The Birth and Glorious Reign of the Prince of Peace

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I speak to you this morning about the eternal kingdom of the
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Prince of Peace, the birth and reign of the
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Lord Jesus Christ to come. Our text this morning comes from Isaiah chapter 9, so please turn with me.
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And please stand as you turn in honor of God's Word. And that's what we'd like to do here.
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The 9th chapter of Isaiah, the prophet, and I would like to read the following verses.
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Verse 1 through 7. Verse 1 through 7. This morning we will be looking at these verses. Isaiah the prophet is speaking here to the
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Godly remnant of Israel. Hear the word of the living God. We read,
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Nevertheless, the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, as when at first he lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Nathilai, and afterward more heavenly oppressed her.
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By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the
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Gentiles, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.
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You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoiled.
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For you have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.
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For every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle and garments rolled in blood will be used for burning and fuel of fire.
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And here's the prophecy, verse 6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder.
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And his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
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And of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and justice.
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From that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the
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Lord of hosts will perform this. Praise God for the reading of God's Word.
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Let's bow in prayer together and seek our Lord as we look to these wonderful seven verses of Scripture this morning.
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Our Father in Heaven, we thank you today and forevermore. We glorify you,
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O God. O God, thank you for giving to us your unspeakable gift to redeem us, to reconcile us back to yourself through the one mediator, the
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Son of the living God, the Lord Jesus Christ, your beloved Son. O Lord, how we rejoice, not only that Jesus Christ, your
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Son, was born in Bethlehem, but that he has been born in us. He has been born in us,
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Christ in us, the hope of glory through the work of your Holy Spirit. So Lord, we thank you for this and we rejoice in the great salvation that you have given yourself.
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And now, Father, we pray and we look to you and we look to your Holy Word this morning that our minds and our hearts might be illumined, might be opened to see the things that we have never seen before.
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God, make this fresh to us this morning. Shine forth this light in our hearts and our minds,
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Lord, that we may see glimpses of truth from thee. That we might be taught of the
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Spirit of God. Spirit of God, our Teacher be showing us the things of Christ to me.
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Father, we live in a dark world and we pray that the light of Jesus Christ would so shine through us that we would be careful, very careful to give
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Jesus Christ all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name,
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Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. Isaiah chapter 9 is really details for us, perhaps the most classic prophecy regarding the coming of Jesus Christ.
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We've read a very pinpointed prophecy, not only with His first advent, but there is much here to be said of His second advent as well.
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And actually when you stop to consider the Christmas message, there are all different ways, there are different ways that you could go at it, and I thought perhaps it would be worth our while to examine this
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Old Testament prophet's view of the birth of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the
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Savior of the world. So we will be looking into the Lord's first advent coming in this, but we also see the second advent as well, it's a double prophecy, to see what really was happening in Isaiah's day, and actually to see what was happening in his day in the nation of Israel.
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It's important for us to see the preceding verses, and in this way we will be able to understand and appreciate the first seven verses of Isaiah chapter 9.
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So in studying this, there is a very interesting parallel to our own day, I like to say. And in the day in which
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Isaiah, the prophet, gave the pronouncement regarding the Messiah's coming, the
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Savior's birth, much in our day, and the light that came out of darkness into Isaiah's day, is the same light that we announce to a dark world today.
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And don't you love the Word of God? It's always relevant. It's never out of date. It's always relevant.
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No matter what page that you read, there's always relevance to it.
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How can people say that the Word of God is not relevant? So we've got to somehow come up with something new, they say.
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Well, give me the old paths. It's always relevant. Well, in fact,
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Isaiah could well have been a 20th century prophet of our day, indicating that these verses that we are looking at, the days in which we live, as you well know,
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I don't have to go into much detail, are very troublesome. And they are very trying.
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There are very dark times we live in. I think of during the
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Christmas season as we've seen. We see it, it's almost repeated almost exactly every year.
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There's this Christmas world mad frenzy to rush to the retail stores, to buy, to get, to buy, to get gifts, and it's almost like just a mad world that's out of control and in a frenzy.
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But when you really look around the world, it isn't anything to be so merry about, you think.
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It's a feel -good, fuzzy -warm kind of false celebration. You just listen to the radio and you hear the music come on.
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Rudolph the Red -Nosed Reindeer frosted the snowman and everything else that does not have anything to do with the birth of the
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Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. When it comes to Jesus, His name is actually blaspheme, sad to say.
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And Jesus becomes just another joke to a lost and dying world that's in darkness.
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Matter of fact, the very day after Christmas, and you know this as well, the frenzy continues and people starts to buy and buy, continue to buy, and everything dies down.
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Christmas songs stop. Almost you won't hear it no more. It's like the frenzy, hearing the
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Christmas songs, bam, it comes to an immediate stop and dies down.
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Everyone is in a deep debt from buying. Beloved, let me say this, it's sad.
