O, Zion! (Micah 4:1-8; Psalm 76)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:05.440 So let's turn to God's word yet another songs. Is a night for a 2 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:10.630 lot of psalms, psalm seventy six, and then Micah for one through eight. 3 00:00:16.710 --> 00:00:24.019 Psalm seventy six. In Judah God is known, his name is great 4 00:00:24.059 --> 00:00:29.140 in Israel. His abode has been established in Salem and his dwelling place in 5 00:00:29.219 --> 00:00:34.100 Zila Zion. There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword 6 00:00:34.140 --> 00:00:39.609 and the weapons of war. Glorious Are you more majestic than mountains full of 7 00:00:39.729 --> 00:00:46.689 prey? The South, the stout ses, stout hearted were stripped of their 8 00:00:46.729 --> 00:00:51.560 spoil. They sank into sleep. All the men of war were unable to 9 00:00:51.640 --> 00:00:55.359 use their hands at your rebuke, O, God of Jacob, both rider 10 00:00:55.479 --> 00:01:00.320 and horse lay stunned. But you, you are to be feared. Who 11 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:03.590 can stand before you when you're then, when, once your anger is roused 12 00:01:04.230 --> 00:01:07.870 from the heavens? You uttered judgment. The earth feared and was stilled. 13 00:01:08.349 --> 00:01:14.189 When God arose to establish judgment to save all the humble of the earth, 14 00:01:15.629 --> 00:01:19.019 surely the wrath of Man shall praise you. The remnant of wrath you will 15 00:01:19.060 --> 00:01:23.420 put on like a belt, make your vows to the Lord, your God, 16 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:27.540 and perform them let all around him bring gifts to him. Who is 17 00:01:27.780 --> 00:01:33.049 to be feared? WHO CUTS OFF THE PRINCES? Who is to be feared 18 00:01:33.250 --> 00:01:40.129 by the Kings of the earth? Now let's turn to Micah, Chapter Four, 19 00:01:40.489 --> 00:01:55.359 Mike a four, mike a four, verses one through eight. It 20 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:57.640 shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the House of 21 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:02.109 the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall 22 00:02:02.109 --> 00:02:07.269 be lifted up above the hills, and people shall flow to it, and 23 00:02:07.430 --> 00:02:10.750 many nations shall come and say, come, let us go up to the 24 00:02:10.830 --> 00:02:14.870 mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob, that 25 00:02:14.990 --> 00:02:17.259 he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. 26 00:02:17.979 --> 00:02:22.379 For Out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord. 27 00:02:22.500 --> 00:02:27.939 From Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples and decide for strong nations 28 00:02:28.139 --> 00:02:32.129 far away, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into 29 00:02:32.210 --> 00:02:38.210 pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up Sword Against Nation, neither shall they 30 00:02:38.250 --> 00:02:43.490 learn war any more, but they shall sit each man under his vine and 31 00:02:43.569 --> 00:02:46.919 under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the 32 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:53.280 mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken for all the People's walk, each 33 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:55.639 in the name of its God, but we will walk in the name of 34 00:02:55.680 --> 00:03:00.669 the Lord, our God, forever and ever. And that day, declares 35 00:03:00.710 --> 00:03:05.870 the Lord. I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven 36 00:03:05.909 --> 00:03:08.789 away and those whom I have afflicted, and the lame I will make the 37 00:03:08.909 --> 00:03:14.460 remnant and those who are cast off a strong nation, and the Lord will 38 00:03:14.460 --> 00:03:19.099 reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore. And you, 39 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:23.819 Oh Tower of the flock, Hill of the daughter of Zion, to 40 00:03:23.979 --> 00:03:29.610 you shall it come the former dominion, shall come kingship for the daughter of 41 00:03:29.729 --> 00:03:46.000 Jerusalem. I'mn we have some themes in our sermon this evening. That also 42 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:52.400 