The Lord Is Near

Say with me: “The Lord is near.” Wow, and that came to mind this morning while I was praying for the Lord to make clear to me what I should focus on—this idea that the Lord is near, okay? And the first thing I want to tell you is, let’s go back a little. Here we see the apostle Paul calling his brothers and sisters in Philippi, but also us by extension, to rejoice. And every day I meditate more and more on the fact that the Word of God calls us to rejoice.

I don’t have all the time I would need to develop this point, but the first thing I can say is this: notice that it is a call; it is an active verb, even though that may sound redundant. You are being told: rejoice. It is like being told: drink a glass of water, or go to the beach, or enjoy a beautiful sunny day and go out into the countryside. You are being told to do something as the result of a decision you have to make, an act of your will. The Word is calling you to do something in order to produce the effect of rejoicing within you.

In other words, what I mean is that rejoicing is an action; in other words, it is a decision. You can decide whether or not to rejoice, you see? It is a call from God, and to me, the mere fact that God calls me to enter into that act of rejoicing is a revelation. And of course, it is saying something else as well: rejoicing should be a persistent state for the children of God; it should be a condition and not merely an isolated moment, okay?

So there are two very important things here. Because afterward he says: Rejoice in the Lord always. It is like what the Word says elsewhere: pray without ceasing. And you say, well, what does that mean? Does praying without ceasing mean that I always have to be moving my lips in prayer when I am out on the street, and even when I am sleeping? No, it is the idea of something persistent, something that becomes a quality of life. It is a foundation of life. Rejoicing—the joy of the Lord—is like a backdrop.

So the fact that God calls you, and that I am going to decide whether or not I will rejoice, is a revelation. And that helps, because many times we think that emotions are something that should govern us. Emotions come and go, and they decide what they will do with us. But you know what? You have the power, and within you, you have the agency and the strength either to rejoice or to become depressed, to be anxious or to be at peace. And there are things you can do in your life to make it easier and possible for the joy of the Lord to manifest itself within you.

And look at what Paul says. He says: Rejoice in the Lord always. I believe that part of a Christian’s ability to rejoice lies in understanding that our joy is not an easy, superficial joy of continually laughing out loud, telling jokes, and always having a Barbie smile plastered across our face. I believe that Christian joy is a joy that comes from within, from the depths of our being. It is a joy that the Presence of the Holy Spirit makes possible within us. And I believe it is a joy that is there in spite of everything: in spite of trials, in spite of life’s difficulties and struggles, in spite of life’s bad memories. We can rejoice in the Lord.

It is a joy to know that my ticket has already been paid for. My passport has been stamped, and I have been given a visa to the Heavenly Homeland, amen? It is a joy to know that I am right with God and God is right with me, that God is pleased with me. God loves me; God has healed me, saved me, and justified me through Christ Jesus. Therefore, all the other things in life are inconsequential in light of the glorious fact that I know where I come from and where I am going, amen?

So it is that rejoicing, that joy of the Lord and in the Lord, which comes as the result of closeness with Christ, of knowing that Christ is with me and I am in Him. To the extent that we remain in Christ and He remains in us, we can experience that joy of God. Many times—look, when we began the service this morning, notice the progression. As Pastor of the Church, I am always monitoring the temperature of the Church, right? You see me there, but sometimes I am there suffering or rejoicing; I don’t know, I am there thinking, sometimes giving myself therapy, right? And I am seeing how things are going and checking all the Church’s different gauges.

And when we came in and began, we were a little tense; it wasn’t the same intensity, was it? Or am I imagining things? Be honest. And that happens often. At nine in the morning, many people don’t know whether they are saved or not (laughter). But we began, and with the blessing of the brothers and sisters here who led us and the choirs, it was as though the warmth of the Lord gradually entered us, amen? And the temperature kept rising to a crescendo, until at the end we were able to proclaim the Lordship of Christ with joy and intensity. By then the rest of the brothers and sisters had arrived, the place was full, and glory to God, the Holy Spirit began to manifest Himself openly and palpably, right?

But why? Because we decided to praise the Lord. If we stand here waiting for the joy of the Lord to come upon us and touch us with a magic wand, we will be here all day. But when you begin to worship, when you begin to praise, when you begin to warm up the engines, things begin to flow. And then we can feel and process with our nervous system that joy of the Lord that was within us. We can experience the joy of the Lord.

I have learned this in my own life: many times I am in such a state that not even the lilies smell sweet to me, but then I begin to think about the Lord, to pray and cry out; sometimes tears even begin to flow. I meditate on the Lord’s good things, and it is as though the cold begins to leave, the demons retreat into their hiding places, and the joy of the Lord comes, right? And we have to make a decision in our lives to rejoice. You have to decide that you are going to be a person who rejoices in the Lord.

