Ron Dunn Podcast - The Second Coming Pt 1

Episode Date: May 24, 2023

Ron Dunn begins a new series on the second coming of Christ

I like the way the Holy Spirit arranges these things. If you'll open your Bibles this morning to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, we're going to read verses 13 through 18. Jamil and the choir had no idea that this morning I was beginning a series of sermons on the second coming of the Lord. And so I'm glad that we both are tied into the same line. I just wish I could preach half as good as they could sing. That's tremendous.

Every time I hear that, I kind of want to glance up. I thought I almost heard a trumpet there for just a minute. First Thessalonians, chapter 4, beginning with verse 13 and reading through verses 18. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,

and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort and encourage one another with these words. During the Civil War, when General Sherman was making his famous march through Georgia, going from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and then from Atlanta to the sea, the Confederate forces weren't of the leadership of a man by the name of Johnson. He wasn't doing too much to stop General Sherman, and so he was replaced by a very

impulsive and daredevil type of commander by the name of Hood. The first thing that Hood did was to begin to attack the lines of communication. Al-Atuna was a pass between the mountains, between Nashville and Chattanooga. And whoever controlled that mountain pass, that little force there, could control the lines of communication. And Sherman and some of his, rather some of Sherman's troops

were holding the little fort at Al-Atuna. And when the general heard that Hood had attacked that mountain pass, he sent a young lieutenant by the name of Corse to reinforce that little fort. And so as Corse and his men went towards the fort, Sherman and some of his officers climbed to the top of a mountain so that they could view the battle from their place of eminence. So after a while, when Sherman and his general staff were around, they could watch through field glasses the battle that was going on at that mountain pass.

And they could hear the faint echo of the cannon. And they could see the little puffs of smoke coming up. And after a while, the man at his right, who was the signal man, the flag man for the general, through the eyeglasses caught a message waving from the fort. And the message said, course has arrived. And then General Sherman answered back that famous answer. And this was the answer that the man waved back to the little fort. Hold the fort, I am coming. Philip P. Bliss, who was a great hymn writer and a companion of Dwight L. Moody, heard that story and he wrote a famous hymn that we don't sing much anymore.

Hold the fort, for I am coming. Jesus, signal still, wave the answer back to heaven. By thy grace, we will. I mention that story because throughout the Word of God, and especially in the New Testament, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is looked upon as an outpost of heaven. This church is a colony of heaven, and heaven is our mother city. This is what Paul is speaking of in Philippians chapter 3

when he says that we are a colony of heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven. And the church of Jesus Christ is looked upon as a fort, an outpost set up in enemy territory. And the mother city heaven is signaling back to us. And Jesus is waving back to us while we're occupying enemy territory. Hold the fort for I am coming. Jesus said, I want you to occupy till I come. And I don't know of anything that the church needs to understand more clearly today than this, that this world is not my home. I'm

just a passing through. That we as children of God are living in enemy territory and we need to understand that this world is not a friend of grace to help us on to God. It has never been and never will be. It's the same world that crucified Jesus that we find ourselves in today. And God has set this church up and he has set every church up as an outpost, a colony of a mother city. And we're to occupy and to do battle until the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. And the message that the word of God keeps ringing through its pages is, hold the fort, for I am coming. One-fifth of the entire book I hold in my hands is prophecy,

and over 318 verses in the New Testament have to do with the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I examine the teachings of our Lord, I discover that he had much more to say about prophecy and the second coming than he had to say about even the cross. And there is more prophesied in the Old Testament about his second coming than there is about his first coming. And I make another wonderful discovery. I discover that every prophecy in the Old Testament concerning the first appearing of Jesus was fulfilled in a literal, actual, and physical way. Not a one of them was fulfilled in a symbolical way.

They were all fulfilled literally as they were prophesied, no matter how confusing they were to the people of their day. And that leads me to believe that every prophecy concerning the second coming of Jesus, regardless of whether or not we understand it, shall be fulfilled in a literal, actual, physical way. And the Bible over and over again gives to the church this comfort, this encouragement, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be. The last book of the Bible ends with a prayer, even so, come, Lord Jesus, and it ought to be the prayer of every child of God this morning.

