(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Revelation chapter 22, and I'll begin reading in verse number one. Revelation chapter 22. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bared twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. And they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever. And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true, and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And I, John, saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book, worship God. And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city, for without our dogs, and sorcerers, and homemongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst, Come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book, He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Amen. Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is, Behold, I Come Quickly. Behold, I Come Quickly. Look down at your Bible there in Revelation chapter 22 verse 6. And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true, and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Jump down to verse 12. And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. Verse 20, He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Now when we see something repeated so many times, just in this one chapter, three times in a row, He says, I come quickly, I come quickly, I come quickly. And then He also says, these things must shortly come to pass. Being the final chapter of the Bible, this chapter is really significant. It stands out. Many people have not read the whole Bible. I guarantee you, they read the first chapter and they read the last chapter. These are probably two of the most commonly read chapters in the whole Bible, right? Because people want to know, how does it end? And He says, I come quickly. If you were only going to read a little bit of the book of Revelation, you know, you might just read the chapter 1, chapter 22, and in chapter 1, He says, to show unto his servants the things which must shortly come to pass. So this is something that's being emphasized. It comes up again and again. It's important that Jesus said, I come quickly. Now go to 2 Peter, chapter number 3. 2 Peter, chapter 3, just a few pages before Revelation, you'll find 2 Peter, chapter number 3. Now a lot of people have misconstrued this and they'll try to say, well, it already happened. You know, Christ already came, all the events of Revelation already took place, it's over, it's done. I mean, the Bible describes such cataclysmic events in the book of Revelation, there's no way that you can make the case that that already happened. But you say, well, you know, it's all symbolic. No, it's not symbolic and not only that, look at what Jesus preached in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21. Okay, Jesus Christ didn't come in the clouds yet. There wasn't a trumpet sound and the dead rising. These things haven't happened yet, folks. So you say, okay, well, then why does it say he's coming quickly? You know, I would assume that if he says it must shortly come to pass, I come quickly, well, that must happen right after Revelation was written. But hold on a minute, let's look at what the Bible says in 2 Peter, chapter 3, verse 3, knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. Talking about, of course, the flood in the days of Noah. But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. So let's get the context here. He's saying, look, there are going to be scoffers in the last days walking after their own lusts, just doing what they want. They don't care what God says. They don't care what the Bible says. They don't care about the Ten Commandments. They're just going to do what they want to do and walk after their own lusts. And if you tried to preach to them about a coming judgment, here's what they would say, well, where is the promise of his coming? I mean, you know, here we are 2,000 years later and he isn't here. So basically their logic is I can do whatever I want. I can walk after my own lusts. I can get away with anything because there is no judgment and the fool says in his heart that there is no God. He's not worried about it. What they're willingly ignorant of, though, is that God will judge because he's already done it once with the flood. He already showed one time that he's willing to wipe out this planet with cataclysmic destruction because he did it at the flood. Revelation is symbolic. Well, was the flood symbolic? No, it wasn't. Was God destroying Sodom and Gomorrah? Was that symbolic? No. God brings judgment. And just as he really brought a judgment in Genesis, he's really going to bring a judgment in Revelation just as the world that then was was overflowed with water. This present world, the Bible says, is reserved unto judgment and destruction of ungodly men. Now let's keep going. So that's the context. Let's keep going. Verse 8 is the key. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing. Here's what that means. Look, if you only get one thing out of what I tell you. Have you ever heard speakers say that? Sometimes preachers will say, Hey, look, if you only take away one thing from the sermon this morning, let it be this, right? Here's what he's saying. Well, just don't be ignorant of this one thing. You know, you might be ignorant of this or ignorant of that. Maybe you don't know everything about the Bible. Maybe you don't know everything about the nature of God. But if there's one thing you don't want to be ignorant, it's this one thing. Don't be ignorant of this one thing. That one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. So what's the Bible saying here? That time is relative. And so when God says, I come quickly, that's from his perspective, not our perspective. So our perspective is, well, if my food comes quickly, I expect it to be out in 90 seconds. Okay? I remember, you know, 15 years ago, mystery shopping with my wife, McDonald's. Right? We used to mystery shop McDonald's and we got paid one time $120 to mystery shop two McDonald's. Now, nowadays, you couldn't even pay me $120 to eat a McDonald's. It's that bad. But anyway, we literally went to McDonald's twice in one day and we got paid 60 bucks a pop. And normally, it didn't pay that much. Typically, mystery shopping would pay like five bucks, ten bucks or something. But there were these McDonald's that were in these really ghetto areas. Nobody wanted to do it. Nobody was capable of doing it in that area that was willing to go into that area. So we had to go into the hood to make that $120 But when we mystery shopped McDonald's, you know, we had to start a stopwatch of when we pulled up to the window and gave the order. They told us our total. We're writing down these times. We're like a scientist logging these times. And the times were incredibly short. I mean, from the time you pulled in to the time you're rolling out with your food, it was supposed to be like, what, under 90 seconds or something? Was it successful? It was too long ago, huh? I don't remember, but they wanted it to be fast. It's like, look, if they're operating at their best capacity, you