Isaiah Lesson 80

Good. John, would you open us in a word of prayer? Lord, we come to you today knowing that the world attacks anything of truth, the world attacks.

We are even praying for those who were in the version of baptism and how Satan will seek, seek to discourage or to attack.

We thank you, Lord, for lessons of the watchman being on the wall and praying with expectation of the day of the coming of the

Lord because we know that's our hope. So we pray for your lesson as you speak to us through Pastor Jeff today in Isaiah 62, in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Who here believes in the power of prayer? The power of prayer.

We are, we're just walking on water right now with joy because the Lord has given us great victories.

The 10 baptisms and the testimonies that went forth. This building, I've never seen a baptism in the afternoon where there wasn't hardly a seat available.

And you know, there were many people there that needed to hear the gospel. And testimony after testimony, the gospel of God's grace and salvation, and then the visual testimony of people being buried underwater and raised to newness of life.

It was beautiful. We took a special offering for the land and we had $69 ,000 come in in one day.

And wow, praise God. This morning, I got to go over to a surety title company and we signed the papers and closed on the land.

So by God's grace, we now own 23 Phillips Road. At Hamilton, got up and presented about how we're opening an orphanage and we're gonna be able to financially support him in that.

So $1 ,000 here, how much land would that buy? Well, we know not very much, right?

We just bought 27 acres that cost half a million dollars. $1 ,000 will buy an acre of land.

So we're able to buy multiple acres of land for Hamilton to be able to farm, to feed the orphans.

I mean, God, he just does one thing after another again. And I think a lot of it is prayer.

I learned prayer from my mom. My mom is a prayer warrior.

And even to this day, there's not much left in her brain of physical functionality, but I think all that's left is prayer, calling on the name of the

Lord. In those days when kind of in the twilight of her mind no longer functioning, you could tell that she was praying.

And whenever my dad would say, hey, let's pray. Whenever I'd visit her, it's always let's pray together. You would see what was left of the lights.

She would close her eyes and you could see her lips moving and she would pray. I learned prayer from her and there's power in prayer.

This is a collection of poems that my mom wrote. And a couple of years ago, my wife took her poems and set them to beautiful artwork related.

This one is called Song of the Children with the beautiful picture that my wife found of a baby.

That's you. I did not look like that. This is a beautiful baby. There can be ugly babies,

I proved that. But my mom's psalms, as you kind of read the things that she wrote, very often they reference prayer and they're always about being up in the night.

My mom would be up in the night. And I didn't know this, but it comes through in these songs. In fact, let me just read part of one here that she entitled

Lamb's Blood. She said, I had fallen asleep on my knees, too tired to watch and pray.

Anybody ever done that before? You're there to pray and you end up falling asleep. She said,

I awoke and wondered if I had yet slept. And this is just a poem, it's not a vision.

There before me opened up a pathway through a moist golden haze. Slowly I stood and stepped forward.

The mist closed in behind me. The way opened up ahead of me. Fearfully now, yet somehow in excited anticipation

I stumbled on. And suddenly I saw a new heaven and a new earth, as if from a high mountain.

I beheld beneath me a garden of Eden. It had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, for the glory of God himself did light it.

And amidst the garden was a city, the city of the king. And the streets were of pure gold, yet as transparent glass.

On the street walked the people of God, and his name was on their foreheads, for they had seen him.

And on their faces were no more tears, for the king had wiped them away. Neither was there any crying or pain or sorrow, for the former things had passed away.

But I saw joy on their faces, for the lamb had broken the mighty seal of God. And the people sang unto the lamb, and the angels joined in the celebration.

Worthy is the lamb who was slain. Thou art worthy, O Lord. The chorus rose and swelled, and suddenly

I saw him, the lamb of God, the king of kings, the Lord of lords.

And he was called Faithful and True, and his eyes were a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself.

And he wore a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. Suddenly I was afraid, for truly

I was in the presence of God himself, and in his hands he held a list of my transgressions, and the list was long, and I fell before him in fear.

