Episode Transcript
Hello, I'm Doctor Kylie Fisher. Welcome to heavenly harmonies. Revelation, chapter 22 and verse 20 says, he which testifieth these things, which is Jesus himself, saith, surely I come quickly.
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The prayer of John the Revelator is the prayer of the church through the ages.
You know, the hope of the second coming of Christ is the very keynote of the sacred scriptures. That is the day God's people have waited and longed for ever since Adam and Eve first turned their sorrowing steps from Eden. This precious joy, inspiring hope, is the theme of our hymn for this week.
Stay with me to discover how the song hail him, the king of glory can keep you near to the heart of God. Tell it to every kindred and nation. Tell it far and near.
Earth's darkest night will fade with the dawning Jesus will soon appear. Hail him, the king of glory. Once the lamb, for sinners slain tell, tell the wondrous story.
Jesus comes to reign. Nations again in strife and commotion. Warnings, by the way, signs in the heavens, unerring omens herald the glorious day.
Hail him, the king of glory. Once the lamb, for sinners slain tell, tell the wondrous story. Jesus comes to reign.
Children of God, look up with rejoicing, shout and sing his praise. Blessed are they who, waiting and watching, look for the dawning rays. Hail him, the king of glory.
Once the lamb, for sinners slain tell, tell the wondrous story. Jesus comes to reign. It is indeed a wondrous story.
It is indeed a wonderful message to think that Jesus is coming again. So let's see how this hymn fits into our theme for this season. So we have been tracing the history of God's church through dark centuries of persecution.
But during this time, as in all ages, the hope of Christ's second coming lighted up the future for those who suffered, scorn, insult, suffering, and even Amada's death at the hands of the enemies of the gospel. You know the waldenses, Wycliffe, Luther, Melanchthon, Tyndale, Calvin, Knox, Baxter, these and others, they all loved Christ's appearing, and they considered it, in the words of Titus, chapter two and verse 13, to be the blessed hope. These men shared the faith of Adam, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and David.
They shared the expectation of the disciples of Christ, to whom Jesus himself spoke the words of John, chapter 14, and verses one to three. Let's read these together. John 14, one, three, in which Jesus speaking says, let not your heart be troubled.
Ye believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. What a wonderful promise that is, that Jesus is coming back again, to take us, to be with him forever, never to be separated from our wonderful saviour.
So. But, you know, these. These three verses are just.
Well, I'm not sure whether they'd be counted as, like, all one promise or three promises, but anyway, they are just one passage speaking about the second coming of Christ, of many, many promises. And, in fact, in the Old Testament, there are over 1500 references to the second coming. In the New Testament, the second coming is mentioned in one out of every 25 verses.
So it really is just as we've been saying, it's such a highlight of the great controversy because that is the day when the power of evil will be broken. And as we've been saying, Christ will come to take his people to himself. And so, you know, those reformers and those who maintain the truths of the gospel during the persecution of the dark ages, which lasted for 1260 years.
Yeah. According to Bible prophecy, from 538 AD to 1798, those who maintained their faith during this time, plus those before, they all looked forward to the second coming as the consummation of their hope. And so, you know, as we've been saying, they were willing even to suffer a martyr's death to go down to the grave, that they might rise free because they had that wonderful hope.
However, although this, you know, the message of the second advent of Christ has been the hope of all God's followers through the ages, it was not to occur in their date. Let's have a look at a couple of Bible verses or two Bible verses about this in two Thessalonians, chapter two and verses two to three. Second Thessalonians, chapter two and verses two to three.
Paul the apostle is writing here, and he says that he does not want the thessalonian believers to be soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. So Paul is here clearly talking about the second coming, which he spoke about in one Thessalonians chapter four. He says, don't be soon shaken.
Do not think that the day of Christ is at hand. Verse three says, let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition and so that man of sin is talking about prophecy in Daniel chapter seven, which speaks about little horn power that has eyes like the eyes of a man, and mouth speaking great things. And he was to have power for 1260 years.
