Origin
Origin
The Second Coming of Jesus & The Battle of Armageddon
Welcome back to the table of Origin where we dare to talk about the elephants in the room through the lens of original design. We're in part two of The End, a Revelation study. And today we're going to talk about the Second Coming of Jesus and the Battle of Armageddon. We're going to contrast the two of those. Actually, we're not contrasting these in the same way we have contrasted other subjects, but at the same time, the lens shifts. We're looking at who Jesus is, and then we shift to the actual battle. We've learned about the Rapture, about being marked or sealed, the judgments to come and the witnesses during the Tribulation. Today, we're going to move into seeing the glory and the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a privilege to talk about that. We're going to see the Tribulation where all the world will experience the second coming of Christ. He isn't coming like He came the first time. So let's talk about how He came the first time. Jina, can you tell us how He came the first time and how His second coming is going to be different?
Jina McAfee:We just finished celebrating Christmas, which is celebrating His first coming. When He came the first time, He came as a baby, but He's coming back as the Warrior King and Judge. I want to go to Revelation 1:7 just a minute to talk about how He's coming back, and then switch to how He came the first time. How He's coming back is found in Revelation 1:7. The Amplified version says, "He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him [He's not a baby. He's the Warrior King and Judge], even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes[or the nations] of the earth will mourn over Him [because they're realizing their sin and guilt, and they're anticipating the coming wrath.] So it is to be. Amen." All this time we've been talking about The End, we have been saying that God is giving you an opportunity to choose Him. When He returns the second time, those who did not choose Him, will be mourning. The first time He came, we know He came as a baby. At Christmas, we read through Luke 2. We look at the Christmas story, the
birth of Jesus. Luke 2:7 says,"Then she [Mary. We know Mary was His mom.] gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she wrapped Him snugly in cloth and laid Him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them at the lodging place" (HSCB). We see that God through His angels announced to shepherds in the field that Messiah had been born and this is how you're going to find Him. Notice that we see the same wording. Luke 2:12 HCSB says, "This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough." That's exactly how the shepherds found Him. Exactly.
ReGina Johnston:So He came as a baby. He's coming back as a warrior king.
Jina McAfee:He came as a dependent baby. Think about the King of all the earth putting Himself in the hands of a teenage girl and her husband. What trust.
ReGina Johnston:Even at that point, some people recognized or preconceived His purpose, even as a baby. Kyli, tell us more about the purpose that Jesus came the first time.
Kyli Rose:We know He came. Why did He come? in Isaiah 9:6, it says, "For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace." We're going to be talking a lot about names in just a little bit. I love how even in His entry, He comes with these names attached to Him. So we see He was born with a purpose. That was to restore us back to the Father. All the way back in Genesis 3, sin separated us from God, and we see God put this rescue plan into motion. And we see it beginning here with Jesus. He fulfills the purpose, right? He came, but He didn't stay in the trough. A lot of people have kept Him in that manger. A lot of people never got past the fact that Jesus is no longer a baby. He fulfilled the purpose when He died on a cross. He started as a baby, He died on the cross for our sins, and then we see Him rise again on the third day. We celebrate Easter to celebrate that moment. And in that moment, He defeated death, hell and the grave and the enemy, but He wasn't done yet.
ReGina Johnston:So He's coming back again. We read about His Second Coming to some degree right here in Revelation
19:11-16. We're going to share quite a bit of Scripture today, but I think you're going to find it very interesting as it's woven together to tell us about this process of Jesus coming as a baby and ending up as Warrior King. John says, "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness, He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh, He has a name written, 'KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.'" Now, in that Scripture, we saw several names for Jesus, and we want to talk about those names. Jina, talk to us a little bit about this passage of Scripture.
Jina McAfee:I love how we see Jesus here. We think about when He died on the cross, He is the Lamb of God, but He's coming as the Lion from the tribe of Judah. And He is a victor. Really, the first time He came, people thought He would be king, He would rule on the earth. And He will one day, but we're still waiting for that. One of the first things we noticed is that He's called by several different names. As you heard, Regina read, she said, "He who sat on the white horse [this is Jesus] is called Faithful and True and in righteousness, He judges and wages war." He is righteous in everything. His judgment is righteous. Then we see just a little bit later that "His eyes are a flame of fire." So He's able to see right into the truth of everything, every heart, whatever's going on. He can truly see. His sight penetrates into everyone's strengths, everyone's weaknesses, all of His enemies. And He is declaring His authority and truth, with simply His name. I love that. And then I know Regina just read too, He's also called by a name that "no one knows but Himself."
