Adrian Rogers - The Future is Here
Find the last book in the Bible, the Book of the Revelation. And this morning we're going to have time to look at three verses. As we study this book, we'll go slowly at first and pick up some speed as we go along to learn some things about this wonderful book. And as the choir is finding their place, you find yours. Revelation chapter one, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant, John, who bare record of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy of this book, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand".
I hope you believe that, the time is at hand. I believe that with all of my heart. I was reading recently in our newspaper, a tragic story, I'm going to read you some excerpts of that story, forgive me for reading, but you need to hear this. A man and his nine year old son were trapped on a beach in northwest England by a swift incoming tide and drowned as searchers talking to them by cell phone tried to reach them. Stuart Rushton, 51, and his son Adam had gone fishing Saturday at Morecambe Bay in the area of treacherous tides near their home. After they'd walked out onto the sands for ten minutes a heavy fog rolled in suddenly and Rushton realizing they were lost, made an emergency 911 call at 2:30 P.M., the coast guard said.
Emergency services tried to pinpoint the pair's location as the tide began to rush in. Thick fog reduced visibility to 25 yards. At 3:07 P.M., Rushton said the water was up to his neck. Adam was sitting on the father's shoulders answering the phone. We could hear the sound of the water and the father was shouting. He sounded as though he was a few hundred yards offshore, but with the fog and the mist, they couldn't tell where he was. Rushton's son-in-law found his body about 10:00 a.M. Sunday. A body believed to be Adam's was found Sunday afternoon further down the coast. Then the article goes on to say, Morecambe Bay tides, with 20 foot tidal swings are not uncommon and they can speed across the sands faster than a man can walk. And I thought of that. Here's a man out with his son, trying to have a good time. Going fishing, and a fog moves in. He cannot tell direction. And then the tide begins to rise and he cannot outwalk it. He's carrying his son upon his shoulders and father and son perish together.
That's a tragic story, but it is paralleled in America every day. There are fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, families that are drowning in a tidal wave of filth and sin and they're surrounded with a fog of darkness. They don't know what to do, they don't know where to turn, and you cannot get help to them unless, friend, you bring to them the Word of God. This is the answer. Now we're studying the Book of the Revelation and it is a book that will dispel the fog and give a hope that is steadfast and sure and I'm glad for the Book of the Revelation, but I can tell you that Satan is not, Satan hates,the Book of the Revelation.
Now there are two books in the Bible that the devil specially hates. Do you know what they are? Genesis and Revelation, the first and the last book. He specially hates those books. There's a war against Genesis, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," and there's a war against the Book of the Revelation, Jesus Christ is coming again. Why does Satan hate these two books as he does? I'll tell you why, it's very simple. Friend, in the book of Genesis, Satan's doom is prophesied, ha, ha, and in Revelation it is realized and that's the reason he hates these two books. There is no devil in the first two chapters or the last two chapters of the Word of God and,i love the Bible and I love the book of Genesis, I love the Book of the Revelation. And Revelation and Genesis, the first and the last book, are tied together. In the words of another, in the book of Genesis we see the creation of the heavens and the earth.
In the Book of the Revelation we see New Heavens and a new earth. And in the book of Genesis we see the first Adam who is, reigning on earth. In the Book of the Revelation we see Jesus, the last Adam, reigning in glory. In the book of Genesis we see an earthly bride brought to the first Adam. In Revelation we see a heavenly bride, and folks, that's us, brought to the Lord Jesus Christ, the last Adam. In the book of Genesis we see the beginning of death and the curse and in the Book of the Revelation the Savior brings us to a state where there is no more death and thank God there is no more curse. And,in the book of Genesis man is driven from God's face in sin and in the Book of the Revelation we see God's face in glory. And as I said, Satan appears in the book of Genesis for the first time and in the Book of Revelation he appears on earth for the last time.
