Prepare The Way For The Fire Of The Lord — Brian Long

Preparing the Way for the Glory of the Lord

Prepare the way for the fire of the Lord. In Isaiah 40, verse 3, it says,. The voice of Him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. And the crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places 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 it.

God promises that He's going to send a revelation of His glory, and that revelation of His glory will be so great that all flesh shall see it together. But before He reveals His glory, He first calls His servants to prepare the way.

Prepare the way of the Lord. So first is preparation, then comes revelation of the glory of God. Haggai 2, verses 6, 7, and 9 says,. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, Yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.

The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts. God promises to fill His house with His glory. And when He does, the glory of God is always greater. The latter glory is always greater than that of the former.

But before He did in Haggai, He first called them to prepare the way by building His house, preparing the house. First came preparation, then came revelation of the glory of God. Habakkuk 2, verse 14 says,.

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, even as the waters cover the sea. The glory of God is coming. The glory of God is coming. Therefore it is high time that we be preparing for it.

First preparation, then revelation. Jesus said, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be when the Son of Man comes. Just like it was in the days of Noah, it will be like that before Jesus Christ comes again in great power and glory.

And remember what God told Noah. Noah, build an ark. Prepare, prepare an ark, because I'm going to judge the whole world with a flood. And the Bible says that by faith, Noah prepared an ark to the saving of his household.

Noah made preparation. God sent the revelation. And the revelation was the salvation of Noah and his family, and also the judgment that God sent upon the wicked who rejected the warning from God. First preparation, then revelation.

Again, the Lord spoke to Moses, and He said, sanctify the people, both today and tomorrow, and be ready, for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai. Moses made preparation on the first day, and the second day, and then on the third day, God reigned the heavens, and He came down on the mountain.

And Mount Sinai was engulfed in fire, covered in smoke. It shook. There was a great earthquake. There was a sound of thunder and lightning. God came down. And Moses received the Ten Commandments. First there was a preparation, then came a revelation of the glory of God.

Elijah Prepares the Way at Mount Carmel

And now we turn to 1 Kings chapter 18, where we're going to see exactly the same thing. Once again, God wants to visit His people. Once again, God wants to manifest His holy presence. Once again, He wants to reveal His glory.

But before He does, He has to have a man prepare the way. He calls a man to prepare the way. In this case, it was Elijah the prophet. Elijah, prepare the way, because I'm coming to answer by fire. First preparation, then revelation.

Now in 1 Kings chapter 18, it was a very desperate time. And the days were evil, because of the sins and the compromise of God's people Israel, the Lord had withheld rain from the land. It had not rained for over three years at the word of the Lord.

So there was drought, there was famine. The times were desperate. Israel was being ruled by an evil king called Ahab and his wicked, wicked wife called Jezebel. Jezebel hated the prophets of the Lord, and she had as many of them put to death as she could.

Jezebel was a worshipper of Baal, this idol, this false god that was empowered by demons. And Baal was considered by them the Lord of the heavens and the stars and the storms. They worshipped this idol, and that's who King Ahab and Jezebel wanted to rule over the people.

Well, the worship of Baal involved blood sacrifices, it involved lewd dancing, and the most perverse forms of sexual immorality and degradation known to man. The land was steeped in idolatry, violence, and sexual perversion, and nobody was taking a stand.

God's people had compromised. They were going with the flow. No one was taking a stand. They were in desperate need, this nation was, of a visitation from Almighty God, the God who answers by fire. It sounds like another nation I know.

Steeped in idolatry, characterized by violence, and sexual perversion, and degradation of the worst kind, in desperate need of another visitation from Almighty God, the one who answers by fire. Well, God is about to turn the hearts of His people back to Him one more time.

One more time, He will reveal His glory. One more time, He will manifest His presence. One more time, He will demonstrate His power. But first must be preparation. Then comes revelation. So Elijah, God calls him, confront King Ahab.

