1. The Australian writer and social commentator, Philip Adams, wastes no time in grabbing the reader's attention:

   "It's not only fundamentalist Christians who are looking forward to the apocalypse [the end of the world]. As we end a century, and a millennium, cosmologists [those who study the cosmos], environmentalists, epidemiologists [those who study the spread of diseases], futurologists [those who study the future], economists and sundry misery gutses are beating their breasts, speculating on ways the world might end. While some scenarios involve bangs and others whimpers, all of them are mildly unpleasant [to say the least!]."

2. And then in rapid fire sequence, Adams lists for his readers 10 potential, plausible scenarios for the imminent end of this earth and our civilization! Here they are:
   1. SCENARIO NUMBER ONE: TERRORIST BLACKMAIL THROUGH NUCLEAR/BIOLOGICAL THREAT.
      1. Nevermind that World War III doesn't look quite as imminent as it once upon a time did--Adams notes "the increasing alarm about all the weaponry and radioactive material on the loose in the ruins of the Soviet Union. Hardly a week passes without someone else trying to smuggle a suitcase full of high-grade kryptonite on to an Aeroflot flight. And what about the ones that got away?"
      2. Adams worries about reaping the seeds of the Tokyo and Paris subway attacks.
      3. Will terrorists blow up the world?
   2. SCENARIO NUMBER TWO: THE THREAT OF EPIDEMICS.
      1. "...the Grim Reaper, that old bugger with the scythe and hour glass, has made a big comeback thanks to AIDS. Unknown 15 years ago, AIDS is our principal nightmare. Epidemiologists, however, warn that old enemies like bubonic plague and tuberculosis are poised to rampage through cities as a result of declining health standards."
      2. Will runaway disease destroy the human race?
   3. SCENARIO NUMBER THREE: THE ENLARGING HOLE IN THE OZONE LAYER.
      1. That growing hole in the protective layer of the upper atmosphere (as a result of our use of florocarbons) "acts like a vast magnifying glass, focusing those solar lasers on our vulnerable retinas and epidermis. This is accompanied, in an awesome double-act, by the greenhouse effect, the time bomb that may prove to be far deadlier than any exchange of missiles."
      2. Australians have learned not to laugh at the gaping widening of the ozone layer.
      3. It is compulsory in their schools for children's heads and necks to be covered during outdoor play periods, so intense is the southern hemisphere sun, its cancer-causing ultraviolet rays no longer as effectively blocked by the ozone layer.
      4. The rate of skin cancer is no laughing matter down under.
      5. And certainly isn't up top here either!
   4. SCENARIO NUMBER FOUR: OXYGEN DEPLETION.
      1. "Years back I met a distinguished scientist who told me that, day after day, colleagues around the world were observing the inexorable increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and..., a measurable decrease in oxygen. It could be that our chopping down of forests is giving the Earth emphysema, that the wholesale slaughter of organisms that photosynthesise--from rainforests to planktons--is leading inexorably to a future when we're doomed to asphyxiation."
      2. Is that it--will the world end by all of us strangulating to death with no oxygen to breath?
   
