End Times Prophecy – Are we close to the second coming of Jesus?

The stage is set, and the curtain is ready to be drawn back on the drama of the ages. Things are about to unfold, and we are living in the beginning of the end. In this message from 2 Thessalonians, Adrian Rogers reveals three tremendous truths about the soon coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• You Need Not Be Disturbed
• You Should Not Be Deceived
• You Will Not Be Disappointed

We’re thinking about the beginning of the end.
The stage is set for the drama of the agents and the curtain is about to be pulled back on the end times.
I say the drama. But what I’m talking about, Precious Friend is not fiction.
There are three categories of people in the world today.
Those who are afraid, those who don’t know enough to be afraid and those who know their bibles.
Now I’m gonna talk to you about that third group. You who are troubled, rest with us.
Profound truth. Simply stated. This is love worth finding with pastor teacher and author Adrian Rogers.
Find in God’s word.
Second Thessalonians chapter one, beginning in, in verse seven, second Thessalonians chapter one.
And in a moment we begin reading in verse seven, we’re thinking about the beginning of the end.
The stage is set for the drama of the ages and the curtain is about to be pulled back on the end times.
I say the drama. But what I’m talking about, Precious Friend is not fiction.
Today, there are three tremendous truths that I want to lay on your heart concerning the coming of our Lord.
Truth. Number one. Listen to me, you need not be disturbed. Now, listen, you need not be disturbed.
Look, if you will in verse seven and to you who are troubled, rest with us.
You don’t have to go around with headline hysteria.
There are three categories of people in the world today.
Those who are afraid, those who don’t know enough to be afraid and those who know their Bibles.
Now, I’m gonna talk to you about that third group.
You who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in inflaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all of them that believe because our testimony among you was believed in that day.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, the words that I’ve just read to you are packed with incredible truth.
What is the hope of this world? It is not politics, not government, not science, not education.
I say it clearly without stutter, without stammer, without apology. After having thought about it, knowing it from my heart.
The only hope for this world is the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The only hope for this world is the second coming of Jesus Christ.
You say, well, Pastor, everything is getting dark.
Yes, it is getting gloriously dark to those who are troubled. Rest with us.
The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven. Think of the who of his coming. The Lord Jesus is coming.
What a day that will be when Jesus is revealed as the lord of lords and king of kings.
Today, his lordship is being covered today. His lordship is being veiled today.
His lordship is being ignored and he came the first time.
He came as the lowly NASA walking by the shores of Galilee and sandal feet.
When he comes again, he’s coming as king of kings. He’s coming as Lord of Lords.
He’s coming according to this passage to be glorified and admired in his saints.
The one who was despised, the one who was ridiculed, the one who was spit upon the one who was crowned with thorns, the one who was nailed to that hellish tree crucified and buried that one.
Jesus is coming again. Now that will be stark terror for his enemies.
But what glory, what joy that will be for the Children, the sons and daughters of God and all of God’s saints through the ages.
When they think about the second coming of Jesus, they just say even so come, Lord Jesus, the who of his coming is Jesus the win of his coming.
Look again in verse seven and to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven.
Look at the word when, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed.
Now, it doesn’t say if the second coming is not a matter of if, but when, well, when is he coming?
Well, I’ll tell you this much. He is coming on time.
The Bible says he came the first time in the fullness of time.
He was not one second ahead of time, not one second late.
And when he comes again, he will come on time. Malachi calls the second coming of Jesus a sunrise.
And Malachi four verse two, unto you that fear, my name shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.
Now, let me tell you this about the sunrise.
Friend, you can’t hurry it up and you can’t stop it. Is that not true?
Now, that’s the way the second coming of Jesus is we can’t hurry it up and we cannot stop it.
But one day Jesus is going to come.
He’s going to pull back the shades of night, pin them with a star, open the door of the morning and flood the world with the light of his glorious second coming some golden day break.
Jesus will come. The who of his coming? The Lord Jesus, the win of his coming.
He’s coming right on time and then think of the wonder of his coming.
Look in verse 10 when he shall come to be glorified in his saints look at the word glorified.
Actually, the word there is, is uh a admired or uh it literally in the Greek language has the idea of wonder of a uh what are we going to wonder when we see the Lord Jesus?
