The Coming Hope: The Coming King

I promise I'm gonna be referencing a lot of scripture. I'm not just making stuff up. But I wanna ask this question before we get to this passage, which is a very rich image of Christ in his second coming. You understand Advent, right, is a season where you're supposed to both look back at Christ's first coming and look forward with longing to his second coming. In our series and in our treatment of Advent this year, we're gonna be leaning heavily on looking at images of Christ in his second coming. And so that's why we're in Revelation this morning.

But I wanna ask this question before we get to the passage. Because we talk about looking forward to Christ's coming, I think there's a subconscious question that all of us ask that's in the back of our minds whether we wanna admit it or not. That oftentimes dictates how we act and how we live as Christians. It's a question of uncertainty and it's this: Is he really coming? Is he really coming again? Are you honest enough with yourself to admit that you asked that question? That you asked that question with a sincere kind of "I'm just not so sure"?

You know, when I was in college, we had something called the professor rule. Do you guys know the professor rule? The first group didn't know it at all. So yeah, if it's a TA teaching your class, you give them maybe five minutes. They don't deserve that respect. But a professor, right, you give them fifteen minutes. Now you can make an argument that Jesus is the king of the universe and so therefore we give him as much time as he needs. And certainly scripture tells us that we should because he's not slow in coming. He's patient, waiting on people to repent. It's not that he's tardy. But that's how it feels, right? That's how it feels often. We're just kind of stuck here waiting on him coming and it's been over two thousand years at this point and we're looking at the clock and it's kind of like, isn't it time to go back to the dorm room and play video games?

And honestly, that's how a lot of us live. We found our hope in other things. We're no longer looking with longing towards that. We're looking towards the next closest good thing that we can grab a hold of. The next thing that might be bringing some relief, at least for some period of time. It's not something that ultimately satisfies but it's right here. It's tangible. We can feel it. Like the lottery, right? The lottery was really big recently. A lot of people bought lottery tickets because they could hope in that. It was tangible. It was right here. There's this big amount of money. But it's not something that's sure or certain or lasting. Even if you win the lottery, you can't take it with you as they say.

But all of us have our lotteries, our things that we've grasped onto in the absence of Christ's return where rather than looking towards that, we fix our longing on that. I have all sorts of things. I can't wait until I get this thing for Christmas. I can't wait until my kids get to the age where they can do this on their own and I don't have to do it for them. All sorts of things like that. And those are good things. Those are good things. But in the midst of those, I think often times we lose sight of the real hope that we have in Christ's coming again.

Christ's Second Coming in Scripture

And is he coming? If we look at God's word, God's word is kind of obsessed with telling you he's coming. In fact, if you actually do some sort of quantifying of it as some scholars have done, if you look in the Bible, you'll find around 2,000 different specific references to Jesus Christ's second coming. Here's just to put that into perspective: it outnumbers references to his first coming something like eight to one. Eight to one. Think about how obsessed you are with little baby Jesus and celebrating Christmas. You should be eight times as obsessed with Jesus coming back, okay?

In the Old Testament, 17 out of 39 books predicted it. It's not a New Testament hope. It's an Old Testament hope too. In the New Testament, 23 out of 29 discuss it explicitly. Roughly 70% of New Testament chapters brush up against it or deal with it directly. And it comes up in roughly one in every 30 verses of the Bible. It's all over it. And literally everyone in the Bible is talking about it.

Starting with God the Father, right in Genesis three, right after the fall, Jesus's second coming is predicted. He will come and crush the head of the serpent. You see that in Revelation. It's predicted right there at the beginning by God the Father himself. But not just God the Father—the prophets. It's all they can talk about. Daniel and Isaiah are particularly interested in it. Jesus himself talks about it.

Most explicitly in the Olivet discourse where he spells out, "I'm coming back and this is what it's gonna be like." Angels at the beginning of Acts proclaim it. He's coming again. The apostles in the epistles are obsessed with it. It's all over the epistles. They extensively talk about him coming back in the hope that we have and of course, revelation is all about it. All about it.

So if it's all that the biblical authors can talk about, why is it something that we so rarely talk about? Why is it something that we so rarely hope in?

The Nature of Hope

We need to talk about hope for just a second. We like to talk about hope as though it pertains to just things like the lottery. Like, "I hope I win the lottery. It's a one in ten million chance but gosh, I hope I win the lottery." When we talk about hoping in Christ's return, we're not talking about that kind of hope. There's hope and there's hope.