   5. SCENARIO NUMBER FIVE: ASTERIODS
      1. And of course, Philip Adams isn't the only one concerned about the potential of an asteroid hit on Planet Earth!
      2. Hollywood capitalized this past summer on earthling fears with two major motion picture releases, even entitling one asteroid scenario, "Armageddon!"
      3. However, the Associated Press has reported that 7 previously unknown asteroids were recently spotted in the cosmos, each big enough and close enough to pose a potential threat to Earth, though not "an immediate threat" according to Eleanor F. Helin of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory here in the United States.
      4. That brings the total now to 99 asteroids or comets--at least 3000 feet across (1000 meters) that will pass within 5 million miles of Earth--99 now known to pose what some astronomers consider a danger to this planet.
      5. "In terms of global destruction," she said, " it would take a kilometer-size object. But any of these smaller guys, say 30 to 50 meters, can do a lot of local destruction."
      6. Arizona's meteor crater, 4000 feet across and 600 feet deep, was blown out by a meteor that only 150 feet (50 meters) across!
      7. "We can expect something [in that size range] within 100 years," she predicted."
      8. "Every time I hear talk about evacuation plans, I cringe," she said. "How are you going to evacuate a whole continent? You might as well stay in your own home and be comfortable to the end."
      9. How comforting?
      10. Will the world end by asteroid strikes, as Adams wondered?
   6. SCENARIO NUMBER SIX: GENETIC BIOENGINEERING
      1. Thanks to the British experiment with that Scottish sheep, we all know it is no longer science fiction, this idea of genetic engineering.
      2. Adams postulates a genetic engineering feat that produces a genetically engineered super race of humans--"bigger, stronger, far more intelligent and disease-resistant and all but impervious to aging. At best we [presently normal human beings] would be fit to do their menial chores. If we were lucky, they might keep us around for pets."
      3. Will this race be eliminated by a genetically engineered super race of humans?
   7. SCENARIO NUMBER SEVEN: RELIGIOUS EXTREMISTS
      1. Philip Adams minces no words on this perceived threat: "And if science is a problem, what about anti-science? What about the retreat to superstition, to medievalism, to quackery, to a world wherein Shirley MacLaine looks like an intellectual? The rising yeast of gibbering superstitions, matched by religious fundamentalism among Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Jews, gives cause for considerable alarm."
      2. Is he right--will religious extremism destroy the earth?
      3. Adams isn't exactly sympathic to religion! He writes, "Nothing on this earth is more dangerous than overheated theology....Religion seems destined to kill more human beings than another other disease."
      4. Correction, Mr. Adams--not religion, but a misunderstanding, a terrible misunderstanding of what religion was supposed to be in the first place.
   8. SCENARIO NUMBER EIGHT: SOCIAL DISINTEGRATION/ETHNIC CLEANSING.
      1. Adams worries that all over the world once proud nations are deconstructing into tribal and religious savageries....as umpteen variations on the theme of ethnic cleansing put an end to ideas of mutual respect and fraternity."
      2. We will kill ourselves off--is that how the world will end?
   9. SCENARIO NUMBER NINE: OVER-POPULATION
      1. Adams' commentary on this scenario is biting: "The human [reproductive process] remains the most dangerous weapon on earth, more likely to destroy us than all the nukes put together, and despite the campaigns for population control, despite the best efforts of birth control advocates, humans are proliferating with a rapidity that makes rabbits look repressed."
      2. Will we overpopulate ourselves right off this planet?
   10. FINALLY, SCENARIO NUMBER TEN: STARVATION THROUGH WATER DEPLETION.
       1. Let's not forget, he reminds, of the old-fashioned problems of hunger and thirst.
       2. "Experts agree that, pretty soon, water will be a bigger issue in the Middle East than oil....It is widely conceded that immense famines are inevitable. And make no mistake, thirsty, hungry people tend to become very angry people who go hunting for other people's food and drink."
       3. Will we starve ourselves off of this earth?
3. There they are, ladies and gentlemen, ten apocalyptic scenarios from one social commentator on earth.
   1. Oh, and did I leave any off? Philip Adams ends his essay: "Are there any other apocalyptic threats I've missed? If so, drop me a line. In the meantime, I hope my cheerful inventory hasn't depressed you too much. Have a nice day."
   2. Easy for you to say, now that you've dumped all of this on us!
   3. Thanks a lot, Mr. Adams!
   4. "Have a nice day" to you, too!
4. But do you know what--he's right--there is a "nice day" coming--and it comes with the apocalyptic scenario Philip Adams neglected to include in his dire litany of scenarios!
   1. Because Adams is right.
   2. THE WORLD IS GOING TO END.
   3. How soon to the end, will be the topic of my lecture tomorrow evening.
   4. SUFFICE IT TO SAY, MUCH SOONER THAN YOU THINK!
   5. Adams is right--the world is going to end.
5. And--hold on to your seat--it is going to end by the coming invasion from outer space, an invasion that will make the "Star Wars" science fiction wide- screened scenario seem like an infant's nursery rhyme!
6. Tonight with all the earnestness I can muster, I want to share with you the one SCENARIO that Adams forgot THE ELEVENTH SCENARIO THE ONE WHOSE TIME HAS COME AT LAST!

