1. The Reasons Why I Believe Jesus is Coming! Part III

2. Reason #1: The Promise of God Demands It. Reason #2: The Very Words of Jesus Demands it.

3. Reason #3: Holy Spirit Testified the Second Coming. Reason #4: God’s Plan Demands that Jesus Returns.

4. Reason #5: God’s Plan for the Nations Demands the Return of Jesus God is going to judge the nations and the Judge is Jesus. – Joel 3:1, 2 – Joel 3:9-12 – Joel 3:13-16 – Matthew 25:31 – Revelations 14:14 – Revelations 14:20

5. Reason #5: God’s Plan for the Nations Demands the Return of Jesus God stands up and shouts to the nations of the world…Enough! – Ezekiel 38:19-23 – Ezekiel 39:5-7 – Ezekiel 39:17-20 – Revelations 19:11-18

6. Reason #5: God’s Plan for the Nations Demands the Return of Jesus Why does God allow the nations to make war upon Israel? So that the world will know that God is God Almighty. – Ezekiel 38:23 – Ezekiel 38:16

7. Reason #5: God’s Plan for the Nations Demands the Return of Jesus Israel will know the Lord. – Ezekiel 39:22-29 – Zechariah 12:10,11 – Romans 11:25-27

8. Reason #6: God’s Plan for Israel Demands the Return of Jesus Presently the nation of Israel is under a spiritual blindness.

10. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Scriptures

11. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Joel 3:1, 2 1 “For behold, in those days and at that time, When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there On account of My people, My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land.

12. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Joel 3:9-12 9 Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up. 10 Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’” 11 Assemble and come, all you nations, And gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O Lord.

13. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Joel 3:9-12 12 “Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

14. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Joel 3:13-16 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the winepress is full, The vats overflow— For their wickedness is great.” 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness.

15. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Joel 3:13-16 16 The Lord also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the Lord will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel.

16. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Matthew 25:31 31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

17. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Revelations 14:14 14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.

18. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Revelations 14:20 20 And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs.

19. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Ezekiel 38:19-23 19 For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: ‘Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, 20 so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’

20. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Ezekiel 38:19-23 21 I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord God. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22 And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

21. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Ezekiel 38:19-23 23 Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.”’

22. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Ezekiel 39:5-7 5 You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken,” says the Lord God. 6 “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the Lord. 7 So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.

23. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Ezekiel 39:17-20 17 “And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, ‘Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: “Assemble yourselves and come; Gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you, A great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, That you may eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, Drink the blood of the princes of the earth, Of rams and lambs, Of goats and bulls, All of them fatlings of Bashan.

24. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Ezekiel 39:17-20 19 You shall eat fat till you are full, And drink blood till you are drunk, At My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you. 20 You shall be filled at My table With horses and riders, With mighty men And with all the men of war,” says the Lord God.

25. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Revelations 19:11-18 11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.

26. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Revelations 19:11-18 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. 17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God,

27. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Revelations 19:11-18 18 that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.”

28. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Ezekiel 38:23 23 Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.”’

29. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Ezekiel 38:16 16 You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.”

30. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Ezekiel 39:22-29 22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. 23 The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. 24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them.”’

31. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Ezekiel 39:22-29 25 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name— 26 after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid. 27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations,

32. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Ezekiel 39:22-29 28 then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. 29 And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord God.”

33. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Zechariah 12:10,11 10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. 11 In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

34. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 Romans 11:25-27 25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”

35. Box Size Height: 2.6 Width: 4.6 Position Horizontal: 5.0 Vertical: 4.58 A Blessing of Hope May the God of peace, the eternal One and only God, grant you an awareness of his immediate return. May you be patient, may you be eager, but most of all may you be found ready when he calls. “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:8, NIV 31 Days of Blessings Max Lucado