know, you're in and out of there in 90 seconds or two minutes, maybe five minutes back. I mean, look, I've waited in drive-throughs for five minutes, and I was getting upset. Like, what's taking so long here? Why is this taking five minutes? We want to get in and out of there in one minute. So, look, that's what we say. We're served quickly. That's what we mean, okay? Now, we might go to a restaurant that serves a pizza that's a little bit more high quality than, say, Little Caesar's Hot and Ready. We used to go to this pizza place called Edwards Natural Pizza, and you had to call in your order like an hour in advance. Otherwise, if you just got there and ordered, you would wait about 55 minutes for your food. But it was incredible when it came out. It was just a very thick pizza. They had to bake it, and it was a big process. So, look, quickly is relative, right? So, when Jesus said, I come quickly, He's not saying I'm coming in 90 seconds. You know, don't even bother sending out this letter to the seven churches, because it's not going to get there. He's not saying I'm coming next week. He's not saying I'm coming next month. He's not saying I'm coming next year. It's quickly to Him because He dwells outside of time. One day to Him is like a thousand years. A thousand years is like a day to Him. So we can't take our version of quickly and foist it upon God and say, well, He should have been here by now, you know, so I'm just going to give up on His coming. Wrong. In fact, the fact that the Bible says this in 2 Peter 3 implies that Christ's coming is going to be more than a thousand years away. Because otherwise, let's say it was only going to be, you know, 50 years away or 200 years away. Then He could have just said, well, with the Lord, a hundred years is like a day and a day is like a hundred years. Or He could have said a year is like a day, like a year. The fact that He says, well, a thousand years is like a day, that means if a couple thousand years go by, don't panic. It's just like a couple days went by. So He's already foreshadowing in 2 Peter 3 what we today know to be true that Christ's coming was at least like two thousand years away. We know that's true because here we are almost two thousand years later and it hasn't happened yet. But it doesn't bother us at all because basically He said I'm coming quickly and two days have gone by from His perspective because with Him a day is like a thousand years, a thousand years is like a day. Not because God is at this exact speed that's exactly, you know, one thousand years for every one day that we experience, you know, every thousand years we experience God experienced precisely, you know, one day. That's not what it's saying. What it's saying is that to Him it's all the same. He could have just as easily said a million years is like a day. He could have easily said, you know, five minutes is like a day. Because to God He's outside of time. He doesn't experience time. Now go back to Psalm 90. This is actually a quotation from the Old Testament. So let's go to the Old Testament quotation here. Psalm 90 to get a little more understanding on what it means here when it says that with the Lord a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day. Go to Psalm 90 verse 1. The Bible says, Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Now here's the thing about that. That's a present tense. He didn't say, you know, even back then you were God. You know, it's like when Jesus said before Abraham was, before Abraham was, I was. But he said, before Abraham was, I am. And here it says, before the earth was created, you are God. Why? Because God is always dwelling in the present tense because God exists outside of time. He doesn't experience time the way that we experience time. That's why to him a thousand years is like a day. A day is like a thousand years. Let's keep reading. It says, thou turnest man to destruction and sayest, return ye children of men for a thousand years in thy sight, here's what 2 Peter's referring to, a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past and as a watch in the night, which would be three hours, a watch in the night. So basically when it says here a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it's past, it's saying, look, after things are over it doesn't really matter how long they lasted. You know, whether I look at yesterday or a week ago or two weeks ago it's over. No matter how long something takes eventually it ends. It's over. And when you look back on it, it's in the past. So for God it's like everything's in the past. Everything's done. Everything's there. Whether he thinks back a thousand years or one day, forward, sideways he doesn't experience time. He's outside of time. And so he exists outside of it. And notice how it says here that a thousand years is like yesterday when it's past and a thousand years is as a watch in the night. So this supports what I said about 2 Peter when I said, hey, he could have used any numbers. He didn't have to say a thousand years to a day because just as easily as it's a thousand years to 24 hours or a thousand years to 12 hours it's a thousand years to three hours because it's like a watch in the night. There are four watches in the night. The Bible uses that term the second watch of the night, the third watch of the night. So he's saying, look, not only is a thousand years like a day to God a thousand years is like three hours when it's over because everything that's in the past is in the past. We're not experiencing the past, are we? We're experiencing the present. God doesn't experience time. So that's why in order to compare what time is like for God he compares it to our past. It's just something that's over and done. I could refer to something a year ago. I could refer to something 10 years ago. I could refer to something 20 years ago. How long does it take me to get there in my mind? Instantaneous, right? It's just, it's over. That's how God is. He's just outside of time and for him everything's over. It's like he can just interact with any point. I don't want to go too deep on that. I just wanted to throw that out there and I'll tell you this side of the story. So the first one is guys, three guys, one another, one another, one another, one another, and they're bolt-on. Mark happens to be two dudes and one another. So he's out there and one another, one another, one another, one another, The days of our years are three score years and ten, seventy years. And if by reason of strength they be four score, eighty. Yet is there strength, labor, and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away. So what's the Bible say? Seventy year life, soon it's over. It's over quickly, you could say, couldn't you? So couldn't you say that if I die in seventy years I died quickly? So this helps you put it into perspective, what does he mean by I come quickly? It doesn't mean I'm coming in the next five minutes. It means that I am coming rapidly, suddenly. Now here's the thing. I come quickly doesn't tell us anything about what year Christ is coming. Because he dwells outside of time, thousand years like a day to him, and this