The Nearness of the Lord's Coming

Open—Robert Boulard
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Just turn with me, if you will, to second Peter Chapter 3. We'll just read one little.
Statement that the Apostle Peter makes there.
So second Peter.
Chapter 3.
And he says.
Let's read from verse 4.
Where is the promise of this coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation, For this they willingly better. By the word of God. The heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water, and in the water we're by the world that then was beloved with water perished, but the heavens and the earth, which are now the same.
By the same word are kept in store, reserved under fire against the day of judgment.
Of perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing that one day is with the Lord is 1000 years and 1000 years as one day. And the Lord is not slack concerning his promise that some men can't slackness but his long-suffering deaths were not willing that.
And it should perish, but that all should come to repentance. There's another.
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Place where he says the end of all things is at hand.
The end of all things is at hand, and you know.
We have a little bit of a website with Christian Truth publishing and get a lot of emails from different parts of the world and all over the world. There's been a little bit of a reawakening among the Saints that are exercised as to prophetic events and what the sequence of events is about to take place at the coming of the Lord. And it seems that the there's a sense among us, not only those gathered to.
Mean, but those in Christendom, where they're perhaps better taught that the Lord is Lord's coming is imminent.
At the end of all things is at hand.
And that we're about to be removed from this scene and you know, there's no signs given to us, to the church as to the coming of the Lord Jesus, no signs, but there are indications. And then we could perhaps consider Daniel chapter 12 where it says knowledge shall be increased and men shall run to and fro. There's great amount of transportation and.
Knowledge increase. We could speak of different things like this.
But you know.
There's I think of the Let's Turn to Genesis chapter.
Six and we'll read about I'd like to just look at some of the indications as to how many of the Lord is coming and I'd like to look just a very briefly at Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39. We might have questions and there are questions being asked about Russia and about the current situation in Europe and so on. Let's just look at a few of those little passages of scripture and I don't.
Want to say that I have all the answers or anything but you know the word of God.
Is clear and the word of God is on target and not old fashioned in the least. It's right on schedule and it gives us the truth in the days that we live in. So let's look at I'm just going to read very briefly chapter 6 of Genesis. The earth also was corrupt.
Before God and the earth was filled with violence.
You know corruption is the sin.
Of man against God.
Moral corruption.
Religious corruption as well, but primarily as moral corruption. And So what you and I, those of us that are older than what we saw in the late 50s, early 60s, and what has continued is a given up of God's order in connection with the man and the woman and the giving up of morality in the Western world. That's corruption.
Moral corruption and what follows moral corruption?
Is violence.
And So what we have today is violence, violence in the schools, violence.
All kinds of places, shopping malls, it doesn't matter where, but we live in a violent society.
And so I think it was.
Better Clarence lending in his.
Little book, I think it's on his little book on Abraham. He says the harbinger of governmental overthrow is moral corruption.
I'll repeat that the more that the harbinger of.
Governmental overthrow?
Is moral corruption.
So you and I are living, Brother Eric and I were talking a little bit yesterday. We're living in historical times, make no mistake about it. We are living at a time when we are with the Lord. We will look back and say those were historically significant times that we were living in just before the Lord came.
And so one of the indications that the Lord Jesus is about to come to remove us.
Is that we live in a scene filled with corruption.
Moral corruption and wickedness. A casting off of the truth that there is a man and there is a woman, and the distinction of the sexes.
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I went to high school in the 70s and I didn't go to any religious schools or anything like that. It's public school. So public high school, last year, high school and.
I believe the.
I went in the last year of high school, is a couple years into it in Victoria Park High School in Toronto.
I believe that principle was a Christian. And so every month he would have an assembly of those 2500 kids in our high school in the auditorium and he would have a gospel preacher come in. He would have a gospel band come in, he would have a missionary come in and give the gospel to that school.
Remarkable.
And the word of God, in the morning we stood up, everyone in the whole school.
And there was a teacher who read the word of God where the passage of scripture while the students were standing.
And pray.