It is something that must become like a philosophical, biblical, theological stance: I am going to be a joyful person. I am going to rejoice in the Lord. And you have to make that an ethic, a theme of your life, a decision. Because let me tell you: life is not going to give you the opportunity. Christ says that in the world you will have affliction. If you start thinking about all the problems you and I have, all the difficulties—health problems, financial problems, family problems, problems with friends, problems at work—you will go and shoot yourself as soon as possible in order to escape this cruel world.

And you can choose what you are going to focus on. Are you going to focus on the bad and difficult things in life, which all of us have, or are you going to focus on the joy of the Lord, on the fact that you have been saved through Christ Jesus? On the fact that God is pleased with you, that God has good things for your life, that God’s thoughts toward your life are good? And perhaps you are going through a time of tribulation right now, but the ending is always good. That is what the apostle says: God’s ending is always good. So you have to decide to rejoice.

One of the passages I love is the passage from Habakkuk chapter 13, and I will leave you with that concerning the subject of rejoicing, because there is so much—so very much—to unpack. Look up the sermon from the twelve o’clock service two Sundays ago.

But look at what Habakkuk 3:17 says: “Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the produce of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the sheep be cut off from the fold, and there be no cattle in the stalls.”

Now, we are talking about a man who lived in an agricultural world, right? Today we would say: though the bank account is at zero, though there is no soup in the pantry, though there is no container of milk in the refrigerator, though the car is sitting out there completely messed up with its wires sticking out, though I have family problems and difficulties with my health, he says: “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.” Hallelujah.

Say with me: yet. What it is saying there is, hey, it is not saying that everything will disappear with a magic wand, right? No, no, no. Nor are you going to be like those ostrich birds—what do you call them in Spanish?—avestruz, which supposedly stick their heads in the sand so they will not see the approaching danger. No, we are not ignorant of the reality of life, okay? On the contrary, I believe that human beings can rejoice.

In other words, brothers and sisters, it is not that we ignore the negative things in life, but rather that we have to remember this: that in spite of everything and in the midst of everything—I like that phrase, “yet”—in other words, dragging along all the realities of life. That also reminds me of what the apostle Paul says in another passage; I believe it is Romans chapter 8. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or hunger, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for Your sake we are killed all day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.”

The apostle Paul is there, as it were, looking at the reality of life. All the things that can go wrong, all the things that can go wrong in a human being’s life. All the sworn enemies bent on destroying us and spoiling our joy in life. And he asks rhetorically: could anything in this world, no matter how great, separate us from the love of Christ? Nothing; obviously, the answer is nothing. Then he says: “Rather, in all these things we are more than conquerors.”

Notice: rather, in—not after they have ended or once we have come through them. He says: rather, in all these things we are more than conquerors. And I remember that Habakkuk says “yet”; that is why the connection formed in my mind. Because once again God is calling you, son of God, daughter of God, this morning: look at it in all its nakedness, look at it coldly, look at it logically; recognize all the adversaries in your life, how difficult life is, and the struggles that exist. But this morning I want—the Lord wants—that despite it all, you rejoice in the Lord.

Habakkuk says: “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer’s and makes me walk upon my high places.” You see, it is like a defiant joy; the joy of the Lord is like a stone you hurl straight at the devil’s forehead. The Word says that the joy of the Lord is our strength. The writer of Habakkuk is saying here: come what may, my ethic for life will be: I am going to rejoice; I am going to rejoice in the Lord. I am going to live a joyful life—not a life that is ignorant of life’s difficulties, because we all have our struggles, but rather a life of joy in and in spite of, and with everything that may come.

I am always going to keep a smile on my face; I am going to be a gracious person. The apostle Paul then says there: let your gentleness be known to all men. Brothers and sisters, I believe—look—the greatest letter of recommendation, the greatest apologetic resource we have for the Lordship of Christ, is our gentleness: that pleasant character within us.

A grumpy Christian who is boring, angry with life, demanding of others, and bitter absolutely cannot be an evangelist. People need congregations where, when they walk in, they feel the joy of the Lord. And people need Christians in the workplace who, while everyone else is gossiping and complaining about the boss, the working conditions, and how little they are paid, have a pleasant, profound smile. Not a plastic smile, but a smile that has passed through the meteors of struggle, suffering, failure, and life’s setbacks, and emerged on the other side still victorious. It is a different smile, a profound smile.

Let your gentleness be known. I want our Church to be a gentle Church. I rejoice whenever a visitor comes and tells me: this Church is a friendly Church. Two Sundays ago, in fact, two fellow believers came. I have known them for a long time; they are older Americans and members of Park Street Church. They were sitting there, and when I came in, I saw them and went to greet them before the service began. They told me: the people here are so friendly. Now, let me tell you, I know your other side (laughter). But I did not tell them that at the time.

