The King is Coming: His Glory Revealed

Psalm 45. As we prepare to hear God's words preached, Your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever.

Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one. Clothe yourself with splendor and majesty. In your majesty, ride forth victoriously in behalf of truth, humility, and righteousness.

Let your right hand display awesome deeds. Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king's enemies. Let the nations fall beneath your feet. Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever.

A scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.

All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia, and from palaces adorned with ivory, the music of the strings makes you glad.

Daughters of kings are among your honored women. At your right hand is the royal bride and gold of Ophir. Listen, O daughter. Consider and give ear.

Forget your people and your father's house. The king is enthralled by your beauty. Honor him, for he is your lord. The daughter of Tyre will come with a gift.

Men of wealth will seek your favor. All glorious is the princess within her chamber. Her gown is interwoven with gold.

In embroidered garments, she is led to the king. Her virgin companions follow her and are brought to you. They are led in with joy and gladness.

They enter the palace of the king. Your sons will take the place of your fathers. You will make them princes throughout the land. I will perpetuate your memory through all generations.

Therefore, the nations will praise you forever and ever. For the Lord Jesus is reigning. The father has already given to him all authority in heaven and on earth.

He's already crowned him. He's already seated him upon the throne of God. And he now rules over all things for the good of his church.

This reign of God, the kingdom of God, has intruded this dark world under the control of the evil one. He's established his kingdom in the hearts of his people who do his will.

And yet, though all of this is true, it is not at all evident to the world that Jesus is reigning. It's not something that the world can see and perceive.

And even to believers, Christ's kingdom in this present age is more a matter of faith than it is of sight. We don't see Jesus reigning in power as he, in fact, is.

The king's name is blasphemed and used as a curse word. His laws are trampled. His gospel is yawned at. His people are mistreated.

And the wicked thrive and prosper. And yet, we're told he reigns. He's reigning, even now. And so we learn that in this present age, the kingdom of God does not come with outward observation.

But rather, it's something inward and spiritual in the hearts of his people. He now rules in the midst of his enemies as his people are found in enemy territory.

So his rule is powerful yet hidden. Like yeast that is secretly and powerfully spreading through the dough.

So Christ's kingdom is powerful and yet secret, hidden here in this life, in this age. So for now, Christ's reign is often confessed in spite of outward appearances.

To the contrary, it's by faith that we see him now crowned with glory and honor. But all of this is to change. A time is coming when, with our own eyes, we will see him crowned with glory and honor.

There's a future aspect to Christ's reign when his kingdom will take on a far different appearance than what it is at present. And that is when the king returns to this earth.

Remember the angels said to the disciples, Why stand you gazing into heaven? This same Jesus will come again, even as you have seen him go into heaven.

And when he returns, that which is now hidden will be revealed. The kingdom of God on earth has already begun with Jesus' first coming.

And at his second coming, that kingdom will be perfected in a visible and glorious eternal reign for all to see.

Not just for a thousand years, but forever and ever. A kingdom that will never end. So today we want to start to look at that second coming of the king.

The return of our king. The king is coming again. And we want to focus on his glory that will be revealed. Indeed, one of the ways that the New Testament refers to the second coming of Christ is to refer to the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The revelation of the Lord Jesus. Luke 17.30 Our Lord has just likened his coming, his second coming to the days of Noah and the days of Lot.

And he says, it will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. Is revealed. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, You do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

We're waiting for his revealing. 1 Peter 1.7 1 Peter 1.7 1 Peter 1.7 1 Peter 1.13 1 Peter 1.13, set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

In all those passages, the same Greek word is being used, apocalypto, and you can hear that apocalyptic idea. Yes, Jesus Christ, when he comes, is going to be revealed.

The word means to be disclosed or to make manifest, to bring out into the light, to uncover or unveil. So, for the bicentennial anniversary of a certain town, let's say, a statue of the favorite son has been commissioned.

And for a long time, the artist worked secretly in his artist's shop, chiseling away on this statue. And then on the appointed day, when it's finished, a sheet is brought into his shop and covers the statue.

