Let us be in prayer this week. Let's thank the Lord first for the good service this morning and the visitors we had. And pray that the Lord will use His Word to touch hearts that were here with us this morning for the first time. There's one of the family's that has definitely and absolutely promised to return. And we want to be praying that the other one might do so also. The other family perhaps needs it worse than the one that's promised to return. The other family is Roman Catholic and they certainly, of course, need to be in services and hear the gospel and be saved. But let's especially pray for both these new families that were here this morning.
I want to speak to you about a theme that I often preach from and that is the Second Coming of the Lord. I love to preach about the Second Coming of the Lord. And I don't think we can get too much of it. I don't think it really matters too much if we preached on it about every other Sunday night. It'd be good for us to keep us all stirred up and on the ball for the Lord.
This one tonight though is a little bit different from most of my sermons on the Second Coming of the Lord because I've used a song as the outline for it. It's this song that we've sung here a time or two, "What a Day That Will Be."
The song goes like this:
"There is coming a day when no heartaches will come.
No more clouds in the sky, no more tears to dim the eye;
All is peace forevermore on that happy golden shore,
What a day, glorious day that will be."
Then the second verse goes like this:
"What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see,
And I look upon His face, the One who saved me by His grace;
When He takes me by the hand, and leads me through the Promised Land,
What a day, glorious day that will be."
And then the other verse is:
"There'll be no sorrow there, no more burdens to bear,
No more sickness, no more pain, no more parting over there;
And forever I will be with the One who died for me.
What a day, glorious day that will be."
Now that's our outline. Now let's look at the message.
First, let's think for a few minutes about that, "There is coming a day." And let's start it off by reading two or three good Scriptures on the subject. John 14:2 and 3. John 14, verses 2 and 3 says this, "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
Now if we turn over to Acts chapter 1 and read beginning with verse 9, we find these words, "And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld," this is, of course, you may recognize immediately telling of the ascension of Christ. "And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."
Now let's jump over to the Old Testament and take a look there at one verse in Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7. Daniel 7:14 says this, and I like this. This is talking about the Lord when He comes back to set up the Millennial Kingdom. "And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."
Then one more verse before we continue. In Matthew 16, verse 27. Matthew 16, verse 27. "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works."
Now as we begin to think about this, "There is coming a day," by introduction, we would have to begin immediately in the start to think about the coming of the Lord at the Rapture, wouldn't we? That would be the logical place to begin thinking about, "There is coming a day." The coming of the Lord, as you know already from previous study and from previous messages perhaps if you heard us preach, is actually in two phases or two parts we can say. Two divisions.
The first is the coming in the air when He comes to call out the saved and the saved living and dead to meet Him in the air at the what we call the Rapture. Though that word rapture is not found in Scripture. It perfectly describes what happens. The Rapture. And even that word today, rapture, in our modern day language is a perfect description of what happens. Think of what rapture it's going to be when the Rapture occurs to those that are saved. And, of course, it won't occur to those that are not saved anyway. So, it won't be anything to them except there'll be a lot of people missing that they'll wonder about. And some of them, no doubt, will figure out what happened to them. Some of the ones left behind.
But this coming of the Lord at the Rapture, for the saved, this means the time when we can continue with our song, "There is coming a day when no heartaches will come." No heartaches will come after the Rapture for the saved. There'll never be any more heartache. That means the end of heartaches, when no heartaches will come ever. Never again. We'll be caught away to miss the great Tribulation period. We'll never again have any sorrows, that is we who are saved and who go with Him at the Rapture.
The unsaved now, they're going to have plenty of sorrows, aren't they? The unsaved will be left behind on the earth. They'll all have to go through the awful, terrible, great Tribulation. And most of them will not survive, most of them will die during this time. And most of those who do die will be still lost when they die. The Scriptures teach that a little remnant is going to be saved. Or some gleanings are going to be saved, we call them, during the Tribulation period. But don't depend on that. Don't depend on that for people that are unsaved now to be given another chance then, because not many will survive and not many will be saved compared to the numbers who will be in the Tribulation period. Most will not survive at all; most of them will die in terrible agony, unprepared to meet God.