He called my name, and I raised my eyes to behold him, and lo, across the list of my transgressions was spilled the blood of the lamb.

The king pronounced my sentence not guilty by reason of the blood. Joy as I have never known filled me.

I had been saved from certain death. On my forehead he stamped his name, and then he gave me a robe of white.

It was a fine linen, clean and pure, for it was the righteousness of the saints. And he said to me, he that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his

God, and he shall be my son. And then I knew, I was home. Lamb's blood,

James Clewett. Beautiful, yeah, just picturing heaven, and that we're there by the blood of the lamb, his righteousness imputed to us.

So that's a treasure that we have. You got your writing skills from your mom, wow. She taught me to write, yeah.

Yeah, wow, beautiful. Heaven's song. So the poems that she writes very often picture heaven, but as this one begins,

I fell asleep on my knees. Very often it's about the watchman at night.

One of them's called the watchman. And it's at night, you're praying, you're seeking the Lord's face. Psalm, Isaiah 62 is about the watchman.

It begins where my mom did, in the glory of Zion, the new

Jerusalem. John, would you mind reading? And the main idea today, Jerusalem's future is bright, but under present distress, the watchman needs to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and invite the nations to come to the king.

How far do you want me to go? Let's do one to three. For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake

I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness and her salvation, like a torch that is burning.

The nations will see your righteousness and all kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of the

Lord will designate. You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your

God. Okay, I would always encourage us to take a very literal hermeneutic here.

I read Matthew Henry, who I respect, and probably my favorite commentary, but the covenant theology of 1689

Baptists tends to replace Israel with a church at the drop of a hat. And that's not a good idea, because here when it says for Zion's sake

I will not keep silent, the parallelism here is Jerusalem. And that's not just a metonym for the church, it's speaking here of Jerusalem, the city of God, Zion, until her righteousness goes forth.

And as you see the Psalm, I mean the chapter of Isaiah unfold, I think it will be even more clear that this is speaking of the kingdom.

This is what Jerusalem will one day be, the future, the thing that my mom wrote about, the restored and maybe the millennial kingdom and then the new heavens and new earth.

But now you look at Jerusalem and there's a dome of the rock on top of the mountain.

Piece of dung. Piece of dung, is that how you refer to it respectfully?

I think Tim Hague did. That's funny. But yeah, you have enemies surrounding and constantly desiring to destroy.

One day, verse two, the nations shall see your righteousness. Is Jerusalem righteous presently?

No, it's not. Are the Jewish people the people of God? Yes. Ethnically yes, they're still chosen for the sake of the promise and there's coming a day of redemption for them.

But by and large they're hearted and they hate their king, they reject the king, even though he's come to them.

They rejected him. And so Israel is a very secular city and it's very wicked in many ways.

The lockdowns were intense during COVID, very totalitarian. The gays had a pride march recently.

Gay pride and all of those things, it's just like here. So don't picture it as heaven on earth.

This is speaking of Jerusalem when she is redeemed. And the nations then, in verse two, shall see your righteousness.

It didn't happen and it's not happening now, but it will happen. It's future. And all the kings your glory.

And you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give.

Now, mark that because in verses four and 12, you're gonna see, we don't know at this point in the text what that name is, but we are given some names to come.

In verse three it says, you shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of your

God. A new Jerusalem will come down from heaven. The one currently will be destroyed, the tribulation will be laid waste by hailstones from heaven and war and all manner of trial.

But the new one will be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord. So let's read four and five. Listen now for the current condition versus the new name.

This idea of the name. Think about that because it's very important in the Bible. It will no longer be said to you forsaken, nor your land will it any longer be said desolate, but you will be called my delight is in her and your land married.

For the Lord delights in you and to him your land will be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you.

As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you.

Right. So when the enemies of Israel and even

Israel herself see the devastation when the Babylonians come, and then again in 70

AD, it looks like they are forsaken. When it says termed or said in your, what do you use in NAS?

NASB. Yeah. Termed or said, that's a name. The idea is forsaken and you're no longer called a

Zubah. You're no longer termed Shammamah. This means forsaken, desolate.

