Episode Transcript
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Well, tonight I want to reflect
with you on him that will sing after
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the sermon. Let all mortal flesh
keep silence. Let's him one hundred and
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ninety three. You can look at
that as we consider this him this evening,
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consider several texts that is based on
and try to understand and appreciate more
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deeply the gift of God to us
that comes to us when he gives us
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the incarnate son. So that's him
one hundred and ninety three. A later
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on, going to read a couple
passages to help us frame our thinking about
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the the Lord who comes. The
first is a passage from Habacic to Habacic
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to versus eighteen through twenty. Thinking
about this phrase in particular. Little mortal
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flesh keeps silence. So Habackic to
verses eighteen through twenty. And then we'll
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read some from revelation as well.
What profit is an idol when it's maker
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has shaped it a metal image?
A teacher of lies for it's make or
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trusts in his own creation when he
makes speechless idols. Woe to him who
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says to a wooden thing away,
to a silent stone arise. Can this
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teach behold it is overlaid with gold
and silver, and there is no breath
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at all in it. But the
Lord is in his Holy Temple. Let
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all the earth keep silence before him. And now from revelation, Chapter Four,
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getting verse one. After this,
I looked and behold a door standing
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open in heaven, and the first
voice which I heard, speaking to me
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like a trumpet, said come here
and I will show you what must take
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place after this. At once I
was in the spirit and behold, a
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throne stood in heaven, with one
seated on the throne, and he who
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sat there had the appearance of Jasper
and Carnelian, and around the throne was
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a rainbow that had the appearance of
an Emerald. Around the throne were twenty
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four thrones, and seated on the
thrones were twenty four elders clothed in white
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garments with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning
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and rumblings and peals of thunder,
and before the throne were burning seven torches
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of fire from which are which are
the seven spirits of God. And before
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the throne there was, as it
were, a sea of glass like crystal,
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and around the throne. On each
side of the throne are four living
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creatures full of eyes in front and
behind the first living creature like a lion,
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the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the
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face of a man, and the
fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.
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And the four living creatures, each
of them with six wings, are
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full of eyes all around and within
and day and night, they never cease
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to say holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who
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was and is and is to come
and whenever the living creatures give glory and
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honor and thanks to him who is
seated on the throne, who lives forever
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and ever, the twenty four elders
fall down before him who is seated on
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the throne, and worship him,
who lives forever and ever. They cast
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their crowns before the throne, saying
worthy are you, our Lord and God,
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to Receive Glory and honor and power, for you created all things and
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by your will they existed and were
created. One more chapter. Then I
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saw, in the right hand of
him who was seated on the throne,
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a scroll written within and on the
back sealed with seven seals, and I
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saw a strong angel proclaiming with a
loud voice who is worthy to open the
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scroll and break its seals. And
no one in heaven or on Earth or
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under the Earth was able to open
the scroll or to look into it.
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And I began to weep loudly because
no one was found worthy to open the
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scroll or to look into it.
And one of the elders said to me,
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weep no more. Behold the lion
of the tribe of Judah, the
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root of David, has conquered so
that he can open the scroll and it's
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seven seals. And between the throne
and the four living creatures and among the
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elders, I saw a lamb standing
as though it had been slain, with
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seven horns and with seven eyes,
which are the seven spirits of God sent
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out into all the earth. And
he went in took the scroll from the
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right hand of him who was seated
on the throne. And when he had
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taken the scroll, the four living
creatures and the twenty four elders fell down
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before the lamb, each holding a
harp and Golden Bulls full of incense,
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which are the prayers of the Saint
Saints, and they sang a new song,
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saying worthy are you to take the
scroll and to open its seals,
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for you were slain and buy your
blood. You ransomed people for God from
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every tribe and language and people a
nation, and you have made them a
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kingdom and priests to our God and
they shall reign on earth. Then I
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looked and I heard, around the
throne and the living creatures and the elders
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the voice of many angels, numbering
myriads of myriads, thousands upon thousands,
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saying with a loud voice worthy as
the lamb, who was slain to receive
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power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing. And
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I heard every creature in heaven and
on Earth and under the Earth and in
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the sea and all that is in
them saying to him who sits on the
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throne and to the lamb be blessing
and honor and glory and might forever and
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ever. And the for living creatures
said on men, and the elders fell,
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fell down and worshiped. Amen.
God bless his word to us.
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In this hymn, let all mortal
flesh keep silence. We have a hymn
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that commands us, on the one
hand, to close our mouths be quiet.