There's coming a day when there'll be no more clouds in the sky, as the song says. And that day is really coming. A literal day when there'll be no more clouds in the sky, either figuratively or literally, in the sense of storm clouds or bad clouds. Either figuratively or literally. All darkness will be removed from our life. There'll be no more darkness. How could we experience darkness again when the Scripture says that He'll take us to be with Him, "And so shall we ever be with the Lord"? We could never experience darkness again, either figurative or literal, could we? Because He's the Light. Oh, He's the Light. Aren't you glad He is? He's the Light. No more darkness. No more gloom. No more gloomy days in our life, either literally or figuratively.
You know, these gloomy days that just make you feel down in the mouth? These days that just make you wonder if it's worth it all. There won't be any more days like that. Nothing else like that will take place anymore. Never again for the saved because we'll be with Him forever. And how could the Bride be downcast when She's with Her Bridegroom, Who's just come to take Her to the mansion He's prepared for Her? No way. Not possible at all, that She could ever be sad again, is it? Not possible.
Isaiah chapter 60. Isaiah chapter 60, verses 19 and 20 fit very well here. Remember, we're still thinking about, "No more clouds in the sky." Isaiah 60, verses 19 and 20 says this, "The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee." Won't need the sun or the moon anymore. But what's going to happen? "But the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall go no more down." No more setting of the sun. "Neither shall thy moon withdraw itself." No more setting of the moon. "For the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." The days of the mourning of the Bride for the Bridegroom will be finished, won't they? When He comes? No more sorrow. No more heartache. No more clouds in the sky.
And he goes on, the song does and says, "No more tears to dim the eye." No more tears to dim the eye. And Isaiah speaks of that again in chapter 65, verse 19. In chapter 65 of Isaiah, verse 19, and the Lord says this, "And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more," never again, in other words, "shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying." "No more tears to dim the eye." The Scripture clearly sustains that part of the song as well, doesn't it? Never another tear. No more sorrow, no more tears.
"All is peace forevermore, on that happy golden shore." That's what the song says. And the Scripture bears that out. We'll have peace then because the Prince of Peace shall reign forever. Never any disturbance anymore of the peace, because the Prince of Peace shall reign over all the earth. And as we read to you in Daniel 7:14, "There was given him a dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, and nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." And that's the Prince of Peace we're talking about there, isn't it? So, all is peace forevermore on that happy golden shore.
Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6 spoke of that also when it said this, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." The Prince of Peace is going to judge among the nations then. There'll be no more need for weapons, there'll be no more need for warfare, there can never be any more warfare after the Prince of Peace takes up His kingdom because He shall rule in peace and plenty.
Isaiah 2:4 speaks again of this same time when it says, "And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." No more of our boys dying on the border. Never again. No more of our boys being butchered by the terrorists. Never again. None of that. None of our friends dying on the border. None of our friends dying in war.
Even Israel and the Middle East will be at peace as Jeremiah 23 tells us, and we'll read some from that a little bit later. Jeremiah 23 though teaches us that even Israel and the Middle East will be at peace in that day. And that's the most difficult place perhaps in the whole world in all history to have peace, isn't it? The Middle East. Every Arab in the world hates every Jew. Oh, I know a few of them lie about it and pretend they don't; but they do. And every Jew in the world hates every Arab. I know a few of them lie about it and pretend they don't, too; but they do. They hate each other. They've got just a natural hatred for each other. All the way back there to the time of the sons of—of Abraham, when you really get down to it, isn't it? Or, at least back to the time of the sons of Isaac anyway. Certainly back that far. They had this natural hatred for each other, the Jews and the Arabs.
But there's coming a day when they'll "beat their swords into plowshares", the Scriptures says, "and their spears into pruninghooks: and nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." No more of our boys going off for military training, won't need to. Won't be necessary. The Prince of Peace shall reign and peace shall be supreme.
"What a day," the song says, "What a day, glorious day that will be." It's going to be a glorious day. We'll see the glory that Jesus had with the Father before the world was. That's beyond our imagination now to even think about it properly, the glory that He had with the Father before the world was. That time back there in eternity past when Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit, Three in One, had Their counsel before the world was even created. And Jesus said, "Let's create man. Oh, we know he'll sin and he'll die, but I'll go and I'll redeem him. I'll go, I'll redeem him." Think about it, the glory that He had with the Father before the world was. We'll see that then. Which we can't even imagine properly now.
