What Will Happen When the Lord Returns?

Read Acts 1:9-11.  “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.  And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?  This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”  NKJV  The angels declared that Jesus would come again.  But what does the Bible say will happen when Jesus Christ returns?

Body:

I. The Dead Will Be Raised

·         John 5:28-29  “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”  NKJV  Note Christ said that there would be only one resurrection.  It would include both the good and the evil.  This will happen at the same time, not separated by a thousand years.

·         Note the words of the inspired apostle Paul in Acts 24:15.  “I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.”  NKJV

·         Those who are alive when He comes will be changed.  I Corinthians 15:50-53 “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.  Behold, I tell you a mystery:  We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”  NKJV  Then they will be caught up in the air with the Lord.  I Thessalonians 4:13-17 “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”  NKJV  

II. Christ’s Kingdom Will Be Delivered to God

·         Read I Corinthians 15:22-26.  “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.  But each one in his own order:  Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.  Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.  For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.  The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.”  NKJV  When Jesus returns, it will not be to set up His Kingdom, but to deliver it to the Father.

·         Jesus began to reign over His Kingdom after His ascension.  It was prophesied by Daniel.  Daniel 7:13-14 “I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven!  He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.  Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.  His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.”  NKJV  Peter proclaimed the following in Acts 2:29-32.  “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.  Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.  This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.”  NKJV

·         Jesus is currently the “King of Kings.”  I Timothy 6:15  “which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords,”  NKJV

·         When Christ returns the Kingdom to the Father, death will also be destroyed.  I Corinthians 15:25-26 “For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.  The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.”  NKJV 

III.  The World Will Be Judged

·         Jesus will separate the saved from the lost.  Matthew 25:31-33 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.”  NKJV  Matthew 13:40-43 “Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.  The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness.  And will cast them into the furnace of fire.  There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”  NKJV

·         People will be judged by their works.  Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.”  NKJV  I I Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”  NKJV

·         Judgment day will be a day of rewards and punishment.  Matthew 25:46 “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”  NKJV

·         Those who have not obeyed the gospel will be punished with everlasting destruction.  II Thessalonians 1:7-9 “and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,  NKJV 

IV. The World Will Be Destroyed

·         Peter revealed the following.  II Peter 3:10-13 “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.  Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?  Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”  NKJV

·         John added this.  Revelation 21:1-2 “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.  Also there was no more sea.  Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”  NKJV

Conclusion:

·         Believers should be ready at all times for His return.  Matthew 24:42-44 “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.  But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.  Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”  NKJV

·         We need to be busy doing the Lord’s work until the Lord returns.  Luke 19:11-13 “Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately.  Therefore He said:  A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.  So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, Do business till I come.”  NKJV

Bobby Stafford 

February 8, 2015