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Now this morning we're going to look at the return of Jesus Christ to planet Earth. I want you to bow your hearts as we ask the Lord to bless his word. Father God, it's always an honor, always a privilege as we stand before you, the giver of all life. It's an honor and a privilege to be called the Son of God and to know you as Father. It's a privilege today as we stand before your people. Lord, I ask today as we go into your word, by your Holy Spirit, I ask that you open the the Scriptures to our hearts. Let our hearts burn within us as you open the Word and the Scriptures to us. Remove doubt, remove confusion. Give us clarity regarding this second coming of Jesus Christ. Help us oh God, to put it into perspective. And Lord, we come again. Every come against every scheme of the enemy to hinder today. And Lord, we thank you now in Jesus name, Amen. Amen. I love this message. The second coming of Christ. The return of Jesus Christ. We're going to see some amazing things. This is our prophecy chart and again it's a dispensational chart of chart of time. I would like to let you know where we are. We're currently here in what's called the Church age. But we're going to focus today on the second Coming, the literal return of Christ. There's another coming called the rapture of the Church. This will take place before, but today our focus is going to be here. Now what I'm going to do, I'm going to answer a question. Kazar Research and Analysis center they call these four world leaders the Axis of Evil or Global Authoritarian Coalition. These are some of the, I mean the major players. Well, one of them has been taken out already, we know that, but there's people to replace them. But these are the major players that are causing all of the chaos worldwide. The question is this, in a world full of will there ever be peace on planet Earth? What do you think? Well, some say no, but the answer is yes, there will be peace. Even though we have a world that is exploding, you have all type of chaos and things that are going on all over the world. The answer is yes, there will be a time of peace. But that peace will only come one way. And this is what we're going to look at today in the return of our Savior Jesus Christ. The only way planet Earth is going to experience that lasting peace, it will be at the return of our Savior. I'll tell you this, no president, no Prime Minister can actually stabilize the world. God has Only given that glory to his Son. And we're going to see it as a matter of fact, all of the events that are transpiring today, all of these events are pointing to this return of our Savior Jesus Christ. And we're going to see that this morning. Now, I'm a topical teacher. I'm going to give you a number of topics. I'm going to define the study. What is the second coming of Jesus Christ? Then we'll look at physical promises of promises of his physical return. He must literally come back to planet Earth. Then we'll take a closer look at the Second Coming text. I'm going to read that text first. And then we'll come here and we'll begin to focus down on and give you a little more clarity. Then we'll look at what is the timing of this event? When will this event happen? We're going to see what is the timing of it. We'll also look at who are the armies that will come with him. The Bible gives us amazing prophecy. We'll also look at where would this event take place. Going to see that the second coming. It's a geographical coming. And I'll explain that when we get to the text. Then we'll look at the judgment of the sheep and goat nations. And then we'll close out looking at what are the differences between the Second Coming and the Rapture of the Church. What has created so much problem in the Church today is that people have mixed the Second Coming and the Rapture text. We're going to see that these are two distinct events in prophecy. Both will accomplish different things in God's prophetic program. And again, we're going to see that. So I'm going to start off with the text here. Revelation, chapter 19, verses 11 through 16. I'm reading here from the King James Version. John wrote, and I saw heaven open, and behold a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called faithful and true. And in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes was a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but He Himself. Verse 13. He was called so. He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. Verse 14. And the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress. Of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, verse 16. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is the physical, literal return of Jesus Christ. And we're going to see that this is a whole different coming versus the Rapture. And we're going to see that this morning. I want to start with a wonderful quote here from Dr. Charles Ryrie from the book what yout need to Know about the Rapture. But listen what he says. No wonder ordinary people are concerned about the world, its future and their place in it. But who has the answers? Can anyone truly accurate, truly make accurate? Let me slow down. I'm excited. Can anyone make true, truly accurate predictions? Politicians, fortune tellers, astrologers, futurists, columnists, preachers? Only the Bible has the answer. Only the Bible offers true and accurate predictions, prophecies. He goes on to say this. It reveals that not until Jesus Christ returns to the earth will the world experience peace and safety. And that will happen under his government. The Bible also reveals before Jesus return, time will become worse and worse indeed, worse than ever before. How many can agree today that we're living in a worse time? Absolutely. What we are witnessing literally is pointing to the return of Christ. It's a negative. That's pointing to a positive. When you understand the future based on Scripture, it gives you peace in the midst of all the chaos that we're seeing. You know, a lot of Christians today, they are really freaking out because of all of what they are seeing. It tells me that when that happens, you