Sunday, October 31, 2021 AM

To Sunnyside this morning, we're glad that you're here to worship with us on.

This Reformation Day. It's always fun to be able to celebrate that on a Sunday. Looking ahead to some opportunities this week, we will not be having evening services tonight. Instead of that, elders will be having their flock group meetings.

Hopefully they've contacted you by now on what the plans for those are. I know some are meeting here at the church, some are meeting at a park. If you're not sure, just check with your elder today on what the plans are there.

Looking ahead to Wednesday, November 3rd, we'll have dinner at 545 and then tag for the kids at 630 and Bible study for the adults then as well. And then looking ahead to next Sunday, November 7th, at the end of the morning service, we have the opportunity to have some new deacons be ordained within the church.

James Brown, Jacob Call, Daryl Hamilton, and Dylan Hamilton. So that ordination will be in the morning and then in the evening service, we'll have an opportunity after the evening service to kind of celebrate that and be able to fellowship, welcoming those new deacons into their roles here at the church.

And then in the in-between time, in the afternoon, we'll have Operation Christmas Child shoebox packing in the fellowship hall. So if you can participate in that, I'm gonna throw it to Jill real quick and she's got an.

Announcement regarding that. And then another thing regarding Operation.

Christmas Child, we'll have another short video after my announcements. This week's fighter verse comes from John chapter 15 verse 5. Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.

For apart from me you can do nothing. There's still some needs regarding the sewing ministry. You can see those in your bulletin. And then just a reminder coming up on the 14th, it's not that far away now, we have a Thanksgiving dinner again this year.

So be on the lookout for different basically lists of what kind of food people can bring for that as well. Any other announcements before we start worship this morning? All right, we're gonna have a time of prayer, preparing our hearts for worship this morning.

After we're done with that and after we're done with the video for Operation Christmas Child, Randy will come up and open us in prayer.

I have a special gift for you.

Father, we just thank you for the opportunity to come this morning. Thank you for this beautiful day that you've created. Father, I pray that you would just tune our hearts to listen to your word. I pray that your spirit might speak to our hearts.

I pray for Michael as he comes and shares your word with us today, that you would just speak through him. Father, I just thank you for the opportunities that we have to just share Christ. I pray that throughout this week that we would just be your instruments, Father, to tell others about the hope that we have in Jesus.

Thank you for this day. Thank you for our time together. Thank you for this body of believers, Father. I pray that you'd encourage our hearts and knit us together. I pray for our time with the flock groups today, that you would bless that.

And we just thank you again for who you are. Thank you for Jesus. We ask these things in his name. Amen.

Abel, would you stand with me for our call to worship? Our passage this morning is Psalms chapter 71. We'll be reading verses 19 to 21. Read with me together. Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens.

You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? You see many troubles and calamities. Will I revive me again? From the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.

Our first song this morning is.

To God Be the Glory. Page 66. In your blue hymnals. This morning is from Isaiah.

God's Disappointment with Israel's Wickedness

Chapter 5, beginning at verse 18, reading to the end of the chapter. A low point in the nation of Israel, and God expresses his disappointment in his people. Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes, who say, let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it.

Let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come that we may know it. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and shrewd in their own sight. Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of his right.

Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble and as dry grass sinks down the flame, so their root will be as rottenness and their blossom go up like dust. For they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them, and the mountains quaked, and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets.

For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. He will raise a signal for nations afar off and whistle for them from the ends of the earth, and behold, quickly, speedily they come.

None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistband is loose, nor a sandal strap broken. Their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses hooves seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind.

Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar, they growl and seize their prey, they carry it off and none can rescue. They will growl over it on that day like the growling of the sea, and if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress, and the and the light is darkened by its clouds.

May the Lord bless the reading of his word. Father, I thank you and I praise you for your word, how you've preserved it for us, made it available to us in our own language, how we are so blessed to have your word.

