Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Watching for the Son

Episode Date: March 1, 2023

Jesus tells the disciples that Jerusalem and the temple, at some future time, are going to be destroyed by the Romans. And Jesus says this is a foreshadowing of the end of the world, of judgment day, of his second coming to earth. Jesus then tells his disciples to watch and yearn for his coming back to earth. A lot of people, both inside and outside the church, really struggle with this teaching. Three questions come up immediately: 1) Doesn’t this lead to fanaticism? 2) What difference does it really make? and 3) What does it mean to watch? This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 10, 2006. Series: King's Cross: The Gospel of Mark, Part 2: The Journey to the Cross. Scripture: Mark 13:24-37. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Today on Gospel in Life, Tim Keller is exploring the life of Jesus as recorded by the Apostle Mark. It's a fascinating look into the life of Christ as both Savior and Teacher. After you listen, please consider taking time to rate and review our podcast. Your review can help others to discover our podcast and experience the hope of the Gospel. Now here's today's teaching from Dr. Keller. Descripture reading this morning is taken from the Book of Mark chapter 13 verses 24 through 37.

But in those days following that distress, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time, men will see the sun of man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. Now, learn this lesson from the fig tree. As soon as His twigs get tender and His leaves come out, you know that some are near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near right at the door. I tell you the truth. This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the sun, but only the Father. Be on guard, be alert. You do not know when that time will come. It's like a man going away. He leaves this house and puts his servants in charge,

each with his assigned tasks, and he tells the one at the door to keep watch. Therefore, keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back, whether in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows or a dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone,

watch, this is the word of the Lord. I would continue to look at the book of Mark, and we've come to chapter 13, and if you were here last week, I wasn't, and many of you weren't, it was Labor Day, but if you were here last week, we began looking at Mark 13. Mark chapter 13 begins with Jesus telling the disciples that Jerusalem and the temple at some future time is going to be destroyed by the Romans. And you know, the temple was a consistent of enormous stones, the blocks, the building blocks of the temple were huge.

And Jesus says something very startling to me, says, I tell you the truth, not one of these stones will be upon another, not one will be on top of another. They'll all be torn down. And the disciples in verse four of chapter 13 asked this question, Lord, when will these things happen? This great destruction. When will these things happen? Remember that term, because we'll get back to it.

And because they ask that question, Jesus begins to teach. And the first part of Mark 13, which we looked at last week, talks about the fact that Jesus makes temples obsolete. But the second half of the teaching is fascinating. We're looking at it today. Jesus says that the end of the Jerusalem and the temple in that terrible time is actually a foreshadowing of the end of the world. It's a foreshadowing of judgment day. It's a foreshadowing of his second coming to earth.

And then he says, verse 35, at the very end of all this teaching in his chapter, watch for it, yearn for it, yearn and watch for my coming back to earth. Now, I'll know a lot of people struggle with this teaching. A lot of people, both inside and outside the church, people who don't believe Christianity and people who do, really, really struggle with it, and there's a series of questions that come up immediately. I've heard them as a pastor for years. One question is, isn't this fanaticism or do you want it lead to it? And secondly, okay, even if it isn't fanaticism,

does it really, as a Christian believer, have to think about this that much? Is it really that important? Does it really make a difference to what I, how I live? And then thirdly, how do I watch for it? How do I watch for it? How do I long for it? What does that mean?

So there's the three questions. Doesn't this lead to fanaticism? What difference does it really make if you believe it? And how can I do it? How can I believe it? How can I, what does it mean to watch? So let's go through the three questions. First question, isn't this just over the top? Isn't this fanaticism?

