JOHN 14

1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

2 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.

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Before the Lord Jesus Christ left this earth to return to heaven, He said, "I will come again." This promise is the only thing that has kept millions of dedicated Christians going! This is what kept John going when he was walking the shoreline of the lonely island of Patmos, suffering for the cause of Christ, Jesus appeared to him and said in Revelation 22:12 "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me" Again when the Lord closed the Book of Revelation, He said again in Revelation 22:20, "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen." The Lord was closing His Written Word to men, and He used this occasion to reaffirm His promise to those of us who would suffer and long for something better.

At Christ's first coming He was not revealed-rather He was concealed. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," says John 1:14. The Word (Christ) was made flesh and took upon Himself the tabernacle or the tent of flesh. He was put in the concealing wraps of a human body. The first coming of Jesus Christ was not the revelation of Him. The revelation of Jesus Christ will take place at His second coming. John said in 1 John 3:2 "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." What John is saying here is, "We shall see Him as He REALLY is!"

The first coming of Jesus Christ revealed God's grace. He came that men might experience something of the grace of God. His second coming will reveal the glory of the Son of God. Look at 1 Peter 4:13 "But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" and in 1 Peter 5:1 "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed." When He came the first time He was veiled in human flesh. When He comes again, men will see for the first time the glory of the Son of God. He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and crucified on a cruel cross, but when He comes the second time the veil will be removed and every eye shall see Him.

I. FIRST LOOK AT THE FIRST COMING OF JESUS CHRIST AND THEN WE WILL COMPARE THAT WITH THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. Hebrews 9:28 states, "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."

A. When Jesus came the first time, He didn't have Himself on His mind. I like that song that says, "When He was on the cross, I was on His mind." That about says it all as far as I am concerned. When Jesus came the first time He only had you and I on His mind. He came for one purpose and one purpose only. That was to take care of the sin problem. He didn't come to settle the government problems of Israel, He came to die for the sins of the world. He didn't come to settle the political and social dilemmas, but to find a way to eliminate the sins from your heart and mine. He didn't come to eliminate disease, pestilence, and physical suffering, He came to get us ready to move to a place He is preparing for us.

1. It was not the fault of Jesus that the world got the idea He was come to deliver Israel from their oppressors and to rule them as their king. He did His best to show them that by being born in a very small town, coming in the common way through the womb of a woman, and being born and laid in a common manger in a common stable. He came riding into Jerusalem on the back of a little donkey.

B. When Jesus comes again, He will come riding on a white charger, He will come as King of kings and Lord of lords. He will put all things under His feet just as those people put their coats and palm leaves under the hooves of that little donkey Jesus was riding on. He will take us to a place where disease does not exist, and death, pain, weeping and suffering shall not be known. Revelation 7:17 states, "For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes" and in Revelation 21:4 "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." He will rule supreme and all authority and government will be upon His shoulders. John saw it in Revelation and described it in Revelation 19:11, "I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war."

1. When Jesus came the first time, the door of the inn in Bethlehem of Judaeh was closed to Him. Since that time, men everywhere have closed their hearts and lives to Him, but that One who has been locked out of Bethlehhem's Inn has the authority to speak and the door of Heaven will swing wide at his command. Look at Revelation 3:7-8, "These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." The One who did not have the keys to the Inn in Bethlehem will have the keys to the door of His Father's Heaven in His hand when He comes again. And as He used the keys to unlock that door, He shall also use them again to close it forever.

2. This One who was despised and rejected, whipped and beaten, cursed and spat upon, when He came the first time did not have Himself upon His mind, but had you and I, and the souls of the ages upon His mind. He was interested in just one thing and that was purchasing our salvation. Isaiah 53:3 described Him at His first coming, "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

II. WHEN HE COMES AGAIN HE WILL NOT BE DESPISED AND REJECTED OF MEN. HE WILL NOT BE A MAN OF SORROWS. HE WILL NOT BE THE SACRIFICE FOR OUR SINS, BUT THE JUDGE OF THE SOULS OF ALL MEN WHO EVER LIVED OR EVER SHALL LIVE ON THIS EARTH. Psalms 9:8 "And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness." Psalms 96:12-13, "Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth." Acts 17:31, "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."

A. This is a Lord that the world has never seen and many do not want to see. This is a Lord that will cause those who have scoffed and tried to make Him go away to cry for the rocks and mountains to fall upon them and hide them from His presence. Look at Matthew 24: 30 "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." In Revelation 6:15-16 we read, "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains. And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb."

B. This is a Lord Jesus that the world, and even His own people, have refused to accept and believe in. But the failure of men to believe upon Him will not hinder what God has predestined. He will come whether men believe in Him or not-whether men refuse to accept Him or not-it will not change God's plans for His Son, His world, or His people.

1. Isaiah attempted to introduce the Savior of the world and the Judge of all men in Isaiah 63:1 "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save."

2. Daniel saw Him in His glory and described his vision of Him in Daniel 7:13-14, "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."

3. Malachi warned the unsaved and unready in Malachi 3:1-2, "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap."

4. John saw Him in a vision on Patmos and warned those who were not ready in Revelation 1:7, " Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him."

5. Jesus said of Himself in Mark 14:62, "The high priest ask Jesus Art thou the Christr, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."

6. Paul said of the Lord's Second Coming 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 clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

III. BUT LOOK AT THE PROMISE THAT WE HAVE TO KEEP US GOING. NOT ONLY WILL HE COME AGAIN AND TAKE US OUT OF THIS SINFUL WORLD, BUT HIS PROMISES WILL BE FULFILLED UPON US UNTIL HE DOES COME AGAIN TO TAKE US AWAY. Look at John 14:2-3, "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 unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." In Revelation 21:1, 3 John describes that place the Lord has prepared for His Saints, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.… And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."

CONCLUSION

What a glorious day that will be! Someone may be thinking, I would like to have a stake in this which is coming. I would like to have part in that day of the future. If you have a part in His future, you must first have a part in His past. Before you can be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven, you must become a part of the Kingdom of God. He came yesterday as the world's Savior. He will come tomorrow as the world's King and Judge. There is only one way to do that and Jesus describes that way in John 1:11-13, "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born.....of God."

 "I will come again," to give them hope so they could bear up under the struggle, Jesus told us all "I will come again" for the same reason.Jesus will  keep His promise, and Satan and the kingdoms of this world will surrender to Him and fall at His feet. Philippians 2:9-11 states, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

And we should be able to say, even as John said in Revelation 22:20 when he saw in a vision the Second Coming of our Lord,

"Even so, come, Lord Jesus."