And so this book that we're going to study, the Book of the Revelation, is the golden clasp that just brings the entire Bible together. I designed this chart and I tried to make it as simple as I could make it, but still it looks complicated, but if you'll stay with us and we'll work right on through this entire book and learn some glorious wonderful truths. This morning I want to lay three or four simple truths upon your heart, four actually. First of all, I want you to see what I'm going to call the central person of the book, the central person of the book. His name is Jesus. Look in verse one, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ". Now if you don't get that, you've missed the whole thing. This chapter goes on to say that the testimony of Jesus is what it is all about. Uh, notice in verse two, "And the testimony of Jesus Christ".
Now we're not looking for something to happen, not I, we're looking for someone to come. His name is what? Jesus. Now if you read the Book of the Revelation and you don't see the triumph of the lamb, you've missed it. If you don't see the Lord Jesus, you've missed it. It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Sometimes people call this book Revelations. It's not Revelations, it is Revelation, singular, and a Revelation of whom? Jesus Christ. The word Revelation is the Greek word apocalupsis. Have you ever heard the word apocalypse? An apocalyptic? It comes from this word, this word here. It, apocalupsis, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. And what it literally means is an unveiling. If you've ever seen a statute perhaps unveiled, the sculptor does his work,there's a canvas, covering, and,the mayor is there and all of the dignitaries are there and there comes a time when the statue is unveiled, somebody pulls away a drawstring and the statue is there, it is unveiled and people can see it.
Now Jesus is the hero of the Bible and specially the Book of Revelation. I find my Lord in the Bible wherever I choose to look. He is the theme of the Bible: he is the center and heart of the book. He is the Rose of Sharon, he is the lily fair wherever I open my Bible, the Lord of the book is there. If you read the Bible and you don't see Jesus, friend, go back and read it and that is doubly specially true of the Book of the Revelation. It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, his glory's going to be unveiled. You see, when he came the first time, his glory was veiled. We're going to see in our study shortly what he is like with his glory unveiled, revealed. You see, his second coming, that's what we're going to be studying about, it's going to be so far different from his first coming. The first time he came, he came to a crucifixion.
Friend, when he comes again, he's coming to a coronation. He came the first time in shame. When he comes again, he's coming in splendor. He came the first time to a tree. When he comes again, he's coming to a throne. When he came the first time, he stood before Pilate. When he comes again, Pilate will stand before him to be judged. He came the first time as a servant. He is coming again as a sovereign. His glory is going to be revealed and the Book of the Revelation gives us a peek ahead of time. Now Jesus is getting abused, misused, neglected, scorned today. Uh, he does not have his rightful place in today's society. Joe Stowall of Moody Bible institute has reminded us of this.
After 9-1-1, the president rightfully called a day of prayer at the national Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Most of us watched it on the air on television and Billy Graham spoke and I thought he did an excellent job, but they sang a hymn, brother Jim, which may be my favorite hymn. You know several that I think are wonderful, but a mighty fortress is our God, in my estimation that them, hymn has it all. It has the music, it has poetry, it has the theology and they sang that, a mighty fortress is our God in the national Cathedral. But did you notice they left out a verse? Here's the verse they left out. "Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing: were not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. You ask who that may be: Christ Jesus it is he, Lord Sabaoth his name, from age to age the same, and he must win the battle". They left that out. They left that out.
Friend, I want to tell you something, it won't be that way when Jesus comes again. Uh, we, he's coming and we're going to see all of his glory not as he was but as he is, King of kings and Lord of lords and this book is the unveiling of Jesus Christ. He is the central person of the book, got that? Now move to the second point. I want you to see not only the central person of the book, but I want you to see the clear purpose of the book. Look again in verse one, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him," here's the purpose, "To show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John".
Now Jesus has come to show his servants the future and only God knows the future. Now to show unto his servants, this word servant is the Greek word,ah servants is the Greek word "Dulois," which means bondslaves, those who are willingly the slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ. May I ask you a personal question this morning? Are you a sav, a slave of Jesus Christ? Now if not, you won't understand this book. You won't understand the Book of the Revelation because it is a Revelation to whom? To the bondslaves of Jesus Christ. Your life is not your own, you belong to Jesus Christ. Have you ever bowed your knee to Jesus Christ and crowned him as we sang this morning, King of kings and Lord of lords? Then if so, you have a rightful understanding of this book. He has come to show you things to come to pass.