In those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. And at that time, men will see the sun of man coming in clouds with great power and glory. Now, we don't have any trouble with the biblical description of the first coming of Jesus. We love the biblical description of the first coming of Jesus. It's so soft

and gentle. There's a star in the sky. And there's a baby in a manger. So there's a star in a sky and a baby in a manger. We have a lot more trouble with the biblical description of the second coming because it's exactly the opposite. Instead of a star in a sky in a baby in a manger. We have a lot more trouble with the debilital description of the second coming because it's exactly the opposite. Instead of a star in the sky, we have all the stars falling out of the sky. It's the opposite. It doesn't look like a little baby does he here. And just as everything is shaking, earthquake, sun, moon go dark, stars falling from the sky,

and just as literally all hell is breaking loose, the Son of Man comes with clouds and great power and glory. And so this is just too much, it's too fantastic, it's too apocalyptic, it's too supernatural or something, and lots of people over the years, both inside and outside the church have tried to approach it a little differently than the way it reads on the surface. And so there's just two things that they've said. One approach is to say, look, Jesus was a great man, but even he was a product of his times,

and even his apocalyptic vision was wrong. Look, look, here's the evidence of the text, verse 30. I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away to all these things have happened. Jesus was sure that the end of the world would happen before his disciples, within his disciples, lifetime. So look, a great man, but he was wrong about this apocalyptic vision. He was just wrong, at least in this one place. The second approach is to spiritualize it and to say, well, we have to read this symbolically, you know, not literally. And so when Jesus says that he will be coming back within a generation or the he'll be coming back to say, well, we have to read this symbolically, you know, not literally. And so when Jesus says that He will be coming back within a generation or He will be coming

back to earth, it means that His Spirit and His teaching will come to them and His teaching and Spirit will go from strength to strength. So we can spiritualize and symbolize it. Now with all due respect, both of those approaches are quite wrong. First, the idea that verse 30 means that Jesus was just mistaken about when the end of the world was going to come. In fact, CS Lewis, my intellectual hero, believed this, that he was just wrong in verse 30. And I want you to see that Lewis was wrong. And I want some of you need to hear me say that, that he was wrong about something.

But he really was, okay? And you know, since Lewis could read Greek and Latin, you know, like you and I can read, what better than you and I can read English, he should have known better. Because as I told you, if you're reading the chapter in Greek in the very first verses, the disciples say, master or Lord, when will these things be? When will the temple be brought down? When will the Romans attack? When will Jerusalem be destroyed?

When will these things, the Greek word, that he uses? Now in verse 30, Jesus looks back on all of his teaching and he looks back to that question. And he says, I'll tell you when these things will be. And he means the destruction of the temple. And he says, these things will happen within your lifetime. And they did happen in 70 AD Titus, the Roman general, Sacturism and did all these things within 37 years

of the time he was speaking. So he wasn't wrong in verse 30. And well, can we spiritualize all this? Maybe we can think symbolically, but look at verse 26. Jesus almost knowing what we were gonna do says, everyone will see the Son of man. See the Son of Man coming in clouds and

power and glory. This is a literal, this is historic, this is visible, it's personal, it's physical. Now listen, the doctrine of the Second Coming is a crucial part of the teaching of Christianity. Not only is it in our apostles' creed, he shall come to judge the living and the dead, but it's mentioned 300 times in the New Testament. That's one out of very 13 verses, and Jesus mentions it over and over and over again, and I wanna go so far as to say

that you can't live a recognizably Christian life unless you not only believe this, but you actually think about it, and you let it affect the way in which you live. Okay, well somebody says, all right, so you're beating me over the head, but it still seems like a fanatic thing. If I really believed in the second coming of Jesus Christ coming any time, wouldn't that lead to thinking this world didn't matter? Wouldn't it lead me to disengagement? Wouldn't it make me just wait around waiting to be taken away or snatched away? Wouldn't it make me think the world didn't matter?

Or be, if I really believe in this judgment day, wouldn't that lead believers in this doctrine to turn against unbelievers and begin to smite them, wouldn't this lead to a clash of civilizations? And the answer is if you really understand what this teaching is and its implications, no, it actually leads to the very opposite of those kinds of attitudes and actions. So let's get to the second question. What difference does it make? If I really believe this, what difference will this really make in my life?

