FTGC-15 – The End Of Everything Starts – The Return Of Jesus To Judge, Reign, & Renew The Entire Universe

Transcript

Welcome to week 15 of our journey through the Bible looking at the 52 greatest chapters in the Bible. Bonnie and I try to get these out to you on Sunday. We started week one with a Sunday, and we’re going through this whole year through the calendar Sunday to Sunday. I’ve spent the whole past week doing Psalm 24. I have to tell you I’ve read Psalm 24 a lot of times. One hundred and some times. I’ve studied this with my small groups 10 times plus, but this was the most amazing time through the scripture, I guess that’s one of the blessings of the word of God. It finally clicked to me that Psalm 24, see on the slide there? Week 15, Psalm 24, look at the title I put The King Returns. Psalm 24 is what historically has been called a coronation psalm. It had something to do with David when he was anointed king. He’s remembering all that God promised to him with the Davidic covenant and all the covenants and all those theological things we’ve covered. We’ll cover it again.

I just want to stay on Psalm 24’s super message. Do you see what it is? The King returns and look at this. This has been one of the most amazing weeks of study. Bonnie knows as I’ve gone over this and as I’ve shared with her, and as we’ve discussed it. This is the end of human history as we know. Remember, Psalm 24, and the next slide shows this, is part of a trilogy. I forgot I haven’t said this. For some of you, this is your first time with us, and you’ve jumped in and don’t even know what we’re doing. My name is John Barnett and I’ve been a pastor for three decades. My wife and I are full-time missionaries. What you’re watching is our small group study. This is how we stay close. It started with just a few folks from our home church, our sending church in Michigan. It’s expanded now to this small group of those who pray for us. They’re going with us on the mission field.

We alternate between teachings. This week we’re teaching bibliology, that’s a study of the scriptures. We have groups and classes that we’re teaching in Canada and Australia and the United Kingdom. Of course, others join us, but we are having the time of our life as full-time missionaries rotating, when it’s not COVID, going between Australia and the Pacific Rim and Europe and the Middle East and all across the United States. Then we go back around, and we travel usually for six weeks we’re home for four weeks and travel six weeks more. We just have a fantastic time teaching the Bible, but you’ve come into the study through the 52 Greatest Chapters. On our Facebook page, you can see the lists there and print off everything you need.

I’ll show it to you in my journal here. This is what you can get online. The listing of the 52 Greatest Passages or chapters in the Bible, and then how to do this study and the whole pattern we follow. Let me get to today’s page. Here’s what I’ve spent all week long, doing what I’m praying you’ll do this week. What you need is your notebook and your Bible. In the 24th Psalm, and here’s my Bible, you can see the 24th Psalm down here. I have spent this week reading through the 24th Psalm each day and look what the slide shows us. The 22nd Psalm is about Jesus, the good shepherd dying for us, giving His life. He is my savior. On the cross in one event in the past, by the grace of God, my salvation was once and for all finished by God. It’s a one-time event the book of Hebrews says. By one sacrifice forever He has justified all of us who come to Christ by faith.

If you’ve just tuned in and you don’t even know what we’re talking about and you’re just trying to understand the end of the world, the best way to understand it is from the Bible. The only way to understand the Bible is by having the Author move into your life, to be born again, to be saved, to be converted, to become a believer, a follower of Jesus Christ, His disciple. There are a multitude, seven key descriptions, in the book of Acts for what we’re talking about, but all of them involve following the Good Shepherd.

Last week we studied Psalm 23 and Psalm 23 is the greatest of the great, it’s everything Jesus is doing today. I’ve been experiencing each day His feeding, I’m like His little sheep and He is my shepherd and leading me through life. If you don’t do anything else, if you don’t even like this one, you ought to go back to the playlist and get last week’s because truly that’s a summary of the Christian life and it’s so powerful. However, if you’re going with us, we’re progressively going chapter by chapter, passage by passage through, the one chapter a week that will cover the whole Bible, the whole message of the Bible. The themes, the theology, the greatest doctrines of the scripture in one calendar year.