is all from his perspective. Here's what I come quickly actually tells us about the coming of Christ. It tells us that when it comes, it's going to happen suddenly, and it's going to happen quickly, it's going to be fast. Okay, that's what it means. It's not telling us when it's going to happen, it's just telling us that when it happens it's going to be fast. Okay. Now go to 2 Peter chapter 3, we're going to get into that a little more later on. But let's finish up in 2 Peter 3 and understand why does God keep saying this? Because we don't want to just explain it away and say, well, you know, quickly is relative. But there's still a reason why he said it three times in one chapter. He's trying to get some point across to us. We want to get that point. Now we've seen what the wrong point is to say, well, he meant he's coming in the next day or two or the next year or two. That's not true. Look what the Bible, I mean, yeah, let's write a whole book of Revelation so it can just be outdated like immediately. That doesn't make any sense. Look at 2 Peter 2 verse 8, it says, or sorry, 3, 8, 2 Peter 3, 8, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to us, word, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So the Bible is saying, look, it's not that God is just slacking off on his return. Like, well, why hasn't he come back yet? You know, even so come Lord Jesus 2,000 years later, why are you slack concerning your promise to return? He's not slack concerning his promise. He's being longsuffering to us, because we've got to remember, the second coming of Christ involves destruction. It's not all rainbows and unicorns when he comes back. When Christ comes back, there's a process of tribulation and God pouring out his wrath that we read about in Revelation that's not going to be a fun process for this world, and it's going to involve a lot of people being wiped out and punished in a horrible way. So the Bible is saying it's not that God's slack on his return, it's that he's allowing more time to go by, because he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He's giving people time to get saved, to hear the Gospel. He's allowing people that time. He's being longsuffering toward the earth. He's not going to wipe out the earth until it gets bad enough to wipe it out. It's sort of like where he said that the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. You know, it wasn't time for the Israelites to wipe out the Canaanites yet, because their iniquity was not yet full yet. They hadn't really got to that point yet, okay? You know, God didn't come and just wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah 50 years early or 75 years early. He could have said, I can see where this is heading. You know, he basically is longsuffering, he gives them a chance, waits, waits, waits, and then eventually it gets to a point where it's over, right? Just like when the ark was being prepared, you know, there's a, it wasn't, the flood wasn't immediate. There's a time given where Noah is a preacher of righteousness, people are given time to hear the message, hear the preaching, and so forth. And look, people are getting saved every day. Soul winning is happening, right? Missions are happening. So the longer that goes by, more and more people are getting saved. You know, if Christ returned next year as opposed to this year, and obviously neither of those can happen because there are years of things that have to happen first, but I'm saying one year later is one more year of people getting saved before the destruction starts. And so he's longsuffering, he's not willing that any should perish, that all should come to repentance, verse 10, but even though he's longsuffering, even though he's not willing that he should perish, even though he's patient, even though he's willing to hold off, the day of the Lord will come, though. It is coming. And when it comes, it's coming as a thief in the night. Now that's quick, that's said. You think a thief in the night goes slow? I mean, you think he comes into the house and he just kind of opens the door, walks in, sits down, and just kind of looks around, just thinking like, I wonder what I should take first. That looks good. You know, he's going to get in there and get, if he's smart, he's going to get in and get out, right? He's going to get in, grab something valuable, and get out before he gets caught. And the longer he hangs around, the more likely he is to get caught. So he wants to get in, get out. So when Jesus says, hey, I'm coming like a thief in the night, one of the things he's saying is that it's going to happen suddenly, quickly, without warning, right? Because if the watchman knew what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be broken up. So the Bible is saying the thief in the night is one that comes unawares, suddenly, it happens rapidly, quickly. No warning is what he's saying, as far as the sudden destruction aspect of this. Now, and I'm going to get more into that later, how there is a warning if you're saved and watching. There's no warning to the wicked. But let's get into that later. So here, he says, the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. This isn't figurative. This is a literal burning destruction. He says, the elements will melt with the fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Now let's stop right there. What is it that's coming as a thief in the night? The thing that's coming as a thief in the night is the day of the Lord. And what's going to happen on the day of the Lord? The elements are going to melt, right? The heavens being on fire are going to be dissolved. There's going to be burning, fire, melting, fervent heat. Does everybody get the picture of what's coming as a thief in the night? He then says, looking for, verse 12, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelt righteousness. Now I want you to focus on that phrase, looking for. So in 2 Peter he just finished telling us, hey we don't know when this is going to be. It could be days from now, it could be thousands of years from now. We don't know when these things are going to happen. Thousand years like a day unto the Lord. In the last days scoffers will eventually come and wonder where he is. So it's going to be probably for a while. But he still says that we're looking for the day of God, right? Because when he says looking for at the beginning of verse 12, who's the subject there? We are. We're looking for the day of God. We're looking for it. Now go to Titus chapter 2. Go back a few pages to the left in your Bible, Titus chapter 2. So I hope you're getting the picture this morning. Jesus said I come quickly. What does he mean by that? Suddenly the rapidity of his coming, he's not saying hey back when this is being written in the first century AD I'm about to get there in the next year or two. No it's far out. We know it's at least a couple thousand years out still. What's he saying? He's saying look, when I come there's a sudden destruction that's coming as well. And so come Lord Jesus anyway, but there is going to be a hard time and bad times for a lot of people. So that's part of why he's holding off, he's long suffering. We as Christians, we're looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God because even though it's destruction, even though it's fire and brimstone, for us it's a blessed hope, okay? And we're looking eventually for a new heavens and a new earth anyway. We're not worried about it. Look at Titus chapter 2 verse 12, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for, isn't that like what he said in 2 Peter 3, looking for the day of God, looking for the day of the Lord? Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Now those who believe in the pre-trib rapture, those who believe that Jesus can just come at any moment, he's going to come before the tribulation, just, we're just going to be just going along, everything's smooth, everything's normal, everything's fine, and just boom, we're gone. They'll try to use this verse and say, we're looking for the blessed hope, we're not looking for the antichrist, we're looking for the blessed hope. Yeah, but you know what the Bible also said we're looking for? The new heavens and the new earth. Is that going to happen right away? Is that going to happen today? No. Looking for doesn't mean today, or could be today, because we're looking for. We're looking for the new heavens and the new earth. We're looking for the day of God when the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved. The bottom line is, the reason God says these things, I come quickly, watch, I come quickly, these things must surely come fast, is because he wants us to have an attitude that this is something that's coming, and we need to think about it, be prepared for it, and not just have this attitude of, it's far away, it's super far off. It doesn't matter whether it happens in our lifetime or not. We should have the mentality that it could happen in our lifetime, and we should be ready for it in case it does happen in our lifetime, be prepared anyway, because here's the thing, I guarantee you that people living in the early 20th century, around the time of World War I, they probably thought, this is it, this is the end. Now is that a bad thing for them to think? No. I mean, there's nothing wrong with them thinking, hey, this is probably going to happen in our lifetime. Look at the signs of the times, look at the wars, look at the rumors of wars, this will probably happen in our lifetime. Did it happen in their lifetime? No. They're 100% wrong because they're gone now. You know, that generation's totally gone. They thought it would happen in their lifetime, yet they are gone. Okay. But was it bad that they thought it would happen? No, because every generation should have an attitude, hey, this could happen in our lifetime, and have that attitude, and be motivated by the fact that, hey, Christ is going to return someday, and to be thinking about it, and ready for it, and not just say, well, this is many years. You know, what if we could get in a time machine and go back and tell people in the 1600s, hey guys, relax, Christ is not coming for at least 400 more years. Telling them that's not going to help them. Because God wants us to have an attitude of watchfulness. Whether we're living in the 1300s, or the 1700s, or the 1900s, or 2020, He wants us to have an attitude of watchfulness that says, hey, Christ may return in our lifetime. That's the attitude He wants us to have. That's why He doesn't tell us when it's going to be. Otherwise He could just tell us when. He doesn't tell us, He doesn't tell the unsaved, He doesn't tell the saved. He just says, everybody, just be ready, just be ready for it. This can happen whenever, watch, pay attention, it can happen whenever. Now go if you would to Matthew 24, Matthew chapter 24, while you turn to Matthew 24, I'm going to read for you James chapter 5. So you turn to Matthew 24, James 5, 7 says, be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Be patient, right? It's going to take time. Don't get weary of it, like, is this going to happen or what? And start giving up on it. Be patient. Realize that a day is like a thousand years with the Lord, and be patient, just relax and let things take their course. Behold, the husbandman waited for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it. Be ye, until ye receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. It's getting closer, every day, no matter when it is, every day gets us closer to it. It draws nigh, be patient, wait for it, prepare for it, and live your life as if it would happen in your lifetime, and thinking it possibly could. And here's the thing, is it going to happen in our lifetime? I mean, look, a lot of people are just fully convinced that it will for sure happen in our lifetime. A lot of people would just say, I know for a fact it has to happen in our lifetime. And you know what? I think there's a great possibility that it would happen in our lifetime. I think it'd be ridiculous and foolish to say, oh, there's no way it could happen in our lifetime. It could happen in our lifetime, easily. It wouldn't be a big shock if it started happening soon. But here's the thing, whether it does or not, if I get to be 90 years old, and it seems farther away then than it did now, hey, I know what the Bible says, it's not farther away, it's closer. And if I get to be 90 years old and it hasn't happened yet, guess what? I will not have any regrets about having watched for it for my life up to that point. I won't be like, well, man, I spent so much time studying Bible prophecy, I should have just ignored it all, it wasn't even relevant. Because otherwise it's like, well, why did people even study Bible prophecy in the 1700s? Sure did them a lot of good. They should have studied something else in the Bible. No, because studying everything in the Bible is profitable and it's still good for us to have an attitude of watching and looking for the blessed hope. Whether it happens in our lifetime or not doesn't bother me. Now go to Matthew 24, Matthew chapter 24. Verse 36 says this, but of that day and hour knoweth no man, know not the angels of heaven but my Father only. And by the way, if you read this in the book of Mark, he says, the angels in heaven don't know, and he said, neither the Son. Jesus said, I don't even know. Only the Father knows. In Mark 13, he says that he doesn't even know. Now, that right there should just really discourage you from trying to set a date on it. Because if Jesus didn't even know, you think you know more than him? I mean, that's ridiculous. You think he couldn't do the math in the book of Daniel and calculate it if it were possible? It's not possible. He knew more about Daniel than you do. So therefore you can't calculate it from the Bible at all. Now when it starts happening and it's actually there, then you'll know like, okay, there's the abomination of desolation, all right, you know, we know it's going to happen pretty soon here. We know this is not a drill at that point. But you're still not going to know the exact day or hour. You're never going to know that until it happens, until you're right there. Now the Bible says back in verse 29, because again, people will use this verse 36 to teach a pre-tribulation rapture. Well, if no man knows the day or the hour, that means it could be today. Wrong. Because what does the Bible say in Matthew 24, 29? Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, okay, is referring to verses 29 through 31. So it's funny when a pre-tribber pulls out verse 36 and says, of that day and hour knoweth no man, and they're talking about the rapture, right? But then when you take them to Matthew 24, 29 through 31, they're like, oh, that's not the rapture. Oh, that's not the rapture. That's the second coming. Yeah, but that's the day that nobody knows the day or the hour of. Whatever you want to call it, put whatever label you want on Matthew 24, 29 through 31. Let's just call it event A. Event A takes place, Matthew 24, 29 through 31, and of that day and hour knows no man of that event. Call it whatever you want. So if it's the rapture, then the rapture's after the tribulation. So you can't say, well, no man knows the day or the hour of the rapture, but that's not the rapture. That's what no man knows the day or the hour of. I mean, I had a preacher or pastor tell me, well, no man knows the day or the hour. I said, what Bible verse is that? Give me chapter and verse on that. Well, you know where it is. You know. Yeah, I know where it is, but do you know where it is? You know, I said, give me chapter and verse. I said, let's look it up right now. What's the chapter and verse? And then, okay, chapter and verse is Matthew 24, 36. All right, let's read the context. Is this the rapture? No. So does no man know the day or the hour of the rapture? Checkmate, pre-trib. Okay, checkmate. Guess what? It is the rapture. And no man knows the day or the hour of the rapture because the rapture is Matthew 24, 29 through 31. And guess what that means? That means the rapture's after the tribulation. Okay. So it's that simple. The rapture's after the tribulation. Christ comes in the cloud, trumpet sounds. Now look, if you're going to reject that this is the rapture, then you can't say no man knows the day or the hour of the rapture because you're saying this isn't even the rapture. It's like you got to pick, folks. Either it's the rapture or it's not. And you know, you got to stick with that. Now look what the Bible says in verse 37. So it said in verse 36, no one knows the day or the hour. Verse 37, but as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving a marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so also shall the coming of the Son of Man be. So what do we see there? Look, they're just eating, drinking, marrying, giving a marriage. Then destruction comes, right? The flood comes and wipes them out, takes them away. Destruction. Luke 17, we're not going to turn there for the sake of time. Jesus elaborates on this. And he says, look, the coming of the Son of Man is going to be like it was in the days of Noah, you know. And then he says, it's going to be like it was in the days of Lot, you know. They did not know until fire and brimstone rained out of the sky and boom, it caught them off guard. Does everybody get that? It caught them off guard. The flood caught them off guard. What? Now was the warning there of the flood? Oh yeah, Noah's been saying this for years. They didn't take it seriously, it caught them off guard. Sodom and Gomorrah caught them off guard. The second coming of Christ, the end times, the tribulation is going to catch a lot of people off guard. Not because the Bible didn't warn about it, but because people aren't taking heed onto the warning. Because, first of all, what about all the non-Christians out there? You think they're taking heed to this warning? You think that all of the atheistic scientists or the gnostics or the Muslims or the Hindus or the Buddhists or just the secularists or whatever, do you really think that people who are non-Christians are taking the Bible's warning seriously about what the Bible says is going to happen? They don't believe in the Bible. And then you have a lot of Christians, quote unquote, who don't even actually believe what the Bible says and they just kind of think that the Bible is inspirational literature. And it just kind of gives them a guidebook for their life and it makes them feel good, gives them comfort. But, come on, let's not take it too seriously. Folks, that's a lot of American Christianity today. You know, you talk to the Roman Catholic priest, he doesn't believe that these things necessarily really happen in many cases. You know, a lot of them just think that, you know, well, it's just written by men. A lot of this is fictional, they'll say, historical fiction. Folks, a lot of people are not taking this seriously, but the warnings are there. Whether people are listening or not, it's all laid out right here, the warning is here. So does this day have to come upon us like a thief in the night? Let's see what the Bible says. Look down at your Bible there in verse 43, or verse 42. Now the word watch literally means stay awake, like the watches of the night have to do with somebody staying up and being on guard, okay? He's saying, be awake, watch, you know not what hour your Lord doth come, verse 42. So here's what he's saying, don't try to figure out when it is, because whenever you think it is, it's a different time. He comes at such an hour that you think not, when you're not expecting. So therefore, just be ready all the time, is what he's saying, right? You don't know when it's going to be, so be ready all the time. Be watching all the time. That's why I'm saying, hey, he wanted us studying Bible prophecy in the 1700s, 1800s, 1900s, we don't know, so we're supposed to just be watching all the time. That's why in the last chapter he says, I come quickly, I come quickly, I come quickly. What's he saying? Pay attention, read this book. He doesn't want you to think, well, this is far off, I'm not even going to read Revelation. Blessed is he that readeth this book. These things must shortly come to pass, the time is at hand, be ready, I come quickly. Now look, he's kind of messing with us in a sense, because it's his version of quickly, but at the same time though, he wants us to have that attitude that it could be. And you know, some generation's going to be that lucky generation, or not so lucky generation, depending on which side of God's wrath you're on. You know, some of us are going to be those people that are blessed to see all these things and be on the earth during this incredible time. Now for some people, that's really bad fortune for them to be on the earth at that time. But what does the Bible say? He said, at such an hour you think not the Son of Man cometh. Verse 45, who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. And if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunken, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him in an hour that he's not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him as portion with the hypocrites that shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now some people will try to say that, you know, if you don't believe in a pre-trib rapture, that you're