Jack Hibbs - Come, My People (01/23/2026)
Come My People
So church, here’s the reason why tonight’s a little bit weird, but yet it shouldn’t be, because this is how God rolls sometimes. And that is, last Sunday you were here, and we paused and we did a message on why you should believe in the rapture, and we talked about that. And you can only talk about it so much, but here’s the amazing thing—I had no recollection, I’m sorry to confess my lack of depth, but I completely forgot how Isaiah chapter 26 ends. Why do I say that? Because it ends with the last several verses being extremely, extremely peculiar.
Unique Ending of Isaiah 26
Every Bible scholar that has written commentaries on the book of Isaiah will make mention—or they won’t mention it at all—that Isaiah chapter 26 ends in a unique way. You’ll see why tonight. Why do I bring it up? Because there are some scholars—now I’m not a scholar, I wish I was. When I think of scholars, I think of people like Dr. Ed Hindson or Gary Habermas at Liberty University, world’s greatest living expert on resurrection doctrine. When I think of scholars, I think of guys like Francis Schaeffer, you know, some of those giants from yesteryear.
Standing on Shoulders of Giants
But I’ll tell you what—I may be ugly, but I’m not stupid. I will grab on to the coattails of scholars and read them and listen to what they have to say. If you’re not smart, hang around with people who are. And I may not be a giant, but what I’ll do is I’ll climb up the back of one and try to stand on the shoulders and see what’s coming—you know what I’m saying? It’s important.
Rapture Allusion in Isaiah
And so when I bring this up to you, it’s interesting because very few—in fact, in my reading, I read a guy, Charles Gauve, I believe it is—he’s a French theologian, he lived about 250 years ago. He made mention of exactly what God had put upon my heart, which is a lot of fun. As we look at this portion of Isaiah, here’s the reason why people have come away from Isaiah chapter 26, verses 19, 20, and 21, with an understanding that God is alluding or hinting to the fact of God gathering His people together—not only Israel in the context of Isaiah 26, but none other than the rapture.
God’s Invitation to the Church
That is God’s invitation to the believers among the Gentile world—the church. And it’s quite interesting—we talked about the rapture on Sunday, and here we are talking about it again tonight. And that was not by design, so you need to just please believe me right now—I’m not on some hobby horse today. I’m telling you right now, God must be wanting to say something to us, man. Wouldn’t it be great that we preached two messages in a row on the rapture, and then it happens later tonight? Please, God—I mean, it would make me look really good, but I don’t think that we would care, because we’d be in the presence of God. It’d be awesome.
Isaiah 26:19–21
So Isaiah chapter 26—look at verses 19 to 21 with me in your Bibles, and have your highlighters and your pens ready if you would, because we’re looking at a message entitled tonight «Come My People.» Isaiah 26, verses 19 to 21: «Your dead shall live, ” says the prophet—God speaking through him—“together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.»
Come My People, Enter Your Chambers
Verse 20: «Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is passed.» For behold—or why would this be necessary? Well, verse 21 says: «For behold, the Lord comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity—for their sins. The earth will also disclose her blood—or reveal it or bring it up. It’s kind of an eerie statement—it’s a teaching that would hearken you back to when Cain killed Abel.»
Blood Cries Out
Remember what God said when Cain killed Abel? Cain’s trying to justify himself, and God looks at Cain and says, «What are you doing? Your brother’s blood is speaking to me.» Isn’t that creepy? That’s eerie, isn’t it? «The earth will no longer—or the earth will also disclose her blood and will no more cover her slain.»
In That Day
Isaiah 26 opens the chapter—remember, opens with those three amazing words that you’ve learned about in this book: «In that day.» Bible students, if you miss this, circle again chapter 26, verse 1 says «In that day”—a reference, always a reference to the Bible student, that God is talking about a future event. He’s speaking about a future event—something that is going to happen. And yes, the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 26, verses 19 to 21, is God gathering His people back—Israel—into the land in the latter days. There’s no doubt about that.
