118 The Second Coming of Jesus

Psalms 98

April 27, 2025

As we pointed out this morning,

· When Jesus stood on trial before the chief priests and they forced Him to testify about Himself,

· He made one bold prediction that ultimately got Him crucified.

Matthew 26:64 “Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

He quoted from Psalms 110:1 and Daniel 7:13

Psalms 110:1 spoke of His ascension where He ascended to take Heaven’s throne.

Daniel 7:13 speaks of His return where He descends to take earth’s throne.

Daniel 7:13-14 “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”

Even as Jesus was being falsely accused and condemned

He maintained the joy set before Him

And looked to His coming ascension and future return.

We did not do a harmony reading of the second coming tonight

The reason is because the second coming is spoken of far too often.

Matthew’s gospel alone mentions it 7 times

· That is without even including the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24 and 25

· Where Jesus preached on His return for two whole chapters.

John the Baptist was the first:

Matthew 3:11-12 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Jesus told us to pray for it:

Matthew 6:10 “‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.”

Or we remember all those parables of the kingdom. (Matthew 13)

· He mentions it in the parable of the wheat and the tares

· Again in the parable of the dragnet.

When Peter tried to rebuke Jesus for speaking of the cross,

Jesus rebuked him saying:

Matthew 16:24-27 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.”

In Matthew 19 after the Rich Young Ruler left

· The disciples wondered if they had made the right decision by staying.

Matthew 19:28 “And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Then there is Jesus entire sermon on the subject (The Olivet Discourse)

Which we don’t have time to go all through, but perhaps we’ll just quote:

Matthew 25:31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.”

The apostles also spoke of it regularly.

And again, time would fail us to read them all.

· Romans 8:18-25; 13:11-14

· Philippians 3:20-21

· 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 2:14-20; 3:11-13; 4:13-18; 5:1-11

· 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10; 2:8

· 1 Timothy 6:13-14

· 2 Timothy 4:1-2

· Hebrews 9:28

· 2 Peter 3:10

· 1 John 2:28

It’s just everywhere.

THE MOST FAMOUS NO DOUBT is found in the actual description of His return which we read as our Scripture reading this evening.

Revelation 19:11-16 “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

The New Testament has no shortage of passages

Which speak of Christ’s return and glorious reign.

BUT NEITHER DOES THE OLD TESTAMENT.

· It was not so long ago that we finished our study of Isaiah,

· Hopefully you remember all the references to the millennial reign of Christ.

Isaiah 9:6-7 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.”

Isaiah 11:1-5 “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.”

· That passage goes on to talk about the wolf dwelling with the lamb and cow and bear grazing together.

Isaiah 65 told us about

· The old man living out his days

· And if one dies at the age of 100 he’ll be considered cursed.

Or we remember:

Isaiah 33:17 “Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will behold a far-distant land.’

And it wasn’t just His glorious millennial reign.

Isaiah also spoke about His coming and the judgment that comes with it.

Isaiah 35:3-4 “Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.”

Isaiah 63:1-4 “Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? “I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment. “For the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come.”

And that’s without reading again:

· Psalm 2 where God announces that He has installed His King on Mt. Zion.

· Or Psalms 110 where the Lord said to My Lord sit at My right hand.

THE POINT IS THAT IT’S EVERYWHERE.

Christ coming to judge His enemies and reign upon the earth

Is a really big deal in Scripture.

AND, JUST AS WE SAID WITH His arrest or trial or burial or crucifixion or resurrection or ascension, there are many ways we could address this.

· We could talk about His judgment of the wicked.

· We could talk about the beauty of His restored kingdom.

· We could talk about the importance of being ready for such a day.

ALL OF THOSE POINTS ARE WELL WORTH OUR TIME AND ATTENTION,

But tonight the aspect we are going to look at

Regarding the return of Christ is GLORY.

Philippians 2:5-11 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The whole point of the story is glory.

· We certainly rejoice that we are partakers of salvation.

· We certainly recognize the great love we have received from the Father.

· We certainly see that it was for us that Christ died.

· We certainly anticipate the resurrection He has promised.

· We certainly long for a heavenly home with no more crying or pain.

But don’t fall into the common trap of evangelicals today

And allow yourself to believe that all of this is about you.

This entire story of redemption,

Though we are great beneficiaries of it,

Is all about Christ and His glory.

