The Two Advents Series – Lesson 4

The Second Advent Jesus Will Bring Peace to the World

Wherever you find the prophetic Scriptures, you will always find in them, a sort of dogmatism – a positive language. I want you to notice the positive language as I read from Isaiah.

Isaiah 2:1-4

(1) The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

(2) And it shall come to pass

Notice the “shalls” in these verses. There is no doubt about it. I like to emphasize words. I believe God intended that we emphasize words. When you come to the New Testament and you read about the Rapture of the church, it says the dead in Christ shall rise first. And then we which are alive and remain shall rise. Praise God, there isn’t a doubt about it. It is positive language. I am reading prophesy here regarding the second Coming of my Lord.

And it shall come to pass in the last days,

I repeat again, wherever you find “last days” in the Old Testament, it always has reference to the second Advent. And by “second Advent” in the Old Testament, it has to do with our Lord coming back to earth again.

that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

(3) And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

(4) And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

I bow my heart and I say, Praise the Lord. I’m glad that is in the Bible. You haven’t had enough to do with the damage of warfare. And I haven’t had enough to do with it, to really appreciate the reading. But think of Vietnam. Think of Cambodia. Think of Korea. Think of the Middle East, and so on -- these places that in recent years have been torn by war. Do you know there are multitudes of people tonight who are not Christians who are longing for the time when they won’t have to put their effort to warfare? I’m glad that the Bible announces that it is going to come. When Jesus came the first time He came to bring a sword but when He comes the next time, He is going to speak peace to the world and peace to the nations. And they are going to beat their instruments of warfare into instruments of agriculture.

Isaiah 9:6-7

I want to emphasize one fact here that I didn’t emphasize last class.

(6) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:

There is the first Advent.

And now the second Advent.

and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

(7) Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end

Isn’t that precious!

When the Lord takes the reign of government He is going to bring in a wonderful government. They are going to call it wonderful, for He is the Prince of Peace and He will usher in peace and peace is not going to decrease as the years go on. But as the years go on, peace will increase with time. Hallelujah! I’m glad the Prince of Peace is on His way. He’s going to come back again.

Righteousness Brings Peace

Isaiah 11 tells us Isaiah is the prophet of peace.

Isaiah 32:1, 17

(1) Behold,

That’s an Old Testament word that is used over and over again. And almost without exception, when it is used in a prophetic context, it is used relative to the second Advent of Christ. Behold. There is going to be something worth beholding.

a king shall reign in righteousness, (Jesus shall reign) and princes shall rule in judgment.

And in that context you have verse 17

(17) And the work of righteousness shall be peace,

You can’t have peace without Righteousness. Jesus is typified in Melchisedec. Melchisedec is mentioned back in Genesis and he is mentioned in the Psalms, and he is mentioned in Hebrews. By interpretation Melchisedec was the king/ priest. He was the first king of Righteousness; and after that, the king of peace. In Melchisedec you have the double type of the person of our Lord.

When Jesus came the first time and gave His life on the cross, He made a provision for Righteousness through His cross. When He comes back the next time He is going to bring in everlasting Righteousness. When He brings it in, the result is going to be peace.

Do you know why the world can’t have peace? The world can’t have peace now because it is not right. The world can’t have peace now because it is not Righteous. But the King of Righteousness is the King of Peace -- Melchisedec the Priest forever with an unchanging Priesthood. That’s why it is going to remain – a Kingdom of Righteousness. The fruit, the work of Righteousness shall be peace. And the effect of Righteousness, quietness, an assurance forever. Hallelujah.

Somebody comes in and says, “Now brother don’t you believe the reign of Christ is only for one-thousand years? Don’t you believe He is only coming back for a thousand years?” Yes I do. But I believe that the thousand years is just the initial stage of what Jesus is going to do eternally.

A Brother said:

You know the thousand years is like the honeymoon. The couple get married and go on a honeymoon. That’s not the end of it. The honeymoon is only the beginning of it. When Jesus comes back to this earth for a thousand years, that’s the honeymoon with His bride. And forever, forever, forever Righteousness is going to be the girdle of His reigns. And because He is going to reign in Righteousness, the work of Righteousness is going to be Peace forever and ever and ever! Hallelujah

.

