Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

Hey, podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's word through the most effective media available, like this podcast.

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Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress and I'm glad to study God's word with you every day.

Speaker 3

This Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

What will Jesus be like in the end times? The fact is, we're going to have a fresh approach to the end times.

In this new series, we're going to see prophecy through the eyes of Jesus. And specifically, we're going to look at the roles that Jesus will totally fulfill in the end times.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. When most people think about Jesus, they picture him as a gentle teacher, a compassionate healer, and a loving savior.

But the Bible tells us there's much more to the story. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress shares how the end times reveal the complete picture of Jesus Christ and his triumphant return in the last days.

Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message: Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 3

Thanks, David.

Speaker 2

And welcome to this Monday edition of Pathway to Victory as we start a brand new teaching series on Bible prophecy. You know, I've been studying the end times and I've been preaching about Bible prophecy for more than 40 years. And I have to say I've never felt more compelled to teach on this subject than I am right now.

Here's why I say that: global events are all pointing to the soon return of Jesus. The signs are obvious. We're witnessing more warfare, more disease, more natural disasters. And the result? The public discourse is rife with fear. To quell your fears and to shift your focus about the end times, I want to send you my brand new book on this topic. It's titled *Jesus Revealed in the End Times* and it's available right now.

Most books about the end times focus on wars, natural disasters, and economic turmoil. But my new book, *Jesus Revealed in the End Times*, focuses on the one who is coming to reign over all the earth. This is great, great news for believers. As we await the second coming of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ, we can be filled with joy and peace.

So let me send you a hard cover copy right away of my new book titled *Jesus Revealed in the End Times*. The subtitle is *Hope for Today from the One who Holds Our Future*. This book can be yours when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory.

I'll say more about my new book and other resources right after today's study. But right now, let's begin the very first study in my new series. I titled today's message the Subject of Prophecy.

Speaker 3

What comes to your mind when you hear the name Jesus Christ? For millions of Americans, they think of the face of Jonathan Roumie. As a young man, he wanted nothing more than to be a well-known actor. As a young adult, he went to Hollywood and had little success there. When he was down to his last $20, he knelt down and prayed that God would miraculously intervene in his life. Two months later, he was selected to play the lead character, Jesus Christ, in the hit series *The Chosen*. People think about Jonathan Roumie when they think about Jesus.

Jesus is the most portrayed person in human history. There is absolutely no way to calculate all the books that have been written about him, the paintings that have tried to depict him, and the actors who have portrayed him. And yet, what all of these depictions about Jesus have in common is that they all seem to center on the first coming of Jesus—Jesus as he appeared when he was here on Earth. But what about now? What does Jesus look like as he sits at the right hand of God the Father? And what will Jesus look like when he comes again? It's that last question I want to focus on. What will Jesus be like in the end times?

The fact is, you can't understand the totality of who Jesus is until you understand both his first and his second comings. And that leads to the first truth I want us to understand as we begin this series, *Jesus Revealed in the End Times*. The first truth is this: the focus of prophecy is a person rather than an event. The book of Revelation opens with these words: the revelation of Jesus Christ. By the way, when you hear people talk about the book of Revelations, just write them off. They don't have a clue what they're talking about. They can't even get the title of the book right. It's Revelation; it's not revelations. It's not about events; it's about the revelation of Jesus Christ.

And that's why in this series, instead of doing what we usually do, which is march through the series of events of the end time, we're going to talk about the different roles Jesus will fulfill in the end time—roles that give us hope. I hope the result of this series is that you end up with a new sense of calm and courage about the future. Because Jesus is the one who not only knows our future; he knows the future because he has planned the future. He is Lord overall, not just the future of the world, but your world as well.

And that leads to our second truth: the purpose of prophecy. What is the purpose? Why does God spend so much time talking about prophecy? God does want us to understand the end times; that's why he gives so much space to it. But it's more than something to fill our heads; it needs to fill our hearts. Understanding the end times ought to change the way we live. And that leads to the purpose of Bible prophecy. There are two things that should fill our hearts because of our understanding of Jesus in the end times.