came up this morning, and I realize that this morning I made you all 43 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:55.710 drink from a fire hose, as they say, and I'm sorry about that. 44 00:03:57.789 --> 00:04:04.110 I hope to make this evening a little more manageable and simple. Part 45 00:04:04.150 --> 00:04:12.099 of the struggle here is that we have these very important and wady themes, 46 00:04:13.620 --> 00:04:18.259 themes that declare to us our very life and our salvation, with images that 47 00:04:18.259 --> 00:04:25.569 are complex and intertwined. But, as we've seen today and even just from 48 00:04:25.610 --> 00:04:30.290 the readings tonight of their very prominent themes, very prominent images that we have 49 00:04:30.529 --> 00:04:36.370 repeated over and over again in the Bible. And so hopefully that by reading 50 00:04:36.529 --> 00:04:43.439 through these and considering them, I'm you will come to understand them in a 51 00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:46.959 way that you will be able to read them wherever you see them and in 52 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:56.550 a proper light and understand them in a proper way. As we think about 53 00:04:56.670 --> 00:05:01.470 then, Micah, for what do we see? We see a prophecy about 54 00:05:01.509 --> 00:05:09.980 the latter days, days which are about our days, days which are not 55 00:05:10.019 --> 00:05:15.019 yet consummated, but days which have begun. We are in the latter period, 56 00:05:15.300 --> 00:05:19.620 the last days, the end times. This is what the scriptures teach 57 00:05:19.660 --> 00:05:26.569 us. And we know that because the final revelation of God has come in 58 00:05:26.769 --> 00:05:30.329 the person of the Sun. We know that because Jesus has been revealed to 59 00:05:30.970 --> 00:05:40.040 prove, to establish a new and better covenant that is everlasting. He is 60 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:46.480 the fulfillment of all of the things that we're anticipated. There's no sort of 61 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:55.910 next thing, only the finalizing of what now is. And so as we 62 00:05:55.990 --> 00:05:59.430 come to a passage here, Michael, where he's talking about in the latter 63 00:05:59.470 --> 00:06:05.620 days, what he's telling us, or may I could put it this way 64 00:06:05.939 --> 00:06:14.660 he's we have here Old Testament prophecies that are describing current realities. In other 65 00:06:14.699 --> 00:06:19.930 words, this prophecy here in micap is about our life right now, which 66 00:06:20.009 --> 00:06:24.889 is an utterly amazing thing. Now, there are some things you'll have to 67 00:06:25.050 --> 00:06:29.649 think through, a ways in which the we experience things in this life that 68 00:06:29.769 --> 00:06:32.800 don't seem to fit and accord with this passage, and so we ask to 69 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:38.480 ask, have to ask why, how does that go together? But nevertheless, 70 00:06:38.519 --> 00:06:42.759 you let's begin in that place. I'll be begin by understanding that he's 71 00:06:42.839 --> 00:06:47.829 talking about our days, our times, in which Jesus has come and established 72 00:06:47.949 --> 00:06:57.029 his kingdom, his final, everlasting kingdom, which is the church. So 73 00:06:57.149 --> 00:07:00.189 what do we see here? Well, first remember that in Mica Chapter Three, 74 00:07:00.699 --> 00:07:05.180 Mike has been acting as a prosecutor. He's been acting in as an 75 00:07:05.259 --> 00:07:11.980 attorney, prosecuting the old covenant. You are to live by the law and 76 00:07:12.060 --> 00:07:15.769 you have broken the law and you will die by the law. He's been 77 00:07:15.810 --> 00:07:21.129 speaking particularly to the leaders in Israel, her judges, her teachers, her 78 00:07:21.370 --> 00:07:27.209 her priests, her prophets, her prophets, and the last words that we 79 00:07:27.290 --> 00:07:33.079 had in this judge into Mica Three is that Zion is going to be raised, 80 00:07:34.279 --> 00:07:38.959 as in down to the ground, not up to the sky. I 81 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:43.279 think that's with a ze right. Zion is going to be leveled. Remember 82 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:46.990 Mica three, verse twelve. Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be 83 00:07:47.230 --> 00:07:53.189 plowed as a field, Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins and the mountain 84 00:07:53.269 --> 00:07:58.939 of the House of the Lord a wooded height. Instead of this mighty city, 85 00:07:59.180 --> 00:08:05.379 which is a place of protection and safety and wisdom and judgment and beauty 86 00:08:05.939 --> 00:08:13.649 truth, it's going to return to wilderness, trees just growing up in the 87 00:08:13.730 --> 00:08:18.889 place where the mighty city of God once stood. This is the judgment that 88 00:08:18.129 --> 00:08:24.449 is going to come upon God's people. Why? Because of sin. We 89 00:08:24.649 --> 00:08:28.759 thought a lot about that as we looked at those through two or three sermons 90 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:35.080 in Mica three, those particular scenes that brought about this particular judgment. But 91 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:43.509 in Mica for there's a turn, a turn from Judgment Unto Salvation. And 92 00:08:43.629 --> 00:08:50.909 what's amazing about that turn is that it turns on a different standard, we 93 00:08:50.950 --> 00:08:58.620 might say. The Old Standard was obey and you shall live. God doesn't 94 00:08:58.700 --> 00:09:05.220 come to say I'm going to I'M GOING TO TEAR Zion down, I'm going 95 00:09:05.299 --> 00:09:07.500 to plow it I'm going to take the mountain of the House and turn it 96 00:09:07.620 --> 00:09:11.529 into a wooded height. And then he doesn't say after that, and then 97 00:09:11.570 --> 00:09:16.129 I'll come to you again and I'll give you a second chance, or a 98 00:09:16.289 --> 00:09:20.610 zillionth chance. Really, I'm going to give you a zillionth chance to obey 99 00:09:20.649 --> 00:09:26.519 the law again and if this time you obey the law, then I will 100 00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:33.519 establish my kingdom and you. He doesn't do that. No, he says 101 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:35.639 it shall come to the past, in the latter days, that the mountain 102 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:41.870 of the House of the Lord shall be established. I'm going to do this. 103 00:09:41.950 --> 00:09:46.830 This is my promise and these are the things that are going to happen. 104 00:09:46.669 --> 00:09:50.070 And, as we know from other places and Mica and the rest of 105 00:09:50.149 --> 00:09:56.139 Scriptures, this is happens because of the sovereign promise of God that, by 106 00:09:56.340 --> 00:10:00.259 His grace, he is going to do, with the people proved they were 107 00:10:00.299 --> 00:10:03.460 unable to do. He is going to do, by his spirit and through 108 00:10:03.460 --> 00:10:09.649 the work of his son, the work that the law was UN unable to 109 00:10:09.730 --> 00:10:22.000 do, and God is going to establish this thing that far it's supersedes anything 110 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:28.000 that Israel has ever seen, and we get the sense of that as we 111 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:33.159 read this passage it's put in this very earthy language, right, even speaking 112 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:35.750 of the Earth, mountains and such, but in other things, you know, 113 00:10:37.029 --> 00:10:43.549 plows and spears, pruning hooks and or the plow shares. These cut 114 00:10:43.629 --> 00:10:50.019 this kind of language, fig trees, very earthly, very concrete language. 115 00:10:50.379 --> 00:10:54.059 And yet when God puts it all together and reveals this through the mouth of 116 00:10:54.139 --> 00:11:00.899 the Prophet, you get this deep sense that something much bigger is going on 117 00:11:01.259 --> 00:11:09.970 here than just somebody sitting under a fig tree, something enormously significant. And 118 00:11:11.409 --> 00:11:15.289 we get this sense because of the words that are here. It's not just 119 00:11:15.490 --> 00:11:22.559 something that we feel or make up. Let's look at that. Let's consider 120 00:11:24.039 --> 00:11:28.320 what it is God is doing in the latter days. The first thing he 121 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:35.789 describes is the lifting up of the mountain of the Lord. The mountain of 122 00:11:35.830 --> 00:11:39.870 the House of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains. 123 00:11:39.909 --> 00:11:45.230 It shall be lifted up above all the hills. You can go to any 124 00:11:45.269 --> 00:11:50.899 atlas look at where Jerusalem was. No right away that it is not the 125 00:11:50.940 --> 00:11:56.259 highest of the mountains in the world. It's not that big, right. 