don't understand the future. I think I mentioned last time I was here, early part of the year, I watched the same news that all of you watch. But guess what? I sleep good every night. As a matter of fact, I slept so good last night. Oh my goodness, it was so good. You know why? Because the sovereign God is in control. And we're going to see that now again. We're currently here in the Church Age. Our focus again is the Second Coming. The signs of the times. False Christ wars and rumors of wars. All of the signs, Matthew, Mark, Luke, all of those indicators, all of them point to the second coming of Jesus Christ. Do you know that there are no signs for the Rapture? The Rapture is an imminent event, meaning it can happen at any time. There are no signs. People say, brother Perkins, what is the sign of the Rapture? I said there are no signs for the Rapture. All the signs point to the literal return of Christ here in the Second Coming. So if we're seeing signs that point to the second Coming, then how, how close, my friend, is the rapture of the Church? It is even closer. We're living in an amazing time today. Now, what is the second coming of Jesus Christ? I'm going to give you a simple definition of what it is. The second coming of Jesus Christ will be his physical or literal return to planet Earth. He will at this time, physically deliver the nation of Israel and the world from the oppression of the Antichrist and and his kingdom. This literal return of Jesus. Jesus Christ will produce the cataclysmic event known as the Battle of Armageddon. He will at this time come to set up his millennial kingdom on the earth. So this is going to be his physical, literal return as he come back to deliver the nation of Israel and the world from the oppression of Antichrist. Antichrist will be in rule and in power for a short season. But God has put a time limit on Antichrist's rul. I want to quote from a wonderful scholar here, Dr. Erwin Lutzer, from his book the King Is Coming. Listen at this. Now we come to the most spectacular and dramatic event that we could ever could possibly imagine. An event not yet an event yet to take place on planet Earth. Nothing akin to it has ever happened in the past. And nothing will ever happen a second time like it would happen a second time. I'm speaking about the glorious return of Jesus Christ back to Earth. Since the rapture of the Church will have already taken place years before this. This event is the second stage of the coming of Jesus. This time Jesus actually returns to this earth and his arrival will be one in one way or another, or his arrival in one way or the other will affect the entire population of the globe. When Christ comes back in the second coming, it's going to change the whole dynamics of planet Earth. I'm talking about the entire world. He's going to take full control over planet Earth. It's going to change everything about this current world. Some of the events associated with his glorious return will be shocking, especially for those who think of Jesus only in the terms of the Gospel accounts, when he went about healing the sick and raising the dead and blessing the poor. In the dramatic event before us, we will see not only the love of Jesus, but the meticulous justice of Jesus. We will see Jesus not as savior, but as judge. What we're going to see today, saints, that in the second coming of Christ, he's coming back in a different capacity. He won't be that sweet, loving Lamb, you slap one cheek and he give you the other. Those, those days are over. He won't be riding a donkey when he come back in the second Coming. The donkey riding days are over as well. We're going to see he's coming back as a man of war. And again, it's going to be amazing as we see Christ come back in this capacity now promises of his physical return. You know, there are many groups today that teach that Jesus Christ will never ever come back to planet Earth. That is unbiblical. The Bible tells us that Jesus, he will fulfill every jot and tittle of the scripture. In order for us to get to the end of the story, every prophecy must come to pass and many of the prophecies related to his physical return has to be fulfilled. And again, we're going to see that Dr. Walvin in his book the major Bible Prophecy said this a major subject of Bible Though the precise phrase the second coming does not occur occur in either the Old or New Testament, many passages bear witness to the fact that Christ who came once to provide salvation is coming the second time to rule. Just as the first coming Christ accomplished the major purpose of God to provide salvation, so the second coming of Christ will accomplish the major purpose of God to place everything in subjection to to Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lord. This is a prominent event of reference to his second coming in both Old and New Testament. Again, he's coming in a different capacity. You're going to see Jesus like we've never seen him. And again, it's amazing. Now we're in the last days and one of the indicators for the last days is the scoffers. Okay, this is a movie that came out in 2013. It's called rapturepalooza. And I hope none of you saw this. This was a blasphemous movie. In this movie they had a rapture channel and they had all kind of blasphemous things in there. But I saw the trailer, that's all I saw. And the trailer was enough for me. They showed Jesus Christ coming back in the second Coming riding the white horse and they had a man on the ground with a laser and he zing. And he shot Jesus out of the sky at his second coming. And then they showed Jesus laying on the ground with his horse and smoldering and then an Asian appearing. God said, you shot my son. I said, that's a lie. See, this is scoffers. Scoffers. They mock the truth. Second Peter 3, 3:5 says this knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days, scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? I'm going to give you the promise of his coming. They say, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continued as they were from the beginning of creation. For this he said, they are willingly ignorant. Ignorant