May we treasure it, study it, memorize it, and meditate upon it that we might come to know you in a deeper way. And Father, I pray that our lives might reflect the character of your Son, the Lord Jesus, and that you might not be disappointed in us, that we might make decisions based on your will and your ways and your word, and to walk in your will and your ways and your word.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

You may be seated. As you know, Sunday morning, Brother Michael's been preaching to us out of the book of Daniel. We saw how Daniel trusted in the Lord, he obeyed the Lord, and God prospered him. Our next two songs this morning are going to be Trust and Obey, page 349, and Faith is the Victory, page 486.

Daniel 6 and the Reformation Day Context

...your Bibles and turn with me to Daniel chapter 6. We'll be reading verses 25.

Through 28 in a moment. Daniel chapter 6, reading verses 25 through 28. Let's go to the Lord together now and pray. Father, I thank you for gathering us together on this day, and we thank you for the saints who have gone on before, and we thank you for the many struggles that have been won in the name and the power and for the sake of Jesus Christ.

We thank you that today, unlike over 500 years ago, that today we can gather in this place freely and we can read your word translated in a language that we can understand, that we can sing together the hymns and songs of the faith, and that we can encourage one another and do it as often as we like.

We thank you that on this day we may confidently, with good understanding of your word, pray directly to you, trusting that Jesus Christ is our high priest who stands at your right hand for us, and that your Holy Spirit you have sent to us to make us the temple in which you dwell, and that the Holy Spirit unfailingly brings our prayers to you.

And we thank you that we have a clear understanding of salvation in Jesus Christ, that it is by your grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone that we are saved. And we thank you for these wonderful treasures that have been won for us by the labors and the blood of our spiritual ancestors, our brothers and sisters in Christ who have died many centuries before, and yet they are together with a cloud of witnesses rejoicing in you today.

And I thank you that you have brought us by your grace to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the church of the firstborn Jesus Christ, that we are gathered together in him, in unity. And I pray that you would bless all that we do here today as we rejoice in your word, as we take communion freely for all the saints, for all believers here, and give you the praise and give you the glory, for your strength has been made manifest in our weaknesses.

And Father, I pray that you would just continue on the work that you have begun, and that you will spread the fame of your Son, Jesus Christ, by the power of your Spirit to all the tribes of the earth.

We pray these things in the name of Christ. Amen. Daniel chapter 6, verses 25 -28 is a good passage for us to read and to consider on Reformation Day. Reformation Day, October 31st, the eve of all saints day was when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses, protesting the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church, put it on the door of the Wittenberg Chapel, where there was a bunch of other announcements, and he put it up there in Latin because it was an academic work, and he was hoping for some academic debate.

And somebody took it down, translated it into the common language, put it on that fancy Gutenberg press, and sent it everywhere, and basically started a wildfire. And we are still reaping the fertilized ground that those ashes made, and we rejoice that we may worship together in freedom, as I have been praying about.

We need to live always in thanksgiving, always in thanksgiving. Just think about what it was like to be a Christian a thousand years ago compared to today. Oh my goodness, we have so much to be thankful for.

We can rejoice, rejoice in the Lord, and the good work that he continues to do. He builds his church, the gates of Hades will not prevail. Now in Daniel chapter 6, we're coming to the end of what is considered to be a major division in the book of Daniel, chapters 1 through 6, and then chapters 7 through 12.

And then we're going to find ourselves, rather than reading the storied riddles of Daniel's historical service to emperors, we're going to be reading the visionary riddles of Daniel's prophetic messages about empires.

But something to consider, at the heart of the structure of Daniel, the thematic structure of Daniel, in chapters 4 and 5, we read about two arrogant kings who were confronted by God, and they were confronted with their own limitations.

Remember, Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. And one repented, but the other did not. And then, if you breach out a little bit from Daniel 4 and 5, and you come out to 3, chapters 3 and chapter 6, we hear of God's saints put to the test.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, and Daniel in the lion's den. And God preserves his servants, and the kings of men, both Nebuchadnezzar and Darius, issue proclamations to their empires to worship and fear the Lord.