And everything Elijah does here, he does according to the word of the Lord. Elijah calls Ahab, 450 prophets of Baal, 400 false prophets of Asherah, and all of Israel to meet him on top of the mountain, Mount Carmel.

And when they all gather around, he issues this challenge. Verse 21, 1 Kings chapter 18. Elijah came unto all the people and said, how long halt ye between two opinions? How long are you gonna waver back and forth?

How long are you gonna compromise? How long are you gonna try to have your feet in two different boats? If the Lord be God, follow Him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

They didn't respond to his preaching, at least for now. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord. But Baal's prophets are 450 men. Let them, therefore, give us two bullocks.

And let them choose one bullock for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on wood and put no fire under. And I will dress the other bullock and lay it on wood and put no fire under. And call ye on the name of your gods and I will call on the name of the Lord and the God that answers by fire, let Him be God.

And all the people answered and said, it is well spoken. That's a good idea. The God who answers by fire, He must be God. We'll believe that. So Elijah lets the 450 false prophets of Baal go first. And they kill their bull.

And they make their altar. And they call upon Baal from morning to evening and nothing happens. They cry aloud. They get on the altar and they dance and they try to perform and they plead. And no one answers.

They start cutting themselves with knives and start bleeding all over the altar. And nothing happens. No fire, no power, no one answers. And then in verses 38 through 39, I'm sorry, verses 30 through 37, Elijah prepares the way by preparing the altar, by preparing the wood, and by immersing this offering in water, 16 barrels of water, because Elijah wants them to know that when God does answer, there's not gonna be any question or doubt about who did it.

This will not be manmade, this will be God sent. This will be heaven sent. And so immersing this offering in water, he then calls upon the name of the Lord and watch what happens. Verse 38, then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench.

And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God. Beloved, if there was ever a time in this nation that we need such a revelation of the glory and majesty and presence and power of God, it is today.

If there was ever a time, the hour is critical, the times are urgent. If there was ever a time that we needed such a revelation of the glory and power of God among the people of God, it is today. And I wanna tell you that our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

He is still the God who answers by fire. Now, His means have changed. He's not answering by fire by sending His fire upon offerings of dead bulls and goats and lambs on Mount Carmel. There's something better now under the new covenant.

He's still answering by fire, but He's answering by letting His fire fall upon living sacrifices. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ, His people, and God wants to do it again. I'm absolutely 100 persuaded, I've heard from the Lord, He wants to do it again.

The Fire of God and the Holy Spirit

He wants to answer once again by fire. But what is this fire of God? What is this fire that fell upon Mount Carmel? What was that fire that engulfed that burning bush on the backside of the desert that Moses saw, and when he approached it, he saw it was burning, but it was not being consumed.

And God spoke to him from that bush and said, "'Moses, Moses, take off your shoes. "'The place you are standing is holy ground.'". What was that fire? What was this fire that descended upon Mount Sinai and engulfed that mountain and Moses as he received the Ten Commandments?

What was this fire that fell on the day of Pentecost when 120 people were praying and waiting upon the Lord, waiting upon the Father for the promised Holy Spirit, and suddenly this sound of a mighty rushing wind came in, and cloven tongues of fire descended upon them, and they were all baptized in the Holy Spirit.

What was the fire? The fire was the very presence of God. The fire was the holy, a manifestation of the Holy Spirit of God. This was a revelation of the glory of God, a manifestation of the presence of God, a demonstration of the power of God, and that is the fire we need.

That is the fire we need. We need God Himself. We need the Holy Spirit. And yet in so much of the church today, the Holy Spirit is ignored. He is dishonored. He is grieved. Though the Bible says grieve not the Holy Spirit, He is grieved.

Though the Bible says quench not the Spirit, He is often quenched. He is ignored. He is often rejected. He is often exchanged for some cheap, crazy counterfeit of false fire that has nothing to do with Him.

Or the Holy Spirit is never even talked about and never mentioned for fear of some counterfeit that we once saw. Or He's never mentioned for fear of us losing control, because we like to be in control.

