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Yesterday we introduced the fascinating subject of the second coming of Jesus. We found some
of the tremendous spectacular things that will take place in nature when Christ appears. Today
we want to follow this subject further and find out what will actually happen to this earth
at that time. Let’s see what the Bible says about it. The Scriptures have a very definite
comment in several places, and I’m reading now from Revelation 16:18. “And there
were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not
since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.” When Christ returns
there will be terrible and devastating earthquakes. Great mountain chains whose peaks rise miles
high will be simply flattened out. Islands will disappear. Never before has the earth seen such
a quake as that. The earth will be literally torn to pieces.
After the earthquake will be a terrible hailstorm with every stone estimated at the weight of
a talent. Now a talent weighs from 52 to 57 lbs., friends. Just think of that, hailstones as
large as bushel baskets falling everywhere. Jeremiah 4:26 tells us: “I beheld, and, lo,
the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence
of the Lord, and by his fierce anger.” The beautiful orchards, trees, gardens, shrubbery,
all the cities broken down—Paris goes down, London is no more, New York is flattened.
That’s what the Bible says. The cities will be destroyed and everything in the earth with
it. Isaiah 24 gives this graphic picture of destruction. Verse 1: “Behold, the Lord maketh
the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down. The land shall be utterly
emptied and utterly spoiled.” Then in verse 19: “The earth is utterly broken down,
and moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed
like a cottage.” So according to the Scripture, when that man from outer space, the Lord
of all, comes to this earth, the earth will be torn to pieces in total destruction.
Now perhaps you’re wondering about the people. If that is what happens to the earth, what
happens to the inhabitants? Let’s read about it in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17: “For
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
As stated in the scriptures, when the Lord comes back in the clouds, the dead in Christ are
going to be raised first and they’re going to be changed. 1 Corinthians 25:51 says specifically
that mortal bodies will take on immortality. We don’t have immortality now, friends. That
will be conferred upon the redeemed only at the second coming of Jesus. Our bodies will be changed
into bodies just like His. After this event, those who remain and are alive shall be caught
up into the cloud and the cloud will return to heaven. Notice the text says “to meet the
Lord in the air.” And so if anyone says to you that Christ is in Los Angeles, or here
or there, or in some secret place, remember that when He returns the second time, He will not
touch this earth at all. He remains in the air and we will be caught up in the air to meet Him.
Now let’s talk just a moment about that interstellar flight. There is so much talk about
it today and there seems to be a remote possibility, of course, that men will be able to achieve
it. Supposing it were possible, would interstellar flight be of any help to this generation
at all? Would it help you? Would it help me? Supposing it did exist, we would have to come to
the place where we could travel 6,000 miles a second—that’s 21 billion, 600 million
miles an hour. That’s how fast we’d have to travel for it to exist even. If it became
a possibility to travel that fast safely, it would still take 250 years to travel to the nearest
planetary system where there might be inhabitants, so you see three or four generations would
die on the trip. What good would that do you or me? How would that help this generation, friends?
There would still be a problem. Death would still be a problem. That’s why we’re
looking forward to the appearance of that man from outer space who holds in His hands the key
of death. Remember the passage in Revelation 1:18. “I am he that liveth, and was dead;
and, behold, I am alive for evermore and have the keys of death.” He also says, “Behold,
I come quickly.” And how grateful we should be that He is coming in just a little while.
Now what about the wicked? The righteous dead are going to be raised and are going to be taken
up into the cloud. The righteous living are caught up in the cloud and returned to heaven also.
But what happens to the wicked? Let’s read it in 2 Thessalonians 2:8. “And then
shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.”
Now that’s clear, isn’t it? It’s not hard to believe when you analyze it.
If you recall, at the tomb of Christ, one angel came and rolled back the stone and his brightness
was so staggering that those soldiers fell down like dead men. According to the Scriptures,
all the angels in heaven will come with Jesus. Combining their brightness with His will be just
too much and the wicked will die immediately as if stricken by a bolt of lightning or as if
a live wire fell upon them. They will lay just where they fall. Jeremiah 25:33: “And the
slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of
the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon
the ground.”
