Published: November 12, 2023 | Speaker: Mark Freitag | Series: Gospel of Mark - Part 91 | Scripture: Mark 13:24-27
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morning we're going to be focusing on verses 24- verses 24- 27 I'd like to begin reading at verse 19 again to set some context in this olette
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discourse as it's called Mark 13 verse 19 for those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation
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which God created until now and never shall and unless the Lord Lord had shortened those days no life would have been saved but for the sake of the elect
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whom he chose he shortened the days and then if anyone says to you behold here is the Christ or behold he is there do not believe him for false Christ and
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false prophets will arise and will show signs and wonders in order if possible to lead the elect astray but take heed behold I have told you everything in
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advance but in those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the Stars will be falling from Heaven and
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the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken and then they will see the son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory and then he will send forth
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the angels and will gather together his elect from the Four Winds from the farthest end of the Earth to the farthest end of of Heaven let us
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pray Our Father we do again ask that you would open our ears and eyes that we may behold these wonderful things that you have written in your word we know that you are a God as we
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have just sung Who who loves righteousness and loves to instill righteousness in your children and so again we ask that you would work in our hearts work in our minds that we may
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honor and love you in Christ's name we amen we've arrived at what some theologians call act three of the drama
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of the Mount of Olives we read In this passage some pretty conventional apoc apocalyptic language here which we know from other
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portions of scripture are symbol olic words but they're words nevertheless that we read in the prophets in fact
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we had read in our hearing this morning these very similar words in Joel chapter 3 where the sun and the moon will be
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darkened and the Stars will lose their brightness in Amos we read the Sun and the Moon have become dark and the Stars again lose their brightness Ezekiel
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Isaiah have similar language to these things but we want to know as the disciples listening to
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Jesus those many years ago wanted to know are these words just about the destruction of Jerusalem in
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ad70 why this seemingly mixture in the narrative but in those days or if you read in m Matthew 24 immediately after
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these things what does that mean after the tribulation is it the end of days is it the great day of the
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Lord has it already pass or will it happen in our day well I'm not sure that I know all of the answers to those
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questions but as I study these things one of the reasons I believe that there we see such a shift in verse 24 but in those days after that tribulation and
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then this apocalyptic language is because he's given them the warning in verse 21 behold if anyone says to you
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here is the Christ or behold there he is do not believe him do not believe these false christs and false prophets at the Great day of the Lord
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you will you will know there there will not be any question is this the Christ there will be a
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cataclysmic event such as human nature has never seen and cannot comprehend my belief is when the last
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day arrives when all the tribulations all the afflictions all of the Sorrows of man kind have been completed in the preceding days then these events will
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occur this will be the final manifestation of the Messiah notice the language at least as I read it in The New American Standard in verse 25 and
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the Stars will be falling and verse 26 and then they will see the Lord or the son of man and in verse 27 and then he will send the angels there there is this
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immediate uh succession of events that will occur and the Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ the son of man will be
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revealed he will be heralded by the supernatural signs of the sun and the moon and the stars there will be this shaking of the powers of
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Heaven perhaps Jesus is thinking of the verse in Hagi chapter 2 where God says and for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt my spirit
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remains in your midst do not fear for this is what the lord of army says once more in a little while I am going to shake the heavens and the Earth the sea
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also and the dry land he will shake the heavens and the son of man will appear coming in clouds with with power and
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great Glory so I think again I kind of like the idea of here's act three of Mark's prophetic storytelling and in this
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section which I take from verse 24 through verse through verse 37 it brings two things to our attention it it bling brings a
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clear Declaration of the end of days which is what we will look at in 24- 27 but then there is also the
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application Jesus doesn't leave us hanging there but it's the application I think to his whole teaching in this
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olette discourse and what we see in verses 24- 27 in this declaration of the end and many people read this type of
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apocalyptic literature and they fear they they tremble and we ought to have a reverence and an awe and and a and a true reverent righteous trembling at
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these things but this is good news this is awesome news the the solemn Majesty of of Christ's
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return the writer JC riyle says it's going to begin with a universal convulsion of the universe it is true in second Peter Peter explains what it's
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going to be like but the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a Roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense Heat and the earth and its Works
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will be discovered the the the elements that we're used to the chemical elements are going to melt and the Earth is going to be discovered the language there is
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that it was its Works what is made of man will be be destroyed and burnt up and Terror and confusion for Christ's enemies will reign in Matthew 24 Matthew
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says all the tribes of the earth will mourn why because they will see they will see the son of man when he comes all living inhabitants on the
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earth will see again this is apocalyptic language I don't know how the the sun will not give its light in the Stars will not Shine for brightness and yet