But contrasting with that, you shall be called my delight is in her.

The Hebrew word there is Hefzibah. You're better at Hebrew than I. How would you pronounce it? That's good.

Hefzibah. Yeah, that's good. Thank you. And then the one that many of you have probably heard in the old songs,

Beulah. Beulah land. I always wondered when people would sing that old hymn, going to Beulah, like, where does that come from?

Well, it comes from here. And it means married. Married. Your land married.

What a beautiful thing when the land is married to her God. Now she's desolate.

Now she's forsaken. But then she will be my delight is in her.

Your land married. So we're going to Beulah land. It's a picture of a beautiful wedding. Probably one of the most beautiful things we'll ever see is a wedding.

When you see the bride coming down. And there's a comparison to this in Psalm 19.

The bride is beautiful. She makes herself the most beautiful that she can on that day.

And we had a wedding here. Beautiful. Ben and Natalia. And it was a beautiful, sunny day.

So then we went and had this nice reception out there in the foyer. Just a small way. And then, all of a sudden, for 30 minutes, snow flurries opened up and came.

And they went and took pictures with snow falling over the bride and groom. The beauty of that, it was like the

Lord was just blessing with the washing of snow and just the beauty of that moment. And then it stopped and opened to bright blue skies again.

And the reception continued. That's what it will be like over Israel. Just beauty.

The beauty and joy of my delight is in her. Married. Why? For the

Lord delights in you and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you.

Now this is why I say it's physical land because how else do you understand this? Your sons shall marry you.

The sons refers to the people. Who is the you? It's Israel. It's Jerusalem.

It's Zion. It's the subject of the sentence going all the way back up to verse one. For Zion's sake,

I will not keep silent. And for Jerusalem. This is when the sons come and worship to God and they return to the promised land.

That's part of the Abrahamic covenant. What do we know about the promise of God? Rich, is it revocable or irrevocable?

Irrevocable. Irrevocable. That's why I asked you because you always say irrevocable. I say irrevocable.

But however you pronounce it, God's plan and his promise, his covenant with Abraham for the land promise of Genesis 12 is irrevocable.

Irrevocable. Just what you were saying about the doctrine, the false doctrine of replacement theology.

Replacement theology degrades the sanctity of God's promise to Israel.

It's his character that's at large when you say the church replaced Israel because God didn't say that.

You're attacking his integrity. You're attacking his character because his promise is certain. Absolutely.

So you're a little bit harsher on a Matthew Henry or an R .C. Sproul than I would be. I guess,

I don't know. You think that that's an attack? Now I would be a little more charitable and say that they're reading more figuratively.

And I think humbly and genuinely see it that way. But I think it is a pretty strong error because what results, and this is not

Matthew Henry, this is people going to the extreme, is the vilification of ethnic

Israel. If you recognize that they're still the apple of God's eye, you treasure them and you treat them because in Genesis 12, if you bless

Israel, you will be blessed. And it's his heart and his affection is still with his people, even though they're rebellious.

But what happened in the Reformation is kind of with that covenant theology, replacement theology,

Israel was often, I mean, read Luther on the Jews and their lies. Go back to Genesis 12.

Did God say it? He said it. If God said it, it's going to be fulfilled. And was it a conditional or unconditional covenant?

Unconditional. Unconditional. That means it continues on regardless of the behavior of the people. Now, the behavior of the people.

If you believe in the covenant theology, where's the 70th week of Daniel?

Right. Ironically, they make that figuratively, but they still keep 69 literal.

Like, be consistent, at least just keep the 69 as a literal and then say that it all ended in 40

AD, you know, the seven years after Jesus was cut off or some kind of preterism, at least it's consistent.

Be consistent. Be consistent. That's all we ask. And there are many theologians that talk about blessed inconsistency.

And by that, what they mean is, look, if they were being, it's that they're inconsistent that we know that they're still saved.

How do I describe this? I'm not doing it well. A blessed inconsistency. They're not taking their own theology to its logical conclusion.

