Stephen Whitehouse - Class 6: Exhortation - Caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:02

   Well good morning brothers and sisters and young people as a family. We come together to remember our absent. Lord, now we’re looking in the adult section session. We’re looking at the Lord Jesus Christ coming in clouds and that conjures up, all kinds of images in our minds. Doesn’t it that there’s a sum certain Grandeur and Beauty about that phrase?

2. 0:27

   Majesty comes to mind, it also conveys. It also expresses that the swiftness and the visibility of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the way that he establishes God’s kingdom and it’s going to be remarkable. It’s going to be a truly earth-shattering moment. When the Lord Jesus Christ does return in the kingdom of God, is established that the world will look upon in awe and amazement Well, over the course of the weekend. We considering how ugly these extraordinary meetings of the Lord Jesus Christ in clouds and it seems that a long time ago now.

3. 1:06

   But we started off yesterday morning, thinking about the Lord, Jesus ascending into heaven, and that remarkable moment when he meets his his father in Heaven, for the first time. And then we thought a little bit didn’t worry about the Lord. Jesus Christ coming back and reveal himself to his brethren in Judah and then displaying himself in all glory to the world.

4. 1:33

   I just we’ve been looking at these meetings, these crucial meetings of the Lord. Jesus Christ says, there’s been one big meeting hasn’t there that we’ve not really thought about. Yes. And that’s the meeting that you and I have with the Lord Jesus, that’s what we want to look at in our excitation this morning.

5. 1:54

   So we begin our excitation by asking you this question. Have you ever really imagined coming face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ? And we come this morning, don’t way to remember our absent Lord in the bread and in the wine.

6. 2:15

   And we know that when the Lord Jesus Christ does return, he’s going to be the judge of the earth. Perhaps some of us feel a little fearful. Of that moment. Fear not little flock. For it is your father’s, good. Pleasure to give you the kingdom. Yes, of course, the Lord. Jesus Christ is going to be the judge of the earth and he’s going to rain supremely in Jerusalem.

7. 2:47

   For brothers and sisters in young people. He also died for you and me. And in the Kingdom, he still going to Bear the marks in his hands and his side. And he’s going to be this eternal display of his sacrifice. He sacrificial, love for you. And for me, and in that image that I’m trying to paint in your mind, we begin our excitation this morning by knowing that there is nothing nothing to fear.

8. 3:19

   Well, let’s open up our Bibles then and we’ve had that short passage read together. In the first of Thessalonians, in chapter 4, what I want to do, then I want to live and breathe that moment. I want us to think about meeting the Lord Jesus Christ. I want us to anticipate that time. I want us to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord. So we read these words, then in chapter 4, the first epistle, Verse 16.

9. 3:51

   For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with a voice of the Archangel with the Trump of God words that we’ve been looking at with brother Johnny and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.

10. 4:08

    And so, shall we ever be with the Lord? Wherefore Comfort. One another, with these words? Well, the first question is, did you spot it? Did you spot where we are? Well, of course you did. It’s there in. 17 then we which are alive and remain and the idea of that expression is, is the idea that we are tiny in comparison with those that sleep in Christ, we are an insignificant, we are a minuscule fraction of the men and women who have obeyed God’s word and are awaiting the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that’s a, that’s an awesome thing to think about, isn’t it? It.

11. 4:52

    We represent the minority in such a big way. It’s almost as if. in picture form that you can see a jar and the jar is full and the jar has a sticker on and it says the kingdom of God and it’s full Yet a full yet though, it’s full of few, more grains have been found.

12. 5:18

    And somehow God can ensure that those extra grains. Can get sealed up in the jar and only God can do it to the visible eye. It’s impossible, but all things are possible with God, and that’s the picture that’s being painted there and that’s an incredible privilege that we have, isn’t it? Brothers and sisters, young people that we are the minority. The vast majority are now sleeping in Christ. Waiting for the return of the master. But it tells us here, doesn’t it about the timing? The timing of the return of the Lord Jesus. It says they’re the living in verse 15 shall not prevent or come before them, which are asleep. If you got another Translation your read, those words or come before.

13. 6:06

    So in other words, then we’re being told very plainly that the dead in Christ will know. First that the Lord Jesus Christ has returned. And they will know. They will become acutely aware, they will be conscious that the Lord Jesus Christ has returned through their physical bodily, Resurrection. And it is the book of Isaiah that paints a picture for us that we just share these words with you. And just think about these words in the context of what Paul is writing here.