And then, in Daniel chapters 1 and 2, and chapters 7 through 12, we hear about the condition of the saints and the context of future world empires. So, thematically, everything is constructed to this center point of the themes of Daniel, and what is central to that.

Well, what we find in chapters 3, and at the end of chapter 4, and then in chapter 6, is three proclamations made by two different emperors about how glorious God is, and how he should be worshipped. The theme we see, time and again, is the transience of empires, the weakness of man, the inability of flesh, and the sovereignty of God, the power of God, the glory of God.

That is the running contrast that we have throughout the book of Daniel, whether we're looking at the stories, or we're looking at the prophecies. Either way, we see the weakness of man, and we see the glory and the power of God.

And I think that theme comes through strongly in our passage, as we see God takes what others meant for evil, and he turns it into great good. The evil intended by the governors and the satraps to try to kill Daniel, God takes that evil, and he turns it into good, a great good, the proclamation of his glory throughout all the earth.

So, if you will please stand with me as I read the text, let's give honor to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who through his Spirit, puts his words into the mouth of Daniel, his prophet. Beginning in verse 25, Daniel 6.

Then King Darius wrote, to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.

For he is the living God, and steadfast forever. His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall endure to the end. He delivers and rescues, and he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.

So, this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. As we gather around the table of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we are invited to commune with the one who was dead, and behold, he is alive forevermore.

He offered himself up for us as a sacrifice for our salvation, and he still offers himself every day as our mediator at the right hand of God. He is the perfect servant. He is worthy of all of our affection, all of our adoration, all of our submission.

At this table, he compels us to fellowship with him, to eat and drink by faith, and to be nourished and satisfied in him. Everything in creation, history, reality, spins in orbit around Jesus Christ, the Word of God.

Now, think of this, that for all of his splendor, and for all of his majesty, his exaltedness, and all of his glory, that yet he still calls us into close, intimate communion with him, even here and now.

He has set the table by his own saving feast, by his own loving actions. He has promised to be with us, to never forsake us, and if we suffer in the den of death, do not fear, he's been there and come out again.

And if we are under the sharp attack of accusations and threatening condemnations bearing down upon us, do not fear, he closes the mouth of the prowling lion, and he shields us with his perfect righteousness.

Oh, what a Savior is Jesus the Lord, well might his name by saints be adored. Now, there is a direction to everything, as we see in Daniel, we see in the Word of God, there is a direction to everything.

God has arranged matters so that Christ will have the preeminence in all things. That's the direction of everything. Christ is going to reign from God's own right hand until all of his enemies are placed as a footstool for his feet, according to 1st Corinthians 15.

And then verse 28 says this, in 1st Corinthians 15, now when all things are made subject to him, then the Son himself will also be subject to him who put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

This is the direction of everything. And anything that does not agree with that is tantamount to Solomon's vanity, vanity, all is vanity. It is the equivalent of Shakespeare's sound and fury signifying nothing.

So you've been talking about in Daniel 6, lawmakers must submit to the lawgiver. The direction we set, the rules we make, in whatever context it is, personally, in family, in church, business, in the civil society, all lawmakers must submit to the lawgiver or it is vanity.

The directions we take, the directives we give, the mandates and the rules and the laws we set forth have to be oriented by true north on the cosmic compass which states this, soli deo gloria, to the glory alone.

In verses 1 through 10, looking at Daniel, we observed the discerning Son obeys God rather than men. Verses 11 through 17, we saw the discerning Son trust in the Lord, not fearing man. Verses 18 through 24, the discerning Son is raised in victory over his enemies.

And here in verses 25 through 28, the discerning Son advances the knowledge of the glory of God. And quite a progression for Darius the Mede, moving from a fan of Daniel being so efficient to having faith in the God that Daniel worships.

Total reversal of will has occurred and we see this referenced in verses 25 and 26 when King Darius wrote, to all the people's nations and languages that dwell on the earth, he says to them, peace be multiplied to you.