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men will still be alive but they will see he says they will see the son of man coming they will know and those enemies of Christ
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confusion all men all inhabitants of Earth will see and know when Jesus returns because God is going to shake the heavens the heavens and the Earth the powers in the heavens
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will be shaken I take these as as a collective he says the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light because it won't have anything to
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reflect from the Sun but then he says the heavens the powers of the heavens and I think he's saying that all of the planets All of the Stars everything that
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it holds the planets in their orbit it will be done away with I think literally the the word shaken means dislocated there will be
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chaos in the heavens there will be this cataclysmic event where there is nothing to hold the planets the gravity
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centripetal forces will no longer be able to control them because God will shake the
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heavens and it will be nothing like Jesus first appearing remember he was lowly in a Manger laid because there
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was not room for him in the Inn in the small town of Bethlehem the announcement yes was by the angels singing in the glory of
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God but who who was the audience a group of shepherds out in the fields keeping watch over their flocks but night he came to
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suffer to Bear our sins in his body on the cross or as we saying this morning he came for our sorrow our sin
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and our shame he lived to die and he died to raise those who are his own or in the writing of Paul in 2 Corinthians 5 he made him who knew no sin to be sin
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in our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him that's his first appearing his first Advent but when he comes
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again he will come in clouds with great power and Glory he will come again and he will come to Reign and he will be seen as the son of
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man he will put ene every enemy of God at his at his feet he will take the kingdom for his inheritance he will rule with righteous
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forever and he will judge all men Jesus Christ that name long
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despised that name rejected by many in our world that name which in modern America has become just a swear
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word that man that man Jesus Christ will preeminence and he who whose gospel most of the world has refused
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will be their judge and they will go before his before his court and at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every
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tongue confess he is Lord and notice in verse 27 one of the first events and one of the first things
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that Jesus is concerned about here is the security of God's elect he has gone to prepare a place for
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those who believe in him he says I've gone to prepare a place for you for his own people he will not neglect them though we may suffer for a while on
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this Earth and as I say I don't think Christians are going to be exempt from whatever the Great Tribulation might be but he will gather his own to
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himself and when he comes there will be the trumpet sound we know from the other gospels there will be the sound of trumpets heralding his return and in Scripture that heralding sound that
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Mighty trumpet Mighty trumpet blast signifies that any Mighty GA Mighty Gathering of the people of God by Divine command is
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represented in this sounding of the trumpet the people of God collected together is heralded by the sound of the trumpet and the he will send forth he
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will send forth for his people the angels to gather them from the for
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winds in Isaiah 27 we read the resulting of the sounding of the trumpet those who were perishing the writer says and those who were scattered will come and they will come for this purpose to Worship
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the Lord in Revelation 11 we hear the sound of the trumpet literally I think when you read those words you can almost hear that in your ears he says the
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kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of Our Lord that's what it's heralding and of his Christ and he will reign forever and ever there is there is
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Majesty here there's Beauty here there's awesomeness here and it ought to lift the heart of every believer and that's why I say I have known Christians over the years and I
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was probably one of those in my early Christian days I feared the return of Christ what's it going to be like what's what will I say what will I
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do but here we read of the coming of the son of man we ought not not fear his return on Earth we we bear patiently our afflictions our persecutions because we have hope we have hope in his triumphant
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return and we know that the separation from believing loved ones while it's hard those who have died and gone before us is going to be but for a
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moment and we look forward to that joyful meeting and time with our brothers and sisters in
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Christ a decade or 11 years ago now Martha mom passed away and a few weeks later my sister passed away and a couple months later my mom passed away and one of the great Comforts that we have was
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that great day of the Lord when we will see them see them again in the presence of the Lord we look forward to that day
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and we're reminded by Paul of the deceitfulness of men in that day ahead of that day and and Paul tells us he exhorts us with these words in
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Thessalonians so now we ask you brothers and sisters regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him that you not be quickly
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shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come
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no one is to deceive you in any way see Paul has this Spirit the Paul has caught this great
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this great joy again there there's a reverence and an awe to this and and yet can we not help but be encouraged no one is to deceive you in
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that way when the Lord comes we will know and we will rejoice in it and the writer of writer of Hebrews is comforting us even as we
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stand in that awe before God and what he's going to do on that day and yes it will be a day of judgment but listen to
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what he says and again I think he's looking back at Hagi and picking up this language and his voice shook the Earth then but now he has promised saying yet
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once more I will shake not only the Earth but also the heaven this expression yet once more denotes the removing of those which can
