The Bridegroom Cometh!

But at midnight there was a cry. Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Go out to meet him. May the Lord add his richest blessing even to the reading of his word. So I entitled this morning, Behold the bridegroom cometh. There are three significant events where Jesus leaves heaven and comes to planet earth. Three significant events. The first one we’re familiar with, we celebrated at Christmas. Joy to the world. The Lord has come.

He came and he visited us in human flesh. And we know that he died on the cross. And here the pictorially we see that he did not remain in the grave, but he rose again from the dead. And then he said, it’s important that I leave you. He said this to the disciples, for if I go to my father, my father has many rooms in his mansion and I go there to prepare a place for you. And when it’s ready, I will come for you. But no one knows the hour of the day when I will come back for you, that would be the second event of him coming from heaven to the planet. Nobody knows the time of the hour, but you better be ready. So he told this little story about the five wives, the five wise and the five foolish. We won’t tear you on that one for a few minutes.

And we’ll go on to the next great event, the Midnight Cry. The Midnight Cry, what we’ve just read about, is when the Lord Jesus is going to come for his church. And it’s known in Christian circles as the rapture. The word rapture means to be lifted up or to be caught away. And then the third event of Jesus coming is known as the judgment, the apocalypse. Hollywood loves that word and puts that word in the title of many of their movies. There’s something far more destructive and ugly that’s coming. And it’s the judgment of the Lord Jesus upon the nations of the world. And they’re begging for it, they’re going to get it. They want to fight.

And the devil actually is recorded for us. We’ll gather his armies to go up against the Lord. So it was back in November of 1965. The very day was November the 22nd. That probably doesn’t ring a bell just because I say November the 22nd. If I were to say, do you know where you were on November the 22nd? Why? Well, what’s that all? Somebody’s shaking their head right now. Here’s where I was.

Ron Quinn and I were in the same school. We didn’t even know each other. It’s been fun as we’ve talked. We were raised in the same city, went to the same high school, ran into the same teacher, had patients and stayed with him, and I bailed. But it was on November the 22nd that I came out of the high school, Hill Park, up in Hamilton Mountain, and as I came out, this was quite a great day. This was the day. It’s hard to imagine this now. This was the time of history when the radio didn’t have to be plugged in.

So I wasn’t one of these, but so many people would be walking down the street doing the bebop. They’d be listening to their transistor radio. They even had a song, something about my transistor sister. So you’d have people going around. These were the rich kids. They had a radio. They’re going down the street, and they’re kind of bebop and as they went. And as I came out of the door, nearest the machine shop out there, this guy with a radio up to his ear, this is November the 22nd of 1963, this guy turned and he bellowed.

There were hundreds of us just pouring out. He said, he’s been shot. John F. Kennedy’s dead. I froze in my tracks. I was a young teenager. I really didn’t care about politics, but I don’t know if there was anybody in North America, maybe even in the whole world who didn’t know that name. He was tremendously popular as long as you weren’t in his sights. Some people did not like what he did, and there’s all kinds of mysterious stories about

who saw to his death. That doesn’t matter. But I, at that time I was no longer living at home. I had left home and I was boarding at a house, just a block and a half away from that school. I almost ran home because I knew that my landlady, Mrs. Manners, would have her television on. Sure enough, I walked into the house and she said, David, have you heard? I said, I just heard. She said, well, it’s on the television here. It was unbelievable.

He had Walter Cronkite sitting there with his hand up like this, and I’ve got a picture of him coming up in a moment, but he’s saying, yes, it’s true. And he actually, his voice broke, and they said he actually was weeping. I never noticed that, but I did notice the breaking in his voice. Somehow or other, this man had a very high opinion of John F. Kennedy. And I think even people that didn’t necessarily love him were shaken by this very fact. A president of the United States, his brains were blown out with a bullet. It just shook everyone. I’ll never forget sitting in front of that old white and black and white television.