Not only will we see it then, but we will share His glory with Him. And the Scriptures clearly show that we will share His glory with Him, this glory that He had with the Father before the world was. As He prayed in John chapter 17, verses 22 and 24, He said these words, "And the glory," this is Jesus praying now, "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one." "Father, I will," this is verse 24 now, "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."
Now those two verses clearly teach that we'll share this glory with Him, we'll see this glory properly then. And we'll even share it with Him because He has prayed Himself that we might be with Him and share this glory with Him.
The song goes on and says, "What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see." I like that, "my Jesus," "my Jesus." Is He your Jesus? I like that, "my Jesus." And I like to think about the day when I'll see Him face to face. When I see Him face to face, the blessed privilege of seeing the Savior visibly, literally. Not just in our mind's eye, but literally seeing the blessed Savior with our own eyes. We might say, "How blessed were the eyes of the disciples because they saw Jesus in the flesh." They walked and they talked with Him. They had the privilege to be with Him in person in the flesh, even to sit down and eat meals with Him, to have personal fellowship with Him. On occasion, they even touched Him. The blessed Savior.
Jesus Himself, however, pronounced a special blessing upon those who have not seen Him, and yet they have believed. In John chapter 20, verse 29, Jesus said this, "Jesus saith unto him, ‘Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not see, and yet have believed.'" Even those who actually saw Him in the flesh, He's intimating here that those who have not seen Him and yet have believed are even more blessed than those who saw Him in the flesh. In His words here to Thomas, it seems to indicate that.
Peter speaks of those who have not seen Him. He says that the suffering that we've borne for the cause of Christ will be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. You know, it's worth bearing a little bit of suffering in this present world. A little bit of contempt of some of these people that are going to be standing at the Great White Throne wishing they had listened to us instead of being contempt—uh, showing contempt to us. It's going to be—it's well worth going ahead and bearing a little suffering for Him now because it says that when He comes, it will be found unto the praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Special glory for the suffering that we've borne for the cro—for the cause of Christ.
Then he goes on further, this still Peter, in I Peter chapter 1, verse 8, he goes on further to say, First Peter 1:8, "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Even though we've not yet seen Him in the flesh, though we've not seen Him with our own literal eyes, yet even now though we've not seen Him, we can still rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
And just imagine how much more glorious it'll be when we can see the blessed Son of God face to face, our elder brother, the One who died for us. One who redeemed us from the pits of hell. The One who gave us eternal life. The One who loves us and guides us day by day, even now.
The song goes on and says, "And I look upon His face." I like to think of that time when I'll look full in His wonderful face. And as another song says, "And the toils of the road will seem nothing when I come to the end of the way." When we look full in His wonderful face.
One of the incomparable prophecies for us is that we shall see His face. That face with the thorn-marked brow, that face that the beard was plucked and no doubt scars left by jerking the beard out from the face of Jesus. We'll look full in His wonderful face.
First Corinthians chapter 13, verse 12 says this, First Corinthians 13:12, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." So, this part of the song that says, "And I look upon His face," is certainly carried out by the Scripture, isn't it? This is one of the most scriptural song lyrics that I've ever read. This one, "What a Day That Will Be." You can prove every word of it by the Scriptures.
Paul speaks of a spiritual view that we have of Christ now over in the book of II Corinthians. In II Corinthians chapter 4, verse 6, Second Corinthians 4:6 says, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." So even now, spiritually, with our spiritual eye, we can see His face, can't we? But then, we'll really, literally see the thorn-crowned brow and the plucked-beard face. The One who was smitten for our justification. We'll see Him literally, face to face. And we'll see Him and know in full, as we now know only in part.
The new heaven, the new earth, the new Jerusalem, the river of life, the tree of life, all will be as nothing compared to seeing our King and Savior upon His throne. All these other wonderful things are beyond our comprehension as men, and yet they'll be as nothing compared to seeing our Savior on His throne. They'll be as nothing.
Looking upon His blessed face, worshipping the matchless Savior who died for us. There's no good description in Scriptures anywhere about exactly what Christ looked like. But then, we won't need any description. Then, we'll see Him as He is. See Him face to face as He is.