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It's tragic, but it's sad. Christ is mocked, and that should grieve our hearts.
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It's a dark world, isn't it? That's the reality of it. It's very dark. And in this time, in Isaiah's day, it was very dark as well.
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Darkness and gloom, that's what he's talking about here. There's darkness and gloom upon Israel during this time of the nation of Israel.
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And if you look at, look with me at chapter 8, look, and this gives us a very concise picture of how dark things were.
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Look at verse 19 through 22 of Isaiah chapter 8 to understand what's going on.
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And when they say to you, seek those who are mediums and wizards.
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Sounds like our day, doesn't it? Go to everything but the word of God. Seek out mediums and wizards who whisper and mutter.
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Should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?
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Seances. Verse 20, to the law and to the testimony. If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
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They will pass through it hard pressed and hungry. And it shall happen when they are hungry, that they are enraged and curse their king and their
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God and look upward. Then they will look to the earth and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish.
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And they will be driven into darkness. It's very dark, isn't it?
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Refers to the wicked who refuse to reverence God. They refuse to fear
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God. Perhaps implies to the darkness in verse 20, the curse.
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The prophets commonly used the imagery here of darkness to indicate judgment. If you remember when
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Christ died on the cross, that was darkness came and darkness covered the whole earth.
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And that was God bringing judgment. He was throwing that judgment all on His Son.
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Synonyms for darkness. And this verse described not only moral and spiritual blight, but also the invasion of the
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Assyrians. That took away the liberty and brought foreign oppression to the nation of Israel.
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It's very enlightening and very important for us to understand how bad things really were here.
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Because this is not the only dark times. If you look here, this is a very dark time.
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God's mocked. But God will not be mocked. So we see it's very much like our day, right?
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Yet in the goodness and the grace and the love of God, the Bible tells us, and I love this in Galatians chapter 4, that in the fullness of time, the fullness of time, just the right time,
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God sent forth His Son. Made of a woman, made under the law. Born of a woman, born under the law.
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In a world that had no room for Him, our Lord came, He entered this world in the poorest way.
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And can I say this? In the most lowliest way. In a manger stall. Born in a feeding trough.
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Down into the depths, God humbles Himself to come rescue men in darkness.
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In a dark, dark world. That's the picture here. There's darkness everywhere. In a world where men love darkness, the
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Scripture says, rather than light. They not only are in darkness, they love the darkness.
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So exactly at the right moment in history, God, at the right strategic point in history, and actually history is
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His story, Jesus Christ came. Born as man.
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Incredible. This is the greatest news ever. God didn't have to do this, but He did.
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He arrives, and He bursts forth. So verses 21 and 22 of Isaiah, as we see, gives to us a very dismal picture, doesn't it?
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Of those who were frustrated, they were desperate, they were angry, even to the point of cursing
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God, mocking God, blaspheming His name. So, we're not the only type of people in history that we hear of God being blasphemed.
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They were blaspheming God here too. God's Word is always relevant.
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There's nothing new under the sun. Blaspheming His name, all because they refused to accept the truthfulness of what
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Isaiah had predicted regarding the nation of Israel's future hardships. He prophesied to them that hard times was coming.
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They did not want to hear it, but as a faithful prophet, Isaiah continues to preach the
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Word of Truth to them, prophesies God's Word, even if they do not want to hear it or not.
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So everything looked black, doesn't it? It looked black and it looked hopeless, but, a very important word, right?
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But God breaks through. God breaks through. And actually, if you look at verse 2, what happens?
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The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
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A great light appears in the darkest times of history. Jesus came.
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The Word was made flesh. No other birth in the world can compare to the birth of our
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Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, when He was born of a virgin Mary, of the virgin.
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He was born. He was the earthly son of His heavenly
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Father and the heavenly son of His earthly Mother. And when He was born,
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He was fully God and He was fully man, He was fully human, He was fully divine. What a mystery. A .W.
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Pink says this, at the birth of Christ, Christ is not now two persons combined together, but one person having two natures.
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He is both God and both man, and as many scriptures plainly affirm, possessing in Himself both deity and humanity.
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End quote. So Jesus Christ is the God -man without sin. He lived a whole life without sin.
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He was born without sin. He never knew no sin. The one mediator between God and man, the man
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Christ Jesus, the Son of the living God, the Son of man, God in the human flesh. Think of it.
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All of history, all of history, whether people know it or not, pivots around this one person,
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Jesus Christ. My question to the world is, what are you going to do with Jesus?
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That's what we should be asking them. What are you going to do with Jesus? And to Him we give our full attention today, and every day.
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Think of this. The prophecy that I just read to you, and to your ears has heard this, and myself, before the coming of the
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Lord Jesus Christ was actually 700 years. 700 years before Jesus arrived in His first advent.