Israel’s Regathering
You can be any form of a theologian tonight—liberal or moderate or conservative—and the truth of the matter is that the Bible teaches, Isaiah teaches, that God is going to gather His people back into their own land in the last days. There’s no doubt that chapter 26 is speaking of that. And so when He says „in that day”—listen, for those of you who don’t understand Israel’s place in Bible prophecy, just know this: „in that day“ God is speaking—look what 2,700, 740 years ago—that God will bring Israel back into the land. And here we are in the 21st century tonight, and God is still speaking to us that He’s going to bring Israel back into their own land.
Israel Since 1948
The amazing thing for you and I is, since 1948, Israel has been back in their own land. You would rightly argue tonight, „But Jack, they don’t believe in the Lord.“ And you are correct, and you’re also theologically correct, because God said in Ezekiel He would bring them back into their own land in the last days before He returned, and they would come in unbelief. You’re right—they don’t believe. They will later. That „later“ is the seven-year tribulation period—that’s what it’s for.
New Covenant Promise
And so Isaiah is speaking, and he’s seeing words, as it were, personified and materialized out into the future. „In that day“ God is going to work. By backing this up—Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 31—awesome portion of Scripture. If you’re a preterist tonight—maybe you’re here or you’re watching right now and you’re a preterist—if you’re not a preterist or if you don’t know what a preterist means, you’re not one. If you are a preterist, you’re not going to like this verse in Jeremiah 31, but that’s tough because it’s the Bible.
Jeremiah 31:31–33
Jeremiah 31:31 says: „Behold, the days are coming, ” says the Lord, „when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt.“ So not that one—God is saying My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them. Remember that tonight—God, He says in the Bible, is married. God the Father is married to the nation of Israel—did you know that? He says that numerous places in the Bible. The Father, Jehovah, is married to Israel. He says that throughout the Old Testament: „I was a husband to them, ” says the Lord.
Veiled Rapture Reference
Verse 33: „But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, ” says the Lord—Yahweh—“I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.“ He’s going to gather them together—as I said a moment ago—believing Israel will come about during and because of that seven-year tribulation period that is yet future. But many Bible students see in this portion of verses that we’re looking at tonight a veiled reference to something even broader than the regathering of the nation of Israel. And it is not a stretch to see that it not only speaks to Israel but beyond.
Old and New Testament Unity
Before we look at this, I want you to see on a slide—this is very cool. This is from the year 422 AD by Saint Augustine—Augustine of Hippo. Whenever you’ve ever heard somebody say, you know, Saint Augustine or Augustine—this is who they’re talking about. Listen to what he said—this is cool: „The New Testament is in the Old contained; the Old Testament is in the New explained. The New Testament is in the Old concealed; the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed. The New Testament is in the Old Testament enfolded or tucked away; the Old Testament is in the New Testament unfolded.“
Same God Revealed
There is not another God in the Old Testament and a different God in the New Testament—it’s the same God. It’s the same One. But He reveals Himself in what we would call epochs or dispensations. There are times—right now you are living in what is referred to in theological terms as the dispensation of grace or the church age. There’s so much you and I take for granted. Even if you’re here tonight and you are a full-blown atheist, unbeliever in God—you are so blessed by the God you don’t believe in. You really are.
Age of Grace
You say, „I don’t think so.“ You’re breathing—He even allows you to think. He allows you to think your stupid thoughts that you’re thinking, and He doesn’t smack you around for it. You want to know why? Because this is the age of God’s grace. And the Bible teaches clearly that there’s going to come a day—like when, remember we mentioned on Sunday, when Noah’s ark—remember when the door shut? By the way, did Noah shut the door in the ark? No—the Bible says Noah got in, and God shut the door.