Actually, if you look it up in the dictionary definition, that first definition, the one that we commonly use for things like the lottery—"Gosh, I hope I win"—there's a distant chance. I doubt it, but gosh, wouldn't it be nice kind of hope is the first definition. The second one is more—it labels the dictionary labels it archaic. But it is a longing for something that you have rooted your identity in and are certain of.

So when the Bible talks about hope, it's not talking about something that is uncertain. Listen to a couple of these verses.

Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. — 1 Peter 1:13

It's not saying, "Hey, you know, roll the dice, play the lottery." It's saying this is something that is certain. Build your life on it.

Paul talks about it as well as something that is sure and certain.

Paul speaks of our hope that does not disappoint. — Romans 5:5

Doesn't disappoint. It's sure. He points out that God has already given the spirit. God has given you a down payment. That's how you know it's sure. You've got the Holy Spirit. And in Romans 8, he talks about how he's already sent his son to die for us. If he did that, will he not also give us all things? "I'm sure that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ. He's coming back. It's certain."

So when the Bible talks about hope and it talks about us hoping in the return of Christ, it's not talking about a lottery ticket. It's talking about something that is so beautiful, so majestic, and so certain. It's the only thing you wanna build your life on.

And he didn't just send us roughly 2,000 reminders in his words so that if we're reading it regularly, it punches us in the face from time to time. He also gave us rich pictures. He put us in a time machine and gave us imagery of what it's actually going to look like. And that is what this series, this advent is going to be. We're looking at the pictures of Christ's return.

The Locket

You know, in the olden days, people used to give each other a locket. Do you know what a locket is? It's a necklace that you wear. You open it up and inside is what? Pictures. It's usually shaped like a heart, symbolic of something that you have put your whole self into. Like, "Here's my heart and inside is my picture of my family, for example. People that I love."

But did you know that the original lockets—do you know why it's called a locket? The original idea was that you lock them, you know, to make sure that they're sure and secure. Actually, lockets originally were given with a picture and behind the picture somewhere, you cut off a lock of your hair and put it inside. And the idea there was, "I'm giving you a piece of myself in addition to a picture of myself so that I will go with you everywhere you go and you will remember how special you are to me."

Jesus didn't just give us love letters that said, "Hey, I'm coming back. I'm coming back. I'm coming back." He gave us a locket with the Holy Spirit sent to interpret these images that he gives us of himself returning. So it's like we can at any time when we read scripture and look at these images, put on the VR HD goggles of scripture and see the future. See the future of the beauty of him returning and that is what we're going to do this Advent which starts this Sunday because we're Presbyterian.

So I have two points for this sermon in addition to the one that I just did. But before I get to those points, let's read the passage. But this is how I wanna read the passage differently than we've done it in the past. Normally, we all read it together. But today, I just want you to close your eyes.

And I want you to imagine, to envision, to listen to the details of the image of our Lord Jesus returning. Close your eyes and listen to God's word. This is Revelation 19:11.

Then I saw heaven opened and there was a white horse. Its rider is called faithful and true. And with justice, he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a fiery flame and many crowns were on his head. He had a name written that no one knows except himself. He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the word of God. The armies that were in heaven followed him on white horses wearing pure white linen. A sharp sword came from his mouth so that he might strike the nations with it. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will also trample the wine press of the fierce angry anger of God, the almighty. And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh, king of kings and lord of lords. — Revelation 19:11-16

Lord Jesus, thank you that you are coming again. Thank you that that is not some sort of distant small chance for a future reality but it is certain. Thank you for giving us images to encourage us as we sojourn here in the world. Lord, help us this morning to fix our eyes on you, to be encouraged by what this image presents to us. Lord, help us to see it. Send your spirit today specifically to enliven this image. May it be real to us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Okay, we already did one point. So congratulations, we're a third of the way there. Last two points—here they are. Are you ready?

First point: Do we really want him?

Second point: Do we really want him?

Third point: Do we really want him?

Notice the difference in emphasis. The first point we're emphasizing him: Do we really want him? And then secondly, the emphasis is on really: Do we really want him? Do you see the difference? Alright.

Do We Really Want Him?

Let's look at the first one. Do we really want Jesus specifically? If you are familiar with Jesus only through popular culture, he's kind of silly, especially in this country. Jesus has been grabbed hold of by almost every kind of comedic platform and often enters into the world of comedy in funny ways, which is often incredibly inappropriate.

