The Open Door Church

     “The Millennial Reign of Christ” refers to a 1,000 year period of time during which He will rule planet Earth from the City of Jerusalem as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He will be the undisputed ruler of Earth, assisted by His followers—deceased believers who are resurrected and living believers who are raptured when Jesus returns for His people.  John wrote, “They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years…The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4b…6b, NIV).

     Last week I preached about “The Return of Christ for His People,” and I told you that today I would preach about another aspect of the second coming of Jesus.  I referred to it as “The Return of Christ with His People.”  So here goes…

     Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote his letter to first-century Christians to warn them of false teachers who were not only teaching that Jesus was not the Son of God; they were also teaching people that it was alright for them to live sinful lives.  He warned that God would ultimately destroy those false teachers.  He used a quotation from the ancient prophet Enoch to reveal their certain destruction.  However, in his quotation from Enoch, Jude also revealed that Jesus will return “with ten thousands of His saints.”  He wrote, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints” (Jude 14b, NKJV).

     Paul also declared that there will come a moment when Jesus will return with His saints.  He wrote to the believers at Thessalonica, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints” (I Thessalonians 3:12-13, NKJV).

     Let me begin by saying Jesus will come again!  The basis for this belief among virtually all Christians is that He said He was coming back again.  He said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3, NKJV).  These verses refer to Jesus returning for His people.  At a later date He will return with His people.  We’ll talk about that event in another lesson.

     I also want to emphatically declare that nobody—and I mean nobody—knows when the second coming of Christ will occur!  Jesus Himself said, “About that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36, NIV).  But the Scripture does give us some hints regarding where the return of Jesus fits into the order of events that will occur at the end of the age.

     Recognizing these hints requires understanding an event, first mentioned by the ancient prophet Daniel, known as “the abomination that causes desolation.”  Daniel wrote, “From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days” (Daniel 12:11, NIV).  This event will occur 1,290 days—43 months— before the end of “The Tribulation Period,” described in Scripture as “a time of trouble.”  Daniel wrote, “There shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time” (Daniel 12:1b, NKJV).  So “the abomination that causes desolation” will occur one month before the halfway point of the seven-year “Tribulation Period.”

     Scripture indicates that this “abomination that causes desolation” will be an event that takes place in the Jewish Temple, which will be rebuilt in the City of Jerusalem.  It will cause the Jews to forsake their Temple—thus causing it to become desolate.  The event that will cause the Jews to forsake their Temple will be the Antichrist—“the man of lawlessness”—setting himself up in the Temple and declaring Himself to be God!  Paul described this event when he wrote, “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day [the day of Christ’s return] will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.  He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (II Thessalonians 2:3-4, NIV).

     Shortly before the end of “The Church Age,” which we studied in the previous lesson, there will come another significant period of time as God’s prophetic clock continues to tick.  Daniel described it as “a time of trouble.”  He wrote, “There shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time” (Daniel 12:1b, NKJV).

     Jeremiah indicated that this “time of trouble” is designed specifically as a judgment against the nation of Israel, though it will affect the entire population of planet Earth.  He wrote, “These are the words the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah: ‘This is what the LORD says: Cries of fear are heard—terror, not peace. Ask and see: Can a man bear children? Then why do I see every strong man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor, every face turned deathly pale? How awful that day will be! No other will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it” (Jeremiah 30:4-7, NIV).

     This “time of trouble for Jacob” may very well be the result of a reckless statement made by first-century Israeli leaders when they were demanding that Governor Pilate order the execution of Jesus.  They said, “His blood be on us and on our children” (Matthew 27:25b, NKJV).

     We are currently living in what I call “The Church Age.” It is that period of time during which Jesus is keeping the promise He made when He said, “On this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18, NKJV).  “The Church Age” is that period of time during which Jesus is building His church.

     “The Church Age” began when Jesus was on Earth and it will continue until Jesus returns to take His church to heaven.  He promised to be with His church from its inception until “The Church Age” ends.  He said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20, NIV).

     “The Church Age” will end when Jesus returns.  He said, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2b-3, NKJV).  When the church is no longer on Earth doing the work of making disciples, “The Church Age” will end.

     Many in the contemporary Christian church have a very limited understanding about what the Bible teaches regarding the events that will surround the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Let me quickly say that Jesus is coming again—regardless of whether or not people believe it.  Near the end of His ministry on earth, He said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3, NKJV).

     One of the benefits of living with the awareness that Jesus is coming again is that it motivates us to live a clean and pure life.  John wrote, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure” (I John 3:1-3, NIV).  Therefore, we will spend the next few weeks doing a chronological study of the events surrounding the second coming of our Lord!

     In our last two sermons we learned about fallen angels and demons.  Satan, in league with his demons, is the enemy of mankind.  Peter wrote, “Your adversary [enemy] the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter 5:8b, NKJV).

     One of the devil’s primary weapons is temptation.  He uses it to entice us to sin.  That’s why Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13a, NKJV).  Obviously Satan, “the evil one,” is the source of most of the “temptation” we experience.