of that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water. And in the water here, Peter said that people that mock the scoffers, who mock the coming of Christ. Where is the promise of his coming? You've been preaching this Jesus coming back for so long. Where is the promise? Well, I'm going to give some promises here. In a few minutes, I'm going to show you Scripturally, our Savior must come back to fulfill the prophecy. The Scripture called these people willingly ignorant because they don't want truth. And this movie was such a blasphemous, blasphemous movie. Now I'm going to give you some proof text of Christ coming. The book of Acts, chapter one. Here. This is when Jesus, after he was resurrected and glorified, he spent time with his disciples. And they were on the Mount of Olives and Jesus talking to them. And then all of a sudden, he was taken up. He was literally raptured in front of them. The Bible said that the disciples, they watched him go up. They watched him go up until they couldn't see him anymore. And as they had their eyes fixed on Jesus, angels appeared around them. And they didn't even notice that angels appeared. So the angels began to talk to the disciples. This is what they said, these angels, which said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing into the heavens? Listen at this first promise. This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him going to heaven. The angel literally prophesied that Jesus is coming back. He's coming back physically, as you've seen him leave the Mount of Olives. Guess what? He's going to come back to the Mount of Olives. We're going to see that in a few minutes. Few minutes. He must come back. Physical prophecy. Look at this one. Revelation, Chapter one, verse seven. John wrote this. He said, behold, he cometh, talking about Jesus with clouds. And every eye shall see him, and they also, which pierced him. And all kindreds of the earth shall wail. Because listen, listen to this. The second coming of Christ will not be a happy event for the world. When the world see him coming. The Bible said that they're going to wail at his coming because he's coming back as a man of war. He's coming back to take authority in the earth. And the world is going to mourn and wail because of his return. But he's coming back. Look at this next one. Zechariah 14:4. And his feet, Jesus feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which, which is before Jerusalem on East, the same place where his disciples saw him go up. Zechariah prophesied that when he come back, his feet will touch the same ground, Mount Olivet. These are promises of his physical return. Look at this one, Matthew 24:27. It says, for as lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so also shall the coming of the Son of Man be. He must physically return. Look at this one. Second Peter one six. Peter said this. We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His Majesty. Peter said, when we talk to you about the coming of Christ, this was not some fable or some fairy tale. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Whatever Jesus said He's going to do, you can trust it. He's physically coming back. Here's one. I love this one. As a prophecy teacher, as a prophecy, I see Bible prophecy all through the scripture we cover, from Genesis to Revelation, where one day we were at service, my pastor was doing communion. And as he was going through the communion, I saw a Second Coming text. So I'm going to give you the text and you're going to know this passage very well. At communion, our pastors and elders, they normally read this as we take the bread and the cup. Well, look at verse 26 of First Corinthians 11. Paul said this, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lord's death till he comes. You know, whenever I take communion now, it reminds me that he's coming. See, we take it in remembrance of him till he comes. When he come back, it's going to be over. We'll never have to celebrate communion again because we're going to be with him for all eternity. So the communion should remind you of his physical return. These are prophecies of our lost return. Now let's move a step further. And now we're going to take you to the text that I read earlier and what we're going to do, I'm going to begin to break certain things apart in this. To give you a little more clarity and a little more understanding, we're going to pick up again here. In verse 11 of Revelation, chapter 19, John wrote, and I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called faithful and true. And in righteousness doth he judge and make war. I love this, because this verse 11 identifies who is riding this white horse. This is none other than the Savior. Here he's called faithful and true, just like in Revelation, chapter one, he's called the faithful and true witness. Here the Bible says, in righteousness he will judge and make war. Listen, when Christ comes back at this time, he's coming back with fire in his eyes. He's coming back to judge the rebels. At this coming, he's in a different capacity. The world's going to mourn. They're going to mourn at his coming because he's coming back with fire in his eyes to judge the rebels. But he's going to do it in righteousness. Verse 11 says, his eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns. He's going to be in full authority at that time. And he had. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. And his name is called the Word of God. I love this. Another identifier of who this second coming writer is. John one tells us that Jesus is the Word that was made flesh. Where here the Word of God is going to come back riding a white horse, and it's going to be awesome. He's coming to take full authority. He's going to dethrone the Antichrist and again set up his government. Verse 14. I'm going to go a little more in depth in a few minutes about this. But the Bible says when he come back in the Second Coming, it says, and the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. We're going to see that there are two groups of armies that's coming back with Christ in the Second Coming. And we're going to see it here in a few minutes. But the Bible says here that at the time of this, this army will already be in heaven. They're going to literally come out of heaven comprising the armies with. With Christ. And we'll go in depth to see that. Look at verse 15. The Bible says, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp Sword that with it he should smite the nations. He's not coming to bring peace right on the onset. He's coming to smite, to judge the nations, to judge Antichrist and those that have formed in alliance with him to smite the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron. This term rule with a rod of iron means that he's coming back to take authority in the earth. Mankind cannot bring peace, only Jesus Christ can. But when he come back, he's going to take full authority. He's going to arrest the world. He's going to put handcuffs on him. In a sense, he's going to arrest the rebels when he come back. And look what it says. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. I'm going to explain that in more detail. But this term here has reference to the battle of Armageddon. And we're going to see that in a few minutes. But he's going to tread the winepress. You know, whenever you tread grapes in a winepress, you see grapes with your feet and then the blood of the grape comes out and then they use it to make wine. Well, he's going to tread the winepress of the wrath of Almighty God. We're going to see that verse 16. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written King of kings and Lord of lords. What I love about this saints. This is another prophecy that literally points to the thousand year millennial kingdom. Christ will be king, Kings inside the millennial kingdom. There will be kings in the millennium. You know, King David would be in the millennial kingdom and there will be other kings all spread out in Christ's government. Not only that, but he would be Lord of Lords. They're going to have lords all through his millennial kingdom that's going to help him rule and reign in the Second Coming. So it's going to be a beautiful event. And again we're going to see it now. We're moving a step forward. What is the timing of this event? This is key because again, people have mixed Second Coming and Rapture text. We're going to see that the second Coming can only happen at a certain time in prophecy. We're going to see that. Look at this. The Second Coming will take place at the end of the Great Tribulation. So the seven year Tribulation must take place before the Second Coming can happen. Matthew 24:29 says this. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. After the tribulation, Christ is coming back. He's going to close the tribulation period that has seven years of duration. Matthew 24:30 says, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Then shall all listen to this. All the tribes of the earth mourn. Now I read to you Revelation 1:7. It said that all the tribes shall wail because of they seeing him come. But here it says, all the tribes of the earth shall mourn because of his return. He's coming back as a man of war. He's coming back to bring pain to rebels. They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He's coming back to judge the world. Mark 13:24. And in those days after that, the tribulation, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light. Verse 26. And then shall appear, and then they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with what power and glory. He's coming back. Listen, it's going to be triumphant. The Bible says when he come back, the glory of Christ is going is going to judge the world. He's going to come back with high beams. You know, you turn your lights on high beams. He's going to light the eastern sky when he come back. And again it's going to cause men to understand that judgment is about to take place. And again, we're going to see that here, because this is the second coming of Christ. This is the tribulation. We are currently in the church, and so we'll be raptured. We go to the judgment seat of Christ, then we go to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and then we'll come back with Christ. So this is the second coming I'm talking about at the end of the tribulation, before the beginning of the millennial kingdom. So he must come back in order to set up this government. And this is what we are witnessing now. Now, who are the armies that will come with him? This is one of my favorite parts of this message. Who are the armies that will come back with him? The armies that are coming with Jesus Christ at this time will be comprised of the glorified saints and the angelic host of heaven. If you're born again today and you get raptured, guess what? You will comprise the armies of heaven. Again, going back to the text, Revelation 19:14, John said, and the armies which were in heaven, said, we will be raptured. By that time, we'll be in heaven. I mentioned before, we're going to the marriage supper of the lamb. We'll have a great banquet with our Lord. Once our food digests, it's going to be time to load up. Mount up, boys. We're going to mount up on those white horses, the Bible says, and we're going to come back with them in fine linen, white and clean. And again, I love this so much. This is going to be us, the second coming of Jesus Christ, the glorified saints, every one of us that are born again, we're going to come back with Christ. And last time I was here, I did it kind of quickly. But look right here. That's brother Perkins right there. Come on, riding. Riding with Jesus, man. It's going to be awesome. It's going to be pretty. I mentioned it's going to be pretty. My heart's like a Tennessee walker just stepping out of the heavens, man. It's going to be beautiful, man. Coming back with Jesus Christ. We will comprise the armies of heaven, the glorified. The reason why he's going to use us because we no longer have the sin nature in our being. We are coming back with Christ in the second coming as his administration. We're coming back to go into the millennial kingdom to help Christ govern the earth. So let me give you some text here. Jude 1:14 