But the Bible may be, and especially Revelation, a closed book to those who have never bowed their knee to Jesus Christ. The great historian h.G. Wells wrote a book called the fate of man. He said this, "Who, except cranks and lunatics, read the Book of Revelation"? Hello, Mr. Crank, hello, Mr. Lunatic. Ha, who, who, but Cranks and Lunatics read the Book of the Revelation? This book tells us things which must come to pass. Friend, history is not just happening Willy Nilly, God is in control. Ephesians one tells us, speaks of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. God is in control. God is not up in heaven wringing his hands, saying, "What am I going to do"? The holy Trinity never meets in emergency session. God is in control and things are going to come to pass. Don't get the idea that the devil knows the future. The devil doesn't know the future.
If the devil knew the future, he'd never try to be the devil in the first place. Like he's going to exalt himself above the stars of God. Uh, that would never come to pass. He thought it would, it didn't come to pass, he doesn't know the future. Put it down plain and straight, Satan is a knucklehead. He's a knucklehead. He's brilliantly stupid, hideously beautiful, he's a knucklehead,and, and, friend, one of these days he is going to hell, he's not in hell yet, but he is destined for hell. And when he gets there, he will not reign in hell. Only God knows the future, only God knows the future and the Book of the Revelation is written to tell us the future. Only God can prophesy.
I was reading a while back about a town, a small sierra Nevada town, about 11:30,the telephone operator in this small town would get a call, every morning about 11:30 and,ah, the man on the oth, uh on the other end would ask, "What time is it"? And the,telephone operator would give the time. At, one day she got up enough nerve to ask him, "Why do you call every morning about this time, at 11:30 and ask what time it is"? "Well," he said, "I'm the foreman at the local saw mill and," he said, "I blow the whistle at 12 noon,for lunch time and I want to make certain that I blow the whistle at the exact time so I call you". She just laughed out loud and she said, "Sir, I set my clock when you blow the whistle". Ha, ha, friend,that's the kind of round Robin that people are in today. We need a word from above, a word from Almighty God. Now the purpose of the Book of the Revelation is to show the future, it is to reveal the future.
Now there are about three or four ways that people look at the Book of the Revelation. Some look at the Book of the Revelation as already fulfilled in the first century and if you go to college and take a course in,religion, many times they'll tell you that. This, these are all things that we read about in the first century, we're not looking for tribulation to come, not looking for millennium, not looking for final judgment. This all took place in the first century, the fall of Jerusalem, the persecution of Christians, and so forth. I don't believe that's true. Others believe,the Book of the Revelation is an outline of history, beginning in the first century and continuing right up to our day and people will go back and try to find various things in history and, say, "This is this and this is this and this is that".
That is not true either. Others take the Book of the Revelation and use it as sort of a spiritual allegory, comparing the, the battle of evil and good. No, what is the clear purpose of the Book of the Revelation? To show us things to come. It deals with the future, the consummation of the age and we need to learn those things. Now, when you're certain of your future, then you can concentrate on your present. Now here's the third thing I want you to notice about this book, this Book of the Revelation. I want you to notice the comforting promise of the book, the comforting promise of the book. It, it comes with a promise. Look in verse two, it speaks of, John, "Who bare record of the Word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw". And then here is the comforting promise. "Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of the prophet, of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand".
Now this verse tells us that there's a blessing if we will read it and heed it and keep it. It is a blessing book. It's the one book in the Bible,that some people tell us to ignore, but it is the one book in the Bible that brings a special blessing. How many here want to be blessed? Lift your hand. Alright, there's a way to blessing and we say, "Lord, bless me, bless me, bless me". How much time do you spend in the Word of God and in the Book of the Revelation? Here is a blessing to those who read, those who heed, and those who speed this word on its way by obeying this word. We're to read it. Some of you have never read it through: I hope you will before this,study has finished. Uh, these hath God married and no man shall part, dust on the Bible and drought in the heart. Read it!
