The Eric Metaxas Show - #144 - John Bevere

Episode Date: June 23, 2026

Today On The Eric Metaxas Show, Eric talks with John Bevere about his new book The King Is Coming: It’s Time To Prepare For The Return Of Christ. John explains why he avoided teaching on the Second Coming for decades, why he now believes Christians must recover urgency, holiness, repentance, and readiness, and why he sees signs of a coming Great Awakening, especially among young believers.⭐ ORDER NOW:Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World📕: https://a.co/d/0ir3NlapTODAY'S SPONSORS:🛏️ MyPillow — Save BIG with code ERIC: https://www.mypillow.com/☀️ Honest, fast, and free Medicare plan guidance: https://askchapter.com/metaxas/

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Hey there, folks. Welcome back. My guest right now is an author and, well, many things. Speaker, evangelist. His name is John Bevere. Many of you know him. The new book is The King is coming. It's time to prepare for the return of Christ. John Bevere, welcome to this program. Eric, it's a pleasure to be on with you again. I got to ask you, how long have you been thinking about writing this book? The King is Coming. Eric, I went four decades. I'm 67 years old.

I went four decades in ministry and didn't talk about the Second Coming. Why? Because I felt like it produced lazy Christians, Christians that were looking for an escape mentality, argumentative Christians. So I just stayed away. People asked me, don't you speak on the Second Coming? I was like, no, not called to. And then in 2021, the Holy Spirit started dealing with me personally. Now, I had no idea he was setting me up to write a book.

But I didn't spend hundreds of hours. I spent thousands of hours. And the fruit that I saw was different than what I expected. My family started saying, you know, Dad, you're changing. You're not getting uptight and upset about things. And I remember I became much more passionate for ministry, Eric. And the other thing, you know, my wife said so you, and she's got, she's hilarious. she started calling me her favorite husband.

I said, what in the world does that mean? She said, I like 2.0 version better than 1.0. So what I discovered is that when eschatology, which is the study of end times, is preached or hurting correctly, it creates a lazy attitude, a lethargic attitude or argumentative attitude. When it's preached correctly, it creates urgency.

Think about it. You got a guy running a 5K race. When does he run the fastest? at the finish line, it's been actually proven when he sees the finish line, something hits him where he runs faster. And could it be that God has wanted every generation to have this sense of urgency in them? It also gives us power. This is amazing to purify ourselves, and we can talk about that more in depth, but it could be that God wanted every generation to have this.

How much more now that we know we're living in the generation of his return? Because Jesus said we would know the season, we would know the generation, but we will not know the day or hour. So what I found to be more important, Eric, is not dates and timelines. It's about how to prepare ourselves. Because Revelation 197 and 8 makes a very interesting statement. It says the wedding, the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride. Now listen to these words. has made herself ready.

And so it doesn't say that God makes us ready. We make ourselves ready. I remember when I was at Purdue University studying engineering, when we had finals week come back in those days in the early 80s, you didn't have phones, so you had to go to the engineering mall at Purdue. You had to find out the date, the time, the classroom, and building of your final.

That took 15 minutes, but I spent hours and hours preparing it. I find when people talk about eschatology, they totally sometimes limit it to the dates and timelines part, finding out the building, the classroom. Whereas I feel, you know, even with me as a student, I spent hours, hours preparing for that final. I feel like this is the more important aspect of the second coming is being prepared and being prepared. ready because Jesus talks over and over and over and over again about us being ready for his return. So that's what this book focuses on. So, but I guess a lot of people would still want to say, like when you say we can see the finish line, can you see the finish line?

In other words, we know there is a finish line. We know that Jesus is returning. But do you have a sense of the imminence of that? Yes, now more so than other, because we've got the super sign of the fact that Israel became After 1800 years of being away, they kept their custom, they kept their faith, they kept their language. And then in 67, taking the city of Jerusalem, Jesus said Jerusalem be trampled down by Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled. And Paul says when the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled, then all of Israel is going to be saved referencing to the Jacob's trouble or the seven-year tribulation. So we know, we know beyond a shout of a doubt. No generation's ever been able to say this. It would, We are living in the generation because Jesus said, assuredly, I say to you, that generation will not pass till all these things come to pass. And one of the final things that was going to come to pass that he talked about is him coming in the clouds with his holy ones. So we're in that generation.