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And this prophecy is a glorious truthfulness of God's Word. The prophets gave a pinpoint accuracy where our
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Lord would be born in Bethlehem, how He would be born of a virgin, and whom
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He would be born to the nation of Israel, and through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to the house of David, why
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He would be born, to crush the head of the serpent, and to save His people from their sins.
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There's the goal right there, and there's everything that's detailed to us. And to His glorious birth,
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I would like for us to look at just briefly this morning, and it's found here before us in the
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Old Testament Scripture written seven centuries. Isn't that amazing? Seven centuries.
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Seven hundred years before our Lord entered into this world in the
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Incarnation. And as we look at these seven verses of Scripture in Isaiah chapter 9, I would like to set before you three main points that I believe we should draw close attention to.
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And these three points are these. These are my headings. First, in verse 1 and 2, there is a great illumination.
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There is a great illumination. That illumination is the great light comes into the world of darkness.
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People who walked in darkness have seen a great light. There's a great illumination. Second, in verse 3 through 5, there is a great increase.
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There's a great increase. What is that increase? In the nation and in the gladness of joy. And finally, the third point, in verse 6 and 7, there's a great incarnation.
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There's a great incarnation. A child will be born unto us. A son will be given unto us.
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For he will be mighty God. That word mighty God in the original Hebrew means warrior in this context.
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So Jesus is a great warrior. There's a great illumination. There's a great increase.
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And there's a great incarnation. Let's look at it. There's a great illumination. First of all, there's a great illumination.
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What's an illumination? A light has come into the world. The Lord Jesus Christ is that light.
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Jesus said of Himself, I am the light of the world. Scripture here says in verse 1,
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Nevertheless, the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed. It's almost like a thick cloud, isn't it?
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It's like a thick cloud of gloom. You ever gone into a thick cloud? You see nothing but the cloud.
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The darkness over the nation of Israel was like a thick cloud. But again, the end of chapter 8, verse 22 gives us a very gloomy, dark picture of what was happening then in the nation of Israel.
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They look to the earth and they see trouble, they see darkness, they see gloom of anguish. They would be driven into darkness.
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And that's the sovereignty of God. God is allowing this to happen for a purpose. There's an enormous cloud of darkness that would come and they would be driven into it.
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Now what is he speaking of? What kind of darkness is he referring to? I really believe this, that during this period of time, the
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Roman Empire, secular humanism, Greek philosophy was literally suffocating the nation of Israel.
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The darkness of Jewish religion was dark. If you look at just the
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Jewish traditions and the religion, they departed from the word of God. That was dark.
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And at that time was a dead religion. Don't we see this today?
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People are so engrossed in religion, religion, the
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Roman Empire, tyranny, secular humanism, Greek philosophy, suffocating the nation of Israel.
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And all that was built upon the traditions of men and not the word of God.
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They departed from the word of God. They departed from the
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Torah, the law that was given to Moses in that time period.
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There was a time also that God was silent. Now think of this. God was silent.
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There was no word from God. This is interesting because you can learn a lot between the inner testament period that there was 400 years of no word from God.
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No prophet was sent. God stopped speaking at that time period.
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The heavens were brass and silence from heaven. No more was the word of God, the word of the Lord that time, a period that would come upon the people of God, Israel, a time of unspeakable gloom and darkness, a cloud, a distress, a darkness, a time when people of God was engrossed in spiritual ignorance and engrossed in religion.
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And as Paul saw the religious people in Acts 17, they were groping in darkness.
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And in the midst of such darkness and gloom, in verse 1, the gloom would not be upon her. And actually what the scripture is saying, no more gloom.
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And here we see the coming of the great Savior, Lord Jesus Christ, who would burst into the scene of history.
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At the fullness of time, a great light appears. This is a prophecy of the first advent.
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And you know, don't think of it, when Jesus comes back the second time, is not that going to be a great light for the world to see?
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Every eye shall see Him. He will burst forth in His glory.
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Jesus will come back bringing salvation and gladness to people in whom
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He has chosen. It's like God says, let there be light, and there was light. That's the way it is.
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Not only in the physical realm, but also in the spiritual realm. Only God can break through darkness.
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We are utterly helpless. To a people walking in darkness, a people living without hope, without God in the world, light bursts forth.
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Isn't it amazing? You can be a complete dark room, total darkness. That darkness, sometimes you can feel the darkness.
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But light a candle. It's amazing what that little candle can do in that one room in that darkness.
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And that's the picture here. Light is bursting forth. There's no more gloom. The great light comes.
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There's a great illumination. Great illumination was nothing less than the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
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And I still believe this. A lot of people think that, you know, we saw something miraculous here just on the 21st of December.
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We saw Jupiter and we saw Saturn line up and it kind of glowed together.
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And a lot of people think, well, it's not like that, the star that was over Bethlehem. No.
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Because I really believe in that time period, the star that was shining was the glory of God.
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The Shekinah glory of God that departed from the temple. And that glory comes back and it hovers over Jesus.