This week we’re on Psalm 24. You notice the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, the chief Shepherd. Where does that come from? The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep, that’s John 10:11. The Great Shepherd is living for us. He’s interceding and He’s equipping us. The Chief Shepherd, 1 Peter 5:4, is coming back and He’s coming back as my King. As the ruler of the universe and that’s what this whole chapter is about. Let’s just look at Psalm 24. Grab your Bible and look at the first two verses. I’m going to read it now.

Do you remember, and I remind you this maybe not every week, but this whole 52 Greatest Chapter study started over five years ago when I got a phone call from a man. He said to me, Hey, there are eight businessmen. We’re all at the top of our game. We’ve really mastered business, earning money and succeeding in the world. It’s time for us to master the Bible. I’ll never forget that call. I said, What would you like me to do? He said, We’d like to meet with you every week for a year and we want you to give us an overview of the whole Bible. I almost said no. I was a busy pastor of a very large church and had 20 plus people on staff and thousands of people in the church. It was an amazing time. I loved it. I couldn’t believe starting a whole new Bible study, but it just changed my life five years ago. I didn’t start one group, I started 10 groups. All of them doing the same thing in 10 different small groups. It just was the greatest time of my life.

What we did is we met every week and we each did the same thing. We studied the same passage all week. We wrote down what we found. We studied the Bible, then we read it together and discussed what we had found and read our prayer of application. We did that every week for a year. It was so good we signed on for another year and it was amazing.

In your Bible, the 24th Psalm verses 1 and 2. “The Earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness. The world, and all who dwell in it,” look at verse 2, “He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters.” Whoa. He? This is Jesus as Creator. Genesis 1:1 says, “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth,” right? That’s the opening words to the Bible. Do you know what John 1:3 says? “All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” John 1:3 says Jesus created everything. Hebrews 1 says that He is the one who created everything and holds it together. Colossians 1 verses 15 and 16, say the same thing. 1 John 1 says the same thing. The scriptures completely, cover to cover, say that the Creator of the universe is the Lord Jesus Christ.

What I’m talking about here is that Jesus in Psalm 24 is the Creator. That’s what he says in the first two verses. He is my Redeemer and the Redeemer of all who will come in faith and call on His name. If you’ve never called in the name of the Lord, you’ve never been saved, I’d pause this video and bow your head right now. You don’t know how long the Lord’s going to give you. Today is the day of salvation. While you hear His voice, the Bible says don’t harden your heart. That’s the greatest, most important of all choices you make in life, to choose Jesus Christ as your only hope. He is the Redeemer.

See what it says in verse 3? “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in His holy place?” Verse 4, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” Wait a minute. I know my hands aren’t clean. I know that I’m a sinner. I love to share the Gospel; I always have a Gospel tract. I have one right here in my wallet ready to share and I pray the Lord gives me an opportunity. When I share the Gospel, I always tell people that I, John Barnett, am the worst sinner I know. I don’t know you. I don’t know how much of the Bible you’ve read; I don’t know how much you understand of salvation. I do know that I know the God of Heaven and I’ve read His word and I know how far short I fall. I fall short of His standard. This is me down here, you can’t even see this hand, and this has God and I fall short, no matter what I do.

See what it says in verse 4? How do we get in God’s presence? We have to have our hands clean. We have to have our heart purified. We do not lift up our soul to an idol. We don’t swear deceitfully. We receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness, look at verse 5, from the God of his salvation. That’s the second part of this slide. Jesus is Redeemer and whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Jesus offers salvation and Jesus is the one, see in verse 6, “This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, He who seek Your face, Selah.”

