He Came, Left, & Coming Again

All these things are just the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and they’re going to kill you. And you’ll be hated of all nations because of my name. Then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. Many false prophets shall rise, and they will deceive many. And because iniquity will abound, the love of many is going to grow cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto the nations, and then, the end will come. And therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, then let them which are in Judea, flee to the mountains. Let him that is on the hilltop, not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes, and woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days, but pray that your flight will not be in the winter, and don’t go.

Pray that you don’t go in on this Sabbath day. There will be great tribulation, such as not been from the beginning of the world, even to this time. And except those days that be shortened, there’d be nothing left. But for the elect’s sake, those days will be shortened. Mary Christmas. This is a majestic, powerful passage of Scripture. And we can get lost in this passage if we don’t have a clear understanding. So here we have a description really of the great tribulation. The great tribulation lasts seven and a half years. The first three and a half are troublesome. The last three and a half are beyond description.

But we’re not going to go through that. We know from the Word of God that God’s going to protect us from such things, we are not destined for the tribulation. In fact, the tribulation will start about five minutes after your shoes are empty, or going home. And so it’s good for us to understand the Word of God and understand the final days. And the final days are soon to be upon us. But this morning, again, I want to speak about, He came, He left, He’s coming again. The coming again then, I just want to set it up right now. The coming again is, it’s in two parts. He’s coming for his church because that’ll be the end of the church age. And then he’s coming at the end of the tribulation and he’s going to deal with the world, and he’s going to set them back on their heels. So first of all, we have to deal with the fact that he came, Merry Christmas.

And to do so, I want to break it down in this way. He came. Isaiah chapter nine and verse six. A baby is about to be born. Isaiah described it this way. And to us, a child is born, and to us, a son is given. And the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. That’s speaking of the joy to the world moment. That’s speaking of the angelic announcement. That’s speaking of the Cheopards and the wise men. A child is born.

A son is given. But then we know that Jesus comes back again. He’s going to leave us. Behold, I show you a mystery. You’ll not all sleep, but you’ll all be changed. Think I mentioned to you, we had that sign over the nursery of a church I passed years ago. We’ll not all be asleep, but we’re definitely all going to be changed. In a moment in the twinkling of the eye, at the last trumpet, the trumpet of sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal will put on immortality. So the first time He came as a baby, the second time He comes as the groom because he’s prepared his house. Going back to what I’ve been sharing with you recently, there’d be a bride and a groom in Jewish history.

The groom would come and make a deal with the parents. They’d zip wine together. They’d have witnesses to it, and that’s the beginning of the marriage, which goes on now for a whole year of preparation. She preparing herself as a bride. He’s preparing the house as a groom, and at the end of my year, the father says to the son, bring her home. That’s what’s going to happen when the father says to the son, who said, I’m building a place for you. In my father’s house, there are many rooms. I’m going to make one just for you. Every one of you is going to have a room in my father’s house. And he indicated when the house is finished in heaven, I’m coming for you. So that’s the mystery.

Not all of us will be alive at the time. Some of us have already gone on. And those who are in the grave at the moment the trumpet sounds, and Jesus descends, the graves will open. They’re the first to go. We, at that moment, who are still alive, we will rise up. Our bodies will be changed and will be just like Jesus. At that time, the son of the man will appear in heaven. All the tribes of the earth will mourn. This is Matthew 24. This is the tribulation. They will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven.

When he comes to his church, the world doesn’t see him. He’s coming in a moment, the twinkling of an eye. Twinkling of an eye. If we did see him coming, it’d be a flash. It’s gone. He’s coming in a moment. We’re suddenly taken away. The son of man is coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He’ll send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will call the elect from the four winds from one end of the heavens, even to another. So going back now to the first coming, He came. And we have beautiful pictures of the times.

