. There wasn't sufficient food. They weren't even given sufficient material to do the work that was required of them. They're down as low as you possibly can go on the social and economic scale, right at the bottom of the barrel. And God comes in and he stretches out his arm and with a mighty hand he brought those two million slaves out of Egypt and set them on their way to a destiny of glory and prosperity. God is a mighty God. He is a saving God. And we learn from the past those things about his character, and we know he will not fail us where we find ourselves today.
And God keeps his word. Let's go back and think of David. Grace and I have had the opportunity twice to visit Israel from tours that originate in the Dominican Republic with Spanish-speaking Dominicans. And I was asked twice to give the lectures on those tours. Like some of you, we went to Masada. When we came down from that great palace that Herod built as the last refuge of anything serious happened, he never had to use it in that sense. We came down the mountain, right at the edge of the Dead Sea. The heat is intense, and you thank God when you get back up on the air-conditioned bus and sit down.
And then, driving back towards Jerusalem, I looked out the left-hand window, and I saw... this stream of green foliage coming down through the hills. I knew there was water. And the bus stopped there. And the tour director said, we're going to go and take a walk up by the river, by the stream. So we got off and I found out that it was Bengali. And we walked up. Have you been there? The stream comes down and there are waterfalls, little waterfalls, ten, fifteen feet high. And in that intense heat, the whole group of Dominicans, they were so hot, they just ran, closed and all, right into the pool, and they stood under the water, drenched themselves to get a sense of relief from the heat.
Grace almost fainted. So I took her to the shade and sat her on a rock, and I said, Grace, rest, we've got to go to the top. And when she rested, we climbed up to the top. That's where the caves are. That's where David was hiding from Saul. And when he heard that David was in that area, and David was there because of the water and the security of the caves, he brought three thousand of his choice soldiers to that area, and they combed the whole area, and they couldn't find David. And finally, for personal necessities, King Saul separated himself from the soldiers and slipped into a cave and took off his jacket and put it down beside him.
He didn't know that David was up in the back parts of that cave with his men. And his men knew this was the moment. David could kill the king. But David would not raise his hand against God's anointed, but he stood up. And finally came down through that cave, right behind the king. And then he took out his dagger, not to kill the king, but he picked up a corner of his jacket and cut off a little piece of material and said, quietly slipped, it slipped way back into the cave. When the king was over, finished, he put on his jacket, walked out, and then David came to the door and showed him that little piece of cloth. You remember the story.
Maybe that's when he wrote the poem, How Long, How Long, How Long, How Long? The thing is, David never asked to be king of Israel. When Samuel was sent by God to his father's house, they never even thought about David. All the older boys were there, probably bathed and dressed in their Sunday best. And in came the prophet, and when he saw the oldest son, he knew, this is the man. And God inwardly told him, he's not the man. And he went right down the road, young men, negative in every case. And Samuel is perplexed, and he says to the Father, is there no one else? And it was like an afterthought.
Oh, there's David. He's out in the backyard with the animals. And they went and got David. He probably was not bathed and dressed in his Sunday best. And he was brought in startled and anointed King of Israel. The shock of his life. He had no idea of all the turmoil and danger he would be through before the day came. when he would be recognized as king, but God keeps his word. And that day came and he sat on the throne in Jerusalem. We're celebrating the three thousandth anniversary of the founding of Jerusalem by David. And he became the king of the united tribes together in that area.
God keeps His word. So the God who is is the God who was. And when you know what He's like, you turn around and you look at the future, the immediate future with absolute confidence, long distance, including death and after death. You know in whom you have believed. So the salutation comes from the Father in that sense, and then from the Spirit you find at the end of that verse, and the seven spirits who are before His throne. I'm not going to dwell there this evening. Many scholars believe seven churches in Asia, a representative number, there were more than seven, and the Spirit of God, coming from God Himself, the power of God was sufficient for all the needs of His people in any circumstance.
But then you come to Jesus Christ. And please notice, I will not press the point, but it's here that John lingers. And he begins to talk about the Lord Jesus. He says, And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. And you can just feel that momentum, that upward swing as he talks about the Lord Jesus. the faithful witness. Why was John on the island of Patmos? Probably, we can't speak dogmatically, but in his late eighties, maybe near ninety years of age.