And I would say it's going to make all the difference in the world if you believe this grasp it and take it in, but I can only give you three today. First of all, it will make all the difference in the world to your understanding of the problems and your attitude toward the problems of our society. It will make all the difference in the world to your social engagement, how so. Now, John Lennel last week, I believe,

pointed out something in the text that is very easy to miss unless you look carefully, and I want to point it out and I want to build on it. Verse 26 says, he will come, son of man, Jesus will come in clouds with great power and glory. And almost always when you read that, what are you thinking? First impression is he's coming through the clouds. You know, he's coming in the sky and he's coming through the clouds with power and glory.

Doesn't say that. It doesn't say he's coming through the clouds. It says he's coming in or with is the word. He's coming and he's bringing clouds and power and glory. Why is he bringing clouds and power and glory? What does that mean? Genesis chapter one, two, and three. Paradise. Why is the Garden of Eden paradise? Because the presence of God was there, the absolute immediate presence of God. And in his overwhelming presence, in the presence of God's overwhelming beauty, power,

glory, holiness, in the presence of his absolute and utter aliveness, nothing dead, nothing diseased, nothing broken, nothing evil, nothing twisted, can exist. That's why it was paradise. But when, because the presence of God was there, but when Adam and Eve decided to be their own saviors and their own lords, the Bible says that the presence of God was there. But when Adam and Eve decided to be their own saviors and their own lords, the Bible says that the presence of God was withdrawn. This absolute and immediate presence of God was withdrawn from the earth.

And the earth became like the dark side of the moon, the side of the moon that never sees the sun. It became a place of brokenness and coldness. It became a place of disease, of death, of hunger, of violence, of injustice, of poverty. It touches us all because it was taken away. Now, let's keep moving through the Bible. And we'll see that sometimes, though, this presence of God, this healing, amazing presence of God,

does reappear and do great things. And the first place you really see it reappearing is in the book of Exodus, when the presence of God appears and leads the children of Israel out of its slavery, out of their slavery, into liberation. You remember? And it comes down into the tabernacle

and it comes into the temple and it smits and it drives in and it leads them out. But what did it look like? What did this absolute and immediate presence of God look like when it showed up? In the day, it looked like a cloud. And at night, it was a fiery glory. And there's even a Hebrew word for it, the Shaqina, the glory cloud, the cloud of glory, the radiance, the brilliance of the immediate presence of God, in whose presence? Nothing dead, nothing disease, nothing imperfect, nothing evil, nothing twisted can exist.

So it comes down, and when it does, it comes occasionally, and it's here, and it's there, but guess what? Verse 26 is saying that when Jesus Christ comes back, He's bringing the glory cloud. He's bringing the Shakana, He's bringing the presence of God to envelop the entire world and make it the Garden of Eden again, the whole world, all perfected, all beautified, end of death, end of disease, end of hunger, end of poverty, end of injustice, end of violence. You see this incredible illustration.

He says, when the fig tree puts out its leaves, you know summer is near. There wasn't many plants in Israel at that time that lost their leaves in the winter time. Most of them were kind of, they just kept their leaves. The fig tree lost its leaves in the winter and only began to come back into spring and in the summer. And you know what Jesus is saying? He says, I am bringing the ultimate spring, the ultimate summer of which the most glorious springs and summers that you've ever seen in your entire life or but a dim echo. I'm bringing the ultimate sunlight after centuries and centuries of winter. And I'm going to make this world perfect again.

Now, do you know what this is teaching? What is the doctrine of the second coming? It is that the purpose of Jesus Christ's salvation is the restoration and renewal of creation. It's the end of poverty, the end of injustice, the end of disease, the end of death and hunger, and anyone who yearns for the second coming, and longs for the second coming, hates the same things that God hates, and wants the same things that God wants, and is working right alongside of him for those things, but not the way so many people work against poverty

and justice, with a hopeless feeling like it's never gonna, we're never gonna get anywhere, but with the endless hope of knowing that in the end, this is coming, this will triumph. It will all be made right, everything will be put right. Let me press you on this. You notice how at the very end of the text Jesus says, don't be spiritually sleepy, but watch, yearn for the second coming. What is that spiritual sleepiness? Neil Plantinga