That’s why I belong to the Kingdom of Righteousness, and I belong to a Kingdom of Peace. It will be mine forever.

First Advent: Jesus, A Man Of Sorrows

Second Advent: Jesus, A Man Of Joy And Singing.

There is something here that melts me and moves me and blesses me, and I can’t use words to describe what it does to me. When Jesus came the first time He came to be a man of sorrows. I’ll show it to you in a minute. He came to be a man of sorrows and not merely acquainted with grief, but acquainted with griefs – plural. I’m not boasting when I make some of these statements. I’ve been preaching for a few years, and I’ve heard a few preachers along the years, but I say with sadness, I have never heard a preacher preach on this other side.

When Jesus comes the next time, He is going to be a man of joy and singing. That’s why I have given you so much Scripture. If it doesn’t put a song in your heart, I don’t know what can. The first time it was sorrow. But when He comes the next time it is going to be singing. Can you believe it?

Isaiah 53:1-2

(1) Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

(2) For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

I’ll make this one brief comment before I read on. That’s the best picture of Jesus that there is in the Bible. There has never been an artist who has painted that picture. He is always painted with a comparative beautiful face. But a root out of a dry ground is something that has no beauty. The prophet said, when He comes there is going to be absolutely no outward beauty. Jesus, I reverently say, did not have a beautiful face.

In the language of men He not only belonged to a despised Jewish race, He belonged to a poor family. Mary and Joseph did not belong to the upper class of society. When Mary offered her sacrifice she took doves and pigeons. That was a poor woman’s offering. Jesus was born into a peasant family, despised of men. And more than that, He didn’t have a pretty face. He went all the way down to the bottom of the human ladder.

Isaiah 53:3-6

(3) He is despised

The prophet, looking ahead,

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows (plural) and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

(4) Surely he hath borne our griefs (plural) and carried our sorrows (plural): yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

(5) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

(6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Jesus Typifies In: A Bird, A Goat, And A Donkey

I didn’t see this for years. I’m not ashamed to confess my ignorance. When I studied the book of Leviticus, I saw in Leviticus, types of my Lord. In the fourteenth chapter of Leviticus when the leper was cleansed, the priest took two birds – both alive and both clean.

He slew one bird, and caught the blood in a basin. He dipped the wings of the living bird into the blood of the dead bird and let that bird fly away. And after the bird flew away, the priest of Israel took the blood, and with the application of the blood, he made a declaration that the leper was ceremonially clean.

I had no difficulty in seeing my Lord typified by the one that flies in the air. It is easy to see my Lord as a clean bird in death and in Resurrection. The one bird dying, the other flying away with the blood on its wings.

And then I went to Leviticus 16. On the day of Atonement, I read of the priest taking two goats – not one, but two. They took one goat and shed its blood, and after he had shed the blood of one goat, he put his hands on the head of the other goat. By a ceremonial act, he imputed the sins of iniquities of Israel on that second goat and that second goat was led away into the wilderness to be seen no more – bearing symbolically the iniquity of Israel upon him.

It suddenly dawned upon me that we use a language of people becoming a goat. Do you know what they are doing? Do you know what I believe they are doing in Ottawa right now? They are making a goat out of Mr. Turner. Maybe you don’t agree with me in saying that; but you know what I mean when I say that. People through history have been made goats. What do you mean when you say that somebody was a goat? It is very simple. When you make somebody a goat, that means they bear your blame. And I reverently say it, the Bible teaches that when Jesus came as a Man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs; He was made a goat for me. He took my blame and He took my shame.

And then I came to Isaiah 53, and after years, and after two visits to the Holy Land, it suddenly dawned upon me. Isaiah was writing to people who would understand, and I reverently say it, Jesus was made a donkey for me, and Jesus was made a donkey for you. Did you ever see a happy donkey? A donkey is noted for its sad looking face, and it is made that way on purpose. I am persuaded that there is nothing that happens in nature but the God that has spoken in His Word has also spoken in nature. When Jesus came the first time, He came to be my donkey. Let’s read that verse again.