And so they're not a heretic. They just haven't thought through the implications of some of the things that they believe.

So I don't know who's, I think it, I'm trying to remember who's called it a blessed, James White. He's a guy, an apologist.

He says, well, it's a blessed inconsistency. Yeah. No, but what he means is, look, they're not taking it to the level that it could go, right?

So they're not seeing it through to the end. In any case, here we have Jerusalem is the place and the sons are marrying her.

They're delighting. It's this beautiful picture of Israel back in the promised land and the beauty of the millennium.

For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your

God rejoice over you. Beautiful picture. And then six through seven,

John, if you would. On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen all day and all night.

They will never keep silent. You who remind the Lord, take no rest for yourselves and give him no rest until he establishes and makes

Jerusalem a praise in the earth. This is the main emphasis

I wanted to teach today. And that is the call of Christians to be watchmen. In Israel here, the watchman was an actual position that was stationed up on the wall and there to look for impending danger, to see the enemies coming.

But very often, when you do that 200 nights in a row and there's nothing but crickets, sometimes you just get a little lazy and you sit down on the job and what happens after you sit?

The enemy calls. Anybody sit down on the couch in the evening and next thing you know, you're asleep? Yeah.

Yeah, John thinks so. So, well, the present watchman is to be awake in taking

God at his word. It says in verse six, on your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen all the day and all the night.

They shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest.

Don't let your eyes get droopy and begin to sleep. Matthew 26, 40, the

Lord Jesus is in a moment of distress. He had asked that the disciples would pray for him.

And what did he come back to find? They'd all fallen asleep. And he says, so could you not watch with me one hour?

One hour, that's what he asked. One of my go -to verses while I was in the military was in Psalm 119.

I don't remember which verse it is. You probably know. My eyes anticipate the night watches that I might meditate on the

Lord. Yes. Psalm 119? It's in 119.

I don't remember. That's a big Psalm. Yeah. Most Christians at some point in their life will struggle with some insomnia.

For me, it happened, I always hit the pillow when I'm asleep in five minutes. And I sleep the whole night, you know,

I sleep really well, thank the Lord for that. But a couple months ago, I had things on my mind and for several nights,

I couldn't sleep. And it was bizarre. But that last night was a precious time of prayer.

And I think in the providence of God, if you ever endure those nights, like my mom, I think probably had really regular nights of not being able to sleep.

If that's you, understand the providence of God, he's teaching you to pray. He's giving you a sweet hour of prayer.

And if you keep praying, often what you'll find is that's when you fall asleep. But devote that time to just talking to him.

There's a reason, there's a providential reason for sleepless nights. Maybe you're a watcher. Who wants to read 1

Thessalonians 5 .17? Pray continually. So easy and quick.

Guys, that's the verse I'd encourage you to memorize from 16 to 18, rejoice always.

The shortest verse in the New Testament, not Jesus' blood, because you got to go by the Greek. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in everything, for this is the will of Christ Jesus for you.

Those three simple instructions, though, are to live by. If you could just be a joyful Christian, rejoicing in all of the blessing, open your eyes and see the nature that surrounds you.

Drew is gonna preach on Sunday, because I'm gonna be in Florida visiting my parents. And he's gonna talk about nature, and the creation, and how that should open our eyes to the glory of God.

Psalm 104, Genesis 1 .1, passages like that. It should make us constantly joyful.

Rejoice always, pray continually. We should be constantly talking. When you get in the car to drive somewhere, just in your spirit, you're talking, or you're alone, so you can talk out loud.

They'll think you're talking on your Bluetooth as they see you drive by.

Pray continually. And then lastly, giving thanks. That's a form of prayer. But specifically, giving thanks to God.

Ephesians 6 .18. Krista, would you mind reading that? It's on the notes. Oh, sure. Pray at all times in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

What's the night watchman to do? Keep alert. And that is in the context of war.

Remember, Ephesians 6 is the spiritual warfare. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers of this dark world.