They’ve been crafted for us by artists. I love all of that stuff. A lot of us, especially when they don’t have a glow over their heads. Trust me, there was no glow over their heads, folks. I won’t go into that. But it’s a beautiful, beautiful picture. He came. The shepherds came into that precious little place. My, the excitement that was in them. They left that place and they told it all over the town. They got that town into an uproar.

We just saw something spectacular. Angels came and appeared to us in the heavens, and they told us exactly where to go. When we walked in there, we sensed the presence of God Jehovah Himself. I tell you, I believe that this is the Messiah. Simeon also experienced something glorious because he was a very old gentleman, something like yourselves, something like me. But God had given him a promise, you’ll not go to your grave before you get to see, if not handle, the Messiah. He’s coming. And how would we ever guess this man is in the temple on a daily basis? And it was a, it was a regular thing that on the eighth day after a child was born, you went to the temple and there’d be a special ritual which we’ll not go through right now. But, but, but, but Simeon would be in the temple and there’d be couples coming in. But as this couple came through the door, something rose up in his heart.

It was like Elizabeth when Mary walked through the door, the child in Elizabeth’s womb leaped and she began to prophesy, my goodness is you, her cousin, you are the mother of my Lord. It was a divine revelation. Simeon had a revelation. Had as Mary and Joseph came through the door of the temple, he said, I know that I know that I know that’s Him. What a glorious moment. But you see this whole moment, a child being born, a son being given was prophesied in glorious fashion for a long time. First of all, we read in Genesis 3-5, that early in the scriptures where the Lord God is talking to the little woman Eve and he said there’s going to be a war between your child and between Satan’s child. And He speaks to the devil and He says, you’ll hurt his heel, but he’ll crush your head. Genesis 3:15, when Jesus came into the world, he didn’t come to just make us happy. He came to destroy the works of the enemy. The word of God tells us in Micah chapter 5 and verse 2, He will be born in Bethlehem.

How could you ever arrange for that? How could you ever make a plan? God had a roadmap. God had a glorious plan. And wouldn’t you know it, even Caesar got into the package. He got into the plan where he called for a tax to be levied and anybody was born in Bethlehem. They all had to go back to Bethlehem. When Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem, there was no place for them to stay. All the inns were filled. Even their own family homes were filled. How come their family homes were filled?

Because anybody who was related to the town of Bethlehem, if that’s where your family came from, that’s where you’ve got to go and pay your taxes. Everybody in town was an aunt, an uncle, a cousin, a brother. The town was loaded with cousins. It was like an Italian wedding. It was glorious. But when they got there, there was no room for them. And how was it they ended up in Bethlehem? Because Caesar posed a tax. Also, it said in Isaiah chapter 14, a glorious message, who could have ever swallowed such a thing? A virgin is going to conceive. And did that happen?

You bet your green apples it did. An angel came and spoke to little Mary and said that holy thing, which is going to be born of you, is going to be imposed upon you by the Holy Spirit. It was also prophesied in Genesis 12, that this Messiah, Jesus, as it turns out, would come from the line of Abraham. I’m sorry to announce this to all of these crazy university professors and who are there all who are saying, the Jews have got to go. The Jews got to go. I want you to know something. Every Arab who might be tuning in. Abraham was a Jew. Hello? He was born in Iraq. But from the rear of the Khaledis, which is in Iraq, he went to a promised land, which now is being fought over by Palestine.

And the Arabs say you have no right. And the Jews say God promised it to Abraham. And so the Lord, the Lord indicated to Abraham way back then, I’m going to bless you not just with a son, but many sons. In fact, your name is going to be celebrated worldwide. That has happened. Not everybody celebrating him. But the indication was that the Messiah, the one who will sit on the eternal throne, is coming from your descendants. It’s also repeated in Genesis 22 and verse 18. He’ll be a descendant of Isaac. That’s found in Genesis 17. And again in Genesis 21, the Messiah will be a descendant of Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Numbers 24.