wrote a great book called Engaging Gods World. And at the end of the book, he talks about the second coming. And he very, very forcefully warns you against not longing for the second coming, and listen how he does it. He says, the second coming of Jesus Christ is good news for people whose lives are filled with bad news. If you are a slave in Pharaoh's Egypt, or in the United States in the early 19th century. If you are an Israelite exile in Babylon

or a Kosovoire exile in Albania, if you are a woman living in a culture where when your husband gets mad at you, he can lock you up in a closet or call up his buddies and threaten to have them rape you. Or if you are a Christian in sub-Saharan Africa today, where AIDS has devastated whole populations, then you don't yon when somebody mentions

the return of Jesus Christ. The person who wants justice and redemption wants the kingdom of God, and the coming of the kingdom depends on the coming of the king. The one who will return with power and with great glory. The second coming of Jesus Christ means just as well at last filled the earth and passionate Christians want that and so do compassionate Christians. And here's what it means by that. If your own life is

too comfortable to want the second coming of Jesus, you must look across the world to lives that aren't. It's natural to hope for yourselves and how healthy it is to do so, but it is unnatural to hope only for yourself and how parochial it is to do so. Beyond God says Jesus against that fatal absorption with yourself. Take care, stay alert, stand up and raise your heads because the kingdom is coming. Jesus Christ's words are an antidote to our sloth and antidote to our worldly cynicism. Jesus' words are meant to raise our heads and raise our hopes for justice. You know what he's saying? If you kind of know about

the second coming of Jesus Christ, but think you're not watching for it, you're not longing for it, you're not yearning for it. It probably means that you not only live in this little bubble, one of the few places in the world today, and one of the few times in history that was basically comfortable. You're living in that bubble, and you don't know what it's like for most people, or maybe you know, but you don't care. He says, watch for the kingdom of God,

and year for the second coming, Jesus says, get rid of that spiritual sloth, get rid of the parochialism, the self-absorption that keeps you from wanting this to come, because the world needs it. There's no greater hope for you today than the resurrection of Jesus. In fact, Christ's resurrection is the key to understanding the whole Bible and to facing all the challenges of your life. Discover how you can embrace all that the resurrection means in Tim Keller's book, Hope in Times of Fear, the resurrection and the meaning of Easter. Hope in Times of Fear is our thank you for your gift to help Gospel and Life share Christ's love with more people around the world. Just visit gospelandlife.com slash give to request your copy. That's gospelandlife.com slash give.

Now here's Dr. Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. So first of all, if you really understand the second coming to you, this Christ makes all the difference in the world. You're social engagement, you're social ethics, but secondly, it also makes all the difference in the world to your personal behavior and your personal ethics, and especially what I would call personal integrity. Look at verse 32. No one knows about that day or hour,

not even the angels in heaven, nor the sun, but only the Father. That is an amazing statement. First of all, it says, no one knows this day or hour, not even the angels in heaven or the sun, but only the Father. There's two things and only two things that the Bible says you can be sure of

about the second coming. Only two things. Number one, it's definitely gonna happen. Number two, there is absolutely no way to predict when, at all. Now you would, that second one, you would never know from the evangelical prophecy buff industry. You would never know from all those articles in those books about, oh, this is happening,

so it's going to happen any minute, and when this happens and this happens, you'd never know it. How much more forceful could it be? The earthly Jesus. The earthly Jesus said, I don't know. I mean, my gosh. So how much more forcefully can you say there's two things that we have, only two things we can know.

It's gonna happen and we don't know when. But if you put those together, it's a powerful force for personal integrity. It's a power, if you drill this into your heart, you'll begin to realize you must never, ever justify bad means for some good end because how do you know that the curtain won't come down in the middle of your means?

You must never say, well nobody sees what I'm doing back here because how do you know that that irresistible light will stream in on you at any minute? Now, I told you, even though CS Lewis was wrong about certain aspect of the second coming, he was certainly right about this. He talks about how the second coming can really turn you into a person of personal integrity. Here's from his essay, The World's Last Night.

