February 19, 2023 – Sunday Service

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Please stand and hear God call you to worship through his word. Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all peoples. For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He is also to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.

Honor and majesty are before him. Strength and gladness are in his place. Give to the Lord, oh families of the peoples. Give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him.

Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Let the heavens rejoice. Let the earth be glad and let them say, among the nations, the Lord reigns. Let the sea roar in all its fullness. Let the field rejoice in all that is in it.

Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. For his mercy endures forever. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. And all the people said amen and praise the Lord. Let us pray.

Oh, Lord, you are the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. You are the blessed and only sovereign, the king of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in an unapproachable light, whom no name has seen or can see.

To you be the honor and eternal dominion. We bless the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. We praise the glory of your grace that shows us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him.

We thank you that in love, you predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. We rejoice that we have been sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit of promise, who has given us as a pledge of our inheritance.

We worship and adore you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Open the eyes of our hearts that we may know the hope of your calling, the riches of the glory of our inheritance, and the surpassing greatness of your power toward us in Jesus Christ.

All of this you have brought about in Christ when you raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places. Receive our worship and our praise to your glory and grace, we pray in Christ's name, amen.

Please, as you are able, kneel for the corporate confession of sin. Let us join together in confessing our sins.

Most holy and merciful Father, we confess to you and to one another that we have sinned against you by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart and mind and strength.

We have not fully loved our neighbors as ourselves.

Please rise for the assurance of pardon. Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquities and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy.

He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Oh, my brothers and sisters, the bliss of this glorious thought that our sins not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and we bear them no more.

Let our souls rejoice, amen. Please take up the Trinity hymnal and turn to hymn number 580. Lead on, oh king eternal, hymn 580. Please take up the insert and look for Psalm 9. Sing praise to the Lord, Psalm 9.

It is a tune that is familiar to us. I mean, mortal, invisible. Psalm 9. Starting a new book, the book of Lamentations. So we'll be looking at Lamentations 1.

Lamentations 1. How lonely sits the city that was full of people. How like a widow is she who is great among the nations. The princess among the provinces has become a slave. She weeps bitterly in the night.

Her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers, she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her enemies. Judah has gone into captivity under affliction and hard servitude.

She dwells among the nations. She finds no rest. All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits. The roads to Zion mourn because no one comes to the set feast. All her gates are desolate. Her priests sigh.

Her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. Her adversaries have become the master. Her enemies prosper. For the Lord has afflicted her because of the multitude of her transgressions. Her children have gone into captivity before the enemy.

And from the daughter of Zion, all her splendor has departed. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture, that flee without strength before the pursuer. In the days of her affliction and roaming, Jerusalem remembers all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old when her people fell into the hand of the enemy with no one to help her.

The adversaries saw her and mocked at her downfall. Jerusalem has sinned greatly. Therefore, she has become vile. All who honor her despise her because they have seen her nakedness. Yes, she sighs and turns away.

Her uncleanness is in her skirts. She did not consider her destiny. Therefore, her collapse was awesome. She had no comforter. O Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy is exalted. The adversary has spread his hand over all her pleasant things, for she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, those whom you commanded not to enter your assembly.

All her people sigh. They seek bread. They have given their valuables for food to restore life. See, O Lord, and consider, for I am scorned. Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see, if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which has been brought on me, which the Lord has inflicted in the day of his fierce anger.

From above he has sent fire into my bones and it overpowered them. He has spread a neck in my feet and turned me back. He has made me desolate and faint all the day. The yoke of my transgressions was bound.

They were woven together by his hands. And thrust upon my neck, he made my strength fall. The Lord delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand. The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst.

He has called an assembly against me to crush my young men. The Lord trampled as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah. For these things I weep. My eye overflows with water because the comforter who should restore my life is far from me.

My children are desolate because the enemy prevailed. Zahram spreads out her hands, but no one comforts her. The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob that those around him become his adversaries. Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

The Lord is righteous, for I rebelled against his commandment. Hear now all peoples and behold my sorrow. My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity. I called for my lovers, but they deceived me.