What, how will we be so wonderfully aw, struck and admired when Jesus comes, you think what we’re going to see?
We’re going to, we’re going to wonder at his transforming love when we see all of us and all of the saints of the ages in a moment made like the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so uh friend, what a wonderful, wonderful time.
This will be when the Lord Jesus comes again and then think not only of the, the wonder of his coming, but think of the witness of his coming.
Look again if you will in verse 10, he says this when he shall come uh to be glorified in the saints, to be admired in them that believe now watch this because our testimony among you was believed in that day, Paul was witnessing of his coming.
Paul was telling people, look, the one who came is coming again and they believed it.
And now they’re caught up to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the air.
Uh the the the witness of his coming, Paul was constantly witnessing the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
It was the keynote along with the cross of the apostles preaching that the one who came is coming again.
And Paul said, our testimony was believed among you. Do you believe it?
I hope you believe it because if you believe it, you’re going to be telling others about it.
And so uh what, what is Paul talking about when he says, just rest, rest with us.
He talks about the who of his coming? When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed.
He talks about the win of his coming. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed.
He talks about the wonder of his coming. He’s coming to be admired and all them that believe.
And, and then he talks about the witness of his coming.
He says, our testimony among you was believed in that day.
So he’s just saying, hey, folks, if you’re saved, don’t get blown out of the water by reading the newspapers and talking about all of the things that is that are happening on the earth.
And rather than saying, what’s the world coming to? You need to start saying, look who’s coming to the world?
His name is Jesus. Now, here is something else that the Apostle Paul tells.
And I said there were three tremendous truths in this passage. Number one, you need not be disturbed.
Number two, you should not be deceived, you should not be deceived.
Now uh go on to chapter two and look if you will in verse one.
Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And are gathering together onto him that she be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter.
As from us as that the day of the Lord is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means.
Now, what had happened in this church was there was a devilish deception.
Somebody had written a forged letter, a bogus letter had signed the Apostle Paul’s name to it and had said in effect that the rapture had already taken place that they were now in the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord uh means the tribulation that the day of the Lord is at hand.
And these saints who were suffering thought, oh, we have missed the rapture.
Uh uh Jesus has come and we’re not a part of it and they were shaken.
They were troubled and the Apostle Paul takes the occasion of this devilish lie to tell the truth.
He says, now don’t be deceived, let no man deceive you.
There are a lot of, there are a lot of quacks. There are a lot of Charlatans.
There are a lot of self styled cult leaders who are deceiving so many in this day and in this age.
And that’s the reason we’re having this study on Bible prophecy. You need not be disturbed.
He says, rest with us, don’t be troubled, don’t be shaken.
And he says, you must not, you should not be deceived.
And then he begins to tell us what will happen so we can know what will happen.
And he then tells us what to look for.
He says in verse three, let no man deceive you by any means for that day, that is the day of the Lord shall not come, except there come a falling away first.
And that man of sin be revealed, the son of tradition who oppose and exalted himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that He as God sit in the temple of God showing himself that he is God.
Remember you not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things.
Now, what he begins to talk about now is the coming antichrist.
Now, the Bible teaches that there’s coming a time when there will be an apostasy a falling away.
And then this man of sin, this beast, this antichrist, this beast of a man is going to be revealed.
Look, if you will in verse three, let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except to come a falling away first.
And the man of sin be revealed.
The word revealed here literally means he’s going to be unveiled, he’s gonna be exposed, he’s gonna be uh uncovered.
Now, if the rapture is buried near, that means that the antichrist is alive and well on planet Earth right now, if the rapture is very close the beast is here waiting to be disclosed because today he is disguised today, he is veiled.
But if the rapture comes today, then tomorrow or very soon, he will be unveiled.
Now when, when Jesus comes and the rapture takes place and we’re caught up to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the air.
The Holy Spirit that lives in us is going to be taken out of the way.
You see the church right now filled with the Holy Spirit is the great boulder in Satan Super Highway.
The devil would love to see this church gone.
Uh The the devil would love to have this kind of preaching.
Uh no longer the devil would he, he would love to see you and your prayers and the Holy Spirit and you taken out of the way because you are an impediment.