You know, friends, that used to worry me when I was a youngster. I thought why didn’t
someone come and bury those people, but, listen, there was no one left to do it. The righteous
are all in heaven and the wicked are all dead at this time so the bodies are simply scattered
everywhere. You may say, “Wait a minute, I’m getting a little mixed up. I thought
the second coming of Christ was secret. I’ve heard it time and again spoken of as a secret
rapture.” Well, dear friends, the second coming of Jesus is anything but secret. Over
and over the Scriptures emphasize the fact that it will be noisy. Everybody will be aware of
it. Matthew 24:31 says He will come with a great sound of a trumpet. Is there anything secret
about a trumpet blowing? Not if my little boy is blowing it, I’ll tell you that. Psalm
50:3-5: “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence . . .” In 1 Thessalonians
4:16 we read that He’ll come with a shout. Anything secret about that, friends? “With
the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.” Titus 2:13 speaks of the glorious
appearing of our Lord. He’ll be there in person and you’ll see him —just the
opposite of secret.
Let me read another text, Matthew 24:27: “As the lightning cometh out of the east, and
shineth even unto the west! so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Friends, listen,
the secret rapture is not in the Bible at all. There’s nothing secret about His second
coming. Another fact of His coming which we mentioned a moment ago is that all the angels will
be with Him. Matthew 24:31 “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet,
and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the
othe.r” Now people wonder what the angels will come for. Well, for one thing —they’ve
watched the whole plan of salvation unfold. The Scriptures teach in 1 Corinthians 4:9 that we
are a spectacle to other worlds and angels. They look down and see the greatest TV screen ever
known, our world. And they’ve watched the progress of sin. They see the great controversy,
Christ’s side and the devil’s side and how it’s all working out and the final
end of it. Yes, angels are interested in men. Each one of us has a guardian angel. They wouldn’t
miss coming back to this earth and the Lord will use them, according to this scripture, to gather
the elect. When the cloud stops, the angels will be dispersed to gather the redeemed together
from one end of the earth even unto the other end. Little children who have been torn from the
arms of their parents by death will be taken by the angels and placed once again in their mothers’
arms.
Not long ago I stood by the grave of a little child and comforted the sorrowing parents. Yes,
my friends, can you imagine what it will be for families to reunite after the separations of
death. What a thrill, what a joy, has been planned for us as we wake up and take hold of the
hand and discover it’s the hand of our guardian angel. And did you know that the Scriptures
even tell how long this trip is going to take from heaven to this earth and then back again?
I read it in Revelation 8:1 “And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence
in heaven about the space of half an hour.” Now if you’ll read before and after
this verse, you’ll discover that this is the period of time in the history of sin when
the Lord leaves heaven and comes down to this earth for His people, and the trip down and back
takes half an hour. But remember Revelation is a symbolic book and all time mentioned in this
book should be taken symbolically and the rule for determining prophetic time is this: one day
equals one year. The Scripture for that is Ezekiel 4:6. “I have appointed thee each day
for a year.” And so when we divide it up we discover that one hour is 15 days, that is,
literal time. One-half hour is about seven and a half days, so you can see clearly that the
Bible makes these things simple and understandable.
Space travel came as no surprise to God. It’s been a great surprise to us who a few years
ago were reading science fiction and thinking, “My, some people are really wild in their
imaginations.” But these things are beginning to come to pass and it has amazed us. But
it hasn’t amazed God. He knows a thousand times more about space travel than mere men
will ever find out. And according to the record, nearly two thousand years ago the great God
of heaven foretold the space trip from heaven to this earth. It’s all recorded even down
to the amount of time it will take—seven and one-half days. I’m so thankful that
the Lord has given us this clear, positive, definite information. God is far ahead of the most
brilliant scientist in the world.
Some scientists are even whispering that maybe in the distant future it is remotely possible
that we will be able to travel at the speed of light. I say, So what? It’s still much
too slow. Even at the speed of light it would take light years to reach the nearest planetary
system where there may be life. But God does not intend to let puny man invade the heavens.
You may put that down, friends. Let’s see what the Bible says about it. Way back in the
early days right after the flood, men got the idea that they’d go off into space. They
didn’t do it with space ships but it was the same principle. They said they would build
a tower. This tower would reach to the heavens and then if God didn’t keep His word with
them and sent another flood they would just climb high on the tower and be safe. Genesis 11:7
: “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand
one another’s speech.” God confounded their speech, according to the record, and
they were all mixed up. They couldn’t understand each other to work on the tower so they
had to leave off building it. Oh, friends, do you remember the meaning of that tower, the meaning
of the name Babylon? Confusion. Confusion results every time men get too big for God and leave
Him out of their reckonings. Today instead of trusting God, men are trusting smart scientists
in their laboratories, but the curtain is about to come down and Jesus Christ is going to appear
very, very soon in this world. |
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