this guy who's saying the Lord delays his coming. Now look, folks, that's not even close to being what the Bible teaches when it teaches that the rapture is post-tribulation, pre-wrath, post-trib, pre-wrath. It's not a delay in Christ's coming, because here's the thing, whether or not it had been pre-trib or post-trib, it's still 2,000 years later. I mean, there's no question about the delay in that sense. The bad servant is the one who states as fact, he delays his coming, so let's party. That's what the bad servant's doing. He delay, he's not saying, hey, there could be a delay. Is that what the evil servant's saying? The evil servant's not saying, hey, he might come soon, he might come this year, or there might be a delay, so let's just be ready all the time. Folks, that's the right attitude. No, the evil servant says it's for sure delayed. It's for sure not gonna happen in our lifetime, therefore, let's eat and drink with the drunken. That's the, folks, it doesn't say, the evil servant said, my Lord delayeth his coming. How dare you say that? What's wrong with the evil servant? It's the fact that he says that, and then he goes out and eats and drinks with the drunken and parties and beats his fellow servants and does all these things, because he's convinced this isn't gonna happen. None of us can say with assurance, none of us can say with assurance, this will not happen in our lifetime. If you said that, you're a fool. None of us knows. It could be at any time. Now, it couldn't be today, because, but here's the thing, it could start today, like the events of Revelation could begin today, they could begin tomorrow, but we know that Christ come in the clouds is a grand finale to certain things that lead up to, it's not like the first thing, okay? Because what is it that comes like a thief in the night? Christ coming in the clouds. What else comes like a thief in the night? The earth and everything being burned up. That's not what Left Behind movie showed. In a Left Behind movie, the rapture happens like a thief in the night, no fire and brimstone. Where's the fire and brimstone? That's not accurate. In the same day, the Bible tells in Luke 17, the same day Noah went in the ark, it rained. The same day Lot went out of Sodom, fire and brimstone came from the sky. And guess what? The same day that the rapture happens, there's going to be fire. That's what 2 Peter 3 said. That's what Luke 17 said. That's what Revelation teaches, because when does the rapture happen? It happens when the sun and moon are darkened. Revelation chapter 6, the sixth seal is opened, sun and moon are darkened, great multitude appears in heaven of all nations, no man can number it, silent, then the seventh seal is opened, there's silence in heaven for a half hour. What's the first thing that happens after the great multitude that no man can number appears in Revelation 7? What's the first thing that happens? The angel takes a censer, fills it with fire from the altar and casts it into the earth and then, you know, the trumpets begin to sound, right? The trumpets of God. What's the first trumpet? First trumpet involves all the green grass on the entire planet burning. All the grass burns and one third of the trees burn. That's the first trumpet. Trumpet number 1. Now does that fit 2 Peter 3? Look, 2 Peter 3 is saying at one point the earth was baptized with water. It was flooded. And some day the earth is going to be baptized with fire. It's not going to be sprinkling. It's not going to be pouring, okay? It's going to be baptized with fire, okay? And here's the thing. Fire that burns up all the grass and one third of the trees, that means it's worldwide at that point. Am I right? You say, well, why didn't it burn up all the trees because, I mean, some of those trees are just pretty tough and they can handle a lot of fire. When you see fire come through, it's going to wipe out all the grass, but two thirds of the trees are going to survive and make it. Most people are going to survive, okay? But a lot of people are going to die. A lot of people are going to survive though. A lot of people are going to make it. You know, fire comes through an area, doesn't necessarily mean it's going to kill everybody. The majority of people are going to survive it. And look, you want a little taste of this? Look at the forest fire that burned up Paradise, California. I think, what was that last year, just 2019? Folks, a wildfire literally wiped out an entire city, okay? An entire city. Paradise, California became Inferno, California, okay? It got wiped out and folks, the pictures and the videos are like of biblical proportions. I mean the thing, just literally like 90 percent of the structures in the town were burned down. I mean it's just gone. And we're not talking about a small town. Forgive me because I don't have the numbers in front of me, it wasn't part of my sermon, but it just came into my mind. But I want to say it's similar in size or comparable in size to like Payson, Arizona. This is not a tiny town. Now don't quote me on that because I might be a little off on that, but I want to say Payson has around 13 to 15,000 people, maybe I'm wrong about that, and then maybe Paradise had around 11,000 people or something. But you know, I might be a little off on those numbers, but in general it's not super different from like Payson. And Payson is a pretty good sized town. I mean, can you imagine Payson just being wiped off the map? That just happened last year in California with a wildfire just, I mean, folks, God's going to do something like that worldwide. I mean, when Christ returns the same day, after we're gone, don't get nervous, we're going to be out of here, okay? That's what's going to happen on this earth. Okay, now here's the thing, that's why people aren't going to be like, where is everybody? You know, like the left behind, they're all worried about where is everybody. They're not going to be worried about that. You know what they're going to be worried about? Their lawn. That's what they're going to be worried about. Okay, and obviously when the Bible says all the grass burned up, it doesn't literally mean every blade of grass. It's just saying basically in general, virtually all the grass is going to be burned up and about a third of the trees are burned up. But so that's worldwide, I mean, that's something that's happening everywhere, am I right? It's happening everywhere. So therefore, you know, this thing is going to be a major devastating cataclysm where there's major fire, major burning, and it's going to come unawares. Go to the last place we're going to turn this morning, 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5. Look what the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Verse number 1, but of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. You don't need to know. Don't sit around crunching the numbers, doing the math, watching the YouTube videos, watching, you know, Brother Chipmunk, he's not even a brother, but, you know, watching Pastor Chipmunk of the Cloud Church, okay, doesn't have a real church, by the way, he's preaching to a camera. And no, I'm not preaching