Quick lesson, there are only a few psalms in the Bible that have selah. Those selah psalms, that S E L A H means stop and think about it. It’s a divine pause for reflection. What it is saying is see verses 1 and 2, the Creator came down to Earth to be the Redeemer. Stop and think about what that means. He wants to clean your hands and clean your heart. He wants to transform you. Okay. Why? Because watch out. Starting in verse 7, that wonderful Creator that designed me right down to my DNA is my Redeemer because I’ve called out to Him by faith. He graciously, not by works of righteousness which I’ve done by His mercy, saved me and He can save you. There is no sin. He won’t forgive if you will call out to Him other than one. That sin is rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit convicting you and neglecting His offer of salvation. Basically, all you have to do to go to Hell is nothing. Just keep living the way you were born, do your own thing, try and balance your good and your bad. Do a few nice things to people, and live for yourself, and neglect Jesus Christ. What’ll happen? Psalm 24 verse 7, “lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.” The King of glory.

By the way, I’ve had the best time this week. I’ve got to get this overview then I can’t wait to show you what I found. You’re going to find if you spend all week long in Psalm 24, tracking down all the cross-references, using your resources like I’ve shown you, the Grudem systematic Theology is a great one. The MacArthur Study Bible is unbelievable. It has thousands of cross-reference verses and footnotes that I’ve spent all week long chasing down. Look what it says verse 8, “Who is the King of glory?” He’s the Creator who came to Earth as a human, God the son, Jesus Christ the Redeemer, but now He’s coming back in all of His glory. It says, “the LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your head. Oh, you gates! Lift up, your everlasting doors! The King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The LORD of hosts. He’s the King of glory.” The judge is coming. The King is coming.

Let’s go through this. By the way, this is an outline of the whole Bible, which I just showed you. In Psalm 24, it has a mini version of the whole Bible, which I’ll show you right here. The Creator is introduced to us in Genesis 1 and 2. He, starting in chapter 3, is promised to come as Redeemer, and all the way through Revelation 5 He is the Redeemer. He offers salvation to all who will come and call unto Him. He is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world but starting in Revelation 6, that’s why it’s the most fascinating book in the world. In my class today, this is after class time. This is our small group time that you’ve joined that Bonnie and I do to be accountable and to update with the people that are praying for us and supporting us as missionaries.

In my teaching time today, do you know what I taught about? In one of the classes I got so excited, I spent five minutes and summarized the theme of every book of the Bible. Genesis is the book of beginnings, Exodus is the book that introduces the Redeemer as the great Passover, Leviticus shows Him as holy, and Numbers shows Him as not willing to allow us to disobey Him, He sees into our lives. In Deuteronomy He reaffirms His covenant, in Joshua, He conquers the Promised Land through His people. I went all the way through in five minutes and summarized the Bible. Do you know why? Because I told them my favorite book of the Bible is this one, Revelation. It’s because we see the culmination. Do you see this picture up here? This is the great white throne where all those, see they’re all COVID social distancing, see them all there? They’re all standing in front of God, answering one at a time why they neglected Jesus Christ.

When we get to other key chapters of the Bible, I talk to you about the fact that everyone that’s ever lived does this. Jesus has done this. Listen. He is the one who has knocked at the hearts door of everyone that’s ever lived and tried to get their attention. The Creator offers salvation, or they’ll face endless judgment. What’s the endless judgment going to be like? Because our Creator designed us, we’re His workmanship, because our Redeemer bought us, look at this. We’re answerable to Him. Everyone who’s ever lived is going to give an account, believers and lost people. Lost people are going to give an account that He is just and worthy of glory for punishing them because they’re going to see that He is the perfect Creator who revealed Himself. In Acts 17, Paul tells a whole group of pagans that God is an arm’s length away. You, in the camera, I’m here, you’re an arm’s length away. Jesus said God is close enough to every person who’s ever been born in this world. If they just reach out, they will find Him. He’s an arm’s length away.

He’s going to say you are answerable. You were born with two candles. Creation, you could see the Creator, and your conscience, you knew what you were doing was wrong. What you did is you denied your Creator. You believed your own view and became an evolutionary I don’t need God person. Then you blew out the candle of your conscience by sinning and saying, Oh, that one isn’t as bad as everybody else’s and excusing yourself. They’re all going to stand one by one and Revelation 20:11 to 15 says God’s going to show them their sins and God’s going to show them He knocked on their hearts door and they rejected Him. He’s going to cast them one by one into the lake of fire.