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On the other hand, it's in
a hymn, right we're singing let
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all mortal flesh keep silence. And
indeed, at the end of the hymn
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there's this great expression of praise where
we are reminded about these angels that we've
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just read about in revelation, verse
four, at the feet the six winged
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Seraph Cherubim, with sleepless eye veil, their faces to the presence as the
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ceaseless as, with ceaseless voice,
they cry all a Lujah, Al a
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Lujah, all a Lujah, Lord
most high, all Alujah being a Greek
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transliteration of a Hebrew word which means
praise God, praise God, praise God,
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praise God. This hymn is about
the greatness of this gift that we
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have in the incarnation of Christ,
a gift that is expressed in revelation,
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a for as the lamb, this
lamb who is the root of David,
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the lion of Judah, and yet
who was slain, this great victor who
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had to die, but not just
any great victor, not just any man,
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but God himself. And we know
that he's God himself because we see
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the angels of heaven singing his praise, these powerful six winged creatures singing his
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praise, these twenty four elders with
golden crowns on their heads bowing down before
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him over and over throughout these two
chapters, worthy, Worthy, worthy,
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or you, oh Lord and God, both to him who has seated on
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the throne and to the lamb that
is in the midst of this great assembly.
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There are many blessings that are attached
to the gift of Christ, forgiveness
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of sins, healing, the conquest
of all darkness and evil, but the
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primary gift is nothing less than God
himself. The Hymn says this when it
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says that to us is is given
him, a God himself. We read
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this in verse to the second half. In the body and the blood he
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will give to he will give to
all the faithful his own self for heavenly
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food. As food is essential to
our earthly life, God is essential to
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our eternal life. It is God
that supplies all that we need to live
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in his heavenly kingdom. God supplies
this to us by coming to us not
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merely in his providence, but also
in a person, and he unites to
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us, not he unites himself to
us, not only through providential blessings,
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but he unites us to himself in
himself by giving us his spirit, and
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in this way he is our heavenly
food. He supplies everything that we need.
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But this hymn is not just about
telling us this thing, that God
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has given himself to us in this
way, but it's also about helping us
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to appreciate that fact and to worship
him accordingly, whether it be in silence
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or in great praise. This scripture
or from the scriptures the him draws forth
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a various things. It brings to
our minds the details of this gift so
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that we can appreciate the gift as
it's given. You know how valuable this
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kind of thing is. Imagine I
gave you a painting with some lilies on
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it, or lily pads and some
water. You know all that's very pretty.
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You hang it up in your house. But then imagine I told you
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that this was a Monae, that
it was worth many, many dollars,
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that you could sell it and and
be just fine for a long time,
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that this is considered when the great
masterpieces of the world by both common people
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and art critics alike. You would
maybe say Oh really full, thanks a
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lot. This is a great gift. It's what the scriptures are often doing
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and what is happening in this fame
as well. It doesn't just tell us
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that God has given a great gift, but it helps us to understand what
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that gift is. It pulls from
the scriptures various titles, various descriptions so
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that we might understand him and respond
appropriately. Let's think through some of these
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things. First, some of the
titles that are attributed to him. In
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every verse of one hundred and Ninety
three and all, let all mortal flesh
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keep silence. We have grand titles
attributed to Christ, the Gift of God
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to men. The first one we
have is Christ. Our God, Jesus,
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the Messiah, is called explicitly and
in several places God in the scriptures,
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and implicitly and hundreds of places,
maybe even thousands, to explicit references
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to Christ as God comes in Titus
to hundred and thirteen and second Peter to
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one and titus two hund and thirteen. We read that we are waiting for
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our blessed hope, the appearing of
the glory of our great God and Savior,
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Jesus Christ the Messiah, this great
promised hope to come, this son
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of David, would not be a
mere human he would be God and our
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Savior. Second Peter two, one
to those who obta Peter Rights, to
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those who have obtained a faith of
equal standing with ours by the righteousness of
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our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And then, of course, we
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have the great prophecy of the Messiah's
birth and Isaiah nine six. For Unto
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Us, a child is born,
to us a son is given, and
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the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful
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counselor mighty God, everlasting father,
Prince of peace. This title Christ,
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our God reminds us what we have
considered this morning. But though Jesus was
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the son of David, he was
also the son of God. He was
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much more than a human king used
by God to do great things. There
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have been those, but he was
more than that. He was the son
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of God himself, not just to
be praised for his greatness, but to
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be worshiped according to his divine nature. A second title that we are given
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in this him is king of Kings, another is Lord of Lords, another
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is most high or Lord, most
high all frequent descriptions of God and the
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son of God in particular. A
text shows this from revelation seventeen fourteen.
