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NOTES
The Return of Christ
“He’s Coming Back: What We Know for Sure”
Carl Nichols
What if we’ve been starting in the wrong place?
Instead of starting with confusion, let’s start with the one thing Christians throughout history agree on...JESUS IS COMING BACK!
Acts 1:7-11
Jesus said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Revelation 19:11-21
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS
And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”
Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
Three Things We Know for Sure:
1. The end is not a mystery, it’s a victory!
- Evil gathers
- Jesus appears
- Jesus wins
- Evil is judged
- God’s kingdom is established
This is not a long war.
This is not a close fight.
This is a decisive, final victory.
Jesus doesn’t come back to compete, he comes back to conquer.
THE QUESTION: Is this one final battle or two?
Not everyone agrees on the sequence, but everyone agrees on the outcome. Whenever the battle happens, it’s over the moment Jesus shows up. However you read the timeline, nobody walks away wondering who won.
Three Things We Know for Sure:
2. The early church was unified on the end.
FOUR SIMPLE BELIEFS…
1. ONE EVENT - Not multiple returns
2. PUBLIC EVENT - Everyone sees it
3. INSTANT VICTORY - No drawn-out war
4. IMMEDIATE OUTCOME - Resurrection → Judgment → Eternity
Three Things We Know for Sure:
3. The end isn’t just something to understand, it’s something to prepare for.
There is a defining moment coming, and everything leads to that moment…
1. There is a moment you don’t control.
2. Everything becomes clear in that moment.
3. What you built is what remains.
Here’s what we all need to know:
- Jesus is coming back.
- Everyone will see it.
- Evil will be defeated instantly.
- Judgment will happen.
- And his kingdom will last forever.
The goal isn’t to figure out when, it’s to be ready when.