to a camera because I'm preaching to all of you. And by the way, this is, now you guys know what it feels like to be at Faith Ford Baptist Church in 2007. This is a 2007 crowd for us, all right? This is what it was like. This was every week. You ever listen to my audio from 2007? This is the size crowd I was preaching to, exactly, okay? And that was on Sunday mornings. Sunday night crowds were smaller than this, okay? But here's the thing, he doesn't have a real congregation. He's got the cloud church like iCloud, like upload to the cloud, Pastor Chipmunk, and he's up there with his whiteboard and every single year he comes out of the video, rapture, September 23rd, 2017, rapture, September 23rd, 2018, rapture, September 23rd, 2019, and he draws all the stupid junk on the whiteboard and guess what he gets, hundreds of thousands of views. Well, you know what? You could probably make a video of just flatulating and lighting it on fire, and you know what? You'll probably get hundreds of thousands of views too because the world's full of idiots, but you know what? I happen to actually want to upload something to YouTube that actually is conveying real sound biblical knowledge. I'm not just trying to put on a circus and get views, hey, everybody, September 23rd. It's garbage. Folks, you don't need me to write to you the times and the seasons. You don't need to know the day or the hour. Here's what you need to know, what the Bible tells you. Be ready. What the Bible, watch. I come quickly. Pay attention. Watch. That's all you need to know. Well, but when is it? I want to know. You want to know too much. The hidden things belong to God. Those that are revealed belong to us. Stay in your lane. Look what the Bible says. Of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. He's saying, look, I'm not going to tell you when it's going to happen. It says a thief in the night. Or because when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction. So isn't that what it means? I come quickly. I come suddenly. Sudden destruction comes upon them as travail upon a woman with child and nation on escape. What's going to be the attitude right before the fire and brimstone, right before Christ comes in the cloud, right before the trees and the grass are burned up? That is going to be the attitude amongst the unbelievers. Two words, peace and safety. Isn't that going to be their attitude? They're going to be like, oh, thank goodness that's over. You know, because the tribulation is before this. What happens in the tribulation? Warfare. What happens in the tribulation? Pestilence. What happens in the tribulation? Famine. What happens? All kinds of death and gloom. And then it's like, all right, finally, peace, safety. It's over. And then wham. You know what they're going to realize? It hasn't even started yet. Because the stuff that happens after the rapture is so much more intense, so incredibly worse than anything that happens before the rapture. The stuff before the rapture is bad. It's rough things. But it can't even hold a candle. The stuff that happens after is going to be so much worse. Boy, when they say peace and safety, they couldn't be any more wrong. Because that's when sudden destruction comes upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape. This would be like a woman goes through labor, right? And let's say she dilates to like a three or a four. And you know, the pain's intense even at that point. I mean, right, Juja, when you're at three or four, you've suffered at that point. You've gone through pain. It'd be like if she got to like a three or four and then she's just like, well, thank goodness the worst is over. The worst is behind me now. Peace and safety now. Now it's all downhill from here. It's going to be easy from here. Folks know, when you get to the seven, eight, nine, ten, it's going to be, buckle up, buttercup. It's going to be worse, all right? That's not, the worst part isn't dilating to a one, okay? It intensifies toward the end, all right? And you know, I'm seeing some young mothers in here that I'm sure can verify what I'm saying right now, that the worst comes later, all right? And so they're like, oh, peace and safety. That's when the real contractions start. You know, then travail really comes upon them, okay? But look at verse four. Here's what the pre-tribbers completely ignored. They completely forget this part. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. Is this going to overtake us as a thief? No, because folks, when this stuff starts happening, we're not going to be saying like, what's going on? I don't get it. Christ in the clouds, are you serious? We're just going to be like, we've been waiting for this, we've trained our whole lives for this. We've waited our whole lives for this. This is it. We're going to be not shocked, not surprised, and even when the events of the tribulation are playing out, we're going to have our Bible, we're going to be like, yup, yup, yup, okay, yeah, yup, okay, it's a little different than I expected, but you know, yeah, it's happening. We're not going to be taken by surprise unless we're ignoring the word of God, don't know our Bibles. But let me tell you something, there are a lot of saved people who've never even read the book of Revelation. There are a lot of saved Christians who've never studied end times prophecy, and so even if they are truly saved, have Jesus Christ as their savior, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're not going to be surprised by these things or confused by them. Maybe their pastor has taught them a pre-trib rapture. They're going to be pretty confused when things play out differently than that. They're going to have to do a crash course. They're going to have to binge watch that Revelation series, you know, when they realize that the pre-trib rapture didn't pan out, all right? They're going to have to figure something out. They're going to have to do a crash course in Revelation pretty fast, okay? Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day. We're not of the night, nor of darkness, so don't let anybody tell you that Christ's coming is going to come upon you as a thief in the night. It's going to come upon them as a thief in the night. Therefore, because we're the children of light, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober, for they that sleep, sleep in the night, they that be drunken are drunken in the night, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. Cheer up, don't worry about it, why? Because God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. So we shouldn't have an attitude that says, well the end times is too scary, I hope it doesn't happen in my lifetime. Now I've had a lot of Christians say that to me, well I certainly hope it's not happening in my lifetime, because I don't want to go through that stuff, that's too scary, I don't want to deal with it, I'd rather just live a happy, peaceful, calm life. That's not the right attitude, because we need to understand, look, God hasn't appointed us to wrath. You know what I mean? We're not in darkness, we're the children of the light, and if we go