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This lamb that we read about earlier
in revelation for appears again, as we
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read. They will make war on
the lamb and the lamb will conquer them,
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for he is Lord of Lords and
King of Kings, and those with
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him are called and chosen and faithful. So this is the greatness of God.
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We see it as described in these
great titles. King of Kings,
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Lord of Lords, Christ our God, Lord Most High. But the greatness
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of the gift is also seen in
the contrast how Christ, Otor God to
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Earth Descendeth, or king of Kings, born of Mary, or Lord of
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Lords in human vesture. The greatness
of the gift is not expressed only in
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terms of his most excellent divinity and
power and majesty, but that he descended
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to Earth to give us those things
us. He is also called light of
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light, and in this we confess
that great truth, as we confessed at
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this morning in the nicene creed,
that he who has been born of God
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is the son of God, is
the light. As he is one with
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God, he shines God. He
is the light of light, the only
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son from the Father John One hundred
and fourteen. John One four says in
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Him was light and the light was
the light of men. John writes again
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in First John Five. This is
the message that you have heard from him
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and proclaimed to you, that we
have heard from him and proclaimed to you,
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that God is light and in him
there is no darkness at all.
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The light of Jesus Christ, as
it comes into the world, is expressed
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in the Gospel, this good news
that begins in a manger and spreads throughout
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all the earth, the greatness of
the Lord of Lords and the King of
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kings coming. But it doesn't just
remain here on earth, because one day
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this great light that has gone out
will ascend into this great and everlasting brightness
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that we will see and see by
again. To revelation twenty one twenty three,
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we read that the city that is
the city of God, the people
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of God even, and the city
has no need of sun or moon to
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shine on it, for the glory
of God gives it light, and it's
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lamp is the lamb. You see
why we confess light of light, Very
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God of Very God begotten, not
made. You see, why we say
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this about Jesus Christ, why we
understand the greatness of this gift did?
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He gives us himself. God gives
to us God. These are all expressed
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in these scriptural biblical titles is and
then are brought out in this hymn.
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Well, the greatness of God's gift
is not only expressed in the titles,
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but it's also expressed in these descriptions, a found in verses three and verse
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four. Verse Three says rank on
rank, the host of Heaven. This
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is speaking of the myriads of angels
that we read about earlier. Read about
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earlier. Rank on rank, the
host of Heaven spreads its vanguard on the
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way, as light of light descendeth
from the realms of endless day that the
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powers of hell may vanish, and
the dark, as the darkness clears away.
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Here we are reminded that Jesus is
he is surrounded by angels here,
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called the host of Heaven. Precede
his birth. They come before him,
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kind of like a messenger might run
into a city before the great and conquering
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king comes and says he's coming,
he's coming. Everybody wake up, you
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know, banging a pot or something
like that wake up, wake up,
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the king is here, the king
is coming. This is what the angels
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did that night when they came and
spoke to the shepherds. They praised his
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name and they promised, and God
promised, as he spoke to Mary,
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as he spoke to Joseph, that
the darkness and the powers of this world
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were coming to be vanquished. The
great conqueror had come. Verse Four also
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includes Angels, and but here it
doesn't. It seems to follow his victory
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as opposed to his initial coming.
It has pictured these these visions that John
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has of Christ, the ascended king, as we read in revelation for verse
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for here and Him One hundred ninety
three, at his feet the six winged
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Seraph Cherubim, with sleepless eye veil, their faces to the presence as,
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with ceaseless voice they cry all a
Lujah, all Alujah, all Alujah,
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Lord most high. Think back to
that vision that John Sees. This one
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seated on the throne, this ancient
of days, and from his throne is
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coming somehow. These peals of thunder, flashes of lightning around it are surrounded
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these angelic, terrifying creatures that look
like animals with eyes all over them,
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with wings everywhere, and around them
are seated, these these great elders themselves
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on thrones with crowns, a glassy
sea, a rainbow surrounding the throne,
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the voices of Heaven, these hundreds
of thousands of millions of angels thundering with
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the praise of God. How would
you react and seeing something like that?
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Let's take it down a notch and
think about it this way. How nerve
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of this argue? Or were you
when you were perhaps called into the principal's
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office or the boss at work said
I need to see you, or commanding
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officer. You know, you wipe
your palms. You Walk in, there's
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a large desk, maybe a secretary
taking notes. You look around, you
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see Mahogany and trophies and awards and
affirmations and certificates and you're nervous. Take
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a deep breath, you try to
remind yourself this is he's just a man.
