Let Us See Jesus!
Revelation is the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The Bible is the inspired Word of God. Every word in it is true, but when men were putting the Bible in the canon of Scripture some of the titles that they gave to some of the books were not inspired. You will notice that your Bible reads, “The Revelation of St. John the Divine”. Now look at the first verse of the first chapter of the book of Revelation. It says, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”. This is not a book that John gave so much as a revelation of what he saw, but rather it is a revealing to the church of Jesus Christ. We need to keep this concept in mind as we study the Book of Revelation. We won’t see the Book of Revelation as a book of prophecies that need to be fulfilled, but rather as Jesus Christ being revealed through it all. When we read the Book of Revelation with that in mind, we will get the blessing that we were promised by hearing, reading, and doing the things commanded in this book. You can have a special blessing just from reading the Book of Revelation. God wants us to desire the coming of His Son. This is the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. It is the revealing of Jesus Christ to His church. John, the Revelator, will see things and will hold them up for us to see. We will find out later on that John will eventually say that he was even forbidden to reveal some things that he had seen. Perhaps God thought that John could not handle those things; perhaps it was better for us to not know them. For the most part, Revelation is the revealing of the events of the End Times and about the character of Jesus Christ as it pertains to those events.
Let us look first at the personality of the Revelation—it is Jesus Christ. We shall see the purpose of the Revelation, the pattern of the Revelation and the promise of the Revelation. Look at Revelation 1:3. “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.” There is a promise to those that read this book, to those that hear this book, and to those who keep the commandments of this book.
We shall see the formal addresses to the seven churches of Asia Minor: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Notice that the churches are addressed by the Holy Trinity. Verses 4-5 discuss the Everlasting Father, the Ever-Present Holy Spirit, and the Eternal Son. With these things in mind, and realizing that the Book of Revelation is not the Revelation of St. John the Divine, but the Revelation of Jesus Christ, let us now look and see Jesus.
Let us begin our reading in verse 9 of chapter 1 in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,” Let me stop right here for just a moment. What John was talking about there was present tribulation. He is not saying that he is going to go through the Great Tribulation. He will soon die. He is now in exile on the Isle of Patmos. He is going through tribulation even as he speaks. He is saying that he is a fellow brother and sufferer for the cause of Christ. He continues, “was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”
Let us pray. Dear Father, we come to You now and I ask that You will just be with us at this time. Holy Spirit, I pray that that we will get a view of the Dear Saviour. Help us as we see Him as He was. Help us as we see Him for what He did. Help us to see Him as He shall be, and even now is. Father, I pray that you will bless this time we have together. In Jesus holy and precious name we pray, Amen
I want you to stop and think with me for a moment. We just read a vision of Jesus Christ. We read what a mortal man saw of Jesus Christ. When you and I think of Jesus Christ, most of our ideas of what Jesus Christ looks like, has been shaped in part by the paintings of the past. He has been painted as hanging on a cross—a puny little fellow with long hair, a scraggly beard, an emaciated form, with a little trickle of blood coming out of His hands and feet. That is not what Jesus looked like then, and it is certainly not what He looks like today.
Take a few moments and look at Jesus’ appearance. Let us look at three different times in the life of the Saviour. First, let us look at Jesus as a Babe. You can almost hear all the angels in Heaven talking that day, “Do you believe what is happening today? You know how Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden and sin was passed upon all men for that all have sinned!” They all certainly agreed on their recollection of man’s fall. “We couldn’t do a thing about it. We wondered if God would judge them as He had Lucifer and his fallen brigade.” He decided that He would have mercy on them…upon us! He had devised a plan of salvation, and that day a little Babe was born in a small town called Bethlehem of Judea. You may say, “I know that story. It’s the Christmas story.” When we celebrate Christmas, we are celebrating one of the appearances of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that His name shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, “God with us.” God Himself dwelt with man in the form of man that day when He left His wealth and came to earth’s poverty. Can you imagine all that Jesus had in Heaven before He came to earth to live among men? Can you imagine all that Jesus had in Heaven before He came to be born of poor parents? God was his Father! He sat on a throne of jasper. The purest gold made up the walls and the floors of His Heavenly home. He was surrounded by silver, pearls, and precious stones, and yet, He was born in a stall where the cattle were fed. He was born in a manger, out with the feed and straw and animals.