Rapture Exclusive to Church
There’s going to be a day when God shuts the door, and the clock begins to tick again. And it has to deal, by the way, with the church, and it has to deal with the nation of Israel. And the world, by the way, gets caught in the middle of God moving in that tribulation period. But what is in the New Testament revealed to us now today by this wonderful privilege that you and I have has been always tucked away in the Old. God doesn’t create truth—God is truth, and it’s eternal.
Transformation and Resurrection
So tonight—listen carefully—the most single important factor to understanding the doctrine of the rapture is this: that it is the teaching regarding an event that is exclusively reserved for the church. You ought to write that down or think about that for a moment. One of the most important things that you need to remember about the rapture and the teaching of the rapture is this: that it is exclusively reserved for the church age believers. Hopefully we’ll explain that tonight. It’s not for Israel as the nation goes—it is not for Israel regarding the populace of the Jewish believer in the future days. It’s something that is reserved for the church.
The Church Illustrated
The epistles in the Scripture—Jesus Himself—makes that very, very clear. So before we go any further, I want you to be reminded and think or be refreshed regarding what is the church. Think about it right now—what is the church? Whenever I think about the church in light of Old Testament truth, I always think of Ruth and Boaz. Remember Boaz—he’s a Jew, super Jew by the way—I mean, he was super qualified to be the kinsman redeemer. If you know the story of Ruth and Boaz, it’s awesome—one of the greatest love stories ever written, by the way. Ruth and Boaz—a Jew, Boaz; Ruth—was she a Jew? No.
Ruth and Boaz
This Jew who had everything gave up opportunity, gave up things that were at his disposal to bless a Gentile girl—to reach out to her, to see to it that she didn’t starve. He gave her gifts, and he wound up falling in love with her—or maybe it actually doesn’t say, maybe he loved her before he even gave her any gifts. It doesn’t say, but he had an eye for her, and he blessed her life. And Boaz and Ruth—Jew and Gentile—in that lineage that came from them, you have none other than people in their bloodline that came from that love, such as King David.
Lineage to Jesus
And the list goes down and down all the way—of course including Solomon—but all the way down, all the way down, all the way down—or I should say all the way up, all the way up to One called, named Jesus, the Son of God, born unto Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem. God at work—God moving. And all of this, God has brought together this thing called the church, which is Gentile predominantly but with Jewish blood still in it—isn’t that amazing?
Avoiding Replacement Theology
So you remember that as we look at this tonight. I want to say also that there’s unnecessary confusion that arises regarding the rapture of the church. And that’s unfortunate, because church denominations have polluted the simple teaching of the Bible just at face value. There’s false teaching that comes out of what is called replacement theology—that somehow Israel has been disqualified by God. Israel—wherever you find Israel or saints in the Old Testament—are you listening? This is important—whenever you see saints in the Old Testament or Israel in the Old Testament, you take that out and you—the saints are the believers and Israel is the church—and that’s who we are today. You do that, and you’re going to be completely messed up in your Bible theology and in eschatology, which is the study of future events. You’ll be completely whacked out. Israel is Israel—the church is the church. And that’s what God makes very clear in the Bible.
Transformation Hope
And when you don’t understand that, then you’ve got people confusing the event of the rapture—you shouldn’t do that. So here we go, looking at this together—“Come My People.» We look at verse 19, and the first argument is: transformation is the hope of every true believer. And I’m going to try to go fast now, okay? You got to hold me to this—you just keep cheering me on, and I’ll go fast. He says: «Your dead shall live; together with my dead body shall they arise.» The word in Hebrew here for «arise» is amazing—it’s a word «transformation.» It means this: it means for a dead thing or person—in this case—to stand up. Dead people don’t stand up—dead people can’t stand up. Whoever’s dead stands again.
Resurrection Promise
Now definitely refers to the nation of Israel—God’s made that promise. It was spiritually dead, but it’s going to stand again—that’s true. Nobody debates that. But the message goes deeper than that. Certainly a person who, according to the Bible, is spiritually dead needs to be born again—we know that. But the word means to stand up, to rise up—the word means to live again, resurrected life, to come back from the dead. So «your dead”—who are these? Whoever they are, they are spiritually dead by context—Isaiah 26—and they could very well be physically dead as well. The word means both—it’s a broad, powerful word.