And you know my unfriendly side too, some more than others. But I declare, amen, brothers and sisters, yes, it is true, you are. I tell you, I am in love with my Church, because the truth is that, generally and as a whole, our Church is a special Church; we are a gentle Church. And I encourage you always to be a generous Church, a friendly Church, a Church where laughter can always be upon our lips.

I love it when the sisters sometimes come up here, take off their shoes, and stand here at the front; and I say: glory to God, they feel free to do that, right? Men, if you do it, make sure you have clean socks, but you can do it too (laughter). Amen.

No, it is good when people feel free to relax in the house of the Lord. The alternative is for everyone to stand there all starched and stiff: Oh, Heavenly Father, Creator of the Universe, You who can do all things. We treat God as though He were a hundred thousand miles away. God is present; He is here; He is within you; He loves you; He has good thoughts toward you. Therefore, rejoice. Brothers and sisters, let us be a generous Church, a gentle Church, a happy Church, a Church that laughs at itself and laughs with God.

I believe God laughs, and the world trembles; the universe trembles when God laughs. God has a sense of humor too—look, He put me here to pastor you; just imagine how much of a sense of humor He must have. The fact is that we have a loving Father, and we have to focus on that. I want to move on from this subject, but I cannot; it is so rich, so juicy. We have to be a generous Church. And I call you—you, man or woman of God—to be generous as well: in your family, in your marriage, in the way you treat your children, and in the way you treat others.

Because you know what? If you are gentle, you can feel the joy of the Lord. A demanding person who keeps score and has to make everyone pay for everything they have done to him will never be happy, never. Do you know who the happy person is? The person who gives, the person who shares, the person who blesses, the person who affirms, the person who believes the best about others, the person who knows that there is something good in that individual—even though it may be buried very deep—but knows that there is something good in him, right? And we try to bring out that good within him.

We are generous with our spouse. We give from what we have; we do not think only of ourselves like misers sitting there counting our little coins. We share our food and invite others into our home to share our gifts. And that produces joy within us; it lightens our load. Be generous; let your gentleness be known to everyone. Let us be a generous Church, a gentle Church, distinguished as a place where we love one another, share, and support one another, and you will see that the joy of the Lord will flow among us. That is very important.

I will leave it there, because otherwise I will not get to what I actually wanted to address, but I did not want to leave you completely without that. Because after Paul says all of that—rejoice in the Lord always, and again I repeat: rejoice; let your gentleness, your joy, your generosity, your love, your lightness of spirit be known throughout the neighborhood—he then says: the Lord is near. The Lord is near. Notice that, for many people, saying that the Lord is near is like saying: uh-oh, I do not want to see Him; He is going to be mad at me.

For many people, saying that the Lord is near could mean the end of the world, destruction, fire, and brimstone. For Paul, in this context, it is something that strengthens the call to joy. In the apostle Paul’s enlightened mind, there is a connection between his call to joy and rejoicing and the fact that the Lord is near. It is not some idiosyncratic statement he put there to fill space; rather, there is an intimate connection, established by the Spirit, between those things.

Why is it so important for us to live a life of joy and peace? That is actually what that whole section of the letter encompasses: the life of peace. Because Paul ends there by saying, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard all your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Peace is the foundation; without peace, you cannot rejoice, can you? If you are anxious, nervous, and insecure, you simply will not be able to have joy. Peace is the foundation of joy, and the two are joined together there. That is really what frames the whole passage.

But for Paul, the fact that Christ is near strengthens the call to joy and peace. And you may be wondering—let me begin here, because I think I will return to this subject later—it is an extremely important subject: the coming of the Lord. You will notice that I do not speak very often about the coming of the Lord; actually, I should speak more about the Second Coming. I speak about many different subjects, many things, but the Second Coming is not a subject I discuss as it is sometimes discussed in other, more Pentecostal churches, where people are always saying, “Christ is coming, Christ is coming,” and so on.

I do not usually address that subject very much, but I am clearly aware of the growing importance of understanding the doctrine of the Lord’s Second Coming and the elements that accompany it. And sometimes, if I do not speak as much about the Second Coming, it is because in my spirit there is a sort of conflicted relationship between elements that contradict one another and remain in tension; and because I take the Lord’s Second Coming so seriously, I sometimes do not speak about it, but it is a subject of a great deal of meditation. It is a key subject that we must understand clearly and know what we are talking about.