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But it was wonderful to see something that God did in the heavens, isn't it?
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To remind us, to remind us that only He could do those great things.
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That only He could send forth light. We can't do it. We're the ones that's in darkness.
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We're the ones that's utterly helpless. Jesus came in the power and the perfect teaching with all of His authority and signs and wonders beginning in the dark region of Galilee.
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And the New Testament applies this prophecy of Galilee to honor the time of Jesus Christ's advent.
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Zebulun and Natheli were on the border. And if you look at it geographically,
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Zebulun and Natheli were on the border in the northeast west, the northeast
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Galilee west of the Jordan River. Geographically, the first to suffer from the invasion of the
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Assyrian king. And you can read that in 2 Kings 15 -29. This was the marking of the beginning of the dark days of Israel.
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Many, many years. And notice, and when at first He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Natheli, and afterward more heavily oppressed her by the way of the sea beyond the
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Jordan in Galilee of the Gentiles. Notice with me the fulfillment of this prophecy.
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Where do we find this fulfillment? In Matthew's Gospel. Go with me very quickly to Matthew chapter 4.
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And here we have the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy in Matthew chapter 4.
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After the inner testament period, there was no word from God. And Matthew draws attention to this prophecy.
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Verse 12 -17. 12 -17 of Matthew 4.
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Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. And leaving
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Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the regions of Zebulun and Natheli.
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And notice what Matthew says. That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, the land of Zebulun and the land of Natheli, by the way of the sea beyond the
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Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.
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And upon those who sat in the region of the shadow of death, light has dawned.
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I don't want to stop there. Look at verse 17. And from that time, Jesus began to preach and say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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That's important. The command to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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That's what we should be telling people before Jesus Christ comes back at the second advent.
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The beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry. His message was exact echo of what
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John the Baptist preached and what the prophets preached. The opening word of the very first sermon that Jesus Christ preached sets the tone for Jesus' entire earthly ministry.
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Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. John MacArthur says this, repentance, quote, repentance was a constant motif in all his public ministry and preaching.
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And in his closing charge to the apostles, he commanded them to preach repentance as well.
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End quote. So Jesus is the great light. He's the light of the world.
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And he burst forth on the scene of great darkness in history in a very dark time in the nation of Israel.
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In the fullness of time. Back to Isaiah 9. Verse 2.
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The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. And those who dwelt in the land of the valley of death, and the valley of death, listen to that, upon them a light has shined.
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And because of this light shining into darkness, the people responds with overpowering joy.
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Now we go to my second point. Verse 3 through 5. There's a great increase. There's a great increase.
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He says this. And you have multiplied the nation and increased its joy.
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They rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest as men rejoice when they divide spoil.
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Isn't that wonderful? They rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest as men rejoice as they divide spoil.
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Think of this. As the nation is enlarged, the people rejoice with abundant plunder. This makes me think of the time in Judges.
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When you read the book of Judges, I think Brother Keith and I, we talked about this for a while. There's years and years of Judges and how
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God would bring a judge and God would raise him up as a leader and then after that time period the judge would fall away, fade away and then next thing you know, the people of Israel was right back into their sin.
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And it seems like it got worse and worse. Then God would raise up another judge and pull him back to himself and then again.
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And you could read this like in Judges chapter 6 and 7 what the joy is like into the day of median.
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You think about Gideon the judge. The median's defeat.
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That's what it's speaking about in this context. Like as in the day of median. A great story of Gideon.
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Don't you love the story of Gideon? What happened? He defeated an overwhelming army of oppressive medianites.
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And how did he do it? I love this. Without a sword.
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There was no sword. Without a sword in his hand.
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No sword. Jesus, he didn't need a sword.
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At that time Israel was powerless to save themselves and they were enslaved by the medianites in this story of Gideon.
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And then God calls the terror of the Lord. You can read it. The terror of the Lord to come on them when the light from the
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Gideon's army of 300 little band of Gideon's men through the darkness.
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The evil forces of the median turned on themselves and they destroyed one another.
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It's always like that with the enemies of God. And as a result if you read the scriptures in that story it says their oppressive yoke and the rod of their shoulders and the staff of their oppressor was completely shattered.
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And all the trampling boots and the bloody garments were destined for the fire.
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So in this victory of a multiplied nation once again the Lord confirmed
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His covenant. God is a covenant keeping God. And He always is faithful true and faithful to His word that He gives to Abraham to multiply
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His physical descendants since the sands of the seashore. That's found in Genesis 22, 17.
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Now, listen very carefully here. In the same way that Gideon and his little band won the victory without a sword and let me say this bursting the lantern the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has defeated
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Satan's seemingly unbreakable yoke of sin and death. Aren't you glad? Jesus has shattered the darkness by crushing the head of the serpent on the cross of Calvary.
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This is why our blessed Lord came into the world to destroy the works of the devil.
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He was born to die in order to win us. No, not that we're so important.