I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. That's quite a reversal from the decree he had earlier signed. That is very different. He had signed off on a supposedly unalterable law that mandated all people's nations, languages, and so on that dwelled in his world empire to pray only to Darius, only to the king, for 30 days.

Perhaps that was seen as the way to live forever, to achieve divinity status. But it was a trap because the fear of man is always a snare. He was forced to put Daniel into the lion's den. He didn't want to do that, but he was forced to do that.

We saw Darius abandon every comfort except one. He had one last residing hope, ever so faint, that Daniel's God, whom Daniel served so faithfully, that this God would be able and willing to save. And he was.

Yes and amen, he was. Then Daniel showed Darius how to live forever by trusting in the living God who saves. So Darius makes this new law. It's a reversal. He reverses the previously high and mighty law of the Medes and Persians.

You notice that it was unalterable. The unalterable, unchangeable law of the Medes and Persians gets changed in a day. Oh the weakness. Oh the limitations of man. The progenitors of this law are now all broken into pieces.

Verse 24, fallen into the pit they themselves dug. Their will, the will of the nation, the will of the state, the will of the emperor, the will of the lawmakers, was all reversed, turned over, and undone in a contest of wills between God and man.

There really is no contest. God wins. The new decree was not one of death and destruction but of peace. And now Darius, the chief lawmaker, submits to the lawgiver, the God of Daniel, and reverses everything.

No matter the strength or the determination or the solid display of man's will, God reverses it at his pleasure and for his own glory. And you'd find that if you interviewed Nebuchadnezzar or Saul of Tarsus.

But in this reversal of will, we see the revelation of God's Word. See the Lord had manifested his sovereign power in just the right way to show Darius that righteousness and wickedness, truth and falsehood, are not determined by man's laws or manipulations.

God himself is that standard. Daniel had done no wrong to the state or to God or to anyone else in his disobedience to the state. And God proved that by delivering Daniel without a scratch from the lion's den and subsequently destroying Daniel's enemies.

Daniel testified to God's standards as over all of man's standards. Everything that we make a standard has to be submitted first to God's standards. God was to be feared, not the state. And Darius finally understood this.

He believed it and he confessed it. And we see that in his decree, verse 26 and verse 27. Darius says, I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.

For he is the living God and steadfast forever. His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed and his dominion shall endure to the end. He delivers and rescues and he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.

Darius calls the people to tremble in fear before Daniel's God. Daniel's God. The specificity of this decree is both amazing and essential. God had revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had set down his character, covenant, and commandments through Moses.

He had proven his long suffering and his compassion and faithfulness through all of the prophets. And this was the God that Daniel so faithfully served. Which God? Daniel's God and no other. To this God, Daniel prayed three times a day.

It was this God who had saved Daniel from the lion's den. It was this God who was alive and controlling all of life, even the lions. It is this God who is steadfast forever. Unlike that so-called immutable law of the Medes and Persians, God's will is never overturned.

And if his will, think about the reasoning of Darius, if God's will cannot be undone, then that must mean that his kingdom cannot be destroyed. If God is the giver and the controller of all life, and think about it, then God's dominion will endure forever.

Darius's kingdom must be arranged and directed for God's kingdom or it is worthless. All the peoples and nations and languages of the world, therefore, in Darius's estimation, must tremble in fear before Daniel's God.

All the lawmakers must submit to the lawgiver. At the dissemination of this decree, you may imagine that as it was carved upon various steels and delivered to the nearby royal cities and then copied down on clay tablets and delivered even to the far reaches of the empire so that everybody would get to the news, this new declaration from the emperor, everyone would be looking at each other saying, who's Daniel?

We have to fear and tremble before Daniel's God. Who's Daniel? That's pretty specific. Well, go ask a Jew. Go ask a Jew. Find a Jew, ask him. That's a Jewish name. And isn't Daniel one of those captives brought out by Babylon?

