Tucson Mountain Baptist Church

“Hallelujah!” It’s the word that says all the praise and the glory goes to God.
This one word, this praise to God word confirms His plan is:
The plan revealing He’s going to Reign Forever!

“After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven
shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for
true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who
corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his
servants.” And again they shouted: “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up
for ever and ever.” The twenty-four elders and four living creatures fell down
and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: “Amen,
Hallelujah!” Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God, all
you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great!” Then I heard what
sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud
peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let
us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has
come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was
given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)Then
the angel said to me, “Write: “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding
supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.” At this I
fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow
servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus.
Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” 19:1-10.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself
for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the
word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle
or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:25-27

1. The bride is Prepared. It takes preparation for the bride to be ready!
Why does any wedding happen? Because two people love one another.
The wedding of the Lamb and the Church happens because Jesus loves His church.

2. The bride is also Honored.
The Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.
The righteous acts is the fine linen Gown that the bride wears.
Those righteous acts come because of what Jesus did for us and through us.

The Second Coming of Christ. Can mean two things: The rapture, the coming
of Christ at the tribulation time prior to the millennial reign. Or, that specific time
when He comes when all the world sees Him for who He really is!
God’s one and only Son Our Savior and Lord.

Let’s think of all the questions about the Second Coming of Christ.
The most important question is the Who? Who it is that is Coming again.

“Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him
to call his attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I
tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be
thrown down.” As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to
him privately. “Tell us,” They said, “when will this happen, and what will be the
sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered: “Watch out
that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the
Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see
to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to
come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will
be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of
birth pains. “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to
death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will
turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false
prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of
wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end
will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole
world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. “So when you see
standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of
through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand – then let those who are
in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to
take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his
cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing
mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the
Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of
the world until now—and never to be equaled again. “If those days had not been
cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be
shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or,
‘There he is!’, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and
miracles to deceive even the elect – if that were possible. See, I have told you
ahead of time. “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go
out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that
comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son
of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will
gather. “Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be
darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ At that time the sign of the Son of Man
will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see
the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And
he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect
from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. ”Now learn this
lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out,
you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know
that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly
not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass
away, but my words will never pass away. “No one knows about that day or hour,
not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the
days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days
before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying, and giving in
marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what
would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be
at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken
and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be
taken and the other left. “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on
what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house
had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch
and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be
ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect
him. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in
charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper
time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he
returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But
suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a
long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink
with drunkards.
The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and
at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place
with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matt. chapter 24

“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider
is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are
like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on
him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood,
and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him,
riding on white horses, and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his
mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule
them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of
God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF
KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who
cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for
the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and
mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave,
small and great.” Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their
armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his
army. But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had
performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded
those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two
of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them
were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse,
and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.” 19:11-21

Jesus Christ will ride in Victory. He’s the ruler of everything. When that happens
every knee will bow, every tongue will confess He is LORD. It is inevitable!
We move from a wedding to a war, from a bride to a battle.

“And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven having the key to the abyss
and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient
serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He
threw him into the abyss and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from
deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that he
must be set free for a short time. I saw thrones on which were seated those who
had been given authority to judge.
And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony
for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or
his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They
came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead did
not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first
resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection.
The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of
Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.” Rev. 20:1-6

This is the Millennial Reign of Christ.
The three main views of this thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ.

A. The pre-millennial view is that Jesus comes again and sets up an earthly
kingdom and there’s a thousand years of him reigning on this earth.
Q. Why does there need to be a thousand-year reign?

B. The postmillennial view is that the world is going to get better and better and
then Jesus will come again.

C. The a-millennial view is that these are all spiritual symbols and just ideas. And
the millennial is what happened between the first coming of Christ and the second
coming of Christ. What is happening right now.

Q. What is God telling us about the end of time through any of these views?