First of all, our hearts ought to be overflowing with hope. God gave us this truth to give us hope. Secondly, a study of prophecy and Jesus in the end times should fill our hearts with a desire for holiness. The fact that Jesus is coming back again ought to fill us with a desire to obey God, to please God, and to follow him in every part of our life. You know, it's true that the Bible never divorces the truth of Christ's return from practical everyday living. People say, "Well, there's nothing relevant. I want sermons that tell me how to live today." Well, there's no better way to know how to live today than to know what's happening tomorrow and ten years from now. It ought to impact how we live today. Knowing the future ought to impact how every today we have.

Jonathan Edwards said we ought to live every day as if it were our last day. That's the application of Christ's return, filling our hearts with hope and a desire for holiness. Now, the title of the series is *Jesus Revealed in the End Times*. A good question is, well, when are the end times? Now, for those of you in First Baptist Church, Dallas, we just did a series called *Are We Living in the End Times?* Quick 60-second review: remember, the Bible uses two phrases to describe the end of time. There is the phrase "the last days." The Bible talks about the last days, and technically, the last days are that time between Christ's first coming and his second coming. Ever since Jesus ascended back into heaven more than 2,000 years ago, we have been living in the last days, anticipating his second coming.

I think you can make the argument that we're not only in the last days; we're in the last of the last days. As we approach the second phrase, "the end times," that's the other phrase used to describe the last period on earth. You find it in Matthew 24:3. Remember, Jesus was on the Mount of Olives with his disciples. As he was sitting there, the disciples came to him saying, "Lord, tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" Jesus skipped over answering the "when." He would say later in Matthew 24:36, "It's not for you to know the time or the epics. You're not in that business." But he did say, "You need to understand the events."

Jesus began his description of the end times, starting with the Tribulation and going through the Second Coming and ending with the Millennial Kingdom—the establishment of Christ's kingdom on earth. The end times, technically, is a time beginning with the Great Tribulation after the Rapture and extending through Christ's Millennial kingdom. The Bible calls that the end times. There is only one time Jesus even vaguely referred to the Rapture of the Church. No other time did he talk to his disciples about the Rapture. Why? The Rapture wasn't for them; it's not for the Jews; it's for the Church age. We'll talk about it in a moment.

From the Jewish perspective, Jesus said, "The next thing on your calendar is going to be the Great Tribulation," because those final seven years of Earth's history represent God's final dealings with the nation of Israel to fulfill his purpose with Israel. Now, the end times again is the period of time starting with the Tribulation and ending with the Millennial Kingdom. For our study, *Jesus Revealed in the End Times*, we're going to rewind earlier than the Tribulation and talk about the first and the second comings of Christ. Because only when you understand both comings do you understand the totality of who Jesus is. And Jesus fulfills all of his roles in his second coming.

So let's look at some of the roles that we're going to examine and study in depth that the end times reveal about Jesus. First of all, Jesus as Messiah. In the end times, we see Jesus as Messiah. Now, we refer to Jesus as Jesus Christ. It's funny how many people think Jesus is his first name and Christ is his last name. No, that's not it. Christ, or Christos, means Messiah, the Anointed One. When Jesus came the first time, he was the long-awaited Messiah. He was born in human form, grew up, taught many things, was followed by some, rejected by most, was betrayed, crucified, risen from the dead, and ascended back into heaven. That was all in his first coming.

When Jesus came the first time, most people rejected him. But when he comes the second time, all will follow him. We're living in that time between the first and the second coming of Christ. It's a period of time that Paul referred to in Romans 11:25. He said, "For I do not want you," he was talking to Jews here, "I don't want you to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has come to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." Because Israel rejected Christ at his first coming, God temporarily put Israel on the shelf. They are still his chosen people. Will God desert His people? Never.

As we watch the unfolding chaos in the Middle East, we need to remember that to be on Israel's side is to be on the right side of history and the right side of God. Nevertheless, God has temporarily set aside Israel and opened this time for Gentiles to participate in the Abrahamic covenant in a different way, but to participate in it. We call this age the age of the Church. The age of the Church will end with the Rapture of the Church, and the final seven years of God's dealing with Israel will commence. They will eventually see Jesus as the Messiah.