126 00:11:56.299 --> 00:12:03.049 And yet God says that this mountain is going to be established as the highest 127 00:12:03.169 --> 00:12:09.330 of mountains in all the world. This lifting up is symbolic, and these 128 00:12:09.450 --> 00:12:16.639 terms are meant to make us feel the Pre Eminence of this place. This 129 00:12:16.759 --> 00:12:22.600 is not just a going higher, but this is Zion becoming like the king 130 00:12:22.759 --> 00:12:30.470 of the mountains, the highest, the most important of the mountains. And 131 00:12:30.590 --> 00:12:33.590 we also see that this mountain is not just a mountain. This is not 132 00:12:33.750 --> 00:12:37.950 just any hill, any place. This is the dwelling place of God. 133 00:12:39.470 --> 00:12:41.750 This is why it is high, this is why it is lifted up, 134 00:12:41.950 --> 00:12:46.539 this is why this mountain is more important than any other mountain in the world, 135 00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:52.419 because on it he sets his house. This is why people go to 136 00:12:52.899 --> 00:12:58.529 this mountain and not any other. This is why it says that as the 137 00:12:58.570 --> 00:13:05.529 law goes out from this mountain, as the word goes forth, the Lord 138 00:13:05.610 --> 00:13:11.879 will judge the people and the people will in turn come Desi in verse two, 139 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:16.399 and many nations shall come and say, come, let us go up 140 00:13:16.440 --> 00:13:20.000 to the mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob 141 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:24.159 the he may teach us his ways and that we wait meet, we may 142 00:13:24.279 --> 00:13:31.629 walk in his paths. Mountains have often had a very and still do have 143 00:13:31.710 --> 00:13:39.509 a very important place in the false religions of this world. People look at 144 00:13:39.590 --> 00:13:43.379 mountains and they stand in all of them. They see in them a thing 145 00:13:43.580 --> 00:13:48.500 that is reaching up into the heavens, a place for the gods and in 146 00:13:48.700 --> 00:13:52.139 mythology after mythology, pagan religion after pagan religion, these is where you will 147 00:13:52.139 --> 00:14:01.730 find the God's dwelling, Mount Olympus as guard others. You see this even 148 00:14:01.769 --> 00:14:07.529 in cartoons, right the the journey to wisdom up the mountains. So you 149 00:14:07.610 --> 00:14:13.519 find a little old man's are going to row with staff who will pour out 150 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:20.519 his wisdom to you. Mountains often represent this place where we go to get 151 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:26.990 up right, to get higher, to get into heavenly things, spiritual frame 152 00:14:28.029 --> 00:14:31.590 of mind, and they do tend to do this right. Usually have our 153 00:14:31.669 --> 00:14:35.870 mirror treats on the tops of mountains and these kinds of things. But something 154 00:14:37.029 --> 00:14:41.340 very different is going on. This is not just run of the mill paganism 155 00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:46.980 and mythology that is happening here. God is using the symbolism, God is 156 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:52.580 using these places, these earthly ways, which, by the way, he'd 157 00:14:52.659 --> 00:14:56.210 made and connect with us deeply in these ways, to establish the things that 158 00:14:56.250 --> 00:15:05.730 are true, to establish his pre eminence above all gods. An amazing thing 159 00:15:05.769 --> 00:15:09.080 about God is he doesn't have to pick the highest mountain in the world to 160 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:13.720 say this. He doesn't have to use impressive things that we wonder at and 161 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:18.600 we go, Oh, yes, surely this is the true God. No 162 00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:22.950 God can pick insignificant things to make this point. This is how strong our 163 00:15:24.070 --> 00:15:28.149 God is. We get this point later on. I love this in