Why was he there? He was there because he was a good witness. Word came from the imperial city of Rome, persecute the church. The word came to the civil authorities in Ephesus, the capital of Asia, persecute the church. And these men looked around, there was no more outstanding Christian than John. And he may have been the first, and they grabbed him and they threw him on that little island called Patmos, which is a great big rock that comes out of the sea off the coast of Turkey today, is still there. There were no rehabilitation centers, no place that they cared for the prisoners.
If you go there today, Someone will take you to a cave and they'll say, this is where John lives and you'll smile. And they'll point to the cracks in the wall and they'll say, and he heard the revelation through these cracks in the wall. You'll smile a little more. And then when you leave that area, you may have a second thought and you may come to the conclusion, well, if he didn't live in this cave, he probably lived in some other cave. Where else would he live on that island? He was just left there basically to die. And why was he there? Because he was a good witness. What is his consolation? Jesus Christ is the faithful witness. He went right to the end and fulfilled the mission that God gave to him.
He said, Not my will, but thine be done. And he went right to the end. John is consoled with that. If this is the end, he'll be faithful right to the end. But then he says, Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead. Let's imagine you're ninety years of age. We're just imagining. And someone kidnaps you tomorrow and takes you to some desert area in the state of Nevada. There are no roads, no telephones, nothing. And you're left there. Not very much chance you'll get back to your home on your own. And I'm sure John on the island of Patmos was pretty well convinced this is where I'm going to die.
We believe that did not happen because the emperor who was responsible for beginning that persecution died eighteen months later. And the new emperor, as they always did, is an act of grace and clemency, pardon many prisoners. John was one. He went back to Ephesus, and according to tradition, died a natural death well on in years. But John didn't know that. What is this consolation? Jesus Christ is the firstborn from the dead. He died and rose again. And if it's God's will that I die here, I too will be raised again." And then he adds to that beautiful thought these words, the ruler over the kings of the earth.
The Roman emperor, the civil authorities in the city of Ephesus, they were the great powers in the world. John knew there is a higher authority that Jesus Christ is ruler over the kings of the earth. And he knows there will be a day of vindication. And those who have been persecuted and put to death and jailed simply because they belong to the Lord Jesus. There's a day coming when all the record will be set straight in the presence of God, because He is the ruler over the kings of the earth. Now, in this upward swing, the thought seemed to multiply, and whenever that happens, there is an explosion of praise.
The Bible thought is doxology. You just can't think about Jesus Christ and not burst out in praise and thanksgiving to God. It happens to John. So he says to him, see glory and dominion forever and ever. Has it ever happened to you? You're baking a cake because you're going to have a family reunion on the weekend. Somebody's celebrating an anniversary. and you're well known for that cake and you have the ingredients and the bowl and the spoon and all is ready and you're working in your kitchen but you heard a sermon Sunday morning about the Lord Jesus that is just burned in your heart all week or maybe in your own readings in the morning as you read the Bible there was something that you never saw before it happens to all of us it just hits you with wonder and beauty and you've been thinking about it Or maybe you've heard a beautiful song on your favorite radio station, Christian radio station, and it spoke about the Lord Jesus.
It's all been building up in your heart, and it's just a moment you just push that bowl away, and you put down the spoon, and there's doxology. There's praise and thanksgiving to God for Jesus Christ. Or if you're a man and you've got a broken chair in your home and you're down in your basement working in your shop and you're repairing it, the same thing can happen to you. You put down the hammer, you move the chair away, and there's praise and thanksgiving to God. Will it happen to John? The faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth, explosion, doxology. And he says to God, to him, Jesus Christ.
be glory and dominion forever and ever. And even in the doxology, he goes on talking about the Lord Jesus. Once you begin, you can't stop. Once you think about him and begin to understand who he is, the thoughts multiply one after another. They come right out of the Bible, the wonder and the beauty of the Lord Jesus. So John says to him, who loved us? Come with me to Jerusalem. Two thousand years ago, I don't know why we're going there particularly, but we enter the city and we see signs of a crucifixion. We've seen it so many times. The Romans, it was everywhere in the empire.
It's interesting. The poets seldom have ever wrote about it. You won't find very much in the literature that comes from two thousand years ago about crucifixion. It existed. It was simply ignored by most people. The only thing is, in this case, there seem to be a lot of people round about. You wonder what's going on, and you see a tall young man, and he's by the side of a woman who could be his mother, and you just step up and you say to him, sir, can you tell me what's happening here today? And I think John would look at you with a blank stare. He didn't have an idea in the world what was happening.