Secondly, we'll look at Jesus as prophet. You know, in the Old Testament, it was said that a Messiah would be a prophet, a priest, and a king. In this series, we'll look at all of the things Jesus taught. You know, Jesus had a lot to say about a lot of things. Everything Jesus said about life, death, and eternity, everything Jesus said about you and me is true. Jesus also made many prophecies about the future. Some of them have been fulfilled; some are yet to be fulfilled. But because of all of the amazing things that have already come true that Jesus prophesied, we can have confidence that those things that haven't come true will come true. That's what we're going to look at—what has come true that Jesus prophesied and what is yet to be fulfilled.

Thirdly, we're going to look at Jesus as a lamb. It's a constant image in both the Old and New Testaments. Remember, in the Old Testament, under the sacrificial system, lambs were stand-in sacrifices. There was nothing about the blood of a lamb that could wash away sins, but it all pointed to the true Lamb of God, Jesus, who would come. Remember in John 1:29, when John the Baptizer saw Jesus for the first time, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the earth." It took a perfect lamb, Jesus himself, to take away our sins. Interestingly, another John, John the Apostle, also uses the image of a lamb in the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. Remember in chapter five, the picture in heaven: there is this seven-sealed book that contains the final judgments that will lead to the reclamation of this world by Jesus Christ. And there is a search in heaven for who is worthy, and only Jesus is the worthy lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. He's worthy to unleash those judgments upon the world.

Fourth, we'll look at Jesus as conqueror. You know, the reason so many people miss Jesus at his first coming is that he checked all the boxes. They wanted a conquering Messiah who would overthrow whom they thought was their greatest enemy, Rome. And when he didn't overthrow the Roman Empire, they were disappointed and rejected him. What they missed was that when Jesus came the first time, he conquered our greatest enemies, sin and death, by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. But Jesus still has some unfinished business on planet Earth. When he comes again as conqueror, he will come as the one who conquers Satan and his demons and his demonic forces. All the enemies we have will be conquered.

We have a hard time believing that because we don't feel like we're conquering right now. We feel like in the battle between good and evil, between Satan and God, it looks as if Satan is winning. But Jesus looks at it, and in his mind, in God's mind, he's already won. Satan has already been defeated. Again, we live in time and space, but God sees past things as already completed. He sees future things as already completed. He sees the past, the present, and the future all the same. A great illustration of that is in Revelation 11, verse 15. Remember, the seventh angel sounded, and he shouted from heaven, "The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Amen."

Now, when that angel sounded that and declared that, the battle of Armageddon had not been fought yet; that was still to come. That was still future from Earth's perspective, but from God's perspective, it had already happened. The kingdom of this world has already become the kingdom of our God. And that's why Paul said in Romans 8:37, you and I can live as more than conquerors. We have the victory; it's already been accomplished through Jesus Christ. We'll look at Jesus as conqueror, and that leads to his other role to talk about, and that is Jesus as king. After the battle of Armageddon, Jesus will come to earth to set up that literal kingdom on earth with its seat in Jerusalem. God will fulfill all of his promises to believing Israel and to the church as well.

Interestingly, during that perfect time when Satan is bound for a thousand years, people are enjoying the just and perfect reign of Jesus. Not everybody born during that time will pledge allegiance to King Jesus. Some will actually choose to rebel against Jesus, and that will mean the end of the world because it will be too late. And that leads to the role of Jesus as judge. Jesus as judge. We don't like to think of Jesus as a judge in our culture today. Do you know the most popular verse on the Internet right now? It's not John 3:16; that used to be the most popular verse of the Bible. Now it's Matthew 7:1: "Judge not, lest ye be judged." Unbelievers and misguided Christians love to use that verse as a way to justify any evil they want to commit. No, God does judge us. Jesus is coming as a judge.

In 2 Timothy chapter 4, a chapter I read every Saturday night to get ready to preach on Sunday, Paul tells Timothy to preach the word in season and out of season because Jesus is coming to judge the living and the dead. Whom is Jesus going to judge? Not just the unsaved, but the saved as well. Hebrews 9:27 says it is appointed unto every person to die, and then the judgment. He doesn't say it's appointed unto every non-Christian to die, and then the judgment; everybody's going to be judged when Jesus returns. Now, there are different judgments. Unbelievers will stand before the great white throne and be judged by whether or not their name is written in the Lamb's book of life. But Christians also face a different judgment—not of condemnation, but of commendation, rewards at the Bema seat of Christ (2 Corinthians chapter 5). But we ought to live in light of the fact of Jesus coming as a judge.