Legs folded almost my nose against the screen. I wasn’t of this mind. This is a big moment, David. Don’t miss this. Tune in. It wasn’t like that. I was literally transfixed. And what memory sticks in my mind is that the television cameras had made their way out into the streets. If you saw this, and many of you did, you probably saw what I saw.

The biggest cities, like New York City, maybe Los Angeles, the cameras were out there, and people in the streets were weeping. I’ll never forget a camera fixated on a taxi driver. He’d pull over that it was one of those yellow cabs. So I think it was New York City. He’d pulled his cab over to the side of the road, got out, was standing on the sidewalk, and the man was visibly shaken, and he was weeping. He was weeping. Weeping happened all over the world. Here’s a picture that somebody took on, I guess it was a bus terminal.

I don’t think it was a train. But everybody’s reading the paper. President dead. It shook everyone. People were crying. People were devastated. President murdered. New president Johnson with him isn’t shot. Newspapers all over the United States carried it. Newspapers all over Canada carried it.

The world was shaken. And people felt like the bottom was falling out. Here’s a picture I found on the internet. This was taken in Sears, someone there with a camera. Yes, they were invading someone’s privacy, but they were moved. Here’s a lady sitting in the TV department of Sears, and she’s so wounded and so broken, she’s sitting on a chair in the department, and seemingly she’s oblivious to people around her. So shaken by this event. Here’s a lady weeping on the street.

Cameras were capturing this everywhere. People were coming off of the buses and they were weeping. I sat there and watched it for two, three hours nonstop. The lady had to come and feed me my supper sitting on the floor. I refused to leave the screen. It wasn’t like I was a historian. It was that I was mesmerized by this. And wondering why? Why? Why would somebody kill somebody like John F.

Kennedy? Here’s the same picture. Here’s a close up. This picture was taken that day somewhere because I found it on that date to do with the death of John F. Kennedy. So Walter Cronkite gave his message. People were gathered on the street. See, that’s a television store. And so men are all out there looking through the windows and talking about what they’re

seeing on the television sets. So the thought occurred to me. All of a sudden, according to the Word of God, the Lord Himself would descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will first rise. But after that, we who are alive at that moment will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Jesus in the air and will always be with Him. So all of a sudden, millions are missing. People are going to be in the streets weeping. What’s going on?

What’s happened? It’ll be on every television. Just on that day, there was a television commercial. I watched it. I tried to pick it up and put it up here so you could watch. Here was a television commercial about some kind of a soap and all of a sudden it came on the street. We interrupt this program to bring you this news flash or this news bulletin. There won’t be a television station. There won’t be a radio station who isn’t giving a report.

Millions are missing. And eventually it’ll start to come around to this. Who’s missing? Not everybody’s gone. There’ll be some bright star from CNN. I told you about the Martians. I told you, it’s the Martians have come in. They’ve taken people. And then somebody says, but why did they take all the good people? They didn’t take the rapists.

They didn’t empty the jails. They just took, they took the good people. Pastor Dave, are you saying we’re good people? Do you want me to say something otherwise? It’s going to happen. 

What’s it going to be like on planet Earth? Ten minutes after the church disappears. 

And of that day and that hour, no one knows. After I left that church in Toronto, there’s a lady sitting here today. This story may ring a bell.

After I left the church in Toronto, a new pastor came. He was raised in the same denomination as I. I won’t mention his name. It doesn’t matter at this point. And my daughter was attending that church because I was passionate. My kids were a part of it. My daughter got married, so she and Bob were attending the church. And she called me one day, all excited and said, Pastor Dave, Pastor Doug says, Jesus is coming on and there was a date named. And I said, no.

Yes, Daddy, the Lord has shown him and he’s looked in the scriptures and he counted up how many days there are in the book of Daniel. You’ve heard all of those long dissertations on, and we figured out how many years and how many days. And she said, Daddy, it’s going to happen. I said, yeah, right. Well, I said, let me tell you something, darling. I said, if it happens, your church will be full on the following Sunday morning. What do you mean, Dad? I said, your church people are not going to heaven when Jesus calls on that day.