The Messiah will come from the tribe of Judah. So you see, you have a number of fellows who have now come down the line from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But now the Lord says, I’m going to tell you which family comes from. He’s coming from the tribe of Judah. Do you know what Judah means? It means those who praise the Lord. He came from Judah. The Messiah would be heir to King David’s throne. 2 Samuel 7, Isaiah chapter 9. Messiah would be called Immanuel. Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14.

I haven’t got the time, but I’ve got all the scriptures laid out that show the fulfillment of every one of these. And if you’re intrigued with this, I’ve put this together as a Bible study for you, and I hope over the next seven days, as you’re getting ready for Christmas, you’ll go back and look through these scriptures. I’m only quoting the promise, the prophecy, but now I’ve also prepared the scriptures for you, where you can take each prophecy and see how was filled exactly. He will be called Immanuel, Isaiah 7 and 14. And then we go on, it’s prophesied that Jesus will end up in Egypt. And there’s a scripture that says back in the Old Testament, I called my son out of Egypt. What caused him to go to Egypt? Again, it was the federal government. It was the Herod at that time who had been, he’d been hijinks by the Magi, the wise man. When they came and said, we’ve come to worship a king. He said, oh, let me know where he is.

I don’t want to go and worship him too. But they got a warning. Don’t go back to Herod. And when he found out that they had departed, he knew generally where this child, where this infant was, and he ordered that all the children be killed. Do you know, it’s prophesied way back in the Old Testament, back in Hosea, there was a cry in, in a land. The children have died. The children are gone. And how come Jesus didn’t get caught up in that? The Lord sent an angel and spoke to Joseph and said, take Mary and take the baby and go to Egypt. Do you know what? I believe there’s still a blessing for Egypt because Egypt was kind to Joseph when he first went there, kind to Joseph’s family, and kind to Jesus, the baby at that time.

The Lord doesn’t forget such things. And so a massacre would take place, Jeremiah, chapter 31, and I’ve just related it. But also it was prophesied. A messenger will come, saying, prepare the world, and say, prepare the way of the Lord. A voice crying in the wilderness. Who would that voice be? It would be John the Baptist. He was born before Jesus. They were actually cousins. And when Mary came into the house of Elizabeth, as I already reflected a few moments ago, John the Baptist was recognizing Jesus even in the womb. I’ve been sharing with you, that I think, somewhat, that the soul of the world around us, but our spirit relates to the Lord God.

Your body can respond to the physical world. Your soul, mind, emotion, and will, can relate to the unseen world. But your spirit within you relates to the spirit world, to the God world. They, who worship Him, will worship Him a little bit with the clapping of their hands. There’s a body with the mind, with the emotion, and with the will. But then, if the mind, the emotion, and the will get in line, the spirit of your heart begins to become released, and you experience the divine presence, and there’s a transformation that goes on within you. And so this is what happened to John the Baptist. He wasn’t responding as a physical baby. He wasn’t responding with his mind, his emotion, his will. But it was his spirit. His spirit recognized the presence of God.

I’ve got a sermon. I’m going to blow it now. I’m going to tell you both this just a little bit now. It says in the book of Romans that, everyone in the world is without excuse because the unseen things of God are apparent to everyone. The word of God tells us in the book of Romans that somehow the spirit of every man is acquainted with God. When did that happen? When you were conceived in the womb, your spirit, not your body, not your mind, your emotion, and your will, but your spirit recognized God. We are without excuse. We have encountered God, but because of our sinfulness, we shut ourselves down. We become slaves to our minds or emotions and our Will. Our body starts to relate to the whole world, and the spirit that’s within us is smothered and cramped down.

But I’ve come that you might have life, he said, and that you might have it more abundantly, not physically, not mind, emotion and will, but in your spirit you can know him. Say, man, I’m good till five o’clock. Just taking a moment to catch up because I’ve lost my notes. Messiah would be rejected by his own people. He was prophesied in the Psalms, prophesied in Isaiah. First chapter of the Gospel of John, he came to his own, his own received him not. There were places not far from his own home. He could do no miracles because they rejected him. He was not alone in that house, contrary to a very large, very large international church that has more members than we can imagine. They claim that Mary was a virgin and that she never did have a relationship with a man and that Jesus had no brothers, no sisters, no siblings. It’s recorded in the Word of God.