says this and Enoch, also the seventh from Adam, and prophesied of these, saying, behold, the lord cometh with 10,000 of his saints. This term 10,000 literally is an innumerable host of believers. That's going to be us. Come back with Christ. Give you another one. Zechariah 14:5. This is the second coming text. It says, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, King of Judah, and the Lord my God shall come. And how many saints? All the saints with thee. So all of the rapture saints going to mount up and come back with prayer. This is why we've been challenging Christians from coast to coast, domestic and international. Name your horse. My wife, she said, baby, we ought to do a shirt called name your horse. I said, I don't know about that. The Lord said, listen to your wife. So we create this shirt. And this has been a wonderful evangelistic tool. People have a shirt on. It says, name your horse. And they go, people come up to you. What do you mean, name your horse? Well, let me explain it to you. Revelation 19:11, 16. It's a good Avenue to open up evangelism. So we will come back with Christ. I think I mentioned last time, my horse. I've already named my horse. My horse is named Nellie. Every horse that I've had as a kid growing up was named Nellie. Now, I know that may be disappointing to some of you, because our people, I tell them Nellie. They say, Nellie. Nellie Bly. Whoa, Nellie. I heard every Nellie joke you can imagine. But there have been three people, two other people other than myself that have named their horse Nellie. So name your horse. It makes it personal. The Second Coming. One more verse here on the coming of the saints. 1st Thessalonians 3:13. Paul wrote to the end, he may establish or establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints. So every one of us who are raptured will literally come back with Christ. Had a lady told me, brother Perkins, I'm afraid of horses. I said, well, you won't be in your glorified body. No, you won't be afraid at that time. But not only is Jesus coming back with the saints, but he's also coming back with the angelic, the angels. As a matter of fact, Peter tried to deliver Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. And Jesus told Peter, put your sword away. He healed the man's ear, gave the man his ear back. Peter cut it off trying to deliver Christ. Peter said, put your sword away, Peter. Don't you know I must go to the cross for you? Peter, if I don't die for you, you're going to hell. Peter, don't you know I can call a legion of angels right now? He knew that this was not the time for his deliverance. He had to die for humanity. But in the Second Coming, he's unleashing the heavy, the heavyweights. These angels are coming back with him to take authority in the heavens and into the earth. Look at this. Matthew, chapter 25, verse 31. It says, when the Son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. So in the second Coming, he's going to empty heaven. And these angels going to come back. They're going to deal with Satan and the fallen angels that are part of his army. They're going to come back to cleanse the heavens. He's going to have the angelic. Here's another one. Second Thessalonians, chapter one, verse seven. Paul wrote, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. He's coming back to take full authority in the earth. And guess what? He will take that full authority. It's going to be amazing. Now, I'm watching my time right where I'm at. All right. Where will this event take place? I mentioned earlier that this event, it's a geographical event, meaning this, that the Second coming is a geographical event. Christ is coming back, but he's not coming back everywhere. He's coming back geographically to the land of Israel. You know, Jesus is not coming back to Russia or the United States or Zimbabwe or Canada. No, the Bible tells us exactly where the Savior is going to come back. He's coming back to the land of Israel, to the valley of Megiddo. He's going to come back to take full authority. Zechariah 14:4 again says this. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem on the east. Again, this is one of those proof texts to show you that this event is different from the Rapture. The Rapture. We're going to meet him in the air. Second Coming. He's coming all the way down to planet Earth. He's going to come back to Israel and he's coming back to judge. Zechariah 16:16 says, and he shall gather them together in a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. This term, Armageddon, this battle will be fought in the valley of Megiddo. Anybody here has been to Israel? Anybody? Okay, have you saw, have you seen the valley of Megiddo? This is where this battle will be take place. Strategically, the Bible talks about the battle going to take place there. Verse 15 of chapter 9:19 it says, and out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite or judge the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. Now I'm going to focus on this latter part. And he treadeth the winepress of the fiercest and wrath of Almighty God. What's going to happen at second Coming? Men of the world, the ungodly of the world, will be gathered like grapes. In the last days. They're going to be gathered like grapes and they will be thrown into the vat of God's winepress. That vat will be the valley of Megiddo. They would be like wicked grapes cast into the vat. And when Jesus come back, he's going to tread the grapes. He's going to judge, believe. They're not saying the second coming is going to cause much death in the earth. You mean to tell me Jesus, he's going to slay people? Absolutely. Oh, no, brother, perfect. Not Jesus. Not, not. Not Mary's baby. Oh, yes. He's coming back as king, ruler, potentate, head of state, prime minister, leader, king. He's coming back to judge rebels. He's going to stomp them out. But look at this. I'm going to give you some text here. Look at this. Revelation 14:18 gives us John saw this picture in the heavens, two sickles. Jesus will have one sickle to harvest the righteous. But then there'll be another angel at this time who will harvest the wicked. Look