That night of traveling when Joseph, His step-father, and Mary, His mother, went out to find a place to stay, they found none. There was no room for them in the inn. They were turned away. Someone finally decided to give them a place to stay, possibly because someone had compassion on a woman who was great with child. She was about to deliver. The angels in Heaven must have wondered what was going on in God’s mind to allow such events to occur. How, they must have wondered, could God allow His Son to be born in this filthy place we call the world? Can you imagine Jesus Christ leaving Heaven and all of its splendor, leaving His throne to be born into a cradle of swaddling clothes, leaving Heaven’s praises only to come to earth’s neglect? Can you imagine…a King was being born in Bethlehem that day? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was coming to this little village called Bethlehem. If the mayor of the city had known that a King was being born, surely he would have sent someone out to meet them. Surely, he would have given them the red carpet treatment and the key to the city! That, however, is not what happened to Jesus. Mary and Joseph were not received as a royal delegation. They were just a carpenter and his wife going to pay their taxes. Jesus Christ was born into a world that began to neglect Him as soon as He came into it. That world is still neglecting Jesus Christ today.
The second time Jesus appeared was not as a Precious Babe, but as a Promised Lamb. After being relatively quiet about the time before Christ’s public ministry, Scripture records boldly John the Baptist’s declaration of “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Jesus Christ appears to us that second time as the Lamb. Not only was He the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world, but He was also that Lamb without spot or blemish. In the Old Testament times, every year the High Priest would take an unblemished lamb, a lamb that had no imperfections and offer it as a sacrifice for the sins of the people for that year. The high priest would take the lamb, cut its throat and pour that blood into a brazen laver. He would then take that blood, after he had first cleansed himself, and go past the first veil, then past the second veil. He could only pass this second veil one time each year and enter into the Holy of Holies. The high priest wore bells on his robe so that the people would know that he was still alive while he was in the Holy of Holies. The high priest would take the blood of that one lamb, the most perfect lamb in all the land, and sprinkle it upon the altar there. That blood would then become the sin offering for the whole nation of Israel’s sins that year. The blood simply covered over their sins. Year after year after year after year, high priest after high priest after high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies and there he would offer the blood of the lamb for the sins of the people. The Bible says that Jesus is our Lamb without spot or blemish, and when Jesus Christ said on the Cross, “It is finished!” He was saying to us that the last sacrifice that was ever needed had been made for our sins.
Jesus Christ was that Lamb…the Lamb without spot or blemish…the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. Why is that important (that He was slain before the foundation of the world?) This same Jesus who was slain knew about your sins and my sins before we were born. That is one of the hardest things for people today to understand. We come to Jesus and ask Him to forgive us of our sin, and He does. He wants to forgive us more than we want to be forgiven. That’s why we have, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God wants to forgive you of your sin. Here’s what we Christians do. We mess up. We sin. Then the Devil starts telling us lies, “God can’t forgive you of that.” This was the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world so that all of your sins and all of my sins would be future sins! Did you know that when you got saved, God knew all your sins? He didn’t just save you from the sins from that time backwards. He saved you from all sins. You may ask, “What do I do when I sin?” Confess it and He is faithful and just to forgive your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness! He will forgive you of your sins. He is faithful and just to do so. By humbling yourself, repenting and asking forgiveness, you can be restored to fellowship with the Father.