He did so. But the sad thing is that just like Joseph’s brothers refused to accept that God was speaking to his life and that Joseph was a portion and Joseph was chosen for a very specific purpose. So even Jesus’ brothers did not respond to him. David’s brothers rejected him. Is it any wonder if David’s brothers rejected him, even though Samuel had come and anointed him and there was a clear indication, that David had a divine calling. He had a divine call. God had set him aside for a glorious moment. The brothers were there. It wasn’t a birthday party, bunkie. It was the prophet. He came in the horn of oil that signified the touch, the glory, and the touch of God on someone’s life.

But his brothers did not respond. They mocked him when he showed up in the camp of the Jews and said, how come nobody’s taking on that giant? Somebody leaned over, and one of the brothers leaned over and said to David, your mommy wants ya. They rejected him. And when Jesus was showing, was showing through his person, through his everyday life, the Bible says he encountered every kind of challenge that you and I do, yet not one failing. His brothers didn’t like that. Little good two shoes, little poor, little perfect little boy. I suppose he does his own fingernails. Oh yeah, mommy, you just think he’s so perfect. There was a little bit of trouble in that house where Mary kept something in her heart. It says that Mary mused on all of these things.

It was hard for her to say, I’ve never known a man before that child came into my womb. I, who could believe that? I don’t believe that Jesus’ brothers were ever appraised of the same. They just couldn’t handle Jesus. He was rejected by his own. And there’s a scripture in the Old Testament quoting Jesus looking forward. He said the children of my own mother have rejected me. I am a foreigner in my own land and among my own people. Messiah would be preceded by Elijah. How do we see that? The spirit of Elijah was upon John the Baptist.

And Jesus said as much. He said, if you can handle this, the Elijah that’s been anticipated from the Old Testament prophecies is with you now, even in the person of John the Baptist. John came shouting, prepare the way of the Lord, prepare the way of the Lord. And so that was prophesied in Malachi. And then also in Psalm chapter two and verse seven, that the Messiah would be declared to be the son of God. That’s contrary to what the Mormons believe. That’s contrary to what the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe. Here’s the thing, if you want to test a person is in their theology. If you say to either one of those cults, I believe that Jesus is the son of God, they will say, and so do I. And you’re drinking the Kool-Aid honey. Change the statement.

Don’t say I believe he’s the son of God. Say I believe he’s God, the son, and they’ll back away. You see, to deny he’s God, the son is to deny that he’s the Messiah. We’ve been watching on the television some revelations about what’s going on in the Mormon church. Ain’t a pretty picture. And there’s people coming out and they’re searching for the real Jesus. In Israel, Jews are searching for the Messiah. There’s a revival going on. Do you know when I ran, there’s a revival going on. People are coming to Jesus. They’re discovering the truth, the life.

I think I’ve told you about this before, but there are so many new people here. I have in my little personal library a film, a video that I took of Muslim people who did not know each other. So this was not a collusion. This little lady told me, this gentleman told me, a fellow that was raised over in Riyadh. He was supposed to be a Muslim captain. He was supposed to be a top dog, supposed to reap in the young people. He told me an amazing story about how Jesus came in the middle of the night and revealed himself to him. This is coming across right now on YouTube, if you care to watch it. There are all kinds of Muslim people who were telling me, I’ve at last alive and I’ve accepted Jesus. What convinced you? He came to me and he spoke to me in the night.

It’s happening all over the world. Thousands of people are coming to recognize. He’s not just the son of God. He’s God, the son. In Isaiah chapter 11, the Messiah will be called a Nazarene. In Psalm 78, it was predicted that he would speak in parables and also in Isaiah chapter 6. And then the Messiah would be sent to heal the brokenhearted. He went into a temple, went into one of their synagogues, and quoted the verse, the Spirit of the Lord has come upon me to heal the brokenhearted, to open the prison doors of them that are bound, to release those who are pressed, to heal the blind. That was spoken in Isaiah chapter 61 and it was quoted by Jesus and the people were astounded. The Messiah would be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. That was promised in Psalm 110 verse 4.