We like to be in charge. And often He's never mentioned. Will you come reason with me for a moment and consider the pattern going all the way back from the Old Testament and see how God over and over and over is rejected by His people.

If you go to the Old Testament, you see that God the Father is revealing Himself to His chosen people, Israel. And He says to them, I will be your God and you will be my people. I will be a father to you.

You'll be my sons and daughters. I will be your king. And their response so much of the time, we think it'd be better to go back to Egypt. That's good, you want to be our king, but we want an earthly king like all the other nations of the world.

And God gave them an earthly king, King Saul. But over and over again, they reject God the Father. So we come to the New Testament and God the Father sends His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. And when Jesus came, the Scripture says, He came to His own, but His own received Him not.

They rejected the Son of God. And they rejected the Son of God all while at the same time saying, God is our Father. And Jesus said to them, if God were your Father, you would love Me. If you knew Him, you would know Me.

Jesus said, I and the Father are one. Not only did they reject God the Son, but they crucified Him on a cross. In the Old Testament, they reject God the Father. In the New Testament, they reject God the Son and crucified Him.

And Jesus died. He rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, sent the promise of His Holy Spirit. And what is happening in so much of the church today? We are rejecting the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit of God.

God the Father we acknowledge. God the Son, yes, He saves us. He's our Savior. But what about God the Holy Spirit? The one who Jesus said, it's good for you that I go away. If I go, I'm gonna send the Comforter, the Counselor, the Holy Spirit of God.

Folks, you cannot reject one without rejecting the other. We serve one God, and He is in three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Listen to this verse from the New Testament. 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 14.

The Apostle Paul says, and you'll see the whole Trinity here. The Apostle Paul says, now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, that is the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

May the love, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, do any of us have a problem with that? No, we accept the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the love of God the Father, anyone have a problem with that?

We embrace the love of God the Father. But what about this? And the communion, fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. He is the fire we need. It's His presence. It's His power. It's His leading.

It's His anointing. It's His unction. There was a Chinese Christian that came to America and visited church after church after church. And at the end of his journey, somebody asked him, what stood out to you about American spirituality, the church in America?

He said the amazing things that the church in America can accomplish without the Holy Spirit. A .W. Tozer said if the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church, 95 of what we do would go on and no one would notice.

But if the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church in Acts, 95 of what they did would stop and everybody would know the difference. He is the fire we need. And when He comes and manifests His presence and His power and His glory, what happens?

Good old-fashioned conviction of sin. When's the last time you saw good old-fashioned conviction of sin? I know you've seen it in this church. But how much more we need. The Holy Spirit will come to convict of sin, righteousness, and coming judgment.

When the fire fell on Mount Carmel, there was one response from all the people. They fell on their faces before God. Good old-fashioned conviction of sin. He is God and we have sinned against Him. Another thing that happens is there'll be an exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

All the people cried out and said, the Lord, He is God. The Holy Spirit always glorifies Christ the Son. That's the fire we need. But before it came, Elijah had to prepare the way. And there were two means here of preparation that we're gonna look at tonight.

The rest we'll look at tomorrow morning, Lord willing. We're gonna look at the altar and the cross. I want you to notice when God called Elijah to prepare the way, He called him to put first things first.

Rebuilding the Altar and Casting Down Idols

The very first thing that Elijah does is repair the altar of the Lord that was broken down. Verse 30. And Elijah said unto all the people, come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.

The altar of the Lord was broken down. It was lying in ruins. What a sad, tragic, desperate day it is when the altar of the Lord is broken down. The first time God opened my eyes to that, I wept. In other words, there was a time on top of Mount Carmel when somebody, God had a people, He had someone that had an altar up there who was worshiping Him in spirit and in truth.

God had someone whose heart was fully devoted to Him. He had someone who loved Him. Someone who feared Him. Someone who walked with Him. But it must have been a long time ago. It was some time in the past.

Now the altar of the Lord was scattered. It was broken down. That sacred place of worship, that sacred place of devotion to the Most High God and fellowship with God was lying in ruins. It was broken down.