verse 164 00:15:28.269 --> 00:15:33.269 six. In that day, declares the Lord. I will assemble the lame 165 00:15:33.230 --> 00:15:37.899 and gather those who have been driven away and those whom I have afflicted, 166 00:15:37.340 --> 00:15:41.659 and the lame I will make the remnant and those who were cast off a 167 00:15:41.940 --> 00:15:48.059 strong nation. When the people, when sinful men, decide to establish the 168 00:15:48.220 --> 00:15:54.850 Kingdom of Heaven on earth, they do not go if history is any guide, 169 00:15:56.169 --> 00:16:00.889 they do not go out and collect the lame people and the afflicted people 170 00:16:02.049 --> 00:16:04.480 in the oppressed people, and gather them all together and say here, I 171 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:11.840 will establish an eternal kingdom based on this. What are men do? Genetic 172 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:22.429 selection, concentration camps right. They find ways to eliminate those that are perceived 173 00:16:22.470 --> 00:16:27.990 and actually are weak, to eliminate those who would pose, those who are 174 00:16:29.029 --> 00:16:36.620 oppressed, those who are not worthy of being the rock of their New Kingdom. 175 00:16:36.620 --> 00:16:42.659 But God doesn't need mankind to establish his kingdom. In fact, though, 176 00:16:42.779 --> 00:16:48.809 he will become incarnate as a man, as the divine, as a 177 00:16:48.049 --> 00:16:55.730 divine man. is how he establishes a final humanity, a kingdom of men. 178 00:16:56.129 --> 00:17:00.690 He doesn't do it based on our strengths. He doesn't go and collect 179 00:17:00.809 --> 00:17:03.880 the most impressive things in the world and the most impressive people of the world 180 00:17:03.880 --> 00:17:07.160 and their riches and their goal. He says, I don't need any of 181 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:15.640 that and I'll do something that far suppere us, far as exceeds anything that 182 00:17:15.789 --> 00:17:19.910 you could ever even imagine, that you could even begin to build with the 183 00:17:21.069 --> 00:17:23.630 things and the resources that you think you have in this world. Trust not 184 00:17:23.789 --> 00:17:29.269 in princes and chariots and horses. This is the constant message of scripture. 185 00:17:29.990 --> 00:17:34.460 The stuff fails, these people fall apart and the world is full of sin. 186 00:17:36.619 --> 00:17:40.940 But God, who rules and range and righteousness, enters into this world 187 00:17:41.779 --> 00:17:48.210 and I don't know how to say it, he explodes our presuppositions, he 188 00:17:51.809 --> 00:18:03.000 demolishes the kingdoms of this world and this is what he creates. He creates 189 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:11.279 a city of the Lord, a kingdom, a temple. Psalm Eleven for 190 00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:15.269 says the Lord is in his Holy Temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven, 191 00:18:15.390 --> 00:18:21.910 his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man, unlike the 192 00:18:21.990 --> 00:18:26.670 false gods that people worship that are unable to do anything good or evil. 193 00:18:27.099 --> 00:18:32.380 He is the true God, and we know this because he has shown his 194 00:18:32.579 --> 00:18:37.500 power in the world over and over and over again, in such a way 195 00:18:37.619 --> 00:18:45.089 that even pagan idolaters will bend the knee to him, usually at the last 196 00:18:45.130 --> 00:18:49.369 moment, but they will ultimately bend their knee and, like rehab who sees 197 00:18:51.529 --> 00:18:56.559 Israel coming, says, whatever you're gonna do, include me in it. 198 00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:00.519 Don't let me be destroyed with the rest of Jericho. I've heard of you, 199 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:07.480 I've heard of Yah, where you are gone. He is the true 200 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:11.069 God who has shown himself over and over again, and not only through all 201 00:19:11.150 --> 00:19:15.910 of these events, Pharaoh and Joshua and all of these stories that you might 202 00:19:15.950 --> 00:19:23.069 consider Um raising up kingdoms, putting down kingdoms, establishing kings overnight, destroying 203 00:19:23.150 --> 00:19:30.220 them overnight, but then he gives his son, who goes