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It's going to be okay. This
room that John Walks into is not
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the room of a mere man.
If we find ourselves a little bit nervous
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and shaking when we go to speak
to those who are an authority over us,
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think of how John must have felt
when he goes and he sees the
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Lord in his temple, not dressed
in a business suit with a secretary nearby,
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but with fierce creatures calling out the
praises of God. This greatness of
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God, His Majesty, is beyond
anything any of us have ever experienced.
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His glory is beyond to any glory
that we could ever imagine. John,
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we read in another place. He
falls down. Is Dead and revelation one.
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He goes and he sees this presence
and he just boomp his bump falls
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down. He has to be told
fear not stand up. I have something
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to say to you. Isaiah,
and Isaiah six experiences something similar. When
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he goes, he's lifted up into
the heavenly places and he sees the glory
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of the Lord filling the temple.
He falls down and he says, Woe
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unto me, for I am a
man of Unclean Lips. He feels the
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weight of his sin, that the
dirtiness of himself, and he's like,
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I don't belong here, Woe unto
me, I am cursed. This is
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why Hebackic when we read earlier in
Hebackic to let me read it to you
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again. Compare this vision that we
have in revelation nineteen to what a God
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is saying through his prophet, His
Messenger. What profit, what value,
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is in an idol when it's maker
has shaped at a metal image, a
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teacher of lies, for it's maker
trusts in his own creation, when he
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makes speechless idols. Woe to him. Who says to a wooden thing awake,
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to a silent stone arise. Can
this teach behold? It is overlaid
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with gold and silver and there's no
breath in it at all. But the
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Lord is in his Holy Temple.
Let all the earth keep silence before him.
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The greatness of the gift that we
have in the incarnation of Christ.
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We understand this more fully when we
come to appreciate the greatness and the glory
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of God. As we considered in
another hymn, thou who was rich,
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be law above all splendor. Thou, who is rich, became his poor,
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who is beyond all praising, gave
himself to man. And the greatness
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of this gift is also express not
only in the titles, not only in
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these great descriptions of his glory before
and after he descended, but they also
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come to us in these commands of
how we are to respond. Let all
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mortal flesh keep silence and, with
fear and trembling stand the command to be
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silent is an important one. It's
one that we try to observe in part
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in our worship services here, when
we have moments of silence, in our
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confession of sin, for example,
or tonight as we partake of the Lord's
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supper, there will be a time
of silence. Why is silence appropriate?
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There's lots of reasons and more thoughtful
people than me have written about this,
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but let me suggest a few things. Silence is a proper response of humility.
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When you stand before an idol of
your own making, what the I
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need is there to be humble?
So you look what I did. I
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made a fancy thing. But when
you stand before the God Almighty, the
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Creator of Heaven and earth, who
is surrounded by millions of angels, whose
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throne is shaking with thunder and flashes
of lightning, silence just might be appropriate.
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Right. Silence is the response of
humility. Often, a lot of
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times, we are trying to do
things with our words. Silence in a
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way stops US trying to do anything. It recognizes our own inability. Maybe
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you've experienced this when trying to pray
and being unable to or trying to argue
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something and feeling like you're getting nowhere, or trying to say something to make
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a situation better and nothing seems to
be working. These times of desperation,
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of great loss, of great sin, maybe, of great love, or
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of seeing or coming to know something
as great as God, sometimes there are
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times when we simply cannot speak,
and maybe that's okay. Instead of trying
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harder and harder to lift ourselves up
and kind of master a thing, or
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even master God, by talking,
talking, talking, maybe what we need
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to do, instead of spinning more
and more words, is to just respond
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in silence. This is what Psalm
forty six a spoke about as well.
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After these great declarations of God as
our refuge, God and his greatness,
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God who can move the mountains,
who is strong above all oceans, who,
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though the nation's rage and the kingdom's
totter, he utters his voice in
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the earth melts. Verse Ten says, be still and know that I am
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God. I will be exalted among
the nations, I will be exalted in
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the Earth. So back at calls
us to silence in us. After a
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series of woes, Romans Twenty and, considering the greatness of God's sovereign love,
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says, who are you, Oh
man, to answer back to God?