And there's something always about a broken altar, brothers and sisters. A broken down altar always leads to a broken hearted God. A broken hearted God. Why was it broken down? It's because God's people made a decision to go after their idols.

And the idols of the world. And they decided to embrace the worship of what everybody else in the country was worshiping. They started worshiping Baal. All the while saying, yeah, we're the people of God, but we'll still worship over here at the altar of Baal.

And the altar of the Lord lied in ruins, broken down, and the heart of God was broken. Can the heart of God really, can God really have a broken heart? In case you doubt that or wonder if that's biblical, I want you to see this scripture.

Hold your place in 1 Kings 18 and go to Ezekiel 6. Ezekiel 6, verse number nine. This is God speaking. He says, and they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations, whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken.

God says, because I am broken. I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes which go a-whoring after their idols. And they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.

Like a good and faithful husband, whose wife left him for other lovers. And began to cheat on him. And then decided just to come back and forth whenever she needed something. God says, my heart is broken.

My heart is broken by the idolatry of my people, as they lust after their idols. They were unfaithful to God. And what absolutely amazes me about our God, I would think that God, being a holy God, and needing nothing, would just say, that's your choice.

I'll cut off the nation of Israel. I'll start over with another people. But what absolutely amazes me about our God is the absolute love that he has for this unfaithful bride. And he goes after her one more time.

Elijah, prepare the way. Because one more time, I'm gonna answer by fire in order to turn the hearts of my people back to me again. That's our God. A God who is holy and just, but who is merciful and gracious.

Slow to anger. Rich in mercy. Longing for his people to come back to him in repentance. Prepare the way. Rebuild that altar that's broken down. Because I want to come and meet with my people again. To turn their hearts back to me.

Where do you see that? It's in Elijah's prayer. Elijah, in his prayer, he says, Lord, let it be known that you are God. In verse 37. That the people may know that thou art the Lord, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.

Elijah built the altar in the name of the Lord. And so must we, in order to prepare the way for the fire of the Lord. But listen, folks. To build up the altar of the Lord, we must first cast down our idols.

We must first cast down our idols. I had no idea that Brant was gonna lead us in that song. About these idols that lead us away from God. What do you mean, idols? Some would say, this is America. We're a civilized country.

We don't bow down to statues of wood and stone. We're Christians. Don't you know that, Brian? We're Christians. We couldn't be guilty of something so serious as idolatry, could we? And I wanna tell you that we live in a nation that is steeped in idolatry.

And idolatry is much, much more of a problem in the church than we may even realize. And idolatry is much, much more of a problem in some of our lives than we even realize. It is a very real sin right now, today.

Remember the first commandment that God gave us of all 10 commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods before me, he said. Jesus said it this way. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

This is the first and greatest commandment. That you love him with all that is within you. So if there's anything or anyone that you love more, fear more, treasure more, or trust more than God, that is your idol.

And that's what must come down. And we must take it, we must deal with them radically. It's time to repent by casting down our idols and giving Christ alone his rightful place as Lord of all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength.

Because when you repair the altar of the Lord and you build the altar of the Lord, the altar of the Lord only has one Lord, one master, and Jesus is his name. There is no other but the King of kings and Lord of lords.

And so the question tonight, to make it personal, make it plain, is Jesus Christ truly the Lord of all your heart? Is he the Lord of every part of your life? Do you love him with all that is within you?

Does he have all the keys to your heart? F .B. Meyer shared his story, his testimony one time. He was preaching, teaching the Bible, revered as a man of God, but there was some young men that came into his life that were full of the Holy Spirit.

Hudson Taylor and C .T. Studd. And F .B. Meyer was convicted every time he was in their presence. And he said one day to C .T. Studd, he said, C .T., you too have something that I don't have, I'm missing.

You're full of joy, you're full of fire, you're full of love for the Lord. And C .T. Studd said, Mr. Meyer, we don't have anything that you yourself can't have. And F .B. Meyer said, then tell me how to get it.