There's coming a day when there will be no more curse. The curse will be removed. You find that recorded in Revelation 22:3. We won't take time to read it now. You also find in that same verse if you'll read it sometime, Revelation 22:3, His servant's shall serve Him and His mark will be upon us as His own. We'll all be identified then as belonging to Christ because He purchased us with His own death on the cross. Therefore, we belong to Him. And in that day His mark will be upon us. And every angel that sees us, they'll know, "That Jim Dearmore, I didn't think he'd make it but there he is, he's got the mark, he's one of them, isn't he? He belongs to the King. He belongs to the King." And we shall see His face. Revelation 22:4 says, "And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads." We'll be marked with His mark and we shall see His face.
Even the wicked murderer Cain understood the glory of seeing God's face. You think back to the story of Cain. And if you think it through logically, you'll begin to realize that Cain, even he, understood the glory of seeing God or drawing near to God. Even he understood that. He realized that his punishment was severe. Now what was his punishment basically? To be driven forth from before the face of God, wasn't it? That's basically what his punishment consisted of. And even this wicked murderer, Cain, understood that that was a terrible punishment. And yet, though he was a murderer, though he was undoubtedly an unsaved man, yet he realized that the worst part was being driven out from before the face of God. Because Cain said over in Genesis 4, verses 13 and 14, if you summarize those verses what he basically said is this, "My punishment is more than I can bear. And from Thy face shall I be hid. And from Thy face shall I be hid," he says.
"And from Thy face shall I be hid." That's the main point of his lament. "My punishment is more than I can bear. And from Thy face shall I be hid." Even this wicked murderer, the first murderer on earth realized the terribleness of not being able to see the face of God. And yet, the day's coming, there's coming a day when we shall see His face. We shall see His face. So even Cain realized the blessed privilege of being before the face of God and the awfulness of being driven from before His face.
The song which is our outline for tonight goes on and says, "The One who saved me by His grace." Now that's enough to have a little revival on right there, isn't it? That little section of the verse there of the song. We're saved only by grace; there's never been a man and never will be a man from Adam to the last man that ever will be saved or the last man that ever will be born, there's never been one that wasn't saved by grace. There's never been one. There never will be one. Never could be one. We're saved only by grace. And grace is basically by definition, the unmerited favor of God which is given to all who will believe. That's what grace is, isn't it? The unmerited favor of God. And it's given to all who will believe.
Romans 5:15 calls salvation a free gift by Jesus Christ. And then Ephesians chapter 1, verse 7 carries out the same thought when it says, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." In whom. And as I've said to you before, we spend a little bit too much time perhaps speaking about the plan of salvation when we ought to just condense it all down and speak more about the man of salvation. Because that's really what the plan is, isn't it? The man of salvation is the plan of salvation.
This grace of God which he speaks of here in Ephesians 1:7 as the riches of his grace, this grace is freely offered to all men. It's not just offered to one little group over here and everybody else can just go fly a kite as the saying goes. That's not the way it is. It's offered freely to all men. Not all men are going to accept it, not all men are going to receive it. But it's freely offered to all men.
Titus 2:11 says, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." Titus 2:11. This grace justifies us and makes us heirs of eternal life. That's the only thing that makes us justified before God and makes us heirs of eternal life. Titus again, chapter 3, verse 7 said this about it, "That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
If we go on to Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, it tells again, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8 and 9.
Then when we follow the song a little further, we find some words like this in the song, "When He takes me by the hand, and leads me through the Promised Land, what a day, glorious day that will be." I can just imagine a long string of all of us gathered around Jesus and He says, "Come on, folks, let's go look at the beautiful place here. I want to show it to you. I've been working on it all these years for you, I've been fixing it, I want to show it to you. Come on, let's go." And He takes me by the hand, and leads me through the Promised Land, what a day, glorious day that will be.
Some Bible examples, there are quite a few Bible examples when He took someone by the hand. In Matthew 9, He took her by the hand when he healed the young daughter of Jairus. Or Jairus, whichever way you want to pronounce it. Then in Mark chapter 9, verse 27, we find that Jesus takes the demon-possessed man by the hand and lifts him up. You know, He always lifts people up when He takes them by the hand, doesn't He?
