Until He Comes - Part 1 | Acts 1:6-11

[00:00:00] We'll truth, Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman.

[00:00:07] What has the last will in Testament of our Lord Jesus? A lot of times when people are

[00:00:13] ready to pass on they have some very important words to say to people gathered around

[00:00:18] their bedside. Now a lot of times also we know that sometimes people are called immediately

[00:00:23] and they really have no opportunity to say they're parting words to their family but

[00:00:28] in most cases that is the case. They're ready to go asleep, they're ready to be

[00:00:34] illustrating to the presence of God and so their words to their family are very, very

[00:00:40] important. As a matter of fact I can remember my dad's last words to me when he was

[00:00:46] ready to pass on. Do you know what they were? We'll see it tomorrow. And that didn't

[00:00:52] happen. He was called in the middle of the night. We tend to remember people's last words.

[00:01:03] So what was Jesus' last words to the church? What were Jesus' last words to the body

[00:01:09] of believers, those small fellowship of believers who were following him until he was

[00:01:15] astray to the presence of God on a sentient day? It was these words and I want you to listen

[00:01:21] very closely. This is what it says. This is Acts chapter 1, verses 6 through 11 and

[00:01:27] Rod Red, a portion of these but I'm going to reread them now. So when they had come together

[00:01:31] they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to

[00:01:36] them, it is not for you to know that times are seasons that the Father has fixed by His own

[00:01:43] authority. But you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my

[00:01:49] witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth. And when

[00:01:57] He had said these things they were looking on as He was lifted up and a cloud took him out of

[00:02:04] their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as He went, be all two men stood by them in

[00:02:10] white robes and said, man of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who has taken

[00:02:17] up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven. So that which

[00:02:25] goes up must come down. Some day the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come back and until He comes,

[00:02:31] what can we expect? Until He comes, what can we expect? Don't guess. Don't guess when that day

[00:02:40] is going to be. Now, as you see that scripture in front of you it's really important for us to understand

[00:02:45] that the disciples had followed Jesus up to the Mount of olives and they were expecting Jesus

[00:02:52] to establish an earthly role, raining from Jerusalem. Did you hear that? They expected Jesus

[00:02:58] kingdom to be a kingdom here on planet earth. And so what did the disciples say? Lord, are you at this

[00:03:07] time going to establish your kingdom to Israel? In other words, will you crunch out the Roman government,

[00:03:14] will you reign from the temple, will you re-establish your kingdom here on earth? Will you do that?

[00:03:19] Now, and Jesus answers, so important. Don't miss it. He says, it is not for you to know.

[00:03:25] Listen to this. It is not for you to know the dates or the times that's established by my father.

[00:03:32] Did you hear what Jesus said there? It's not for you to know the dates and the times.

[00:03:39] Yet how many people today try to figure out the date, the time? Yes, the very year. Yes,

[00:03:47] the very day. Yes, the very time. And Jesus said, don't guess. Don't try to figure it out. You never will.

[00:03:55] Now, there was a guy in 1983, actually 1843, a guy by the name of William Miller, who is the

[00:04:04] instigator of the seventh day Adventist Church. And the reason we call it the seventh day Adventist Church

[00:04:10] is because he was all about emphasizing the second coming of Jesus, and he had looked at

[00:04:16] obscure passages in the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation and he said, Christ is going

[00:04:21] to come back on March 21st, 1843 in North Carolina. And so he gathered all these people. I know

[00:04:30] the exact date. I know the exact time. I know when he's going to come and so they had a countdown.

[00:04:36] 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Let's try it again. 5, 4, 3, and nothing happened. Well, guess what? He said,

[00:04:47] oh, I miscalculated. And so he said, I'm going to look at the dates. I'm going to look at the times

[00:04:53] of Daniel. I'm going to look at the stuff in the book of Revelation. And I missed it by year.

[00:04:58] So on March 21st, 1844, twice as many people there. He said, this is the day. They had a

[00:05:07] countdown again. Nothing happened. Why is that? Because Jesus doesn't want us to know. Listen to this,

[00:05:14] a very respected preacher by the name of David Jeremiah has determined that Christ is going to

[00:05:21] go back and Rod said it in May of 2024. So is that going to happen? It could. But Jesus doesn't

[00:05:30] want us to know. Why doesn't he want us to know so that we might always be prepared for his second

[00:05:37] coming whenever it might be. And Rod and I talked about this this week. Another reason he's waiting

[00:05:44] is he wants more and more people to come to faith in Jesus Christ, right? That's why he's waiting.

[00:05:50] That's why he's tearing. We just don't know when he's going to come back. And so he's waiting

[00:05:55] so that more people would come to faith and he's also waiting so that we're always prepared

[00:06:00] like a good boy scout, right? That's the number one model of the Boy Scout organization

[00:06:07] be prepared. And so we're to be prepared at all times and not guess when he's going to come.

[00:06:13] So don't guess until he comes. Don't guess when he's going to come, but always be prepared.