On the one hand, there is the fact that Scripture tells us again and again about the nearness of Christ’s coming. The first Christians evidently lived with their minds and sensibilities occupied by the imminent coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some have even thought that Scripture somehow gets it wrong there—some of the more liberal writers—because they say, “Well, it is simply that Paul, and even the Jesus we read about in the Gospels, thought it would happen very quickly”; or they say that the evangelists who wrote about Jesus’ words seemed to think that He was going to come immediately. And sometimes they become a little confused when Christ says, for example—Jesus said—that this generation would not pass away before the Son of Man had come.

Mysterious words. I do not know exactly how to explain them, nor do I want to venture too far into that abyss. But the truth is that, yes, there are many statements throughout Scripture saying that the Lord is at the door, that His coming is imminent. Yet two thousand years have passed, and Christ has not come. And throughout the centuries, we have seen generations of Christians who at times felt tremendous excitement about the coming of Jesus Christ, such as the Adventists in times past and other groups, who looked at the times and said, “Christ is already at the door,” and began living an apocalyptic life as though He were coming that very week; they have even set dates.

Not long ago, if you remember, there was this group—a man whom I believe was well-intentioned, but he went and set a date for Christ’s coming. When was it? He set some date in 2011, and look, we are still here—unless this is a dream and we are already in heaven—but no, we are still here, aren’t we? And so, on the other hand, time keeps passing, and Christ still has not come.

So we have to be very careful. There is a tension in Scripture and in the believer’s life. We have to live as though Christ were at the door, but we also have to understand that we know neither the hour nor the day when He is to come, because the Lord Himself said so: that rests within the Father’s absolute Providence, okay? The human and divine Christ put it this way: not even the Son of Man knows the day of Jesus’ coming. There is a tension there.

Nevertheless, the Bible tells us to watch the times and says that there are signs which will indeed point to and help us understand when Christ is coming. I look at the times in which we live, and there are definitely so many things indicating to me that humanity is reaching a point at which its batteries are running down and there is not much left. It is as though we have come full circle, and something has to happen to release some of this tremendous pressure that is building up within the human condition.

So, on the one hand, we are called to live possessed by the imminence of Jesus’ coming, and on the other hand, we are told not to speculate too much either, because it is a mystery and no one can say exactly when. Could it be right now, could it be a year from now, could it be ten years from now, could it be fifty or a hundred years from now? Who knows? No one knows. That is something we must approach with the utmost care and the utmost humility.

And one of the things we can say about speculation concerning the coming of Jesus Christ is this: we must give it neither too much importance nor too little importance. And it is as though the Lord told us again and again, “Look, be careful; this is a very delicate subject, and you must remain within the tension between both things.”

Look, for example, at Acts chapter 1, when the risen Christ is ready for His ascension and the disciples ask Him an apocalyptic question. It says here in verse 6: “Then those who had gathered together asked Him, ‘Lord, will You restore the Kingdom to Israel at this time?’” Before He left, they wanted to ask Him one last question: “Are You going to restore Israel to its former glory, when David was this powerful king and Israel controlled all the nations around it? Now we are under the Roman boot; are You going to restore Israel?”

And look at how the Lord answers them. He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons”—that is, seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter; the periods of history. That is not your province. The Father placed that under His sole authority, okay? In other words: look, boys, do not go around engaging in all kinds of speculation; that is not what matters right now. Look at what mattered to the Lord at that moment: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.”

That is what you should be concerned with doing now: preaching the Gospel, proclaiming the Word, seeking the power of the Holy Spirit, and living powerful and effective lives that advance the Kingdom of God while the Father decides when He is going to send His Son and bring about the Second Coming.

So we must always maintain that sense of humility regarding the Second Coming. But notice something important: this is where I say that we must live within the tension of both yes and no. In that very same passage, when the Lord rises and continues ascending while they watch Him—what a strange thing, this ascension of the Son of God—it says that two men appeared to them. Verse 10: “And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men in white garments stood beside them. They also said to them, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?’”

This is interesting. Because now it says, look, the Lord tells them, “Hey, do not look at heaven; look at the earth and at what you have to do.” And here these men ask them, “Why are you looking at heaven?” So what do you mean? They just told me to look at heaven, and now they are telling me not to look; so should I look or should I not look? Then it says: “Why are you looking at heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.”

It is a call, then: yes, He is leaving, but He will return. It is a very clear affirmation at that key moment in history. They are telling the people of God: just as you saw that Christ ascend, so you will see Him come. How did Christ ascend? In a visible body, and in that same way we will also see Him.

So it is also a call to be watchful and conscious that Jesus Christ is coming. Christ is coming, and He is coming soon. It is a “soon” whose time we do not know, but it is still soon, and we have to live with the imminence of that coming.

