In Revelation 12, we introduced the text and
just the nature of the book and the nature of
the literature last week. We considered the fact
that this is apocalyptic literature and must
be understood. And the meaning must be pulled
out from it as that kind of literature. This
week we come to a great sign. Or a great symbol
that appears in the sky. In heaven. The night
sky. Imagine it dark. And then you have these
great images appear in the sky. And what is the
sign that John describes? What is the sign that
the Apostle John characterizes? Well, he says
it's a woman. And this woman is on the brink
of having a child. She's clothed in sun, meaning
she's radiant. She's glorious. She's majestic.
She's shining. This woman has the moon underneath
her foot. She has something as her footstool.
And on her head, She has a crown. Now, we think
about this sign, and John is telling us something,
brothers and sisters. He wants to explain something
to us through this symbol. That's what we will
consider today. Today, we're going to consider
the woman. That is in the sign. We're going to
consider the fact that the woman is in. She's
in the midst of giving birth. And we're going
to consider the woman's child that she travailed
for. The son, this male child that was born to
her. So beginning with the woman, the people
of God in the Old Covenant. The Messianic community
of old. that was given the promises of the coming
Messiah. Now we can deduce or we can come to
her identity in several different ways. We could
look at the surrounding context and look a little
bit later in the treatment of the woman throughout
this chapter. But if we just consider how she
is described in verses 1 through 2, to a point
where we grasp her identity. So the first thing
we have to consider, and as we think about this,
we're not looking to answer it in this way. We're
not coming to this sign in the sky and saying,
who is that woman? That's not what we want to
do. We want to come to that sign in the sky and
say, what does that woman represent? What does
that symbol represent? What is it trying to teach
me by what it represents? So we can consider
several things about the appearance or the description
of this woman in the sky. First, her clothing
or her garb. Notice this, a great sign appeared
in heaven. A woman clothed with... Now, the sun
is very bright. It's hard to look at the sun
during the day directly because it's so bright.
It's rays are shining forth so strongly. This
is how John characterizes this woman in the sky.
She is clothed. She has a robe of brightness.
It's as though... She's a luminous, bright light
that she is clothed in. She's majestic, the favor
of God. She is glorious. She is utterly radiant.
Now, we think about this and we go, well, what
exactly is he talking about? We have a tendency
to think, and John wants us to think, in terms
of physical appearance. And he's using these
symbols for that purpose. But the Old Testament
actually talks a great deal about the glory and
the beauty and the holiness and the majestic
character of God's covenant people. We could
think, or we could turn to the book of Exodus,
chapter 19, which says this. In verses 4 -6,
You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians,
and how I bore you on eagles' wings, meaning
God gave divine protection to the people of God,
and brought you to myself, meaning God delivered
the people from Israel by His divine power, His
divine protection, and He brought them out to
the wilderness to Himself. He delivered them,
he saved them, he rescued them in the exodus
to bring them out to himself. Now then, if you
indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then
you shall be my own possession among all the
peoples. For all the earth is mine. Now, notice,
God is saying you're going to be unique among
all the peoples of the earth. You're going to
stand out. You're going to be distinct. You're
going to be special among all the nations of
the world. And here's what he says in verse 6.
And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests,
a holy nation. These are the words you shall
speak to the sons of Israel. The people of God
have always had the true church. Throughout the
ages. Has always had a radiant holiness. That
distinguishes it. From those around it. We could
look. At Psalm chapter 48. Which says this in
verses 1 through 3. Great is the Lord. And greatly
to be praised. In the city of our God. His holy
mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of
the whole earth is Mount Zion in the far north,
the city of the great king. God in her palaces
has made himself known as a stronghold. What
is God speaking about? Dwelling with his people
in his radiant glory. His people. His holy mountain.
The joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion, brothers
and sisters. The city of God. The people of God.
Where God dwells. He is in her midst. He exudes.