By the way, that little prayer is a pretty good test of your spirituality. If you want to know whether or not you're right with the Lord, you use prayer is a pretty good test of your spirituality. If you want to know whether or not you're right with the Lord, you use that as a test. If you cannot this morning say, I wish Jesus would come right now, I'm ready to meet him, then you need to check up a little bit. Because he's the loved one, he is the bridegroom, and the bride that fears the coming of the bridegroom, there's something wrong. And the Christian that fears and dreads the coming of his Lord, there's something wrong. Now, beginning this morning, I want to do a series of messages on the second coming, taking primarily the letters of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. And it's my object to just let the Bible speak for itself. I have no axe to grind. I'm not

concerned about taking a millennial position. I have no axe to grind. I'm not concerned about taking a millennial position. I have one, and I want you to discover what it is as we just let the Word of God unfold. We want to get our message and our teaching from the Word of God. I have always believed in the second coming of Jesus, and I suppose every generation has been looking forward to that coming. And I suppose that in every generation there have been those who believe that Jesus would come back in their own day. But I have never really believed that Jesus would come back in my lifetime until just recently. And I stand this morning convinced, I may be wrong, I am convinced though in my own heart that Jesus Christ shall come in this generation. And during the course of these messages, I want to tell you why I believe that.

No man knows the hour of the day, and I'm not about to set a date. You're not about to catch me in that old trap. But I want you to know something. Jesus Christ is doing something unusual in the land today. And everywhere I go and every person I speak to almost, there is an expectancy, there is an expectancy of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to see events coming to a culmination. And it's my conviction, based on the teaching of the Word of God

and the fulfillment of that prophecy in the newspapers today, that Jesus Christ may come. And I believe He will come during this generation. And the purpose of preaching and teaching on the second coming is not to satisfy curiosity and not merely to gather information, but to prepare our hearts. The message is, are you ready? If he should come today, are you ready? Now 1 Thessalonians is probably one of the earliest books ever written in the New Testament.

And 1 and 2 Thessalonians has a great deal to say about the second coming. And so what we're examining this morning are some of the first teachings of the scriptures concerning the second coming of Jesus. This morning we're going to be interested primarily in verse 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Now there was a question arising in the lives of some of these Thessalonian Christians. They believed the Lord Jesus was going to come back.

They believed he was going to come in their lifetime and set up his kingdom. They didn't want to miss it, but there was something they didn't understand. You see, these early Christians all believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime. They had no idea that this age would stretch out to its 2,000 years. They thought that Jesus would come back in their lifetime. And naturally, you would think that Jesus said, let not your hearts be troubled. I'm going away to repair a place for you and I will come again. Well, if Jesus said, I'm coming back to you, they just normally and naturally thought he would come back in their lifetime. But something

happened. Members of their church begin to die. Christians begin to die. And they wondered, well, these folks are going to miss out on the second coming of Jesus. The Lord is coming back, but what about these people who've died? They're going to miss it. And so they send their question to Paul. They say, Paul, we believe the Lord's coming back. We believe the day of the Lord is near, but some of our folks have died. They're going to miss it.

What's going to happen to them? And so Paul says, don't worry about anything. I would not have you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep. For they which have died, we who are alive and remain have no advantage. That's what the word prevent, your King James says, we shall not prevent them which are asleep. The word means we shall have no advantage over them. Here's what Paul is saying. Those people who are alive have no advantage over those people who are dead. Now, you would never have believed that if it hadn't been in the Bible, would you? You think you've got an advantage this morning over people who've already died, don't you? But you don't.

If they've died in the Lord, if they're asleep in Jesus, the Bible says you have no advantage over them. If anybody has the advantage, they have the advantage. And so Paul says, don't worry about those who fall asleep in Jesus, because when Jesus comes back, the dead in Christ are going to be raised first. Nobody who knows Jesus is going to miss out on the big show when it comes off. But in verse 16, he says something of great significance. Now, you know, he could have answered their question with just a few words.