And then, as we think a little further about His taking people by the hand, we can recognize that His blessed nail-scarred hands will lead us and will wipe away all tears from our eyes, as the Scripture says. The nail-scarred hands will lead us through the Promised Land. It'll also lead us to the Promised Land as well, won't it? But He'll lead us through the Promised Land when we get there. And that same nail-scarred hand will wipe away all tears from their eyes and then there'll be no more tears anymore, forever. For the saved.
Revelation chapter 7, verse 17 says this, "For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."
Then as we follow on a little further in our song, the next phrase or next clause goes, "There'll be no sorrow there." And Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 12 says, "They shall not sorrow any more at all." Jeremiah wanted to really tie that down and nail it down hard, didn't he. "They shall not sorrow any more at all." No way you could misunderstand that, is there? Even we stupid people, we stupid humans, we can understand that. There's no way it could be misunderstood, when he wrote it and said, "They shall not sorrow any more at all." Won't be any more sorrow after that. It'll be all over.
Isaiah chapter 25, verses 8 and 9 not only tells us that He will wipe away—all tears away, but it says that we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation in the kingdom age. Not only will He wipe away all tears but we will be glad and rejoice in the kingdom age.
Here on this earth, we carry the burdens of this life. And there's no way to escape them. Sometimes sorrow comes, sometimes sickness, sometimes an accident, sometimes circumstances that are not pleasant at all. And we have to bear these burdens of life here on earth. But there's coming a day when we'll leave this earthly load behind. Then they'll be no more burdens to bear, as the song says. "No more burdens to bear." Over there with the Lord.
Second Corinthians again, chapter 5, verse 4. Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 4, "For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened." He's talking about the present state in other words, the earthly state. "For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." We'll be clothed upon then with life, won't we? That eternal, literal life and all the burdens will be gone. No more burdens to bear at all.
And then the song goes on and says, "No more sickness, no more pain, no more parting over there." Won't be any more losing our loved ones or being parted from them. Won't be any more mothers weeping for their babies. Won't be any more children weeping for their mothers. Won't be any more father's weeping for their sons and their wives and their daughters. But there'll be no more sickness, no more pain and no more parting over there.
Isaiah chapter 35 again, reading verses 5 and 6. If you'll read there, you'll see that it tells us that the eyes of the blind will be opened. Won't be any sickness there. And just to be sure it couldn't be misunderstood, the Lord had Isaiah to write it down here in chapter 35, verses 5 and 6, where it says that the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. The lame man will leap like the hart. And the hart is a deer or antelope-like creature which was common in biblical days. The tongue of the dumb, it says, will sing. And the monotones will be able to sing then, too. We will all be able to sing then, too. We'll just stand up there and they'll say, "Why that fellow singing all alone, it sounds like a choir full of angels. That fellow that couldn't sing at all here on earth." He'll sing and he'll sing and sing.
The tongue of the dumb will sing. And it goes on to say further, there'll be streams in the desert. Perfection on earth is coming one day soon. It's far from perfection now, but one of these days this old world is going to be—going to be renovated, as they used to say, "Teetotally," renovated. It's going to be renovated and it's going to be perfected as it was at the time of the garden of Eden and even beyond that point. It'll be perfection on earth.
Revelation chapter 21, verse 4 tells us that when the new heaven and the new earth are set up, there will be no more death, sorrow, crying, no more pain, and God Himself will wipe away all tears from their eyes.
And then the song closes with these words, "And forever I will be with the One who died for me. What a day, glorious day that will be." That's going to be a wonderful day, isn't it? A glorious day. Doctor Luke, the beloved physician said it all when he recorded the words of the blessed Lord in Luke chapter 12, verse 32 when he said, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Some of the most wonderful words ever spoken by the blessed Son of God, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
And then, the last verse we want to read to you is from Revelation chapter 5, verse 12, where it says, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." And then, if you go up there just above that and look at verse 10 in that same chapter, you'll see that it says, "And we shall reign on the earth." And we shall reign on the earth. What a day that will be.
Are you ready? Are you enthused about the coming of the Lord? If you are, it'll cause you to be a better Christian. It'll cause you to be a better witness for Him. It'll cause you to be a better church member. It'll cause you to be happier everyday, thinking perhaps today, perhaps today. PERHAPS TODAY WE SHALL SEE HIS FACE. WHAT A DAY, GLORIOUS DAY THAT WILL BE.
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