That’s preceded by the biggest event of all time. The end of the rebellion is what starts in Psalm 24 and God spends Revelation 6 to 19 describing it. What we’re looking at is a miniature of the whole Bible and the kind of scary parts of the book of Revelation.

This, the second coming of Christ, Him coming as King, the King of glory. Who is the King of glory? It’s a universally seen event. Look what Jesus said in Revelation 1:9, this is Jesus speaking. “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him.” Those are the living. Everybody on Earth is going to see Christ. Do you remember that opening slide I showed you a while back that had the Earth and all this lightning coming? That’s how Jesus in the book of Matthew is described as coming, He said, it’s going to be like lightning from one end of the sky to the other. Only it’s not just going to be at one end of the sky where the storm is right where you are. It’s going to be all the way around the planet. Look at this. Jesus comes in the clouds, every eye of every human being on planet Earth will see Him. Jesus adds even those who pierced Him.

Do you know what else God’s going to do? He’s letting everybody in the grave, those that are in Hades, the pit, those that are in Sheol, there are a lot of different terms for this in the Bible. Did you know at this point Bonnie and I are on a mission trip and we’re staying in mission accommodations teaching in virtual studios? In a few months we’re heading off, we’re going to be going back to Europe and overseas. Right now, beneath us on Earth is the grave where every human that’s ever lived, that rejected God, is consciously alive waiting. They’re waiting. Jesus describes them. They’re remembering their sin. They’re remembering rejecting the truth. They’re remembering those that tried to tell them about salvation. In that moment of the second coming, every eye of those alive on Earth are going to see Jesus. Even those that pierced Him. He’s talking about the first-century crowd that rejected Christ and of course everybody else that’s down there with them. Look at the result. “All the tribes of the Earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, amen.” This is a universally seen event.

Number two, this is a universally dreaded event. Look at what Revelation 6 says. It says, “The kings of the Earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, every free man hid themselves in the caves and rocks of the mountains.” Why? “And said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne.” The King is coming. “The wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come and who is able to stand?” The second coming of Christ is a universally dreaded event.

Number three, all the angels come plus we come, the saints. Jesus said this, Matthew 25, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory.” Psalm 24, who is the King of glory, who is the King of glory? The Son of Man is the King of glory, and He’s coming in His glory. “All the holy angels are with Him and He will sit on the throne of His glory.” There’s another explanation that we need to consider. This is in the book of Jude and it’s Enoch the seventh from Adam. Wait a minute. God is not an evolutionist. He’s the literal creationist. God believes that the genealogies in the book of Genesis are true because He wrote them and He witnessed all those generations. God says that Enoch is the seventh generation from Adam. There aren’t a lot of missing years in there and the world is millions and billions of years old. No, it’s very recent, all this, about 6,000 years ago, Adam and Eve were walking around in the Garden of Eden. Wow. Enoch after them, seventh from Adam, “prophesied about these men also saying behold, the LORD comes,” this is the second coming, the King coming, Jesus the judge, “with 10 thousands.” That’s the English translation of the Greek word myriad s, that’s how we say it in English. What it means is uncountable thousands of thousands, which is actually millions. It’s probably going to be millions or even billions depending on how many saints have come in faith to Christ over all the centuries, since the Garden of Eden.

The Lord is coming with these countless clouds, myriads of His saints. All the angels and all the saints right up until that moment of the second coming come. There are going to be more saints that live in the millennium and get saved. This is the vast majority of all those who’ve ever believed. He executes judgment and convicts all who are ungodly, of all the ungodly deeds they have committed, and ungodly ways, and the harshest things that ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. This is the end.

