[Note: Our guest contributing author, Pastor Terry Cooper, was called to ministry in 2000, when he answered the divine call to serve at Ninevah Christian Church in Lawrenceburg, KY. Being obedient to the calling God placed on his life to be a watchman, he transitioned from a corporate career into pastoral work, driven by a strong conviction to prepare the Church for the imminent return of Jesus Christ.]
All of humanity, all of creation, is heading toward a single event—the return of Jesus. This amazing and convicting truth cannot be ignored or minimized. This truth is not only true today. This truth has been true for some 2,000 years, ever since the first appearing of Jesus. The Bible declares this truth to all who have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Everything in the Bible is crying out the same truth. Jesus, the Son of God, came to the Earth to redeem mankind from sin, death, the grave, and Hell; and Jesus is coming back to the Earth as King of kings and Lord of lords. There are many churches that focus on the good news of the First Coming of Jesus without revealing the good news about the Second Coming of Jesus. This leaves people with a false view of Jesus regarding His eternal purpose and coming kingdom. That’s why many people today struggle with the true identity of Jesus.
I grew up in a church that never talked about Bible prophecy regarding the return of Jesus and the events that would precede His coming. They just taught that Jesus would one day come and take us all to Heaven. As a young man, I read the New Testament and fully believed in the Jesus who was revealed in the Gospels. However, it wasn’t until years later, when I read and studied the prophetic books (especially the Book of Revelation) for myself that I saw the eternal Jesus—the glorious and eternal King Jesus.
Encountering the Real Jesus
My life forever changed when I saw the Jesus of Revelation chapter one (verses 10-18). The Apostle John had spent three years of his life in deep fellowship with Jesus, but he falls on his face as if he were a dead man when he saw Jesus face-to-face. John was gripped with fear at the majesty and glory of the eternal and glorious King Jesus that stood before him.
Why and what does it mean? Was this Jesus the same humble and Suffering Servant that rode a donkey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday? Yes! But that’s not what John saw that day. John saw glorious and eternal King Jesus, the Suffering Servant that is now the Glorious and Eternal King in waiting—the all-powerful King who holds the keys to death and the grave for all mankind. John saw the future. John saw our future!
That Revelation view of Jesus and our eternal future forever changed me. Like John, I was gripped with fear at the sight of this revelation of Jesus in His Heavenly-Kingdom glory. This all-powerful and glorious King of Heaven and Earth was holding the keys to death and the grave. Jesus was holding my eternal future in His wonderful nail-pierced Hands. And like John, Jesus tells the Church today to not be afraid but believe. In reality, it was because I was afraid and shaken that I truly believed.
But how can they believe if preachers don’t tell them (Romans 10:14)? Yes, we preach the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. But that message alone will only confuse and frustrate people, unless they can see the Jesus of Revelation standing in front of them holding the keys to death and the grave.
One-third of the Bible is prophetic in nature. Why? We need to know the future because this world is hard, and the Adversary is real. We need to know that Jesus stands at the end of our journey with the kingdom power to defeat sin, death, the grave, and Hell itself.
Preaching the Full Counsel of God
I’ve been preaching at Ninevah Christian Church for over 25 years now. And yes, I preach about the Suffering Servant, Jesus, who went to the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. But I also preach about the glorious and eternal King-in-waiting. And yes, I like to talk about things in-between: Jesus’ ascension to the Father and His prophesied return to Earth. It gives the Church confidence and boldness to live out their faith each day because we’ve seen all the fulfilled biblical promises from the past.
In my early years of preaching, I was told that preaching about biblical prophecy would be controversial and divisive. Many told me to just focus on the historical Gospel message—the truth about that which has been. However, I have been compelled by the Holy Spirit to teach the full counsel of God’s Word—Jesus’ First and Second Coming—and how we should live in the time of waiting. Jesus told us to watch and wait for Him (Mark 13:35-36). How can the Church watch and wait for what they don’t know?
Yes, there are scoffers, with some inside the Church, though many on the outside. The Apostle Paul gives a warning about those who treat Bible prophecy with contempt.
Paul equates the scoffing of biblical prophecy to resisting or quenching the work of the Holy Spirit. “Do not quench the Spirit; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22).
Yes, there are many who will mock the preacher that spends time preaching and teaching Bible prophecy. But I have this testimony: my church preaches and teaches the whole Bible—past, present, future, and all the in-betweens. My church does not shrink back from the prophetic words of Scripture. And my church has never stopped growing in these past 25 years.
The Church is hungry for hope. God designed the Church to live with expectancy. The Church needs to know the future and why we are called to persevere and stand against the darkness. The Church needs to see and know the signs that God has left for us. Signs that reveal the things that will be going on in the kingdoms of men before the Kingdom of Christ comes. Jesus talked about it, and so should we.
Much of the New Testament was written by the Apostle Paul in the power of the Holy Spirit. When Paul was preparing for his final trip to Jerusalem as a free man, he met and prayed with the elders of the church in Ephesus. This is what he said to them and to the Church of the future:
Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood. (Acts 20:26-28)
The Apostle Paul declared that he was innocent of the blood of all men because he had preached the whole purpose of God to them. Paul had preached historical truth from the Old Testament and the First Coming of Jesus. But he had also revealed the truth about the future return of King Jesus and the judgment of God that would follow. Paul was challenging the elders/shepherds of the Church and all future preachers to follow his example and not shrink back from the full revelation of God.
The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth
People come to church seeking the Truth. The Church—the body of Christ—has been given the Truth. Jesus is the Word and the Word is Truth. Jesus told us that knowing the Truth would set us free. We can be free from fear and doubt regarding the events that are taking place in the world around us if we know the prophetic truth of the Holy Scriptures. Jesus told us that His followers would be able to interpret the signs of the times (Mark 13:22-23). The Holy Spirit’s ability to interpret the signs of the times would give us peace and confidence in the Last Days in this time of waiting.
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. (Hebrews 10:35-39, NIV)
We must never shrink back! The Church has been commissioned by our King to remain on offense and use the whole playbook that He has provided for us. We must continue to hold up the Bible as the only physical source of absolute Truth on Earth. We hold up all of it. We preach all of it. The past, present, future, and all the in-between revelations of God in our time of waiting.