Raptures in the Bible
The resurrection of the dead is something that we saw on Sunday—and if you missed it, go ahead and look it up online. The resurrection is part of the rapture experience. The rapture for the believer is something that causes the dead in Christ to be resurrected from the dead—we saw that. But listen—you’d make a mistake if you thought that the rapture is only in that part of the Bible, like that somehow disqualifies it. „Well, the rapture is only right there in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 13 to 18”—which it’s not, it’s in various places. But be careful when you talk about rapture, because there are numerous raptures in the Bible. I’ll give you one right now—you’re ready to write this down? You have to write it down because you don’t see it on the screen—it’s Genesis chapter 5. Enoch—Enoch got raptured. Did you know that?
Enoch and Elijah
Enoch was walking around talking to God, had a great time with God, and God told Enoch, „You’re going home with Me today, ” and Enoch didn’t die. How cool would that be? Would you like that? I mean, if you’re like, „I don’t think I’d like that”—you’re a weirdo. What’s wrong? Who wants to die? I want to go to heaven—I know we got to go to heaven by death unless—I’m all for the unless—unless the rapture happens. Enoch was walking with God. J. Vernon McGee is so cute—J. Vernon McGee says that one day, you know, Enoch walked with God, and he walked so much with God that day that God stopped and said, „Enoch, you know what? I just realized how far we’ve walked and talked today.“ And Enoch says, „It’s been a great day.“ And God says, „Well, you know what—it’s closer to My house than it is to your house. Let’s just go to My house.“ I like that.
Other Raptures
Second Kings chapter 2—you know who else missed death altogether? Elijah. Elijah was serving the Lord, and God said, „Hey, I’m gonna take you up and out of here.“ And the Bible tells us that the heavens opened up—this is freaky awesome—eternity invades our material world. Elijah’s ministering and living—Elijah is hanging out with him—that’s a great story, read it later. Elijah, his buddy the prophet in training, and Elijah the prophet of Israel—the clouds begin to part, and coming out of the atmosphere from the spiritual into the physical realm is like a fiery tornado in chariots of fire from God. And the Bible tells us that Elijah was taken up into that whirlwind of chariots into heaven. Elijah never died while he was still living.
Paul and Two Witnesses
The apostle Paul experienced a rapture-type event in 2 Corinthians 12, when he was caught up to the third heaven—that is the presence of God—and he said, „I saw things that are illegal for a person to speak about or write a book about and sell and make a million copies.“ In the future, in the book of Revelation chapter 11, the two witnesses will stand for the gospel, speaking the gospel in Israel. They’ll be murdered—remember, they’ll be killed in Jerusalem for speaking the gospel. The Bible tells us that their dead bodies will lie in the street in Jerusalem for three days, and then the Spirit of God will enter in them—He will resurrect them. They will stand on their feet, and the Bible says that they will be caught up into heaven in sight, in view of everyone watching CNN. Can you imagine? Fox News—everyone’s like, „Oh my gosh—whoa, what?“ And they’re going to see them go up—that’s awesome. That’s a form of rapture.
John Caught Up
The apostle John in the book of Revelation chapter 4—he says that he was seeing this revelation, and he was caught up into the day of the Lord. And by the way, from that time on, during the giving of the book of Revelation, John’s vantage point was from heaven above—from that time forward, never back on earth again. So listen—I’m going to be asking this question a lot tonight, I hope—I’m just praying that the clock would stop—and that is, with what we’re looking at in the book of Isaiah, ask yourself this question: is there a New Testament doctrine to all of this? Is there a New Testament doctrine to what we’re reading about in the book of Isaiah?