ReGina Johnston:That's intriguing. Have you ever wondered what what in the world that is about? We don't fully know. But it's intriguing.
Jina McAfee:We know so many names of God, all through Scripture. So we think, okay, there's still a name we don't even know yet.
ReGina Johnston:You almost wonder, does God the Father have this very special name that He calls His son? That's only between the two of them? Or is He going to reveal this name, and I believe that's the case, some time in the future? And that's Jesus. He is so vast, and there's so much to know about Him that there will be unfolding revelation through infinity.
Jina McAfee:Which is wild to me because we love revelation. I do. He put that inside of us. It's like He's saying, "Hey, I've got a name you're going to learn." It makes you excited.
Kyli Rose:Even the ones we have don't fully capture Him. I remember the woman who taught this, her name was Kelli, said,"Good isn't good enough. Great isn't great enough. Holy isn't holy enough." Our words simply fall short. He is beyond our comprehension. He is so much more.
Jina McAfee:Even when John is describing Him, he's got to use words, but we know it's not enough. It's so much awe that John falls to the ground. He can't even stand.
ReGina Johnston:Sometimes I don't think we walk in that kind of awe. We just don't. Lord, help us to walk in awe of who You are. The Scripture mentions a few other names assigned to Jesus. Kyli, tell us about those names.
Kyli Rose:We also see that He's called the Word of God. And we
see the Scripture in John 1:1. It says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God.[We see the word being used for Word there is actually, Jesus. So in the beginning was Jesus. And Jesus was with God. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.] He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being." His name has always been the Word of God. And the Word is not just a book; it is life. Yes. And so we see that Jesus did not just appear in the opening pages of the New Testament, right? He's been with God from the beginning. Whenever He was laying the foundations of the earth, Jesus was there doing that too. You can't help but be so grateful and thankful. You see how He condescended to become a human, the One who stepped down from Heaven, to wrap Himself in human flesh, to limit Himself. He was a baby. He had to learn words. He fell, He scratched his knees. That's really mind blowing to see that He chose to do that. He chose to do that for us. We see also on His thigh and His robe is the final name that He is called here, "King of Kings and Lord of Lords." And we see that these names have been used throughout the Scriptures, throughout the Old Testament. This is a name that we saw Him called throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. We see it in Deuteronomy 10:17. It says, "The King of kings and the Lord of lords, for the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords." Psalm 136:3 says, "Give thanks to the Lord of lords." First Timothy 6:15 says, "He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords." He wears many crowns because He is the King of kings, the King of all, the King of everything. There is no one over Him in Heaven or an Earth. And so you see this confirmation. He is fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies about who He is and the business that He came to conclude.
ReGina Johnston:The Scripture talks about what He's wearing, right. Let's look at that for a minute. He's wearing this robe dipped in blood. Jina, can you tell us what is the significance of that?
Jina McAfee:I love that. He's described in Revelation 19, when He comes again, as wearing a robe dipped in blood. We see this also in Isaiah who was a prophet who wrote 700 years before Christ came. God is giving Isaiah the same words.
Isaiah 63:2-3 says, "Why is Your apparel red, and Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? I have trodden the wine trough alone, and from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger and trampled them in My wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, and I stained all My raiment [all My clothes]." In that same passage that Regina read in Revelation 19:15, it says, "He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a wine press." You see the exact same description. So when He comes, He's going to defeat the enemy. We will be with Him, but we just watch. He does it with the Word from his mouth. He will be wearing the blood of His enemies that He will defeat. My first thought when I hear that His garments are stained red with blood is that He was the Lamb of God that was slain. So He has that blood, His blood poured out, as the Lamb that was slain. And He has the blood of His enemies when He comes as conquering King. So it's like two different things.
ReGina Johnston: Matthew 24:27 says, "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be." Scholars have different viewpoints on what this lightning represents. Some interpret it to be that His coming will be unexpected just like flashes of lightning are sometimes unexpected. I remember sometimes when you're driving and you see lightning strike from the heavens to the earth, you make an exclamation, "Wow! Did you see that?" Some interpret it to be something like that. Others think that it's referring to the lightning in the sky, that we first see Him in the heavens. It's just going to be kind of vision, an immediate vision. But still others believe that the lightning refers to how quickly the saints will gather to Him like lightning. And, Jina, you said He's not alone. We're there. We're watching, but we're not fighting. We're watching Him fight. We're backing him up. He's not coming alone. So if we refer back to Revelation 19:14, we see, "And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses." That's us! Don't you love that we come on a white horse! I had a white horse with spots when I was growing up. This is going to be, in my mind, so regal. And what an honor to follow the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Zechariah 14:5b says, "Then the Lord my God will come, and all His holy ones with Him." So let's talk about who that is that's with Him. Kyli, can you help us with that?