He says precisely because we cannot predict the moment. We must be ready at all times. The century does not know at what time the enemy may attack, or the century does not know the time an officer might inspect his post, so he must be awake at all times. Not that we should always be running around in fear that the end might happen any moment. We should be like an 80-year-old man who needs on the one hand not to be always thinking about his approaching death, but he should always be taking it into a county. It would be criminally foolish not to have made his will and so on. It's interesting illustration.

He's saying, on the one hand, an 80-year-old man should not be thinking all the time, I might die tomorrow. On the other hand, an 80-year-old man should be thinking, I might die tomorrow. There's gotta be a balance. It can't be all one or the other. And it's the same way about the second coming. He says, now what death is to each person, the second coming is to the whole human race, now listen. We must therefore train ourselves to ask more and more often how the thing we are saying or doing

or failing to do at each moment will look when the irresistible light streams in upon it. That irresistible light that is so different from the light of this world, that will reveal all things as they truly are. Women sometimes have the problem of judging by artificial electric lights, how they're clothing and make up will look by the full light of the sun. That is what we have to do. We have to learn how to dress our souls, not for the electric lights of the present world, but for the daylight of the next one.

The good dress is the one that will face that light, for that light will last forever. So, all the difference in the world here, social ethics, it makes all the difference in the world here, personal ethics, and lastly, it makes all the difference in the world, to your ability to forgive and make peace with people who have wronged you. Oh, yes. It leads to very much the opposite of what many people might think. Over the years, I've counseled a lot of people about bitterness and resentment people have wronged them. And over and over, I have, when I counseled them, I have used the doctrine of the second coming of Christ. And some of you are saying,

remind me never to go to you for counseling. Yes. Yes. Yes. But let me explain how it works. Not that I'm saying you should, but let me explain how it works. Whenever somebody wrongs you,

automatically, unless you stop yourself, you're gonna do it automatically. See, powerfully, you're going to do it automatically. See, powerfully, you run to the judgment seat of the world and sit in it. Now, what do I mean by that? Doesn't God sit on the judgment throne of the world? Well, in a certain sense, of course he does. But there is another sense in which there's no one on the judgment seat or the judgment throne of the world, because Jesus has not come back to sit on it yet. And we sensed it's empty because bad things happen and nobody does anything about

it. Terrible things happen, terrible things are done and there's no redress and there's no payback and there's no things are put right. And so there is a definite sense in which the judgment thrown of the world is not yet occupied. Every human heart, when the minute that you are wrong, you'll tend to run right to it and sit on it automatically unless you stop yourself. What do I mean? Well, first of all, when someone wrongs you,

you immediately are sure you know what they deserve. You know what they deserve. You're on the throne. If you think you know what they deserve. You know what they deserve. You're on the throne. If you think you know what they deserve. And secondly, you not only know what they deserve, but you want to help them get what they deserve. Or you want to help somebody else help them get what they deserve. Or at the very least, you want to root, root, root that they get what they deserve and

pull for it with all your heart, you see. But listen, we're not meant to be on that throne. It's too big for us. And it will distort your life if you try to get in that. And you do go there and it poisons you. If you stay bitter, if you refuse to forgive, it distorts you. If you're bitter at a woman, then you may think all women are like that.

If you're bitter at a man, you think all men are like that. You're bitter at somebody, you tend to think the whole class is like that. It distorts you, it hurts you. You mustn't do it. Well, how are you going to not do it? It's a mental take. Something very powerful to keep you from doing it.

And I would like to propose to you that the doctrine of the second coming is a powerful enough teaching you from doing it. And I would like to propose to you that the doctrine of the second coming is a powerful enough teaching to heal your heart of that need to run, that not just that need, but that impulse to run and sit on that throne. How so? Well, first of all, the doctrine of the second coming

teaches that only God deserves to be on a judgment throne. Only God deserves to be the judge. Why? Because you're imperfect and you deserve a few things for what you have done so you have no deserves to be the judge. Why? Because you're imperfect and you deserve a few things for what you have done. So you have no right to be there. Secondly, only God has the knowledge requisite for sitting on that throne. When someone wrongs you and you start to say, I know what they deserve, you think you know that person and you don't.