Now, when you say that generation, you know, I've heard this a million different ways. You know, we're talking 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, 100 years. It's never clear to me. Some people are very, you know, they have these firm ideas. I remember, you know, some people predicting very confidently that it would be 1993 or four or something like that. Turns out they were off. What do you, do you have a sense? Because, you know, when you talk about 1967 or 1948, what about it?

I mean, okay, you're saying, and most people would agree, that that sets the stage, but what else would lead us to think that it's imminent? Okay, so let's talk about this. They were predicting an exact year. I don't believe we're, Jesus never said we'd know the year. He said we'd know the generation. So if you look at the Greek word used for generation, I love Nelson's Bible dictionary's definition. It's the time period that a group of people live on the earth at the same time. Well, if you look today, 2026, we've got World War II, there's very few World War II vets still alive. That war was 1945. So that would be 81 years ago. No, no, no, no, no, 86 years ago. And they had to be at least 15 years old when they were fighting in it. So generation, according to Nelson's Bible dictionary, is a time period of about 100 years. And so if you look at 67 to me, that's the bigger key than 1948, because Jesus specifically said Jerusalem would be trampled by the Gentiles or ruled by Gentiles. You've got to look at all the Gentile nations that ruled Jerusalem.

After Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, we've had nothing but Gentiles ruling over Jerusalem until 1967. So if you take 100 years and you add it to 67, you're at 2067. Now, if you look at Hosea, Hosea, and like I said, this is a very minor aspect of what I want to focus on. But Hosea says after, you know, he's going to tear and rend the people of Israel, And then he's going to go back to the place he came from. The only place you can go back to the place you came from is if you left and then had to go back,

well, that's Josea 5, the last two verses. Jesus left heaven, came to earth, right? Propheise the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple. Titus does it in 70 AD. Then Jesus went back. Well, you didn't go back in that same exact year, but in that generation went back to where he came from. Then Jose is, after two days, he'll revive us. Revive us who?

The Jewish people. And Peter says, don't forget this one thing, a day with the Lord's a thousand years. So if two days, after two days he revives us, it's after 2,000 years. You had 2,000 years down to 27, or to 70 AD. You're at 2070. So both with Jesus's prediction and Josea's prediction, you're within three years of each other. Now, I am not saying the day or the hour. I'm saying, I know this is a generation.

And I can safely say from scripture, two witnesses and one of them being Jesus, that by 2070, we're going to see him return. Now, that's not the day or the hour. That's still what? 34 years away, is it? Or actually, 44 years away? So we're still in a time where we should be very, very actively busy about the Lord's work and building the kingdom of God.

And that's what we're supposed to do anyway. supposed to occupy until he comes. So what does that mean then to prepare, to run faster because we can see the finish line? Let's say the finish line is, you know, 35 or 40 years from now. What does it mean to prepare? Eric, have you ever watched a football team and they're down by 10 points after the halftime? They come out and play virtually the same way. But when that team's down 10 points with seven minutes left, they go into no huddle, they start playing crazy good.

It really irks me when it's my favorite team. It really makes me mad. I'm like, you play this good, the whole game, you're going to win by a lot. And when I say create urgency, we have too many American people that basically go to church on Sunday and then kind of live for themselves the rest of the week. I believe it's going to be a great awakening. There's one more great awakening, the third great awakening. It's going to hit our nation, Eric. And I believe it's going to come through the preaching of repentance, just like John the Bauer,

Baptist came to prepare the way of the Lord before his first coming, I believe a group of people, sons and daughters, men's servants and maid servants are going to come. And their main message is going to be, hey, repent. And repent is such a highly religious word nowadays. We don't get it. But let's let me just let me make it easy to understand. When a girl walks down an aisle of a church and she's getting married to this guy, what is she actually saying? She's saying goodbye to about 3.9 billion guys. When I got down on one knee and I opened up the little ring box for Lisa and I said, baby, would you marry me? When she said yes, you know what she was saying goodbye? She was saying goodbye to Tony or her high school boyfriend, Peter, her college boyfriend. And she was saying no more boyfriends for the

rest of my life. Right now we've got a church in America that has too many idols in it. We love, we love material possessions. We love our sports. We love our social media and how many posts am I getting. We're not focused on the kingdom. And I say this with deep love because I love the American church. I love the American people. But unfortunately, we have been too distracted by all the pleasures, by all the opportunities we have in America, that now we more are enjoying this life saying, okay, there's going to be another life instead of living for the next life and being serious about what we're called to do on this earth, that we are ambassadors. I believe the church in America is going to wake up to this, which I believe is already beginning to happen, especially with the young guys.