Number four. Every eye sees Him, everybody dreads all the angels. In fact, that picture I just showed you, all the angels, did you know that they first are visible on Earth up at Megiddo, Armageddon? I’m studying right now; Bonnie and I have another small group that we’re teaching the Holy Land. We’re taking them on a virtual study tour to the land of the Book for a whole year. It’s like this class, only it’s geographic and historical and very visual. One of the stops is Megiddo. It’s a valley with a tel, an old ruin of the city of Megiddo. Jesus used to live in Nazareth, which is across the valley and when He was in the carpenter shop, out the window, He could see Megiddo. That’s where He’s coming back in the second coming, this dreaded return. It says that all the armies are going to be at Megiddo and they’re going to be looking up and they see a little speck in the sky. All of a sudden that speck enlarges and lightning shoots out and they see it’s not a speck. It’s the beginning, the front end. Have you ever seen geese when they’re migrating, how they come in a V? You just see one and then the V just spreads out behind and there’s this huge, long line of all these geese migrating. Jesus is on a horse and behind Him are all the saints and all the angels.

He empties Heaven of billions of angels. Remember, one angel killed all the firstborn in the whole land of Israel in one night and He’s brought all of them. Wow. Look what He comes with. Number four, incinerating glory. This is what Paul describes in 2 Thessalonians 1, “And to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus”, this is the King, “is revealed from Heaven,” this is the second coming, “with His mighty angels.” We already saw He’s bringing all of them. Look at verse 8, “in flaming fire,” incinerating glory, “taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the Gospel.” Did you know, that’s one of the most simple descriptions of salvation, it is knowing God, obeying the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Everybody who doesn’t, incinerating glory. It gets worse.

Number five. When Jesus shows up, Isaiah sees Him in Isaiah 63. He sees Him headed to Megiddo on His way to Jerusalem, where He’s going to touch down, we’ll see that in just a minute. “Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, one who is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength. ‘I who speak in righteousness mighty to save.’” These are all beautiful descriptions of the Lord, God the Son, Jesus Christ. Isaiah says, “Why is Your apparel red, and Your garments like one who treads the wine press?” Jesus answers, “I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples, no one was with Me. For, I have trodden them in My anger, and trampled them in My fury; their blood is sprinkled on My garments.” Jesus comes as a warrior in battle, splattered.

I’ve told you this before when I summarized David’s life. David was the most mentioned man in the Bible. He was a man after God’s own heart. He could not build the temple because He was a man of blood. Why? David fought God’s enemies as king of Israel for decades. Do you remember back then? They didn’t have standoff, joint attack, munition, gliding, hypersonic, ICBM missiles, and all that. They fought with bows and arrows, swords, slingshots, and spears. Most of the time fighting was hand to hand, close up. You had to be within an arm’s length that meant David was covered in blood. That’s this picture. Number five, Jesus is blood splattered.

Number six. Look what happens. Jesus just looks down and all the armies of the world gathered at Megiddo die and the birds start eating their bodies. He’s headed to where the armies are circling the city of Jerusalem. In a few weeks we’re going to be in Zechariah 12 to 14, and I’ll explain all this to you, but look at what Zechariah 14 says. All of the nations of the world, the armies of the antichrist, and all the rebels are surrounding Jerusalem. They’re trying to kill all the Jews because the Jews are God’s chosen people of promise. God has said, I am not going to let them be exterminated. I’m going to save them. Jesus is the King of the Jews, and He is the Messiah. He’s going to sit on the throne of his father, David. All of these promises are predicated on the Jewish people. A nation, ethnic descendants of Abraham. The antichrist, Satan indwelling him, knows he can destroy God’s plan if he can destroy God’s people, the Jews. They surround Jerusalem and they’re coming in and they’re killing.

Two-thirds of all the Jews who have all fled to Jerusalem are being destroyed in this attack of combined armies of the world. Just when two-thirds of them are slain the people of Jerusalem know there’s no hope so they go like this and they look up and they say, save us. That is the second coming of Jesus Christ. He swoops in bloodstained garments, wipes out the armies from Megiddo all the way to Jerusalem. How does He do it? “This shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people that have surrounded Jerusalem,” coming from every corner of the Earth to destroy His people and fight against God. “Their flesh will dissolve while they stand, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongue shall dissolve in their mouth.” He melts them all, instantly. Wow.