at this revelation, chapter 1418. John wrote, and another angel came from the altar which had power over fire. And he cried with a loud. And he cried, and with a loud cry to him that hath a sharp sickle saying, thrust in thy sharp sickle and gather the cluster of the vine of the earth. For her grapes are fully ripe. This is going to be the gathering of the wicked for the battle of Armageddon. The Bible said, the angel is going to grab them with his sickle and they're like grapes being cast into the valley of Megiddo. It's going to be the winepress of God. Verse 19 says, and the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, that's the wicked, and cast it into the great winepress of God. They're going to be cast into the valley of Megiddo, and this is where Christ is going to judge them. Verse 20. And the winepress was trodden without the city outside Jerusalem in the valley of Megiddo is where Jesus is going to judge the ungodly, the antichrist and his armies. And blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse's bridle. By the space of 1,600 furlong, this is anywhere from 182 to 200 miles. The Bible says the blood will come. And the Bible said, Christ is going to tread. He's going to tread the winepress. Now, I know this picture is not a pleasant picture, but you got to understand, when Christ comes back in the second coming, he's coming back to judge the wicked and he's going to judge them. He's going to judge them and he tread the latter part of the verse. He treadeth the winepress of the fierces and wrath of Almighty God. He's going to judge the wicked and mankind will be judged. The Bible said blood will come up to the horse's bridle. This is a different Time, a different Christ in a different capacity. He's going to judge the wicked. We've never seen this before, but he's coming back to judge the world. Not only that, but we're moving in and I'm looking at time. I got good time. We're moving to the part now where when Christ come back, he's going to judge Antichrist and his armies. But once he sets up his kingdom there or right at the beginning of it, the Bible says the nations of the world will be gathered before him. And what he's going to do, he's going to separate them. Look at this. Matthew 25, 31, 32, it says, and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another. As a shepherd divided the sheep from the goats, and he shall set the sheep on the right hand and the on the right hand, but the goats on the left hand. So you have sheep nations and goat nation brought before him. And I really believe this, that all of those that are the sheep nations will be born again. They will be righteous. They befriended Israel, they helped Israel. But I believe every one of them will be born again. No unredeemed person will go into the millennial kingdom. Verse 46 says, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment. Talking about the goat nations at this time, Christ going to judge the goat nations and they will go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. The sheep nation will comprise the righteous. And he's going to start the millennial kingdom off with the righteous. Now, Dr. David, Jeremiah, from his wonderful book Understanding Biblical Prophecy Again, he gives us a further insight about when Christ comes back. He's not coming back as this sweet marriage baby. Look at this. Because Jesus Christ will return to our world at the end of the tribulation. He will return not as a merciful savior, but as our righteous King. He will re enter our atmosphere with wrath and judgment and fury. You've never seen Christ in this capacity. This is a good reason to show again that the rapture of the Church and the second coming are two different events. And you got to keep them separated to understand the prophecies. But we're going to see that the rapture is a blessed event for the righteous and the second coming is a blessed event for the righteous. But for the unredeemed, it's going to be judgment. This is one reason why I challenge Christians to go after your loved ones that are not saved. Go after them with a passion. You're looking at an evangelist who love the Harvest every time. I love when people come to Christ. I like going after them because time is winding up and again many people going to find themselves on the outside and they're going to be judged. Now, in reference to the goat and sheep nations, here we have Matthew 25:31, 33. It says this. And when the Son of man shall come in his glory, all his holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations. And he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep. And he shall set the sheep on the right hand, but the goats on the left hand. Verse 8 of Psalms goes a little more in depth to talk about this judgment. God's going to judge the nations of the world when Christ comes back in the Second Coming. But in the book of Psalms, God literally gives the leaders of the world a warning, a warning of judgment. So look at this. Psalms 8, Psalms 2, verses 8 through 12. The Psalmist wrote, God says, ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost part of the earth for thy possessions, thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. I mean, he's come back. He's going to take seed of. He's going to take authority. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Here's the warning to the nations of the world. Be wise now. Therefore, O ye kings, be instructed. Ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son and I love this capital S O N. Kiss the Son. This reference to Jesus, he's telling the nations of the world, kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled. But for a little, Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. Listen, the Second Coming is a different judgment, it's a different time where Christ is coming back to take full authority in the earth. Now, we're about to land a plane. Okay, we're going to come now to the latter part of the study, and I'm going to close up looking at the differences between the Rapture and the Second Coming. This is really good. Especially when I teach on the Second Coming or the Rapture. I like to show both differences because again, there's so much confusion. I have people come and tell me, brother Perkins, I never saw those differences until I heard these messages. And I realized that these are two distinct events in prophecy. So I'm going to close up with this. We're going to bring it down to a close here again. This is the Second coming of Christ. We will come back with Christ riding white horses in the Second Coming. But at the Rapture we will be caught up to be with Him. Okay? This is where we get our glorified bodies and we'll be caught up to be with Him. So these are two different events. So I'm going to quote this quote. I love this quote. This is by Phineas Dake from his book Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ. Listen at this. He said, as a young Bible student, 18 years of age, I used to become confused by the average minister's preaching on the Second Coming and the Rapture. Almost without exception, these persons would refer to the Rapture and the Second Coming as the same event, using both terms interchangeably as the one coming of Christ. There being, as they suppose, two parts, two stages, two phases of the one coming. They would point out many signs of the Second Coming or Rapture and then tell how the tribulation and the seven year reign of Antichrist would have to take place before the Second Coming or the Rapture. In other words, they were confusing the Rapture and Second Coming. And I must be honest, you know, when I first started studying Bible prophecy, I mixed them up too. Until I began to study and God began to open the Scriptures I would call the Rapture in Second Coming. I didn't know that there were two different events. As a matter of fact, I'll give you a quick testimony. This month my wife and I, we celebrate 45 years of ministry. This month, July to God be the glory. When I first started, I was confused. I'll be honest with you, I was confused. I mean, I'm mixing stuff up until I started studying the Word and then God started started just opening the Scriptures. So here he was confused like that. He said this, he said, I'm going to pick up, okay. They would point to the many signs of the Second Coming or Rapture and tell how the tribulation and the seven year reign of Antichrist would have to take place before the Second Coming or the Rapture. Then make a plea for persons not ready for the event to meet at the altar for prayer immediately. The reason given for such urgency was that the Rapture could take place right now, perhaps even before the people could come down to the altar. He said, I could never reconcile the conflicting statements that there should be a seven year of tribulation and reign of Antichrist before the coming of Christ. In other words, when they say Rapture, Second Coming of the same event. It confused him. Wait a minute now you say the Rapture is going to happen. I mean, certain events have to happen for the Rapture to take place. But then you say, you know, the Tribulation had to happen before the second. Wait a minute, I'm confused. And a lot of us were confused. I was confused when I first started studying. He goes on to say this. Seven years of tribulation and reign of Antichrist before the coming of Christ, and yet it could happen tonight. What these teachers should have said was that the Rapture and the second Coming were two distinct subjects, the events being unrelated to each other. And that whereas the Rapture could take place tonight, that's imminency. Or at any moment, the second Coming cannot take place until after the Tribulation. And the last seven years of this age, which would conclude include the reign of Antichrist. It is still true to teach that the Rapture could take place now or at any moment. As to the second Advent or the Second Coming, it must be understood that this event cannot take place until after the Tribulation and the reign of Antichrist. In fact, all prophecies must be fulfilled in detail before the second Coming. So there are a lot of prophecies that must happen before the second Coming. Israel is back as a nation, the third temple rebuilt, the Antichrist ruling in the seven years, the Antichrist stopping the Jewish sacrifice, desecrating the altar. These are prophecies that must take place before Christ come back. But none of those affect the Rapture. The Rapture could happen before I finish preaching today. I say, I'm ready, Lord. Come, Lord. Jesus. I think I did it last time I practiced my Rapture drill. Saints, I'm so ready to go, man. I shared before that, Jesus gave me a dream. I had a dream that the Rapture took place. Man, I was so happy. I said, lord, it finally happened. I'm going up. It was so nice, things going up. And all of a sudden I woke up in my bed, man, I was mad. Lord, what are you doing to me? Lord? The Second Coming is a different event. So as we bring it down to a close, I'm going to show you the difference between both the Rapture and if you want to get a picture, wait until I bring everything in. I'll give you a second to take them. At the second coming, Jesus will come back with the saints. Revelation 19:14. That's going to be us at the Rapture. Jesus is coming to gather the saints first. Thessalonians 4, 17. At the second coming, Jesus will touch the earth at this time. Zechariah 14:4. He's going to touch terra firma, planet earth. He's going to touch Earth, the Mount of Olives. the Rapture, Jesus will not touch, touch the earth at this time. The Bible says we will meet him in the air. Two different events. the second Coming, Jesus will come as a man of war. The Bible said fire is in his eyes. He's coming to judge his enemies. At the second, I mean at the Rapture, Jesus is coming to raise the righteous dead. The Bible said the dead in Christ shall rise. But the Second Coming, as a man of war, he's going to cause much bloodshed and death at the second Coming. The second coming will cause the battle of Armageddon to begin. You know Armageddon cannot take place until the second coming. You know, whenever bombs explode in Israel today, you watch the tabloids front page, Armageddon is upon us. I said no it's not. You don't understand scripture. Armageddon