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be shaken the Earth the Sun the moon the stars can be shaken he says of as of created things so that those things which cannot be shaken May remain
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therefore since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken let's show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and
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awe for our God is a consuming fire I mean you you you you hear you feel the language here the the things
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which can be shaken are going to be shaken they're going to be dislocated the laws of physics are going to be suspended and yet our God is revealing
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that which cannot be shaken the kingdom that he brings and gives to his son the son of man he gives
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him a kingdom and he gives him dominion and Jesus took this title for himself I don't know that we ever read the disciples using this title of him but he
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called himself the son of man and he made use of that designation to point to himself as the Messiah and I believe that when we read a a chapter like
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Daniel chapter 7 we read yes of the visions of the four beasts and summoned to the court of God the the Ancient of Days comes and sits and holds court and
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he condemns them and he exposes them for who they are and he makes judgment upon these organized bodies of men these kingdoms these nations of Earth
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because they are hostile to the kingdom of God but what follows that judgment is the ceremony that honors and formally confers on the son
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of man his title it's his true legal claim to the throne and it's made public and the
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kingdom of God is firmly established and when it says he's coming in in in in clouds that symbolism that symbolism of
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judgment is used of God and and is used of God and the son of
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man it's a veil or sometimes in the scripture called The Chariot of God on which he comes from Heaven to execute judgment against his enemies and the one who now appears the son of man in the
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clouds comes from Heaven to Earth to be brought before God the Ancient of Days that he may receive dominion and majesty and a
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and a kingdom so when Jesus speaks of himself as the son of man he says not only that he is the Messiah but he is identifying himself as the Messiah of which Daniel
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spoke and he comes in judgment but I don't think that that is the sum total of Daniel 7
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nor what we read here in the gospels of the son of man coming because in Daniel 7 when the father gives the son of man the kingdom
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it's just after he has dealt with the fourth Beast representing the powers of the earth and that Beast is shown to have he does have power and he does have
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a dominion over people but he did not have religious worship or homage paid to him and his Dominion is not
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Eternal that Beast was killed and destroyed and destroyed and burned and we read these words in Daniel chter 7 but the court will convene for
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judgment and his Dominion that Beast will be taken away and annihilated and destroyed forever then the sovereignty
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the Dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the Saints of the highest one his kingdom will be an
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everlasting Kingdom and all of the empires will serve and Obey him that's the son of man of in the language that Jesus speaks here his
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kingdom will be Everlasting the EMP EMP ires of the whole world will serve and Obey him and so the emphas is I believe in Daniel 7 and and there are those who
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go on with the times and the times and the half times and word of the beasts and all of those things but I think they miss the miss the glory and the power of that message as
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Jesus identifies himself as the son of man the emphasis here is on the kingdom and the Dominion that was previously a
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world power is now given to Jesus Christ at Christ's
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coming the Dominion and the power and the glory are given to him and it says they're given to the people of God the people of the Saints of the highest one
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under the reign of the son of man the Gathering of God's elect is never without their Messiah he's showing us that that that we are
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given the kingdom we are part of that Kingdom and yet it is never taken
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King Theologian CF Kyle writes according to the representation of scripture the kingdom of the people of the Saints without the son of man as king is not a conceivable IDE
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conceivable IDE idea when there is the kingdom there is always the king there is the Messiah there is her Lord so Jesus does not so much prove that his appearance is for
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judgment but that the Divine glory and the power and Dominion the father gave him is over all of the people and they will honor
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him Daniel uses the term one like a son of man because because that's how the prophet saw prophet saw him in Jesus was true humanity and true Divinity on Earth the Divine Glory was
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concealed in the loneliness of the son of man but the son of man who walk the earth is also the Son of
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God and so when Jesus used the term son of man in the gospels he represents him self either as in his lonliness the son of man came to
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seek and to save the lost or in his future Glory the son of man will be coming in clouds with great power and
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Glory he is the god man the Son of God and the son of man and God the father that Ancient of
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Days gave him the glory and Dominion to him so that all people all nations everywhere will honor him let us
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pray Our Father these things that we discover here are very deep and they require of us that we seek you that you would do as as the psalmist
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pray that you would open your word to us that you would give us light in your word that we might see you that we might worship you that we might know you and
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so we ask father that you would continue to open your word to us that we would continually seek continually seek you and father we do ask that we would rejoice in these things that we would
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not have fear that we would not be swayed by the false prophets of our day but that we would keep our eyes open we would be alert and we would be looking
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for that great day when the son of man comes with crow in clouds with great power and Glory we ask these things in Christ's name
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Christ's name amen would you please rise for the benediction from
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Jude now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy to the only God our savior
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through Jesus Christ Our Lord be glory Majesty dominion and Authority before all time and now and forever more