Good morning. We’re in a series called the big story of the Bible. Today we come to the appearing of Jesus Christ. It’s that moment Jesus comes back. It’s called His appearing because He actually will appear! John said, “Every eye will see him”. Paul said, “The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in blazing fire”. And “all who believe will marvel at His glory”.  Jesus said, “Just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” 

The appearing of Jesus Christ is called our blessed hope. The word blessed means “happy”, and it means to receive some great benefit. If you are blessed, some great good is coming to you. Our blessed hope is our joyful expectation of the glorious benefits we’ll receive at the appearing of Jesus. 

When Jesus appears, all God’s promises to us will come true: His appearing will inaugurate the visible rule and reign of Christ on earth, the resurrection of our bodies, the restoration of all creation. And greatest of all, the appearing of Christ will fulfill our longing to see Him and to be with Him forever. Our deepest longing is not for prosperity, pleasure, or personal peace.  The deepest longing of our heart is to know and enjoy God. THAT longing will be satisfied when Christ appears.

The scriptures are full of this longing to be with God.  Moses, had seen all kinds of miracles, and displays of power, yet the cry of his heart was to see God! He cried out, “Show me your glory”. David cried, Psalm 63:1 “O God...earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You.” Our entire being longs, even craves for the Lord.  Paul said, “I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me”. And the MORE a person experiences God, the more consuming this desire is.

In a significant way, Jesus satisfies our longings now. But the only thing that will perfectly fulfill this longing is His appearing. Because then, we will be in His immediate presence forever.  Paul said, “We will meet Him in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 1 Thess. 4:17 Whatever else happens, on earth or in heaven, we will always be with the Lord from that moment on! 

JP  “What was the most loving thing Jesus could do for us? What was the endpoint, the highest good, of the gospel? Forgiveness? Justification? Sanctification? Adoption? Are not all of these great wonders simply means to something greater? Something that Jesus asked his Father to give us? “Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am.” Jn 17:24 The Lord wants you to be with Him. 

Jesus gave this as the main reason He’s coming back for us. John 14:3 “If I go, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, SO that you also may be where I am.” If we had to reduce the blessing of the appearing of Jesus down to only one thing, it would be to be with Jesus! As Bach wrote, He is the joy of man’s desire. He’s our Savior and Satisfier, the One who gives us perfect pleasure in His presence forever. 

*Other reasons the appearing of Jesus is our blessed hope..

-It’s our blessed hope because we will be like Him when we see Him. 1 John 3:2 “when Christ appears, we know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.” We will be glorified, made perfect, without sin, or fault in our body, soul or spirit. There will be no more struggle with sin, with weakness, no disappointment in ourselves. Colossians 1:3 “When Christ appears we also will share in His glory!”

-It’s our blessed hope because we will see Jesus, the One we love, honored by every person, as the Lord of heaven and earth. Phil. 2:10,11 “God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” What joy will fill our heart to see Jesus, ALONE, exalted and worshiped.  

-It’s our blessed hope because we will have perfect physical wholeness, in the resurrection. Philippians 3:10 “We eagerly await a Savior from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself, will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body.”  

At His appearing Jesus will raise the dead, transform the living. 1 Thess. 4:16 "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command... and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise.”  1 Corinthians 15:52 “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”  Our present bodies are like a flower quickly fading, and then dying.  Through age or accident or ailments we all die. But we will receive new, indestructible, glorious bodies at His appearing.

-It’s our blessed hope because there will be a joyful reunion with our loved ones who have died in the Lord. 1 Thess. 4:13-18. “Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. We will be caught up TOGETHER with them in the air.” Our grief and pain is softened by the hope that we will be together again with those we love, in the resurrection. 

-It’s called our blessed hope because we will see Jesus turn a morally upside down world right side up”. He’s coming back as a Righteous Judge to make things right! Jesus said, “the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.”  The meek will inherit the earth. The righteous will reign. Many who are first on earth will be last. And the last will be first. Those who weep now will laugh. 

The right people will get the rewards and the honor and the praise!  Finally!! The wrong shall fail, the right prevail. 

-It’s called our blessed hope because we will be in a perfect and beautiful new world, purged of all sin and evil. 2 Peter 3:13 “In keeping with God’s promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.   Rev. 21:27 “But nothing unclean will ever enter (the City), nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  For those who love God (and love righteousness) this is such a wonderful promise!

-It is called our blessed hope because we will serve, worship and enjoy our God forever Rev. 22:3ff “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be within the city, and His servants will serve Him (and worship Him!). They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night in the city, and they will have no need for the light of a lamp or of the sun. For the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever.” 

All these are reasons for our blessed hope. And when we begin to grasp the wonder, the glory, the shear joy and happiness of the Lord’s appearing, then, (like Paul) we will love His appearing, and long for His appearing.