1 Thessalonians 4 Correlation
Very quickly—because I don’t want to bore you to death from last Sunday—but here we go again in case you missed it. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13—read this in light of Isaiah 26, verses 19 to 21—when He says the dead will arise, they’ll stand back upon their feet, and you’re going to be called „My people—come, My people. I’m going to put you into chambers—hide, shut the doors, hide yourself. I am going to pour out My indignation upon the earth. Come with Me—come to Me.“
Rapture Description
1 Thessalonians 4:13: „But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep—or died—lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep—or died—in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are—or those who have died. For, ” verse 16, „the Lord Himself will descend”—listen, Isaiah: the Lord comes out of His place—“from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain—those living at that moment of that event—shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.“
Tim LaHaye’s Tweet
I want to read to you a tweet that went out the other day—and this tweet said: „This morning this is your Master’s prophetic message for us today: Don’t drive your tent stakes too deep—we’re leaving soon. So be ready.“ Do you know who tweeted that? Dr. Tim LaHaye. Dr. Tim LaHaye tweeted that, and then went out to his driveway in San Diego to pick up his newspaper, had a massive stroke, and died—and went to see Jesus this week, Monday—Monday morning. I love his last tweet: „Don’t drive your tent stakes too deep into this ground—don’t get too much at home here, because His word to us as a word of encouragement was: it’s all going to end soon—Jesus is coming.“ Well, wow—okay, well the Lord didn’t come for us, but the Lord came for him.
We Have a Building from God
And you might say, „Well, you know what—I’m still here.“ You could go out to get your newspaper tomorrow and see what happens. His admonition to us was so fitting of a life—90 years old, served Jesus all of his life, and it was great when he said „be ready.“ So be ready—what a great word. No doubt—listen, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 1 says: „For we know that if our earthly house, this tent—he’s talking about the body, Paul is—is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with human hands, eternal in the heavens.“
Resurrection Hope
For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven—a whole new world, whole new life, whole new body. If indeed we have been clothed, we shall not be found naked—in other words, God gave you a body to live in this world—why won’t He give you a body to live in the next? For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened—not because we want to be unclothed or without skin, but further clothed—better clothes. You want some better clothes? Want some skin that works in heaven—resurrected skin—that mortality may be swallowed up by life—transformation.
Awake and Sing
The second thing we see tonight—and part of verse 19—is that resurrection now is the hope of every true believer. He says: „Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust.“ This is the dual meaning—Israel as a nation be resurrected—but wait a minute, the dust refers from Genesis to Revelation to what happens to the human body when it rots away, when it decays. „Awake and sing”—resurrection—“you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs.“ What happens in the morning when you go out and look on your lawn or looking on a leaf—that’s assuming we have any moisture in Southern California at all—but you notice in the morning you’re supposed to have dew on the grass or dew on something, and then the sun begins to rise—where does that dew go? It evaporates—it goes up.
Earth Casts Out Dead
It comes from the earth—condensation, so to speak, radiation-type condensation is what’s happening—but it forms almost miraculously, and then it’s gone. It’s the word of encouragement He’s given to us. The earth—look at what He says—the earth will cast out—the word in Hebrew is the earth will give birth to—the dead. And they’re going to be alive. Can you think of anything in the New Testament doctrinal teachings of the Bible that even suggests that the earth is going to throw out its dead? In 1 Thessalonians 4, when the trumpet is blown, the Lord shouts, and the voice of the archangel—the earth will cast out its dead. It’s the believing dead—the bodies of those who have died in Jesus.