And you can read about that in the book of Hebrews. And if you want to understand about who Melchizedek was, that’s a study all in his cell. It is honestly believed by theologians that Melchizedek was a theophany. In other words, it was Jesus coming before a son was given. It was Jesus who visited Abraham with the other two fellows with him. In other words, he had visitors. It was Jesus showing up all over the place, but he came as a theophany. He was God in a fleshly manner. And so Melchizedek is a priest that Abraham celebrated and was ministered to by. Messiah would be called a king, Zachariah chapter 9:9. Messiah would enter Jerusalem on a donkey.

We know that one and we celebrate it on the Passover. Do you know what’s incredible? Try and take all of these prophets. Take five of them. Take five of them and sit there and roll the dice or play the cards. Do whatever you want. The chances of five of these being fulfilled exactly as ours are, it’s just impossible. But I found 47 promises like this. Try and imagine this. You see, Jesus is the Messiah. If you want to look in the history of Muhammad, it’s about this long.

And the people who wrote the so-called gospels of Muhammad never knew him. They never met him. In fact, they started writing his biography 400 years after he was dead. But those who gave us the Matthew marked the look in the John. These knew Jesus, the ancestry, and the progress of the presentation of the gospel, it’s as solid as a brick house. He would ride into town on a donkey. Jesus said, go to a certain house and tell them the master has need. And this guy just let the donkey go. Hello? Like so many things just fell into place in such a glorious manner. The Messiah would be praised by little children.

Psalm 8, one day, the disciples came to Jesus. They’re surrounded by all the little children. And they said to Jesus, have you heard the things that they’re saying about you? You see, they were mesmerized because you see, they heard chatter about this Jesus at the dinner hour. They had heard chatter around the temple. They heard chatter around the bonfire. They heard chatter chatter everywhere. As people were saying, could it be, could it be? Some of these little children passed on to their friends. My mom and dad took me down to Jericho the other day. And there that man was.

And he raised the dead and he was healing the sick. The little children were absolutely mesmerized by him. And they were chatting among themselves. Psalm 8 promised that little children would speak gloriously of him, but that he would be betrayed. Psalm 41, he would be betrayed in Zechariah 11. Jesus sat the night he was betrayed. And he beckoned Judas, dip the sop with me. He invited Judas. Consider what you’re doing. Judas was a fine friend. He was a chosen friend of Jesus.

But Judas sold him out for 30 loonies. We don’t know what was going on in that guy’s noggin except this. That the devil got inside of him and messed him up, Royal. He sold Jesus out for a few coins, Zechariah 11. He would falsely be accused. They accused Jesus of the craziest, craziest things. If they could have gone him into a courtroom somewhere down in Georgia or New York, they would have done it. Falsely accused, wacky stuff. Psalm 35. He would be silent before his accusers. Isaiah 53 is about a sheep, who is silent before its slaughter.

And do you know that Pilate was absolutely amazed. He kept on saying something to Jesus. Just say the right sentence. I can take the shak. You could walk out of here a free man. And Jesus stood there. He opened not his mouth. He was facing the cross. He was going to do it for you and I. And as he hung on the cross, no one was aware of this. Nobody was thinking it through.

It was already predicted in Psalm 69. He would cry out on thirsty and they offered him vinegar. His hands and his feet would be pierced. Psalm 22, Zechariah 12. Messiah would be mocked and ridiculed. The women spat on him. They yelled at him. You saved, you can save us. You can’t even save yourself. You wimp. The soldiers, it says in Psalm 22, would part His garments and gamble by means of a lottery.