He gives His glory. His majesty. His radiance
in and through His people. So their radiance
and their glory finds its source and its root
in God. and his character himself. We could look
at the prophet Ezekiel and get a glimpse of what
John is talking about. We read this in Ezekiel
16, verses 10 -14. I also clothed you with embroidered
cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your
feet, and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered
you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments,
put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around
your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril,
earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown
on your head. Thus, you were adorned with gold
and silver, and your dress was of fine linen,
silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour,
honey, and oil, so you were exceedingly beautiful
and advanced to royalty. That's talking about
God's covenant faithfulness and love to his people.
God has placed his love and his mercy and his
grace on his covenant people. And that makes
her glorious. That makes her radiant. That makes
her majestic and vibrant. It makes her shine
as the sun in a spiritual sense, brothers and
sisters. Not because of anything innate. or inherent
within herself, but because of God and His work
and His blessing and His favor upon His people.
The New Testament talks a great deal about the
superior excellence of the new covenant church
and the beauty and the glory that Christ has
bestowed. We could think about 1 Peter chapter
2. where it talks about the spiritual nation,
which is related to Exodus chapter 19. And it
talks about the glory of the spiritual temple
and the spiritual acts of worship and service.
We can think about Ephesians chapter 2, where
God himself dwells in his people and they are
being built up like a house, like a temple. We
can think about Hebrews chapter 12, brothers
and sisters. where it compels Mount Zion, the
old covenant, the doom, the gloom, the death,
the frightfulness of the old covenant and the
law and the people of God, the church and the
old covenant. And the glorious reality of the
great gathering in the new heavens and new earth
and in the intermediate period where the saints
gathered with perfect righteousness and angels
with Christ. So the people of God have always
had a glory and a radiance, almost as though
the sun is shining off of them as John speaks
about. This is what she has clothed in, brothers
and sisters. But we also see that she has a footstool
and a crown. Now when we think about a footstool,
what does that immediately... cause you to think
about power, authority, dominion, victory, royalty,
maybe kingship, kingdom, rule, and power. But
it also talks about submission. It implies obedience
and overcoming. What is it that made the covenant
people of old? so special. What made them unique
among all the nations, brothers and sisters,
was the fact that God himself chose them. The
fact that God himself picked them out. The fact
that God himself gave them his law. Gave them
the law and the prophets. It's the fact that
God himself gave those people the promises of
a Messiah. It's the fact, brothers and sisters,
that the Messiah would actually come forth from
this covenant community, this covenant people.
It's talking about the place of God's rule, the
kingdom of God, where God rules perfectly and
righteously in that mediatorial way and the hearts
and minds of his people. The place where the
prophets and the word of God speaks authoritatively.
Where is this? It's talking about the people
of God, brothers and sisters. It's talking about
those faithful believers in the Old Testament
who looked forward to a coming Messiah because
God had given them promises of a coming Messiah.
God had made a covenant with them. So what is
the identity of this woman who's wearing this
crown and this robe? This crown which signifies
her royal status and the totality of God's people
where there was 12 tribes and the 12 apostles
for the New Covenant Church. The whole of God's
covenant people. It's talking about... The messianic
covenant community of old preeminently. Those
believers who look forward to Christ waiting,
longing, and looking for a Messiah. For deliverance
and for salvation. It's not talking about Mary.
An individual person. It's talking about the
people. That would bring forth the Messiah. The
people that would produce and provide the lineage.
And the heritage of the Messiah. The promised
seed of Abraham. So we think about this. And
we think about what John is teaching us through
this sign. It shows us something about. the identity
of the church and the people of God, brothers
and sisters, when we think about the church,
when we think about the people of God throughout
the ages, they're not always esteemed in the
eyes of the world. The church is not always seen
as great and mighty in the eyes of the world,
brothers and sisters. It's not always valued.