That's how he was described to Darius in verse 13 of this chapter. Yeah, so go ask a Jew about Daniel's God whom you must fear and tremble before. In fact, 10 of you go grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, have him point you in the direction of Mount Zion, and you learn to pray like Daniel prayed and fear God and tremble before him.

This Daniel, notice in verse 28, this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. This is amazing. Daniel lived to see the day when Cyrus commanded the return of the exiles in the very first year of Cyrus.

Cyrus commanded the return of the exiles and the rebuilding of the temple and Jerusalem. Daniel's God pointed the way in Daniel's day for the nations to pray along with the Jews, not to the state for salvation, but towards Zion.

Towards Zion. Pray that way. Trust in that direction. Hope for what is to come from there. Daniel's God. Who is that? Go ask a Jew. They'll tell you what direction to pray, what the hope is that is to come.

And as the hopes of Daniel and all the believing Jews were fixed on the new covenant and the Messiah to be manifested from Jerusalem, so the hope of the nations should be as well. The gospel came to the Jew first and also to the Gentiles.

See, when Paul made that observation, the gospel came to the Jew first and also to the Gentiles. He's not thinking about the birth of Jesus in Matthew chapters 1 and 2. He's thinking about Genesis 15 when, as Galatians says, the scriptures preached the gospel beforehand to Abram, to Abraham, and the gospel came to the Jew first.

And you know, the nations heard the preaching of the gospel long before Christ arrived. God is so good. God raised up Daniel, his servant, assigned to Darius the king so that God's saving word would be revealed to the entire Medo-Persian Empire.

All the glory is to God alone. And so we see Darius as a lawmaker submitting to the law, giver, and stating something and doing something that has massive significance. He says that all men everywhere should fear God, the living God, the God of Daniel.

And this is the God who was revealed through his discerning Son, his anointed servant, Jesus Christ. And as we consider the pattern that we see here, the importance of the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the impact that it has on the world.

Verse 27 gives us a very clear reasoning for Darius's proclamation to the nations. He addresses the entirety of the known world. He calls all peoples, nations, and languages to worship God. Which God?

Daniel's God. Why Daniel's God? Because his kingdom is the real deal. How does Darius know that his kingdom is the real deal? Why should his whole empire be confident in Daniel's God? Because, verse 27 says, because this God delivers and rescues.

This God works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. Who? Look at the specificity of the historical event which has prompted this decree. He has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions for that particular historical reason.

This happened, thus all the empire should fear and tremble God. Daniel came out of the den of death and thus the world must hear of the one true living God. Manifestly, he is the one with whom we all have to do.

How much more so should the entire earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters covered the sea, Christ having now been raised from the dead. This is exactly the argument of Paul as he addresses the most credentialed men in his world.

Having discounted all the banalities of paganism, this is what Paul says to the scholars. Acts 17 verse 30, truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.

All men everywhere, all peoples, tribes, tongues, and languages to fear and tremble before God, to repent before him. Why? Verse 31, because he is appointed a day on which he would judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained.

He is given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. Why must all the world repent before the Lord and fear and tremble and worship the God of the scriptures? Because God has raised Jesus Christ up from the dead.

That's why. So on this first day of the week, as we reflect upon Christ's resurrection from the dead, we know this has vital significance for the entirety of the world. Having been raised in victory over his enemies, Christ, this discerning Son, advances the knowledge of the glory of God into all the world.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the starting point of our worship. It is the beginning of our repentance. It is the assurance of our faith. It sets the direction for the worship of God. It is manifesting a new creation that is utterly committed to the glory of God alone, something that has long been anticipated.

Psalm 102, verses 15 through 17, the worship of the Jews glorified God for his plan of salvation to all the nations. Verse 15, Psalm 102, so the nations shall fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth your glory, for the Lord shall build up Zion.

He shall appear in his glory. He shall regard the prayer of the destitute and shall not despise their prayer. Psalm 138, verses 4 through 5, again the Jews praising God for his salvation that would reach to the nations.