And the Bible never wastes words. God is economical when it comes to words. And yet, in answering that simple one question, Paul gave us the fullest description found in the Word of God as to what is going to happen when Jesus comes. Now, the message this morning is introductory, and it's entitled, The of his coming the sounds of his coming and you notice in verse 16 jesus christ his second coming will be in connection with three

sounds the greek construction of those prepositional phrases have the idea of this that when the coming of the lord occurs it's going to be vitally connected with these three sounds. These three sounds have a vital significance as to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read them. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, in connection with a shout, and in connection with the voice of the archangel, and in connection with the voice of the archangel and in connection with the trump of god and the dead in christ shall rise first now these three significant sounds of the second coming of jesus give us a preview of what the second coming of christ is going to deal with we discover that when jesus comes again he's going to deal with three groups of people he's going to deal with. We discover that when Jesus comes again, He's going to deal with three groups of people. He's going to deal with saints, He's going to deal with Satan and

his angels, and He's going to deal with sinners. And each one of these sounds relates to one of these three groups of people that Jesus is going to deal with. He is coming with three sounds, and the first sound is the shout of victory, for the Lord himself shall descend with a shout, with a shout. And that's an interesting word in the Greek language because it's a word used of a commanding officer when he calls for all of his troops to muster together. It is a shout of command, and it is a shout of authority, and it is a shout of sovereignty. When you read the New Testament, you'll discover that Jesus shouted a great many things and cried out a great many times.

On the cross, he cried out seven times, and those were shouts of agony and humiliation and suffering and sorrow. But when Jesus Christ comes the second time, before he steps through those portals of glory, there's going to be a magnificent and miraculous shout. And it's going to be like a commanding general as he calls all his troops together. And he says, hold the fort, I'm coming and I want every one of my people to gather together, even those who are dead. Now over in John chapter 5, you will see Jesus talking about this same thing. In verse 28, Jesus says, Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good

unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. Notice that 28th verse, Jesus says, there is a day coming in the which that all they who are in the graves will hear my voice. I remember the first time I ever heard about Lazarus being raised from the grave. Remember when John 11, Jesus stood at that little grave side outside of Bethany, and he said, Lazarus will be all right. Don't worry about him, Mary Martha. I'm the resurrection and the life. A resurrection isn't a doctrine that you believe. It's a person.

I am the resurrection and the life. And so he stood before that tomb and he said, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus, who had been dead for four days heard the voice of sovereignty heard the voice of his master and he came forth and I never will forget the first time I heard a preacher say the reason he said Lazarus was because if Jesus had just said come forth every dead person in the world would have come out of their graves and so he had to be careful and designate who he wanted to come to life. He said, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus came forth. And I want you to know this morning

there is coming a day in the which that all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall be raised again. And Paul says, when the Lord shall descend, the dead in Christ shall rise first. That's why I can preach the funeral of a Christian person with victory and joy and assurance. I dread preaching the funeral of people that don't know Jesus. What can you say except preach to them the gospel of Jesus? No use talking about how good that man was. No use talking about all of his accomplishments because all of that is beside the point. But I love to have the opportunity when a Christian dies to be able to say that this person that we mourn today,

don't weep for him, don't mourn for him, because one of these days the Lord Jesus Christ is going to give a shout. Your loved ones may stand over your casket and they speak to you, but they cannot hear your voice. I stand beside many a casket, and I see wives and mothers and fathers and sons and daughters as they weep over the dead body of their loved ones and speak to them and say something to them,

but there's no response. They cannot hear. But I want you to know this morning there's one voice they can hear, and that's the voice of Jesus. And he's going to come with a shout, and that shout is going to be so magnificent that the dead in Christ are going to rise first. John 5, 28 says it.

I want us to back up just a minute and look at John 5, 24. He says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Now notice verse 25. In verse 25, Jesus is not talking about the second coming. He's talking about the first coming.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is. So we know he's not talking about the second coming. He's talking about right now. The hour is coming, and here it is when the dead who the spiritual dead shall hear the voice of the son of god and they that here shall live now i want you to get the connection jesus said while i'm here on earth and during this age of grace i'm going to be speaking to people who are dead in sins and trespasses and those that hear my voice now and come out of their spiritual graves now,

these are the ones who will hear my voice in the future and come out of their physical graves. And if you do not hear his voice this morning, and if you've never responded to his voice, if you've never said, Lord Jesus, I hear your voice calling me to repentance and forsaking my sin, and I yield myself to your lordship,

if you have never responded to that voice in this age of grace, you will not hear his voice when the dead in Christ shall rise first. And so there are two shouts, there are two voices that Jesus gives to those. He gives that voice to those of us who are dead in sins and says, if any man, if any man will open the door, I will come into him and bring him life. And then that day is coming after you have passed away and you've been dead and buried. That day is coming. If you heard my voice the first time and came out of your spiritual death, you will hear my shout the second time and come out of your physical death. And so

the Lord Jesus Christ is coming with a shout of victory. You know the worst thing about being lost? The worst thing about being lost is not going to hell. The worst thing about being lost is missing it. Just missing everything God has for us. Just missing the big show when it comes off. Just missing the glory and the majesty

and the magnificence of His second coming. That's the worst thing about being lost. Just missing it all. He's coming with a shout of victory. But also he's coming with a signal to battle. Notice that next sound. He shall descend not only with a shout, but he shall descend with the voice of the archangel. Now what does this mean?