And then it's hauled to the city town square, and the people gather, and a speech is given, and then it is revealed. That's the word.

It's unveiled. The sheet's taken off, and what was hidden is now seen for what it is. That's what's going to happen at the second coming of Jesus Christ.

He is going to be revealed, uncovered, seen for who he is. His glory that was veiled will be unveiled for all to see.

Now, we need to realize that it won't be that in that moment, Jesus will suddenly take on glory. No, Jesus has been glorious. The Son of God has shared in his Father's glory from before the world began.

John 17, 5, Jesus speaks to his Father and says, The glory I had with you before the world began. So the Son has had great glory, the glory of God that was his even before anything else was.

Isaiah saw it by way of vision, didn't he? He saw the King in his glory, seated upon his throne, high and exalted. But when the Father actually sent his Son as his chosen King to save his people, the King laid aside his robes of glory, the outward expression and sign and visibleness of that glory, and he took upon him a form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man.

Didn't look very glorious. He looked like an ordinary man. He was no less glorious than what he had been for all eternity with his Father.

But it was now hidden glory. We sing, Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate deity.

This is how he came the first time, with his glory veiled in the flesh. Now, how should a king come? We're privileged to welcome today a subject of his royal majesty, our brother Sam Hart and his dear wife Natalie.

And in Sam's country, they still have kings and queens and pomp and circumstance and all that we don't have. And how should a king come? How should royalty arrive?

You can get on YouTube and you can listen to a trumpet fanfare that is used to announce the arrival of royalty. Majestic loud blasts from the heralds.

Sharp, stirring peace that spikes your adrenaline. And it crescendos until that last note.

And everyone turns to see who's coming. The very sounds awaken an interest in the arrival of royalty.

Trumpet fanfares have been used for thousands of years to signal the coming of a king. It was used in the Old Testament to signal the coming of God the king when he came to meet with his people.

It was used of Solomon when he was crowned king. And when he was, a trumpet was blown and the people shouted, God save King Solomon. So now the king of glory is coming.

And the first time he came, what we find, children, is that there were no trumpets. There was no fanfare. There was no loud signal that he's here.

He's here. How silently, how silently the wondrous gift was given. Only announced to a few lowly shepherds. And while the world slept, the king came.

Born in a cattle stall because the world he had made had no room for him in the inn. The king of kings lying in a feeding trough.

Indeed, it was a hidden glory. And the very next day, the world went about its business as if nothing at all had happened. When, in reality, the king of glory had just visited them.

And then he was brought up in an out-of-the-way town of Nazareth in Galilee. Place of no reputation. It was unknown and of no reputation.

And he was of no reputation as well. There were no palace servants waiting on the king hand and foot. He grew up in the home of a poor carpenter.

And then at age 30, during his three years of public ministry, there were brief bursts of his glory seen in his miracles. Yet even so, it required faith.

And it required an inward revelation from God the Father to see in Jesus Christ the glory of the one and only God.

It was still a hidden glory. Men are born spiritually blind to Christ's glory. When the king lived among us, Isaiah 53 says, He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him.

There was nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. We didn't say, wow, I want him. Look at him. There was nothing of that. It was a hidden glory.

He was despised and rejected by men. They stumbled over his lowly appearance and lack of outward glory. How could this be the king? And as a nation, they set aside the Lord Jesus like a mason sets aside a stone that's unfit for the building.

And it doesn't belong and it's thrown into the reject pile. And God went over and chose that stone and made him the very cornerstone of his kingdom.

They did not recognize their king because he visited them incognito, in the flesh. Herod and Pilate had no clue of who he was. Indeed, none of the rulers of this age understood it.

For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2.8 So the world did not and it still does not recognize the king of glory.

He came the first time as the son of righteousness, but in eclipse. Those were the days of his humiliation and suffering.

But now those days are over. He's now exalted upon his throne. And when he comes back, he's going to be uncovered. Revealed for who he really is.

The king of glory. And then all those glory prophecies will be fulfilled. So this awesome revelation of the king awaits everyone who has ever lived.