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Actually, we're nobodies. But that God may be glorified. That's what redemption is all about.
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It's about God's glory. It's about God's joy. Jesus has broken
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Satan's power over sin and death by the blood of the cross. And think about this. If you don't have this, you've got nothing.
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You have no hope. But aren't you glad for the Lord Jesus Christ that breaks through darkness?
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It is as like the dark kingdom of Satan has been looted. And Satan has been turned his evil weapon of death on Jesus when he put him to the cross and by killing him and destroying himself and his own kingdom, he turns on himself.
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And we who were enslaved by Satan at one time through fear and death have now been released by the power of God through Jesus Christ and has given us great joy.
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So, we basically have seen a great illumination and there's a great increase.
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Now there's a great incarnation. There's a great incarnation. Third, look at this awesome verse in verse 6.
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For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the government will be upon his shoulder.
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And his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
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Let me stop right there. What is this saying? Here we see the surpassing conqueror.
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He's natural. He's human. But he's supernatural.
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He's deity. That's actually what this text is saying. It speaks of the incarnation.
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That God will be made flesh. He's natural but he's yet supernatural.
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For unto us a child is born. That's the natural.
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Unto us a son is given. That's the supernatural. There's one verse that contains the perfect proof of the deity of the
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Messiah, the doctrine of the incarnation which was a stumbling block to the Jewish people of Jesus' day.
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The surpassing conqueror who works the stunning victory is revealed to be the
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Son of the Living God. He's described unforgettably in a string of four couplets in a name mingled
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His humanity and deity in perfect and marvelous balance. The humanity of the
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Savior is established in the first words. For unto us a child is born.
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That's His humanity. Then His deity is spoken of. Unto us a son is given.
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And the fact that He has come for us, for us, for us, unto us, benefits us, who is unworthy by the way, is also established in the words of Luke 2 -11.
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For there is born to you, it's personal, to you, this day in the city of David, a
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Savior who is Christ. So the surpassing conqueror will be a child born,
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Son given, the mingling of Christ. This is the mystery of weakness, born in weakness like a lamb, but in the awesome power like a lamb.
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Don't we see this in Revelation? Revelation chapter 5. Notice with me in Revelation 5.
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This is in heaven. And in chapter 4, before we see this, in verse 11, there's a doxology.
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It says, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.
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Then it says in chapter 5, verse 1, And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside, and on the back sealed with seven seals.
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These are the judgments that's about to be poured out, the bowls, the judgments, and the trumpets, and all that is about to be poured out on planet
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Earth. And then in verse 2, Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll into lucid seals?
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Who's worthy to do this? And notice what verse 3 says, And no one, no one in heaven or on Earth or under the
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Earth was able to open the scroll or even to look at it. The title deed or the decrees, however, some people feel this is the decrees of God.
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The title deed of the Earth, it could be both. I don't know. And then John says,
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I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it.
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In verse 5, then it changes. But one of the elders said to me, we don't know which elder it was, but one of the elders in heaven says to John the apostle,
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Do not weep. And then it's like, he says this, Behold, the lion, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.
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Notice what he said. What does he say? And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb.
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Notice what he said. He's the lion of the tribe of Judah, but he basically then stood a lamb as though he had been slain.
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Having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out to all the earth. And he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne, which is the
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Father. It's amazing. No creature in all the creation was found worthy to open the seals, but only one, the
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Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one that's really worthy, isn't he? The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David.
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He was that lamb that was slain, that is Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, John the Baptist, when he said,
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Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And here, basically, these horns stand for power and strength and authority to rule.
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And he will rule. He will rule. Make no mistake about it.
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He's going to rule. Because the Scripture says, and Isaiah says, and the government, the government will be upon his shoulder, and on his shoulders this child is laid, the weight of the government of his people.
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And here, at last, is the answer to the quest for the perfect and lasting government.
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Don't you long for this? Especially with the mess that we've seen. We see corruption on every end.
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But beloved, the government of Jesus Christ will be a government of perfection and justice.
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Righteous justice. The Son of the living
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God will order and rule this earth. And the weight and the load will be on his shoulders.
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And he can take it. Matthew 28, 18, Jesus says, all authority, not some, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
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Think about that. If you think about that, that should bring us to our faces.
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And make us tremble. And then we see the mysterious series of the four couplets in this chapter.
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Four pairs of two words linked in perfect harmony and balance mingled as supernatural and natural of God and man.
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His name will be called Wonderful. Now, there's some that put this together.
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Wonderful Counselor. Either way is good. He's wonderful.
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He's Wonderful Counselor. Actually, I'd like to say he's wonderful about everything. Wonderful Counselor.
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Let's look at that word wonderful. It refers to the ability to work supernatural signs and the word
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Counselor refers to implementing supernatural wisdom. Who has that kind of wisdom?
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He has all wisdom. He has all power. How would you like to have
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Jesus as the ruler on this earth ordering justice and righteousness?