Friend, you're not gonna get it by osmosis. And then hear it. You know, it's one thing to read, it's another thing to hear it. Jesus said later on,to the churches, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear". You can still read it and not quote here it. Did your mother ever say to you, "Do you hear me"? Now she didn't mean did it get in your ear drum, but did you hear it? Did it get in, did it sink in? We are to read it. And, and,we are to hear it. And then we are to keep it. Now,many people just have a morbid curiosity or a, a,scintillating,tantalizing curiosity about the future, but if you read this Book of the Revelation and,you hear it, you're going to obey it. There are some commands in this book and,one of them is to bring souls to Jesus. "Let him that heareth say, 'come,' and everyone, say, 'come, take of the water of life freely'".
You're gonna get your head out of the clouds of prophecy and you're going to get your feet on the soul-winning of, on the pavement of soul-winning. I mean, if you really believe that the end of all things may be closely at hand, you're not gonna be so casual about your unsaved mother and father, brother or sister, neighbor and,person that you work with. We are to read it, we're to hear it, we're to keep it, and we'll be blessed. It's, this is the only book I know of, the Bible, that can bless you, and especially the Book of the Revelation. The book of science doesn't bless. I mean, you can study science but you'll never get blessed by science. I mean, I took chemistry and human anatomy and physiology and a lot of things. They were hard, but I wouldn't say any of them were a blessing. Uh, science has made the world a neighborhood, but hadn't made it a brotherhood.
Think of all those weapons that we're using right now to kill people with. The late great Vance Havner said that civilization is like a chimpanzee with a blow torch in a room full of dynamite. That's,science, the book of science is not the answer. The book of sociology is not the answer. I studied sociology, but that's not the answer. It has no blessing. Uh, the socio, the sociologists are just,repainting, redecorating,the Titanic, trying to make the world a better place to go to hell from. Uh, the book of politics is not the answer. Uh, only this book has a blessing, it is the blessing book. Let me tell you why you'll be blessed by studying the Book of the Revelation. Number one, the Book of the Revelation will unlock the mystery of history. What's it all about?
Now in the Eastern religions history just goes, goes in a cycle, round and round and round. That's why they believe in reincarnation, you just keep coming back and coming back and coming back until you get it right. But,Bible history is not sss, cyclical, it is linear, we're moving toward a goal. You ever play checkers? What are you trying to do? You're trying to move your man into king's row and when you move your man into king's row, then you say to your opponent, "Crown him".
Friend, that's what God is doing, he's gonna move his son the Lord Jesus into king's row and say, "Crown him". And the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. Revelation 11 and verse 15, "And the seventh angel sounded and there was a great, and there were great voices in heaven saying, 'the kingdoms of this world are become,'" oh, I love this, "'the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever,'" that is the mystery of history. Uh, as I've told you, there's no devil in the first two chapters or the last two chapters of the Bible. You know why the world is in such a mess today? Things are out of place, Jesus is the king. The king belongs on his throne. The church, the bride, belongs with the groom. And the criminal, Satan, belongs in prison.
One of these days when the king is on the throne and the bride is with her groom and the criminals in prison, then you'll understand the way things are meant to be. And friend, this book tells us how that's going to come to pass, so it unlocks the mystery of history. I'll tell you what else this book will do, why it's a blessing. It will bring sense to our suffering. Eh, you know Revelation chapter 2, 21 and verse four, "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying: neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away".
You'd have to be a pastor to understand what I'm about to say, but what do you say to a child of God who is suffering unbearable pain, so great that even the doctor's drugs cannot nullify it? What do you say when you go to the graveside and stand beside a man whose darling bride has been taken by death and he stands there and holds the hands of a motherless child? What do you say to that person, what do you say to a mother when a little baby is torn from her bosom and carried away by the angels into heaven and she no longer has her little one to enfold? What do you say? I'll tell you one thing you can say, "This is not God's final plan, this is not God's final plan". "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there'll be no more sorrow nor death nor crying: the former things are passed away".