Number seven, He keeps going and His feet touch down. Zechariah continues because He’s an eyewitness. When we go to the land of the book on this virtual tour, we’re going to stand right there on the side of the Mount of olives, the tomb of Zechariah. Actually, that’s where he’s buried. He was so excited about what the Lord told him he wanted to be buried on the side of the mountain. 150,000 other Jews are buried there because they know Jesus is coming and doing what it says. “The LORD will go forth and fight against all the nations” that’s Armageddon, “as He fights in the day of battle.” That’s what Isaiah 63 saw. “In that day, His feet will stand on the Mount of olives which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a large valley; half the mountain will move north half to the south. In that day, living waters will flow from Jerusalem.” Wow. The Mount of olives splits and the earth has transformed.

I’m going to have to go through this really quickly because I told you this was a big week. What we’re looking at in Psalm 24 is the most prophesied event in the Bible, the most described future event. It’s the first event in the Bible that’s prophesied that Jesus is coming back to crush Satan, that’s Genesis 3:15.

The second prophecy of the Bible from Enoch in Genesis 5 recorded for us in Jude 1 is that Jesus is coming with all the saints.

That’s what we’re looking at. I call it from today to eternity. You and I are right here. This is the church age. The next event is going to be Christ taking His church out of the world. That’s called the rapture. Then Israel will be represented by the 144,000. They are going to be ministering during this tribulation time. The antichrist comes. He makes a covenant of peace, and he breaks it in the middle. He lets them build a temple here. Then he desecrates the temple and then Jerusalem is attacked. Jesus returns to rescue them. This is the second coming right there.

Look what the second coming does. It’s right there in the middle. It launches the fulfillment of all those promises, about Jesus reigning on Earth. It culminates with Jesus who returns, totally cleanses the whole universe, burning up the Earth and the world and making a new Heavens and a new Earth. Right here, before that happens, Satan is judged. That’s the picture I showed you of everybody standing in front of the throne. Let me just go through that.

If you haven’t yet called the name of the Lord, you could be here instead of in Hell if you call him the name of the Lord, but let me go through this. God gives us specific details.

There are 2,040 verses out of the 31,000. There’s 31,100 plus verses in the Bible, 2000 of them describing 215 future events that have not yet happened. Those are the specific details on the second coming of Christ. What are some of them? Revelation, the book of Revelation describes all these things. Revelation 1 to 3 talks about the fact that there’s going to be Jesus evacuating His church from the Earth. It’s called the rapture. He then has all of us give account, all believers, and He gives rewards. He sends a time of horror, that’s what Revelation 6 to 18 describes, it’s called the tribulation. This is the center point, the greatest event in human history. This is what Psalm 24 is about, Christ’s second coming in glory as the King. It starts the thousand year reign of Christ, but Satan, by the way Satan is incarcerated during the thousand years, but he’s let out and he gets everybody to rebel. Then there’s a great white throne. Then God begins what we know of as Heaven.

These are the seven steps from today, Armageddon and the second coming. That’s what Psalm 24 is about. The sheep and goat judgment, anybody that survives the tribulation, but hasn’t believed on the Lord Jesus Christ yet, in Joel 3, is put into the grave. The millennium starts with only believers. God has this message because believers have children during the millennium, and they all have to come to know Christ. Most of them don’t and there’s a final rebellion, great white throne, and then Heaven. There, summary, the whole book of Revelation in 30 seconds.

Isaiah, by the way, we’re going to cover Isaiah 14 and 53 in weeks ahead. Let me summarize what Isaiah says about Christ’s second coming.

