Introduction What Do You Really Believe About the Return of Jesus Christ to Earth

Sermon: “Jesus’ Return: It’s a Good Thing!” Text: Acts 3:21 & Revelation 1:4-8. Sermon Outline. 1

Introduction ~ What do you really believe about the Return of Jesus Christ to earth? According to an AP/Ipsos poll published on February 2nd, 2007, twenty-five percent (25%) of Americans believe it is at least somewhat likely that Jesus Christ will return to earth sometime in 2007. Forty-six percent (46%) of Evangelical Christians believe it is at least somewhat likely that Jesus will return this year. That, despite the New Testament teaching about the specific events leading up to the Return of Jesus Christ. The AP/Ipsos poll examined the public’s predictions about what will occur in 2007. You might be surprised at all the conflicting ideas circulating our nation. Turn to almost any Christian television station; and sometime during the day, there will be a program about some aspect of the Second Coming. But you expect that these days, don’t you? But you would be very surprised if you went on the internet and logged on to [Picture on slide] www.YouTube.com, the website all the kids go to for funny and outrageous video clips. You’ve heard about “YouTube,” maybe. It’s got some really hilarious stuff... Out of curiosity, I logged on to “YouTube” and did a search on “Jesus’ Return.” Sermon: “Jesus’ Return: It’s a Good Thing!” Text: Acts 3:21 & Revelation 1:4-8. Sermon Outline. 2

I was surprised at just how many video clips there are available about Jesus’ return to earth. But what really stunned me is the fact that they are almost all Islamic programs about Jesus’ return. You see, in Islam, Jesus returns with the Mahdi, the prophet who leads Islam to global victory; and the two supposedly work together as partners... for Allah. I was highly offended! Friend, these Islamic programs about Jesus’ return outnumber all other videos on the topic by better than two-to-one. And since www.YouTube.com is the go-to website for young people, guess what is happening! A Pew Forum Poll asked American Christians whether or not they believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. • White evangelical Protestants said, “Yes,” by 95% – almost unanimously. • Black Protestants affirmed the same almost the same number: 92%. • Smaller majorities of Catholics (70%) and white mainline Protestants (60%) say they believe in the Second Coming of Jesus. The return of Jesus Christ is one of the key terms of the Apostles’ Creed. The Bible says that Jesus of Nazareth, alive from the dead, will one day return to earth to reign and rule on earth as King Sermon: “Jesus’ Return: It’s a Good Thing!” Text: Acts 3:21 & Revelation 1:4-8. Sermon Outline. 3 of kings and Lord of lords. The Book of Revelation is the New Testament book about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ; and yet, that book is about a whole lot more than just Jesus’ return. The whole premise of the Book of Revelation is a specific fact of history: the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Quite simply, Jesus is alive from the dead. The simple truth is this: For Jesus Christ to Return to earth, He must be alive from the dead. Otherwise, the Second Coming could not happen, could it? I believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ... the public, physical and visible return of the resurrected Jesus from heaven to earth to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords here on earth. I believe that totally. You should, too. You see, the whole of the Bible speaks far more about Jesus’ Second Coming than the First Coming, the First Christmas, Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. If all the predictions about Jesus’ birth were fulfilled in history, then all those other major predictions, the prophecies about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, will certainly be fulfilled. For many people, the return of Jesus to earth is connected with wars and rumors of wars, plagues and disasters and earthquakes, the shaking of the natural order and a meteor strike, Armageddon and Sermon: “Jesus’ Return: It’s a Good Thing!” Text: Acts 3:21 & Revelation 1:4-8. Sermon Outline. 4