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One day, it's going to happen. This is a double prophecy. Keep in mind, it speaks of the first birth, the first advent.
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It also speaks of the second advent. Jesus came both to do both, to do signs and wonders and to give wisdom in His teachings.
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And you see this. There's great wisdom in Jesus' teaching. I don't know about you, when I go through the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the
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Gospel by four writers. And when you come to the writings and the sayings of Jesus, I just stand back and I have to say,
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Selah, I'm amazed. And I keep standing amazed at His teaching, how powerful, how simple, but how in -depth and profound they are.
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Because it's the wisdom of Almighty God. He's the Anointed One. He's the
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Messiah. He's the Wonderful Counselor. He's the Mighty God.
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That's what He says here. Isaiah says, He's the Mighty God. That means He's a powerful warrior.
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The Messiah will accomplish military exploits, mentioned in verses three through five.
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And the word mighty, by the way, in the Hebrew was a common one for powerful men, warriors, who could carry the day with their power.
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It was a natural word, but it was descriptive of great power. And the word was translated
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God, was absolutely divine, deity, the most common word used in the
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Hebrew Bible for deity. And notice here, there's a mingling of the supernatural with the natural.
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They mingle. These words show the infinite power of Jesus Christ, our
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Savior, who is omnipotent. He's an omnipotent warrior, who will someday return to earth again to slay all
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His enemies with the sword of His power in Revelation chapter 19.
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That is spoke of. It's also referred, His name is
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Eternal Father. He's the everlasting Father. Again, this is the mingling of the natural with the supernatural.
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The title Father is obviously an everyday word, but to couple it with the word everlasting or eternal makes it supernatural.
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Who's going forth is from eternity past to eternity present to eternity future.
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Infinite. And who will continue to be a father forever. Now a lot of people get mixed up here, but there is a fatherhood to Jesus.
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He is not the father, but the name title is given to Him.
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He will be like a father. Usually it's reserved for God the
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Father, like I said, but Jesus does play a fatherly role toward His disciples, doesn't He? He's not only a great mentor,
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He's like a father toward them. He's often used, for He often used son or daughters when addressing
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His disciples and His people affectionately. You see this. Daughters.
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A Jerusalem. My son. That's the way it's addressed.
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He's also called the Prince of Peace. The Prince of Peace. Don't you love this? Jesus reigns as Prince.
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He's the Prince of Peace. He's the Prince of Glory. A common word for a government official, by the way.
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Prince. He will be a ruler who brings peace and not a false peace, by the way.
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This is true peace. This is the peace of God, the peace from God. And it's characterized by peace.
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This is the very thing that most warlike conqueror kings can never bring about. Jesus speaks to His disciples after His resurrection victory in John chapter 20.
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Notice what is He saying about this. In John 20.
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Let me go there real quick. He speaks peace to them after His resurrection.
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He's already conquered death. He's already conquered the grave. He comes to them and He appears and He speaks to them that the disciples that were fearful and He commissions the apostles in verse 19 then the same day in the evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut and when the disciples were assembled for the fear of the
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Jews Jesus came, stood in the midst of them and said to them peace be with you.
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And when He had said this He showed them His hands and His side then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. And Jesus said to them again peace to you.
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As the Father has sent me I also send you. He commissions them. He breathes on them and when
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He had said this He breathed on them and He said to them receive the Holy Spirit for if you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them.
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If you retain the sins of any they are retained. Basically He's ordaining them. He's commissioning them.
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And if you jump over He comes back to convince Thomas the twin that was unconvinced at the time you know the story he was convinced after this believe me or believe the word of God.
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Look at verse 26 after eight days His disciples were again inside Thomas with them.
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Now Thomas was here. Thomas was with them on the last appearance. Jesus came the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said peace to you.
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See notice He says peace to you. Then He said to Thomas reach your finger here and look in my hands and reach your hand here and put it into my side and as He says this do not be unbelieving but believing.
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He knew exactly what was in his heart. Thomas, how does Thomas answer? Says to him my
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Lord and my God. And he worships. Jesus does not hold him back in calling him
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Lord and God. Jesus said to him Thomas because you have seen me you have believed.
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Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. He is the Prince of Peace folks.
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Jesus is the Prince of Peace. In John 14 .27 Jesus says Peace I leave with you my peace
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I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled or be fearful.
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And then Jesus being the Prince of Peace He gives peace with God not only the peace of God by His death on the cross.
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Romans 5 .1 Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God.
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Aren't you glad you have peace with God now? Are you not the enemy of God? How are we?
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Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Well let me bring this to a conclusion. Because my time is literally about gone.
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Isaiah 9 .7 The Kingdom of Christ So this is a supernatural yet natural conqueror who comes to rule.
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Rule is King of Kings Lord of Lords. And what is the nature of His prophetic role.
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And what is the nature of His perfect kingdom.