What do you mean? I said, he’s not coming on that day. Do you know that Jesus said, no man knows the hour. Now at that point, Jesus was the God-man. Great. He was fully God. He was fully man. He said, no man knows. And then he said, even this man doesn’t know. Jesus said, not even the son knows, only the father knows.

Only the father knows. So I told my daughter, your church is going to be very disappointed. And I bet, I bet on that Sunday morning, if the pastor wakes up, he’ll be heading to the airport and he’s going to take a flight off Honolulu. That’s what the big politicians in our company do. There’s a certain prime minister. I’ve made his announcement and jumped on a plane. He went here, there and all over the world. He’s burning a lot of fuel right now. He’s all over the place. When they get in trouble, they take off.

I said, your pastor’s going to take off. He’s going to have a go over his face because no man knows the day nor the hour. And as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the son of man be. For as it was in the days before the flood, they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were having a great old time. Until the day that Noah entered into the ark and did not know until the flood came and took them all away. So also will the coming of the son of man be. No man knows. But as sure as God made little green apples, it’s going to happen pretty soon.

Somebody asked me, I don’t know if you’re here today. I can’t remember who asked me just very, in the last seven days. So what do you think is going to happen now? They left it a wide open question. They weren’t talking about a little thing that’s starting to grow this year. I’m going to be looking for a tinier one on this side now. You said, what’s going to be, and I knew exactly what he was asking. And I said, I’ll tell you what, the next big major event is the coming of Jesus. It’s the coming of Jesus. Now when you talk about the end times, according to the Bible, there are a lot of Christians, there are a lot of Christians who don’t want to talk about it.In fact, their reason is they’ve read too much. How can that be? 

They’ve read all the chapters that speak of the devastation and the tribulation and the trial and the famine, wars, rumors of wars, pestilence, covets, all of this kind of stuff. And it is so frightening to them that they don’t want to hear about it. I can name pastors within our own denomination who refuse to even take on a topic like I am presenting to you this morning because they say, it’ll just disturb the people a little too much. 

You know, they’re now politically correct when it comes to, well, what will I teach you out of the Word of God? And so it’s a scary thing, but beloved, it’s important that we consider what’s called the end times, the hour in which we’re living because for you and I, the believer, it’s never bad news. It’s all good news because the tribulation is going to come. That is for sure. But we are not appointed to be here at that time. We will, the second coming of Jesus will happen and we will have left. And whatever devastation is going on in this world, we’re going to have no knowledge of it whatsoever.

And so it’s important for us to be aware of the Word of God and what it says so that we can be excited about what’s coming so that our hearts don’t get troubled. All of the difficulties, there’s now warnings coming that there’s going to be food shortages all over the world. According to the former vice president of the United States, I forget what his name is. Anyway, he’s made millions of dollars telling us all that New York City is going to be underwater. One was going to be underwater already by now. You know, the icebergs are melting. The ice shield, the ice shield has never melted before, but it’s melting now. And Vineland is going to be covered with water.

All of these things are being spoken of by scientists. I’m listening to the scientists. I’m not a denier of climate change. I’m not. I know the climate’s changed an awful lot. I know that this perimeter that I’m living in right now, the cliff up here, the rise in the country, apparently that was made by a receding gigantic ice cube. When you go to the Rockies, how did they get there? It all had to do. There was global warming.

It’s happened a few times. And there was nobody smoking cigars at that time. Nobody driving SUVs at that time. The world is constantly changing and changing. I’m not a denier of it, but neither am I a denier of what the Word of God says. Jesus is coming. And the fact that Popolot’s all over the land are silent about it does not change the truth. He’s coming. He’s coming soon. When I was a youngster, a boy, this was the theme almost every Sunday in our church.

It’s seldom spoken in churches anymore. In fact, I dare you. I dare you to check on those of you who are musically inclined. Go and check for me. Do this little favor for me. Check out all these wonderful Christian songwriters and bring to me a song that’s been written. I’ll give you lots of span. The last 10 years is a renewed song about the second coming of Jesus. I don’t think so. If it is, it didn’t hit the big charts.