But our culture has kind of made Jesus into a bobblehead doll. He's kind of cool. Often he's presented in shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, Robot Chicken. He pops up in South Park even. And he's presented as someone who's generally beneficent—he's good. It's not like they're portraying Jesus as evil, but he's kind of silly in how he uses his powers. He's kind of just kicking around doing fun stuff, and it leaves you wondering if that's your impression of Jesus. And whether you acknowledge it or not, popular culture has an influence on us and how we think about things. So even those of us who are reading scripture regularly, I think these things pop into our minds and influence us.

And then when you think about that in terms of Jesus's second coming, it's like these shows are depicting him coming back, and while it seems fun and hilarious, is it really all that good? Is it really going to deliver on the things that scripture promises—like defeating all of our enemies: sin, death, and Satan? Is he really going to do that or is he just coming to crack a few jokes and bobble his head?

Obviously, scripture pushes back against that image of Christ. And this picture that we have just read, this image that we have just seen, is a different Jesus. Not a Jesus who's joking around, who's just here to crack a few jokes and go back up and kick it with the Father for eternity. He's coming and he means business.

There's a huge emphasis in our culture on justice. And one question I think that our culture wants to ask is: Is Jesus man enough to actually deliver on justice? Is he actually going to do all these things that he's saying he's going to do, or is he wimpy and just going to show up and crack a few jokes and go up and kick it with the Father and be a bobblehead and allow that to just sail on by?

The picture here answers that question definitively.

Notice that this passage is obsessed with the name of Jesus. Did you notice that? As we went through this, there were a lot of names. Jesus presents a lot of ID. He shows up and he's like, let me show you my ID. Except notice that the first piece of ID that he shows is: I ain't showing you my ID. Did you notice that? He has a name written that only he knows. Nobody else knows it.

Now think about this. Our culture is obsessed with secret agents. We love secret agents. Who's your favorite secret agent? James Bond, Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible—I don't even know his name. Jason Bourne.

Secret agents, government operatives—what's one thing they all have in common? We don't know their real names. At least their enemies don't know their real names. Same is true of Batman. Batman wears a mask so that nobody knows his real name. Why? Because if you know his name, then you have power over him. You could get to his close relatives, his ward, Dick Grayson, or whomever is close to Batman.

Jesus has a name that only he knows. Nobody has the goods on him. He's a secret agent coming with that kind of withheld identity so that nobody can use that against him. No one can evoke his name. Another common illustration is like your mom. Has your mom ever evoked your name? "James Morrison Sutton Junior, what have you done?" Right? Nobody talks that way to Jesus because nobody knows his name. Only he knows his name. So he's coming with this kind of incomprehensible power—something that is withheld from everyone else. He's so secretive in terms of who he is that you can't get the goods on him. That's the first piece of ID that he delivers: you don't get to see my ID. You don't need to see his identification.

Notice also there's this image of him having fiery eyes. Now, I think that's an image of him coming to judge and to wage war. But I also think that his fiery eyes are an image of how much he knows. They pierce darkness. There's nothing you can hide from his eyes. He comes and he sees. You don't get dirt on him, but guess what? He's got all the dirt on you. Do you see that image?

Notice too the other name that's given—his spoken name: Word of God. When he presents that ID, he's telling you he's a wizard. He's not only a secret agent; he's also a wizard. Here's what I mean: God in the Bible has powerful words—way more powerful than Harry Potter or Gandalf or whomever. When he speaks, whatever he says happens. That's the idea behind magic words. You learn the spell and then it does what you want. Well, God didn't have to learn any spells. It's just his words. He speaks his words and it happens. Word of God is essentially equivalent with "it's going to do whatever I tell it to do." And the image is that his mouth has a sword. Jesus is coming to conquer, but he didn't need a sword in his hands. All he's got to be is like, "Be vanquished." It's the same as "let there be light." He's a wizard. He's a secret agent wizard. He's not just coming as a bobblehead with no power. He's coming with incomprehensible power—the kind of power that created the entire universe and can certainly uncreate it. This is a powerful image.

Thirdly, notice the third piece of ID that he gives. What's his name that's written on his robe and on his thigh? King of Kings. The image here that I always think of—because I can't think of the Book of Revelation without thinking about the movie Tombstone. The movie Tombstone is actually about Revelation if you've never watched it closely. Pay attention. It's a literary presentation using the story of Wyatt Earp to present the story of Revelation. It's amazing as a literary thing to study.