Young, old, saved, or lost. There will be a revelation. An opening of the eyes in that day. He came in humiliation once.

He's coming again in glory. Listen to the many ways that the Bible describes the glory that will be revealed. The way that Christ will be revealed when he comes the second time.

And all along we're seeing what a contrast from the way he came the first time. Matthew 16, 27 says, Jesus says, For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels.

And then he will reward each person according to what he has done. He's going to come in his Father's glory. Now in the Bible, the glory of God is sometimes described as a light, a brilliance that is shining.

So Jesus is going to come in his Father's glory. His Father's brilliance. How much light? Well, we read in Revelation 21 that the new Jerusalem does not need the sun or the moon to shine in it.

For the glory of God gives it light and the Lamb is its lamp. That's a lot of light.

It's what Peter called the majestic glory. It's the glory that the Son had with the Father before the world began. He's coming with that kind of glory.

And he's coming with his angels. Matthew 25 says, All the angels, His entourage, flaming servants that attend the King, they're all coming with him.

You remember on the night that our Savior was born, one angel paid a visit to some rough shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks by night.

And his appearance was like lightning. I'm sorry, I jumped here. The glory of the Lord shining out from this one angel terrified them.

So just one angel who is in the glory, in the presence of God, comes down to earth with such shining reflection of the glory of God that it terrifies these shepherds.

And then you remember at Jesus' tomb, we read that on the first day of the week, an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.

The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. That was one solitary angel. Like lightning. Kids, you've seen lightning.

It's bright. It lightens up the sky. That's how Jesus is coming. And not just with one, but with all his angels. The countless hosts together shining with the glory of God.

Titus speaks of Christ's coming as the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. This world has seen his humble appearing.

It will yet see his glorious appearing. 2 Thessalonians 2.8 refers to it as the splendor of his coming, the brightness of his coming.

2 Thessalonians 1.7, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. Peter says, Rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

You see, the sheet is coming off, and his glory will be revealed in that day. What will this glorious appearing be? We get hints of it, descriptions that beggar our imagination.

But when we see it, we will say the half has never been told. Now the disciples only had glimpses of his full glory. You remember on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John were what?

eyewitnesses of his glory. His glory was always there, but it was veiled. And on the mountain, it was as if the veil was lifted, just for a moment, to show his disciples who he is.

And his face shone like the sun. And his clothes became as white as the light. Later, John says, We beheld his glory.

The glory is of the one and only. Again, it is his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. Something of his glory broke through.

And there's Judas. He's brought the religious leaders, a detachment of soldiers, armed mob, to arrest Jesus. And Jesus comes forth to meet them, asking, Who are you looking for?

Jesus of Nazareth. I am he. In the original, I am.

I am. And immediately, they fell backwards onto the ground. Something of the glory of the great I am peeked through our Lord's humanity.

And then the most stubborn knees buckled and became like water. Isaiah, chapter 24, verse 23, takes us to the very end when the Lord Almighty will reign in such glorious splendor that the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed.

Kids, you know how bright the sun is. You can't even look at it directly. But what will be so bright that even the sun and the moon together will be embarrassed in its presence?

Isaiah says, It's the king reigning in glory, sitting upon his throne in heavenly glory. So how will the king come?

Well, he'll come in his glory this time. 1 Thessalonians 4, 16, For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with a voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God.

And the dead in Christ will rise first. So no more silent coming like the first time. We won't be singing silent night.

We won't be singing how silently the wondrous gift is given. No. When he comes, there's going to be lots of noise. He's coming with a shout, a loud command as he returns as the conquering king.

This world has never heard the Son of God shout. He did not lift up his voice. He did not shout or cry aloud in the streets, but he will come with a loud command, a shout.

And it's such a shout that will awaken the dead. How loud do you have to shout to awaken your dad when he's napping or in the morning when someone's sleeping and you want to wake?

How loud do you have to shout? How loud do you have to shout to awaken somebody that's been dead for a thousand years? Jesus says, a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear the voice of the Son of God and come out.