14. 6:37

    He says, thy dead men shall live together with my dead body, shall they arise awake and sing? Ye that dwell in the dust for thy Jew is as the Jew of hers and the Earth shall cast out the dead. So my question is, what is the first thing that the dead in Christ will do in acknowledgment that the Lord Jesus Christ has returned.

15. 7:01

    As they stand at the side of their graves. Isaiah tells us that they Sing. They will sing in Praise knowing that the Lord has returned. That they’re their bodies and their limbs will be reconstituted and strengthen their memories restored, and they will be living and breathing creatures. And what a miracle that will be.

16. 7:26

    And so many we looked at Daniel chapter 7 and so many men and women of ancient years. They died a natural death. Certainly they died in the Arenas. They were consumed by lions or they were burnt his Lantern.

17. 7:45

    So how are they restored? It requires a creative person. And so what we’re seeing here is the power of the Creator and it says there in verse 16, the dead in Christ shall rise first. So there’s an emphasis there, we need to really think about that. There’s a, there’s a wonderful blessing for those who sleep in Christ. Let’s not think that they are disadvantaged in any way. We talk a lot about being alive at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is an awesome privilege. To see chop, Jesus Christ return. But it does also, this this wonderful blessing that rests with those that sleep. there’s a there’s a day of reunions fast approaching a day when husband and wives mothers and daughters Fathers and Sons friends and family will be reunited, it will be a glorious moment.

18. 8:49

    A morning that is unheralded. When there is so much celebration. That they have been restored. and for many of us here, if not all of us, well, we find it difficult to remember faces and voices of long gone in our memories. Those people will be restored. They were once again walk this Earth.

19. 9:19

    They were live. They will breathe. And they will sink. They will sing, brothers and systems and it is a breathtaking moment in history. And then we read in verse 17, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds. Now, what I want to do, I just want to draw your attention to a Greek word here and you’ll find it helpful. I’m sure I certainly found it helpful. We are going to be caught up together. You see that?

20. 9:53

    That that Greek word. They’re caught up is the Greek word. Hot Paisa. And you may have in your translations there, something that expresses the idea to seize or to capture to snatch away.

21. 10:09

    So what we’re being told here by Paul, is that those who are living something, is going to take them away, I want you to try and imagine that picture that we are going to be taken. We are going to be removed now. Perhaps that causes us a little bit of concern, and what I want to do, I want to provide a helpful application that have a look at Acts chapter 8.

22. 10:33

    And you’ll know the same. Well, this is Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch and this is where the word is used. And if you’re not seeing this before, it’s just with putting a little Bible reference in your margin so that you can remember. This is a good example and Acts chapter 8, then we see there in verse 39, having baptized the Yuna, we read these words And when they were come out of the water, the spirit of the lord caught away filler that the eunuch saw him, no more.

23. 11:03

    And he went on his way rejoicing, but Philip was founded as at us and passing through, he preached in all the cities. So he came to caesarea and that phrase they’re caught away is the same way as caught up the same Greek word as quarter in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Now, just think about this. What’s going on?

24. 11:22

    That was Philip an Ethiopian eunuch. They were in Jerusalem, and they end up, or Paul ends up in a so ptosis, which is Ash David. As a tosses, the Greek of the word ashdod, and it’s about 30 miles away from Jerusalem. If you, you know, the land is between Java and and Gaza.

25. 11:44

    And we see here in these words that he’s instantly taken. That the force is Swift. It’s irresistible, and it’s overpowering. And this is the, the means of our transportation of saints being taken to meet the Lord. Jesus Christ. That’s a wonderful thing. Isn’t it? As Paul was taken, he continued with his preaching, he was instantly taken and it didn’t affect him in any way. Not this, another usage of this word here. It’s found in John chapter 10 and here. The Lord Jesus Christ is talking about the Good Shepherd. And he’s talking about himself.

26. 12:27

    And perhaps this is a negative way in which this word is used. I think there’s a positive message exhortation that comes out of it. John chapter 10?

27. 12:41

    John 10 and verse 11, I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, giveth his life for the Sheep, but he, that is a hireling and not the shepherd, whose own the Sheep are not seeth. The wolf coming, he leave with the sheep and flees and the Wolf catches them and scattereth the Sheep. It might be difficult to spot that were but it’s the word catches there and here, it’s illustrating that the strength That a wolf has over a sheep.

28. 13:09

    It’s overpowering isn’t so. In other words relating that to how we’re going to be taken, we’re going to be taken in such a way that the power of God is going to be overwhelming. We will not be able to challenge it. There’s no power to resist. We’re going and for us young people and we are looking at the ten virgins this morning there will be an opportunity to say Let’s just wait a little bit.