And C .T. Studd said, have you given yourself wholly to God? And he was quiet because he knew immediately what he was hanging on to deep inside of his heart. He said he could often suppress it until at times when he would be at a conference and the Lord would resurface it.

Or times he would be around other godly, godly people and the Lord would bring it to the surface. Or when it came time for communion and he had passed out the bread and the wine, there it was again, and he always put it back.

It was a back corner of his heart. He said just a closet way back there I wanted to hang on to myself. He said, but I was miserable that day and that night I got on my knees in my room and I determined to settle it once and for all.

I cried out to the Lord in prayer. And as I did, I handed out to the Lord this key of my will, this ring of my will with keys on it. And it was as if the Lord Jesus took it in his hand. And he said to me, are they all there?

And I said to the Lord, Lord, they're all there but one. And the Lord Jesus took the keys and he put them back into the hand of F .B. Meyer and he turned to walk out of the room. F .B. Meyer cried, Lord, don't go, don't leave.

And Jesus turned around and said, if you do not trust me with all, you do not trust me at all. He said, Lord, there's one key to this dark closet in my heart and I can't seem to give it up. But if you will reach in and take the key, you can have it.

And he said that day and that moment, the Lord Jesus took that key and he said, I knew what he would do. He began to clean it out. And he said, I was never the same again. I could say after that, Lord Jesus, I am all yours.

You know, there's a difference, brothers and sisters, between being able to say I have him than he has me. We all, if we're born again and saved, we all have the person of the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us.

But there's a tremendous difference between me having the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit having me. I know of a preacher that often, he was an itinerant preacher, when he would come home, his two little girls would run to him.

Daddy's home. And he said one day, the oldest got there first and he picked her up in his arms and the little one was coming from behind and when she got to him, she grabbed his leg and the older daughter looked down at the younger sister and said, I have all of Daddy.

I have all of Daddy. And the little girl looked up at him, started to cry and he reached down and picked her up and she looked at her older sister and said, Daddy has all of me. Daddy has all of me. Does Jesus Christ have all of you tonight?

This is preparing the way. The altar of the Lord has to be rebuilt. Does He have all of you? Every part, all the keys. How about who comes first in your life? Who has first place in your heart, in your home, in your ministry, in your business?

When it comes to your time, when it comes to your money, who has priority? When it comes to your thoughts, what consumes them most? Your conversation, who do you talk about the most? Listen carefully.

What do you run to first for comfort when you're hurting? What do you run to first for security when you're afraid? For pleasure or satisfaction when you're lonely? Because that is your God. That is your idol.

And it's high time, beloved, that we deal ruthlessly with the idols in our life. There's no other way to prepare the way of the Lord. There's no other way than to return to true worship and build the altar of the Lord, but to first cast down every idol.

Anything in my life that is getting in the way of my relationship with God, anything in my life that is preventing me from a closer and more intimate walk with Jesus Christ is an idol that must come down.

And the times are critical. The time is urgent. The time is now. It must come down. We must be radical and ruthless about taking them down. What is it in your life that you need to get rid of? Oftentimes, it's that which you get so angry and upset about when Pastor Shane preaches on it.

For some of us, it's food. And see, what can be an idol for one maybe is not for another. It's whatever it is that becomes your master. For some, food is a wonderful servant. For others, it's a terrible master.

Some of us eat to live. Others of us live to eat. If it becomes my master and that first thing I run to for comfort, for security, for pleasure, instead of first going to the Lord, that's an idol in my life.

Don't take it lightly. It can be sports. Are they your servant or your master? Video games, hobbies, careers, that screen that stays in the middle of our room and all the furniture is faced toward it, is it a servant or a master?

How many precious hours do we waste away? How much time does it rob us from the prayer closet? What is it that dominates your mind? And how about the phone? If your phone is your servant, nothing to say to you about it tonight.

But for some of us, it has become our master. You take it to bed with you. It's the last thing you look at before you go to sleep. You take it to the bathroom with you. It's the first thing you grab when you wake up in the morning.