I mean, you look at what's happening with young men in this nation. They're waking up. They're serious. We're seeing some of the greatest voices on YouTube right now and on social media, and they're in their 20s. And they are so passionate about the things of the kingdom. Ministry is not a profession. They're not really interested in how many people like me. They're interested in speaking the truth.

I think we're at the beginning of this great awakening, Eric, and I'm excited about it. While the corrupt federal elites have been quietly building wealth through cryptocurrency, hardworking American patriots have been left behind. Today, I want to tell you about metaxis crypto.com. They're bringing access to cryptocurrency wealth to real Americans. Crypto is supercharging President Trump's America First Economic Miracle, and now you can be a part of it. I've partnered with Block Trust IRA because their mission perfectly aligns with President

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I see more evidence of this. Somebody talking openly, we had the vice president talking everywhere about his faith in Jesus in a very beautiful, relaxed, honest way. It was not like hand-wringing, well, it was just something has changed. And that's one prominent example. But I see that over and over and over. People are more, are being more open about it. more celebrities are talking about it.

Talk about a culture shift. It's a dramatic culture shift. And then you look at the numbers that young men are going to church or reading the Bible. You think, listen, folks, this is real. This is real. What do you think is happening here?

People stop me on the job of your podcast. You know, I mean, we get anywhere from 50,000 to a million views on every episode. And you know who stops me in the airports constantly? It's people under 30. You know what? Adults tell me, or older people tell me constantly, my kids are really listening to you. You know, Eric, I've never really preached a soft gospel, a vanilla gospel.

And neither of you, and I love that about you, I am all about holiness. I am all about being set apart for Jesus. And the young people, it's so funny, you would think me, at 67 years old, you would think the people would be running up to me airport or 50, 60 year olds. No, they're all in their teens, 20s, and early 30s. and I love it because I see it as a move of God. God spoke to me back in the 90s and he said, you will be a voice to the young Elijah anointing that comes into this nation. You will meet many of them, but you'll speak to thousands of them and they will carry my voice and prepare my bride for my

second coming just as John the Baptist carried that same anointing to prepare the lost sheep of the House of Israel for his first coming. These kids are going to the lost sheep in the church, and I love it. I'm cheering them on. I'm so excited about them. It does, it really, it does sound, I'm glad to hear this because it corroborates what I've been seeing that, and this is not really reported on sufficiently in the mainstream media. They don't, they don't see this. They don't see that this is happening out there.

They kind of act like that maybe, maybe it's happening, but in, it, it kind of, reminds me when people talk about the country is so divided. And I go, I don't think it says divide. You're getting the impression it's divided because the nattering nabobs of negativism are very loud and have huge platforms. But I actually see tremendous hope. And I'm not just saying that. I just see it everywhere as you do. And so I'm inclined to think that we are on the verge of revival. And most of us don't even know what that's going to look like because we haven't really lived through it. What would it look like? We've lived in a world that has been so dramatically anti-faith in the mainstream media and the mainstream culture that sneers at people of faith,

that mocks people of faith. That has been shifting really palpably. I mean, it's amazing to me. I think, well, it's funny also when you talk about the idols, Suzanne, my wife and I were in our devotions reading about Solomon and all his wives. And you just think, wow, what a what a hard. that he did this, that he's putting up idols to demons, basically. Let's be clear, right? To demons. And it really is, it's sad, but it's almost funny that you have God, but you don't seem to really understand how wonderful God is.

And so you're going after all these other things. And when you talk about so many in the American church, you know, part of me wants to rebuke people. And there's another part of me that wants to say, do you understand what you're missing? You don't want to miss this. This, you don't want to miss this. Eric, Eric.

You live once. You know, why don't I commit adultery against Lisa? There's a reason. I've been married to Lisa 44 years. Why don't I commit adultery? Because I don't ever want to lose the times that our heads are on the pillow and she whispered something to me that she wouldn't say to any other human being. I mean, the fact that I get the deepest secrets of that beautiful woman's heart, oh,

I mean, there's no way I'd want to commit adultery, right? Of course, first and foremost, is that I fear God. Why don't I want to commit adultery against Jesus? Because I don't want to ever lose the times when he whispers something in my heart that I have never known before when he shows me the secrets of his heart. There is absolutely nothing that can replace that. You can put me on the front row of the greatest NBA final game or the World Cup soccer game. Uh-uh.