And that leads to Jesus as Lord. Jesus as Lord. After the last echo of the gavel has sounded and everyone has received their rewards or just punishment, Jesus will reign over a new heaven and a new earth. "I saw a new heaven and a new earth," John said, "for the first heaven and earth will have passed away, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And there shall no longer be any death or mourning or crying or pain, for the first things will have passed away."

There's one other role that, frankly, I've never seen anybody cover before, but I think we need to talk about, and that is Jesus as a friend. Jesus as our friend. You know, there are some people who say, "Well, we shouldn't think of Jesus as our friend. He's our judge; he's our king." Yes, but he's also our friend. Remember what the Pharisees charged him with? "Oh, he is the friend of sinners." Jesus said, "You got it right, buddy. I am a friend of sinners." In fact, Jesus said to his disciples, "Only a friend would lay down his life for another person." And in the end times, we see Jesus fulfill his promise of being that perfect friend, the one who promises not to leave us as orphans in this world—the friend who says, "I will never leave you, nor will I forsake you." That's the Jesus who is coming again.

You remember back in 2008, this seems so long ago, when Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, was running for vice president? Saturday Night Live loved to do these parodies of her. In one skit, they had Tina Fey, who was playing Sarah Palin, saying, supposedly, "I can see Russia from my house." And she didn't actually say that in real life, but it was close enough. "I can see Russia from my house." And everybody laughed about that. Well, the fact is, you could not see Russia from Alaska without some very powerful binoculars.

You know, God has given us a powerful set of spiritual binoculars. It's called the Bible. Think of all you can see through the Bible. You can look through your spiritual binoculars, and you can see the future. You can see the Rapture, the second coming, the millennium, the new heaven, the new Earth. In those binoculars, you can't tell how far they may be away or how close they may be, but you can see all of those events. But looming over those events in the forefront is the person of Jesus Christ, the one who says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega; I'm the beginning and the end. I'm the one who holds your past, your present, and your future in my hands."

And that realization that the Jesus who knows the future has planned the future—that realization of who Jesus is—ought to fill our hearts with unending hope and an unending desire for holiness as we prepare to enter into the end times.

Speaker 2

And this is why we study Bible prophecy. An in-depth study about the end times restores our hope, and Bible prophecy inspires us to pursue a life of holiness every single day.

So here's the question: Are you ready to learn more about your future? Is God nudging you to start a personal study about God's Plan for the End Times? Let me send you the book that I have written to complement this teaching series. It's already a bestseller. My book is titled *Jesus Revealed in the End: Hope for Today from the One who Holds Our Future*.

While many teachings on prophecy focus on frightening events, my book addresses prophecy through the lens of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the very center of human history. The end times are not about fear; they should bring us joy and hope. My book is titled *Jesus Revealed in the End Times*. It's more than 200 pages in length, and a hardbound copy is yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.

Plus, your generosity will infuse hope into the hopeless. You see, God will use your generous gift to dispel the fear that's paralyzed millions in our generation. It will empower us to share this beautiful message of God's hope with anxious people who are fixated on fear.

Thank you for reaching out today. When you do, as a bonus, I'll also include a series of encouragement cards you can display in your home or office as a constant reminder that your King is coming again.

Speaker 3

David thanks Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 1

Today, when you invest in the ministry of Pathway to Victory by becoming a Pathway partner or by giving a generous one-time gift, we'll say thanks by sending you the brand new book by Dr. Robert Jeffress, *Jesus Revealed in the End Times*. Call 866-999-2965 or visit our website ptv.org now when you give $100 or more. We'll also send you the complete collection of audio and video discs for the *Jesus Revealed in the End Times Teaching Series*. Plus, we'll also send you the study guide to use on your own or maybe with a small group.

One more time, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. You could also write to us. Here's that mailing address: P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins inviting you back next time when we learn about Jesus the Messiah and what this role means for our lives today and in the future. That's coming up Tuesday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.

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