Satan is overcome by Christ at the second coming and in prison, Isaiah 24. Jesus, as soon as He comes back to the Mount of Olives and stands there starts ruling over all the Earth. What I just told you, only believing Jews and Gentiles enter the kingdom, that’s what Isaiah tells us. The judgment of Satan starts with his restraint, that’s Revelation 21 to 13.

This is Heaven up here. This is the Earth right here. This is Jesus dying on the cross. While He was in the grave He goes down to where all who have ever lived on Earth are right now that are lost and also where all the saints were before the cross, paradise.

Under the ground on Earth is God’s place called Hades. It has two sides, the happy side and the sad side. This is where all the lost are, and this is the abyss, the bottomless pit. What happens when Jesus returns is, by the way, I can’t describe all this, this is part of the Revelation course. Everybody sees Him returning He grabs the devil, He chains him up and He puts him in here, not in here, not into the unhappy side of Hades. He goes into this bottomless pit place. Then He lets him out, he leads a rebellion and then he’s cast, in Genesis 20, into the Lake of Fire. Satan, the antichrist, and the beast are the first three occupants, then all the lost people join. Then God starts paradise on Earth. When Satan is incarcerated, there’s universal peace, no violence. Jesus is actually visibly ruling on Earth. That’s why He comes back. He finally makes the Earth, the whole ecology and everything good. There’s no poisons, there’s no pollution, there’s no famine, nothing. People live for a thousand years, just like back with Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden and before the flood. There are no diseases. There are no handicapped people the Bible says.

Jerusalem becomes the very center of the world and there’s a temple there.

Ezekiel 40 to 48 describes that temple. We have courses on all these things I’m just summarizing. During the millennium Jesus opens God’s visitor center in Jerusalem to evangelize the world. That’s what Revelation talks about.

Here’s a little bit of what it looks like. It’s this seven mile by seven mile area where everyone has to come once a year and stream through this temple and come visit. They will learn about God because not everybody knows about God because the children of those that start in the millennium, each generation has to come to faith. I spend a whole class period on this, but this just shows how merciful God is. Revelation 20 says that right outside this 50 square mile visitor center are all the saints. They just can’t get close. Jesus is sitting on a throne right there in the middle of that millennial temple. The saints want to be as close to Him as possible. Those are all the people who have not yet died, who have believed on the Lord who are living during the millennium. They are just like us; they can’t get enough of Christ.

Then Jesus rules and that’s Revelation 24 to 6. The whole creation changes, but it’s not yet Heaven. Death and sin are still present; they’re just held back. Everybody has their own land, they’re farmers. The earth is fruitful. Did you know that 20% of the Old Testament is about what I’m describing to you? It’s so much it’s hard to describe it in 20 minutes.

Because those saints are camping it reminds us, life on Earth is always camping. Heaven is our home. That’s what Revelation 29 says and that’s what Peter reminds us.

Basically, Satan is released in Revelation 20 verse 10. He deceives the whole world. They come in rebellion against God. If you want to know more about that online, here’s a playlist on YouTube.

The End of the World, Armageddon, World War III. That’s a whole playlist on our channel. It’s a DTBM playlist. It’s all about what’s going to happen in the world.

Here’s another one, Exploring the Book of Revelation. I cover and explore in the book of Isaiah, exploring lots of books. I have all these exploring playlists if you want to go in depth.

What’s the purpose of this study? We’re studying what? Have you remembered what we started with? We, in our notebook and our Bible, are going through Psalm 24. Look at everything Psalm 24 describes. I’ve spent the whole week studying this passage, following every footnote in the MacArthur Study Bible. I titled the 24th Psalm, I wrote down everything I found, and I wrote a prayer. Let me just show you those really quickly.

This is my journal with all the pages typed so you can read it.

Here’s the week, we’re on 15. Here’s the portion of scripture, Psalm 24. I called it the second coming of Christ the King or the Climax of All History. The three Psalms, 22 to 24, summarize the whole message of the Bible. The Bible, I already showed you that. The creator of the universe became the Redeemer of humanity and returns to judge all. The three elements are Psalm 22, Creator crucified. Psalm 23, Redeemer seeking and saving the lost. Psalm 24, the coming of the King of glory.