Israel’s Last Stand. Calamity, catastrophe, and cataclysm – something termed the Great Tribulation. All of that is only half the truth. When it comes to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, you and I need a bigger and larger perspective, the Bible viewpoint on that event. What we need to do is to hold our two Scripture passages together... and keep both of them in our minds and hearts. [Slide with both Rev. 1:7 and Acts 3:21] Yes, Revelation 1:7 picks up several Old Testament predictions: “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.” But in Acts 3:21, Peter affirms Jesus’ return as something positive and astonishing and good. Peter declares: “He [the risen Jesus] must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.” Our Scripture texts this morning indicate something intriguing about the magnitude of what will happen when Jesus returns. The Second Coming is something far better and far larger than anything most Americans say they believe in. Jesus’ return is way bigger than all those things the T.V. preachers go on and on Sermon: “Jesus’ Return: It’s a Good Thing!” Text: Acts 3:21 & Revelation 1:4-8. Sermon Outline. 5 about... You know the list... The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is way bigger than all that, though that’s all included. The key idea is this: ❤ Jesus’ Return is beginning, the dawn, of total restoration... the entire universe healed! ➔ The Bible says there are at least three major areas of restoration and renewal. I. The first area of renewal and restoration is the personal dimension. A. Many people are flat afraid of all the events connected with the Second Coming. But at a personal, gut-level reaction, many people are afraid because they fear the future experience of personal judgment. The New Testament declares that the event of Jesus’ Return is directly connected to the experience of personal judgment. That’s why some people begin to sweat when it comes up in conversation at the lunch table or the water cooler... The Bible plainly says that everyone who gets into God’s heaven must first pass through the experience of personal judgment, a final life-review before the throne of God. In terms of a visual geography, for you to enter into the bright, sunlit, green and lush plain of the new heaven and the new earth, you Sermon: “Jesus’ Return: It’s a Good Thing!” Text: Acts 3:21 & Revelation 1:4-8. Sermon Outline. 6 have to pass through the dangerous, narrow pass of judgment. Everyone who makes it into that beautiful country must pass through that narrow gap. B. But Jesus has already told everybody how to make it through that experience of personal judgment... Trust Jesus’ death for the forgiveness of all your sins. Jesus says, “I Am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” C. And like I say, the person who believes in and belongs to Jesus will experience their own, personalized version of Jesus’ resurrection. Say it with me, please... “The resurrection of Jesus... is a photograph of my future... because I believe in Jesus.” Jesus’ return to earth is the beginning of personal restoration and renewal. But Jesus’ Second Coming is bigger than that! II. The second area of restoration is national and international healing. A. [Painting on slide] This is one of the most famous paintings in American history: “Peaceable Kingdom” by Edward Hicks (1834). Hicks painted it more than once Sermon: “Jesus’ Return: It’s a Good Thing!” Text: Acts 3:21 & Revelation 1:4-8. Sermon Outline. 7 because so people loved it and its biblical theme. In terms of composition, it combines the Bible with American history. Look closely for a few seconds. • Isaiah 11 is in the foreground. • In the background is William Penn the Quaker, the evangelical Christian, making a treaty with the American Indians. As long as Penn was alive, the treaty held; it was broken only when William Penn was dead. It’s a painting the simply captures the deepest longings and the best hopes of the American people... And it looks forward to the Messianic kingdom... the new heaven and the new earth, where old enemies become friends forever. B. Friend, entire nations on the face of the earth are in need of healing this morning. Congo – all the government people with education have all been wiped out by the AIDS epidemic. The only people left to do health care and education are missionaries and those our missionaries train. North Koreans are starving, but that dictator seeks to build nuclear weapons. Saddam Hussein sought to do the same thing. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran is doing the same thing... AND NEVER MISSES AN OPPORTUNITY TO THREATEN ISRAEL. Sermon: “Jesus’ Return: It’s a Good Thing!” Text: Acts 3:21 & Revelation 1:4-8. Sermon Outline. 8

C. Who among us can even imagine a nation without corruption and evil? ...I’m from Chicago. Can any Chicagoan imagine a city government without corruption? And yet, what is one of the deepest longings of any Chicagoan? After the Cubs winning the World Series... it’s the city courts and city government being free of corruption! D. The Bible says that Jesus’ return is when the national and international healing finally begins. And like Isaiah predicted, “Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end.” Isaiah 9. In the Person of Jesus, the nations will come to the tree of life, “and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Jesus’ Second Coming is the beginning of the healing of all he nations on the face of the earth. But the second coming is bigger than even that! III. The third area of restoration concerns the total universe, resurrection renewal and restoration in the cosmic dimension. The return of Jesus to earth means the liberation of the entire universe. A. The Bible says that one day God will bring about a new heavens and a new earth. In Acts Chapter Three, the Apostle Peter affirms two profound predictions of Isaiah about the New Heavens and the New Earth... Sermon: “Jesus’ Return: It’s a Good Thing!” Text: Acts 3:21 & Revelation 1:4-8. Sermon Outline. 9

• Isaiah 65:17 "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, • Isaiah 66:22. "As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me," declares the LORD, "so will your name and descendants endure.” • What Peters tells his listeners is actually an excellent one sentence summary of the last two chapters of the Book of Isaiah! The resurrection of Jesus Christ implies a ‘resurrection experience’ of the entire universe. B. This present universe is anything but eternal. The scientists, the astro-physicists, recently witnessed a star that went super- nova. It blew apart. Even stars billions of years old come to end in this present order... But can you imagine a star that lasts forever? God can! The First Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, is the model of what God will do for the entire universe! C. This present world is dominated and haunted by erosion, death, decay, poverty, sickness and disease, enslavement, warfare, captivity, evil, selfishness, emptiness, loss, incompleteness, hatred, rejection, sadness, tears and heart- ache. Sermon: “Jesus’ Return: It’s a Good Thing!” Text: Acts 3:21 & Revelation 1:4-8. Sermon Outline. 10

C. But the risen Jesus points us to a heavenly country, the new heavens and the new earth, the “home of righteousness.” A place of permanence and wholeness, peace and prosperity, total harmony, beauty and abundance, justice, goodness, and joy in the presence of God. “No more crying there, we are going to see the King!” And when you get there, you’ll know it was well worth the trip. ❤ Jesus’ Return is beginning of everything being healed forever... the dawn of the new heavens and the new earth, the forever experience of the love of God. That all begins when Jesus returns Question: Heaven – the new heavens and the new earth – how do you get there? How do you make your reservations? Take a look... [Video Clip starts.] Conclusion ~ There is only one doorway, one entry point, only one way into the new heaven and new earth: the risen Jesus and belonging to Him.