Kyli Rose:So we see based on the language used that those who are coming with Him are the angels and the saints. And we know this, because in Revelation 19:14, we're told that they're clothed in fine white linen. And when we look at the descriptions of the angels, you'll see a description in Matthew 28.
Matthew 28:2-3 says, "And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the LORD descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it. And His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow." And then we see it again in Acts 1:10 which says, "As they were gazing intently into the sky [Jesus had just gone into heaven, and they're just standing staring at the sky. So as they were gazing intently at the sky] while He was going, then behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them." So we see some connections there. We know that the angels will be coming with Him. And then it says that the saints are clothed in white in Revelation 19. Verses 7 and 8 say, "Let's rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has prepared herself. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." And verse 14 says,"I said to him, 'My Lord, You know.' And he said to me, 'These are the ones who come out of the Great Tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'" So we see that He's gathering His heavenly army to go with Him. The angels and the saints are prepared to fight with the Lord to defeat the army of the evil ones.
ReGina Johnston:So there behind Him, or there with Him, are the ones who went in the Rapture and returned, and the angels of heaven as well, and those who made it through the Tribulation. There will be some. So they're with Him. I think that's so cool. So just as Jesus' first coming was foretold years before[this is one of the ways we know that the Bible is true. People who lived in different time periods and did not even know one another spoke of the same event. With remarkable similarity, remarkable similarity.] Jesus' Second Coming has been foretold many years before He actually comes. His coming marks the beginning of the battle of Armageddon, which we're going to talk about in a minute. But before we get there, I just want us to look at some of the prophecies regarding that Second Coming of Christ. So Jina, can you take us through some of those?
Jina McAfee:I want to go to the prophet Zechariah. Again, that's hundreds of years before Jesus came, hundreds of years. Chapter 14 talks about how the Lord will rule the earth. Verse two says,"I [God] will gather all the nations to fight against Jerusalem." So it's God's plan. Verses three and four say, "Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as He fights on a day of battle. On that day, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south." Can you imagine? The ground moves. And I think it's important that we see that when the Rapture happens that's when Christ calls the church up. He doesn't come to earth. The church meets Him in the air. But at the Second Coming, when Christ returns, what we're talking about today, His feet will land on the Mount of Olives. Luke tells us this in chapter 24, verses 50 through 52. It says, "He [Jesus] led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they, after worshipping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy." They watched Him. Luke confirms that the area outside of Bethany was the Mount of Olives in Acts 1:12. What all of this means is
this:the same place that Jesus' feet last touched the Earth is the same place that His feet will touch the earth on His return.
ReGina Johnston:People say you can't make this up. The story is incredible!
Kyli Rose:Like, tell me the Bible's right. Just tell me.
Jina McAfee: And Acts 1:11b says, "Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday He will return from heaven in the same way you saw Him go!"
ReGina Johnston:So we've had the lens on Jesus as He comes the first time as a baby, the second time as a warrior king. Let's turn it towards the battle of Armageddon. Kyli, can you set the scene for us regarding that battle?
Kyli Rose:Yes. So we see that Christ returns, and He's returning with the angels and the saints. He is coming ready for battle. So who is He going to be fighting? And where are they coming from? We see this answered in Zechariah 14:2. It says, "The Lord will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it." So even His enemies have to respond to His authority. He summons them and they come. Then when He returns, and we keep reading in Zechariah 14, it says, a great earthquake will take place. It's this earthquake that's going to split the mountains and open up a valley. And we see in Joel that God is going to call them to the valley of Jehoshaphat. God will call them to come to Him, and they will come. Even the armies of the enemy are under His authority. They're summoned to the valley of Jehoshaphat, which means "Yahweh will judge," which is pretty profound. It's here that judgment will take place at the battle of Armageddon. And we read in Joel 3 that the Lord then challenges the armies of the nations to get ready and fight. We're going to pick up in verse 9 here. It says, "Proclaim
this among the nations:Prepare for war; rouse the mighty men! Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up! Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, 'I am a mighty man.' Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down, O Lord, Your mighty ones. [We see that every single thing they have is being used as a weapon.] Let the nations be aroused and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. [You can just feel the power and the authority of Jesus in these Scriptures. It says:] Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. [They have made their choice and now it's time.] The sun and the moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness. The Lord roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth tremble" (Joel 3:9-16). So we see that the challenge is turned into a summons. And it's here at the valley of Jehoshaphat, which is in the Kidron Valley, just south of the Mount of Olives, there's this small hill pass called Megiddo, and it's in this place that the the battle of Armageddon is going to take place.
