What Will Happen When the Lord Returns?
Read Acts 1:9-11. “Now when He
had spoken these things, while they watched, He was
taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He
went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,
who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing
up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from
you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw
Him go into heaven.”
NKJV
The angels declared that Jesus would come again. But
what does the Bible say will happen when Jesus Christ returns?
Body:
I. The Dead Will Be Raised
·
John 5:28-29 “Do
not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all
who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth
– those who have done good, to the resurrection of life,
and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of
condemnation.”
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Note Christ said that there would be only one
resurrection. It would include both the good and the
evil. This will happen at the same time, not separated
by a thousand years.
·
Note the words of
the inspired apostle Paul in Acts 24:15. “I have hope
in God, which they themselves also accept, that there
will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and
the unjust.”
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·
Those who are alive
when He comes will be changed. I Corinthians 15:50-53
“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit
incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall
not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will
be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this
mortal must put on immortality.”
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Then they will be caught up in the air with the Lord. I
Thessalonians 4:13-17 “But I do not want you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen
asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For
this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who
are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will
by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord
Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And
the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we
shall always be with the Lord.”
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II.
Christ’s Kingdom Will Be Delivered to God
·
Read I Corinthians
15:22-26. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
all shall be made alive. But each one in his own
order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are
Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He
delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an
end to all rule and all authority and power. For He
must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.”
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When Jesus returns, it will not be to set up His
Kingdom, but to deliver it to the Father.
·
Jesus began to
reign over His Kingdom after His ascension. It was
prophesied by Daniel. Daniel 7:13-14 “I was watching in
the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the
Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.
Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve
Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which
shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall
not be destroyed.”
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Peter proclaimed the following in Acts 2:29-32. “Men
and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the
patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and
his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a
prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to
him that of the fruit of his body, according to the
flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his
throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the
resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left
in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus
God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.”
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·
Jesus is currently
the “King of Kings.” I Timothy 6:15 “which He will
manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only
Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords,”
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·
When Christ returns
the Kingdom to the Father, death will also be
destroyed. I Corinthians 15:25-26 “For He must reign
till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last
enemy that will be destroyed is death.”
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III. The World Will Be Judged
·
Jesus will separate
the saved from the lost. Matthew 25:31-33 “When the Son
of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with
Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All
the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides
his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on
His right hand, but the goats on the left.”
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Matthew 13:40-43 “Therefore as the tares are gathered
and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this
age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they
will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend,
and those who practice lawlessness. And will cast them
into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and
gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth
as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has
ears to hear, let him hear!”
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·
People will be
judged by their works. Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of
Man will come in the glory of His Father with His
angels, and then He will reward each according to his
works.”
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I
I Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the
things done in the body, according to what he has done,
whether good or bad.”
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·
Judgment day will
be a day of rewards and punishment. Matthew 25:46 “And
these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the
righteous into eternal life.”
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·
Those who have not
obeyed the gospel will be punished with everlasting
destruction. II Thessalonians 1:7-9 “and to give you
who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is
revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming
fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and
on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the
glory of His power,
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IV.
The World Will Be Destroyed
·
Peter revealed the
following. II Peter 3:10-13 “But the day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens
will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will
melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works
that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all
these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons
ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking
for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because
of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire,
and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new
heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
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·
John added this.
Revelation 21:1-2 “Now I saw a new heaven and a new
earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had
passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John,
saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband.”
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Conclusion:
·
Believers should be
ready at all times for His return. Matthew 24:42-44
“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your
Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of
the house had known what hour the thief would come, he
would have watched and not allowed his house to be
broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son
of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
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·
We need to be busy
doing the Lord’s work until the Lord returns. Luke
19:11-13 “Now as they heard these things, He spoke
another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and
because they thought the kingdom of God would appear
immediately. Therefore He said: A certain nobleman
went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom
and to return. So he called ten of his servants,
delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, Do
business till I come.”
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Bobby Stafford
February 8, 2015
The
church of Christ
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