THE END RESULT IS THE GLORY OF GOD.

Do you remember back after the Exodus

· How the children of Israel rebelled against God

· Refused to enter the Promised Land because they were afraid?

Allow me to revisit GOD’S RESPONSE to their rebellion:

Numbers 14:19-23 “Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.” So the Lord said, “I have pardoned them according to your word; but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. “Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it.”

God forgave them of that sin.

But don’t assume that equates to salvation.

Jesus forgave those who crucified Him too, but they were not all saved.

These men remained rebels

Even though God did not immediately kill them for their insubordination.

HOWEVER, God would not allow them into the Promised Land, which is a picture of the glorious kingdom of Christ.

Why could they not enter?

They did not glorify God and that kingdom will be all about God’s glory.

God said, “all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD”.

God was not going to populate the land

With a people who disregarded His glory.

AND TODAY, we have a world

That wants the benefits of God without the glory of God.

God will not tolerate that forever.

There is coming a day when this world will be conquered by Christ

And then be captivated with Christ.

First comes the darkness of judgment.

Isaiah 13:6-13 “Wail, for the day of the Lord is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore all hands will fall limp, And every man’s heart will melt. They will be terrified, Pains and anguish will take hold of them; They will writhe like a woman in labor, They will look at one another in astonishment, Their faces aflame. Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light. Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold And mankind than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, And the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the Lord of hosts In the day of His burning anger.”

· We are repeatedly told about this day of coming darkness.

· It is a day of judgment.

Then comes the glory of Christ.

Matthew 24:29-31 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. “And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

· After the darkness of judgment, Christ becomes the Light!

· And “the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD”

Psalms 72:18-19 “Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who alone works wonders. And blessed be His glorious name forever; And may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen, and Amen.”

Isaiah 60:1-3 “Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. “For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you. “Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.”

Isaiah 66:18-19 “For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory. “I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations.”

Habakkuk 2:14 “For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea.”

That is what you call total coverage.

· There is not a crevice in the ocean that water doesn’t fill.

· So it will be in that day.

Christ will come and eradicate sinners and His glory will fill the earth.

This current state of empty religion and hypocritical allegiance

Coupled with widespread immorality and continual blasphemy

Will no longer be permitted.

Through Malachi God reminded:

Malachi 1:10-11 “Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of hosts, “nor will I accept an offering from you. “For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of hosts.”

THAT IS WHAT WE ARE LOOKING AT HERE.

The second coming and millennial reign of Christ is all about His glory.

This, incidentally, is another reason that I am not an amillennialist.

· They are those who see the 1,000 year reign of Christ as a symbolic thing.

· In fact, they say we are currently in the millennium.

And no, I don’t break off fellowship with those men,

There are some very sound and godly men who hold to that position.

But one of the reasons I don’t is because I do not believe

The Bible allows the world that God created

To slip off into oblivion without first acknowledging its Creator.

· Romans 8 says that creation longs for the revealing of the sons of God.

· Daniel 2 promised a kingdom that would crush all other earthly kingdoms.

· Isaiah 11 promised a day of peace with the wolf dwelling with the lamb.

Paradise was lost in Genesis 3, God will bring it back.

Even though

· We currently enjoy every spiritual blessing in Christ

· And are currently members of the kingdom of heaven,

· Where Christ is reigning on His heavenly throne.

This world does not currently recognize that

And Scripture teaches that God will not allow

This world to escape without recognizing it.

He is going to return and reclaim the earth that is rightfully His.

He is going to reverse the curse.

He is going to rule for a 1,000 years.

And He is going to do it to demonstrate His glory.

And we, as beneficiaries of the first resurrection,

Are going to enjoy it immensely!

· Christ will be exalted on the earth.

· His glory will fill the earth like the waters cover the sea!

Isaiah 11:6-10 “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea. Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.”

· “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD”

· “And His resting place will be glorious.”

The last picture the earth saw of Christ was him dying on a tree.

BUT THEY WILL GET A NEW LOOK SOON.

Revelation 1:7 “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”

When He comes back His glory will cover the earth like the water covers the sea.

· Every knee will bow.

· Every tongue will confess.

· Everyone will worship Him.

His humiliation was but for a season, His glory will be for all eternity.

TONIGHT we’ll look at the 98th Psalm to catch just a glimpse of that.