Uh You are a hindrance because these verses speak of both a who and a what the who is the Holy Spirit?
The what is the church and, and one of these days in a moment in the twinkling of an eye folks, we’re getting out of here and when we do, when we do hell will have a holiday, he who restrains will restrain until he be taken out of the way.
What is the church? The church is salt and light, salt and light. What does salt do?
Salt purifies salt preserves, salt, decontaminates. It also stings and irritates. We are the salt of the earth.
And when that salt is taken out, then the reification will begin. We’re the light of the world.
When that light is taken out, then darkness will engulf this globe.
And when the Holy Spirit, uh who in, in dwells the church is taken away in the sense that he indwells the church and he just simply stands aside.
It is at that moment, friend that hell will have a holiday.
You know, the people of this world don’t like Bible believing Christians anyway. Uh They think that we’re an impediment.
They think we’re odd. They think we’re weird.
We, they think we’re stubborn or they think we’re standing in the way of progress.
So one of these days, we’ll be out of here, one of these days we’ll be gone and then the restrainer will no longer be here.
And at that time, folks, uh you might as well try to dam up Niagara Falls with toothpicks as to hold back the flood of wickedness and, and evil that will come upon this world.
That time is known in the Bible as the great tribulation.
But we’re going to see next Sunday how Satan will turn this world into a vast concentration camp.
Well, all of the inmates numbered. Everybody must receive a number to buy or sell.
No, no sign, no cell, no mark, no merchandise.
We’re going to talk about that next week, but he will be evil, wickedness distilled.
He will be all of the Hitlers, the Napoleons, the Stalin’s, the Saddam Hussein’s all melded into one man so much that the Bible calls him the man of sin.
The computer will have all people who are here registered as we’ve told you before.
At that time, men will be regimented with no escape.
The more machines act like men, the more men will act like machines and they will do that during the great tribulation, there will be days of torture and terror and people who do not receive the Lord Jesus Christ in this day.
And in this age will believe the lies of the antichrist.
Look, if you will in verses 11 and 12 and for this cause, God, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
I wish we had more time to talk about that. But I want to get to the third point.
First point is this, listen to me, you should not be disturbed.
Second point, you must not be deceived. He says, let no man deceive you.
Third point, you will not be disappointed, you will not be disappointed.
Look, if you will in verse eight, he says, and then shall that wicked be revealed?
Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming right?
There is the battle of Armageddon. That’s the battle of Armageddon.
We’ll talk more about the battle of Armageddon tonight. When uh and then shall that wicked be revealed?
Literally wicked one notice in my Bible, the wicked is capitalized.
It refers to a person and it has the masculine singular ending. Then shall that wicked one be revealed?
Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
What does it mean? Consume with the spirit of his mouth?
You know how the battle of Armageddon is going to be fought?
It’s gonna be fought with a word comes out of Jesus mouth.
You know what that word is gonna be, drop dead and he’s going to consume him.
He’s going to consume him with the spirit of his mouth and the brightness of his coming.
Now, what I’ve tried to tell you today is you need not be disturbed, you should not be deceived, you will not be disappointed.
I am telling you with all of the unction function and emotion of my soul that Jesus Christ is coming again.
Now, learn this. There are two aspects of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we talk about the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the word literally is his appearing and it, it is not talking about so much a a punctiliar period of time as it is a series of events uh that take place uh when our Lord comes again.
First of all, he’s coming for his bride and that, that coming is going to be sweet and secret.
Second Thessalonians chapter two verse one, go back and look at it again.
Uh And now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him.
When he shall come with trumpet sound or may I then be him, be found.
Uh The Lord himself shall descent from heaven with a voice of the archangel on the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first and we which remain in our lives shall be caught up to meet them in the air.
Now he is coming for his bride and, and then secondly, he is coming with his bride.
He comes first of all at the rapture to take us out.
Then after the tribulation, he is coming back to this earth to rule and reign with his bride.
Now verse eight speaks of his coming this time with his bride.
He is coming back now in glory and power. Uh He’s coming first of all sweetly as a bride groom.
Then he’s coming back sovereignly as a king and thank God for that.
Now, what is going to happen is this that the Lord Jesus Christ is going uh to destroy anti Christ.