1. In less than 24 hours Jesus will be dead, suspended between heaven and earth on a bloody Roman cross.
   1. But on the eve of His own execution, amazingly He is not thinking of Himself.
   2. His heart, His thoughts, His compassion, His prayer, His whole being for the moment is focused on the men and the women of earth who will become His followers.
   3. And as He speaks into the faces of eleven disciples, it is as if He were speaking to us tonight.
   4. It is arguably the second most beloved passage of Scripture, next to John 3:16.
2. John 14:1-3.
   1. Read verse 1--Jesus has spent the past 3 « public years telling the truth about God up and down the dusty thoroughfares of Palestine--over and over again He has told parables and stories, painting the portrait of this God who is questing for friends, who is not Somebody to be afraid of, but Someone to be a friend of.
      1. Don't be troubled, don't be alarmed.
      2. You have come to know God, Jesus declares on the eve of His death.
      3. And because you have, you can trust Him--believe in God.
      4. And because you can trust Him, you can trust Me--believe in Me.
      5. Because tonight I am going to make a very special promise to you.
      6. A promise about "having a nice day" at the end of the world!
      7. So don't be afraid, let not your heart be troubled.
   2. Why? Read v. 2a--Because "in My Father's house are many mansions."
      1. And where is His Father's house? Where does God live?
      2. In any language of the world there is a word we ALL have in common, the word for the dwelling place of God "HEAVEN." (Forty translators downstairs have taken that word and shaped it into the language of their mother tongue--heaven!)
      3. Because in any language, it's good news!
      4. Illus: TIME magazine carried a cover story on "heaven" a few months ago, and guess how many Americans believe in that place where God dwells? 81% of those surveyed said yes to the statement, "I believe in the existence of heaven, where people live forever with God."
      5. Oh, Jesus believed in heaven and so did His disciples.
      6. After all, this was Emmanual, "God with us," the incarnate God who came down from heaven and pitched His tent beside ours, as John 1:14 graphically depicts it--"And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us."
      7. "In My Father's House--from whence I came--are many mansions."
      8. Illus: One modern translation puts it this way: "In my Father's house are many rooms." (NIV)
      9. Illus: I was reading a devotional book to my twelve-year old daughter Kristin the other day, which told the story about a pastor in Ireland who went to visit a poverty-stricken Christian woman.
         1. She had only one room, but by hanging up sheets and blankets, she divided the area into a bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen.
         2. She apologetically explained to her visitor, "This is a very poor place. I hope you don't mind coming here."
         3. The minister assured her it was his privelege to be there in her home.
         4. To which she replied brightly, "It is a poor place, but a King's daughter lives here!"
         5. Then Nancy Beck Irland writes for her youthful readers:

            "There is royalty living in your home, too. I like to think of my home on this earth as rental unit that I'm living in until my room at the palace is finished. [John 14:2] says that God's home in heaven has many rooms. I like that! He isn't going to make us live outside His house--we will actually have our own rooms in our Father's house! He will be right there with us!" (Out of This World 251)

      10. Well, I like that too!
      11. Heaven will be like living across the hall from God!
      12. "In My Father's house" Jesus promises, "are many rooms!"
      13. But that is hardly a promise all by itself!
   3. You've got to read on! vv. 2,3
3. MY FRIENDS, THERE IT IS--"I WILL COME AGAIN!"
   1. The solitary promise that has burned like a torch in the night within the hearts of countless millions and millions of men, women and children, who have clung to their friendship with God day and night, through thick and thin, through life and death.
   2. "I WILL COME AGAIN."
   3. THE PROMISE THAT GOD HIMSELF WOULD COME BACK TO EARTH TO TAKE HIS FRIENDS HOME TO LIVE WITH HIM FOREVER AND EVER!
   4. "I WILL COME AGAIN!"
   5. The shining promise of the return of Jesus Christ to this planet one day, one day very soon!
   6. "I WILL COME AGAIN!"
4. Illus: And please take note--not only once do we read that promise in this Book!
   1. There are in fact over 1500 references to the return of Christ here in the Bible.
   2. In just the 260 chapters of the New Testament there are 318 references to this promise!
   3. That figures out to once in every twenty-five verses in the NT.
   4. And in the Old Testament for every prophecy of His first coming there are 8 prophecies predicting His second coming!
   5. Whole chapters of the Bible are devoted to this single theme--Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 (which we will carefully examine tomorrow evening in ascertaining how very close we are to the end of this world.)
   6. Two entire books contain the theme--Daniel and Revelation.
5. "I WILL COME AGAIN!"--1500 times in this Book God keeps reminding us:
   1. "I have NOT forgotten you on earth! You are still My children, you are still My friends."
   2. "And I'm coming back FOR YOU!"
   3. "I know your heart is broken, I know your spirit is crushed."
   4. "I know your body is wracked in pain, I know you wonder, Can I hope again?"
   5. "I know your dreams are shattered, I know your marriage gone."
   6. "You're at the end of your last rope--but hold on--I'm coming to take you home."
6. "LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED, FOR I WILL COME AGAIN!"