29. 13:37

    Please, I’ve got things to do when it comes. When the Call Comes brothers and sisters. In young people, we’re on our way. We’re on our way now. Perhaps, by looking at that example, it’s not particularly helpful in the sense of it’s a negative example isn’t over. I’ve evolved over of sheep and we’ll come to a positive example in a moment.

30. 14:06

    But I just want to think for a moment about being prepared being prepared and I hope my mom doesn’t mind me sharing this story, but it’s something that’s, that’s kind of boring to my mind and it’s something I’ve never forgotten.

31. 14:22

    Something tells me that when she was growing up, she can remember our own mother mine and every single night before she went to bed. She put her Bible at a side. she gets her best clothes are fine issues and they’d all be placed neatly at the side of her bed, with the view that if the angel came that night, She was prepared.

32. 14:54

    I just think about that. It’s not that we have to do that or anything like that, but the reason why that’s such a powerful example, to me and throughout my life, is that that person made Jesus Christ a living reality in her life. Every day. And this is what christadelphians used to do. This is what men and women of Faith used to do. They made the invisible God, visible in their lives. They made the Unseen God seeing in daily life. Think about Joseph and Potiphar’s wife? How can I do this wickedness?

33. 15:45

    And scene. Against God. So Joseph made an unseen God visible in his room. And there was this, as a young people, faith and brother, John, he’s talked a little bit about fake face. An interesting thing, isn’t it? It makes the Unseen seen in our lives, and we are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we know that one day, he’s going to be king.

34. 16:13

    But the question I challenge all of us with this morning, how many of us have made Jesus king in our lives today? How many of us can honestly say that Jesus governs the reality of our life? Because there’s going to come a time when the Lord Jesus Christ is enthroned in Jerusalem and the Unseen becomes seen. The hidden becomes disclosed.

35. 16:48

    Something that we are waiting for has happened. Surely God wants to see us as men and women of faith that make the kingdom of God, our reality in our lives, that governs, our day-to-day decisions. That’s what God wants to see. He wants us to make the Unseen future and ever seeing reality today. And that’s the challenge that we all have, isn’t it? Now, coming back to that word, Hall Pacer, because I left you there a little, didn’t I?

36. 17:28

    And it is a little worried. When you think about here in John chapter 10 of a war, taking a lamb. And many of us here this morning, I’m sure will be thinking. Well, I’m not going to be ready for the court. I’ve just simply not good enough for God’s Kingdom. I don’t think God wants.

37. 17:53

    Well, the final statement is wrong because this is why we’re here this morning. But when we think about how we’re going to be taken, it’s difficult to even imagine how we’re going to be prepared for the might and the power of almighty God. Now, with that thought, let’s just look down and look at how that word is used again in John, chapter 10 in the chapter of the Good Shepherd.

38. 18:15

    So there’s a good shepherd and he talks at that the, The Hop a so that the wolf catching a lamb, but he goes on to say, not for you, you are not allowed that’s going to be involved. By a wolf. Have a look at John chapter 10 and verse 27. He says they’re Jesus.

39. 18:35

    My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man, pluck them out of my hand, my Father, which gave them me is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them out of my father’s hands.

40. 18:53

    I and my father are one now. What I want to draw your attention to is that word there. Pluck, it’s hot paizo and it’s fuckin gay and who pays it. We’ve got a repeat there and Jesus is saying I am the Good Shepherd and this is not going to happen to my sheep. There is nothing to fear.

41. 19:16

    He’s telling us. That even death. Won’t be Eternal death. There’s nothing to fear with the Lord Jesus Christ. And, and this idea of being taken so quickly. Perhaps another way to view it. We’re being snatched away from our Wicked World. We want to leave this world. Let’s not moan about the speed at which we are taken. We want to go.

42. 19:44

    We want to leave. Perhaps a way of looking at this is the speed at which we are taken, and the might have God that’s expressed in that moment is a measure of how desperate Jesus is to see you and me. Don’t you think that the way that these words are being used, is that it’s a it’s an idea that’s being conveyed, that Jesus is saying, nothing is going to stop him from being with us.

43. 20:12

    Yes, but we don’t have to embark on a personal Journey. We don’t have to make any personal preparations. Jesus is taking control of the situation and he wants us with him. He’s telling us that there is nothing to fear because he loves us so much. Well thinking about 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, there is a sequence, isn’t it? Though the dead in Christ shall rise first and then those little I will be caught up in the air to be with Christ. Have you ever wondered how your going to be told a Jesus Christ returns because the dead in Christ shall rise first. Perhaps someone that, you know, comes and tells you in a form to perhaps someone who, you know, has died. A family member a brother or sister in Europe, Leisure. Perhaps it’s someone that you see in a grave that you were at the funeral.