How can you put all these things together like this? It happened exactly as it was prophesied. Messiah’s bones were not to be broken. That’s the night of the Passover, the Passover lamb. They were to take a lamb, the best lamb, for every house, a lamb for a household. They were to cook it in the fire, but they were not to break a bone because you see this. It was speaking of the Lamb of God, Jesus. And it says that the soldiers did not break his legs. Why would they break someone on the cross’s legs? You’ve probably heard this because of the many people who died on crosses, they were in the thousands. It was a Roman way of persecution.

And the person hanging there would start to lose their ability to breathe. And they’d push up with their feet, and that would release some pressure here. And they were being asphyxiated. But when they came to break his legs to speed up his death, they noticed he was already dead. But didn’t they take a spear and shove it in his side? It says when they came to break his legs, they noticed he was dead. So they just stuck a spear in his side. Why? So that Jesus could say to us even today, check out the nail prints. He said to Thomas, put your hand in my side. Not a bone was broken.

As He hung on the cross, it was prophesied in Psalm 109 that He would pray for the enemies that were on either side of Him. He prayed for the criminals, and He said to the one, this day you’ll be in paradise. For those who were mutilating Him and hurting Him, He literally cried on the cross. Father forgive them. Guess what? God answered Jesus’ prayers. We just know He does. Father, don’t lay this charge to them. There’d be the instigation of the devil himself. The soldiers would pierce His side, Zechariah 12. No need to do so. But they did, He would be buried with a rich in a rich cave. Isaiah chapter 53:9, He was buried as though He was a wealthy man. Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and said, sir, we ought not to leave His body hanging on that cross any longer. You have no idea how Jews feel about men hanging on a cross, in the first place. And this is a special weekend. We don’t want that mess hanging there. He was saying the right words, he was being politically correct that he might get the body of Jesus. Pilate said, go ahead. He says he took Him down. He took Him to his own tomb. He wound Him in linen and put Him in that tomb.

Jesus was buried with the rich. But He would resurrect from the dead Psalm 16 and Psalm 49. I’d love to sing a song that I sang some years ago. We did a great big production out in Alberta. And I sang the crowning song as Jesus came out of the tomb. Oh my, the crowd went crazy. So excited, so exciting. He came, He left, but He’s coming again. It was prophesied that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. You knew that. I just learned this recently.

I didn’t know this. Bethlehem is not far, of course, from Jerusalem. And I find this amazing. There was a special place in Bethlehem where prior to a sacrificial lamb being called for at the temple, the lamb that was to be used at the temple had to go through an evaluation process in the town of Bethlehem. From there, the lamb would be transported, not on a cart, but carried in a man’s arms. Do you know the method whereby he was transported so that that little lamb wouldn’t get hurt? It had to be perfect. They wrapped it in swaddling clothes. Swaddling clothes were used back then for a newborn baby. A newborn. And what was the whole process?

When a baby was born, I was present for my son. I’m glad they cleaned him up. I wouldn’t want that kid to be hanging around looking like that. When I saw him, I actually passed out. I liked the sight of certain things. But what they did is they would take this newborn baby and they would rub it with salt. What did salt do? Salt is a cleansing agent. They would rub the baby’s body down with salt. Hopefully, it was, you know, not terribly sharp, but they would rub the baby down with salt. And then they would coat the baby with olive oil, special virgin olive oil.

I don’t know what that means, but that’s what they used. They covered the baby with oil and then they wrapped it in windings. And they’re called swaddling clothes. And that was to keep the baby feel, you know, it’s lived for the last nine months. All kept just like this. And so you don’t want to scare the little rascals being invited into the wicked world. So you wrap them with windings to remind them you’re safe. And it also kept the little fellow warm and comfortable. So much for Bethlehem. He came, but he’s coming again. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the Word of God says, he will descend.