Isaiah 53:4, 6

(4) Surely he hath borne our griefs (plural) and carried our sorrows (plural): yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

(6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

In the Middle East, the burden bearers are the little donkeys. The donkeys carry the load. My Lord came the first time, not only to be my goat, but He came to be my burden bearer. When the sun went out and blackness covered the earth, in those awful three hours at Calvary, if Jesus had not fully carried away my sins the lights would never had gone on again. The darkness would have been eternal. The sorrow would never had been removed. The grief would never had been lifted.

There are some who have missed two Scriptures in their theology. And if you have missed them, I’d like to correct it. Don’t ever forget that Jesus did not bear your sins into the grave. There are those who say that He bore our sins into the grave and He went to Hell to the torment section. That is not Scriptural.

1 Peter 2:24

(24) Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,

Jesus didn’t bare your sins in Gethsemane, and He didn’t bare them into the grave, He bore them on the tree. When the lights went out and He became my burden bearer smitten with griefs and sorrows and suffering the like of which no human has suffered, He cried out “My God why hast thou forsaken me?” That’s hell. Hell is to be Godforsaken.

Never forget, there is no place in Manitoba that has ever been Godforsaken. There is no place in Saskatchewan that has ever been Godforsaken. There is no place in America that has ever been Godforsaken. The only place on this globe that ever was Godforsaken was a little foot of ground on a place called Calvary; At Calvary, that spot was Godforsaken. It is the only spot. When Jesus bore my sins away on the cross, he said, “It is finished!”

Jesus didn’t finish the job when He went into the grave. Jesus finished the job on the tree. On the cross He said, “It is finished,” and He said, “Father into thy hands I commit my Spirit.” At that moment, He ceased to be the Man of sorrows and He ceased to be the Man of griefs, and He ceased to be the sin bearer.

He had borne my sins all the way, and now I can sing

Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe.

Sin had left a crimson stain.

He washed it white as snow.

Listen, it was by the blood of Christ that made atonement for the soul. It wasn’t the life of Christ, it was the blood of Christ. The blood was good enough yesterday, and the blood is good enough today, and the blood is going to be good enough tomorrow. You won’t be any more cleansed from your sin tomorrow in the sight of God, than you are today; for the blood that spoke yesterday speaks today, and it is going to speak forever.

Thank God for the speaking blood. Thank God for the blood that satisfies Heaven. Thank God for a payment that writes over the debt

PAID IN FULL.

Hallelujah. That is what has happened to my debt of sin. It is written right across the page

PAID IN FULL. NO CARRYING CHARGES.

The Man of sorrows paid it all. He bore, on the tree, the sentence for me. And when you see that, then you will cease to try and do what He has done.

Jesus has done for you what you couldn’t do for yourself.

Religion tells people what they ought to do, but Salvation is a declaration of what Jesus has done. Now I haven’t religion, I have Salvation. I have Salvation because of a Man of sorrows, illustrated by all of the prophets.

Matthew 16:14

Jesus asked the disciples “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?”

(14) And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

That tells me a lot about Jesus.

Acts 7:52

Steven said in his sermon:

(52) Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?

2 Chronicles 36:16

(16) But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets,

Hebrews 11:32-41

It describes the prophets and says they were sawn asunder, they were homeless, they wandered from pillar to post. There is one thing in there about the prophets that is wonderfully typical of Christ.

I’ll never forget the first time I was in Rome. We went to the Coliseum. Back in the year of 1952, in the dusk hours we had a service. I looked out over the Coliseum, and remembered that it was there that Christians had shed their blood for their testimony. Like the prophets of the Old Testament they loved not their lives unto death.

I went to my hotel room that night and I opened my Bible to the eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews and I read those wonderful verses, verse 32 to the end of the chapter. It tells of the sufferings of the prophets. All those things are in the Bible. They are but shadows of the Great Prophet, the Lord Jesus of whom this world was not worthy. I read over that portion, with tears of gratitude and tears of joy, and I thought the world wasn’t worthy of Jeremiah. The world wasn’t worthy of Isaiah. The world wasn’t worthy of the prophets, but oh there was a greater Prophet than them all, who became my sin bearer and the world wasn’t worthy of one footstep. I wasn’t worthy of one thing, but He came anyway. Every prophet typifies the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. But let’s get to the other side.