And that's the time of persecution that we've been speaking about. So up until 1798, the power when the time when that power received, as. As it says in revelation, chapter 13, a deadly wound.
Up until that time, Christ could not return. It must be this side of 1798. And in our day, in what the Bible calls the time of the end, that Christ's second advent is to take place and that we are to look for the second advent.
And so I want to read a verse about this because this is such an important message for today. I want to look at two Peter, chapter one and verse twelve. Let's read this verse together.
Such an important verse. Second Peter, chapter one and verse twelve. The apostle Peter, who lived with Christ here on earth, speaking here, and he says, wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them and be established in the present truth.
And so here in this verse, we find something that's even more important than just general truth. You know, the Bible is a book of truth, and there's so many references in the Bible to the Bible being the words of truth. But here we see something even more vital to our salvation than understanding just truth generally.
Because as we learned in our episode last week, we actually had a little summary that I thought of at 02:00 in the morning when I woke up and couldn't sleep. I thought of a summary of once to every man and nation. I ran out of time, actually to share it last time, so I'm going to share it now.
So a summary of the four verses, which are the moment of truth, the character of truth, the march of truth, and the triumph of truth. But the point that fits, particularly our point that we are now making, is the march of truth. They must upward still and onward.
Who would keep abreast of truth? And so there is truth. The Bible is truth. But we need to understand present truth, the truth as it applies in our day.
You know, as you look through the Bible, there were present day messages in all ages of history. In Noah's day, there was a special message, and that message was to get into the ark, to get into the boat that was prepared to escape the waters of the flood. In the days of Moses, there was a message.
Moses was to lead the people out of Egypt. Sadly, through their disobedience, they had to wander for 40 years in the wilderness. And so we see all through the ages that there was present truth.
We see from the writings of Peter that there was a present truth in Peter's day, and that was that Christ had come. He had fulfilled this 70 week prophecy that's in Daniel that we don't have time to look at. But anyway, if you've got questions about it, why not write to us and ask us about it? And we can help you to understand it and maybe even help you to learn about it in song.
So in Peter's day, there was a present truth, which was that Jesus was the Messiah. And of course, all of these things, you know, looking back, we see those present truths. Those present truths show us the trustworthiness of the word of God.
And of course, it's essential for our salvation to understand that Christ died on the cross for us and he returned to heaven. But we need to know what he's doing today, and we need to know what tomorrow is bringing. We need to know the message for today, the message that will enable us to meet special deceptions that there are in our day.
And if we don't understand the message of truth, the message of present truth, then, well, God is merciful and he judges us according to the light that we have. But if we have the opportunity to learn present truth and we don't take that opportunity, then that's, that's really choosing darkness over light. And, you know, we might be deceived.
So that's, that would be a terrible, terrible tragedy. And so that's why we at three ABN want you to understand present truth. We want you to understand about the second coming and the message that comes to, which is to do with our name, three angels broadcasting network.
And so it's the three angels messages which we'll come to in just a second. Okay, so the second coming has been the hope of all God's followers. But as we saw, it was not to occur in the days of Paul and of Peter.
It was not to occur in the days of the early reformers like Luther and Tyndale and so on. But it is, we're now living in the time when this is due to happen. This is the next event on God's prophetic calendar.
And so this is a message that needs to be heard all over the world. Let's look at maybe one of the most famous verses about this. Matthew, chapter 24 in this chapter where Jesus is talking about his second coming.
And Matthew chapter 20, 414, which says, this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. And so this message of the second coming is to be a worldwide message, bringing us right to our song for today. As we said earlier, tell it to every kindred and nation.
Tell it far and near. Earth's darkest night will fade with the dawning. Jesus will soon appear.
That is the message for today. And we also do see this message. As I think I've mentioned in previous episodes, Revelation chapter 14.
