Good morning, brothers and sisters. Thank God for gathering us together this morning.
Is it a surprise to you? It is to me, because I was hoping the Lord might return last night and we would not need to meet this morning. How good that would be!
But through His great love for us, knowing that we are not yet ready, He still gives us this time to make us ready for Him. Brothers and sisters, please remember: the Lord may come at any moment.
The reason why He delays is not because He is not anxious to come back to receive us to Himself, but because He knows us. He knows that probably we are not yet ready for Him. So, out of His great love for us, He is still waiting.
Brothers and sisters, do not think that you are waiting for the Lord to return. On the contrary, it is the Lord who is waiting for us, that He may come when we are ready for Him. He will come right away. That is the heart of our Lord Jesus.
So, dear brothers and sisters, as long as we are here and can meet together, it is due to the patience of our Lord Jesus. Before He left this earth, He told His disciples that He was coming back. He is coming back to receive them to Himself.
Now, why is it that He has not yet come? Twenty centuries have passed, and He is still waiting. Brothers and sisters, may I put this question to all of us: Who is waiting for whom? Are we waiting for the Lord, or is the Lord waiting for us?
I do not think we have any question concerning our Lord Jesus—how anxious He must be to come back and receive us to Himself. But it is because He knows us well. He knows that we are not yet ready for Him.
So do not blame God that our Lord Jesus has delayed coming for twenty centuries. We need to ask ourselves, “Is my own unreadiness preventing Him from coming?”
I often have the feeling that the Lord may come back in my lifetime. It is very possible. Every prophecy preceding His coming back has been fulfilled. There is no prophecy that we need to wait to see fulfilled before the Lord can return.
Brothers and sisters, may I assure you that every prophecy in the Bible concerning the coming of the Lord, which precedes His coming, has been fulfilled. The next event that will happen on earth is His return. So we are as close to His return as it can be.
The only reason for His delay is you and me. He loves us so much. He does not want to come back and see us unprepared and left behind. He wants to come back to receive every one of us to Himself. That is His heart’s desire.
So, brothers and sisters, may I again remind you that the Lord may come back at any moment. How good it would be if He should come back now, to see this whole auditorium emptied because He has taken us. But how sad it would be if there were some left behind because of unreadiness.
Thank God for giving us another opportunity to get ready for Him. Brothers and sisters, do not miss this opportunity. This is a rare opportunity. We do not know how many opportunities we still have. It may be the last. So be ready for Him.
Let us all examine ourselves before the Lord to see whether there is still something binding us, something that ties us to this world and makes us unable to leave at any moment. Are you ready, brothers and sisters? Are you ready if the Lord should come now? Will you be taken, or be left behind?
This is a serious question. It is not something for us to wait and see—what prophecy is yet to be fulfilled before the Lord’s return? No, brothers and sisters, you are mistaken. All the prophecies preceding the coming of the Lord have been fulfilled. The next one will be the coming of the Lord.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we are living at a very thrilling time. I always feel how thrilling our time is. What if the Lord should come now and this whole auditorium is emptied? Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Hopefully, this is not wishful thinking. I think this is real. Do you think this is impossible, or do you think this is quite possible? While we are meeting here this morning, the Lord may come, and this whole auditorium may be emptied. By the grace of God, we may all be raptured, and none left behind. Praise the Lord! If this is the case, this is my prayer.
So, brothers and sisters, thank God for still allowing us to meet together and giving us another opportunity to be ready for Him. This is the mercy of God. We cannot let this opportunity pass.
Brothers and sisters, this may be our last opportunity to be prepared to meet the Lord. Are we ready? This is a pressing question with each one of us this morning. That is the reason why we are meeting this morning: because we realize the Lord may come at any moment.
What if He comes and some of us are left behind? What pity that would be. So, brothers and sisters, seize this opportunity. Maybe this is the time that the Lord has provided for you to make you ready for His return. This is exactly the reason why we are meeting here at this time: to be ready for the Lord.
Our brother Mike had already begun last night, so I will not repeat what he has already said. I will go right on and share with you what burden the Lord has given to me.
Please turn to 1 Peter 1. We will read from verse 19 through verse 21.
But with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ:
Who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of the times for your sake,
Who through Him are believers in God, that raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God.
May we have a short word of prayer?
Lord, we do want to thank Thee for being so patient with us. We thank Thee for giving us another chance to get us ready for Thyself. Oh, Lord, we cannot fathom the love that Thou hast loved us with.
We pray, Lord, that by Thy grace we may seize the opportunity and not let this opportunity pass. Rather, Lord, use this time to prepare every brother and every sister in this auditorium to be ready for Thyself.
We commit this time into Your hand. Lord, use it to make us ready for Thyself. May our time here not be wasted. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
When you open the Bible, you read, “In the beginning, God.” Before God, there was nothing. God is the beginning. He begins everything.
If we can use human description in order to understand, before there was anything except God, God was a Trinity: three in one—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They are three, but They are one.