So what are you to do? Take on the whole armor of God. Pray. That's what you're to do.

You have all these weapons, and the offensive weapon of the word of God, but what you're to do is pray at all times, with all prayer and supplication.

We are to be prayer warriors. How many of you would describe yourself as a prayer warrior? I'd have to drop my hand.

I don't think I'm there yet. I wanna be a prayer warrior, but too often my prayer life wanes.

I want it to be waxing all the time, strong. It's much easier to go do for God, right?

Let me go witness at Princeton, or stand up and preach, or get out there and baptize or build something.

That's just in our nature to wanna do, do, do. But what about just stopping and going alone, getting on your knees and praying?

Are you a warrior when nobody's looking but God? We were talking earlier today some of the passages that boldly we ask the

Lord, I wanna expose my heart, search me and know my ways, my thoughts.

We were looking at the beginning of verse 10, Psalm 119, with all my heart,

I have sought thee. And the implication there is that we are never there. We have never totally found it.

There's always more about God. But how bold it is to say, with all my heart,

I have sought thee. That's a great place to be.

I confess to Jeff, I actually have to say, with all my heart, I pray that I have sought thee because my heart is unfortunately, not all, huh?

Human. Yes, it is. And until glorification, we will constantly struggle with a divided heart.

But we want to give our whole heart, that's a... When I was in the military and I would have the mid -watch from midnight till four in the morning, one of the most disastrous things that could happen for yourself or for the lookout would be to doze off.

Would be to doze off. Did you ever do it? Yes. I love thanks.

Sorry, I was expecting you to say no. But here's the thing, every one of us have dozed off.

We should have been. Having dozed off, a better question would be to say, have you ever dozed off while you're driving?

Ooh, wow. And then woke up. That instant, woke up and you realized, I'd better pull over and get out of the car.

Yeah. Christy? I have a question about, can you speak to the idea of prayer without ceasing?

I think there's a difference between fellowship, acknowledging the beautiful sky, the birds' song, versus prayer.

Prayer is such a vast subject. So when you said earlier about the disciples nodding off,

I'm instantly critical of them. And then I was instantly humbled thinking, well, when's the last time you prayed for an hour?

Right. And I do often pray and nod. Or I feel like I'll acknowledge this one or I'll acknowledge that one.

I'll lay them at your feet, Lord. And that's like it. And I'm like, I should be praying more hardcore over that.

Yeah. So I don't know, I have a, I don't think God wants me, the

Spirit is beating me up as I'm coming before Him and saying, you really should pray better.

Right. I don't know if He is telling me, I want a deeper dive out of you or I want more of you.

Or I barely acknowledged the Lord over my lunch the other day.

And it's like, really, I wait to hear from you and that's what you're giving me? Thanks, Lord. I'm hungry,

I'm glad this is here. I'm praying an hour in your name, amen. Yeah, I think the first thing I'd say, you go first.

I'm gonna read a very short verse and then I'm gonna let you opine on it. I mean,

I know it's probably a study all of its own, you know, but. Well, that's what we're talking about today, the prayer line.

But it is something that's on my heart to kind of conviction about me. Trying to find the verse, exactly.

It's in Nehemiah when he's going into the king's chamber and he prays to the Lord on his way in.

That's different than the beginning of Nehemiah when his heart is broken in prayer, fasting, weeping over the walls.

Okay, it's your turn. Oh, that's good, yeah. So the pray continually is just like a quick, what you call a.

Nehemiah dart. Nehemiah dart, yeah. When he shoots a dart up to heaven. But we should take those dedicated times, like when he devoted actual time to prayer.

So it's both hands. But what I was gonna say is, from your question, don't forget the most striking thing, the first most striking thing about Jesus's teaching on prayer that shocked everybody when he said, our

Father which art in heaven. Remember that he's a father. He delights to give good gifts.

And as a father, he's not looking to judge your prayer life on a scorecard.

That's not how I am towards my kids. I'm not looking to judge a scorecard, right? I love that.

And I want them to come for the things that they need because I care about them, right?