1. For the next few moments let me share the evidence with you by moving through a rapid-fire examination of some dramatic word pictures in this Book.
2. II Peter 3: 8-10 (p 1167).
   1. V. 8--Peter's point--God is hardly affected by our limited time cycles here on earth--
      1. I.e., what seems like forever to us--a 1000 years (and notice all the hoopla about the end of a millennium around the planet these days! It is a rare moment in the human cycle--to approach another 1000 year milestone)--is like a fleeting day in God's time consciousness.
      2. He is not bound by our cyclical existence.
      3. [By the way, remember, He created us in the beginning to live forever--this short-cycled human existence is our gift from Lucifer, NOT God! Which again leads me to wonder why anybody in his right mind would intentionally follow Lucifer and his temptations, instead of following God!]
   2. While God is not bound by our time cycles, Peter quickly reassures us that He is just as eager as we are to bring this whole sorry experiment in human rebellion and suffering to an end!
   3. Then why doesn't He come back right now and get me? Read v. 9.
      1. If God had His way, every human being would freely choose God over Lucifer and receive life over death.
      2. But God doesn't have His way--you and I have total control over our free choices.
      3. What this life and battle are all about is God's love trying to woo us to choose Him as our Friend and Savior before time runs out.
   4. MAKE NO MISTAKE, Peter goes on, TIME WILL RUN OUT, BECAUSE GOD WON'T WAIT FOREVER! Read v. 10
      1. The world will come to an end!
      2. And the Day of the Lord THE ELEVENTH SCENARIO the return of Jesus Christ, will precipitate that cataclysmic ending.
      3. Mark well--according to this Book this world will come to an end--not by the ten scenarios of a social commentator--but the final scenario of the Second Coming!
3. Illus: Some individuals have gotten confused about the "thief in the night" reference of Peter here, thinking it means that Christ will return secretly and stealthfully.
   1. But as v. 10 makes explosively clear, THERE WILL BE NOTHING SECRET OR HIDDEN ABOUT THE RETURN OF THE KING OF KINGS TO HIS RIGHTFUL PLANET, usurped by the fallen rebel angel Satan!
   2. NO TIPTOEING BACK TO EARTH FOR JESUS!
   3. The "thief in the night" metaphor that the Bible uses is intended to describe the UNEXPECTEDNESS of Christ's return for most of this planet.
   4. Thieves are not necessarily silent when they break into a house, but they are nearly always UNEXPECTED.
   5. Illus: We went backpacking one Labor Day weekend out in Oregon and when we returned to my folks' place we joked as drove into the driveway that the back door looked like its window was missing!
      1. But it turned out to NOT be a joke at all.
      2. Not only was the window missing, but nearly everything with a plug on it inside the house was also missing.
      3. It is an awful feeling of being violated--when a thief steals into your house.
   6. My point--if we had known the thief were coming that weekend--we'd have been ready we AND THE POLICE I might add!
   7. But it is the nature and success of thieves that they strike when you least expect them to.
   8. Christ is no thief--but alas, His unexpected return will catch many human beings totally unprepared!
   9. II Pet. 3:10 clearly describes the entire planet in chaos at the return of Christ--no secret arrival here!
4. Let's let Jesus speak for Himself--Peter himself heard these words of Christ and reflected them in what we just read--but now let's hear Jesus in His own words--Matthew 24 (p 960).
   1. This is one of the dramatic prediction chapters in the Bible that will help us determine tomorrow evening just how close we actually are to the return of Christ and the end of the world.
   2. But this evening let's take specific note of Jesus' own description of His Second Coming--Matthew 24:21-27, 30,31.
   3. Ladies and gentlemen, mark it well--nobody will be sleeping through the ELEVENTH SCENARIO!
   4. The Second Coming of Christ will not be a secret, it will not be stealthful or silent.
   5. Illus: IT WILL BE LIKE A GOOD OLD FASHIONED SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN THUNDER AND LIGHTNING STORM!
      1. Now for those of you who are elsewhere around the world or across this nation tonight, I have no idea what your lightning storms are like.
      2. But I can assure you, having lived for fifteen years in this village, that we can get some real hum-dingers (good luck with translating that one, translators!) of a thunder storm around here!
      3. NOBODY SLEEPS THROUGH THAT KIND OF LIGHTNING.