willingly to a 204 00:19:30.460 --> 00:19:36.980 cross as a king, to die and then raises from the dead victorious over 205 00:19:37.099 --> 00:19:41.809 his enemies. This is the God who we serve and this is why we 206 00:19:41.009 --> 00:19:48.970 go to him and to no other this is why we trust him. Unlike 207 00:19:48.009 --> 00:19:52.650 the false gods, he is a true God and has shown his mouthpower and 208 00:19:52.730 --> 00:19:57.680 might, and this mountain, in this temple are earthly pictures of his dwelling 209 00:19:57.720 --> 00:20:04.480 place. That's a second important thing to consider, and I'll mention it only 210 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:11.309 briefly. We ought not to think that this is that God is expecting us 211 00:20:12.150 --> 00:20:19.509 to drop everything, jump on a plane and go to Jerusalem, because Moses 212 00:20:19.589 --> 00:20:25.819 himself says an exodus twenty five, or God says to Moses to build the 213 00:20:25.980 --> 00:20:29.859 temple or the Tabernacle at that time and then later the temple would be built. 214 00:20:29.859 --> 00:20:36.130 Similarly, here's his God's words, exactly as I show you, concerning 215 00:20:36.250 --> 00:20:41.730 the pattern of the Tabernacle and all of its furniture. So shall you make 216 00:20:41.809 --> 00:20:48.650 it? God gives instructions to Moses and later to Solomon to build this dwelling 217 00:20:48.849 --> 00:20:55.200 place place according to the pattern that he gives them blueprints. Okay, just 218 00:20:55.319 --> 00:20:59.480 like any architect, you hire someone for, you know, some work and 219 00:20:59.559 --> 00:21:02.519 here the blueprints, here's the pattern. Build it this way. We have 220 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:04.509 lots of details about that in the Old Testament, about how that was done. 221 00:21:07.230 --> 00:21:11.869 The very important thing to recognize, though, is that this pattern is 222 00:21:11.109 --> 00:21:18.349 based on a heavenly reality. Thoughts of Hebrews says this and Hebrews Nine, 223 00:21:18.509 --> 00:21:22.579 he says that they temple and all of its furniture and everything's they were copies, 224 00:21:22.660 --> 00:21:27.539 Hebrews nine hundred and twenty three. They were copies of heavenly things. 225 00:21:30.420 --> 00:21:36.849 So this earthly temple, this earthly mountain, weren't the final thing. They 226 00:21:36.890 --> 00:21:41.049 were shadows, types, prototypes, you know, like lego models, of 227 00:21:41.369 --> 00:21:52.039 the Awesome Heavenly Temple of God, the True Mount Zion, the heavenly city, 228 00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:59.200 the city of the Living God, and that's what this picture is helping 229 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:03.710 us to understand in mic of for this picture of the mountain all these ways, 230 00:22:03.789 --> 00:22:07.789 being high and lifted up, is helping us to understand that that God 231 00:22:07.910 --> 00:22:11.829 is going to do something greater than they have ever seen before in their history. 232 00:22:15.109 --> 00:22:18.660 It helps us to recognize the exalted nature of God and his kingdom and 233 00:22:18.779 --> 00:22:25.140 it puts it in very concrete terms. That can we that we can understand. 234 00:22:27.700 --> 00:22:33.890 One last thing. We've considered the way in which Mica is speaking, 235 00:22:33.170 --> 00:22:37.650 on which God is speaking through his Prophet. That helps us understand the nature 236 00:22:37.650 --> 00:22:41.410 of the kingdom that comes in the last days this place where he will dwell, 237 00:22:41.930 --> 00:22:48.079 the strength on which he founds it. Last thing I want to point 238 00:22:48.119 --> 00:22:51.240 to you this evening, and there are many more you can consider, but 239 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:56.279 just one more thing, and that it's from this place that God will do 240 00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:03.069 what the former leaders and shepherds and prophets did not do. They were condemned 241 00:23:03.190 --> 00:23:08.470 for being false rulers, false judges, people that were not ruling according to 242 00:23:08.630 --> 00:23:12.900 justice, that were hurting the oppressed, that we're taking bribes, that were 243 00:23:14.220 --> 00:23:19.180 doing their things just to get rich. God, however, is going to 244 