I mean, like, there's the second coming is referred to, just as we've said so many times in the Bible. But Revelation chapter 14 and verse 14, which says, john speaking, he says, I looked and behold a white cloud. And upon the cloud one sat like unto the son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
So if you look in Matthew chapter 1339 talks about how the harvest in Jesus parables represents the end of the world. So when Jesus has this sharp sickle in his hand, he's going out to reap the harvest of the earth as an angel says to him in the next verse. And so this talking about the end of time, this is clearly depicting the second coming.
And so there is a worldwide message that is to go out, because if we look in Revelation chapter 14 and verse six, Revelation 14 six, John says, I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people. Now also, this is mentioned as well in Revelation chapter ten. This will have more significance in our song for next week.
But, you know, all of these songs are connected where I'm trying to trace through a theme, and we're looking at this theme of the great battle between good and evil, you know, and it's a historical account that we're tracing through. So this will have more significance next week. We'll see more of the significance of it.
Or next episode, I should say. So Revelation chapter ten speaks about an angel coming down from heaven, and it says that he's clothed with a cloud, a rainbow is upon his head. And in verse two, it says he had in his hand a little book open.
He set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the earth. So this message that he's preaching is going everywhere. It's going to inhabited areas, it's going to uninhabit or, you know, relatively sparsely populated areas.
And it says in verse three that he cried with a loud voice. And revelation 14 seven, which is the verse after what we just read about the message of the gospel, the everlasting gospel, going to all nations, it says, saying with a loud voice. So the message in revelation chapter ten is the start of these messages in Revelation chapter 14, verses six to twelve.
Those are the messages to prepare God's people for the second coming, which will come to me in just a second. All right, so this is a message we've seen from multiple verses. Matthew 20 414, revelation 14 six, revelation ten, two, three.
And there are other verses that we could look at. There are multiple verses that show this is to be a worldwide message. And this is the message of present truth.
It is the truth for our time. And so Jesus, in his great love for us, not only tells us about the manner of his coming, which we don't have time to explore in great detail today, but I am hoping that if I have the opportunity, I want to do multiple seasons on these three angels messages, because, as we say, they're present truth. And that's what we at three ABN are wanting to bring to you, our audience, are these messages of present truth, the three angels messages, and to see how they teach us about, you know, how they apply the truths of the Bible to our day.
And so, yeah, if we have opportunity, I hope that we can look at these messages and study them in greater depth through song, because songs can help us to remember these wonderful truths in the time when we really need them. So that's what I'm hoping. But for today, we're just going to have a very brief overview.
Just all of these programmes are such brief overviews of these truths and of the wonderful songs, we could go into so much more depth. So this message is to be a worldwide message. But Christ, in his great love for us, not only gives us the message, we not only have time prophecies of scripture that tell us that it's to happen this side of 1798, but also he gives us particular signs, signs that are told about in various places in the Bible, perhaps most prominently and most thickly gathered together in Matthew chapter 24, mark chapter 13.
And Luke chapter 21 speaks about these signs. So let's just have a look. And in revelation as well, if we have time, we'll look there.
I don't know. We're running out of time. Luke chapter 21.
I want to read this verse from Luke chapter 21 and verse 25. And it says, there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth. Distress of nations and perplexity.
The sea and the waves roaring. And so, yeah, that's what the second verse of our hymn says. Nations again in strife and commotion.
And as our song says, these are warnings, by the way. So, you know, if you're singing this song, as we're going to hear from the king's heralds a little bit later, you know, if you're singing this song, quite tricky to do, but I don't know if you could sort of make a distinction between those two phrases, because you're talking about the nations in strife and commotion, and then you're sort of reflecting on that warnings, by the way. And then you've got signs in the heavens.
You can be like, as though you can see the signs. And then, more directly to your audience, unerring omens, they herald the glorious day. So that's just what we read in the Bible, and that's just what our song says.
There are signs and, you know, people all over the world, as we were just reading in verse 25 of Luke, chapter 21, it says, upon the earth, distress of nations and perplexity. People all over the world are seeing these different things happening, which have been happening now. You know, I mean, look, there's been earthquakes on earth.