Joel R “My relationship with Jesus is not merely one of  studying who He was, but joyfully looking forward to seeing Him with my own eyes and meeting Him face to face. From the beginning of the Bible to the end, the return of Jesus and the establishment of His kingdom is the primary focal point of all expectation, longing and hope. This is why the apostle Peter urged us to “fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Pt. 1:13

This is also why, at the conclusion of the book of Revelation, the apostle John declared that “the Spirit and the Bride are cying out, “Come!”. This is also why the cry of the early church was not simply Hallelujah, but also Maranatha  (Come Lord Jesus!)” 

*The apostles themselves hoped for Christ’s appearing and directed believers to hope for the appearing of Christ.  Paul said, 1 Cor. 1:7,8 “Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift AS you eagerly await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will sustain you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul oriented their lives to the appearing of Christ, to the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. To be blameless in that day, to live in light of that day!

Other verses show how focused the church was on this hope.

-1 Thes.  1:10 “You turned from idols to serve God and to wait for His Son from heaven.”

-Phil. 3:20,21 “But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

-2 Tim. 4:8 “There is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”  His appearing is something Paul loved and longed for!  Peter and John too.

*What will His appearing look like? We are given some information about what we’ll see and there must be a reason for that.  Jesus said, Matthew 16:27 For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels”. Paul said 2 Thes. 1:7 says, the Lord Jesus (will be) revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in blazing fire.”  Titus 2:13 says our blessed hope is “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”.  He will come with stunning sights, AND sounds! “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. 1 Thes. 4

Somehow, the focus of the entire universe will be focused on Him and His glorious appearing! “Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Mt. 24:29-30  One writer said, “Blackest night falls upon the entire cosmos, so that all eyes may be turned upon the glory of Christ. 

*What will the situation be like on earth when He comes? Jesus and Paul both tell us there will be great disregard for God’s commandments, and many will have cold and indifferent hearts toward the Lord.  Jesus Himself said lawlessness will increase, and the love of many will grow cold. Mt. 24:12  Paul said “People will be lovers of themselves and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God”. 2 Tim. 3:2

Paul also warned that just prior to the appearing of Christ, a “rebellion” will occur, against God’s law. 2 Thess. 2:1,3 “concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers,  “Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness—the son of destruction—is revealed.”

Jesus said things will be as they were in the days of Noah, the days of Lot, and the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. In those days there was great wickedness, sexual immorality, and violence. But also great indifference to God.  “In the days of Lot, people were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building..But fire and brimstone rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.”  Luke 17:26-30 The world will NOT be expecting Christ to come and most will not be ready for His coming. So we shouldn’t be surprised that the world seems to be going on as usual.  Jesus said it would be that way.

*So how should we live now. First, eagerly waiting, longing for, and loving His appearing. If that’s NOT our longing, we need to deal with that. We may need to repent and ask Him to give us a renewed love for Jesus and His appearing. I think love for Jesus, along with persecution and suffering drove the early church to this hope. Sometimes it takes suffering to loosen our love for this world and our grip on this world. 

-We are to live in light of His appearing.  It should influence our daily decisions and priorities. His coming is to drive our discipleship and devotion to Jesus. We should live sober and righteous lives, in light of the appearing of Jesus. Titus 2:10,11 NKJV “We should live soberly, righteously, and godly IN THE PRESENT AGE, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” 

Peter said, the Day of the Lord will come like a thief, THEREFORE “You ought to conduct yourselves in holiness and godliness…In keeping with God’s promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, as you anticipate these things, make every effort to be found at peace—spotless and blameless in His sight.  2 Peter 3:11-14

John wrote, “All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as [Jesus] is pure” 1 John 3:3. An eager anticipation of Christ’s return will ignite our passion to live a pure life.  He will appear! We will see Him. We want Him to find us in peace and love and purity.

-We should prepare to endure and persevere. Jesus told His disciples. Matt. 24:9 “You will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.” Many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, many false prophets will appear and deceive many people, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who STANDS FIRM to the end will be saved. Didn’t tell them that to scare them but to prepare them to stand firm!

Paul told Timothy “Endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ”.  Sometimes the best counsel we can give someone is “Endure! Be steadfast, immovable!” Be ready for hard times, expect to pay a price. We experience his goodness and mercy daily!  But ultimately we are promised that relief will come when Jesus comes. 2 Thes. 1 “When Christ appears He will bring relief to you who are afflicted.” The apostles message to us is, “If we suffer with Him (now) we will be glorified with Him (then).” Rom. 8:17

-Above all we are to live with hope! With joyful expectation of the glorious benefits we’ll receive at His coming! Struggles and suffering are for a moment, we will share His glory forever when He comes.  Whether our present experience is grief, or injustice, or suffering we have this hope! No matter what has happened to you, or is happening, or will ever happen, you CAN live in hope! Jesus WILL appear! Everything will be alright. We will see Him and be with Him forever.

Isaiah 25:9 “And in that day it will be said, “Surely this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”