00:23:19.259 --> 00:23:33.130 establish true justice. These truths are revealed to us. He is going, 245 00:23:33.410 --> 00:23:37.569 this is verse two. He is going to teach us his ways. Why? 246 00:23:37.569 --> 00:23:44.319 So that we may walk in his paths. This morning in Sunday school 247 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:48.440 I asked us question about what's the relationship between how we read the Bible and 248 00:23:48.839 --> 00:23:56.829 how we follow we learn these things so that he might know how to walk. 249 00:23:56.509 --> 00:24:03.190 That's the point. God delivers these pronouncements, he delivers these judgments so 250 00:24:03.390 --> 00:24:12.339 that we might walk and notice a walk together. Verse Two. Come let 251 00:24:12.660 --> 00:24:17.740 us go up to the mountain of the Lord. We follow the Lord by 252 00:24:18.140 --> 00:24:22.619 grabbing people arm in arm and saying, let's go to the city of the 253 00:24:22.700 --> 00:24:26.730 Living God. Let us hear his words, let us hear his righteous judgment. 254 00:24:26.890 --> 00:24:33.529 Is Pronouncements. There's this zeal, in this desire and joy and happiness 255 00:24:33.970 --> 00:24:40.119 in going to see the Lord. And why not? For God speaks truly, 256 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:44.000 and look at the results. He shall judge verse three. He shall 257 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:49.559 judge between many people's he shall decide. For strong nations far away, what 258 00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:56.430 will they do as God makes his decisions, as he brings in the gentiles 259 00:24:56.509 --> 00:25:02.710 into his kingdom? King, they shall beat their sores swords into plowshares and 260 00:25:02.869 --> 00:25:07.980 their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up Sword Against Nation, 261 00:25:07.180 --> 00:25:12.619 neither shall they learn war anymore. This is what God is establishing in his 262 00:25:12.819 --> 00:25:19.660 kingdom, which is begun now here on earth, in his church. He 263 00:25:19.980 --> 00:25:26.490 makes us people who are at peace. He begat changes our heart so that 264 00:25:26.609 --> 00:25:30.450 our first reaction is not I want what he has, I want you what 265 00:25:30.569 --> 00:25:34.799 she has. How can I get it? But so that we can give 266 00:25:36.039 --> 00:25:40.440 freely. Why? Because I have everything I could ever need. God has 267 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:47.480 blessed me with every spiritual gift in the heavenly places. We he creates a 268 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:56.029 situation in which war will be no more. In these concrete terms of Micael 269 00:25:56.109 --> 00:25:59.630 for where people will look around at all these war implements and go them. 270 00:26:00.190 --> 00:26:08.980 I guess we'll turn them into farming equipment. This is wasted metal, beautiful, 271 00:26:11.220 --> 00:26:17.140 beautiful image. Beating their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks 272 00:26:17.180 --> 00:26:21.930 and all the other tour tools of war will be put away, he says, 273 00:26:22.930 --> 00:26:32.650 either. Shall they learn war anymore? War requires training, strategy, 274 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:38.799 war games, military schools. No need, just rest. It's okay. 275 00:26:40.440 --> 00:26:41.559 You don't need to train, you don't need to get ready, you don't 276 00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:45.319 need to prepare, you don't need to sharpen your weapons. Just just relax, 277 00:26:48.750 --> 00:26:53.589 because verse for her, they'll sit, every man under his vine and 278 00:26:53.710 --> 00:26:57.309 under his fig tree. No one shall make them afraid. They're in an 279 00:26:57.390 --> 00:27:00.950 open field right. You don't even have a house, at a door, 280 00:27:00.990 --> 00:27:04.819 at a lock, just just sitting there enjoying the provisions of the Lord. 281 00:27:06.460 --> 00:27:11.420 At rest, at ease, everybody totally taken care of, not worried about 282 00:27:11.660 --> 00:27:15.170 who might take my figs. Maybe I should go get more figs. Just 283 00:27:15.690 --> 00:27:21.130 it's okay. That's what the Kingdom of God is. That's why we rest 284 00:27:21.210 --> 00:27:25.450 on the Lord's Day. We're anticipating the consummation of these