44. 21:09

    You actually saw with your own eyes that the coffin being lowered into the ground. And there that person is with a warm and radiant and all-embracing smile and said hurry, we’re going to meet Jesus together. That’s the We go together with the Lord and how powerful that message would be. A personal message or perhaps?

45. 21:39

    Our Guardian Angels suddenly reveals himself to us and takes us Court surface to meet the Lord. Jesus Christ, an Angel that’s been watching over us throughout our lives. That knows ourselves better than we do. And prepares us for coming face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ.

46. 22:00

    Either way, it’s tremendously comforting this year. It’s interesting, isn’t it that it says there that we’re going to be caught up with them in the clouds? It’s slightly different to the thing that we’re looking at this weekend, remember the theme Jesus Christ coming in clouds but these words don’t quite connect with that theme do that because this is us in clouds what we’re thinking about Jesus coming in clouds. But here we’re reading about being taken in clouds. Is this the same thing?

47. 22:36

    Let’s look at Matthew chapter, 16, Jesus provide some really helpful words here to his disciple. And here Jesus. Then he, he talks about his appearance when he returns to Earth from heaven and they’re very dramatic words. As you would expect picking up in verse 27, for the son of man. He says, so we’ve got this thing right away for the son of man shall come in the glory of his father, with his angels, That’s interesting for those of us in the adult session. That’s not with the Saints, is it? This is slightly different.

48. 23:20

    This is with the angels and then he shall reward. Every man according to his work and then he goes on to say verily, I say unto you there be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. And we would understand that final verse as Preparing them for the Transfiguration and Peter, James, and John would be there on a high mountain.

49. 23:44

    They would see Jesus in all his glorious Beauty. And in a way, they were seeing the son of man coming in clouds because there was a cloud upon the mount and a voice that went forth. This is my beloved Son. Hear ye him. You can see that Jesus Christ was transfigured in Matthew 17 verse 2. but coming back to verse 27, the son of man shall come in glory with his Angel.

50. 24:14

    So I want your sister to think about that that the Practical reality, that Jesus Christ is going to return to the Earth with angel wings. And we need to be very practical about that. There’s going to come a moment in time when the final Embrace between Father and Son takes place in heaven. And the final words are shared between the father and son and then Jesus is on his way, it’s going to be like that. Jesus is on his way and he’s going to be asked, or did we read in verse 27, with a host of angel? Well, haven’t we seen that a little earlier, our host of angels, took him up into heaven in Acts chapter 1, perhaps it’s the very same Angels, 2,000 years later that come with him personally to the Earth.

51. 25:01

    Is that love? But what do these angels do? Reward. Every man according to his works. So practically then what we’re having here is Jesus Christ returns with a host of angels, perhaps the same angels that he ascended into heaven and then those angels are sent around the world. Together at the same as to take them to judgment.

52. 25:26

    So that immortality can be ground. And in that Gathering, it’s both the living and the dead. We’re just read about in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and so I want you just to Picture This. I asked you the question is this the same theme Jesus Christ in clouds and he’s isn’t it? Because these angels as they take the Saints to be with the Lord Jesus Christ, they are taking these Saints as it were in clouds. It’s a an Angelic group of clouds that take and transport the Saints men and women like you and I to meet with the Lord Jesus Christ.

53. 26:08

    Is that a lovely picture? And it will be interesting to you’ll be like the harp a so you won’t visibly. See the clouds in the sky. They’re going to be instantly taken but figuratively. You’ve got a heaven full of these clowns. Covering the four corners of the Earth or heading to the nation of Israel.

54. 26:29

    Can you visualize? It isn’t it? Exciting and there’s another lovely connection. Because remember, it was the cloud that guided Israel to the promised land where God, resided, and similarly, you’ve got this cloud of angels, taking newest rail to be with the Son of God in the lamb. So there’s some lovely lovely connections there. So, just stand and and gaze at those clouds, being transported across the heavens.

55. 27:06

    I think a little bit about that, the Angels, taking the Saints to be with the Lord Jesus Christ as God’s representative. Haven’t we seen that a little earlier, as I mentioned, it’s the angels that took Jesus to heaven. But why did the Angels take Jesus to Heaven? Well, there’s there’s a number of reasons.

56. 27:25

    But we know concerning Jacob’s Ladder that. It was the angels that knew where God lived where Heaven was Jesus hadn’t been there, the Angels needed to take the Lord Jesus Christ and they they were delighted and they celebrated the fact that they could take someone for the first time in all history, back to heaven. But that acts 1 then becomes a pattern of blueprint. Jesus was taken by angels to a place that he didn’t know to be in the presence of God.