When Wyatt Earp shows up right after the OK Corral happens—after the cowboys come and murder a bunch of his family—initially he shows up in Tombstone as just a regular guy. But then that happens, and what does he do? He has a history as a lawman. They all have badges that represent their authority locally. Well, he goes to the federal government. He gets commissioned as a US Marshal. So he shows up after that happens, and he's got one of the cowboys at gunpoint, and he's telling him, "You go warn everybody else. You tell them I'm coming and hell's coming with me." That's what he says. Then he pulls back his shirt, and on his robe is a badge that says US Marshal. He says, "Yeah, you see that? I'm authorized. I'm authorized to come at you."

That's what this is saying: Jesus is authorized. God has given him a badge that says King of Kings. All you guys, you have your little authority? Oh no. He's got many crowns and a badge that says, "King of Kings. I outrank you. I am the law." That's what that says. And it's on his robe and on his thigh. Why his thigh? In ancient times, that's where you carried your sword. It represents the authority that he has to exercise power and judgment and wrath. He's not a bobblehead doll. He's a secret agent wizard US Marshal.

His fourth name is "Faithful and True." We're going to come back to that name, but essentially this represents how committed he is to what he's come to do. We're going to come back to that and the illustration of it, which is his robe. But I also want to look before we move on from this question of do we really want him? Because we do. He's more than a bobblehead doll. He's the one that can actually conquer our enemies. I want to look at his ride. He shows up on a white horse. This is in stark juxtaposition to how he arrived in his triumphal entry here on Earth. Do you remember? He shows up riding a donkey.

The donkey is historically—if you look at the prophets, right, the prophets predicted Jesus would ride in on a donkey. That's why he did it, so he could proclaim he was the Messiah. It was a very regal thing to do in one regard. But the symbolism of a donkey specifically was a symbol of peace. The prophets love to do stuff like this. They take war imagery and then they take agricultural imagery and they say agricultural imagery represents peace, war imagery represents war. So for example, they will beat their swords into plowshares. Sometimes the Bible says they'll beat their plowshares into swords, right? It symbolizes a shift back and forth between war imagery and peace imagery.

So Jesus shows up on a donkey, right? Why? Because he comes to us in peace. But when he comes to conquer our enemies, he doesn't come on a donkey. He comes on a white horse, right? I can't help but think of Shrek, right? Shrek 3, right? When they get transformed by the fairy godmother juice or whatever and Eddie Murphy's like, "I'm a stallion," right? That's the picture of Jesus when he comes for his enemies. He's not just coming peacefully. He's not coming as a wimp. He's coming as a conquering king.

And the image of a horse, I think that's lost on us, right? Because we don't fight wars on horses anymore. And I think about when I was at NC State, I was having lunch at the student union and the Army was recruiting. So they flew in an Apache helicopter to the dirt track right there by the student union and they were letting kids climb on it and saying, "Don't you want to commit your life to the military?" And they're like, "Cool, yes, sign me up." Well, I didn't know that was happening. I was just eating dinner at the student union. And I guess it was time for the Apache to go back home. It just rose up off the dirt track and it was facing me. I don't know if you've ever seen the front of an Apache helicopter. There's more missiles on that thing and guns. It's just the scariest thing you've ever seen. I was like, "I give up." That's the picture here. Jesus is coming on a white horse with an entourage, with an army, okay? Do you see?

So do we want him? The answer is yes. He's your guy. Like, if you're going into a battle with something that's bigger than you, that you can't conquer, that's going to be hard, he's your man.

The Personal Weight of This Message

I'm going to be transparent for a minute. I was talking at a staff meeting earlier this week about just how hard preaching this sermon is for me. On Monday, everybody was like, "Hey, how can we pray for you?" I'm like, "Pray for this Sunday," because I'm normally a hopeful person and this is meant to be a hopeful sermon series. But I'm going to tell you, I think it was demonic attack in some ways, but wave after wave of just hard things washed on to me this week. And it was really hard for me on Monday to think about how I was going to talk about the hope we have in Christ's coming.

But here's the truth. God in his sovereignty appointed me to preach this sermon, not to you but to me. Because as I look through his ID and the symbolic representation of who Christ is, do you see? He has the authority, the power, the dominion to conquer all of the hard things. Every hard and challenging and terrible thing that we face—Jesus comes with a plan to defeat it. So I don't know what your heart is. I don't know what it is, but it doesn't stand up to the Apache helicopter, the war secret agent wizard US marshal that is coming in the person of Christ. And that is our hope.