And it will be a glorious moment. He came. But then he left us. But as the disciples stood there and Jesus’ feet were being, I picture them looking up and seeing the bottom of his feet as he’s going up. And they’re bewildered. They’ve never seen anything like this in their life. And as they stood there gazing looking up and up, they didn’t want to let him go. There’s little Mary, the mother of Jesus. She’s brokenhearted. There goes her son. She saw him on the cross.

She was broken by that. But then a little bit of a revival came. Oh, he’s risen from the dead. And he was seen with them for many, many days. Glorious things were happening, but now he’s leaving. And this time he’s leaving for good. It must have been a very difficult thing. So she’d be standing there gazing. And Peter and James and John, all the marvelous things. They were anticipating. You must remember, that they were looking for a Messiah that would deal with the Romans.

They were looking for a powerful, gallant soldier, a leader of an army that would dissipate all of the people who would come against them. They’re looking for freedom, but Jesus is leaving, having not accomplished that. But he had said, the Spirit of God is upon me to preach the gospel to the poor and to heal the sick, to open the blind eyes, to set it liberty, them that are bound. We were bound by sin. But he’s coming back again. He’s coming back again. So we know that in a moment there will be the sound of a trumpet. The Father will say the house is ready. It’s all about the house in my Father’s house. I’m preparing a place for you. The Father will say it’s time.

When the disciples said, when shall your coming be? He said, nobody knows. Not even the Son. You see, in that Jewish wedding process, the Son that was now betrothed to the young damsel did not know when he would come back again. People would say to him, are you almost finished the house? Almost done. Guess you’re getting excited. Can you predict? Just give us an idea. What day? What amount?

Anything? Like you’ve been at it almost a year. He would say, check with Paul. Check with my dad. I don’t know. Why would the Father hold back? Because the Father’s, the Father’s portrait, the Father’s image among all the villagers was at stake. He couldn’t do a prefab house. The drywall had to be perfect. They had to have up-to-date LED light bulbs. The door had to work properly.

The furnace in the air conditioning had to be in play. You built a house for your son and you didn’t give him air conditioning. Have you lost your mind? So you see, the Father was very, very taken up with. The house has to be perfect. This is my son. He’s chosen this beautiful little gal in the village. This is going to be a glorious day. Took them a whole year to get the house ready. And only then, I could see Jesus. I could see the sun back in those, now the Father would say, not yet.

You need to repaint that wall. Repaint you, thinner and thin no more. You’ve got to go in there and paint that wall. It’s not exactly sure. And you told me you’d do everything right. I flushed the toilet and it made an awful lot of sound. You’ve got to put some dampening sounds in that bathroom. I want everybody to say, wow! And you know what? When you get to heaven, you’re not going to be disappointed. You’re going to look and you’re going to say, wow!

Wow! Heaven is a glorious place. Heaven’s a glorious place. Can you wait? You know, people say, I can’t wait. I can’t wait. You have to wait. He didn’t come yet. He didn’t come yet. And so, of course, the moment we leave, the moment we leave, all hell is going to break loose. Literally!

It’s going to be a sad, sad scenario. But you’re going to miss out on that. You’re going to miss out on that. I’m going to ask my illustrious piano player, 78 people have purchased tickets. To hear him play on Saturday night, you don’t have to purchase tickets. You get to take it in all to yourself on Sunday morning. And my daughter Sherry is going to come and sing a couple of glorious songs. We’re all going to join together to sing Christmas carols. That’s Saturday night. And I won’t even tell you the time. We’re almost full already.

Isn’t that exciting? That is an exciting Saturday night. And then, on Sunday morning, we will have a beautiful service right here. But this fellow has a beautiful piece to render for us even now. Just close your eyes and let the words and let the meaning and the fullness of this song. This song is one of the greatest pieces ever written. Can I use this word? I find it delicious. Yeah. Let her go. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Praise you, Jesus. I got pretty excited. I got pretty excited by a little message you sent me the other day. I know I just sent back a thumbs up.

I was quite distracted by things that I had to get done. I was just thinking, it’s happened a couple of times. We’re all to be lights. We’re all to be sharing the gospel.