Purpose and Peace in the Last DaysSample

The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat

I want you to think about a victory that you have had in your life and the thrill it gave you.

Now think about a defeat you’ve experienced and the agony it made you feel.

Finally, multiply each of those feelings by a zillion. Those two extremes are a picture of what the second coming of Christ will feel like.

See, for those who know Christ, who love Jesus and follow Him, it’s going to be the thrill of victory and joy unspeakable beyond anything our minds can imagine.

On the other hand, for those who don’t know Jesus and don’t follow Him and obey the gospel, it’s going to be agony, misery, and disaster beyond anything that their minds can comprehend.

Today’s reading paints a bleak picture of the second coming of Jesus for those who don’t follow Christ.

When Christ comes to be glorified in His saints, those who rejected Him “will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”

Just as the second coming will bring great terror and punishment for those who are lost, for the Christian, it will bring joy, relief, and an experience of the glory of God beyond imagination.

I want to point out three important discoveries about the Lord’s coming we find in today’s reading.

Discovery number one: At the second coming, Jesus will be revealed as Lord.

The first coming of Jesus was very different from what the second coming will be like.

In the first coming of Jesus, He came veiled. We sing that song at Christmastime, “…veiled in flesh, the Godhead see, hail incarnate Deity.”

Jesus had flesh, and that flesh hid His deity. Those who met Jesus in the days of His earthly ministry did not intuitively know that He was God in the flesh. Why? He didn’t look like God. He didn’t glow or wear a halo. He looked like a carpenter from Nazareth. His deity was veiled in His common human flesh.

At His return, however, He is unveiled. We will see Him for who He truly is. We will see Him as the glorious, Holy God of the universe.

Discovery number two: At the second coming, Jesus will repay His enemies

He’s revealed as Lord, and He deals swiftly with those who rejected and neglected Him.

When Jesus comes again, the Bible says He will wage war against His enemies. He pays His enemies with a just recompense.

He first came as Savior to seek and save the lost. But at His second coming, Jesus comes as the Judge and there will be no more grace for those who rejected Him, only perfect justice. The unbeliever will experience God’s holy, righteous wrath and face eternal destruction.

What is eternal destruction? It’s being separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power for all eternity. It is spending forever in hell – a terrible place “prepared for the devil and his angels.”

That should cause us to pray … and that should cause us to witness. That should cause us to shine and share because we don’t want anybody to experience that fiery existence.

Discovery number three: At the second coming, Jesus will bless His saints.

Yes, Jesus will repay His enemies, but when He comes, He will also bless His saints.

If you’re a Christian, that’s YOU!

What is the blessing for His people?

First of all, it’s relief and rest for God’s people who’ve been struggling internally with sin. When Christ comes again, you will not struggle with sin anymore. He tears away that old sin nature that plagues you and plagues me. There is going to be relief and rest.

Not only will you experience relief and rest. You’ll also experience the glory of God. When Christ returns, He will be glorified in you. You become a trophy of God’s grace. So, you experience His glory.

Finally, you will be blessed as you experience His wonder. And this wonder will last for all eternity. This isn’t just one second when the Lord comes back and we all marvel. No, it goes on and on forever and ever.

So, here’s the second coming in a nutshell. Believers will be blessed. Unbelievers will be justly judged. It’s the thrill of victory for some … and the agony of defeat for others.

2 Questions:

1. Which of the discoveries about the second coming of Christ moves your heart the most? Ask God to turn that feeling into motivation to share the Good News with others.

2. What is a sin you’ve struggled to conquer? Ask God today to give you strength to experience victory over that sin even as you await final, complete relief from the struggle.