The Difficult Question

So, second point: do we really want him? Think back to that Apache helicopter thing. I was a little nervous, and if you read Revelation—if you read Revelation, you probably get a little nervous. Just to give you some of the context of this story of Jesus coming—right after this, it starts talking about birds feasting on flesh. There's a white throne of judgment coming up. It talks about him in this passage trampling the wine press of the anger of God. Think about that for a minute and the symbolism there. There's a lot of blood and gore in this picture, and it's hard not to read all of that and kind of go, "Wait a minute. Who's he coming for? Do we really want him to come? Are we really sure?"

And there's scary imagery, right? He's riding a white horse, but what color is his robe? It's covered in blood. This is a bloody picture. Do we really want this king coming? He's gonna trample the wine press of God. He's got blood all over his robes. This is scary.

There are many interpretations to Revelation, as you know, and some people look at his bloody robes and say this is symbolic of the people he's going to conquer—Jesus. I don't believe that's the right interpretation. Here's why: because the battle hasn't happened yet in chapter 19. He's coming straight from a feast, and then he's going to conquer his enemies. So where'd the blood come from?

Well, he's not just a king. He's also a priest, right? In the order of Melchizedek, Hebrews tells us. Jesus often in Revelation is depicted in both ways—that contrast his incredible power but also his incredible sacrifice. Think about the lamb who was slain, who is also talked about as the lion of Judah. Jesus comes with blood on his robes, and it's his blood. The priest sprinkled themselves with blood from the sacrifice to make it appropriate for them to go before God and to make them sanctified for warfare so that they could go fight righteously. So Jesus is coming as a priest with blood on his robes—his blood.

Notice who's behind him. There's an army in white linen. Some people think this is angels. Might be angels. Might be part angels, might be part human, right? But he's just had a feast with the church, with the saints. So the context suggests that it's not just angels. And white linen—both of those are pictures of purity and cleanliness. The Egyptians actually used white linen for mummification because they believed that it covered them in purity for the afterlife. They referred to it as woven moonlight. It was the garb that you wanted to wear if you wanted to present yourself pure and clean.

Jesus' robes are red, but his army's robes are white. And here's the thing that I want you to see—two things. One, he's got a sword coming out of his mouth. They have no armor. No weapons. Just white linen and white horses. They're riding with him behind him. Why? Because he's gonna fight for them. They don't need armor. They don't need armor. They're coming behind their great champion.

And notice too that their perspective is from behind. They're coming from behind him. He's not coming for them. They're fighting with him.

Silverado and the Hero's Perspective

I talked about tombstones. I'll talk about my favorite western. My favorite western is Silverado. Anybody ever seen Silverado? It's an older western but there are these four guys, these four heroes in the story that experience various kinds of injustice, and at the end of the film, they're about to ride into the town—into Silverado. They ride up alongside of each other and of course, they don't say a word. You know why? Because they're cowboys. They don't say a word, but they know where they're going and they know what they're going to do.

I want you to think about that for a minute. The perspective that we have of Jesus is not a scary one because we are behind him. We ride up alongside of him, right? And we're going into war with him, knowing that he is fighting on our behalf. I want you to just picture that for a minute. How glorious that will be. All of the saints that you know, right? I can't wait to be riding up on my white horse next to Matt freaking Newkirk, who studies Greek and goes and raises up church planters in Japan, right? That's gonna be our moment when Jesus comes back. Who are you gonna be riding alongside of? Think about that perspective.

It's different than the perspective of Christ's enemies, who are in front of him—who see the sword coming out of his mouth because it's coming for them. Those enemies are the beast, the nations, right? That great serpent, the devil, the antichrist. These are our enemies, brothers and sisters. The point is, that's not us, right? All that violent imagery is reserved for our enemies, for the enemies of Christ.

We'd have to do a whole other sermon to get into who those people are and what all that represents, but the point is, it's not you. You're behind him because he has sacrificed himself. His blood has made you perfectly clean. You get to be in the army. You get to be a part of the hero's ride. Not because you're a hero. You have all sorts of problems and things that you get wrong and you mess up on a daily basis, but guess what? He's so heroic. He's got enough hero for all of us, and we ride with him. What a beautiful picture.

Some friends of mine this past month said something pretty severe to me. I don't know if you've ever experienced something like this, but I did something they didn't like. And I've been thinking about whether I should have done it or not. I'm not really sure.

They said to me, one day we'll all face the judge of the universe. What? Anybody ever had something like that said to you? The implications are pretty clear. You should think about that. You should think about what you've done. And I did.