I'm talking about the mid 70s.
But that's not how it is today.
I'm just saying these things because there's drift and North America there. We've had such.
Privilege. But now it's corruption and violence as the Bible has been taken out of the schools and out of the society. So God judges a thing. I think it's chapter Brown used to say that he always judges when the thing has come to maturity.
Let's look at I think it's Genesis Chapter 11, is it?
We've been thinking of, yeah, it's Chapter 16.
15 Genesis 15, verse 16. But in the 4th generation they shall come hit her again, for the iniquity of the amorite is not yet full.
So God judges the thing when it's complete, when it's finished, when it's ready, it's mature.
And there's every indication, beloved brother, that this world.
Has matured and the wickedness.
No spiritual wickedness and the violence has matured to such a level.
That we're just about to be removed from this scene.
We just need to have a sense that we're living in these historical times and we're just about to be removed. I'd like to look at Ezekiel chapter 38. And we don't read these chapters very much 3839, but I suggest reading Ezekiel. And he does mention, you know, there's a very significant order to be through this book of Ezekiel, you'll notice.
The reawakening of Israel. The Valley of Dry Bones, chapter 37.
There's a sequence of events that's going to take place.
Israel is going to be restored by the Lord. There's going to go through the Tribulation period after the rapture, and then they're going to be the Lord is going to deliver Israel at this appearing. The glory is appearing will come with all his Saints.
The most glorious event that will ever take place, perhaps upon this face, the face of this earth, the coming of the Lord Jesus as his appearing and asserting his rights and taking the Kingdom, and then he'll begin to set up the Kingdom.
With his those not godly women that are brought in from all 12 tribes there in the land of Israel. And then we'll read verse chapter 38 just a little bit. It says the word of the Lord came unto me saying son of man.
Set thy face against Gog.
Now God is. I think it's a symbolic name of the leader of Russia.
So perhaps just for the sake, I'm not saying that Putin is going to be the man, but he definitely should read chapter 38 and 39. He might be if if there was any work of God going on in his soul at all, he'd know that the end is very near. So the step by face against God, the land of me God. So that's really the land that he rules.
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The chief Prince of Meshech? That's Moscow.
And tubal or tubesk prophecy against him, and say thus saith the Lord God.
Behold, I am against thee, O Gog.
He's an arrogant leader.
And you say, what does God think about Russia Today? What does God think? What's he going to think about Russia at the end of the Tribulation period? This is what he thinks.
Finally takes the OGOG. The chief Prince of it should say Rush, Rush or Rush or Russia. You can look at that in the William Kelly translation, even the JM Darby translation.
Mishaka, Moscow and Publisk.
I will turn you back and put hooks into thy jaws. I will bring me forth and all that army horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armor, even a great company with butlers and Shields, all of them handling stores.
Now I just want to mention this, that sometimes we read these about these swords and these bucklers, you know, bucklers like something you might have whatever your arms, it's defensive armor. A sword is offensive armor. And so he's Speaking of offensive armor, defensive armament. He's speaking in that turn in those terms. He's not speaking literal sword.
And so he speaks of how they're trained and well trained and well trained with defensive armament and well trained with offensive armament.
And he speaks of Puria. That's Iran.
Begins to speak of some of the major.
Allies of Russia, and we know that Iran is lining up very, very closely with Russia.
And then it says Ethiopia. I think some of the translations say perhaps Sudan, Libya.
The foot, it says in the Jane Darby translation. Some of these key.
Ones that are in cahoots with Russia. Gomer, That's really Camilla, the Crimea and all his bands and the House of Tobacco. Togama, perhaps in Armenia, in the area of Turkey.
You get the sense of what we're reading.
We're living in historical times, brother.
God has not given us signs as to when He's the Lord. Jesus is going to come to receive us.
But, you know, some of us knew Brother John Burton. He was in my home assembly in Pine Grove when I was young, and he used to give a little bit of an illustration. And even Bruce uses it in one of his booklets, I think. And he's worried about 20 minutes South of Otter Lake, which was where Gordon Hale had his cottage. But there's no signs that say from Toronto to Otter Lake.