If you try to understand this, you have to use a human way of speaking. Suppose we put it this way: in the beginning, God. But God is a Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and there was a consultation among the Godhead.
The Father loved the Son. He had the thought of creating creation to give to His Son as His gift. But, being God, He is all-knowing. He knows the end before the beginning.
So, while God was thinking of creation to give to His Son as His gift, He realized that there would be a problem. An archangel whom He would create would rebel against Him.
So, if I may use human words, while God was hesitating whether He should create or not, His Son stepped forward and said, “Thy Father, if this is Thy will, go ahead. I am willing to offer Myself as the Lamb, to offer Myself as a substitute for the sins of the world. I am willing to come into this world to die on the cross for the sake of saving people.”
It is on the basis of what the Son offered—Himself—that God started to create.
Sure enough, in the beginning God had not created man. The highest of His creation were angels, and among the angels was an archangel, Lucifer, the bright shining star.
If you read Ezekiel 28, you will find a description that does not fit the king of Tyre. It is a description of a creature who was almost perfect. He was gifted with ten gifts. He was full of music. He was supposed to lead the angels in worshiping God. He was to be the anointed angel over God’s throne.
But unfortunately, this angel, in the beginning, was faithful to God. He led the angels in worshiping God. But gradually, because of his much trading, he began to be proud of himself.
Brothers and sisters, pride is always a great sin in the sight of God, whether it is in an angel or in man. It does not matter. Pride probably gets into our hearts, and we tend to do something out of ourselves that we should never even attempt.
This archangel, in the beginning, was very faithful. He was leading the angels in worshiping God. He was the anointed angel over God’s throne. But unfortunately, because of his much trading, he began to look into himself.
Brothers and sisters, it is always troublesome if we look into ourselves, because what can you see in yourself? Unless you see yourself as nothing, you will see yourself as somebody, and you will become proud of yourself. This is always the case.
So we should look off unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. We should never look into ourselves by ourselves. This is very dangerous.
This archangel began to look into himself. He saw how gifted he was. He saw how he was above all but the Lord God. And he became dissatisfied. He wanted to be like God.
If you read Isaiah 14, you will find the description that does not fit the king of Babylon. Suddenly, the Bible says, “I will, I will, I will,” five times. He wanted to be above everybody. He wanted to be equal with God. To put it another way, he wanted to displace God’s beloved Son. That was his desire.
True, he was almost perfect—not quite. Ten, not twelve, because ten is the number of responsibility, while twelve is the number of perfection. Nevertheless, he was above all except One: his own God. But he was not satisfied.
So in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, you find again and again that he wanted to rise above all, to be equal with God. To put it another way, he wanted to displace the Son of God. That was his ambition.
Because of his ambition, he was driven out of heaven upon the earth. Most likely, at that time the earth was under his domain. That is the reason why, in the Bible, you find, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Now, God never creates anything unfinished. When He creates, it must be finished. But then you find that the earth was surrounded with water. Why? We find in Scripture that the reason for this was the rebellion of Lucifer against God.
That is what we call the Ice Age. We do not know how long this Ice Age continued, but we do know that there was a time when the earth was surrounded with water. It was under judgment. Why? Because of the rebellion of the archangel.
But thank God, in His great mercy, we find the Spirit of God brooding upon the face of the deep. In other words, the love of God began to come upon this ruined earth, and in six days the earth was restored to be habitable.
So, brothers and sisters, the description we find in Genesis 1—the six days—is not creation; it is recreation. The Spirit of God, the love of God, came upon this judged earth and restored it in six days to be habitable.
Now, why is it so? We know why the earth was under judgment: it was because of the rebellion of Lucifer. But why did the Spirit of God brood over the face of the deep? Why did the love of God come upon this earth and restore it in six days, to make it habitable?
Because God’s plan was gradually unfolding. The Son of God would come into this earth to be the Saviour of the world.
As you read Philippians 2:5-11, you find that in the beginning God and His Son were equal. That was not something to be grasped. This word hints to us that once upon a time there was someone who tried to grasp the place of God’s Son, and that was the archangel Lucifer.
He tried to displace God’s only begotten Son, and because of this he turned himself into Satan, an adversary of God. God’s judgment came immediately.
But God is love. He could not allow this situation to continue without a solution. So the Bible tells us that the Spirit of God brooded upon the face of the deep. God’s love began to come upon this ruined earth, and in six days He restored it to be habitable.
Why did He do it? Because God was unfolding His plan of defeating His enemy.
I often say, for an old, grown-up person to beat a little boy, there is no glory in it. But for one who is younger and smaller to overcome one who is bigger and greater, now there is glory there.
For God to destroy His enemy is an easy thing. If God only breathes, the enemy will die. But that does not give God glory.
But if He creates man, a little lower than the angels—brothers and sisters, we human beings are above all the animals but below the angels—then He may use someone lower than the angels to defeat the archangel. That is the glory of God.