The church is certainly not seen as distinguished
and blessed. The church is certainly not seen
as glorious and radiant and majestic and full
of glory in the sight of the unbelieving world
around us. It's actually what? The opposite of
that. How is the church presented in the world
and the culture? The true church. As backwards.
As antithetical to that which is good for humanity.
As that which is fundamental and doesn't know
what is right and wrong. But what does John teach
us? How does God view the church? How does Christ
view the church? What is heaven's perspective
on the people of God, brothers and sisters? They
are glorious. The people of God are highly esteemed
in heaven's sight. That's you if you are in Christ.
That is you if you have faith and repentance.
God sees you as radiant. God sees you as majestic.
God sees you as His prize, as His possession.
Christ loves you. His mercy and His grace is
upon you. And that is why you are glorious in
His sight. Because He has chosen you. Out of
all the people who don't deserve it, He has chosen
you to make new, to make holy, to make glorious.
Brothers and sisters, we ought not to seek to
be like the world. We ought to rest in the fact
that we are who we are by the grace of God and
that is what God wants us to be. And He loves
us and He is satisfied with us and He sees us
as that in Christ because of the work of Christ.
We have to see the church. and ourselves as Christ
sees us. You have to view the local church and
the kingdom of God in this world. You have to
view the place of the promises as God himself
sees them. Change how you think about these things,
brothers and sisters. Have you adopted worldly
thinking with regards to the... the nature and
the identity of God's people? Or do you see the
church and think about the church in a way that
is consistent with how she is put forward in
this passage? As radiant, as glorious, as shining.
That's how John puts her forth. That's how John
pictures her. That's one of the things that John
wants to teach us about her. Now, this woman
in the heavens that John paints a picture of
is a woman in travail. This is the second thing
we have to consider. The people of God longing,
waiting, and anticipating the Messiah. Now, there's
a reason John, I believe, chooses this kind of
imagery. When we think about the sign that he
puts forward, he wants it to be loud and clear
that she is on the brink of giving birth. She's
on the brink of having a child. What does he
say? A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman
clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars. We know
who she is. But here's what else he tells us.
And she was with child, and it's not just that
she was with child, she's nearing the time of
the child's birth. And she cried out, being in
labor and in pain, to give birth. It's not as
though she's early on in the pregnancy. She's
into the pregnancy a good long while. She's on
the brink of having a baby. She's in pain, but
there's this joyful anticipation and expectation
of what is to come as well. I believe John pictures
this, and he chooses this because it shows us
a Combination, a mixture of pain, grief, hurt,
heartache, being distraught, despair almost at
times, and great joy, hope, peace, longing, anticipation,
and expectation. What does this mean? What is
the travail of the woman that is put forth me?
It's the redemptive groaning of God's people
in the Old Testament, brothers and sisters. It's
the redemptive heartache that took place all
throughout the Old Covenant as the people of
God had hardship waiting for the Messiah. but
also as the people of God had great joy and anticipation
and expectation as they looked to the Messiah
for their hope, for what is to come, for victory,
and for success, and for life. It's the redemptive
groanings of God's covenant people before the
coming of Christ. Now why are the people of God,
of old, experiencing these redemptive groanings?
Why are they agonizing and why are they travailing
as they wait for the Messiah? One significant
cause is the fact of sin and unbelief. Why is
there any groaning? Why is there any suffering?
Why is there any heartache in the world? Why
is there any pain? Why is there any loss? Why
is there any grief in this world at all? Because
sin is coming to the world as a result of our
forefather Adam being unfaithful to the covenant
God made with him. Sin has ushered in these redemptive
longings into the life of God's people. But it's
not just the sin. It's unbelief. It's not believing
what God has said and what God has told His people
with regards to the promises. In a sense, the
people of God, of old, the saints of old, brought
this on themselves. Why are so many in heartache
today? Why are so many struggling? Why are so
many angry and bitter and hard -hearted? Because
of their own actions and their own hearts and
their own minds so often. Sin causes us to do
wild, wicked, hard things, and there are consequences.