ReGina Johnston:When we heard this teaching, Kyli talked about the lady who taught it, her name is Kelli, and she's a history teacher. So it was so great for her to teach this. She talked about a term used in historic warfare that stands out. It just stood out to us. I don't know if I'll ever forget it. Jina, tell us about that term and then tell us about the battle of Armageddon.
Jina McAfee:It's interesting because I think people that don't even know the Word of God have heard about Armageddon. We've used it in secular uses for years. But I loved what Kelli said. She is a teacher of battles so she understands warfare. She said in Joel 3, just like Kyli said, get ready for war and take everything you use for farming and turn them into weapons. So they're turning everything they have, the means to feed themselves and live and harvest crops, into weapons. Kelli used this term that just stuck in my head. She said, it's called "Total War." This war involved all the nations. It was a total war when everything you have is used to fight. Kelli made it real to us when she said that World War 1 and World War 2, I think because they involved everyone, were Total Wars. These wars were devastating to Europe, all the European countries that participated. For us too. We had rations, people didn't get sugar. It affected lives. Everything was destroyed or consumed. That is the type of war the nations of the world are preparing for. So every nation that has injured God's nation will not go unpunished. This does not mean any specific place is God's nation. A nation is a group of people, not a country. All those that belong to God are part of God's nation, all who have said "yes" to God, both Israel and all who belong to God. And it's here in the valley that He will judge those who have pillaged and maimed and deceived His people and vindicate them. He fights for us, and there is going to be justice. And this is what I want you to see: when the Lord sets foot on the Mount of Olives, as all the peoples of the world that have not chosen Him gather together like bunches of grapes, the brightness of the sun and moon will be eclipsed by the glory of God, the Judge. And when the battle of Armageddon takes place, the Antichrist and False Prophet, remember they are part of the unholy trinity with Satan, gather together with their army, who are all that have chosen to fight alongside the Beast and the Dragon, He casts Antichrist and the False Prophet into the lake of fire and kills the entire enemy army. Jesus casts them into the fiery lake of burning sulfur and kills the entire enemy army with a Word. It's amazing!
ReGina Johnston:I know we've looked at a lot of Scripture, but I think these Scriptures from different parts of the Bible laid together tell us the story. So Kyli give us some scriptural background for this epic and even grotesque battle as we've talked about how the the juice flows, the analogy of juice flowing from a wine press. So give us some scriptural background.
Kyli Rose:We see in Revelation 19:20-21, it says, "But the beast was captured, and with it, the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. [And we read about that] With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshipped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse [We met this rider a few minutes ago] and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh." Isn't that a lovely picture here. So we see that when the enemy is killed, it says that they're all killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse. And the sword here is really powerful. We see in Ephesians 6 that we have some spiritual armor and there is a piece of our armor that is the sword of the spirit, the Word, right? And we see the name of the rider on
the horse in Revelation 19:11 is the Word of God. John 1:1 tells us that Jesus is the Word. So the presence and the opening of the Word have the power and the authority to bind the enemy and to defeat His enemies. With the Word.
Jina McAfee:He created the world with a Word and He defeats all the enemy armies with a Word,
Kyli Rose:And that Word lives in us and tells us that we have access to that Word. We have that power residing in us. So if you see this power being exercised in such a profound way, think about the way you're living today. You have power over you fear. You have power over anxiety. You have power over that frustration, those broken behavior cycles and patterns. You have to take it up, but it's in you and it's accessible. It's on the table. So we see that when the Beast and the False Prophet are thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, that all the powers of hell and earth are gathered together, and they're bound. They're bound. It says the armies of the enemy are killed. In Joel 3:13 it describes how they were killed. It says, "Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full. [They're bound together almost like a bunch of grapes. Then they are tread upon] The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great." So you get this picture of blood just running through the valley. We've heard war stories about World War 1 and World War 2, how the ground was just stained for months with the blood of those who shed their lives for their country. You're almost getting that picture here, that there is just sorrow and defeat. It's carnage. It's a mess. It's a terrifying judgment. It's a powerful picture.
ReGina Johnston:To take that a little further, Revelation 14:20 says, "And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles."
Jina McAfee:How high would a horse's bridle be. Regina? You rode horses.
ReGina Johnston:Depending on the size of the horse, but I'm thinking what, three, four feet off the ground?
Jina McAfee:That's what I'm thinking--three or four feet for 200 miles. That is mind boggling!