All Joy and With Singing

Have you ever noticed the second thing that is recorded that Jesus said after His Resurrection?

Matthew 28:5-9

The angel, talking to the women who had come down to the tomb early in the morning. That is interesting. The women were there. I always have to say this when I read the 28^th chapter- What a testimony against men! The men are behind locked doors for fear of the Jews, but the women went down to the tomb. The women became the first evangelists of this dispensation. And so don’t any of you men say anything against a woman preacher. I’m all for women preachers because the first preacher of this dispensation was a woman. And one of the reasons why the first preacher was a woman was because there wasn’t any man there to get the message.

(5) And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

(6) He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

(7) And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead: and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

The women got the first message.

(8) And they departed quickly

My, they were obedient! That’s the kind of women to have.

And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

Now look at verse 9

(9) And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail.

What does that word “All hail” mean to you? It literally means “O joy.” That’s the first recorded word of the resurrected Lord to his disciples after His resurrection. When He was here, prior to His Resurrection there is no record of His smiling. You tell me where you can find it. When Jesus was here as our sin bearer He bore our griefs and in His first coming He was a Man of sorrows. The only time I know there is any reference to His singing is the night in which He was betrayed. After He had instituted the Lord’s Supper it says that they sang a hymn, and I am persuaded that if Jesus sang with them, He sang it in anticipation, for as yet, He was still the Man of sorrows.

But now He is on the other side of the cross, and He is on the other side of the tomb. I’m glad I’m on the other side of the tomb. I’m glad I’m on the other side of the cross. I’m on the Resurrection side. Do you know what the first word of the Resurrected Lord to His disciples was? – His first word was “O JOY.” Did you ever see anybody say “O Joy” with a long face? You wouldn’t believe it. You wouldn’t be persuaded if somebody came with a face this long, and said, “I’m so happy.”

Oh, it was on His face! And it was in His heart. And when He said “O JOY” it was a different man that the women met as they went to the empty tomb. When Jesus comes the next time, it’s not going to be the Man on His way to the cross. When Jesus comes the next time, it is going to be the Man on His way to the Throne. Hallelujah! O JOY!

We go to the book of Habakkuk and read something that will help us see that in all the Scriptures you can find the Messiah. Christ is in all the Scriptures. The prophet Habakkuk had a problem. He talks about his problem. His problem had to do with Israel suffering, and the prosperity of the wicked. We can apply the same message today. We still ask the same question. If the Lord is King over all, why do the righteous suffer? Some of you are going through trials. And if you haven’t gone through trials, mark my word, you are going to go through trials if the Lord tarries. You can’t be a Christian and not have trials. That is part of the package deal, and it usually isn’t told to people when they are invited to be saved. Jesus didn’t preach a soft Gospel. When He talked to his disciples He said, “If any man is going to follow me let him take up his cross.” Why do the righteous suffer?

Habakkuk had a vision of what was going to happen. This is how it ends in verse 17:

Habakkuk 3:17

(17) Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

If you apply that to your own life, and bring it right down to now, maybe you could say this: “This fall we may not have a crop. This fall we are not going to have any gardens. This fall everything is going to go flat.” That is what the Lord told Habakkuk.

(18) Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

(19) The Lord God is my strength and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

Whoever applied it – I wonder who that is! I’m going to tell you. I’ve got Scripture to prove it. Do you know who the Chief Singer is? The Chief Singer is the Lord Himself. Do you know Who is going to lead the choir? Some of you people have wanted to sing for a long time. Isn’t that wonderful news! Some of you people who sing like crows now, are going to be able to sing like canaries then; because the choir leader to going to be able to give you a voice to sing. Hallelujah. He’s going to be the Chief Singer, and the Chief Singer is none other than the returning King. How do I know? Let’s go to Jude 24. This has to do with us. I can’t leave any of these Scriptures out because nobody pays any attention to them.