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Well, what is moldered? Say
to the MOLDER? Why have you
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made me like this? Shut up, be quiet, stop talking, silence,
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or take job, job forty verse
for behold, I am of small
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account, which I well, what
shall I answer you? I lay my
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hand on my mouth. Silence is
a response of humility, especially when we
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consider the great strength and power of
God and our finitude, our inabilities,
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our weakness to master him by our
actions or by our words. Silence is
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one of the ways in which we
stop, in which we stop trying to
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be God and recognize that only he
is God. We do not live in
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times that think of God, Godd
as being exalted. It was what's Today's
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date? The sixteen, seventeen?
Okay, two days ago, in First
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Things magazine, Auriclera religious professor at
Marquette University, wrote this article about something
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called the Santa God, or something
like that. He starts article. He
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says a few days ago one of
my undergraduate students asked me why do so
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many pull people believe God is like
an old man in the clouds. His
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response, he says. I responded
because there's no god but Santa, and
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after a pause I added in sentimentalist
theology, he explains, Western religion has
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largely become a self serving therapeutic endeavor. It doesn't matter whether you are Christian
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or Jewish or Muslim. The push
for no god but Santa is universal in
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our society. The moment we divinish
the divine to a moral law of the
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universe, the moment we rob God
of his awe inspiring mystery, we have
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started on the road to sentimentalist religion. That road leads to a God who
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is no longer person, no longer
involved in our lives, but rather a
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feeling that we sometimes seek, but
that is not worth dying for and can
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consequently not worth changing your life for. God has become the Nice God.
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This is not the god of the
Bible, this is not the God that
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Habacic subscribes. It's not the God
that David describes, it's not the God
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that John Describes, it's not the
God who Jesus is. Do you have
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times where you recognize this and you
are still and you are silent before the
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Lord, or is your life filled
with the noise of building things to your
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own glory, your reasoning, your
planning, your striving, your working?
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Sometimes, beloved, silence is best, but of course we cannot remain silent
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forever. God has given us tongues
to praise him. We read this often
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in the scriptures, and often when
silence, and through silence, we come
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to recognize the greatness of our Lord, we become ready to praise him,
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to lift up his name. We
could hardly hold our tongues to sing all
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Alujah, Al Alujah, Al Alujah, Lord Most High. The vocal praise
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of God is not a contradiction to
the a silence we must sometimes enter into.
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Interestingly, as I mentioned before,
these words let all mortal flesh keep
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silence as in the context of a
song. The same goes for Psalm Forty
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six, where it says be still
and know that I am God. It
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is in a song that this comes
to us. We were made for praise.
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In some ways, silence is like
repentance. It's an act of mortifying
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the flesh, of seeking the spirit. But we're also called to join the
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angels in their praise of him.
We fear His Majesty, but we're also
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caught up in it, even as
objects of his glorifying power. Want to
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finish by reading another passage from revelation
to you, revelation chapter nineteen, versus
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one through nine. After this,
I heard what seemed to be a loud
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voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out Hallelujah. Salvation and glory
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and power belong to our God,
for his judgments are true and just,
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for he has judged the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
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and has avenged on her the blood
of his servants. Once more, they
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cried out, Hollelujah. The smoke
from her goes up forever and ever,
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and the twenty four elders in the
four living creatures fell down and worshiped God,
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who was seated on the throne,
saying Amen, Hallelujah. And from
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the throne came a voice saying praise
our God, all you, his servants,
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you who fear him, small and
great. Then I heard what seemed
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to be the voice of a great
multitude, like the roar of many waters
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and like the sound of Mighty peals
of thunder, crying out Hallelujah, for
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the Lord, our God, the
Almighty rains. Let us rejoice and Exalt
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and give him the glory, for
the marriage of the lamb has come and
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his bride has made herself ready.
It was granted her to clothe herself with
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fine linen, bright and pure,
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds
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of the saints. And the Angel
said to me, right this, blessed
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are those who are invited to the
marriage supper of the lamb. And he
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said to me, these are the
true words of God. Allelujah, Hallelujah,
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Hallelujah. You are invited, did
to the marriage supper of the lamb.
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The lamb is the sun, who
was born, who was given to
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us, who came from the highest
heavens, surrounded by angels and glory,
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to come to Earth, to give
himself to us so that we would be
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saved and lifted up with him,
up with all the saints, up with
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the angels, up for Everlasting Life, to sing his praise. This is
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the end of the story, this
is the end to which we have all
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been predestined. As the saved sinners
of God's grace. We have been given
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even here tonight, and opportunity by
God himself, to see him high and
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lift it up, to see this
God as he is given to us,
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in his word, in his light. How will we respond? How will
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you respond? Do not leave tonight
without answering those questions. Let us pray