I believe that a person cannot be truly happy and rejoice unless he is centered on the fact that Christ will come one day. Because when I know that Christ is coming, that makes all the other things of this world relative. I know that this world will one day be completely done away with and replaced by new heavens and a new earth. And I believe that when you are conscious that Christ is coming, that this passing world is not everything, and that all these things over which we worry and work ourselves to death—having the latest-model car and the latest outfit Oprah wore on television, which I now want too, even if it is a cheaper imitation, along with the degree and the big house—people kill themselves and tear their lives apart to obtain these things, as though this world were everything.

And we know that this world is passing away. So we live life with this sense of, “Hey, do not suffer so much; do not work yourself to death; do not worry so much.” Yes, work, rejoice, and undertake a vigorous, productive, enterprising life, but know that this world is not the ultimate reality. We are only passing through here, and our true citizenship is in the Heavenly Homeland, amen? And I believe we must always take a pill of Christ’s Second Coming.

We have to remember that the Lord is near and that Christ is coming. And if He does not come, I will go to where He is; but one way or another, whether He comes or I go, somehow we are going to meet, right? And I believe that all our concerns, efforts, and experiences in life must be lived in light of Jesus’ coming and of the fact that we cannot—we are not here to stay. The world is an antechamber. And that relates to many of the conversations that Dr. Villafañe, our colleague Lubomir Ondrashek, and I had. He invited us there in the car, and we had the best experience while they drove through the mountains and roads of Slovakia and those places.

Many things, right? This does not mean that we should live a fatalistic or defeatist life. Nor should we say, “Well, since Christ is coming, I am simply going to become some sort of monk, walking through the world with a little spoon so that people will give me food at their homes,” as Hindus and Buddhists do, who, possessed by a sense of life’s futility, simply forget about doing anything at all in this world and become nothing more than monks and beggars who do not care about this world in the slightest. No, I believe the Word calls us to live full lives, to live joyful lives.

I love the words of the wise Solomon in Ecclesiastes, where it speaks of never letting oil be lacking on our heads or white garments on our bodies, of rejoicing with our loved ones, with the wives of our youth, with our spouse, with our achievements in life, with the things we can do, and of living in the present and rejoicing. Carpe diem, seize the day, grab it by the neck, and live and rejoice in life.

Because this world is full of vanity. So enjoy it. Nor are we saying, when we speak of the Second Coming of Christ, that we should forget everything—no. God calls you to live a full life here on Earth. Work gladly, undertake great things in life, be an entrepreneur, but keep in one part of your mind that one day all of that will pass away. We have to live a bipolar, bicameral life between the two things, living gladly but also knowing that one day the lights will be turned off and everything will come to an end, and that we cannot take everything here in the world so seriously. Rejoice.

I want the day to come when the Second Coming of Christ begins and I rub my hands together and have a crazy smile on my face, a look of wow. Yes, Christ is coming soon, and you rejoice, and that is why you live with that sense of imminence, letting it sweeten and dilute all the difficulties, all the struggles of life. Christ is coming, maranatha, Christ is coming, right? And it says: Come, Lord Jesus; yes, come, Lord Jesus.

So God wants us to understand that, yes, He is coming. And we are going to look for another passage; there are many passages about this, which is why I say: I am going to take you on a tour. Did you know that the Second Coming of Christ is not something that arises only in the New Testament? Many people believe that the Second Coming of Christ is a doctrine—or that the Messiah, the Son of God—is something that originates in the New Testament. Did you know that, prophetically, there are many passages in the Old Testament that envision this being whom we now know as Jesus Christ coming at the end of time?

This is a doctrine that has been in the Scriptures since the earliest prophets, since the earliest Books. As I was thinking about that, the prophet Daniel came to mind, for he was one of the first to speak and write with great understanding about the Second Coming of the Son of God.

Look, for example, now we are going to find a passage such as Daniel 7. Daniel was one of the great apocalyptic prophets, and he saw many things. And there in the Book of Daniel, look, for example, at Daniel 7:13: “I watched in the night vision”—he was sleeping, but a very intense, very powerful dream came to him—“and behold, with the clouds of heaven”—what does the Book of Acts say, that the Lord ascended in the clouds, right?—and it says: “And behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man.” What did Jesus Christ call Himself? The Son of Man. We also call Him the Son of God because He is both: He is the Son of Man and the Son of God, the divine essence and the human essence in one person, right?

Daniel did not have the privilege we have of knowing the name of that Son of Man; we know who He is, and He is described quite well for us in Scripture. It says: “And behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man.” In his mind He appeared human, but He is more than that: “like a Son of Man who came to the Ancient of Days.” Who is the Ancient of Days? Jehovah. It is a figure he sees—perhaps this mysterious, powerful being appears old, but He is beyond time. “And they brought Him near before Him.” That “they brought Him near” is like an invitation, as when someone comes before a king and someone who is the chamberlain or attendant says to him: Come forward.