I'm not trading those intimate times. with Jesus for anything. And listen, we are betrothed. We are his bride. We're literally married. Betrothed means you are married. Engaged, you can break it. Betrothed, you're married. It's just your groom has gone to prepare a place for you. That's the ancient Jewish wedding. We're married to him. And yet how many people are committing adultery and don't even realize it because it's a cultural Christianity? These young people have risen up and said, you know what? There's something more. And we want it. We don't want to entertain people. to serve Jesus. We don't want to try to put as many butts in the seat as we can. We are

interest in people that are on fire because let me tell you something, you're never going to light anything on fire if you're not lit yourself. And the only way we're going to see revival is when people are lit on fire. I've been in ministry 43 years and I feel like I just started yesterday. And there's a reason because Eric, my number one goal, my number one goal in ministry is that I'm more in love with Jesus when I lead this earth than when I started ministry. because I've been in too many green rooms. I've seen the jadedness. I've seen the cynical attitudes.

I've seen the professional Christianity. I don't want it. And that's why I love hanging around these young people because they got fire. And I want to see that fire developed. And I want to see a move of God in this nation because God spoke to me, Eric, in 1990, he spoke to me and he said, what you're going to see come on the earth

will make the book of acts look like child's play. I said, what? What? He said, he'll make the book of acts look like child's play. I said, God, they pray in the building shake. They don't even have a scheduled meeting and 3,000 people get sick. They raise a crippled man of 5,000 people get sick. I said, whole cities are coming to the Lord.

The whole region of Asia hears the word of the Lord in two years without any kind of of YouTube or any kind of, I didn't say that back in 1990, without any radios or TV is what I said. And the Lord, I said, God, I can't believe it? You're going to have to give me scripture. And he said, didn't I say the end of the thing is better in the beginning? Didn't I say that the glory of the latter house would be greater than the former? the house of God in the New Testament is the church. He said, son, if you look at Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 30, he prophesied that the people of God

would put away their idols. And when they did, he said he would cause the rain to come. And then he said in that day, the sun would shine seven times greater. When we have natural rain outside, the sun doesn't shine seven times brighter. He's saying, the glory of my son, Jesus, will be seven times greater because James the apostle says, hey, he says, be patient for the coming of the Lord. Establish your hearts because it's soon. But he's waiting until the fruit of the earth receives the early rain and the latter rain.

The early rain started with a bang on the day of Pentecost, and it gradually fizzled out. The latter rain is going to start, I believe, now this is conjecture. This is just from years of prayer. It's going to start with a sprinkle like we're seeing right now, like you and I are talking about, but it's going to end with a bang. And I believe we're in the beginnings of that right now. that is also my sense. I didn't hear from the Lord in that way that you did, but that is my sense. You know, you try to read the signs of the times. What is God saying? And I, you know, I say to folks,

you don't want, don't you want what God has for you? I mean, why are you playing, why are you playing this game? God wants you to live totally for him. And what he has for you is so beautiful. It's the meaning, it's the meaning of your life. It's why you were born is to fully embrace his will for you. It's the most beautiful thing, but he won't force you. It's a beautiful thing. And, you know, as I hear you talk about these young people, I do think we're going to see things, John, that, you know, to see signs and wonders, to see people being healed. That changes minds. That blows minds. People, you know, and, you know, you and I have seen some of that. We just got a minute left. What have we not talked about? How can people prepare spiritually and practically for the second coming?

Well, Jesus tells us. He said, keep your lamps burning, stay dressed for service, and be like those who are eagerly waiting for their master return. What does it mean stay dressed for service? Keep active, occupy, keep building the kingdom. Whether you're an entrepreneur, whether you're in health care, build the kingdom of God in your area. That's building lives. Secondly, keep your oil burning. Stay in communion with the Holy Spirit.

I looked at a pastor recently who'd been in ministry for five decades and it started 500 churches and still is like a bulldog. And I said, what's your key? He said, I get up every morning at four and I spend time with Jesus. That's what's kept my fire burning. Number three, be anxiously waiting. Not anxiously. Be eagerly waiting for the return of the Lord. Why?

Because that gives us the ability, according to 1 John, 3, 2, 2 and 3 and 4. to purify ourselves even as he is pure. The book is titled, The King is Coming, and he is John Bevere. Just a joy to have you on. God bless you, my friend. Thanks for being with us. I appreciate what you're doing so much. You've often heard me talk about the Golden Triangle of Freedom,

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