It's two hours and 20 minutes.
So what you would do is if you were going up to Otter Lake, you would look at the signs that said Perry Sound, and then you would subtract 10 miles or 10 minutes from the time it took to get to Parry Sound. And so you'd look at the signage and it says 120 miles to Perry Sound, and we got about 110 minutes to go.
And so in prophetic things, we can look at those things that God has written to Israel and to the church as well, for us to know what would be taking place and how the Lord would deliver Israel.
Not be appearing and how those nations that would line up against Israel and seek to destroy Israel in the 83rd Psalm we have the 10 Confederates, Arab confederate Muslim nations that will line up to come to destroy Israel.
What we have is.
We're beginning to see things a little more clearly. And so it says in verse 8 of this chapter 38. After many days, thou shalt be visited in the latter years. Thou shalt come into the latter years.
That's really after the Lord's coming for his Saints, the Church. It wasn't revealed in the Old Testament, but he says in the latter days of the history of Israel, you might say.
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Thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword. They're restored, they're sitting, they're in the land, they're brought back from the their dispersion is gathered out of many people against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste, but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely, all of them.
And Bano shall descend and come like a storm.
Thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, and thou and all thy lands, and many people with thee thus say at the Lord God shall come also come to pass, and at that same time shall things come into my mind. Thou shalt think an evil thought.
Thou shalt say, Are you going to the land of underworld villages? I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, having neither bars nor gates, to take a spoil and to take a prey, to turn my hand upon the desolate places of their now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations which have gotten cattle and goods that dwell in the midst of the land.
You know, they're going to see the nation of Israel just after the tribulation period, after the Lord has appeared and personally has begun to reestablish that nation and set up his capital, the capital city of the world, Jerusalem at that time.
And all of the nations that have come down and sought to interfere in what God is doing, the Western armies, we can read that a little bit later perhaps if we I don't want to take a lot of time here, but.
Russia is going to see the Lord Jesus is setting up his Kingdom and there's no walls around Jerusalem.
There's no defense.
Things are just being to be put back together again.
And Russia is going to say what an opportunity we could come down and take all of that gold, all of that wealth for ourselves, and we can rule over this whole territory.
And so that's why I believe it mentions Persian, Ethiopia, Libya.
Groomer or the Crimea?
To Garma, Armenia, they're going to come sweep down.
And come into the land and they're going to try to take it for themselves. But who's going to be there? It's going to be the Lord Jesus. Well, we can read in verse chapter 39. Let's just read a few verses.
There is three I will smite thy bow and bowl out of thy left hand. I will and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou in all thy bands, and the people that is with thee. I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to every beast of the field to be devoured. And thou shalt fall upon the open field, for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.
And I will send fire on me dog and among them that dwell carelessly in the Isles, and they shall know that I am the Lord. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel. And I will not let them pollute my holy name anymore. And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord the Holy one of Israel. Let's just read a couple of things in verse 9 says.
They that dwell in the cities of Israel should go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both Shields and bucklers.
Bows and arrows and hand staves and Spears shall burn them with fire seven years and then they'll bury the dead versus 1112. So we don't need to go through that. But I just want to say, you know, in Peters ministry, he says the end of all things is at hand.
You don't say to yourself as you see this war developing and continuing on for many days and.
The Ukraine.
So what's the end of Russia? What's the end of all this? We're reading about the end of Russia.
God has written at this history. Prophecy is history written ahead of time.
And So what is it? We don't involve ourselves because, you know, it says in Philippians. I think it's Philippians Chapter 3. I'm not going to quote it properly, so I'm just going to turn to it, but.
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It speaks of the peace of God.
Which passeth all understanding We can have the peace of God as chapter 4, verse 7. Let's read verse six. Be careful for nothing, be worried about nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts.
And minds through Christ Jesus.
So the point is this. The world is upset the nations of the earth.