But after the resurrection, the Lord Jesus led the disciples into the meaning of his death. Then the Spirit of God came down upon them and led them into these truths. And so it's John who writes those beautiful words, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. And John knew that in that death you look right into the heart of God. He says to him who loved us, Some of the old manuscripts take the verb to love in the present tense, to him who loves us. And that's a beautiful thought. John is standing more or less, we can't be dogmatic, about fifty years this side of Calvary.
He's on the island of Patmos, an old man, probably a lonely man, somewhat confused in his mind about what's happening in Asia with the churches. But he remembers that the one who loved him fifty years ago, still loves him now with the same passion. Now you live two thousand years this side of childhood. It's beautiful to go back and say he loved us. But there's something so warm and immediate to remember. And He still loves you today with the same passion with which He loves you two thousand years ago.
To Him who loved us and washed us from our sin in His own blood. Let's go back and stand beside John and Mary. And we're there. Jesus has cried out, It is finished. And then He bowed His head. And he gave up the Spirit. And you stand there in this awful moment, you're absolutely confused. And you see that Roman soldier come and take that lance and throw it right through the vital organs of his body. And from that wound, there's blood and water come out. And you wonder what this is all about. If you'd asked John, he wouldn't have had an answer.
But John, learning from the Lord Jesus, and receiving confirmation by the Spirit of God, He writes those beautiful words, the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanses us from all sins. We've been washed, cleansed in the blood of the Lord Jesus. I know that some of the old translations, pardon me, manuscripts, instead of washed, they have the verb set free. And that is also a very good biblical truth. Slavery is involved, you're a slave, and you're being set free, and you're brought out into this glorious freedom.
Well, that could well be the meaning of this phrase also. However you take it, it is a beautiful phrase. But then it is followed by something that is truly unbelievable. I don't know if we can really make a distinction between the love of God and the grace of God. If there is a distinction, it's one of emphasis. Grace always moves into the area of kindness. Listen to Paul, the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us.
If God had only loved us, and sent His Son to die for us and cleanse us from our sins and set us free. We would have stood in heaven and worshipped Him and praised Him forever and ever. But the grace of God always staggers the imagination. And you find out He has made us kings and priests to God, His Father, on the very highest level. doesn't matter how you translate this phrase you always end up with the thoughts of priesthood and royalty it is a position of prestige of authority of majesty in the right sense and on the very highest levels and you begin to understand the exceeding riches of his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus and as Paul as pardon me as John complete this thought, then he says, To him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
Amen. You're right up in heaven. You're in a state of worship and thanksgiving, adoration. And I'm going to suggest to you there was a pause. I think there must have been a pause. I saw this happen in Santo Domingo once. A choir came down from your country, from a Lutheran university, eighty young people, and they put on a tremendous concert of sacred music. We were there in one of the beautiful buildings in the old colonial part of Santo Domingo de Guzman. As we sat there, the concert was coming to an end. And the last song was an anthem of praise to God for the Lord Jesus.
And the young people held themselves hand by hand. And as I watched them, some had tears coming down their cheeks. They weren't just singers. Some of them knew and loved the Lord Jesus. And we were just waiting for that song to end. And then we were going to stand up and give our applause, and the choir director knew that. So when the last beautiful note faded and disappeared, his hands were up like this. He never lowered them. And no one moved in the choir or in the audience. It seemed like a long time, but he gave us a pause for adjustment. And then he slowly lowered his arms and turned to us, and we expressed our appreciation.
John's gone right up into heaven. He said, To him, to Jesus Christ, be glory and dominion forever and ever. I'm sure there was a pause, and that's when you hear the announcement. That's why some believe it is God's answer to John for his worship centered in Christ. And I paraphrase it, and God says to John, John, John, he is coming. He is coming. What was it that John asked for? He said, to him, be glory. And God answered, John, he's coming with clouds, the clouds of divine glory.
Now what else did John say? To him be dominion, and God says, and every eye will see him. In the language of Paul, every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. A practical thought, John's on the island of Patmos. The churches are suffering persecution in Asia. There isn't a word here about come and take us out of this place so our trials and tribulations will be over. Not that there's anything wrong with that thought, but John has a higher thought.
When he thinks about the end of the ages, when he thinks about our Christian hope, he knows that first and foremost about everything else, It is the time, the hour of glory that belongs to the Lord Jesus. And so he says to him, be glory and dominion forever and ever. I know the Lord is coming. I know we're going to be caught up, transformed. When you get to my age and you've got problems of health and arthritis and so on, even though you may be very conservative, when the preachers talk about the transformation, probably a hallelujah will slip out of your mouth.