This is a signal to battle. I discovered something as I studied these passages. You know, we're always talking about the archangels. Did you know that the word archangel is found only twice in the Bible? It's found right here in 1 Thessalonians, and it's also found in Jude 9. Over in Jude 9, he says, yet Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil, and so forth. The word archangel is found only twice in the New Testament, and there's only one who is named the archangel, and that is Michael. There is only one archangel named in the word of God. That is Michael, Jude 9 and over in the book of Daniel. Now when Jesus comes, there's

going to be the voice of the archangel. Michael is going to give a voice. He's going to give a shout. Let's see what he's going to do. Let's look at Michael. You listen as I read from Daniel chapter 10. Daniel chapter 10, we have these words said about Michael the archangel. But the prince of the kingdom of persia that's the devil withstood me one and 20 days but lo michael one of the chief princes came to help me all right the prince of persia is the devil and daniel said when i was trying to serve the lord when i was trying to prophesy the the devil came and attacked me, but Michael, the chief prince, the archangel, he stood by me to help me.

All right, over in Daniel chapter 12 and verse 1, listen to this prophecy. This is talking about what is found in Revelation chapter 12. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people. Michael stands for the children of God. All right, that's the first thing I want you to notice about Michael the archangel. Michael the archangel is the protector of the destiny of God's people. God has promised a certain destiny to all of us here this morning.

And Michael is the archangel of God sent to protect that destiny and to keep the devil from robbing us of our destiny in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what is that destiny? That destiny is that we might not see death. And if we do see death, that we're going to be raised again from the grave. That is the destiny of God's people. And Satan doesn't want that to happen, and so he tries to oppose God's program, and Michael always fights him. Listen to Jude 9. That's a strange verse. A lot of people never understood that. You remember when Moses died,

he had an unusual funeral. God buried Moses. Only two people knew where the body of Moses was, Michael, the archangel, and the devil. Now listen to what Jude 9 of Moses was, Michael the archangel and the devil. Now listen to what Jude 9 says, Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. Alright, here's what happened. When Moses died, God buried Moses. And there came a day when Michael came to the body of Moses and wanted to borrow it. And the devil withstood him. Now the grave and death is the devil's domain.

That's his territory. That's his kingdom, the kingdom of death. And here was Michael invading the devil's territory. Now what did Michael want with the body of Moses? The Mount of Transfiguration. Moses had been dead for centuries, and yet on the Mount of Transfiguration, James and John and Peter saw two standing with Jesus. One was Moses and the other was Elijah.

And so Michael went to the grave of Moses and resurrected the body of Moses to make that transfiguration appearance. And when he did that, the devil withstood him because the devil doesn't want anybody being taken out of the grave. The destiny of God's people is to be freed from the grave and Satan will always oppose that. And Michael is the protector of God's people and he always withstands the devil. First thing about Michael the archangel is he is the protector of God's people and he always withstands the devil. First thing about Michael the archangel is he is the protector of my destiny. The second thing about Michael the archangel, every time you see him, he's fighting with the devil. Every time you see Michael in the Bible, he's fighting with the devil. You read Revelation chapter 12 and you'll see it again. Michael is the avowed enemy of Satan.

Now here's what's going to happen. You see, the Bible says the Lord is going to come and he's going to say a voice, a word, a give a shout, and the dead in Christ are going to rise and we're going to ascend and meet the Lord in the air. Meet the Lord in the air. Now listen, there are two Greek words translated air in the New Testament. One has to do with that upper, clear, clean atmosphere. The other word air means this immediate atmosphere in which we find ourselves,

where all the smog and the soot is. Now, Ephesians 2 and 2 says that the devil is the prince of the power of the air, this lower atmosphere. Now I want you to notice something. When the Lord Jesus Christ descends from heaven, he's not going to come all the way to earth. He's going to stop in midair. You know where he's going to stop?