You can't leave it in another room for one hour to go and pray. You say, but what if somebody calls? I want to tell you, somebody already called and he's waiting for you in the prayer closet. Suppose somebody texts me and I miss the text.

Somebody's already text. He's given us a text message, 66 books, and he wants you to know him. And you must put him first. You shall have no other gods before me. And I tell you, for many, that phone has become an altar upon which you worship.

Call it what it is. If I can't turn it off for an hour to go pray, it's an idol. If it's robbing me of precious time in the scriptures and alone with God, it's an idol. Turn it off. Put it away. Leave it in another room.

And get alone with Jesus and say, Lord, no interruptions here. I give you my whole devotion, my heart, my soul, my time, because you are Lord. To build up the altar, you must cast down the idol. In the Lord's presence, the Bible says, is fullness of joy.

But some of us have exchanged it for worthless, empty entertainment. The Lord has a mighty, mighty purpose and a beautiful plan and a holy calling for someone hearing this message tonight. This, I am sure of it, because I heard it from the Holy Spirit.

But you are missing it right now. You're missing it because you've given yourself to another master. You're addicted to the screen. And some are addicted to what's on the other side of that screen. Some of you are worshiping at an altar of pornography.

And it is killing you. It is destroying your soul. There are demons behind that that want to enslave you. God has a purpose. He has a calling. He wants to use you mightily for his glory. He wants you to know him.

And that poison is so corrupting your mind and blinding your spiritual vision and dulling your conscience and corrupting and defiling your heart. You're withering away spiritually. And God with a broken heart says, come back.

Come back, my people. Deal ruthlessly with that idol and do whatever it takes to lay the ax to the root of it. Crush it. Flee from it like you're fleeing from the plague. Bring it to the light. Do whatever it takes to smash it to pieces.

Flee temptation. Crush these idols. Deal ruthlessly with it and return to God with all your heart because mark this down in red, my brothers and sisters. Underscore it. Nail it down. Listen, no purity, no power.

No purity, no power of the Holy Spirit. That's why we have to plow the ground tonight to prepare the way. God wants to come and manifest his presence and demonstrate his power and reveal his glory. But no purity, no power.

No casting down the idols, no faithfulness to God, no fire. If we refuse to forsake our sin, we will never know the fire of God in our life except for that day under the fire of God's judgment. That's the only kind of fire you will know if you refuse to turn from your sin and come to Christ.

If this is the Lord's altar, there can be no mixture. There can be no other master. Look at what he says in verse 21. How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him.

Jesus said no man can serve two masters. You'll love the one and hate the other. You'll be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. For some, money is an idol. Money is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master.

And if it's consuming your thoughts, it's a master. You cannot serve both. You cannot have both. The idol of Mammon has to come crashing down and all of Jesus have my heart. If Jesus is Lord, follow him.

If money is your God, go build an altar for it and continue to worship it, but please take off the mask. Or whatever else the idol is, it's all of him. He's worthy of all of our heart, every part of it.

No faithfulness, no fire, no purity, no power. But here's the good news, beloved. If you are willing to cast down every idol and to repent, thanks be to God, God made a way for the purity of his people.

He made a way for purity so that we can know power of the Holy Spirit. He made a way for us to be clean and forgiven. Notice the next thing that Elijah does after he repairs the altar of the Lord that was broken down, he repaired that altar and verse 33 says, and he put the wood in order.

The Cross, Purification, and the Blood of Christ

He put the wood in order. Now, Elijah is just arranging the wood for the offering that he's gonna place on that wood to get it ready for the fire. He put the wood in order to place the sacrifice upon it.

But that wood simply points us to some more wood. Two big beams of wood that were fastened together. And on that wood, God placed his perfect sacrifice. His spotless, sinless, holy, precious, undefiled, perfect son.

And Jesus died on that wood. And that wood must be put in order. The only way for me to have a clean heart is to go by way of the cross. The only way you and I could be forgiven was that Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, would die on that wood, would be crucified on that wood, would shed his precious and holy blood on that wood.