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What about His perfect kingdom? Well it tells us the nature of His perfect kingdom. Look at verse 7. Describes the magnificence of it.
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The magnificence of it. Of the increase. What is the increase? Notice back to Isaiah.
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Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end upon the throne of David and over His kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever the zeal of the
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Lord of hosts will perform this. Let's look at this. The Hebrew word for increase means a vastness.
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It's a vastness. It gives a sense of ever growing and abundance and multiplying constantly.
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And does not that fit in with the Abrahamic covenant? And as God gave to Abraham it will be multiplied like the sands of the seashore and of the stars of the sky.
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And God said in Genesis 1 .28 God blessed them speaking to Adam and Eve.
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God said to them be fruitful, multiply fill the earth and subdue it. How can that be true in heaven?
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Especially because there's no longer babies born in the form of procreation. Because of Matthew 22 .30
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says this. I think that in heaven Christ the subjects will be morally perfect and will not forget anything they have learned.
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Now I want you to think of that for a second. Everything that we have learned will not be forgotten.
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Here we have a tendency on this earth to forget what is being said.
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That's why scripture constantly God says remember, remember, remember. In heaven we're not going to need that remembrance.
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We're going to be able to learn and not forget it. Excuse me.
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So it will never stop increasing more and more in our love for Him and our passion and our knowledge and our worship will go deeper and deeper because we will not forget those things.
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Now I personally believe there's going to come a time in heaven that God's going to wipe away all tears from our eyes and I believe
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He could put His finger on our memory and erase the things we do need to forget.
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You know what I'm saying? Because once we get to heaven we're going to see there's lost loved ones that didn't make it into heaven.
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That would make you weep, wouldn't it? But what good would heaven be if you're there weeping forever and grieving over the one that goes to hell?
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Well God can put His hand on that memory that we had on earth and He can erase that, beloved.
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You'd think, how can that be? But God is God. He can do that. And He's going to wipe away tears.
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There's a reason why He's wiping away tears. Because I really do believe once we do get to heaven and we're going to see the
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Lord Jesus Christ and He's going to be the one we're going to see. It's going to be great to see Elijah and Abraham and Isaac and all these great saints throughout the ages but when
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I see Jesus He's the one I'm going to fall down at His feet. Worship with the rest of the saints but we're going to be grieved when we don't see someone that we loved.
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A daughter or a father or a mother or a sister and we're going to cry. God's going to wipe away tears from our eyes but He can take the memory and erase that but we're going to be able to remember the things we need to remember.
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And with that depth we'll be able to worship Him forever and ever. Isn't that great to think of something like that?
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Jesus will reign forever and the scripture says here on David's throne over his kingdom and direct fulfillment of the promise made to David in 2
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Samuel chapter 7 the Davidic covenant and God promised David that a son from His own body would have a throne that God would establish forever and ever and that is
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Jesus. Jesus. God in flesh will reign.
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He will be that king. David himself will be on His face in heaven before the infinite greater
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Son Jesus Christ worshiping Him. Isn't that amazing to know that David was a great king but he will be worshiping the king of kings with the rest of the redeemed forever and ever.
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Jesus establishes and sustains that with justice and righteousness. In other words perfect righteousness.
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A king that loves righteousness. A king that hates wickedness. Wouldn't you love to see a king over the earth like that?
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Well Jesus is it. And He will reign. People think this is a fairy tale or something.
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But it is going to happen. And all those attributes will characterize this kingdom forever and ever.
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Protecting the poor and the needy rather than exploiting them as people do today.
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This everlasting kingdom will be established the very moment Jesus Christ and it was established when
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He came to earth and it will never end beloved. He is at the right hand of the
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Father right now. But one day when He comes back He is not coming back to die on Calvary's cross.
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He did that once and for all. He became a savior but next time He is coming as the judge. And scripture guarantees it.
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With certainty. Take this home with you and as we end this new year 2020 as we go into the new year 2021 know that this could be the year that the
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Lord will come. The zeal of the Lord will perform this. The zeal of the
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Lord of the armies will accomplish this. God's zeal for God's glory and His Son will make this happen.
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And can I say this? Nothing in heaven nothing on earth and nothing in hell is going to stop it.
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Jesus said this. I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
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Well let me give some application very quickly here as we close this and wrap this up. We need to understand by faith that the victory of the
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Lord Jesus Christ over sin and death and over the grave it's total and it's complete and He did it alone for us.
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He's the one that is our helper and ages past but He's our salvation He's our fortress
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He's our God and we can trust in Him. As in the day of the medians defeat has called
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Satan's kingdom to destroy himself and He gives us the plunder forever.
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Isn't that great to know? We had the plunder because of Jesus as a victorious king going in.
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Eternal life what's the plunder? We have eternal life we have eternal peace we have eternal righteousness the righteousness of Christ we have
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His wise counsel we can rejoice greatly in this good news it's the greatest news ever told.