cannot happen without the second coming. You know something? If you're born again today, Armageddon cannot happen without you. You got to ride your white horse, come back with Christ in the battle, in the second Coming. We're going to come back with Christ as he sets up his government. And I must say one thing and then I'm going to move on. You know, even though we will be the armies that will come back with Christ, we won't really fight in this battle. And I got to say, saints, I was a little disappointed man, because I want, I want to rope a dope on the Antichrist, man. I wound up stinging, man. Bang, bang, coming back, we won't fight. He will do the judging at that time. His glory. The Bible says his glory is going to judge the Antichrist and the forces. We are coming back as his administration to go into the government now. The Rapture. The Rapture will cause the great tribulation to begin. Listen, as long as the church is here, the tribulation cannot take place. Don't let anybody tell you that you will experience any of the tribulation. I know there's much debate in the Church, but to simply understand the tribulation, it literally is a prophecy that is exclusive to the House of Israel. It's part of Daniel's 70 week. That prophecy was exclusive to the House of Israel. The Church is not even around when that prophecy began. It started with national Israel. It's going to finish with national Israel. The Church is not a part of that prophecy. This is One reason why God is going to remove the church before the tribulation begins. And he's going to mainly focus on the house of Israel, although this prophecy will affect the entire world. Lastly here, the Second Coming will bring an end to the reign of Antichrist. Jesus will judge Antichrist and false prophets. This is Revelation, chapter 19, verses 20. The Antichrist and false prophet will be cast alive. The Bible says, from the Armageddon theater of war straight to the lake of fire. They won't even go before the White Throne. And then at the Rapture. The Rapture will allow the reign of Antichrist. Christ must remove the church before the Antichrist can be revealed. So if you want to take a picture, you can take a picture now. And again, you got them in both perspectives here. But these are two distinct events in prophecy. And again, we need to know it. Now, I'm going to give you my last quote, and we're going to land the plane. I got five minutes to land the plane. We're going to land the plane. All right, here's my last quote from the Lamplighter magazine, Dr. Dave Reagan. He said, I see no biblical basis for combining the Rapture and the second Coming. I believe the Bible clearly teaches that the Lord's return will be in two stages. First, the rapture of the church, that's going to be us. And then the Second Coming, we're going to come back with Christ. There is plenty of room to disagree about the timing of the Rapture that is separate and apart from the second Coming. I believe the Bible. I mean, I believe the best inference of the scripture is that the Rapture will occur before the tribulation begins. And again, saints, you know, I know a lot of people, they wonder about these prophecies, but the Scriptures are so clear. God gives us everything we need to know. Everything is in the word of God. We just need to spend time. You know, again, I appreciate your pastor. Your pastor is a prophecy buff. He knows the word of God. You guys are blessed to have a pastor that take you through the Word. He told me last week you guys were in chapter 10 of Daniel. I love Daniel. And then you're moving on to chapter 11. Chapter 11 is an exciting chapter of Daniel. But, you know, there are a lot of pastors that never teach on prophecy at all. I'm in churches. They have never heard of the rapture of the church. And again, once we come in and give them understanding, it gives them clarity, you know, and it calms the hearts because people are afraid of the end times. And you really don't have to be when you have knowledge. All right. I want you to bow your hearts as I close this morning in prayer. Father God, I know I've given a lot this morning. And again your word has made the case of your son's return. The second coming of Jesus. Lord, today help us as your sons and daughters. Help us to proclaim the soon return of our savior, Jesus Christ. Lord, give us clarity to warn the world and the nations that Jesus is coming back. Help us, oh God, to go after our loved ones and friends and family members that don't know you. Help us to challenge them, dear God, that they might come to a saving knowledge of your son, Jesus Christ. Now, before I close this prayer today, I never take for granted we may have someone here today who don't know Jesus. I want to say to you today, if you don't know him as your Savior, today is a great day to accept him. The Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, they shall be saved. Salvation is so easy, you just identify you accept him and today Jesus Christ can give you eternal life. And then you'll be raptured with us. When we are raptured. While all heads are bowed, you say, brother Perkins, I'm not a Christian, but today I want to know Jesus as my savior. If that's you, I would love to lead you in a simple prayer of salvation today. Jesus can save you. If you want to receive Christ today, simply raise your hand. I'm not going to embarrass you. Just raise your hand and then we will pray a wonderful simple prayer today. And Jesus will give you life. Is there anyone? Brother Perkins, I want to take you up on this call today. I want Jesus to be my Lord. Listen, it's no accident that you're here in this service. It's no accident that Christ is challenging you to accept him today. Don't fight, don't debate, just accept him. Is there anyone before I close this prayer this morning? This is your day. Accept him before it's too late. Well, Lord, it appears we're here with the family of God. Lord, I pray today. Bless your people, dear God. And Lord, help us to proclaim the return of Christ. Lord, bless this wonderful church, the pastors and the leadership of this house. And Lord, we thank you. Now in Jesus name, amen.