Are upset and it says in loop that in the end times that there would be wars and rumors of wars or rumors of commotions. It says I think it's in Luke's gospel Colossians now that's after the rapture. That's just as the tribulation is beginning. But we see that there's there are rumors of wars maybe China perhaps.
Instigating the war, maybe with Taiwan.
Other rules of these things, you and I are living in historical times.
We're not living at the time that the Lord Jesus was Speaking of, but we're living in those end times just leading up to those times.
The point is that we don't have very long left here. I want to read the.
End of the church's history in this scene let's.
Actually, it's really the heavenly scene. Let's look at Revelation chapter 19.
You know, we sometimes think, what's the end of the church?
We could read in Revelation chapter 3. Not a very pretty picture as far as the earth goes.
We could read First Thessalonians chapter four. We could read First Corinthians chapter 15. That's the end of those that belong to the Lord.
Glorified bodies. The very same body that you have is going to be glorified.
We're on the winning side, you might say, but what's the end of those that are part of the redeemed company, All of us that are here?
And those that have gone on before that died during this creation, Christian age it says in verse chapter 19, verse seven of Revelation.
Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come.
And his wife hath made herself ready.
And to who was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen?
Clean and white.
For the firemen is the righteousness of the Saints.
He said, I mean right, blessed are we which are called unto the marriage supper of the land, say, if I'm the increase of the true things of God.
Then it comes he just, He describes the appeal of the Lord Jesus in his glory. You might just read it verse 11. I saw heaven opened.
And behold, a White Horse that's the color of victory and purity.
He sat upon. He that sat upon him was called faithful.
And true, what a testimony.
Faithful and characterized by truth. I am the way, the truth and life. He was faithful unto death.
And in righteousness who the judge and make war his eyes were as a flame of firing on his head where many crowns.
Shadows had a name written that no man knew but himself, and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. His name is called the Word of God.
And the armors of heaven, and the armors which were in heaven followed him.
Upon white horses, clothed in white, infinite, and white, and clean.
When the Lord Jesus comes.
In the greatest glory of majesty ever seen in this world.
You and I are going to be there. These are the armies.
Speaking of, yes, I believe the angelic hosts perhaps in the background, but those that are the ravine company from the time of Adam right to the time of the last murdered godly, one of the remnant will all be there with the Lord Jesus.
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So it says the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses. A horse, you know, speaks of power and of conquest.
Clothed and fine women.
Pure.
Just think of the privilege. It is another, brethren.
To be closed.
That's fine women. It's figurative language that will be seen in purity. The flesh will have been eradicated in each one of us.
White and clean.
The Lord Jesus is going to have a bride, and he's going to have a perfect bride. And it says he shall see you the fruit of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. So we have the church here presented, perhaps some of the other reading, but the end is good. The end of all things is at hand.
The end of the church on earth. As I said, we could read on in First Corinthians First Thessalonians chapter four. We could really have a change that takes place in First Corinthians chapter 15. Philippines chapter 3, verses 21/20/21.
That's the end of those, our history in this scene and will be caught up to be with the Lord where we could go on in different ways. Look at the end of Israel in this scene and so on. New heavens and the new earth.
That's the end of this world.
Some of you are young here. Let's read again in Second Peter chapter 3.
1St 10.
Today the Lord will come as a thief in the night, We should just say as a thief in the which the heavens shall pass away. That's at the end of the tribulation, at the end of the Millennium.
We have also been in a great I'm sorry, in which the heavens shall pass away with the great noise, and the elements shall melt with further heat. The earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
That means utterly consumed. It's the same word Holocaust.
So this world, this globe is not going to be renovated. It's going to be fairly.
Disposed of.
Very consumed.
Are we conducting ourselves in such a way that we're just about to leave?
We know that it's going to be.
Here, the Earth is still going to be here for a little bit of time.
After our departure than 1000 years, the Lord will remain, but everything that you see is going to be destroyed.
Well, let's just look at one more and then.
Leave room for someone else.