We studied this Psalm a little over 4 years ago

So I’m sure it’s still fresh on your mind.

We called it:

“What A Day That Will Be”

Bill Gaither wrote the song:

“What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see, when I look upon His face, the One who saved me by His grace; When He takes me by the hand and leads me through the Promised Land, What a day, glorious day, that will be!”

Let’s look at it again here tonight.

Let me just break it down into two points here tonight.

#1 HIS COMPLETED WORK

Psalms 98:1-3

I do want to sort of clarify that point.

For certainly we are aware that on the cross in John 19:30

Jesus cried, “It is finished!”

Jesus spoke there of His earthly mission.

· He had fulfilled every requirement.

· He had paid for every sin.

· He had purchased atonement.

· And certainly He was right to declare His work finished.

And yet, there is a sense in which we know that Christ was not finished.

· After He rose He still preached to His disciples.

· He would soon ascend where He would take His seat at the right hand of God

· He is subduing the hearts of men.

· Surely His work of intercession continues.

BUT EVEN THAT IS NOT WHAT WE SPEAK OF HERE.

Here we speak of the day when the world sees His work

And the full effect of what He accomplished is realized.

Certainly Jesus finished His work on the cross,

And yet many have failed to see it or understand it.

We know, for instance,

· That to this day Israel has also yet to see or believe in Jesus as their Messiah; something that is promised.

What we are looking at here is the day

When His finished work has had it’s full effect upon the hearts of men.

We are looking at the day after His return.

Imagine Jesus has just returned this morning

And has taken His seat upon earth’s throne.

That is where Psalm 98 fits.

And immediately the cry is raised:

“O sing to the LORD a new song…”

That certainly can be a completely new song,

· For certainly having just experienced His return and the salvation of His people,

· It would inspire new lyrics and new shouts of praise.

But it can also simply mean sing another.

· Keep going!

· Let His praise continue.

· Don’t sing one and stop, let’s sing all night long!

And the grounds for this continued singing is this:

“For He has done wonderful things…”

We have a people who have finally realized that.

His work has come to its full effect and the nations have realized it.

And they are compelled to praise Him accordingly.

Well, what sort of “wonderful things” has He done?

1) “His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.”

Did you see the fallen state of the world?

· Did you see them lining up to worship the beast and the image of his name?

· Did you see them beheading believers and persecuting Israel?

But did you see what happened when He split the sky heaven?

· Did you see how they ran?

· Did you see how they fell?

· Did you see their blood running through the streets?

· Did you see Him throw the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire?

· Did you see that chain He put on the dragon and how He threw Him in prison?

He won!

The enemy is conquered!

Revelation 19:17-20:3 “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer…”

What a victory!

· Called “the dragon” reminding of his cruel power.

· Called “the serpent of old” reminding of his deception in garden.

· Called “the devil” which is a word that means “accuser”

· Called “Satan” which is a word that means “adversary”

And He has been thoroughly defeated.

And we will sing at his fall!

We will celebrate the totally victory of our Lord!

What other wonderful things has He done?

2) “The LORD has made known His salvation”

Have we ever waited for this?

Paul said:

Romans 13:11-12 “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

Yes we are those who claim to have been saved.

· That means we have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ.

· In a judicial sense, God has wrapped us in Christ’s righteous robe and there is no longer any condemnation for us.

· We are forgiven, we are justified, we are saved.

But you also know that there is a sense in which we are “being saved”.

· This is sanctification.

· We currently war with the flesh and we submit to the Holy Spirit who is the agent of our sanctification.

But total, complete, and full salvation is still in the future for us.

· We long for the day when our flesh is destroyed.

· We long for the day when we are glorified.

· We long for the day when sin is totally in the past.

And that is the day being spoken of here.

Christ has come, and according to the New Testament,

We will have been transformed to be like Him.

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”

They are worshiping because salvation is complete.

What other wonderful things will He have done?

3) “He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.”

Right now we know He is righteous,

· But most of the world does not.

Right now we know He is glorious,

· But most of the world does not see Him.

2 Corinthians 4:4 “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

They don’t see Him now.

But on this day, His glory will cover the globe

And they will not be able to miss it.

All the nations will see His glory.

Psalms 46:10 “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

These people sing because it has happened.

What other glorious things has He done?

4) “He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;”

· Remember all those covenants?