It didn’t go to number one. The Christian church right now is oblivious to what’s happening to the point where we don’t sing about it. We don’t preach about it. We’re ignoring it to our shame. And I believe through our own sense of dilemma. I’m going to make an admission to you. I’ve probably admitted far too many things. You just close your ears, Nicholas. He thinks I’m such a nice guy.

He thinks I walk on air. He thinks that I put a hood over my halo and I’m tucking in my wings so you can’t. No, Nicholas, I am as bad as the next guy. When I was a teenager, Siegfried, living in Hamilton, I wanted so much to taste of the world. I really did. Now, I was in church every Sunday and I loved to hear my pastor preach and I loved him. But there was this little something about me. None of you have ever experienced this. I’m sure you’re all perfect.

But some of my friends on Mondays in school would be talking about the fun they had down at the beach in Hamilton. And did you see the chicks and so on? Well, just as strange as it might seem to you. I sort of had a mild interest in the chicks. And every once in a while it was more than mild. And I just wanted to go out there. I actually got into this huge beach party. It was being sponsored by the local radio rock station and I had a friend with me and we wanted to go in there.

We wanted so badly. You could hear the music going and young people are coming to go. But you had to buy a ticket to get in. I was too cheap then and I’m still too cheap now. I live on YouTube. It doesn’t cost me any money today. And so we weren’t going to pay anything. So we were standing outside a side door. It was a flat rope building. The young people were on top of the roof and there was singing.

It was the wah-toot-see and all this kind of stuff they’re singing. And it really intrigued me to no end. And I knew I had no business even being near it. But it was like denying your interest in a 12-inch hot dog with all of this stuff. Like I wanted it. I wanted it. I wanted it. And all of a sudden the door opened and some guy bellows to another guy in behind him is all of the din of noise. He said, hey bud.

He said, what do they call them? Not the bumper. The bouncers are here. And he looked at me and he said, you’re a bouncer, right? I said, I can bounce. So, so, so my pastor’s son and myself got in. Now he’s about 10 feet tall and he was about a half an inch thick. He’s never been a brawl in his life. I’d had my taste of it. I was afraid of nothing.

I was going to be a bouncer. You want a bouncer? And I got in there and the young people are all jigging around and I just have to tell you, I wanted to be a part of it. What kept me from doing that? The concept of the Word of God, if you don’t live for Jesus, he doesn’t count you in. I didn’t want to miss the rapture. I really didn’t want to miss the rapture. But young people in our churches today are not hearing the concept. He’s coming soon.

He’s coming soon. And young people at our own churches are living a life that at times is shameful. In fact, their lives are no different than any of the lives in the rest of the classrooms in the school. They’re not paying attention. And I lay, I lay the concern for that on the pulpit. It’s time for the church to consider what it’s all about. The next great thing that’s going to happen on planet Earth is the second coming of Jesus. Hello? Does anybody care?

Five minutes after he comes, he’ll care. This is a description that Jesus gave us. Two men will be in the field. One will suddenly disappear. And the other one keeps on working. Two women will be grinding. The wheat, the oats in a meal. One of them will be gone. 

Watch therefore, because you don’t know what hour your Lord is coming.

I’ve spent significant time some months ago talking about the Jewish traditional wedding. I won’t go through it all again. I’ll just hit a couple of highlights. The traditional Jewish wedding is a beautiful portrait of a bride and a groom. The groom, the word of God, clearly identifies as Jesus. The bride clearly is identified in the word of God as his church. We as a group, the whole church, what about all the other churches? Jesus knows who his friends are. I have no say in it. Are there churches in this town that love Jesus and are just as good as us? Probably more so.

Like we don’t look down on anyone. We just, Jesus is Lord. But I’ve lost my way. I’ve lost my train of thought. He’s coming. We know that. Where did you go? Oh, thank you, the Jewish wedding. I just had a senior moment. I have one about every 10 minutes.