The Bible teaches we reap what we sow, and that
is true of the people of God as well. So, why?
Or the people of old. Experiencing these redemptive
groanings. Because of their sin. Because of their
unbelief. In the life of the people. In the life
of Israel. In the life of the patriarchs. In
the life of the kings. In the time of the kings.
And the prophets we see the same thing. When
they were in exile. When they were not in exile.
Sin and unbelief. had its way and brought about
redemptive longings. But we also see it's not
just sin and unbelief which bring these about.
If we consider the Bible, it's actually, in addition
to that, the consequences of their sin and unbelief.
Why did the people of God have these redemptive
groanings? Brothers and sisters, a large part
of it is because their sin and their unbelief
brought about the disciplining hand of God into
their life. Why did the nation seemingly have
success at times? If you read 1st, 2nd Chronicles,
1st, 2nd Kings, why would some kings do well
and other kings do poorly? Because of obedience
or unfaithfulness, unfaithfulness, disobedience
to God's covenant and God's word. And what would
happen when they were disobedient and unfaithful?
God would discipline them, judge them, and they
would be overthrown and they would be defeated.
The consequences of their unbelief and their
sin. They experienced hardship in the life of
the nation, in the life of the people before
Christ, because there are consequences for not
believing God. and His Word. There are consequences
for volitionally and willfully choosing to sin
against a holy and a righteous God who oversees
and superintends all things in this world. So
we see that they have these redemptive groanings
as a result of their sin and their unbelief.
Ultimately, this all came to a point when the
nation was exiled. Do you remember how the nation
was overthrown? The northern and then the southern,
I believe, in that order. And they're taken off
to Babylon. You could read the whole book of
Daniel. And what's the basis for the book of
Daniel? The people of God in exile. The people
of God living in exile and banishment. And why
were they doing these things? Why did they experience
these things? Because of their unbelief and their
sin. So we find that there are many, many reasons
for these redemptive groanings in their life.
This pain, this grief. this mourning, this sadness.
Isaiah chapter 26 says this. Verses 17 and 18.
As a pregnant woman approaches the time to give
birth, she writhes and cries out in her labor
pains. Thus were we before you, O Lord. We were
pregnant. We writhed in labor. We gave birth.
As it seems only to win. We could not accomplish
deliverance for the earth. Nor were the inhabitants
of the world born. It's talking about. Israel's
unfaithfulness before God and his faithfulness.
And the promises of what he would do. And what
he would bring about. And what he would accomplish
for the people. We could think about many of
the barren women in Scripture. We could think
about Rachel. Or before Rachel, we could think
about Sarah, Abraham's wife. She was barren.
She could not conceive. She could have no child.
And that brought grief, shame, and sadness. into
her life because that was the culture of the
day. It was a shameful thing not to have children.
It was a shameful thing not to have posterity
or to leave a legacy, especially a male child
in that day, in that age. And so it brought shame
and ostracization in the life of a woman. But
she experienced great joy. Great anticipation,
as God promised she would, in fact, have a child.
There was grief, there was mourning, there was
sadness, but God opened her womb and brought
forth a child, the child of promise. God brought
about the lineage that would bring about the
Messiah. And so he demonstrates and he proves
his sovereignty the lineage, and the bringing
about of the Messiah. There was great grief and
sadness and heartache as the people of God waited
for the Messiah that God had promised. But we
also see, brothers and sisters, that there was
great joy, peace. There was anticipation and
expectation, hope. That the people of God enjoyed
as they waited, looking forward to and longing
for the Messiah that was promised. It wasn't
just heartache. It wasn't just hardship and sadness
and trial and difficulty and travail. This travail
also shows that there was expectation. There
was anticipation in the life. Of God's people.
Would you read Isaiah 54. And you can just sense.