Deliverance Hope
It’s very fascinating as we ask the question: is there a New Testament correlation to this? I say there is. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 14 says: „By His power God raised the Lord from the dead, and He will raise us also.“ That’s cool—that’s good news. You know anybody who’s dead? You know, that’s the wrong term, isn’t it? Tim LaHaye is not dead now—that’s really unfair. He moved—he’s more alive now than he ever has been. The third thing—look at verse 20: „Come, my people”—deliverance—that is, deliverance is the hope of every true believer. Deliverance—“Come, my people.“ I love that—I bet the believers in Syria right now, in northern Iraq, would like to hear that. For that matter, Iraq and Afghanistan—the believers in Sudan—how about the believers in Nigeria tonight? They’d like to hear „Come, my people.“
Wedding Chambers
I tell you what—I’d like to hear „Come, my people.“ There’s going to be a day when God says „Come, my people—enter your chambers.“ This is interesting—this is interesting, because—and please do not believe what I’m going to tell you—you have to go look this up. You can think I’m making this up—I don’t think I’m going to give you this verse, I don’t think I’ll have the time, but I’ll throw it out to you, and you look it up later. Remember John 14, verses 1, 2, and 3 from Sunday—Jesus said, „I’m going to go prepare a place for you.“ Who—who’s preparing the place for you? Are you preparing it? But are you going to it, and how you going to get there? He’s going to rapture you—He’s going to come get you. He says, „And take you there.“ Okay—listen: „Come, my people—enter your chambers.“ Guess what the word means? You didn’t buy these chambers—you didn’t build these chambers. The word means God made the chambers. And by the way, the words suggest that they’re wedding chambers—how do you like that?
Hide Until Indignation Passes
I don’t know if we relate to that in our culture, but it’d be like this: „Hey, sweetheart—after we say ‘I do, ’ we get in the car or we get to the airport or on the train or whatever you do—when we get, just wait—do you see the place that I have prepared for you?“ I mean, it may be Hilton or Sheraton or whatever, but the point is, right—it’s a surprise. He’s got it already—He made the reservations. Look—first of all, girls—this is off the record here—if you’re engaged to a guy that can’t make reservations for a hotel room and set that up, I don’t know if you should go forward with this. He’s got to be thinking, man—he ought to whisk you off your feet. Jesus—that’s what Jesus does. „Come, my people”—that guy ought to say, „Come, sweetie—I prepare a place for you. Absolutely—where I am, there you may be also.“ Right—“Come, my people—enter your chambers.» Look: «Shut your doors behind you—hide yourself, as it were”—listen, oh, it’s okay—just for a little moment.
Revelation 4 Correlation
This is kind of awesome—“Come, my people.» I love you—I’ve provided for you. Come—oh, there you go—you like it? Everything wonderful? Hang on one second—in fact, probably be better for you if you just shut the doors for a minute, and you see God roll up His sleeves, and you see Him come out there like the Hulk, you know, to the earth. It’s like, «Sweetie, I really don’t want you to see this right now—why don’t you go over there, and I’ll be back in a minute.» Boom—He’s going to visit the earth with judgment. For He says: «Until the indignation has passed—My wrath, My judgment.» So my question to you is, in verse 20, is there any New Testament doctrine that you can think of here? Revelation chapter 4, verse 1: «After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking to me, saying, ‘Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.’» And from that moment, everything is God’s judgment upon the earth—John records it.
Awaiting the Rapture
It’s always good to remember that—very important. I’m gonna ask you to look at the screens for this slide—a couple of slides here right now. First one: today—think about it—today, according to the Bible, this moment tonight, we are to be awaiting, according to the Bible, expecting, looking for Jesus to appear unexpectedly in the rapture. That’s Bible doctrine. This is exclusively required of the church, and it is the expectancy of the bride of Christ. You can take a picture of that if you want—it’ll be online later—but this is to be your motive for breathing right now, Christian—today, this moment tonight. The expectancy—the bride of Christ is to be looking for her fiancé—that’s Jesus. The Father is married to Israel—Jehovah is married to Israel, He says. The Son is engaged to the church—the bride of Christ.