He's going to stop right there in the devil's territory. We're going to meet the Lord in the air, that part of the air that belongs to the devil. He is the prince and the power of this air. And Jesus is going to give a shout and the dead in Christ are going to rise. And when that happens, Satan is going to oppose them. And he's going to try to prevent the bodies of Christians from being raised from the dead. And so Michael is coming with a voice of the archangel and he's going to stand against Satan and protect the destiny of every Christian who's ever died in the Lord.

You know what that is? That's the beginning of the end for the devil. I'll tell you, I praise the Lord this morning that the devil's work has already been defeated by the cross, by the blood of Jesus. And one of these days, that defeat is going to be made experiential in the life of

Satan I can't wait I want to be there I don't want to miss out on that when Michael protects my destiny and stands against that old serpent the devil and every person that Satan has in his grip this morning every dead body every grave is going to be torn from the grasp of Satan and there's going to be victory and ultimate victory that's why the Bible says in heaven we're going to be torn from the grasp of Satan and there's going to be victory, an ultimate victory. That's why the Bible says in heaven we're going to spend the first thousand years just praising the Lord, just praising the Lord. And so he's coming with the voice of the archangel.

That's a signal to battle. And that's going to be the beginning of God's judgments and God's battles against the devil. But there's another sound. And that sound is the summons to judgment. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. What is that trump of God? All throughout the Bible, the trump of God has a special significance. In Isaiah chapter 27, it says that when God sounds the

trump, all the peoples of the earth will come into God's presence. You remember in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 10, it was the trumpet of God sounding that made John to know Jesus was there. And when he heard the trumpet, he turned and he saw Jesus. In Revelation chapter 4, it was the trumpet sounded that caused John to come up into the presence of God. In Joel chapter 2, it was the trumpet sounded that caused John to come up into the presence of God. In Joel chapter 2, it says, blow the trumpet and sound the alarm because the great day of the Lord has come. And all the way through the word of God, the trumpet sounding is the sign that God

is summoning all people into his presence for judgment and account. And when Jesus Christ comes, he's going to come with the sound of the trumpet. And when that trumpet sounds, that means that God is getting ready now to settle all accounts and all bills are now payable and due right now. That means that God is going to summon every man alive and every person who has ever lived on the face of God's earth and summon them all into his presence for judgment. For judgment. Now, for some of us, the trumpet will be a glad sound. For some of us, when we hear the trumpet, it means that we shall be ushered into the

presence of what? The bridegroom, the one who loves us, the one that we love, we shall see him face to face when by the gift of his infinite grace I am in heaven accorded a place. Just to be there and to look on his face will be glory for me. For some of us, the sound of the trumpet will be a glad sound. That means my Lord is calling me. And that means that I'm going to leave all of these hindrances of the flesh and all of these troubles and sorrows and weaknesses behind,

and I'm going to be caught up to meet my Lord face to face. That's going to be a glad sound. But for many of us, the trumpet is going to be a sound of horror and terror because it means you're finally going to look into the face of the one that you have rejected and spurned and terror. Because it means you're finally going to look into the face of the one that you have rejected and spurned and hated. The sounds of his coming. The sounds of his coming. And the Bible says he's coming soon. And all the signs and all the evidences and all the fulfilled prophecies

point that Jesus Christ is coming, and that right soon. When he comes, there's going to be a shout of victory. If you here this morning have loved ones who have passed on and they died in the Lord, I want you to rejoice this morning. You have no advantage over them. And one of these days, that dead person is going to be raised again, incorruptible, indestructible, immortal. There's going to be a voice of the archangel

in me, and the devil is going to be defeated. And the devil will not have any more claim on our lives and will have no more power on our lives. And there is going to be a trumpet, a summons into the presence of God. I close by asking you a question. If you were to hear that trumpet this morning, what would your reaction be? Let's just suppose you were to hear the trumpet now. You were to hear it sound right now. Would your heart leap within you for joy? Or would your heart melt out of fear?

A day is coming in the which the trumpet shall sound, and all shall hear it. All shall hear it. Do you know Jesus this morning in your heart as Lord and Savior? Let's bow together. For additional Rondon messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Rondon. For more Rondon materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondon.com.