The joy. That is being communicated. In this
passage. Shout for joy. Oh barren one. You who
have born no child. Break forth into joyful shouting.
And cry aloud. You who have not travailed. For
the sons of the desolate one. Will be more numerous.
Than the sons of the married woman. Says the
Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent and stretch
out the curtains of your dwelling. Spare not.
Lengthen your cords and strengthen your pegs
for you will spread abroad to the right and to
the left and your descendants will possess nations
and will resettle the desolate cities. Restoration
is coming. Renewal is coming. Regathering is
coming. Salvation is coming. The new covenant
is coming. The Messiah is coming. These are travail.
These are birth pains as they wait for what God
has promised. Fear not, for you will not be put
to shame. And do not feel humiliated, for you
will not be disgraced. But you will forget the
shame of your youth and the reproach of your
widowhood. You will remember no more. For your
husband is your maker. whose name is the Lord
of hosts. And your Redeemer is the Holy One of
Israel who is called the Lord of all the earth.
For the Lord has called you like a wife forsaken
and grieved in spirit, even like a wife of one's
youth when she is rejected, says your God. Hope,
joy, anticipation, and expectation for what is
to come because the Messiah was yet to come.
This travail, all these redemptive groanings,
don't just come in the form of despair. They
come in the form of faithful waiting and expectation
for God's promises. We think again about the
world around us and our lives. Maybe even the
things in our own homes, in our own families,
in our own church life. Brothers and sisters,
those things ought to cause and well up within
us a desire, a longing for things to be righted,
for things to be reconciled. But we mustn't let
these things drive us to despair. We must let
these things drive us to the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the only one who can and the only one
who is able to fix these things ultimately, fully,
and finally. But we also ought to look at the
travails in our own life, the redemptive groanings
that we experience as we wait. for the second
advent of Christ. And let them remind us of the
promises that have been made to us about what
is going to take place. Just as real as the heartache
is in the life of God's people, brothers and
sisters, is the joy and the hope, the anticipation
and the expectation of what is to come when Christ
returns. We have to let those things drive us
not to despair, but to Christ and to rejoicing
at the fact that God has promised that these
things will be fixed. These things will be fully
and finally taken care of and made right. When?
After a turn of the Lord Jesus Christ. when He
comes to this world once again, we must let them
drive us to Christ in joy and hope of what we
have in Christ and what will be true of us in
greater measure and greater degree in a manifest
form when Christ returns. This was a woman in
travail. And it teaches us about the redemptive
groanings of God's covenant people before Christ
came to this world. But what about the woman's
child that she travailed for? The promised Messiah
that the people of God waited for. Because she
does give birth. The travails do end. The turmoil
and the anticipation, in a sense, comes to a
close in the image and the picture that John
is using because we read in verse 5, And she
gave birth to a son, a male child who was to
rule all the nations, with a rod of iron, and
her child was cut up to God and to his throne.
We don't need to jump back and forth about who
this figure is. Who is it that came forth from
the covenant community of old? The Messiah, Jesus
Christ. The groaning, in a sense, was taking
place because one was to come. but had not yet
arrived. One was promised, but those promises
had not been realized, and they had not been
fulfilled as they would be one day. It's speaking
of the Messiah that was promised throughout the
Old Covenant. The Messiah, who is Christ, That
was spoken of and alluded to and foreshadowed
in all kinds of ways throughout the Old Covenant.
It's as though the Old Covenant, in all of its
parts, in all of its portions, in all of its
pieces, its stories, its characters, it's as
though the Old Covenant is pregnant with the
Messiah. With Messianic thought, with messianic
truths, with Christ, brothers and sisters. It's
as though it's gradually building and progressing
to the point and place where Christ would come
into this world, where the Messiah would arrive
and appear on the scene for God's covenant people.