I'll tell you what else it'll do. It'll give you stability in chaotic times. Have you been reading the newspapers lately, have you been listening to the news? I mean, it is absolutely incredible, these days in which we're living. But listen to Revelation chapter one and verse eight, our Lord Jesus said, "'i am alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending,' saith the Lord which is and which was and is to come, the Almighty". I have a little plaque on my desk that says, "Adrian, trust me, everything is in control. Jesus". Trust me, I have everything in control. Jesus. He is the Almighty. A man without a college education, without theological training, loved the Book of the Revelation. Uh, some want, wanted to make fun of him, and said, "You don't understand that book, it's an enigma, it's a puzzle, nobody can understand it". He said, "I understand it". Oh, they said, "You don't understand it. What does it mean"? He said, "It means we win".
That's right, and that's what it's all about. You, friend, will have stability in these times. There was a man who used to walk a, a tightrope, he was well known in his day, his name was blondin, B-L-O-N-D-I-N. He was a master of balance and he would walk at precarious heights against a tightrope, across a tightrope. Somebody asked him, said, "How do you manage to do that without falling"? He said, "Go and look on the other side there, in in the direction which I am walking". He said "Do you see that silver star"? He said, "There's a star there, a silver star. I placed it there". He said, "I never take my eyes from it, I put my eyes on that star and I walk toward it and that's what gives me stability".
Friend, the second coming of Jesus Christ can give you stability, that bright and morning star, if you look forward to his coming in these days in which we live. The second coming of Jesus and the Book of the Revelation is a blessing because it is a stabilizing hope. Now here is the fourth thing I want you to see with me this morning. I want you to see what I, I'm gonna call the certain prophecy of the book, the certain prophecy of the book. Look in verse three, "Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein," now underscore this, "For the time is at hand". The time is at hand. Now what does that mean? That does not mean that the time is immediate, it means that it is imminent. That means that Jesus Christ can come at any moment. We're not waiting on some event in history to take place before Jesus comes again. He may come at any moment. We're always living on the edge of eternity. We are to be living on ready. Jesus may come this afternoon. Always, friend, the time is at hand, Revelation chapter one and verse three.
Now, let me give you some other scriptures that you might want to put in your margin that say the same thing in different ways. First Peter chapter four verse seven, "But the end of all things is at hand". Now Peter wrote that two thousand years ago, "The end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer". Listen to first Corinthians 10 verse 11, "Now all these things happened unto them for examples and they're written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come". Paul said the ends of the world are come to us. That was written 2,000 years ago. Philippians four verse five, Paul said, "Let your moderation be known unto all men: the Lord is at hand".
Some interpreters feel that Paul meant the Lord is right here with me in spirit. But I rather think that he means the Lord is coming soon, his coming is at hand. The same thing that,John wrote here. Look if you will in James chapter five verse eight, "Be ye also patient, stablish your heart: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh". James wrote that two millenniums ago. Uh, first John two verse 18, "Little children, it is the last time and as ye have heard that anti-Christ shall come, even now are there many anti-Christs, whereby we know it is the last time". "Well now wait a minute pastor. Were all of these men wrong"? No! They were all right. Every one of them. For 2,000 years we've been living in the last days. Don't get the idea that we're waiting on something to be fulfilled before Jesus can come.
The apostle Paul was expecting Jesus Christ in his lifetime. He was not wrong to do that, he was right to do that. Every Christian must always be living in the light of the imminent coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we're going to see, there are some who'll tell us that we've got to go through the Great Tribulation,this period right here, before Jesus can come. But if you'll notice right here, this arrow here is where Jesus Christ comes to take the church out and, we're not waiting for the Great Tribulation, we're not waiting for the seven vials of wrath, we're not waiting for mystery of Babylon, we are waiting for Jesus, we're waiting for Jesus. At any moment he'll give the shout, burst through the blue, and you are to be living at, on ready. Now that doesn't mean that there are not some signs of his coming.