There’ll be another one happening just about lunchtime. But in the Jewish wedding, it happened this way that usually the father of the groom would be looking for a bride for his son. And he’d see some little gal down at the well, pulling up water. And he started inquiring about her. And he would make an appointment to go and see her dad. And the two of them would start discussing. Of course, the father of the groom would have to put down a nice presentation. My son’s going to be an engineer. He’s going to work for the government.

He’s going to make millions of dollars. And then his pension will be incredible. And he’ll be provided for, will provide for your wife. And so the father of the bride, we’ll say, my daughter weighs about 400 pounds and she can work on the farm. She will do absolutely and that there’s nothing she cannot do. So these two men come to a conclusion, an agreement. Yes. Okay. There’s somebody up in the sound room this morning who actually kind of went through this just a little bit, although the circumstances were different. But we have a beautiful couple in our church today. 

One of them is up working in the, I guess, both of them are up there. And they come from a traditional Asian family and their marriage was arranged. And it’s the most beautiful story. I had them tell it to us sitting in our living some time ago. I just, I just was taken up with it. The two dads got together and said, yeah, okay, this is going to go. And he was in another country. And the story is that his dad sent him a picture and said, this is the girl you’re going to marry. Hello. So in the Jewish wedding, these two men would agree. So the day would come when they’re going to have a time of formal agreement so they would meet in the bride’s house. And many things were happening. There was a dowry that had to be paid and there was an understanding. And so at the end of that meeting, there was food involved. There was drinking of wine that was supposed to consummate it as they talked. And when it was all said and done, literally in Jewish mentality, they’re married.

But it won’t be consummated for at least a year. So it is kind of like what we have at a time when, you know, he is promised to her. She’s promised to him. But in their tradition, they’re married. It’s a sealed contract. The son will say, I’m going home with my father and I’m going to add a room onto my dad’s house. And when my dad is pleased with the finish of that room in the house, then I can come back. Therefore, I can’t tell you when I’m coming back because it’ll be up to my father to decide, yes, the house is finished and we’re proud of it. 

So son, go get your bride. The story tells us, and if you get into Jewish history, I’ve dug deeply into this. When the groom comes, his buddies are coming and don’t ask me why. They usually come at night. They usually come in the evening carrying torches, but they come making a lot of noise with horns and tambourines and carrying on. And somebody’s yelling, the bride, the groom is coming, the groom is coming. The whole town has been waiting. It’s probably been a whole year since the whole town heard about the betrothal. So there’s all this noise going on. The groom is coming, the groom is coming. And so the bride and her friends go out to meet him. Listen to this, he does not come to the house. He came to the house, but he went home to work on his father’s house to make him preparation. He’s not coming to visit the house. His mind is on his house, his daddy’s house. So his feet do not cross the threshold of the house where he’s picking up his bride. He takes her home and their marriage is consummated. Jesus said, I’m going to my father.

In my father’s house, there are already many rooms. My daddy has a wonderful house, but I’m going there to prepare a room for you. I can’t tell you when I’m coming back. The father will give his approval. Only the father knows. That’s why we can say nobody knows. Only the father knows. So what is holding Jesus back right now? I can’t explain this to you, but the construction is still underway. Well, why can’t he just wave his hand and say it’s done? I guess we’re all very legitimate, feminine-sided. We want the house to be perfect. Somebody already wasn’t sure about the color of the carpet this morning. Us men don’t do anything right. I don’t know. But, but, but, but, but, I’m thinking Jesus is finishing up the house and, Nicholas, I’m so glad for you because you’ve made your reservation. Here’s how I see it. Okay? Here’s how I see it.

Don’t miss the resurrection. Don’t miss that glorious morning when the dead in Christ shall rise and those who are still alive and remain will be caught up to meet him in the air. Here’s how I see it. Here’s a house. Rooms are being provided and everything is getting ready. But a few times, in fact, on my wedding night, oh, David, don’t tell them this. We got married in Hamilton. I took my beautiful little bride out to the car. Everybody’s like, yeah, you’ll be, you’ll be. I’m covered with spaghetti. No, confetti and confetti. And a boutonniere on my, on my thing here. April’s hair is full of confetti we got in the car. Yippee! April turns to me and she says, where are we going? I said, we’re going to the US of A. Where in the US of A? I said, well, wherever we want to go, who cares? So we crossed the border right here.