Tribulation and Second Coming
Next slide: at some point after that event—the church now in heaven—the seven-year tribulation period begins with a political peace plan between the nations of the Middle East and Israel—so says Daniel chapter 9. Chronologically—next slide—exactly seven years from the day of that peace plan—Daniel chapter 9 again, verses 24 to 27—being signed, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, will return to earth with His church—Revelation 19 says—to establish His millennial government. Christ returns—you think Hillary’s going to get nominated or was nominated last night, and Trump was nominated last week—you think that matters to you? I mean, it matters—don’t get me wrong, it matters—but you think that they’re going to set up some government that is going to do what this government does—that He’s going to come back and show the world how it’s done? And He’s not even going to campaign because He’s not running for office, and He ain’t going to have no convention—He’s going to do it. Now that’s a very three-slide overview—a generality—but in chronological order, that’s what we’re looking at.
Justice Hope
Number four—“Come, my people”—justice is the hope of every true believer. Justice—I have to be honest with you, I’m kind of sick of hearing the word «justice» thrown around. It doesn’t even carry any value to it anymore—justice, justice this, justice—we want justice, social justice, animal justice. Where was I on vacation somewhere—oh my gosh, it almost ruined my vacation. I was on a trail hiking along, and there’s a sign, and the sign said something about, um, I was—I’m supposed to like talk to nature and make sure it’s okay with me being there on the path, and I don’t offend it because I could upset it. Have we lost our minds? Don’t you believe in Mother Earth? No—I believe in Father God. There is no Mother Earth, okay?
Lord Comes for Justice
Listen—Al Gore, I love you, man—but there’s no Mother Earth, okay? Gaia is not real, okay? The earth—listen, you want to read—you want to get people really upset? Did you know that the Bible says that God created the earth for man’s stewardship—that we’re supposed to take care of it? I believe the Christians should be the greatest environmentalists in the world. But let me explain to you what environmentalist means—it means I don’t throw trash out my window of my car, and I don’t take my car oil and pour it out on the dirt. That’s wrong—that’s wrong in anybody’s book. That’s terrible, okay? But I don’t bow down to some tree and talk to it or take a crystal rock and put it in my navel and look for a GPS direction—that’s insane, ladies and gentlemen. I hate to upset you, but it’s true. God—He made it, and He gave it to us to be good stewards over it. Listen—I love whales, but I don’t love whales—you know what I’m saying? There’s a big difference—we even created in the image of God—big difference.
Punishing Inhabitants
Justice—listen: «For behold, the Lord comes out of His place.» Oh man—somebody needs to do something—I understand that. And we are to stand for righteousness—we are to do the right thing. It’s required of us, and God will hold us responsible. But there will come a day when the Lord comes out of His place. And now as a believer, I’m all good with that—I’m fine with that, because I understand what Jesus did for me. But listen—if you’re still in trouble, boy are you in trouble. Remember when you were in trouble, and your mom said, «Honey, he just threw a rock through the window again, ” and I heard my dad’s door open—or my mom and dad’s bedroom door open—and I heard my dad coming down the hallway, right? What happened? The Lord has come out of His place.
Blood Disclosed
And there’s going to be a day when the Lord comes out of His place—the church is in heaven, the rapture has taken place, the world has rejected Christ, it’s in the throes of the tribulation period. God tucks His people away in a safe place—both, listen—both Israel—you read the second half of the tribulation period, and God takes believing Israel and puts her in the clefts of the rock. Some speculate that is none other than Petra, the area of Jordan, because of some ancient Hebrew words that are found in the Old Testament that allude to Jordan—Israel’s kept safe during that period. The church is behind closed doors in heaven, and the Lord comes out of His place. You want justice? Are you sure you want justice? Because when He comes, He ain’t going to hear no whine, and no one’s going to change His mind. He’s going to look into the hearts and souls and the motives of every human being, and He’s going to know—well, He knows—He’s going to let you know what He knows.
Second Coming Correlation
He comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants—please look at this, everybody in your Bible—not some of the inhabitants—the inhabitants of the earth. Number one, Christian—you are not an inhabitant of the earth. Look it up later—I think it’s Colossians 3, starting at verse 20—it says that your citizenship’s in heaven. Listen—we’re only passing through. We’re just passing through—that’s an old hippie line back in the hippie days: „Just passing through”—remember that? Just passing through—the Christians, just passing through. We don’t inhabit this world. He’s going to punish the inhabitants of the earth because of their sin—not you, not me. „The earth will also disclose her blood”—this is terrifying—all those who have been unjustly killed, murdered—their blood is going to talk.