Angels are spirits; they can be anywhere. But man has a body. There is a restriction. When we are here in this auditorium, we cannot be elsewhere. We are limited.
So, brothers and sisters, thank God: we human beings are all being built not for ourselves. The Bible tells us very clearly that man is not created for himself. God does not have that idea. Man is created for God.
Man is created to be used by God to defeat His enemy, that God may get all the glory. That is the purpose of man.
But unfortunately, brothers and sisters, we human beings begin to lose God’s thought. We think we exist for ourselves, and we seek everything for ourselves.
That is what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. They were there to guard the garden. You know, the garden did not have any wall. God’s idea was for Adam and Eve to be that wall, to keep the enemy from coming in.
But unfortunately, they were not faithful to the Lord. They allowed the enemy to come in, to persuade Eve and eventually Adam to eat of the forbidden tree. That was the fall of mankind.
But, brothers and sisters, when our Lord Jesus came into this world, what does the Bible say in Philippians 2:5-11? We find that He, who was equal with God, did not consider that equality something to be grasped.
That is a hint to us that once upon a time there was someone who tried to grasp equality with God, and that was Lucifer, Satan. But here was God’s only begotten Son. For the love of us, He was willing to leave His glory and lay aside everything except His Godhead.
He could not give up His Godhead, because that is what He is. But all the glory, honour, and power that accompanied His Godhead, He laid aside. Brothers and sisters, that was quite a laying aside.
What do we have that we can lay aside for God? When we do a little thing for God, we feel proud about it: “Look what I have done for God.” But, brothers and sisters, not so His beloved Son. He had everything, but He laid aside everything except His Godhead, because He is God and cannot be anything but God.
What an emptying our Lord Jesus did when He came into this world. He emptied Himself of His power, His honour, His place, and His glory.
He took the form of a man. Now, the word form usually speaks of outward form, but the word is eikon. An eikon does not mean outward form; it is an inward form. That is to say, it is His inward reality.
Even though our Lord Jesus came as a man, and to be a man He had to lay aside His outward form of God, He could not be everywhere as God is. He could not do anything as God is. He was not free for Himself. He had to obey His heavenly Father.
So look at the life of our Lord Jesus. What an emptying! He never did anything by Himself throughout His life. He said, “I speak because I have heard My Father speak. I do because I see My Father do.”
He never went anywhere on His own. You remember His brothers did not believe in Him, and during the feast they told our Lord Jesus, “Go to Jerusalem. If You do all these things, that is where You should go.”
But the Lord said, “You can go anywhere you want to, but I cannot, because My Father has not bid Me to go yet.” Yet afterwards, He went secretly.
So, dear brothers and sisters, throughout the life of our Lord Jesus on earth, even though it was only thirty-three and a half years, during those years He never did anything, never said anything, and never went anywhere on His own.
He emptied Himself so much, so completely, that even though He was the Son of God, yet He was helpless and wholly dependent on God in everything. That is the life of our Lord Jesus.
Having taken the outward form of a man, He humbled Himself as a man. You never see a man who is so humble. He said, “I cannot do anything by Myself. I cannot even say anything. I cannot go anywhere by Myself. It all depends upon the Father.”
What a life of dependence upon God was the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, sometimes we may think that we are very obedient to God. But compared with our Lord Jesus, during those thirty-three and a half years His obedience to the Father was absolute. There was not once—not once—that He would do anything, say any word, or go anywhere on His own.
Not only that, but He was so obedient to the Father, even unto death—and that death was the death of the cross.
Brothers and sisters, during Roman times, the most cruel punishment was crucifixion. Think of a living person being crucified on the tree—not polished wood, but a tree that had just been cut down—nailed to the tree and lifted up. We cannot imagine the suffering of crucifixion.
But our Lord Jesus suffered all this for us, never saying a word for Himself. He died on the cross for the sake of this world, for you and for me, that we may be saved—and saved to the uttermost. That is the salvation of our Lord Jesus.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we are here this morning thinking of Christ Jesus and what He has done for us. He died for you. He died for me. He died in our stead. Because of His death, we today have life—eternal life—to the praise of God.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we are here this morning to thank the Lord for what He has done for us. May we be faithful to Him until we see Him face to face. Shall we pray?
Our heavenly Father, we want to thank You for Your tremendous love for us. Lord, we were all chief of sinners, and yet, Lord, Thou art willing to send Thy only begotten Son, the Son who has pleased Thee in all things, to die in our stead.
By His blood, our sins are all forgiven. By His resurrection, Thou hast brought us into life—eternal life. Oh, dear Lord, what we are today is all because of Thy great love for us.
How can we help but give ourselves to loving Thee, worshiping Thee, and glorifying Thee? We come this morning to give ourselves to Thee totally.
Lord, we pray that throughout our days on earth, we may be a glory and an honour to Thyself. We commit every one in this auditorium into Your hand.
We pray that when Thou shalt return, none will be left behind. But by the grace of God, we may all be raptured and meet Thee at Thy throne. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.