In fact, your bitterness almost always blinds you to who they are. Have you ever talked to somebody who was really mad at say person X and you know person X, you're not mad at them and when they describe person X, you don't really completely recognize do you? See, when you, when you were angry at someone you caricature them, you play up their bad parts and you play down their good parts and besides that only God knows what that person's been through. Only God knows who that person really is. Only that person, only God knows all that's in their background. Only God knows what they deserve and you do not know what they deserve. Only God has the right to be up there. Only God has the knowledge to be up on that throne.

And last of all, only God has the power to actually give people what they deserve. And the doctrine of the second coming is that someday he will put everything right. He will. And you won't. And I don't know anything, frankly, in my own life, or my own heart, that is strong enough medicine to keep me from rushing to that throne all the time

and having it distort my life. Then to be able to look up at God and say, I know this is kind of basic, but to say, you're God and I'm not. You're the judge and I'm not and I don't have to be. I'm free. I don't have to do it. I can forgive. I can make peace.

I don't know enough to know what they deserve. I don't have the right to give them what they deserve. I will certainly over or underestimate what they deserve. I don't have to do that. I stop it. I get off the throne. Don't you see that the doctrine of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ has enormous power

to change the way you look at society, the way you handle yourself and your own personal integrity and your attitude toward people who wrong you. But now New Yorkers are smart people, and you're sitting around here, and some of you are realizing the box we're in. There's a problem. What is that problem?

Can I put it in a nutshell? If there's no judgment day, there's no hope for the world, you know? What hope is there for the world? The blood of the oppressed cries off from the ground for justice, and nobody's ever going to redress it. So if there's no judgment day, what hope is there for the world?

But if there is a judgment day, what hope is there for you and me? It is the height of self-indulgence to think, to yearn for the second coming in judgment day for them, and them, them and her and him. Judgment day is going to be for everybody. And in Psalm 130, there's that haunting question. Oh, Lord, if you kept a record of sins, who could stand? Francis Schaefer does a little thought experiment, which had a huge impact on me years ago. And here's just a thought experiment.

Here's how it is. He says, imagine God puts a little invisible tape recorder around everybody's neck. And the only thing that tape recorder ever picks up is when you tell somebody else how they ought to be living. So only when you start to say you ought, suddenly, click, and it starts to record. Okay.

Only when you're telling people you ought to be like this, and this is how it ought to be, in other words, it only records your standards for behavior, your standards for people's lives. And then at the great judgment day, we are all standing before the throne. Here's how the thought experiment goes. And God says, you know what?

I'm really going to be fair. You have no idea how fair I'm going to be. I'm not going to judge you by my standards. I'm not going to judge you by the golden rule or the ten commandments or the law of God or the Bible or the example of Jesus Christ. I'm just going to judge you by your own standards. And here's how the thought experiment goes. He comes up to you and he takes that little tape recorder off your head and you say, I didn't see that there, he said, no, that's invisible. And then he says, let's just play it and see if you live up to your own standards and he plays it. And even if that's how God did judgment day, there's not a person on the face of the earth

that would stand and pass judgment day. You know that. So how much lesser are we going to pass judgment day of the 10 commandments? We got a problem. We got to have judgment day and we can't have a judgment day. If there is a judge, if there's no judgment day, what hope is there for the world? If there is a judgment day, what hope is there for us? How are we ever going to be able to yearn for the second coming? How can we watch for it? How can we long for it? be able to yearn for the second coming? How can we watch for it?