Uh He is coming in all of his majesty, anti Christ as we’re going to see next Sunday has a number that he will give to all it is the number 666.
We’re gonna talk about that. But this verse that we’re looking at right now tells us that 777 is gonna take care of 666.
Folks. That’s what he’s saying right here.
He’s saying here that and then shall that wicked 666 be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth.
That is 777. You see when Jesus came the first time he suffered in shame when he comes again, he is coming to reign in glory.
When Jesus came the first time, they crowned him with thorns.
When he comes again, he will wear a crown of glory.
When he came the first time he came to die in the sinners place.
When he comes the second time, he is coming to execute judgment on the unsafe sinner.
Jesus is both savior and judge. He says the father judges no man.
He has committed all judgment unto the son.
The first time he came, he came to seek and to save that which is lost.
When he comes again, according to our scripture.
In, in the first chapter, he’s coming in flaming fire to take vengeance on those who know not God and who obey not the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
When he came the first time he came in the greatest of humility riding on a donkey uh in in humility.
When he comes again, he is coming in power and glory when he came the first time, he was rejected of men.
When it comes the second time, every knee shall bow, even the knee of every unbeliever will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father.
Now, what is our scripture told us today? Three things we need not, we need not be disturbed.
Now, friend, if I did not know the Bible, if I did not know the Bible, if I did not know Bible prophecy, if I did not understand who Jesus is and what God has in plan, it plans for us.
I wanna tell you something. I would be a world class pessimist.
This world is like a Shakespearean tragedy.
When you read a Shakespearean tragedy, you know, it’s coming to an untimely end and there’s nothing that can stop it apart from Jesus.
That’s the way our world is it.
Without the Lord Jesus Christ, I would be an industrial strength pessimist, but you’re looking at a glowing optimist.
We need not be disturbed.
We must not be deceived because friend, we will not be disappointed.
You can bank on it.
That Jesus Christ who came the first time is coming again, that same Jesus that angel said, which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in light manners.
You’ve seen him go into heaven. Now, what does this mean to all of us? Friend?
It means in these glorious days in which we’re living in the beginning of the end, we need to be moving up one step higher.
These are not days to let up or back up or shut up until we’re taken up.
What we need to do is to press the battle right to the gates.
I want to go up as a growing Christian.
I want to be a better Christian tomorrow than I am today.
I wanna love Jesus more this afternoon than I do this morning.
I want to be growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the great apostle Paul, the great apostle Paul at the end of his life said, I’m reaching for the prize of the high calling of God.
At the end of his life, he’s still climbing, he’s still going up. What does that mean? Folks?
It means there’s the intercession factor.
If Jesus Christ is coming, we ought to be praying for unsafe, loved ones that don’t know Jesus.
We ought to be getting as many ready for the rapture as we can by winning souls to Jesus Christ.
But not only is there the intercession factor. Let me tell you what else there is friend.
There’s the soul winning factor. Uh be telling people about Jesus friends all around us are trying to find what their heart yearns for by sin under.
We have the secret, we know where it is found. Don’t make true pleasures and Jesus abound.
We need to be winning souls. I’ll tell you what else there is. There’s the preparation factor.
You need to be getting into your Children Bible truth. This world is becoming so vile, so wicked, so fast.
You need to, you need to teach your Children. You need to build Bible truth into your Children.
You need to get these messages on prophecy, into your heart and then into their hearts.
Uh prepare them for what is coming on the earth.
I feel sorry for those who do not understand who do not have a solid rock to stand known in these dangerous days in which we’re living.
And last of all friend, there’s the comfort factor. Thank God. Thank God.
We can say Lord Jesus even so come Lord Jesus.
Now, if that bothers you, that Jesus is coming and we’re going, you know what it tells me, you just love this world and you don’t love Jesus.
But friend. If you love Lord Jesus, you can hardly wait.
What a day that will be when he shall come with trumpet sound and together, we’ll be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
And so shall we ever be with the Lord?
And I wanna say with the psalms, I’ll be satisfied when I awaken in his likeness.
Won’t you bow your heads in prayer?
Father God, I pray, I pray Lord that in the light of your coming, that we will be moving up one step higher while we pray in Jesus.
Holy name. Amen.