through the tribulation, you know, God's able to bring us through the tribulation unscathed. He's able to keep us safe, he's able to give us joy and peace, and he's not going to tempt us above what we're able. So whatever he puts on our plate, we're going to be able to handle it. Now look, a lot of people right now, you know, they think that it's all happening right now. They think that in Revelation when it says that the first horseman goes forth and a crown is given unto him, they're looking at the Spanish Bible and saying he was given a corona. And they're saying, you know, the first horseman of the apocalypse, a corona was given unto him, and he went forth conquering. That's what's happening, corona! Coronavirus is predicted. Folks, that's what some people, and look, people are laughing at that, but even people who don't think about it that silly, you know, a lot of people do think like that this is literally like act one of the tribulation. Now I don't believe that. I don't think so. Because I think this is a joke. If this is the tribulation, I'm okay, you know, it's not that big of a deal, you know, because I, you know, folks, the tribulation is going to be so much worse. The wrath of God is going to be so much worse than the tribulation, but the tribulation is going to be so much worse than this, okay. This isn't the tribulation, all right. A measure of wheat is not being sold for a penny yet, okay. You can still buy your English muffins for a pretty good price down at Fry's on the corner here. Okay, we're not even close to those things. Now here's the thing, but at the same time, I don't want you to misinterpret me, I don't want you to get the attitude that I think, hey, don't worry, this isn't, you know, the Christ isn't coming for at least 30, 50, 100 more years, because folks, we don't know this could be obviously something that happens shortly before the end times, because we never know when the end times will begin. So the events of the tribulation, could they begin in 2020, absolutely. Could they begin in 2021, for sure. Could they begin in 2022, for sure. The problem that I have with labeling this as the beginning of sorrows, described in Matthew 24, when Jesus said this is the beginning of sorrows, he was talking about this. The problem that I have is that, number one, it doesn't match up with the biblical timeline, because it starts with World War. War is the first thing that really sets things off, number one. And number two, because I don't think that this coronavirus incident is serious enough to label it as this is what's going to lead into the tribulation, because to me, I'm afraid that that would be a downplaying of the tribulation, like that it could give people an attitude that the tribulation is going to be much more minor than what it really is. Let's just get a quick refresher on the tribulation. What does the Bible say in Matthew 24 about the tribulation? That it will be a time of tribulation such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be. So stop for a moment and think about every tribulation that's ever happened in the history of mankind. Okay? What are some things that have happened in the history of mankind? So you could think about the Black Plague, wiping out like a third of Europe, World War II, 70 million deaths. Folks, the tribulation will be worse than World War II. So if you have 70 million deaths in World War II, whatever world war is involved in the tribulation is going to involve way more than 70 deaths, or excuse me, 70 million deaths. It's certainly going to be more than 70 deaths, all right? It's going to be more than 70 million dead because that already happened in World War II. It's going to be worse than the Black Plague because that already happened. It's going to be worse than any horrific event in the history of mankind. You name the natural disaster. Name the tsunami. Name the earthquake. Name the war. Name the plague. Whatever bad thing has happened on this planet. What did Jesus say? Tribulation is going to be worse. Therefore, this coronavirus situation is not even close to even being the beginning of the first pang. This is a Braxton Hicks, if anything, all right? This is nothing. This is not the real thing. You're not really in labor yet, America, all right? This is Braxton Hicks' contractions. So the point is that could the events of the tribulation begin in 2020? Sure they could. But they're just as likely to begin in 2021 or 2022 or 100 years from now or 1,000 years from now. Now, I'm not getting up and saying the Lord delays is coming because I'm saying it's possible at any time. But don't get married to the idea that it's for sure going to happen in your lifetime. Just realize that it could happen in our lifetime, so we must be prepared. And you know what? If we prepare and we're ready and we go through our whole life and we get to be 90 and we die without it happening, every second that we spent studying Revelation and preparing was time well spent. It won't be like, well, that was a waste. Every second that we spent studying the Word of God and preparing our hearts for that time is time well spent. Now, I'm not saying every can of condensed milk that you bought was a good purchase. But when the Bible tells you to watch and prepare and be ready, he's not saying build a bomb shelter, folks. He's talking about getting your heart ready, getting your mind ready, getting your spirit ready, studying the Word of God. That's what it means to be awake. So what's the title of this sermon? Behold, I Come Quickly. What is the moral of I Come Quickly? Is it, oh, you already came secretly and nobody knew. It was a big secret. It already happened in the first century AD. Oh, it already happened to the Jehovah's Witnesses in the early 1900s. No. The message of I Come Quickly is not a time frame because God doesn't give us a time frame. The message of I Come Quickly is it's going to happen fast, it's going to be sudden, you better be ready, I don't care what year you're living in, study it, learn it, know it, prepare it, be ready for it, and look forward to it. And so come, Lord Jesus, should be the attitude, not, well, I hope it doesn't happen in my lifetime. Trust God that he'd get you through it and it would be one serious ride. Amen? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and we especially thank you for the book of Revelation. What a clear book. Many people treat the book of Revelation as if it is a book meant to obscure things, but the very title Revelation shows us that it is something that is clear and we should take it at face value. Lord, I pray that we would study the book of Revelation, that we would love your appearing, that we would look forward to your appearing, that we would watch and be sober and stay awake and not just guarantee people that it's not going to happen. Lord, come, we're ready, Lord, and help us to stay ready and whenever you choose to pull the trigger on these things, Lord, then we are going to be happy and rejoice with you, Lord. And thank you for our church and for people who love to learn about the subject, Lord, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.