· Remember all those promises?

· Remember Romans 11?

Well, even though Israel has been temporarily broken off, we know they will be grated back in again.

· We know the day of their salvation is coming.

· We know God will pour out the spirit of mourning and supplication on them.

· We know they will look on Him whom they pierced and mourn for Him.

· We know they are coming to Christ and He will save them.

These people are singing because it has happened.

· He remembered them.

· He regenerated them.

· He restored them.

· He redeemed them.

And the final culmination is this:

“All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.”

That is what we will sing as Jesus takes His earthly throne.

Those 3 verses are a foreshadow of what is coming.

NOW - And on that day, it won’t be hard to sing.

On that day no one will have to tell you to rejoice.

But we are not yet to that day.

We still live in an evil day.

· In our day Satan is not in prison.

· In our day the world does not see Christ.

· In our day Christ is not on an earthly throne.

We have the promise of that day, but we do not have the presence of it.

SO WHAT DO WE DO?

That is what the final 6 verses of this Psalm are for.

His completed work

#2 THE REJOICING CREATION

Psalms 98:4-9

If you’ll notice, there is a verb tense change.

The Psalm goes from talking about what has happened

To what will happen.

Verses 1-3 speak as though the LORD already came.

But look at verse 9, that verse says “He is coming”.

While verses 1-3 are a promised reality,

Verses 4-9 are a present one.

BUT…

We are supposed to presently live in a light of a future reality

And that is what this Psalm calls for.

This Psalm calls the church to start their singing now.

Let the worship begin as though He were already here.

Look at it

(4-6) “Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises. Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, With the lyre and the sound of melody. With trumpets and the sound of the horn Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord.”

I hope you caught the references.

· “Shout JOYFULLY”

· “sing for JOY”

· “Shout JOYFULLY”

· Grab your “lyre” (guitar)

· Pick up your “trumpet”

· Take up your “horn”

· Limber up your voice

And sing to Him the loudest, most glorious,

Most joyful song you can sing!

For He is coming!

He is coming so that His glory might fill the earth.

And it’s NOT JUST US who is called to start singing.

(7-8) “Let the sea roar and all it contains, The world and those who dwell in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy”

Paul taught us that

· Creation currently groans and suffers the pains of childbirth.

Jesus taught us in the Olivet Discourse

· About the beginning of birth pangs which are earthquakes and famines.

We see creation groaning as she seeks to throw off her sin

And return to her previous state of glory.

Well the Psalmist even asks

The sea and the rivers and the mountains to

For a moment lay down their grumbling and burst out in praise.

And might I suggest that WE SEE THAT occurring even today.

Oh I know we went through a week of thunder storms and floods and hail and tornadoes.

· And it is easy to see creation groaning in such moments.

· We saw devastating earthquakes recently.

· We know about sandstorms.

· We know about droughts.

· We know about the groanings of creation.

But have you ever heard creation sing?

SURE YOU HAVE.

· Go out in the morning and watch a peaceful sunrise and listen to the landscape “sing together for joy”

· Walk out after the rain, when the flowers straighten up and the grass greens up and the air smells clean and listen to creation “clap their hands”.

· Take a peak at a mountain scene…

· Go smell the air at the beach…

· Sit on your porch in the cool of the evening while the sun sets…

You’ve heard creation singing.

She groans, but she also sings,

Because she knows that one day Christ will return,

Conquer the foe, and set her free to return to glory.

We sang about it this morning. (O Worship The King)

Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite?

It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;

it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,

and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

They sing (9) “Before the LORD, for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.”

They know He will come and set things right.

And that is where we find ourselves tonight.

We let the worship begin now.

· For sure we have our days of groaning.

· Like Lot, our soul is oppressed by evil men.

· Like Job, we taste the bitterness of this fallen world.

2 Corinthians 5:1-4 “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.”

We live in a tent that groans and suffers,

But for the bride of Christ it should not be all groaning.

There is coming a day when He will return and set it all straight!

And the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD

As the waters cover the sea.

Psalm 98 calls us to look at the second coming of the Lord

AND TO START SINGING NOW.

TODAY we have a Christ who reigns in the heavens.

But very soon He will descend and take earth’s throne

And His glory will be seen across the globe.

“Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises. Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, With the lyre and the sound of melody. With trumpets and the sound of the horn Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord.”