This Book of the Revelation tells us of some horrific things that are going to come. We're gonna learn about a coming one-world government headed up by Satan's superman, the anti-Christ. We're gonna learn about a one-world religion, a synthesis, an a homogenization, an amalgamation of all the world's religions. We're seeing that happen today. Uh, we're gonna learn about an incredible increase of knowledge, where all of the world will be systematized, every one given a Mark, a number, not being able to buy or sell without that. We see the foregleams of that. We're gonna be learning about a world at war, great plagues and devastation called the Great Tribulation. All of these things we see foregleams of, but in spite of all of that, Jesus may come at any moment.
I listened to James Dobson's program, Focus on the Family. He had as a guest Dr. Richard Swenson. Dr. Richard Swenson is a, an M.D., medical doctor, but he's also a futurist and he talked about how history is coming to a climax: even if you don't have a Bible you could see this. Uh, he, he speaks of a principle called exponentiality. That's just a big word, it means we're getting more and more faster and faster in history,things are coming at us so quickly. It's like drinking from a fire hose and when the things come you can't reverse them. For example, you can't undiscover things: television, the internet genetic engineering, robotics, they're all in the memory bank and they're coming so quickly and he talks about the principle of exponentiality.
He says, for example, if you were to take a piece of paper. Say the thickness of my Bible here, and fold it one time and then fold that fold another time and fold it 40 times, how far do you think it would be, how high do you think it would be, to take one piece of paper and fold it 40 times? Be careful what you say, friend, it would go to the moon. Just take one piece of paper and fold it 40 times. That's the principle of exponentiality. If you fold it 100 times, it would go past the milky way to the far recesses of the universe and you can fold a paper 100 times in five minutes!
Now of course it's be too thick to fold, huh, but the point. He goes on to say, Dr. Swenson, about the pacific ocean, how big the pacific ocean is, 64 million square miles, an average of 14,000 feet deep, you could put all of the continents on earth in the pacific ocean and still have room for another Asia. He said if you were to take one drop of water, if you were to drain the pacific dry, take one drop of water and begin to double it and you double it 80 times and keep the remainder each time, in 80 times you have refilled the pacific ocean. That is the principle of exponentiality. Just keep the remainder. Uh, it, it, it, it's an amazing thing. On the,seventieth drop it would only be less than one-tenth of one percent full. On the seventy ninth drop it would be one half full. On the eightieth drop doubled it would be full. On the eighty-first drop you'd have two pacific oceans.
That's the principle of exponentiality. And that is what is happening in our society. Can you imagine,what is happening. If you were to take all of history what we call progress and put it on a line from zero to 1975 that line would be relatively flat, everything we call progress. And from about 1975 it would go straight up. That's the way things are changing exponentially. One scientist said in the next few years, in the next one hundred years, we will have as much scientific progress as we had in the last 20,000 years.
You see, things happen suddenly. This is what the Bible says things which must quickly come to pass, when they happen. Think how our world has been changed since September the eleventh. Things one day we went to work, the sun was shining, everything was normal. Suddenly everything changes just like that. You see, the Book of the Revelation talks about things which must swiftly come to pass. Someone asked Ernest Hemingway, "How do you go into bankruptcy"? He said, "At first, slowly, and then quickly". That's the way it all happens. Friend, we are living in a day that is quickly coming to a climax: things which must quickly come to pass.
Now here's the problem, and I want you to listen very carefully, and I'm finished. But here's the problem. You have this escalation. You have this scientific progress and you say, "Well, pastor, that's all good, isn't it? All the new medicines that we have, all the technology we have, aren't all of these things tools for good"? Well, it all depends. You see, we've come to a time, we've come to a time when the weapons of mass destruction can fall into the hands of a relatively few people. That's an amazing time. We've never lived this time before, when people are talking about taking an atomic bomb in a suitcase into New York city, a few people.
Somebody said, "When little men cast long shadows you know the sun is about to set". You see, you have increasing exponentiality, more and more, faster and faster, as Daniel said, "In the last days knowledge shall increase". But then you have also, the Bible says, "Evil men shall wax worse and worse". More and more, deeper degradation and sin, how long can it last before it all comes together in a conflagration and an explosion? You say, "Well, pastor, are you a pessimist"? No, I am a glowing optimist because I know that, "The kingdoms of this world will be the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ".