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November 23, 2003
End Times - Christ the King
Revelation 1:4b-8
Pastor Ben Berger

Yearn for Jesus' Coming

Which would you choose: going to school tomorrow or leaving tonight for one week's vacation in Hawaii? Which would you choose: a 1992 Ford Escort or a 2004 Corvette? Which would you choose: living on this earth for ten more years or going to heaven tonight? I'm sure that some of you are ready to go to heaven right now. How blessed you are! I wish I could pair you up with the rest of us. Maybe the rest of us wouldn't complain about going to heaven, but how many of us would be disappointed to leave this earth? How many of us really want Jesus to come back quickly? Perhaps we have some things to do first. We want to find love, get married and have a family. We want to finish our education and start a career. We want to end a career and enjoy retirement and the grandkids. Isn't that like saying I'd rather go to school than to Hawaii? Today I encourage you to Yearn for Jesus' Coming. Don't just hope that it will come one day. Beg for it to come today. Want nothing more in your heart. Wait for it like you wait for vacation or Christmas presents. Yearn for it. Yearn for Jesus' Coming for two reasons. When he comes, 1) We will celebrate his victory and 2) He will end our misery.

Do we realize that we are at war? What do we think about when we get up in the morning? Perhaps, if something exciting is supposed to happen, we look forward to that. Most of the time we probably get up and get ready to live our routines. We are at war! I'm not talking about the US being at war against Saddam or Osama or anyone else. Our struggle is not with flesh and blood. We are at war with the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Every day we are at war with sin and Satan, the world and even our own sinful flesh. Every day the unholy three are trying to ruin us and lead us to eternal destruction. We are at war against death itself.

If you don't recognize this war, you are not fighting. In that case you have become a slave to sin and death. The devil has defeated you and recruited you for his side. You are his prisoner. There is no way you can be fighting this war without a fierce struggle. Fighting in this war means that we confess our sins and guilt by asking for forgiveness. Fighting in this war means that we recognize temptation and ask for strength. Fighting in this war means that we need help and ask for it.

Jesus is our help because he has already won the war. John gives glory to Jesus because he has freed us from our sins (5). Sin used to hold us as a prisoner of war. Sin captured our hearts and controlled us. Sin denied access to our family, our Father and brother in heaven. Sin tortured us with the guilt of our past. Sin beat us down waiting for us to either join its forces or die. Jesus freed us from our sins. He took the chains off of our hearts. He removed the guilt from our backs. He gave us access to his Father in heaven. Now we are waiting for Jesus to come and take us home to heaven. There we shall have a homecoming like never before.

John tells us how Jesus was able to win this victory. He calls Jesus the faithful witness. Jesus left his throne and palace in heaven and came down to fight this war on the front lines. He went head to head against the temptations of Satan. As the faithful witness, he used God's word to defeat every one of those temptations. John calls Jesus the ruler of the kings of the earth. All kings and rulers of the earth receive their power from Jesus. That includes the Pharisees and Jewish leaders who wanted to kill Jesus; that includes Pilate who gave the orders. Though they thought they could defeat Jesus, he was their ruler.

In fact, it is by his blood that Jesus freed us from our sins. When Jesus came to battle, he died. But, it is the very blood he spilled that won the victory. It is his blood that covered our sins and removed our guilt. Shortly after he died, Jesus became the firstborn of the dead. Jesus showed his power to all when he rose from the dead. Most of all he assured us that he is our living King. He has all power - over Satan, over sin and over death. He has won the war!

Why? Why was Jesus willing to do all of this for us? He did it because he loves us. One of the greatest expressions of love among humans is when one soldier gives his life to save a fellow soldier. How much more then when the King himself gives his life to save you! Please do not underestimate how much God loves you. The Father loves you so much that he gave us his only child. The Son loves you so much that he gave up his very life. God loves you so much that he wants nothing more than to spend eternity with you.

What was the purpose for winning the war? Jesus wanted to make us to be a kingdom and priests. Jesus has invited us and all believers to rule with him. We will rule as priests. As priests we have access to God. We can approach him whenever we want. When we ask for his blessing, we will receive it. We will live in the joy of his presence forever. As priests we will serve our God and Father. We will acknowledge his glory and power forever and ever.

This is why we want to yearn for Jesus' coming. When Jesus comes, we will finally be able to celebrate the victory that is ours. I was watching M*A*S*H the other night. That was a show about the Korean war. It's the closest I've come to understanding how much a soldier wants to go home. In the episode I saw the other night, they declared, "the war is over." Everyone was jumping around and shouting for joy. "The war is over" was the best news they ever heard. That is the news we have. The war is over. I want to go home to celebrate.

In that M*A*S*H episode something else happened. While everyone was still celebrating, more wounded came. The war was over, but the misery continued for a little while. That's the second reason we yearn for Jesus' coming. When he comes, he will end our misery.

Although the war is over and sin, Satan and death have been defeated, the battles continue. Until Jesus comes again, we will continue living in this world of sin and fighting the spiritual forces of evil. Jesus has forgiven our sins and still we see the consequences of sin every day. Work is hard; school is boring. We feel lonely and unloved. We get sick; our loved ones die. The battle continues. Though Satan has been defeated, he continues to tempt us. He knows that our sin brings misery into our lives and he wants to make us as miserable as possible. He sees our weak faith and hopes to take it away completely. Satan would love to see us become lazy and complacent. He doesn't want us to yearn for Jesus' coming because that spells the end for him. He wants us to enjoy ourselves on this earth and stay here as long as we can. Satan still hopes to tear us away from our God. The battle continues. Even death continues to fight against us. Death tries to hold its grip over us. It wants us to fear it. Death tells us that it is the end; there is no life after death. Death too tries to convince us that earth is the place to be. Forget about heaven. Forget about Jesus' coming. The battle continues.

However, when Jesus comes, all battles will end! and so will our misery. In his first vision John saw Jesus coming with the clouds. When Jesus comes, every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. When Jesus comes, most of the people who see him will mourn over him. They will mourn because then they will realize that Jesus was their only hope. They will realize that they rejected the only one who could have saved them. Because of their unbelief their misery will continue. The misery they experienced on earth will be nothing compared to the misery of hell.

While most mourn at Jesus' coming, we will rejoice. We will rejoice because Jesus will end our misery. Finally we will reap the full benefits of the victory that Jesus has won for us. We will no longer have to toil and labor because of thirst or hunger. All crying and pain will cease. Even death will lose its terror and become the door to eternal life. In place of our misery we will stand around the throne of God in pure joy. We'll laugh and giggle. We'll always have a smile on our face. We'll know we are loved and protected.

At that time Jesus will declare his power. He declares, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty," (8). Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and omega the last. In other words, Jesus says that he is the A and the Z. He is the beginning and the end. Jesus declares that he is eternal, outside of time. He is, he was, and he will come again. He has always been with us; he is with us right now; he will come to be with us forever. Finally Jesus declares that he is the Almighty. He has all power. He showed it by winning the war. He'll show it again when he returns.

Such promises guarantee us that Jesus will return and will end our misery. Yearn for Jesus' coming. I hope that we have seen how living on earth is far inferior to what heaven will be like. I hope that everyday when we wake up our first thought will be a desire to see Jesus. I hope that we can't wait for Jesus to come, that we beg and plead and pray for it. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.