ReGina Johnston:Very much so. So you know, the valley of Jehoshaphat and Mount Megiddo is just a bloody mess, strewn with the corpses of the enemies of God. And the birds consume their flesh. It's just a grotesque picture. And in one Word, one Word, the battle of Armageddon is done. The victory of the battle of Armageddon is very costly. It's very costly. There's not a spirit of celebration or anger or
vengeance. Zechariah 12:10-12 tells us kind of what that's going to feel like. It says there will be a spirit of sorrow and compassion and earnest prayer because of the costly price that has been paid for the victory over this evil. You can imagine this. It would be really odd if we sat there and yelled and screamed like we were at a football game when our team made a touchdown when all this is happening. You can just sense that spirit of sorrow. Matthew Henry says, "Many [at this point] have been cast into Hell's anger and cursing, the self-imposed isolation from the realm of God into the realm of fear. [And really, that's going to be the description of hell, that separation from God's presence.] Hell is the place where the last voice you hear is your own" (Matthew Henry's Commentary).
Jina McAfee:So no community.
ReGina Johnston:It's just total separation forever and ever and ever. I don't even like hearing about this really. When you hear about it, the experience of it seems so heavy. But Jina, why do we need to hear about this battle?
Jina McAfee:We have said over and over again that so many people avoid studying or even reading Revelation. They don't understand it. It's confusing. It's hard. And this end, the blood coming up to the horses' bridles, that's shocking, and very, very hard. But the thing is, you know ones who haven't said yes to Jesus, who don't even know. But we know. And we must tell those who are in danger of experiencing that battle, of being one on the losing side. We all have kids and parents and family members and co-workers and people we went to school with and people in our neighborhood, we all have people that don't have a clue. So we've got to tell them what a
Kyli Rose:I love how you you end on the idea that He is a great God because when you read through some of this, you're great God we have. like there's a lot of wrath here. But because He is so grace-filled, and He loves his kids so much, He hates the things that hurt His children. He hates evil. He hates sin because it hurts us. And He loves you and me so much that He will judge and vindicate the thing that hurts His kids. It just speaks to His goodness and His kindness and His grace. He is grace, and He is just. You cannot separate those two.
ReGina Johnston:No. He is both. Both and.
Jina McAfee:And you know, Regina has said over and over during this season, God does not want any to perish. And that's why this judgment is the last resort. It's the last resort, but it has to come. It has to come. He has already won the battle and we win. As Christ followers, we win. We're not going to be consumed. But want to have God's heart of compassion for people. When you have a child that's not walking with the Lord, your heart is there. And so we don't want to not speak. We've got to speak about the saving grace of Jesus. We want to help people choose life. That's what we want. And He wants it.
Kyli Rose:No one is too far gone. No matter what you've done, what you've been a part of, willingly or unwillingly, He wants you. He wants you. He's pursuing you. He came as a baby and died on the cross for you, for me and for you.
Jina McAfee:Yes. And so one of the things I know we pray is, " Lord, open the eyes of the people that don't yet know You. Open their hearts."
ReGina Johnston:While there's that sorrow, there's something to celebrate as well. Finally, finally, we see victory over the enemy. Now, it's important to know that this victory was won a long time ago. The Lord won this battle a long time ago. But this finalizes it. No longer will the enemy be able to taunt, to tempt, to accuse, to lie about those of us who are following Jesus. He won't be able to do that anymore. So there's victory over that. And it's a complete and total reign of Jesus Christ. We don't learn about the Second Coming of Christ and the battle of Armageddon so that we don't choose hell. We learn about it so that we'll choose life. There's no time to waste. We have the choice before us, life or death, victory or defeat. And we need to choose now for eternity, because the time is now. We've heard this before as we started this study. The time is now, and not choosing, that's choosing.
Jina McAfee:Just two choices.
ReGina Johnston:Just two choices. Choose you this day, who you're going to serve. That's what the Bible says. Choose today. Make the choice today. There's so much benefit from choosing today. It's not just winning in the end. There are aspects of winning all throughout life when you choose Jesus today. I'm just going to close us out prayer. Lord, we just thank You for this opportunity to talk about Your Second Coming and this great battle that's before us. Lord, I pray that those listening will be drawn to choices and, Lord, today they will choose life. Today, we will choose life. God, I thank You for Your Word. I thank You that You tell us long before things are going to happen that they're going to happen. You give us plenty of time and multiple ways to hear about it. You pursue us when we don't even know we're being pursued. Awaken us to that, the relentless pursuit of the love of Jesus. And Lord, help us to respond. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.