      4. Why you can put your head under the pillow and still see the flash and feel the explosive roar of that thunder!
   6. Reread v. 27.
      1. Illus: Hold it right there--do you remember the story of Easter and what happened to some very bold, brave, braggioso Roman legionaires when a single angel came down from heaven and rolled away the stone to Jesus' grave that Sunday dawn? Matthew describes the warriors' reaction: "And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men." (28:4)
      2. One angel and an entire battalion keels over in fainting fright!
      3. NOW MULTIPLY THAT ONE ANGEL by ten thousand times ten thousand, as Daniel puts it, by millions and millions of angels in the sky--and now you can get a faint idea of what v. 31 will be all about!
   7. TALK ABOUT AN INVASION FROM OUTER SPACE--this will be no computer-generated Hollywood virtual reality sci-fi fiction--no "Return of the Jedi" this time--it will be THE RETURN OF JESUS, He whom the Scriptures call the King of kings and Lord of lords!
   8. AND THE ANGELS WILL GATHER HIS FRIENDS FROM ONE END OF THE EARTH TO THE OTHER!
   9. And all the while Somebody's blowing a horn--a trumpet!
5. Want to read what that trumpet blast is all about--some very, very good news over in I Thessalonians 4 (p 1137).
   1. Jesus describes all of heaven filled with the power and glory of His return with His accompanying angels, and through it all a trumpet is blasting its silver clarion call to earth.
   2. And what does that call mean? I Thes. 4:16-18.
   3. That trumpet of God accompanies the Voice of the Life Giver who from His cloud shouts down to His friends in the graves of this earth and calls them forth to everlasting life!
   4. Good news, my friends--because the friends of God and Jesus are going to be resurrected at the end of the world, at the return of Christ!
   5. AND WE WHO ARE ALIVE, Paul writes, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in air.
   6. Can you imagine the unutterable joy of that moment when mothers and fathers and sons and daughters and brothers and sisters and husbands and wives and lovers and friends and grandmas and grandpas are reunited once again, THIS TIME NEVER TO PART AGAIN!
6. "I WILL COME AGAIN!"--THAT'S WHAT THE PROMISE OF JESUS IS ALL ABOUT, MY FRIENDS--REUNITED WITH OUR FRIEND OF FRIENDS AND OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS FOREVER AND EVER.
7. SO-----let the world end!
   1. Because look what a glorious ending it will be for God's friends!
   2. Nevermind which one of the ten scenarios you fear for earth's future!
   3. Because Someone else is going to have the last word!
   4. That's why if you've accepted Jesus as your Savior and Lord and Friend, tonight's subject is about the greatest news in all the world!
   5. "I WILL COME AGAIN."
8. WHO WILL COME AGAIN? Read the glad assurance of those two angels who missed out on Christ's ascension back to heaven--Acts 1:9- 11 (p 1051).
   1. For forty days the resurrected Jesus has been with His small band of followers.
   2. For forty days He has reassured them that His gift of salvation and His promise of deliverance are sure and secure.
   3. And on their last afternoon together, the sky over the Mt. of Olives near Jerusalem must have been a fluffy white clouded blue in the afternoon sun.
   4. And as Jesus speaks His final words to His disciples, read vv. 9-11.
   5. The very same Jesus who embraced us with His Father's love while He was here in our midst--this same Jesus who sat around our tables and ate our meals and shared our laughter and wept our tears and lived our life and died our death and rose our resurrection--this same Jesus will return the very same way He left us.
   6. No bait and switch--it will be the very same Jesus.
   7. No change of plans, no replacement, no substitute teacher, no substitute Savior--it will be the very same Jesus we came to know and love when He was here amongst us.
   8. "THIS SAME JESUS."
   9. No secret coming, no stealthful return--He will come back to us the very way He left us: PERSONALLY, PUBLICLY, PLAINLY, and POWERFULLY.
   10. Illus: So much so that Revelation 1:7 declares--"Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him." [show on screen]
       1. Not just because CNN happens to give global satellite news coverage to the Second Coming of Christ.
       2. But rather because through the supernatural exploding spectacle of God Himself returning visibly to this planet with all His resplendent divine glory, it would be humanly impossible for any living creature to miss the most spectacular event in the history of the human race!
9. "I WILL COME AGAIN!"