Can you imagine that moment in history when, at last, the Son of God—because the Bible says that He will finally hand everything over to the Lord, right?—and every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And it says: “They brought Him near before Him.” What he is trying to point out is the solemnity of that scene in which the Ancient of Days is there along with this Son of Man, and they usher Him into the Presence, into the immediate presence of this Ancient of Days; they brought Him near before Him.

And it says: “To Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.” It says: “His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will never pass away, and His Kingdom one that will not be destroyed.” That deserves applause—glory to the Son of God.

I believe that what Daniel was granted in that vision was a moment in which he saw that instant which is to come. Because right now not all nations recognize the lordship of Christ; in fact, even here in the United States there is ambivalence. Even in our own president, I believe, as to whether Jesus Christ is Lord, because to recognize that Jesus Christ is Lord—I cannot separate one thing from the other, but that is another subject, right?

But that moment will come when all nations are compelled to recognize that this Jesus truly is the Son of God. In Iran, in Iraq, in North Korea, in New Zealand, in Canada, in London, they will have to recognize that He is the Son of God, He is the Lord, and they will have to hand over to that Son of Man every title deed to everything on Earth, so that all peoples, nations, and languages might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. Yours is the glory, Yours is the honor, Yours is the dominion and the power. In Revelation we see again and again that scene in which all the keys are handed over to the Lamb and every tongue, every knee, acknowledges that Jesus Christ is Lord.

So they see that Son of Man coming before the Ancient of Days. Look at another passage right there, right? Because this passage from Daniel is very profound. Let us go back, because this is a passage we have to understand, and then take your time; we are going to take a tour. It says: “I watched until thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat, whose garment was white as snow and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was a flame of fire, and its wheels were burning fire. A river of fire issued and came forth from before Him. Thousands upon thousands served Him, and millions upon millions stood before Him. The Judge took His seat, and the books were opened.”

Have you ever seen a judge enter a courtroom, and when he arrives everyone hears, “All rise,” and everybody stands up? This is a mere man who may have just come from the bathroom before entering the courtroom, but everybody hears: “All rise”; everybody stands up, and he enters with all his authority and all his majesty, and then he goes and sits down, and then everyone sits down, right? It is speaking of that scene here, right, in which that Judge took His seat to judge, took His seat to determine, took His seat to read and discern the destiny of all men. He took His seat, and the books were opened—the books of what? Of history, of justice, of all the events of the universe. All of that was now going to be judged, measured, and weighed there by the Ancient of Days.

It says: “I watched then because of the sound of the great words which the horn was speaking”—that is the other character, the Antichrist, that terrible, diabolical being, right? It says: “And I watched until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and given over to be burned in the fire. The other beasts had also had their dominion taken away, but their lives had been prolonged for a certain time.” That speaks a little about the complexity of those times, right, before and after these apocalyptic moments when all of history ends, everything is handed over to Him, all judgments are rendered, and everything is made clear, right?

So what Daniel was able to see was a vision of all these things that are going to happen, and perhaps some of these things are happening right now in the air and in the realm of the Spirit, and we do not know it; we see only the visible, human, material plane. But many things are happening on the spiritual plane, right? There is conflict; there are powers that want to destroy the lordship of Christ. They want to rip the Name of Jesus out of the cities—that name which is above every name—so they can have greater freedom to pervert the nations. But the Lord is going to bring everything to one single place: the lordship of Christ.

And there are beasts, and there are beings there right now fighting to strip Jesus of His lordship and also to humiliate the Church and strip it of its authority. And here in verse 18 it says that after all these beasts and antichrist beings are destroyed—and one day I am going to speak a little more about that; for now I want to emphasize the Second Coming and the things surrounding those scenes, right?—it says: “Afterward the saints of the Most High will receive the Kingdom.” Who are the saints of the Most High? The Church of Jesus Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ—we will receive the Kingdom. Wow, rejoice, brother, because right now perhaps you do not even have papers, but one day you are going to receive the Kingdom; you will be able to travel to Mars and Pluto and Jupiter without papers, hallelujah, because the Kingdom will be yours. Amen, glory to God.

One day they will be handed over to us; we are going to judge the authorities, says the Word of the Lord—the principalities and powers. “Afterward the saints of the Most High will receive the Kingdom and possess the Kingdom forever, eternally and everlastingly.” That lordship which God will restore to His Church, right, to those who have believed in Jesus Christ, will not be taken away from us.

There is so much here, right? Another interesting thing here in this same chapter 7—let us go to verse 21, because we are jumping around to different things. It says: “And I saw that this horn”—this is the Antichrist, an image of the Antichrist—“made war against the saints and prevailed against them.” The Bible speaks of a time when the Church will be persecuted; there will be persecution of the Church. I am not sure when that time is, whether it is something definitive that lies ahead or whether it is happening now in countries where the Church is persecuted; there are Christians being persecuted now in different parts of the world. But I believe the tone, the tenor of the Bible when you read all those passages that speak of the persecution of the Church, presents it as something very great, very overwhelming and worldwide that is coming.

We do not know when that time will be. One of the problems with all these apocalyptic matters is the issue of chronology. There are so many statements and so many different scenes, and sometimes prophets like Daniel or John in Revelation jump forward and backward, and they return to the present and then go back in another direction, and many times you do not know when something was about something that had happened in order to speak of something that is coming, or when they are speaking of something that was in the past but is actually in the present, or that was fulfilled twice, once in the time of the prophet and again now; it is a tremendous tangle in that regard.

That is why one has to be very careful when speaking about apocalyptic things. Because we do not know the chronology exactly. Is the tribulation before or after the coming of the millennium, or is the rapture of the Church before the great tribulation or afterward? If you read the passages honestly, you will not know exactly what comes first and what comes afterward. That is where one must have a holy humility: to believe everything we can, but also leave room in case I am wrong.

That is the problem with so many people who believe: Oh, God has already told me exactly what it is, and now I am going to write a book about it, and anyone who does not believe it is a child of the devil. No. One has to be very careful with that. We do not know the chronology exactly. When you read the Bible honestly, as neutrally as you can, you will see that this is so. Then here it says, in verse 25, that this Antichrist: “He will speak words against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Most High, and he will intend to change the times and the law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.”

What was Daniel smoking when he wrote that? A time, two times, and half a time (laughter). The fact is that he himself did not know; he is speaking there as if in a trance, he is seeing things and speaking. It is as I tell you: no one knows exactly what it is. Maybe I went a little too far; forgive me. That is what sometimes happens when you are preaching—you get a little too carried away and, oh, wait, I am in church; forgive me. But Daniel knows that I respect him very much, so he and I are good.

Okay, it says: “And they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.” It does say that when the Antichrist comes, he will persecute the Church. There will be a very fierce persecution of the Church, “and he will be given authority for a time.” God is going to permit it for reasons that only He knows. He could not do it if God did not give him permission, you know? He cannot do anything against the Church that has not first passed through the Father—perhaps to purify the Church, who knows. But the fact is that at that time of the coming, before that definitive coming as well, there will be a persecution of the Church. There will be a being like this beast with four horns and one main horn, which is the horn of the Antichrist, and for a time they will be given into his hand.

He then says in verse 26, however: “But the Judge shall sit.” And once again, there is this matter of the Judge sitting, but now with richer imagery and more context regarding the circumstances in which that sitting takes place. It says: “But the Judge shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion”—from that Antichrist who, for a time, will be given freedom to attack and persecute her; we will see that again later—“and they shall take away his dominion, to destroy and ruin it completely, and the Kingdom and the dominion and the majesty of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the peoples of the Saints of the Most High, whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.” That is what prevails.

After that time of trial, persecution, and difficulty has passed, after the devil has been given freedom to manifest himself with all his power in history and to persecute the Church for a time, a moment will come when the Judge will enter His courtroom, sit upon His Throne, and give the final word: this is the end of it all. And then this mysterious being who is permitted to cause so much harm is brought to an end; they ruin him, they destroy him, and then the Kingdom, the dominion, and the majesty of all the kingdoms under heaven are given to the people of the Saints of the Most High, whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom.

I do not think Daniel understood this matter of the Church. Of course not, because he was a man, and this was written thousands and thousands of years ago, hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus came to Earth. So God gives us revelations, but it is like watching a movie, a video, and seeing things for which you have no point of reference. There is nothing within your frame of reference, your knowledge, or any theological framework that would enable you to know what you are seeing. It is as though you saw a device unlike anything you had ever seen before in the world, and the first time you saw it, you did not know what it was: Is it an airplane? Is it a giant bee? What is it? You do not know what it is; you simply describe it.

So that is how he says: “Everything under heaven has been given to the Saints of the Most High.” He means those who have been redeemed. Perhaps he thought they were simply the Jews, but he is referring to the Church, to all who have believed in the Lord, in Christ Jesus, right? “Whose Kingdom is everlasting, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.” Then it says in verse 28: “Here was the end of his words”—it is an angel who is telling him all these things as a revelation. Then it says: “As for me, Daniel, my thoughts troubled me, and my countenance changed, but I kept the matter in my heart.” Right?

He hears these words and is left troubled, as though confused. He does not know what to make of everything he has been given, and it says that he kept all these things in his heart. That is what we must do with the Second Coming of Christ, the imminent coming of the Lord, and all these things: we must keep all these things in our hearts. There are many mysteries.