57. 27:58

    I’m way too will be taken in a cloud of angels so a place that we don’t know, we might have our suspicions where the Judgment seat is going to take place, but none of us now, we too will be taken in a cloud of angel. To come in the presence. Of the Lord. Jesus Christ.

58. 28:20

    Isn’t that lovely? So then it becomes a pattern, er, a template of greater things to come, and it’s quite a thought, isn’t it? The living in the Dead all going together, so as you look around today, we’re all going together, he thought about that. It’s not just a swannack weekend, we’re going to share together, we’re going to be transported together. But but not only us but all the brothers and sisters today who come together and remember the absolute Lord. They too are going on a journey with us and not only them, but all the faithful Bible characters have faith. They too will be on the journey, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets, the disciples, the apostles, John the Baptist he ever thought about that.

59. 29:08

    We’re all be taken together, so be with the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a it’s a powerful thought, isn’t it? That’s when we come and we reflect upon Our Lives. Dave, such as this. And in all the preparations of life. Our whole life, our whole exists. It is preparing us for One Singular meat. Ever thought about that.

60. 29:46

    Your whole life everything, the ups, and downs, the highs, and the lows, they’re preparing you and me for just one. With the Lord Jesus Christ. Face to face. And just imagine coming. Face-to-face with you or Lord. And you look upon him and he’s distinctive right away because you see the marks in his hands and his feet.

61. 30:16

    He still carries the hole in his side. Are you carry those marks in the Kingdom? That’s quite a thought, isn’t it? He will carry those marks in the Kingdom. He will be the only Immortal being that carries marks into the kingdom. As we reflect upon the Bread and Wine as we stare at the table. Have you ever thought that is our Memorial and brother John mentioned in his opening remarks? That this is a feast for forgetfulness. What a lovely thought that is.

62. 30:54

    They’ll be no forgetting who Jesus Christ is and what he did in the Kingdom as we stare at the bread and the wine. And as we glanced at the Lord, Jesus Christ to the kingdom. It will be a constant Memorial. Of what he did with the marks in his hands and his feelings. But he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, that that’s quite a thought.

63. 31:21

    But imagine coming face-to-face with him. And he says those words to us, well done, there will be faithful servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord and something, we all want to hear and then we come to his right side and perhaps our Guardian, Angel gives us a hug and embrace, and we look to Jesus and we see his face and he shows us a radiant smile. That’s what we’re all looking forward to Isn’t It. Ultimately, we will receive our hearts desires, the words of him, 405 say, shall we be with him in that day? We make the answer now, can we just finally come to 1 Thessalonians 4?

64. 32:06

    One person alone is chapter 4 and it’s still I for listening that’s in this sequence of events. These dramatic events that talk about how the living and the dead. All are taken to meet the Lord Jesus Christ. It says those words, they’re the end of verse 17 and so shall we ever be with the Lord?

65. 32:25

    This this momentary encounter that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ face to face becomes Everlasting fellowship and this is how Paul sums it up. So shall we ever be With the Lord ever. What? What a wonderful world that is ever. No longer will we be separated from the Lord? Jesus Christ through space or time or sin.

66. 32:48

    But forever think about that forever in his glorious presence, fellowshipping, the Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity This is our home. This is why we’re here this morning. I saw them. as we think about the bread and the wine, think about the Lord, Jesus Christ who was taken up into heaven with a, with a cloud of angels who was the son of man who stored in the presence of the Almighty God.

67. 33:25

    The Ancient of Days who was given dominion and glory and Kingdom and he’s going to come back and he’s going to gather us and he wants to see us and he wants to embrace us and he wants to live with us forever more. How are you feeling with those thoughts? Let’s just finish with these thoughts. Then brothers and sisters.

68. 33:54

    Jesus said, some of you will see the son of man coming in clouds and it was the moment of transfiguration, Peter, James, and John saw them. Son of man, coming in clouds in Matthew chapter 17. And when they saw the son of man coming in clouds, they hit the floor. They were absolutely terrified. And there’s something altogether change. No longer was Jesus, this all glorious and radiant, one he steps out of his glory and he comes over to his three disciples and he says all rise.

69. 34:36

    Females. And that’s why I want to leave with you this morning brothers and sisters. We will all have this meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ. But we’re going to be met by the one who loves us. Who has died for us and we remember him now, in the bread and in the Wind. And in that very, very special day as we read here. So shall we ever be with the Lord? And in that very, very special day as we read here. So shall we ever be with the Lord?