P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

THE ULTIMATE PROMISEKEEPER

It was a Wednesday morning, and a New Jersey woman had an appointment that was going to be the hardest thing she’d ever done. The person she was meeting with had on a pair of Buzz Lightyear pajamas, and that was because little David, three-and-a-half years old, was a huge fan of the Disney hit, Toy Story. He’d just gotten out of bed, and Lisa – who happened to be his mom – nudged him into his great big orange-basketball beanbag. “Let’s sit down, Big Dave, I want to talk with you.” And as this sleepy kid brushed the cobwebs out of his eyes, she began to talk about airplanes. David loved planes; the family had recently flown to Orlando for vacation, so it was a favorite topic. But not this time.

And young Mrs. Beamer had to say to her innocent boy:

“David, Daddy was flying on a plane yesterday . . . and you know that most of the time, airplanes are safe . . . but sometimes they have accidents.” And then she managed to give him the news that almost the entire planet already knew– except for him: “David, the plane that Daddy was on yesterday had an accident, and . . . and it hit the ground real hard. Everyone was hurt badly . . . and died.”

Most of you probably already realize that we’re talking about United Flight #93, which plummeted to the earth on the morning of September 11, 2001. But this child in his cartoon pajamas had honestly never encountered death before. He didn’t know what it meant. So he asked: “But Daddy’s going to be coming off the plane, right?” And Lisa had to carefully explain, taking several tries at it, that, no, not any more. Daddy was safely in the care of God, but they wouldn’t be seeing him anymore, not until someday when they would all be together with Daddy and Jesus in God’s Kingdom.

Well, friend, if you’ve read the amazing bestseller, Let’s Roll, you already know the story. And of course, the experience of this godly mother is one that is duplicated around our battered old world every single day. But here a grieving widow, 32 years old, had to sit on an orange beanbag with her kid and stake everything she had – I mean, EVERYTHING – everything she ever hoped for and lived for, the future of her family, her two boys and unborn daughter, on the promises of God. You talk about betting it all!

Six days later, September 17, United Airlines arranged for family members to travel at company expense to the crash site near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. And Lisa’s reaction, essentially, was this: “Everything is all right. Because God keeps His word.” She writes in her book:

“Because we hope in the Lord, we KNOW BEYOND A DOUBT that one day we will see Todd again.”

The day before, at Princeton Alliance Church’s memorial service, that had been the message: “God is true to His promises. Everything will be all right.” When she went on Good Morning America with Diane Sawyer, on Dateline with Stone Phillips, on Larry King Live – all three in one day, she courageously asserted the same thing: “God’s justice will ultimately prevail.” God always does what He says He will do.

And you know, as we begin here a third week on the wonderful Bible topic, BEHOLD, HE COMES!, this is one reality we should never let get away. Friend, Jesus Christ is going to come again for one simple reason: He said He would. He promised. And Jesus always keeps His promises. He does not renege on what He says He will do.

Christians in my own denomination recently were fed by an entire 13-week study curriculum on this very topic – and right at the time when the planes hit our World Trade Center and America went to so many funerals and memorial services. But here’s just one line from that lesson quarterly:

“From the earliest days of the Church the PROMISE of Christ’s return has, perhaps more than anything else, sustained the hearts of His faithful followers, especially during times of duress.”

It’s been pointed out that the return of Jesus is mentioned more than 300 times just in the New Testament; in fact, one out of every 25 verses talks about it. And listen, some of these biblical statements are flat-out guarantees. “I WILL do it,” Jesus says. “You can count on it.” In John 14 Jesus tells us we can trust both the Father and Him.

“In My Father’s house are many mansions.”

Then He even refers to His own reliability on this.

“If it were not so, I would have told you.”

And then in verse three, after describing how He was soon going to go back to heaven and prepare a place for us, He makes this ironclad statement:

“I WILL come again, and receive you unto Myself.”

If you’re listening today from anywhere outside the circle of the Christian faith, I want to humbly tell you that this is what we are counting on. Jesus says He’s coming back. He promises. And many of us have learned to rely on the promises of Jesus.

We’ve been using a wonderful old book of archived sermons by this ministry’s founder, Pastor H. M. S. Richards, Sr. And speaking of promises, the title of his beloved “Second Coming” message was very simple: “He SAID He’d Come.” And if Jesus says He’s going to come, then He does. I already shared this beautiful poem, penned by “The Chief” himself, but here it is again:

“He said He’d come! Christ will not leave us, Forgotten on a hostile shore. Through all our exile and our waiting, His promise holds – to come once more. He will return! With flash of glory, With shout on shout of risen men, With thunder anthem of the heavens – He’ll keep His word to come again.”

Richards goes on to teach in this sermon that the Christian faith has what we might call the “Twin Peaks,” or, borrowing from the recent Lord of the Rings, the “Two Towers.” (And ironically, maybe, that great trilogy of stories concludes with none other than “The Return of the King”!) But here’s what he proposes are those two powerful themes:

“The prophecies about Christ’s coming,” he writes, “are divided into two parts. One tells of a suffering Savior and the other of a coming King.” Then, referring to promises, he adds: “Every word of the Bible prophecies relating to the suffering Savior has been fulfilled exactly and literally in every detail. Therefore, we have a right to expect the prophecies about His coming as King to be fulfilled in the same way.”

Does that make sense? Many of you who enjoy Handel’s Messiah every Christmas know that Old Testament passages like in Isaiah give all sorts of details about the future ministry and crucifixion of Jesus. The prophet Zechariah, writing more than 500 years before the birth of Jesus, says in chapter 12:

“They will look on Me, the one they have pierced.”

King David, back in the early years of Israel, wrote in his 69th Psalm:

“They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.”

You can read the fulfilling of that in Matthew 27.

And many good prophecy students, as they explore the time-line prophecies of Daniel, especially the 8th and 9th chapters, can take you right through the “70 weeks” or 490 years of that prediction, and show how Jesus the Messiah came the FIRST time precisely on schedule . . . and I mean, right down to the exact year.

The point is this: If Jesus said He would come as Messiah and Redeemer and Lamb-to-be-slain the FIRST time – and clearly did so – doesn’t it follow that all of His plain promises about returning the SECOND time are equally to be trusted?

In his wonderful book, The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey admits that he grew up in a church that kind of “went overboard” in talking about the Second Coming, with charts and prophecy graphs, etc. Well, I can relate to some of that too! But notice what he writes, then, about trusting in promises:

“I must confess that for many years,” he writes, “I avoided thinking about the Second Coming of Jesus – partly, I’m sure, as a reaction to the prophecy mania of my childhood church. The doctrine seemed an embarrassment, the kind of talk that attracted people who believed in flying saucers.” Then he boldly says this: “I still have little certainty about details of the Second Coming, but I now see it as the NECESSARY culmination of the kingdom of God. To the degree that the church loses faith in Christ’s return and contents itself to be a comfortable part of this world and not the advance guard of a kingdom from another world WE RISK LOSING FAITH IN A SOVEREIGN GOD. God has put His reputation on the line.”

We all need to get to the place where we realize we simply MUST trust God on this. It’s got to happen! All is lost if Jesus doesn’t tell the truth and do what He says. That young mother sat down with her little boy and said, “This is all we’ve got. God has got to come through, because Daddy’s not coming back any other way.”

Well, Lisa, you’re absolutely right. This IS the way.

“Behold, I AM coming soon,” Jesus says in Revelation 22. “And My reward is with me.”

For all those on Flight #93, a very special crown of LIFE.