And that's how your father is. He's not saying, oh, you didn't hit this quota today. He wants you to think of him as a father.

And you go to him and you ask things and he delights to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. So just remember that.

That'd be my first quick answer to that, is just remember the fatherhood of God. And yeah, I think all of us need to see that review.

And so many of the parables are about that, like the persistent widow. She could have just asked one time, but no, it's because she kept wearing out the unjust judge that he eventually gave justice.

How much more our father, who delights to give good gifts to his children. So we're taught by these things that we do need to devote ourselves to prayer and to keep coming with these requests until we see answers.

And sometimes the answer will be no, but we're to keep praying and not give up, so yeah.

Praying without ceasing, as Jeff would say, must include intentional times of prayer, must include that.

And I like to encourage people who are new in their faith, give them one minute of solid prayer for 10 days in a row, give them, and you'll find out that that won't be enough.

Because the desire to speak will be there and you're gonna find more things to talk about.

But praying without ceasing means that all aspects of your life are under submission to the sovereignty of God.

And you have just a life habit of wanting to seek

God in everything. It's fellowship. That is exactly what it is, yeah. A companionship.

Yeah. And that word habit is important. I think there's certain things that you can create as a routine like that.

The first thing you do, if you're the first one up in the house and you go downstairs, the first thing you do is get on your knees. And maybe it starts as one minute, but then the habit becomes -

It stops, it's not turn on the coffee machine. I don't drink coffee. Okay. That's actually been to my detriment because I replaced that with soda.

And then I'm having caffeine with sugar. So I should just drink coffee. How sure is the promise?

Extremely sure. So we're praying to a God who's made promises. How sure is the promise specifically that Jerusalem, Zion will be established and that this millennial kingdom is coming?

How sure is that? Sure, absolutely sure. When God wants to make sure the unchangeable nature of his promise, what does he confirm it with?

Peter answers that in 2 Peter. What does he say there? He basically says, you've got scoffers that are scoffing you, but saying he's coming, saying he's not coming, he's not coming.

And then he went through the litany of what he's already done. It's already promised and it's already done.

This is the same God, his promise. Okay, so he reminds you of his faithfulness in the past. That's true. Absolutely.

What I'm shooting for is the language of Hebrews. Hebrews is essentially an exegesis, a drawing out of Psalm 110.

And Psalm 110, it includes, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind.

As Hebrews is expositing that in chapter 6, 17, 18. Listen to this.

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise, the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath.

That is to say, the Lord has sworn and he will not change his mind. If God says something, it's already sure.

But when he wants to show us how sure it is, he guarantees it with an oath. He's gonna do that again here in verses 8, 9.

John, would you read? Absolutely. The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by his strong arm,

I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies. Nor will foreigners drink your new wine for which you have labored.

But those who garner it will eat it and praise the Lord. And those who gather it will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.

Why was Gideon threshing wheat in the wine press?

Is that where you thresh wheat? No, you go up on a mountain so that the wind could blow the chaff and you can bring the wheat into the storehouse.

Why was he in the wine press? They were under attack, I think, from Moab. He was hiding from the

Midianites. They're under attack. They're constantly oppressed by the enemies. And so he's hiding. And God, of course, says, valiant warrior.

He's looking around like, I'm the one hiding in the wine press. Why are you calling me a valiant warrior? But he was a mighty warrior.

He just needed to be brought out. So Israel, constantly under oppression by the surrounding

Midianites and Ammonites and all the ites and tites, all of these guys.

Yeah, constantly attacking them. But here's the sure promise. The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm,

I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies. No longer under attack by foreigners.

Foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored. But those who garner it shall eat it and praise the

Lord. And those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary. Jerusalem will be free.

And once made free, forever free. That's the promise. And it is an unbreakable promise.

It will happen. It is sure. It was sure in the day of Isaiah. We're still looking at a

Jerusalem under siege. It's the hatred of the world. The most hated nation and the most hated city.

Isn't that amazing? That geopolitical news is so much centered on this same city.