Jude 24

(24) Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

How? With exceeding joy! Who’s joy? HIS – not yours.

My illustrations are awfully homely, but I can still remember my uncle who is now deceased. We were about the same age. When he was young, he had his first love affair. He fell for a girl, and he brought her home to his mother, my grandmother. And I happened to be there. I can still see him as proud as proud can be. He introduced this girl to my grandmother, and he said, “Ma what do you think of her? Now that is one illustration. He was overjoyed just looking at her. I didn’t know what he was joyful about!

Back in 1942 I went camping and I fell head over heels in love. If ever there was a young guy that was insane, it was me! To my sorrow, I still have people from Toronto to Vancouver who remember. I was in Toronto just a few weeks ago, and my dear brother Hugh White, a friend of mine when I was a teenager, reminded me of those days. I tell the kids now that I was madly in love. I was so mad I didn’t know what I was doing. Now I’m still in love, and now it is sane. I don’t know if I brought any joy to my wife, but I’ll say in front of her, and in front of you, she has brought great joy to me.

I use that homely illustration to illustrate: I cannot explain this tremendous fact -- that I am going to be part of the cause of the joy of my Lord! He’s going to joy over me with singing. Hallelujah. You know yourself better than anybody else, don’t you? How the Lord could get any joy out of a fellow like me, I don’t know, but He is going to. And just to make you feel right at home, how the Lord could get any joy out of a fellow or a girl or a man like you, I don’t know, but He is going to. He will put His hand on you and He is going to say, “Father what do you think of her?” Hallelujah! I reverently said that.

There are choruses that we are singing today. It is wonderful if you sing it, if you really know the Truth of it. There is application of Scripture, and there is interpretation of Scripture. The application is one thing, and the interpretation is another thing. And you must never apply Scripture if you don’t first interpret it.

Zephaniah 3:14-17

(14) Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.

(15) The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.

That’s the second Advent. One of these days the King of Israel is going to come to Israel again. This is the second Coming.

(16) In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.

(17) The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

Hallelujah! Who is going to do the singing? Who is going to be the chief singer? Who is going to lead the choir? Who is going to be the jubilant One? Who is going to do the dancing? Who is going to be the leader? JESUS HIMSELF!

He is going to look at the saved of Israel and He is going to look at the saved of the Church. He is going to look at the saved of the Old Testament, and the saved of the New Testament, and He is going to say, “Come on choir, let’s get together here. I want to lead you in singing.” He is going to joy over us with singing. When He came the first time it was all sorrow because it had to do with sin. He is going to come the next time apart from sin unto Salvation. When He comes the next time there is not going to be one note of sadness.

Hebrews 9:28

(28) So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto Salvation.

There are some of our hymns today that turn me off. Pardon me for being so blunt. I don’t like to hear Christians singing in the minor key. The Lord took me out of the minor and put me into the major when He put His song in my heart. I praise God I don’t have to sing in minor key; that belongs to the other side of the cross. Israel hung their hearts on the willows and sang their morbid, sorrowful songs, but I’m on this side of the cross. I’m on this side of the Resurrection. And I’m on the side where it is all joy and joyful singing.

There is one hymn I have been singing a lot in the last two years.

I’ve got the joy bells in my heart.

Since Jesus saved me, new life He gave me.

I’ve got the joy bells in my heart.

Praise God. How can you sing that looking “down”? I worked with Brother Breen out at the coast, and often time he would say, “Brother Pritchard, come and lead the congregation in some of those joyful choruses.” I just love it when he says that. That puts something inside of me – those joyful choruses. I don’t believe we should sing like we are at a funeral, when we come to church. I’ve been to some funerals, and the best thing I can say is the singing is painful. And I’ve been to some churches, and I’ve got to say the same thing – when they sing it is painful. But it doesn’t have to be that way with you. In fact, it shouldn’t be that way with you. We are on the joyful side of things. We heard the joyful song:

Jesus Saves.

Spread the tiding all around.

Jesus Saves.

How can you sing that with a long face? We have something to be joyful about. Amen.