things, things which 285 00:27:25.490 --> 00:27:29.650 have already begun for us in Christ. We could just calm down a little 286 00:27:29.690 --> 00:27:37.680 bit, rest because it's okay, because the Kingdom of God is being established, 287 00:27:37.960 --> 00:27:48.789 Jesus has established his kingdom. But what about all those people that are 288 00:27:48.829 --> 00:27:52.789 trying to hurt me? And what about the people that are doing us harm? 289 00:27:52.869 --> 00:27:56.910 And what about all the passages about wolves in the church and passages that 290 00:27:56.950 --> 00:28:02.700 we read about people laying traps and people trying to harm and on and on 291 00:28:02.819 --> 00:28:08.779 and on. Well's true, and let's not forget ourselves, we often lay 292 00:28:08.819 --> 00:28:15.569 our own traps fall into them. There is, of course, sin still 293 00:28:15.609 --> 00:28:18.369 in the world, there is, of course, sins still at our hearts, 294 00:28:18.450 --> 00:28:22.970 and so, in that sense, we are still at war, but 295 00:28:23.289 --> 00:28:27.400 not let us not forget that, though we are at war, and though 296 00:28:27.480 --> 00:28:32.319 we ought to fight in the spirit of God and in the strength of Christ 297 00:28:32.440 --> 00:28:37.440 and put on the armor of God, as Ephesians calls us to, nevertheless 298 00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:41.119 we fight in the strength of the one who has already won the battle, 299 00:28:41.269 --> 00:28:47.470 the one who is already established the kingdom, a kingdom that has no end, 300 00:28:48.750 --> 00:28:52.029 with a king that we need not fear, that he might give up 301 00:28:52.069 --> 00:28:59.660 or go away or fail in any way. How can we trust our savior 302 00:28:59.819 --> 00:29:06.980 in this way? The answers in verse four, for the mouth of the 303 00:29:07.099 --> 00:29:15.210 Lord of Hosts are spoken. That's it. God has spoken. That's all 304 00:29:15.450 --> 00:29:19.049 you and I need. And he has spoken, of course, and his 305 00:29:19.170 --> 00:29:23.519 word that we have here in scripture, a word that is ultimately and fully 306 00:29:23.640 --> 00:29:30.680 and completely about his son, who is come into the world to accomplish these 307 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:36.559 things, who has risen to the Father in heaven and who is coming again. 308 00:29:37.960 --> 00:29:41.789 And when he does, all the things that are promised here in micafre 309 00:29:41.869 --> 00:29:49.910 revelation twenty two and all throughout the God's word will pe consummated, not begun, 310 00:29:52.269 --> 00:29:56.500 but finished. The Work of God has already begun. The Kingdom of 311 00:29:56.579 --> 00:30:00.460 God is already here. We know that because we are the people that are 312 00:30:00.660 --> 00:30:07.019 far off, really, really, really far from Jerusalem, and yet hearing 313 00:30:07.210 --> 00:30:11.650 his word, praising his name, going not to that mountain but to the 314 00:30:11.849 --> 00:30:17.809 city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to praise him. Jesus 315 00:30:17.849 --> 00:30:19.089 says to the woman at the well, there will come a day when you 316 00:30:19.130 --> 00:30:25.400 will worship either at that mountain or at this mountain. The worship in the 317 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:30.599 heavenly city. God's work has been done and it is being done. So 318 00:30:30.759 --> 00:30:37.910 my encouragement to you from the word of God is to trust him, is 319 00:30:37.990 --> 00:30:44.069 to trust him and turn to him in every weakness and every struggle. A 320 00:30:45.789 --> 00:30:51.420 to him you will need to find you will need to persevere, you will 321 00:30:51.539 --> 00:30:56.579 need to be on guard, but in that perseverance you will can also find 322 00:30:56.660 --> 00:31:00.140 your rest in him, as we heard earlier in the words of Psalm twenty 323 00:31:00.259 --> 00:31:06.369 two. The these cries of anguish, I can see my bones, I'm 324 00:31:06.490 --> 00:31:10.849 wasting away, there are wild beasts attacking me. And yet at the same 325 00:31:10.890 --> 00:31:15.289 time he says, but I'm going to praise God and I'm going to lift 326 00:31:15.329 --> 00:31:19.039 up my voice in the congregation. Where does that kind of confidence come from? 327 00:31:19.480 --> 00:31:22.279 It comes from the word of the Lord. Let's pray