Here are the lessons. I already read you one and two, God the Son Creator. Three to six, God the Son Redeemer. Remember I showed you He’s Creator in Genesis 1, John 1, Colossians 1, Hebrews 1,1 John 1. Then in verse 1 God owns everything, the universe. God constructed the world and the oceans, it actually said that, we read it. In verse 3 it talks about how do you get close to God? You let Him cleanse you. It’s by being saved. God wants to be approached with me seeking purity, holiness, single hearted devotion, integrity. He describes in verse 3 what He wants. God will bless me if I pursue Him and seeking God’s face is the highest goal in my life.

I’m writing down my observations. I’ve studied all the second coming and everything, but those are just facts. Application is what we’re trying to get. Life change. Look at verses 7 to 10. God wants me expecting the return of the King of glory and living every day like I believe He’s coming back. Here’s my prayer. This is the heart of this study, this year long study. This is after spending all week long studying the second coming, the millennium, the doom of Satan and the incinerating, melting, all that stuff we just looked at. What’s the bottom line? It’s not to make a gory movie, it’s to change my life. I wrote, and I pray this. Lord, You are my Creator. You died as my Redeemer. You’re coming back as my King. The greatest day for all of us redeemed will be when You return as King. When you right all wrongs, when you finally take back the helm of the universe from the rebellion of Satan. It is also the most dreadful day for those who are rebels. Help me see the personal application to live each day, expecting Your arrival and living like You really are my King. As You examine my heart today, I want You to see my desire is to walk before You in purity, in holiness, in single hearted devotion and integrity for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Some of you say that’s not very much after 45 minutes of prophecy. No, but it’s life changing. Do you really believe Jesus is coming back at any moment for you? Do you want Him to find you doing things you shouldn’t be doing? No. As John, the apostle said, let me not be ashamed before You’re coming. Before we go, Martin Luther, the great reformer wrote this, I have but two days on my calendar- today, and the day I stand before Christ.

Do you have such a simple way of looking at life? Are you living like Jesus is coming to get you today? You don’t have tomorrow to do everything like read your Bible and study and share the Gospel and stop doing things to displease the Lord. You’ll never be in the future what you’re not becoming today. Start today seeking, following Him.

Remember, you were designed by Him, that’s your origin. You were bought for Him, that’s your purpose in life. You and I are answerable to Him, that’s our destiny. Jesus answers the ultimate questions.

Just a couple of challenges, I say this every week, you ought to not just do your Bible reading and Bible study and all this for yourself. Find someone to share it with. In fact, the best thing to do is say, hey, I’m going to do all the work. Can I just meet with you once a week and share with you what I find? I’ll share what’s in my notebook and I’ll share my prayer. You know what they’ll say? I’d like to do it too. You just started a small group. It’s one of the most rewarding things I have ever been involved in in my whole life. It’s like the essence of what every church should be like. A small group of people that know each other, love each other, pray for each other and meet around the Word of God. They are accountable to each other and love to see God at work in their hearts.

Number two, life change comes by memorizing scripture. I’ll talk more about that when we get to Psalm 1:19.

Here’s my wonderful wife. She’s the one that makes this class possible. We’re missionaries in Sub-Saharan Africa, in the Middle East and Central Europe and all across Asia and the Pacific rim. We equip and mobilize partners, that’s fellow believers. To reach Asians reaching Asia, Europeans reaching Europe, Africans reaching Africa and us North Americans and Pacific Rimmers. Wherever we’re from we’re supposed to go into all the world and share the Gospel because the King is coming. The most prophesied event in the Bible, 2000 verses, 215 specific events are going to unfold.

What does all that mean? I want to be ready for Your return and I want to live for You today. I hope you’ll have a great time studying Psalm 24. When we come back next time, I can’t believe we’re going to be able to go into the longest chapter of the Bible, but I’m not going to get into that. Have a great time in Psalm 24. See you next week.