I personally do believe that we are at a pivotal moment in the history of humanity. I believe that we are living in a time unlike any other in history, and I believe that many of the things the Lord said do indeed apply to the time in which we are living. I believe that is why the Lord pressed me a little to speak about these things. Because in this year, which we have called a year of definition for our congregation, one of the things that we as a Church must remember is that we must be a Church that is aware of the times in which we live. We live in serious times. We cannot live like carefree, unconcerned little sheep, as though we were not living in a time pregnant with significance.

The Lord wants you and me to keep in our hearts and minds each day that call of the Word to live in light of the coming of Christ Jesus. When we are working, when we are thinking about getting married and having children, when we are saving to buy that house we plan to purchase in five or seven years, when we are building our careers and thinking, “But I have to do this or that because I want to reach the top of my profession,” when we are making long-term plans, let us always remember that Christ is coming. The Lord is near. The coming of the Lord is coming.

We do not know what things will happen, but I will say this. Just as I have told you this—no one knows the day or the hour when Christ will come—there is one thing I can tell you: I believe that you and I are going to see extraordinary things. I do not know what place they will occupy within the grand scheme of everything else, but I tell you this: prepare yourselves, and let us prepare ourselves, because we live in weighty times. Things are going to happen. Times are coming like clouds laden with moisture that are about to release a great deal of rain; difficult and momentous times are coming.

And you know what? None of that causes me any fear—quite the opposite. The Lord says that when you have seen these things, lift up your heads, because the day of your redemption is near. None of that worries me. I already have my ticket purchased and my passport stamped. For me, the coming of Christ is not something to fear, but something that brings joy and gladness. Glory to God, because at last I will be able to see with my own eyes everything I have lived for, everything I have awaited, everything I have desired, and everything I have confessed. Glory to the Lord.

So we must live joyfully. But we must also live without becoming attached to anything in this world. Do not become so caught up in the cares of life that you forget that Christ is at the door and that all of this will one day end. The great economies, the great military movements, and the great intellectual doctrines—all of that will one day burn. And one of the most powerful things is precisely this: every truly orthodox, Bible-believing Christian lives overwhelmed by the thought that Christ is coming. That is how we should live, in light of the coming of Christ, in light of the ultimate lordship of Jesus. We must always live that way, and we must keep these things in our hearts.

I know that Daniel was never the same man after seeing these things, and neither should you live your life as though this were not a reality. We are living in important, weighty times, and we must rise to that standard. As men of God, we are expected to do many things, including proclaiming the Gospel to every creature—to our neighbors, our loved ones, our colleagues, and our coworkers. We must make sure that the greatest possible number of people are saved, proclaim the Gospel, and give our time, our lives, and our money so that the Kingdom of God may advance.

Do not remain there like those who think this is going to last for all eternity—no. Live and strive in light of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the end of history and of all ages. And remember that you belong to a generation that is going to experience very important things. We are going to see very important things. I believe I will not die without seeing something of the Glory of God manifested in history, in time and space. I do not know to what extent, nor do I know how definitive it will be, but we are going to see great things in this time. Oh, how wonderful! Glory to the Lord for the privilege of living at this moment in history, at this moment in the universal movement of God. Let us rejoice and live as the privileged people we are, as the people who have been called.

God has great things for us, brothers and sisters. Let us rise to that standard. Let us be a Church that knows Christ is at the door, that Christ is coming soon, and let us live accordingly. Let us be that kind of Church, for the glory of the Lord. Hallelujah.

Take a moment to reflect there in your spirit. Bow your head and receive the Word of the Lord. Live your life with joy; yes, rejoice. Enjoy life. Undertake great things. But know that one day you will have to give an account to the Lord for all these things. Know that the most important thing in all of this is to remember that you are not a citizen of this world. This world is temporary; this world will come to an end, and you cannot live in love with it. You cannot establish a deep friendship with it. The only friendship you can establish is with God.

God is jealous for the love of His people. Our love must be set on what is eternal, permanent, and enduring, not on what is illusory, not on what is destined to burn and go up in flames. People of God, God is calling you: live your life in light of the coming and nearness of Christ Jesus. Thank You, Father. We love You; we bless You, Lord. Help us rise to the standard of this teaching, Father, and fill us with an awareness of Your Lordship over all things and of what You have in mind for this time in history. Praised and glorified be Your Name. Thank You, Lord, thank You. Amen and amen. Glory to the name of the Lord. Thank You, Lord Jesus. We love You and bless You.

Brothers and sisters, may the Grace of the Lord be with you all. I bless you and bid you farewell. Greet someone and congratulate them for being a member of the Kingdom of God. Amen and amen.