You know, fires, floods and natural disasters. They've been happening for a long time. But during the end times, the time of the end in which we're now living, these things are to increase tremendously.
And, you know, there were some special signs given. Revelation, chapter six. Start at verse 14.
Is it? No? Verse twelve, that's right. Revelation 612 and 13 speaks about an earthquake. It also speaks about the sun being darkened, the moon turning to blood, and the stars of heaven falling, you know, and these signs occurred in order, just as we came to the end of this time period of 1260 years of persecution.
So, in 1755, we had the Lisbon earthquake. And then, May 19, 1780, there was what was recorded in the books of history as the dark day. That night, when the moon was finally visible, which was almost a full moon, I believe, but it had the appearance of blood when it was first seen.
And so these. The first of these three signs were seen just before the close of that period of Earth's history. And these are signs to us, you know? And I mean, today, like, I don't need to tell you all the things, all the terrible things that we see constantly on the news about pestilences and all these things happening, you know, the increase of these things is a sign that the coming of Christ is not far away.
And so what are God's people to do at this time? Well, let's have a look at Luke, chapter 21 and verse 28. Luke, chapter one and verse 28, and which is picked up by our song. But Luke, chapter 21, verse 28.
It says, when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh. Friends, we do not need to be in perplexity. As this song says.
Children of God, look up with rejoicing, shout and sing his praise. Blessed are they who, waiting and watching, look for the dawning rays. And so Christ said, you know, when you see these things begin to come to pass, then know that it is near.
Even at the doors, you know, this message of the second coming has been particularly preached since the beginning of the 18 hundreds, since the time of the end. And it has been preached all over the world by various people. So back in the early 18 hundreds, there was that great religious revival.
This message was preached by Wolf, it was preached by Bengal, it was preached in Scandinavia by the children because the adults were forbidden to preach. And it was preached in the United States of America. And that was really where this movement centred.
And the lead preacher there was William Miller, who discovered tremendous bible truths that had been hidden for a long time and that had come to be hidden by traditions. He called on people to awake out of their spiritual slumber, out of their spiritual death, because he said that the coming of Jesus is very near. And so we're going to be continuing this in our next episode.
But for now, let's listen to the song. Hail him, the king of glory sung by the king's herald tell it to every kindred and nation tell it far and near the starkest night will fade with the dawning Jesus will soon appear. Hail him, the king of glory once the lamb for sinner slain tell, tell the wondrous story Jesus comes to rain Jesus comes to reign.
Nations again in strife and commotion warnings by the way signs in the heavens Hashem's unerring Mormons herald the glorious day. Hail him, the king of glory once the lamb for sinners slain tell the wondrous story. Jesus comes to reign.
Jesus comes to reign. Hash children of God look up with rejoicing shout and sing his praise blessed are they who waiting and watching look for the dawning race. Hail him, the king of glory once the lamb for sinners tell, tell the wondrous story Jesus comes to rain.
Jesus comes to rain comes to rain. Friend, do you want to be able to hail Jesus with joy when he comes? Do you want to be able to look up and say, this is my God. I have waited for him and he will save me.
Join me in a brief prayer. Dear God, we're so grateful for this amazing message. A message the message of present truth.
That Jesus is coming again and he is coming to reign. And today is the day of his preparation. Today is the day when we need to prepare for the second coming.
So just pray that you will be with each person listening to this broadcast watching this podcast. Please. Dear Lord, may we be ready.
May we be prepared today and every day to meet Christ when he comes again. In the clouds of heaven. I pray in Jesus name.
Amen. So thank you so much for joining me today on heavenly harmonies. Remember, you can write to us at radio at three abnaustralia.org
dot au if you have any questions about the things that you've been listening to. I've just been skimming over these truths. If you do have questions, please write to us.
We would love to answer your questions, especially in song. And please do join me again to discuss another wonderful hymn as we continue on with our story. But until then, may you stay close to the heart of God through song.