Jesus Christ was as a sheep led to the slaughter. I am told that sheep are basically peaceful and docile animals. I am told that you can lead a sheep to the shearers or to the slaughter and they won’t put up much fight at all. When Jesus Christ the Righteous was offered as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, He offered no resistance whatsoever. In Gethsemane, He prayed this prayer, “Not my will, but thine be done.” When He was before Pilate, Pilate became angry with Jesus because of Jesus silence before him. He basically threatened Jesus with his power to which Jesus Christ calmly replied, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.” Jesus did not lash out at Pilate. He didn’t say, “Okay, Michael, show him how much power I have!” He allowed Himself to be led to the slaughter as a lamb, for He was our Lamb. Think about that day when He was crucified for your sins and my sins. What did Jesus say to the thief? He didn’t say, “You deserve to be where you are!” To the one who was cursing Him and mocking Him, He didn’t say, “Be sure your sins will find you out.” Jesus could have said those things and He would have been 100% right. Instead, to the one thief who asked for forgiveness, He said, “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” He was forgiving even on the Cross while He suffered.
Not only that, but he looked to His mother. He was concerned about someone else while He Himself hung on the Cross. There Jesus Christ, hanging between Heaven and earth, with all His joints disjointed, with spikes in His hand and in His feet, with His beard plucked out and His back and sides scourged, that He looks and says, “Woman behold thy son” and referring to John, “son, behold thy mother.” The Bible records that from that day forward Jesus’ mother went into John’s home and John took care of her. He was more concerned about someone else than He was Himself. What did Jesus say to the crowd, the same crowd that watched as the Roman soldiers nailed his body onto a Cross and dropped that Cross into that hole on Calvary’s hill? That hole was designed to force the joints out of place when the condemned man was crucified as it dropped in and held the cross upright. It was the same crowd who had cried, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” They proclaimed that they had no part with this man, as they cried, “We have no king but Caesar!” The same soldiers who cursed Him and mocked Him and spat upon Him, the same ones who denied Him, the same ones who abused Him, the same ones who treated Him roughly—what did Jesus Christ say to them? “Oh, God come judge them all?” No, He cried, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” That is the Lamb being led to the slaughter. That’s the Jesus that died for our sins. That’s the Jesus that suffered on Calvary. That’s the Jesus we know because He bought our salvation that day.
To the mourning Mary, as He met her that Sunday morning, He called her by name. She recognized Him as Master as she cried, “Rabboni.” She wanted to cling to Him that Resurrection morning, for she had thought that someone had stolen His body away from the Tomb. He told her, “Touch me not for I have not yet ascended.” He must now go up to Heaven to perform His duty as the Great High Priest. He had to sprinkle His own Blood on the Heavenly Mercy Seat in the Heavenly Holy of Holies. He covered that altar with His own Blood so that no more sacrifice for sin would ever be needed. That morning He comforted Mary in her morning while allowing her to see Him as the Heavenly High Priest.
What did He do for the Emmaus disciples…this risen Saviour? The Bible says that their hearts burned within them. They desired to be around Him. He uplifted them in their time of discouragement. They knew that their Saviour and their Master had been taken away from them, but Jesus brought them comfort in their darkest hour.
What about the doubting Thomas who declared that he would not believe unless he were to touch the wounds of Jesus? He couldn’t bring himself to believe the reports of those who had seen Jesus alive. As they met in that upper room, Jesus Christ materialized before them in His glorified body. When He spoke Thomas’ name, He did not chide him for not believing. He did not condemn him as a doubter or a hypocrite. He told Thomas, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.” “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” That’s the same Jesus Christ who died for your sins, was buried, and rose again the third day, ever to make intercession for us.
What did Jesus say to the disciples at the Ascension? He really didn’t say much, did He? The angels who attended surely said a lot, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” There was a promise that He would return, and with that promise, Pentecost happened, churches were started, people were saved, lives were transformed, and the Gospel went around the known world. It has been passed on through the ages, through men and women, boys and girls, until one day it reached you. That’s what Jesus Christ was like. He is the Lamb for sinners slain. If you fall into that category, if you find yourself a sinner, take heart! He is the Lamb for you! He is the Lamb for me! This is Jesus Christ.