All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, when they hear the words of your mouth. Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. Everything's heading in a particular direction.

Everything's heading in a particular direction. True north on the cosmic compass is soli deo gloria, to the glory of God alone. This defines the reality of our worship. Verse 26 says, He is the living God and steadfast forever.

His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall endure to the end. Paul reasons that the earth is the Lord's in all its fullness. Therefore, 1st Corinthians 1031, so, this being the case, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

I don't know what that means exactly. Ponder it. Meditate on it. Consider it. Make the connections from your heart to your hands. Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. What you do in your labor, what you do in your relationships, what you do at your work, what you do in your families and your marriages and in your raising of children, what you do when you gather together with the saints to worship the Lord, what you do, whatever it is you do, do it all for the glory of God.

And we're not called to worship God, the concept in general. God is not a concept. He's the Creator. There is a specificity to whom we are to fear. The God of Daniel. Not a philosophical concept. A living God who has revealed himself in our own time, within our own world.

God has shown himself as the God who saves. For his own glory, he brought forth his anointed from the dead and manifested him to the world. So, practically speaking, then, two things. First, this whole chapter has been about whether or not you should pray to the state.

Well, that seems pretty obvious, but should you be obsessed with the state? Should you be fearing and thus worshiping the state? Rather than pray to the state and fear and tremble before the state and before men and before kings, people of Christ everywhere in all places, hands to heaven, repenting from wrath and doubt, anger and fear, ought to pray for, we are told, to pray for those who are in authority.

Not to, but for. Think of the contrast to Daniel. Daniel was told to pray to those in authority. Christians are told to pray for those who are in authority. Massive difference in those prepositions. For we are kings and priests ourselves, sovereigns and saints in Christ, entrusted with authority and sanctity.

We are to make supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings before the face of God for all men to pray for politicians and for the police and the polis. Why? We do not fear them. We fear God and bring all of their ways before him in prayer.

We should be like the ancient Jacob appearing before Pharaoh, God of Egypt, and when Jacob walks in, he blesses Pharaoh. Doesn't fear man, fear God. 1st Timothy 2, 3 through 5 says, this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

We should pray for all men in all their positions. Why? Because of the grace of God. Verse 5, there is one God and one mediator between God and men. It ain't the state, it is man, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.

So we pray for the state, not to the state. Secondly, as we consider the focus upon the nations here in Daniel 6, to the glory of God alone, we should recognize that communion is a meal for all peoples, all nations, all languages that dwell in the earth, all those who look to faith, look in faith to Christ.

He is the Lamb of God. He is the one who takes away our sins. Recall that the shadow of communion was Passover, and Passover was a meal to which the nations were invited, all those who would lay hold of its meaning by faith.

Even the unclean could eat it. You made yourself unclean in some fashion, doesn't matter, you can still come to Passover. The unclean could eat it, the small and the great could eat it, the Jew and the Gentile could eat it.

What do we have in communion? What do we have in Christ? The mountain of the Lord's house has been established on the top of the mountains. It is exalted above the hills. All nations flow to it. Many come and say in their various native tongues, come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths, and in Christ we have peace. The war of the tribes ends in Christ. In Christ, Jew and Gentile are at peace. In Christ, the Armenians and the Turks are at peace.

In Christ, the Mongol and the Chinese have laid aside their war. In Christ, Albanian and Serb, German and Slav, colonists and native tribes, Irish, Scottish, English, those of European ancestry, and those of African ancestry, all at peace if they are in Christ.

They have all laid aside, we have all laid aside our weapons of war against one another. And Christ's mountain, our swords are made plowshares, and we labor together in his harvest. Here at this table, we stand on Mount Pisgah's lofty heights, and we see the fullness of our salvation yet to come.

Isaiah 25, verse 6, and in this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the lees.

And he will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever. You looking forward to that, amen?

He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. The rebuke of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. And why will he do this?