1. Titus 2:13 (p 1146).
2. There it is, "BLESSED HOPE."
   1. The one commodity that is rapidly diminishing and dwindling on this planet tonight--HOPE.
   2. Illus: Several decades ago one of our nation's newest submarines "turned turtle"--rolling upside down it sank, trapping its entire crew in a watery prison.
      1. For a while it seemed as though rescue operations might be possible.
      2. Contact with those inside was established.
      3. Feverish efforts were made to save them.
      4. But time ran out.
      5. The last message laboriously tapped out on the metal hull before their oxygen failed was this: "Is....there.....any.....hope?"
   3. Is there any hope?
      1. It is the question that lurks in the shadows of every human mind tonight.
      2. Many of the young of America have lost hope. The suicide rate among the young today is triple the suicide rate for Boomer youth back in the 60s.
      3. About 3/4 of all teenagers have contemplated suicide, and over 1/4 have attempted it!
      4. Which makes suicide is the third leading cause of death among young adults.
   4. Is there any hope?
   5. We can stand anything as long as we feel that there is hope.
   6. Is there any hope?
   7. There is only one hope that can save this civilization entrapped in its watery prison that will soon become a grave.
   8. Only one answer to the midnight tapping against our desperate walls, "Is there any hope?"
3. A hope born into the dark night of this generation as a flickering light tonight.
   1. And that light is the Light of Jesus Christ, who wept in despair on the night before His own death.
   2. This same Jesus, who went to the cross abandoned and hopeless, He has tasted more than anyone else the dregs of this generation's cup of hopeless despair.
   3. Which is why for this generation, more than any other in the history of earth, Jesus stands in the shadows before the young and old--His nail-scarred hands outstretched to anyone who will listen--"Let not your heart be troubled--believe in God, believe in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."
   4. Let Me give you a reason to live, He cries out to you tonight--let Me give you a reason to hope, He promises you tonight--let Me give you a reason to look forward, let Me give you a reason to press on and on without giving up and without losing hope.
   5. "I WILL COME AGAIN.....AND THE FRIENDSHIP WE BEGAN HERE WILL BECOME A FOREVER FRIENDSHIP FOREVER AND EVER."
   6. "BECAUSE I WILL MAKE IT UP TO YOU--YOUR PAIN, YOUR ANGST, YOUR FEARS, YOUR TEARS, YOUR LOSS, YOUR LIFE, YOUR DEATH--I WILL MAKE IT UP TO YOU--FOR I WILL COME AGAIN."
4. No wonder His second coming is our BLESSED HOPE!
5. My friends, it is our ONLY HOPE! A hope that is yours for the asking when you pray the Bible's last prayer.
   1. Found on the last page is the last prayer, and I leave it with you.
   2. Revelation 22:20 (p 1190).
   3. A five-word prayer with a one-hope promise: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus.". [show on screen]
6. Would you like to pray that prayer and have that hope?
   1. It is yours for the asking.
   2. Read v. 17.
   3. The outstretched arms of Jesus tonight say "Come"--"Come to Me, for I am coming for you."
   4. Is there any hope?
   5. Oh yes--my friend--tonight there is a forever hope wrapped up in a forever friendship with the One who earnestly invites you to "Come."
7. Illus: Who can forget the award-winning photograph of the day the first POWs (prisoners of war) came back from Vietnam?
   1. Did you ever see that LIFE magazine black and white photo?
      1. The giant C-140 transport plane has touched down, a planeload of set-free prisoners inside.
      2. A crowd of family and friends and well-wishers has come on to that airforce base to welcome home the soldiers.
      3. The roaring jet has finally taxied onto the tarmac near the crowd and has rolled to a stop.
      4. The tail door stairway has dropped to the ground.
      5. And one by one they descend from the plane, these returning prisoners of war.
      6. A soldier father steps out of the plane and onto the pavement-- dressed in his crisp khaky uniform--his military cap stiffly in place-- his face and body surely thinner than before.
      7. But as he steps from the plane, racing across the tarmac a little girl comes running--a girl who has leaped over the security ribbon that cordons the crowd away from the plane.
      8. She is the daughter of the soldier.
      9. And she races toward him--a look of joyful ecstacy on her face--her dark hair streaming in the airport wind--her arms outstretched in a crooked sort of welcome.
      10. Father spots her and instantly drops his military duffle bag to the ground.
      11. And in love's instinctive motion, the father crouches down and begins to throw wide his arms.
      12. And in that instant--his little girl leaps off the ground--her feet no longer touching the earth--as she throws herself into her daddy's outstretched embrace.
      13. In that instant the camera shutter clicks.
      14. Transforming a black and white moment into a timelessness portrait of love reunited.
   2. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
   3. A forever hope wrapped up in the outstretched arms of a forever friendship.
   4. That's what the promise of His Second Coming is all about.
   5. No wonder the Bible ends with the prayer, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

Further Study:

When Jesus Comes For You     (Lecture Study Guide from Discover Bible School)

Topical:   Second Coming of Jesus.

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