Be a wonderful day when that happens. We're going to walk on streets of gold. We're going to see the tree of life, the river crystal clear water, those foundations of precious stones, the gates, made of pearls, beautiful. It's all part of what lies ahead of us, but there surely is something more important than that. Come with me to Toledo in Spain, just recognized recently as the cultural capital or the Jewish cultural capital in Spain, long overdue. Because when Columbus came to my country, the Jews were expelled and they were forgotten.
It's a cruel part of Spanish history, but they've recognized that in Toledo there still remain great signs of their culture. If you go with me to Toledo, we're going to go into a little house on a narrow street, and we'll see one of the masterpieces of El Greco. The painter who was born probably in Greece, but who identified with Spain and did his great works in Spain. It's called the funeral of Count Ortiz. It's usually crowded. You stand at the back, it's a large painting, and you see all the family members and the friends, the dead body of the Count is there.
There's a page boy standing right beside him. There's a torch in one hand and with the other hand he's pointing to the count now deceased. You look at a distance, he's got a black suit on and there's a white handkerchief coming out of his pocket and it looks like there's something on the handkerchief but you can't see it. So when you get a chance you get right up to the front and you look over the barrier and you might be surprised because on the white handkerchief is the signature of Il Greco, the man who did the painting is right there. But you're so close looking at that one detail that you can't see that whole wonderful picture.
You've got to stand back. I'm inviting you to stand back tonight and look at the coming of the Lord Jesus. So many wonderful facets, but above all, it's His hour of glory. I close with this illustration. My son, who is a businessman in Vancouver, Canada, was once a little boy. Six years of age, we happened to live in Florida at that time for a short period of time, and we went down to the Dominican Republic for summer, for the summer, and we stayed in the home of a colleague. And when my little boy Jimmy arrived there, he saw a bicycle. Two-wheeled bicycle, no training wheels. And he said, Jimmy, Dad, I'm going to learn to ride a bicycle.
Well, I encouraged him. I didn't know he was almost going to break his leg and tear his trousers and scrape his knees and so on, but he persisted and he called me out and I saw him. And he was riding on his own a two-wheel bicycle. We came back to Florida. One day he said to me, Dad, do you know I can ride a bicycle? I said, yes, Jim, I know. I saw you down in Santo Domingo. And then there was a little pause and he said, Dad, did you know that I don't have a bicycle? Well, I knew he didn't have a bicycle. I went off to conference and I came back to Jacksonville and Grace met me. And she said, Jim, I think we should buy Jimmy a bicycle. Time has come. So we went to Sears, where else?
And we saw all the bicycles, all the colors. And we chose one and we paid the money and the gentleman said, I'll go and get it for you right now, sir. And he came back with the box. I said, where is the bicycle? He said, it's in the box. He said, you can put it. He said, just a moment, I'm not a practical man. I wouldn't have an idea. He said, you can do it. You can do it. I didn't believe him, but we put it in the car, drove back to Gainesville. And I remember when I arrived, Jim was out with his friends. So I took the box and put it in his bedroom, sat down with Grace in the family room, and enjoyed a cup of coffee. We were chatting. In came Jimmy. He jumped up on my knee, gave me a royal welcome. Then he was down and off to his bedroom, and he came back like a shunt.
He said, Dad, there's a box in my room. I said, is there? And it was gone again. I wasn't there, but I think I know what happened. That box had slats that were open in it, where some of the larger parts, like the axles, protruded. And he knelt down and looked through, and he saw the spokes of a bicycle's wheel. If you were six going on seven, what would you have done? I remember that Jimmy left the box, And he came out into the hallway and he just flew down and he grabbed me around the neck. He couldn't even talk. He just held on for dear life. And finally I gently let him down.
If you think about our hope and you only think of the rapture and your transformation and all the blessings that belong to you on that glorious day, you remain with the box and the bicycle. I would like to ask you spiritually and with reverence, there are moments when we should run down and take the Lord Jesus by the neck and remember He is the source of all our blessings. The last time the world saw Him, He was on a cross with open wounds, covered in perspiration and blood, and He was dead.
That's the last time the world ever saw Him. John knows that, and the burden of his heart is the world will know him as he really is. And so he says to him, Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory and dominion forever and ever, because John knew, and you know and I know, any hope we have of coming glory is built in