The Messiah is the seed promised in Genesis 3,
verse 15, where the offspring of the woman is
going to crush the head of the serpent. The Messiah
is the seed of Abraham that would bless the entire
world, brothers and sisters. It's the promised
Messiah that would come forth from Abraham's...
physical lineage, and through the nation of Israel.
He is the angel of the Lord that mediated the
promises of God to the people of God that would
one day become incarnate and take on flesh. The
Messiah, brothers and sisters, is the seed promised
all throughout the Bible. He is the one greater
than Moses, the prophet greater. Than Moses.
He is the servant of the Lord. As the prophet
Isaiah spoke of him. And the suffering servant.
Of Isaiah chapter 53. He is the one. Who would
sit. And rule on the throne of David. Forever.
Without end. He is the great shepherd. Of the
sheep. That would regather and restore. And rebuild
the nation of Israel. That would gather in. All
the sheep. He is the great prophet. The great
priest. And the great king. That would come and
mediate. The greater sacrifice. And the greater
salvation. And bring God and man together. In
the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the type. He
is the antitype of all the types in the Old Testament
that foreshadow him. The Messiah is the fulfillment
of every promise and every prophecy regarding
the Messiah, the Messianic community, the new
heavens and the new earth, and the work that
he would accomplish. Brothers and sisters, We're
talking about none other than the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. He was born in Bethlehem. We're
talking about the Son of God who took on flesh
and dwelt among us. The one that was the God
-man and born of the Virgin Mary. The Alpha and
the Omega, the great physician, the great I Am.
the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world,
and the Lion of the tribe of Judah. We're talking
about our Lord, our Master, our Savior, Jesus
Christ the Lord. This is why when we come to
the New Testament narrative accounts of the birth
of Christ, we read this in Luke chapter 22. full
of anticipation, as though the centuries have
been culminating and building to this point.
In Luke 2, starting in verse 22, we read this.
Or verse 21. And when eight days had passed before
his circumcision, his name was then called Jesus.
He was given by the angel before he was conceived
in the womb, talking about his name. And when
the days of their purification according to the
law of Moses were completed, they brought him
up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As
it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn
child that opens the womb shall be called holy,
to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according
to what was said in the law of the Lord, a pair
of turtle doves or two young pigeons. And there
was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
And this man was righteous and devout, looking
for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit
was upon him. What was he looking for? The consolation
of Israel. The Messiah. The messianic hope that
he had known about and he had learned about and
he had come to long for and come to believe that
was given to him and the promises that were in
God's word and in God's law that was written
down. That he knew in his heart and his mind.
And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he would not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ, the Lord's Messiah. The Anointed
One. Jesus Christ. And He came in the Spirit
into the temple. And when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to carry out for Him the custom
of the law, then He took Him into His arms and
blessed God and said, Now, Lord, You are releasing
Your bondservant to depart in peace according
to Your Word. For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all
peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles
and the glory of your people Israel. He's holding
a baby in his arms. He's saying that this is
the salvation, brothers and sisters. Christ,
the child, the baby in the flesh. That is the
salvation of the people. That is the light of
revelation to the Gentiles, the glory. of God's
covenant people. And his father and mother were
amazed at the things which were being said about
him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary
his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for
the fall and rise of many in Israel and for a
sign to be opposed. And a sword will pierce even
your own soul to the end that thoughts from many
hearts may be revealed. And there was a prophetess,
Anna, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of
Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived
with her husband seven years after her marriage.
And then, as a widow at the age of 84, she never
left the temple serving night and day with fastings
and prayers. At that very moment, she came up
and began giving thanks to God and continued
to speak of Him. to all those who were looking
for the redemption of Jerusalem. Messianic hope.
And when does this messianic hope arrive on the
scene? When does it become tangible? When are
you able to see this messianic hope? When are
you able to touch this messianic hope? When does
salvation arrive for the people of God? When
Christ arrives. When the Lord Jesus Christ himself
comes on the scene. Salvation comes to the people
of God. The hope of Israel. The dreams. The longings.