We crossed the border right here. And as soon as we crossed, we started looking for sinus. I said, look, we’re going to get a room really quick here. Like we’re tired. That was the reason we’re tired. So we’re looking. And as we’re driving along the road, I’m not making this up. No. It’ll say rooms available? No. No. No. No, no, no, I’m down. What’s going on? What’s going on? I turned on the radio and I thought, what’s going on? What’s going on? What’s going on? We got married on September the 3rd. That’s usually your Labor Day weekend. Every motel room was booked. Hello? In my father’s house there are many mansions, but we’re going to stay in the motel. If we can find one, we drive into the night. Finally, I saw a sign. It didn’t say no. So I pulled in and I walked into the room. There’s that a lady and a gentleman leaning on her top of her refrigerator over here. He said, she says, how can I help you? I said, well, I need a room tonight. She’s looking at the boot nearby. I was so stupid. She’s looking at the boot nearby. 

She sees me covered with confetti and she says, well, we’re almost sold out. We only have one room left and it’s the marriage suite. I actually believed her. If that was the marriage suite, I wouldn’t want to see the common peasantry room. I’m going to tell you that. So listen to this, listen to this. Don’t you be caught on a long weekend and the trumpet sounds and the dad arrives and you’re hoping that you’re going to go and you’re looking around. 

Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen. Ten minutes after Jesus sounds the trumpet and he comes to the church, there’ll be churches all over St. Catherine’s and there’ll be full to capacity. Pastor, what’s going on? My, my sister’s gone. My brother’s gone. I’m serious. The churches will be full and the pastor will be there. And you’ll be making apologies. I’m sorry. I, I’m sorry. I, I didn’t tell the truth. I didn’t tell. I didn’t remind you about the second coming. I, I failed. I know I failed. Weeping on the streets. Sadness, sadness, sadness.

You were hoping to get a room, weren’t you? But your problem is this. You’ve got to make a reservation ahead. Your name has got to be written in a book. The book is not called, you know, such and such a hotel. The book actually has a name. It’s called the book of life. Whose name is in that book is in for life. It’s called the book of life. The only names that go in that book are the people who confess. The word of God says, if you confess with your mouth and you have to believe it in your heart, Jesus is Lord. You’re on your way to make your reservation. And so I asked you this morning, I don’t know everybody here. Is your name on the registry? Is your name in that book? Yes, Nicholas, your name is in that book. I can attest to that. I was a witness. Is your name there?

If your name is not there, there’s no part for you. Be sure that your lifestyle will be against you. Be sure that the Lord isn’t against you. He sent a son to die for you to clean this all up. He’s made it fully possible for you to say, yes, yes, yes. But if we live in constant denial, then that’s where it is. Don’t take my word for it. It’s in this book. And this is a reliable book. I don’t want to get into an argument about how old it is and who got involved. But smarter men than me have tested and tested and tested. It’s a reliable book. It’s a historical book. It is a historical book. And more, more proof is being dug up now in that part of the world. They’re finding all kinds of stuff. They’re digging in the sand in those hills and they’re finding things from those days. And the things that are mentioned are incredible.

This book is reliable. The book is true. And here’s the bottom line. You’re now accountable because you’ve heard the message today. You’re no longer ignorant of the law. Ignorance is of no account anyway, but now you know. So Heavenly Father, as we close this service, I pray for everyone in this house that there’d be no one with a lingering question in their mind. Am I ready? He’s coming at such an hour as I don’t think he’s coming. But that’s not a good way to live it out.

We don’t know. We need to be ready. We need to be ready. Lord, if there’s anyone in this house has any doubt whatsoever about their reservation as I have named it. If there’s anyone doubts their name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Lord, I pray that they will come to their spiritual senses and surrender their heart and their life to you, Jesus.

That’s my prayer. In Jesus’ name, amen.