Those who have done good will rise to live and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. He's coming with a loud, shout. And he's coming with a voice of the archangel.

And with a trumpet call of God, there will be a trumpet fanfare for the king's arrival in that day. The trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will rise first.

So throw open the gates to his earthly temple that the king of glory might come in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty.

The Lord, mighty in battle. And he's coming as a mighty warrior, a conqueror, at last, to put all of his enemies under his feet.

John's given to see this in vision and sees him in vision. In Revelation 19, 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 makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire. And on his head are many crowns.

When he came the first time, they gave him a crown of thorns, didn't they? They saw no glory in him. The head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned with glory now.

A royal diadem adorns the mighty victor's brow. On his head were many crowns. He's 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. And out of his mouth comes 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. And on his robe and on his thigh he has this name written, King of Kings, Lord of Lords.

It will be no silent secret coming for the king the second time. It will be like the lightning, Jesus says, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.

When he came the first time, his kingdom did not come with outward observation. When he comes the second time, it will be observed by all like lightning flashing from east to west.

And all the nations of the earth will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other.

And when he comes, this world will not go on as if nothing important had happened. Rather, he brings this age to a screeching end by his coming and ushers in the eternal age.

His coming will not be seen by just a few shepherds and chosen witnesses like the first time. Revelation 1, 7 says, Look, look. He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him.

Even those who pierced him and all the peoples of the earth were mourned because of him. So shall it be. Amen. So there's Pilate and there's King Herod and there's Caiaphas, the high priest, the Pharisees, the rulers of the Jews, and they're called forth from their graves to see the King coming back in great glory, deeply wailing, all unprepared to meet him.

What a shock when all who refuse to repent will see the King of glory coming from heaven. In an instant, men and women, boys and girls, will see what fools they were to have treated Jesus and his word as of little importance, to not have taken his claim seriously that he is King and deserves to have the throne of their hearts.

It will be the greatest eye-opener this world has ever received, but all too late to be saved. You see, it's going to be a supernatural event and it will interrupt this world that's not used to seeing anything but natural things, that they attribute everything to nature and suddenly the light will dawn.

At once, all will know that he is God and King and when they do, down they will go. Every knee will bow.

Things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

He is who he claimed to be. He is who the Father said he was. He is the long-expected King. Are you bowing now to the King?

Are you confessing with your lips now? Now that is the King and I am his servant. Only in this way are you ready for the King's coming and the unveiling of his glory.

Next week, Lord willing, we'll look at one of the reasons the King is coming is to judge the world. There are many reasons why he's coming and we'll just look at that one next week, God willing.

But I want to consider with the remaining time that we have, what will his coming and glory mean for his people, for the believer?

Do you know that his coming and glory will be as wonderful for the believer as it is terrifying for the unbeliever? And sometimes we might miss that and I want you to see that.

Dear brothers and sisters, if you have made Christ your only trust for salvation and you are putting all your weight for heaven upon him, you have turned from your own way repudiating that life for yourself in sin and you are clinging to the mercy of God in Jesus Christ.

This is what's coming for you at his second coming, when he comes. I have five things. Number one, we too will see him in his glory.

Every eye will see him. That includes our eye. Revelation 22 4 says of the king's servants, they will see his face. Not just the backside of his glory like Moses was given to see, but face to face.

Jesus prayed in John 17, Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am to see my glory. The glory you've given me because you love me before the creation of the world and we will see his glory.

Isaiah 33 verse 17 says, your eyes will see the king in his beauty. So here and now we catch glimpses of his glory in his word and our hearts are ravished.

If through a dark glass we see such glimpses, what will it be when we look face to face upon our Savior.

The king there in his beauty without avail is seen. It were a well-spent journey those seven deaths lay between. The lamb with his fair army does on Mount Zion stand and glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land.

And Job with his life ebbing away, suffering those painful boils from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet says, I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth and after my skin has been destroyed yet in my flesh I will see God.

I myself will see him with my own eyes, I and not another. This is what will happen when Jesus Christ is revealed.

we will see him in his glory. Dear brothers and sisters, do you think much about that meeting?