After all these thousands of years. It's still Jerusalem. Wow. And Iran's still saying we're gonna drop a bomb.

Yeah, and Iran's getting close too to being able to do it. But the Lord watches over his people.

Nothing can happen to them but what he allows. All right, 10 to 12 and we'll be finishing up, John. Go, go through, go through the gates.

Clear the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway. Remove the stones. Lift up a standard over the people.

Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth. Say to the daughter of Zion, lo, your salvation comes.

Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him. They will call them the holy people, the redeemed of the

Lord. And you will be called sought out. A city, not forsaken.

Okay, so we're not in the millennium. We're in the day when the watchman needs to be standing on the wall and the herald needs to go out and invite the nations.

Go through, go through the gates. Prepare the way for the people. This, of course, harkens back to Isaiah 40.

Remember this part? John the Baptist, verse three to five? It says, a voice cries in the wilderness, prepare the way of the

Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up and every mountain and hill be made low.

The uneven ground shall become level and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the

Lord shall be revealed. And all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Did John the Baptist do that? Nope. Well, he did. He's the fulfillment of Isaiah 40 and Micah, but not the voice.

He did it and you're doing it. When you go out heralding and ultimately it will be complete.

Not in the ultimate, you're right, yeah. But he is the fulfillment of this. He is that voice in the wilderness, prepare the way of the

Lord. Well, here we go again. We are too. As we wait for the new

Jerusalem, we go out inviting the nations to believe in Jerusalem's king. And one day, we will go to Jerusalem.

We will worship him. I think we go up for four festivals a year during the millennium from all the ends of the earth.

And then in the new heaven and new earth we'll be with him forever in a new Jerusalem. So it's a beautiful thing.

But now is the time of inviting. Isaiah 40 verse nine ends this way.

Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength,

O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your

God. That's what the Jerusalemite should be doing, proclaiming, behold your

God. It's like this lighthouse to the world, and it will be again. And now we're sent out to be the light, to say, behold your

God. They shall be called a holy people, the redeemed of the

Lord, and you shall be called sought out, a city not forsaken. And remember the question way back at 62 verse two, the nation shall see your righteousness and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the

Lord will give. Well, what's that new name? That's the question. Well, what shall she be called?

In verse four we saw she's called, my delight is in her. She's called Beulah, beautiful, married.

And she's called sought out, a city not forsaken, not forsaken at all.

That's her name. And many other names like it that indicate the identity, who she is to God.

That's how this chapter ends, and we will pick up in many weeks, but we're gonna take a break.

It's great to be out of town. What a great challenge to take us into the summer. Yeah. Your application, being that watchman, staying alert.

Yes. Well, why don't we just read it? Be faithful watchmen on the wall.

Stay alert. Stay alert. Jesus came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, so you could not watch with me one hour?

Boy, that should sting a little bit, right? Kristen, we're talking about that, like we can't do it for an hour. It stings me too.

Pray for peace in Jerusalem, and do so with expectation that a day of joy is coming.

Pray like a watchman, and work to build the highway of the Lord. Amen. Amen. Ezekiel 33, six gives this warning.

But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person away from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity.

But his blood, I will acquire at the watchman's hand. Amen. So we're watchmen.

We're warning of impending danger, but we're also saying here in verse 11, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your salvation comes.

His reward is with him and his recompense before him. So we're offering salvation. Now, recompense there is for those who don't repent and believe, they get the due punishment of their error.

John, would you close in prayer? Lord, we hear these promises, and they are made sure by your oath.

They are made sure because you have always been true to your word. You are the sovereign God, the creator.

Looking in the future, knowing that although Jerusalem is today under attack, and even the

Temple Mount is covered with the desecration of the Dome of the Rock. Your plan, which will not be thwarted, is for the people to be your chosen people, to be called, your city to be called, sought out.

A city not forsaken. Let's say a city never forsaken. Lord, we turn to you in awe that we are privileged to be part of those who are watchmen today.

Keep us obedient to your word. Always anticipating the fullness of your kingdom to come, in Jesus' name.