I don't know. Still don't know. But I do know this: my favorite hymn is "Oh, Quickly Come Dread Judge of All." Nobody else likes that hymn.

As I went through processing being told this, at first I was like, I can't believe they said that. It's so hurtful and spiritually manipulative. And then I thought, you know what? They just reminded me that the great judge is coming, and I thought about that song. Here's how the lyrics go:

Oh, quickly come dread judge of all. For awful though thine advent be, Your coming—how, as awful as that is— As awful though thine advent be, All shadows from the truth will fall And falsehood die inside of thee. Oh, quickly come for doubt and fear Like clouds dissolve when you are near.

I don't know if I should have done what they think I shouldn't have done. But you know what? All the shadows are gonna fade away when Jesus comes back, and I'll know. And if I was wrong, he paid for it. And if I was right, great. Doesn't matter, right?

My friends who said this to me and I will ride together behind Jesus to conquer sin, death, and Satan. Oh, quickly come. My friends, I think they meant that to be a warning, but I'm like, man, I'm so encouraged. Thank you.

So do we really want him? Yes. Do we really want him? Yes. Do we really think about it?

A Pattern of Waiting

In conclusion, I've developed this weird rhythm. I get up almost every morning to watch the sunrise. I feel weird telling you about that because it's literally almost every morning—sometimes like 5 AM—to watch the sun come up. I go to the Boylan Street Bridge if you ever want to join me. It's usually where I am, sometimes Dick's Park, but usually Boylan Street Bridge. You know why? Because it's an incredible view of the sunrise.

Here's how this came about. I started painting. You remember I've told you about that? I started oil painting a while ago, and oil painting a sunrise is something that I wanted to master. So I get up to look at sunrises to try and figure out where the colors all go. And you know what? Every sunrise is different. I've learned some things about where colors go, but I've also learned that the sunrise can look however the sunrise wants to look—however God wants it to look. It's never gonna conform to some sort of pattern. It's unique every single time, and I'm obsessed with it.

I get up and I take videos, time lapses, and I put them to music. I have no less than 20 videos of that. No kidding. It's weird. My wife thinks it's unhealthy.

I was at a party recently and somebody was asking me, do you really do that? And I'm like, yeah, I really do it. I started thinking about why I really do that. It was because of the painting thing, but then also, I remember we were in Hawaii and I was getting up every morning to watch sunrises because, you know, Hawaii. Sunrises are beautiful in Hawaii, and there's a place in Maui called Haleakala. It's this sacred mountain to the native Hawaiians, and you go up to the top of it—it's high enough you get over the clouds—and you can watch the sunrise from above, which is incredible.

I got home after that trip, and that became part of this pattern. I was like, you know what? There are sunrises in Raleigh. I can do this every single day. And I haven't stopped.

But you know what? Boylan Street Bridge isn't high enough. It's not like Haleakala. You're just watching the sunrises from below.

I've developed this pattern where it's become this devotional thing where I'm waiting for the sunrise, and I never know when it's gonna come up based on the clouds. There's a time on my app, but it comes up at different times and looks differently. It's always kind of a surprise—kinda like Jesus is coming.

I sit there in the freezing cold and I wait for it, and I'm like, why is the sun not up? It's supposed to be up now. It's late or it's early. I never know. I thought about, man, this is so much like Christ coming. The sun comes and it breaks through the clouds, and every morning I'm reminded: Today could be the day. This could be it. He's coming. This could be the day. Every single day.

I've also thought about that perspective. The problem with Raleigh is nowhere is high enough to get that perspective. So you know what I did? I bought a drone. American ingenuity. Or actually, I think it's made in China. But anyway, I can get up above the clouds and watch the sunrise and have the same perspective that we have in this picture.

And I think, man, how great will it be to be on a white horse, the proverbial Apache helicopter alongside of Christ, alongside of all of you, and be watching as we go into battle against all of our enemies. Our sin, death, disease, pain, sorrow are crushed by our secret agent wizard US marshal, faithful and true savior king.

Brothers and sisters, the application of this sermon is this: Will you spend this Advent looking to the coming Christ? Will you gaze upon the images of him that he's given you? And will you allow that to enrapture your soul with the truth about who God is?

Maranatha, Christ is coming. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are coming. We thank you that you've given us pictures to remind us—and not just statements. We thank you for the statements though too. And Lord, we just pray that during this time you would fix our gaze upon you, that our hope truly would be built upon you and nothing else. Lord, you are the only sure foundation of hope. We thank you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.