You and him face to face seeing his glory in that form for the first time in your life.

we ought to, we must, our spiritual health depends upon it. Face to face with Christ my Savior, face to face what will it be when with rapture I behold him, Jesus Christ who died for me.

Face to face I will behold him and we will look and we'll look and we'll look again. even now we're to be rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.

So that's what's going to happen believer, you will see him in his glory. Secondly, we will share in his glory. I wouldn't dare to even think it much less say that if the Bible didn't reveal it.

That we will share in his glory. Romans 8, 17 now if we're children then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

In fact, that's one reason why you were saved. 2 Thessalonians 2, 14 He called you to this through our gospel that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter says he's a witness of Christ's suffering and one who will also share in the glory to be revealed. So we're not only going to see his stunning glory, we are going to share in it.

Now, what exactly does that mean? Well, I don't know. But I want to be there to find out. This is his glory and it won't be kept to himself.

He'll share it with his people. all. Eye is not seen, ear is not heard, neither is it entered into the mind of man what he has prepared for those who love him.

But this much I know that it does include and these are the last three points. Point number three, we will be like him. We'll see him in his glory.

We'll share in his glory and no doubt what that means in part is that we will be like him. Romans 8 29 says that God has predestined us to be conformed to the likeness of his son so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

God wants a family of people, of children that all bear the likeness of their elder brother. So he's determined, he's predestinate. It will happen.

All of his people will be made like his son. And so those he predestined, he also called, and those he called, he also justified, and those he justified, he also glorified.

That's what glorification is. It's to be made in the likeness of his son. It is our glory, brothers and sisters, to reflect the beauty of his holiness, his moral image.

We will be glorified with the glorious likeness of our king, and when? Well, he's begun the work already in us, hasn't he? Right now he's working and making us look less and less like the old me and making me look more and more like his glorious son.

But it will happen fully and completely and finally and the work will be completed. When? When the Lord Jesus returns. Turn over to 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2.

The apostle John says that wow, what kind of love is this that the Father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God?

And that is what we are. But he says in verse 2 that we know that when he appears, the Lord Jesus, when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

So it's as we see the king in his glory that we will be made like the king and share in his likeness, his glorious likeness.

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, change completely into his moral image. I don't mean that we will become God. I mean as to his perfection, his sinlessness, we will be made into his sinless moral perfection.

Now, it's not hard to believe that I will not want to take my eyes off the Lord Jesus in that day, when I see him face to face for the first time, and see him in his glory.

But what glory is it to have his eyes of love fixed on me? you've been to a wedding lately? Seen the way that the bridegroom looks at the bride?

We're going to a wedding banquet. The church is the bride of Christ, and he's coming back to claim his bride and to take her away to be with him forever.

And yes, when we see him, we'll not want to look anywhere else. We'll be filled with the sight of his glory. But you know the Bible also says that he will look with love into our face.

We had it read from Psalm 45 and verse 11, that wedding of the king. These are the words directed toward the king's bride, talking about her husband king.

The king is enthralled with your beauty. Now, bride of Christ, you need to hear those words. The world doesn't talk how wonderful you are, and I dare say your guilty conscience often doesn't tell you how wonderful you are.

But the king is enthralled with your beauty. Those are words that belong to the bride of Christ. Christ. And what will he be looking at?

Well, he will be looking at the bride that he has perfected in beauty. The bride that is looking like himself. And every bit of her holiness and every good thought that she has and every holy desire and action, it's all his work.

It's all what he has done. his blood shed to cleanse her of her filth. He clothed her with garments of salvation.

He took off our filthy rags and he put on us that white robe of righteousness, his own obedience, and then he worked in our hearts and he made us to look more and more like him until when he came for us, he finished the work and now we are in his likeness.

There's no more sin in my thoughts, my desires, my motives, anything. And he's enthralled with your beauty, church.

It's all his doing that he might present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish but holy and blameless. What will it be to have the king enthralled with the beauty of you, the church?

when I stand before the throne dressed in beauty not my own, when I see thee as thou art and love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know, not till then how much I owe.