How can we long for it? How can we yearn for it like this? In Mark chapter 13, we read, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the heavenly bodies will be shaken. And in Mark chapter 15, we read, darkness came down, utter darkness over the whole land. In Matthew 24, which is the place in Matthew where this occurs, we read, on that day, judgment day, the earth will be shaken. In Matthew 27, we read, at the earth quaked and the rock split, and the sun went out, and it was utter darkness. When, went on the cross, Jesus Christ said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Huh, it almost looks like judgment day. It was. It was judgment day come down on Jesus Christ. 15 times in the New Testament, you can't tell by reading it in English, but 15 times in New Testament, the word coming, Jesus coming again, is the word parusia, which means presence. And it gets across that idea that at the second coming, Jesus Christ will bring the ultimate sunlight. That will heal you of everything. The ultimate presence, the infinitely healing presence of God. The ultimate life to get rid of all death,

the ultimate love to get rid of all loneliness, the ultimate light to get rid of all darkness, the ultimate love, to get rid of all loneliness, the ultimate light, to get rid of all darkness, and ignorance, and evil. But on the cross, Jesus Christ experienced not the infinite healing presence of God, but the infinitely devastating absence of God. Why? Because at the second coming, he's coming with light.

But at the first coming, he didn't come to bring judgment, he came to take it. At the first coming, he gets the absence of God in our place. He gets the rejection, he gets the death, he gets all of that, he gets the darkness, darkness came down on him. Why? He paid our penalty so we can get the present, so we can get the love, so we can get the life, so we can get the light.

Here's the gospel. That the great judge of the universe was willing to be judged for us. That the great judge of the universe was willing to leave the throne, the judgment seat, and stand in the dock. In the book of Revelation, John looks up at the throne, and what does he see on the throne? A lamb! He sees the lamb!

Where a judge should be, why? Because our judge, oh my goodness, is, tell me if this isn't the fairest judge possible, has taken our judgment for us. And you know what it means to be a Christian? To become a Christian is to say, I could never stand in the judgment. I could never pass on my own. But my judge was willing to come and take judgment for me. And I

moved by that. And now I ask that you forgive me and accept me because of what Jesus has done, not in my own merits or anything I have done. And if you do that, the next time you meet Jesus Christ, you will stand in Him gloriously complete. You know, the Heidelberg Catechism puts it like this. This is question and answer 52. What comfort is it to you that Christ shall come again to judge the living in the dead? Answer, that in all afflictions and persecutions

with uplifted head, I may wait for the judge from heaven, who has already offered himself to the judgment of God for me and has taken away from me all curse. I could have read you that a half an hour ago saved you, half an hour of your time. What comfort is it to you that Christ shall come again to judge the living in the dead, that in all afflictions and persecution with uplifted head, I may wait for the judge from heaven, who has already offered himself to the judgment of God for me, and it has taken away for me, all curse. You know, I would like you to believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ. I would like you to believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ. I would like you to accept the judged judge into your life.

And watch the passionate will give you for justice, integrity it will give you in your private life. Watch the ability to forgive others it will give you. And to do it all with endless hope. Watch. Let's pray. Thank you, O Lord, that you didn't just come once, but you're coming twice. But your second coming is something we could just long for because we know what you did at your first coming. We thank you that the first time you came in weakness and saved us through your weakness so that now we don't fear your strength. We long for the moment in which we can stand before you and have all the death in us burn away and all the disease and all the weakness and all the selfishness

and all what's wrong about us and all the twisted burn away us and all the twisted, burn away before your ultimate light and presence. So Father, we ask that you would help us to apply this to our lives and we ask that you would make us people who don't just believe it but live it out because everyone around us then would be blessed by us. And we'd begin to long for the light that we see, now only by faith. And we thank you that you grant us this, and we ask that you would help us to apply it to our hearts by your Holy Spirit,

in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We hope you enjoyed today's teaching on the life of Christ, and we hope you'll continue to join us throughout this month as we look at the death and resurrection of Jesus. If you were encouraged by today's podcast, please rate and review it so more people can discover the hope and joy of Christ's love. Thank you again for listening. This month's sermons were recorded in 2006 and 2007. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast

were preached from 1989 to 2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.