The desires. The anticipation. The waiting. It's
all fulfilled and wrapped up in the person and
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why.
Christmas is important. Because it's talking
about the coming, the first advent of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, when we think about the first
advent of Christ, there was much that was seemingly
concealed. Wasn't there, brothers and sisters?
It was still an element of mystery. in the Incarnation.
His glory was not seen in His first advent, His
first coming. His power, His authority, His majesty
was not seen. It was not tangible. It was not
on display as it could have been in His first
coming. In fact, the first advent, the first
coming of Christ definitively marked by humiliation.
Lowliness on the part of the Son of God. He took
on flesh and dwelt among us, brothers and sisters.
He lived unto the law. And how did he die? As
a criminal. In a shameful death being mocked.
It was marked by humiliation. lowliness, pain,
suffering. But those days came to an end. He
didn't stay on the cross, did he, brothers and
sisters? He came when he was born as a baby to
go to the cross. But he didn't stay on the cross.
Three days later, he rose from the dead of his
own authority, his own power. And then he ascended
to the Father's right hand sometime later. He's
ruling and he's reigning. So the first coming
of Christ really inaugurates and starts another
period of waiting for the new covenant people
of God. The church throughout the ages has always
been a waiting. A longing church. A looking church
to see what is ahead. An expectant church. And
we are no different. Because there is another
advent ahead of us. There is the second coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But how will this coming
be different than his first? That which was concealed
and hidden and not seen in the first will be
fully manifest and fully evident and fully witnessed
and fully felt by every human being on planet
earth when he returns. Just as all of redemptive
history For the old covenant saint was culminating
and leading and building to the first coming
of Christ. Brothers and sisters, all human history
is building, progressing, culminating, and heading
to one distinct point and moment of time, the
second coming of Christ. when there will be a
reckoning for the entire world. He's already
dealt with sin. He's already saved His people.
He's already called in His elect. And now He's
coming, not as a little baby, not as one concealed
with His glory covered, but as one who is the
Son of Man in power and glory and authority for
all the world to see. There will be no mistaking
about who this God -man is on that great day.
Whether men like it, whether men rejoice in it,
whether men run away from it, brothers and sisters,
you will bow the knee to Christ when He comes
in glory. Because He will not be coming in humiliation.
He will be coming in glory and exaltation at
His next coming. We wait for that. We look to
that, brothers and sisters. Men in the world
who do not know Christ have to reckon with the
fact that they deal with Christ now or they deal
with Christ later. You come to Him by faith and
repentance now, or He comes to you in judgment
on that great day. The gospel is being proclaimed
to all the nations. The gospel is being preached
among the nations. The gospel is being preached
today, and that means there is time for sinners
to turn from their sin and to trust in Christ.
but that day will run out. When Christ comes
back, there's no more gospel preaching, brothers
and sisters. When Christ returns, there's no
more call for repentance and faith because of
your sin and immorality and because of the things
in your life. That's done. But there is today.
There is now. There is in this moment, there
is as long as there is breath left in your lungs,
you have time to turn from your sins and to trust
in Christ or deal with Him when He comes again
in glory and power. The church is to remain faithful
and wait faithfully as we look to that day. We
do that by living by faith. According to the
word that God has given to us. Not getting squirmy
and antsy in this world and antsy in this life.
But brothers and sisters, waiting faithfully.
Knowing what Christ has done in his first advent.
That we are saved by grace. That we have eternal
life. that our sins are forgiven, that when we
die we go to be with God, we go to His throne,
into His presence, and that we have no condemnation
or judgment. But we wait, brothers and sisters,
with faith looking unto Christ throughout our
lives. Not squirming, but faithful, waiting,
looking to the promises of God, knowing. That
just as God faithfully brought about every promise
to His covenant people at the first advent of
Christ, He will bring about every promise to
its full and final fulfillment and realization
at the second coming for all of His people.