And so it will be to our glory to be made like him. And so Paul says, like him, not only in our souls but in our bodies, like him, for our citizenship is in heaven.

And we eagerly await a savior from there. The Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like what?

His glorious body. I will see him in his glory. I will share in his glory, in the whole of my being, body and soul.

that's the glory we'll share in on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at in all those who have believed.

And then fourthly, what else does it mean to share in his glory? Well, it means we will be with him. We will be with him. It is our glory, brothers and sisters, to be with Jesus the King.

It's part of our glorification. It's part of him sharing his glory with us. It's just to be in his glorious presence. You're in 1 John chapter 3.

He says at the end of verse 1 that right now we are the children of God. Let me ask you, does the world treat you as the royal children of the King? No.

It treats us like dirt often, like nobodies, like lambs for the slaughter. And the reason is they don't know who we are. They don't know who we are. And John says that the reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

It didn't know the king. So you think they'll pay respect to the king's sons and daughters? No. What we will be has not yet been made known, verse 2 says.

we're going to share in his glory. And what we will be has not yet been revealed. It's not yet been unveiled.

And so they don't know who we are. But we will be made known when Christ is made known. When the veil comes off of the king, the veil will come off his people.

And they will see who we are, the children of the king. And they will see us looking like him, transformed into his likeness.

And only then will they really know who we are. And what glory will be ours to belong with him and to be with him in that day, to be the bride at his side.

What glory will come to us just to be with him, with all the watching world. Now some of us have received honor by marrying up.

And some of you know what I mean. You're in a place and you're getting no respect and you go over and stand by your wife. Oh, you're with her. Suddenly they treat you differently and they start to give you some respect and notice you.

Folks, we've all married way, way, way up. When we stand in glory with Christ, the king and he's with us and you mean you're with him?

People that thought of you as nothing in this life and in this world, you mean you're with him? What glory will come to us as we're with him and his glory will be shared with us?

Think of that. Guilty, vile, and helpless, we, spotless lamb of God was he. You're with him?

Yes. And look at me now as he's made me like him and now I spend eternity with him. From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride.

With his own blood he bought her and for her life he died. And so Paul says in Colossians 3 4, when Christ who is your life appears then you also will appear with him in glory.

You with him. And what glory it will be to appear with him in glory. The bride of the lamb and the lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel and he'll be sharing it with his bride.

And lastly we will reign with him. What does it mean to have him share his glory? Well it means we'll reign with him. 2 Timothy 2.12 promises if we endure we will also reign with him.

Jesus writes a letter to the church at Laodicea by no means a healthy church and yet he promises this to any there who will overcome. I will give the right to sit with me on my throne just as I overcame and sat down with my father on his throne.

Remember when Jesus overcame all of his enemies and died on the cross and overcame death and rose from the dead? Where'd he go? He went right up to heaven and what did the father say?

Sit with me right here at my right hand. And Jesus says for any of you who overcome, overcome all the temptation and allurement to take your eyes off the king and to live for this world, any of you who overcome that temptation to deny Christ and to live for worldly things, I will give you the right to sit with me on my throne.

There's a lot of room at the right hand of God. All of his people reigning and ruling with him. His servants will serve him and they will see his face and they will reign forever and ever.

He shares his victory with his people. So I say to you this morning the king is coming and when he comes there's going to be a great revelation of who he is.

He's coming in his glory. Dear Christian, rejoice now in the hope of glory. Persevere in holiness and purify yourself because of what will be in that day.

1 John 3, 3, everybody who has this hope, what hope? the happy hope of the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior and of seeing our Lord Jesus as he is and being made like him and spending eternity with him.

Anybody who has that hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. So in all your afflictions keep looking up.

Why? Because your redemption is drawing near. For I consider that our present sufferings plug in your own are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us.

It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ. One glimpse of his dear face all sorrows will erase so bravely run the race till we see Christ.

Let's sing of it together with joy. Number 237. 237. Stand with me and sing of our coming King.

Amen.