Blood Cries Out Today
The Catholic priest that was beheaded yesterday in his church service in France while he’s conducting his mass—where a couple of Muslims go into the mass service, get up, and behead him in front of his flock—on video, by the way, streaming it live—his blood cries out. The Christians in Libya that were taken, marched down to the beach, and beheaded—totally submissive to their perpetrators, bowed down, singing praises to God, thanking Jesus, praying for their families—heads lopped off—their blood cries out. Think of that—every aborted baby—blood cries out. Think of that—the violence and the mayhem of this world, bloodshed—blood cries out. God’s bringing justice, and the world will crumble under His justice.
Second Coming of Christ
Joel chapter 2, verse 31—Joel 2:31 says „in that day, ” when that happens, „the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord”—that is a reference to the second coming, not the rapture. But we’re looking at this punishment that God is going to levy in chapter 26, verse 21—and it’s powerful. And so we have to ask ourselves the question: do we have a New Testament correlation to this Old Testament word—“For behold, the Lord comes out of His place“? Revelation 1:7—are you guys okay? You’re not encouraging me to go faster here, okay—Revelation 1:7: „Behold, He is coming with clouds—every eye will see Him.“ This is the second coming—“even they who pierced Him”—that’s the Jewish people—“and all the tribes of the earth”—that’s everybody—“will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.» Verse 8: «I am the Alpha and the Omega, ” Jesus says, „the Beginning and the End, ” says the Lord, „who is, who was, who is to come—the Almighty.“ He’s coming—He’s coming.
Revelation 19 Description
Is there a New Testament correlation to Isaiah 26:21? Yes—Revelation 19:11: „Now I saw heaven open, and behold a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True”—listen to this—“and in righteousness He judges and makes what? War.“ Two hours ago, former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was speaking at the Democrat National Convention, and he said, „We need to stop ISIS.“ And did you hear—were you watching? Anybody watching? Did you see what the crowd did? Did you see what 40,000 people did? They began to boo him—their own man. They began to boo him, and they began to shout him down, saying „No more war! No more war! No more war!“ All he said was we need to defeat ISIS because they’re going to kill us—and he was shouted down by the Democratic Party.
Jesus Makes War
Listen—listen—Jesus says He’s coming back, and He is going to make war. How does that sit with you? I know it freaks out—the first time I ever read this as a new Christian, I thought, „What—wait a minute—He’s coming back, and He’s going to make war with His enemies?“ Is there a New Testament correlation? It’s right here—listen: Isaiah chapter 63 tells us that when He does it, His robe is going to be splattered with the blood of His enemies. It’s really quiet in here right now—we kind of like the Newport Beach hippie surf kind of Jesus, you know—got a little surf rack on His donkey. He’s cool—make love, not war. Listen—I know when man makes war, I understand that. But when God makes war, it’s righteous—doesn’t that freak out?
King of Kings
He will do it—He’s not gonna like, „I need an army.“ He will do it—the Bible says He’s gonna open His mouth, and truth comes out, and with that truth He’s going to smite the nations—with truth—wham, wham—with the word, truth. See, man—this is a very militant message tonight. Hey, man—listen—He’s coming back. I tell you—now’s the time to accept Jesus while it’s a gracious, gentle time, because the door’s gonna close someday—I don’t know when, and I don’t want to know when, and you don’t know either. Just to encourage you even further—Exodus 15:3 says: „The Lord is a man of war—the Lord is His name.“ Exodus 15, verse 3: „The Lord is a man of war.“
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank You for Your Word tonight. Lord, help us to be ready, to live expecting Your return. Prepare our hearts for that day when You call us home. In Jesus' name, Amen.