We have seen Him as the Precious Babe, and we have seen Him as the Promised Lamb, but the Book of Revelation shows Him in an entirely different light. See His greatness! The view that John, on the Isle of Patmos, had was not the view of Jesus Christ that allowed Himself to be led to Calvary. It was not the Jesus Christ who let Himself be baptized of John. It was not the Jesus Christ who let Himself be whipped and scourged by Roman soldiers. It was not the Jesus Christ who wore the purple robe of mockery and submitted to the soldiers who mockingly hailed Him as King of the Jews. No longer is Jesus Christ the submissive Lamb—He is now the powerful King. When you and I see Jesus, He will no longer be wearing a crown of thorns. He will not be seen as the Suffering Servant. He will be seen as the Reigning Messiah! He will be seen as the One who comes to bring judgment to this old wicked world. This Jesus that we see in the Book of Revelation is not the humble servant, is not the one who suffers abuse, but rather He is Christ, the Powerful One. He says, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.” He is saying “I am the I AM! I am the Eternal God. I am the beginning. I am the ending and I am the all in all between.” That’s who your Jesus Christ is. He is saying to us not to see Him as the Suffering Jesus…see Him as the powerful Christ. See Him as the One who will sit on David’s Throne and rule with a rod of iron. See Him as the Christ who will reign forever and ever and ever…Amen! He is saying that the I AM has come.
He is Judge, but only of the lost, for there is no condemnation now for those who are in Christ Jesus. He will reward those who love Him at the Judgment Seat of Christ for their deeds, but there will be no condemnation for the saved at His hand. He will stand with the Father as the Righteous Judge of the lost at the Great White Throne Judgment. (See II Timothy 4:1) Not one Christian shall ever suffer at the hand of this Great Judge.
Not only do we see His greatness, but we see His garments. They are the garments of a Rightful Ruler. He is clothed in Righteousness. When we were saved, we could not buy the righteousness that God demanded. Just as many do not choose to wear expensive suits because they cannot afford them, so we cannot on our own merits wear the garments of righteousness because we cannot afford them. The suit of righteousness could only be paid for by Jesus Christ and all those who have been born again are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. No one can see Heaven who has not been clothed in that righteousness. You cannot count on your works one iota. It is not Jesus plus some good deeds that we have done. It is Jesus and Jesus alone! Jesus says, “no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He didn’t say, “I am the way plus something.” He didn’t say that we could believe in Him and baptism. He didn’t say that we could believe in Him and church membership. He didn’t say we could believe in Him and good works. He said that we must believe in Him and Him alone!
He is clothed in worthiness. One of the great themes of the Book of Revelation and of the entire Bible is the worthiness of our God and of His Son, Jesus Christ. There are times in the Book of Revelation when all time stops and all the saints of Heaven sing the praises of the worthiness of the Lamb. We shall sing, “Worthy is the Lamb, Worthy is the Lamb, Worthy is the Lamb!” Do you think this world has something to offer us here…something to get excited about? Wait until you get to Heaven! Some people say that they don’t believe it is proper to get excited about spiritual things. All I can say is that if that is your belief, then you had better get in practice for eternity or you will be far behind the rest of the saints in Glory. You might just feel left out because the whole of Heaven’s choruses will break out in shouts of praise someday. Jesus Christ will be the object of that praise. Worthy is Jesus! He is clothed in worthiness.
He is clothed in awesomeness. My God truly is an awesome God. Unlike the casual use of the word in today’s vernacular, this word signifies the fact that when we see God, we shall be struck with awe at His appearance. We will not be able to speak in His presence. When we shall be able to speak, we shall proclaim such things as, “Glory to the Lamb! Holy is His Name! Praise God for the Son! Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!” Awesome is our God.
Not only do we see His greatness and His garments, but we see His gaze. Scripture records, “his eyes were as a flame of fire.” It is the gaze of a righteous Judge. There is something that our children cannot stand. It is the gaze of Mom. Mothers can tell when their children are lying, and they can give their children the “Mother-Eye.” That is the look that mothers give their children when the children have done something wrong—Mom knows it, the children know it, and no one admits it until someone breaks and admits sins that would never have come to light if it were not for the “Mother-Eye.” Why? Because of the righteous gaze of a mother’s eye! That simple example is plain in comparison to the gaze of Jesus Christ the Righteous. No more excuses! No more lies! No more made up stories! Unfortunately, this is where most Baptists will be disappointed. No more excuses! The gaze of the Holy Lamb of God, whose eyes were as a flame of fire, will be able to see through all of our excuses, to see through all the reasoning of men’s minds, to see through all of our misplaced priorities. He shall say, “Thus saith the LORD,” and so shall it be judged thusly. Jesus Christ is coming as Judge! He is coming as King! He is coming as Messiah! He is coming to rule and to reign forever and ever!
Not only is He the Righteous Judge, but He is the Judge of the nations. He will be the Judge of men’s sins. He will be the Judge of Satan and evil. It will sadden my heart to see my nation judged, but the Bible says that all nations will be judged. It will sadden my heart to see those who have rejected the Saviour being judged, but the Scriptures say that all the lost will be judged at the Great White Throne Judgment. That is the reason the Bible says that He will wipe away all our tears. It will be because of our sorrow over those whom we loved here on earth. They will be judged because of their unbelief by a Righteous Judge. They will be doomed and damned to a Devil’s Hell, prepared for him and his angels for all eternity. We will have remembrance of those people, and God will have to wipe away all tears from our eyes.
There is one judgment, however, that I am awaiting with eager anticipation. I will be on the sideline cheering the verdict. I can’t wait to see Satan judged! I am sick of what Satan has done to our people. I am sick of the lives he has destroyed! I am sick of the lies he has told. I am sick that he has deceived the lost out of a Heavenly home. I am sick of the blessings he has robbed from the redeemed. One of these days, Jesus Christ, the Judge of the universe, will finally give Satan his due. He will cast him into Hell for a thousand years! After that time, he will be loosed for a short time to deceive the world one last time. Then, Jesus Christ will judge Satan by casting him into Hell forever and ever and ever! For every time that a demon defied God or deceived a child of the King, that evil will be punished. God will judge them! Jesus Christ the Righteous will finally cast them all into Hell, with everyone who has rejected Jesus Christ. I am longing for the judgment of the Evil One.
We have seen His greatness, His garments, and His gaze. Let us now look at His gait. We are talking about His walk. I love the walk of my dear Saviour. I don’t think Jesus Christ will come with a slovenly walk. I don’t think He will come with His head bowed. I don’t think He is going to come with the weariness that He experienced on Calvary. I don’t think that He is going to come with the humbleness of the carpenter’s son. When we see Jesus in Glory, we will say with John, “Look at His feet!” The Bible says His feet are, “like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace.” He will come to stamp out in judgment all the wickedness of men and all the vileness of the universe. Jesus Christ the Judge will take His courtroom. When we see Jesus, we shall see the carriage and walk of a revered sovereign. We have all seen the princely deportment of a monarch as he or she attends a formal function. They are stately in their mannerisms. They carry themselves with responsibility and grace. They carry themselves with grace because of their positions.
Imagine the grace with which the King of Kings and Lord of Glory will carry Himself. He has exchanged the purple robe that He put on in Pilate’s praetoreum for the white robe of glory in John’s vision of the Saviour. When Jesus wore the scarlet robe of mockery and suffered the indignities of sinful men, He knew that someday those same men would see Him robed in the robes of divinity. No longer will they mock, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They will see Jesus Christ coming in glory. Then all men will say, “Hail, Jesus, you are the Messiah!” He is the King of Kings! He is the Lord of Lords! He exchanged that purple robe of mockery for that white robe of purity. He exchanged the swaddling clothes of His birth for the wealthy robes of great riches. There will be nothing second class in Heaven. God didn’t use leftovers for anything. He got everything right the first time. The robes with which the saved shall be clothed in Heaven will be the righteous perfection of Jesus Christ, the perfect workmanship of God’s fingers. He exchanged the gambled robe of Calvary for the worthy robe of sure steadfastness. No longer will He give up His robe. No longer will there be any man to defile it. He will be robed in righteousness forever! Jesus Christ shall reign forever and ever. That is a sure promise.
There is one last thing that we want to look at about Jesus—His Guarantee. What did Jesus Christ guarantee? He guaranteed His eternal presence. Look at verse eighteen. “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” First, He guarantees that He was alive. To all the scoffers, He is assuring that there was a man called Jesus. There was a man named Jesus who was born in Bethlehem. There were wise men from the East who followed a star and found Him. There was a carpenter named Joseph fled to Egypt with Him to protect Him from the evil Herod, and returned in safety to town called Nazareth. There was a man named Jesus who stood before the elders of the temple as a young lad and confounded them with His wisdom. There was a man named Jesus who died upon a cross, who was buried, and arose victorious on the third day. Jesus Christ was alive!
Not only was Jesus Christ alive, but He was also dead. Jesus Christ died, for He died for your sins and mine. He had to die. There could be no sacrifice for mankind’s sin if He did not die. When Jesus Christ came to be born in Bethlehem’s manger, He came to die. He didn’t come so that we could worship Him as the Babe at Christmas time. He came to die. He came to become God incarnate so that He might fulfill His Father’s plan—to die. Do not mistakenly leave Jesus in that Christmas cradle. He wanted to come. He came for the Cross.
Jesus Christ guarantees that He was alive, that He was dead, but most importantly He guarantees that He is alive for evermore. Jesus Christ lives today. Jesus Christ lives today, and that promise holds true for tomorrow and the tomorrow after that. Whenever you state it, be assured that Jesus lives today…and that today is for evermore. What a promise; what a guarantee! For eternity past eternity, Jesus Christ is alive! Jesus Christ promised it on the authority of His Eternal Divinity. Jesus Christ is alive, and the Church ought not to be dead—we serve a living Saviour. We ought not to be sad, or lonely, or defeated, for He is alive! He is not like the leaders of religions whose founders lie in graves across the globe, for as the angels proclaimed, “He is not here: for he is risen.” And as the same verse declares, “as he said.” It is the veracity of the Son of God that proclaims that He is alive…for evermore!
Because He was alive, and was dead, and is alive for evermore, He also guarantees that He is Conqueror. We don’t have to be defeated. John told us of what he saw on Patmos. He spoke to us about that Jesus whose eyes were as a flame of fire, whose hair was white like snow, who was girded about with a golden belt that proclaimed Him Conqueror and King, whose feet were like unto brass! Oh, John, what did this Jesus say? He said, “I am Conqueror. I have it all under control.” This world awaits its rightful King. When it seems like the god of this world will have his way with the things of this world, just remember that it is Jesus who has conquered death, and Hell, and the grave. He is sovereign and He is always in control. If we trust in Him, we shall never see Hell. We shall never taste of the second death, for “we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Jesus has overcome so that we may in turn overcome and live victoriously through Him.
Just before Jesus ascended up into Heaven, the angels looked down and said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” He shall not come, however, like He was. When we hear that trumpet sound, and we hear the voice of the archangel saying, “Come up hither,” and we break through the sky and see Jesus, don’t expect an emaciated, puny Saviour with a sad face and hauntingly hollow eyes. Don’t look for a weak, longhaired suffering man. You will see the risen Saviour! You will look to the powerful King! We shall see the Mighty Monarch of the Universe! We shall see Jesus who ever liveth to make intercession for His saints. Understanding this will give you peace where peace has eluded you. It will give you victory where you may have feared that victory was unavailable. For the unsaved, it a fearful message to know that Jesus Christ will come back as Judge. When mercy and forbearance give way to justice and judgment, it will be too late. Jesus will have returned and those who have rejected Him will have done so for eternity. Be assured. He is returning as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and Judge. He will judge the lost for their sin, and they shall all agree that He indeed is Righteous and does judge rightly.