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Why would we hold this back? We'd be in sin to do so.
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Why is it called glad tidings of great joy? We'll ask God to restore unto us the joy of salvation if we need to have that answered.
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David said to his soul why is my soul downcast? Why is it dejected? Well we can rejoice in victory that Jesus Christ has won the victory for us.
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You meditate on these things throughout the day and I promise you they will encourage you. Meditate on what
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Jesus has done what He's accomplished His awesome title is given here
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Wonderful Counselor Mighty God Everlasting Father Prince of Peace I've only scratched the surface folks.
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This has such depth to it. Allow each one of those words at a time of your thoughts and meditation just go over it because sound theology always leads to good solid doxology to worship.
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And we can praise and worship our great God and Father Lord Jesus Christ. Most of all to worship
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Him and to love Him and adore Him and you know we need to resolve to be obedient to His commands as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and as Master and Savior.
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You hear a lot about Jesus' Saviorhood and granted He is Savior but beloved He's not going to be
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Savior unless He's Lord. People don't want that part. Oh they want
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Jesus as Savior but they don't want Him as Lord. But Christ would not be divided. We take
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Him as if we're going to take Him as Savior we take Him as Lord. No separating.
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Amen. Amen. And this is by faith. This is simple childlike faith and trusting in His power.
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Jesus is the Supreme Ruler who has saved sinners from the rebellion against His rule and we're to submit fully to His authority and to His Lordship.
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You see this in the Gospel. We are to submit to His authority and Lordship.
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We are His slaves. We are His do -lots. Look forward to an eternity with Him throughout eternity.
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Heaven will not be static or boring. It will be a place of rich discoveries of Jesus' rich treasures forever and ever.
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Finally, we need to tell the Gospel. Preach the Gospel everywhere. Tell people the glad tidings of great joy.
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We're to do the work of evangelists that Jesus Christ is coming back as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
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And let me close with this. How's it all going to end? We'll have your
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New Testament with you when you do this and say, Hey, I know exactly how it's going to end.
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A lot of you people say this. How's the world? What's the world coming to? Well, it's coming to an end, alright. But Jesus is going to end it.
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But He's the winner. Because in Revelation 19, I won't read all of it, but it says this in verse 5,
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Then a voice came from the throne saying, Praise our God to all His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great.
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And I heard, as it were, the voices of great multitude as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunder and saying,
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Alleluia, the Lord God Omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give
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Him glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready. The Church, the
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Bride of Jesus Christ will be ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
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How's it going to end? Then He said to me, Right, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And He said to me,
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These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at His feet to worship Him. But He said to me,
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See that you do not do that. This is an angel showing John this. And He said, Don't worship me.
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I'm your fellow servant of the brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
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How's it going to end? Now I saw heaven open and behold a white horse and He who sat on Him was called
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Faithful and True. And in righteousness He judges and makes war. Folks, this is going to happen. His eyes were like a flame of fire and on His head were many crowns.
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And He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. And was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and His name was called
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The Word of God. And the armies of heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean followed
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Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword and with it He should strike the nations.
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The nations. And He Himself will, listen to this, Himself will rule them with a rod of iron.
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This is what Isaiah was talking about. And He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness of wrath of Almighty God.
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And He is on His robe and on His thigh a name written King of kings, Lord of lords. How's it going to end?
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Then I saw an angel standing in the sun. Listen to this. He cried with a loud voice saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven come and gather together for a supper of the great
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God that you may eat the flesh of kings and flesh of captains. Who struck them down?
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Jesus did. The lion, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and those who sit on them, the flesh of all people free and slave, both small and great.
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And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth and their armies gather together and make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.
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That was no match. Verse 20, Then the beast was captured with Him the false prophet who worked signs in His presence in which
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He deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped His image. And these two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
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And the rest were killed with the sword which were proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse.
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And all the birds were filled with their flesh. Folks, this is how it's going to end. Jesus wins.
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Jesus wins. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this time. We can just look into Your Word.
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Thank You, Father, for in the fullness of time You sent forth Your Son to be our Savior and our
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Lord and our God. To rescue us, to save us from Your wrath.
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God saving God through God. God, You have saved us.
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We are saved from You. Father, we thank You that His name is
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Jesus for He shall save His people from their sin. Shall save.
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Thank You for this time of the year. Lord, we have this window of opportunity to witness. Lord, Jesus is all and all all the time of the year.
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Every day of the year. Every single day. May we just constantly just glean on these great truths
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You've given to us. These are ours. But it's for Your glory.
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Because we're nothing. We owe everything. We owe allegiance to the
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One that's worthy. The Lion of the tribe of Judah.
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The Lord Jesus Christ. The One that was slain as a lamb but rules as a lion.
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We praise You. We thank You for the great salvation that You have given through Him. For Your glory that breaks through.
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That shines in darkness. Thank You for it. In Jesus' name.