Let's look at the end of chapter Revelation chapter 19 if I reluctantly end of the western world.
That's the end of.
What really is happening today historically, why is this war with Russia going on with Ukraine? And why is why is shutting off the gas and what's all this going on? What's what's happening? Well, I believe that what's taking place is Russia is not a part of Western Europe. It's not a part of the Western Christian world. It's isolated. It's up in the north there.
And it's a, it's an enemy of God's people and it's going to be used of God to.
Energize those Arab nations, armed them, and so on, and they will.
Really be used?
As an implement of judgment.
Well.
Russia is not isolating, Europe is banding together. Europe is being starting to become held cohesively together. And because of the necessity of defense against Russia, against Iran and so on, God is working behind the scenes.
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Gordon Hill used to tell us that prophetic things is something like a train tunnel, a tunnel that a train was going into. And as soon you enter the tunnel, you see that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. It's pretty small, it's far away, but the closer you get to the end of the tunnel, the bigger that light gets and the cleaner things become outside the the exit of that tunnel.
We're living in times where right at the end of the tunnel.
And God is isolating Russia.
You could go to Russia, buy McDonald's hamburger, while you can't do that today.
In beginning February, you could go to Russia, you could buy Volkswagen. You can't do that today.
Russia is being isolated in Europe is being consolidated.
But you know.
Very shortly after were raptured from the sea.
The European governments were band together and will have a leader.
And it's really going to be one that's energized by the Roman Catholic Church. We could read that in Revelation chapter 6, the first couple of verses. But what's the end of that Western Europe? What's the end of it? What's the end of that whole banded together group of nations that are banning together for protection? Let's read it.
In.
Verse 16 On his restaurant he had, and on his thigh an ambulance, and king of kings and Lord of Lords. And I saw an Angel standing in the sun. And he cried with a loud voice, saying, To all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourself together under the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of lighting, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them.
Flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. I saw the beast and the kings of the earth. That's the rest of the world.
Western European nations, perhaps?
America and perhaps some of the other nations together, I'm not sure, but I don't think we could say categorically gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse.
And against his and his army.
And the beast was taken, and within the false prophet that brought miracles before him, with which he deceived them, that had received the mark of beast, and then that worshipped his his image, these both were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with stone. And the men that were slain with the sword of hymn that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
Now, I'm not here to try to give a summary of the movements of those armies at the end of the.
Tribulation At the end of Tribulation period and at the time of the period of the Lord Jesus, there's a movement of armies and God has told us the sequence of events and how things are going to play out. The battle plan is already written down.
What we just read is the end of the battle, the conclusion.
And that is that the Western nations will come in after the node has come in and appeared.
He delivered Israel.
The Western nations are going to come in and they're going to try to destroy the Lord Jesus.
And those that are with them.
It's astonishing.
To think.
That they will think that they can destroy the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, but that's what the word of God says.
They're going to just try to destroy him and all his glory with whatever bazookas and missiles and everything.
But the Lord Jesus is going to destroy them. The end of all things is at hand, the end of Western Europe.
We know from history, from what's written in the Word of God.
That apostate Mass, some of you have been to Europe and.
Oftentimes when I have been in Europe in the past, I've been astonished at the deadness.
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Spiritual deadness and coldness in the eyes of the people.
Almost no sign of life.
Very, very few times I've been on train in Germany and seeing a gospel verse in the window of a house right by the railway track.
Very rare, never been handed a gospel tract.
To me in Germany.
Or France. Or some of those nations.
We're living in historic times. Those nations are being prepared because of their.
Giving up to the knowledge of the truth.
To be able to, I should say not to be able to, but the result, the end result of their apostasy is going to be judgment, as we've read in chapter 19. Well, Reverend, let's take courage. We're on the winning side. And the point of the fact is that the end of all things is at hand, and let's conduct ourselves as if we are.
In those last days, let's continue to encourage one letter to be found in the presence of Lord. And let's continue.
To encourage one another as we come together in the assembly meetings and to build up one another in our most holy faith.