My priests and my elders breathed their last in the city while they sought food to restore their life. See, O Lord, that I am in distress. My soul is troubled. My heart is overturned within me, for I have been very rebellious.

Outside the sword grieves. At home, it is like death. They have heard that I sigh, but no one comforts me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble. They are glad that you have done it. Bring on the day you have announced that they may become like me.

Let all their wickedness come before you and do to them as you have done to me for all my transgressions. For my sighs are many and my heart is faint. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Let us continue our worship by singing the Apostles' Creed.

Pick up the Trinity hymnal again.

And open up to hymn number 261, What Wondrous Love Is This, hymn 261. I ask your prayers for God's people throughout the world, for our denomination, for this church, and for all ministers and missionaries.

Pray for the church. I ask your prayers for the poor, the sick, the bereaved, the burdened, and for the widows, orphans, and prisoners. Pray for those in any need or trouble.

Prayers.

I ask your prayers for those who do not know Christ and for those who seek a deeper knowledge of him. Pray that they may find and be found by him.

Lord, hear our prayers.

I ask your prayers for our children and future generations which will be born to them. Pray that the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth through them.

Father, pray for our children as they lift them up. We raise them in the word, raise them Christians who are in Christ, disciple them at home through family worship, educating them, bringing them to church every Sunday, that this would be deeply embedded into who they are as a person.

Pray that they would, by your grace, build upon that and do it better than we do and pass that on to their children. Through these regular means of grace that you've seen to work and build your kingdom.

This way, the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior would spread throughout all lands. I pray this today in Christ's name.

Pray that we may have grace to glorify Christ in our own day.

Lord, hear our prayers.

It would all be dedicated to your name. Edify one another, enhance your kingdom, and above all, glorify your name. Being in agreement of all these things, we join our voices together and say amen. Please stand and take up the insert again and open to the inside for Psalm 33, our Psalm of the month.

The Lord, by his word, has created. Psalm 33.

Zechariah 8:18-23 and the Turning of Fasting into Feasting

To Zechariah chapter eight.

I'm going to read the portion we'll be studying today, verses 18 through 23. Zechariah eight, beginning at verse 18. This is God's holy and infallible word. In the word of the Lord of hosts came to me saying, thus says the Lord of hosts.

The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the 10th shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore, love, truth, and peace.

Thus says the Lord of hosts. Peoples shall yet come, inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one city shall go to another saying, let us continue to go and pray before the Lord and seek the Lord of hosts.

I myself will go also. Yes, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts. In those days, 10 men from every language of the nation shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man saying, let us go with you for we have heard that God is with you.

May the Lord be pleased with our consideration of his most holy word. Please pray with me. Oh Lord, we rejoice. We give thanks to you for you are a God who has loved deeply. You have transformed us comprehensively.

We pray for the continued advance of the kingdom. We pray for the bold proclamation of Christ, our risen and reigning king. And oh Lord, may you fit us for service that 10 men would grab us by the sleeve because they heard, they know that God is with us.

We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. I have three points of outline for you and they are following the three declarations of the word of the Lord. The first one is found in the first section verses 18 and 19.

The first point is fasting will be turned to feasting and that will occupy a lot of our interest this morning. Fasting will be turned to feasting. The second, thus saith the Lord point is many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord.

Many peoples and strong nations shall come seek. And finally, title of the message, most of it at least, we have heard that God is with you. We have heard that God is with you. Fasting will be turned to feasting.

Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord. And third, we have heard that God is with you. The fasts will be turned to feasts. The place of mourning will become a place of dancing. The place of sadness will turn to a place of joy.

In order to properly understand our section today, we have to be reminded of the question posed by the delegation of the Jews coming from Bethel. Would you turn back one chapter to chapter seven? The answer to this question is found in our section today.

Zechariah said a number of things, but the resolution to the question, the answer is given that's offered up here. The question of chapter seven is resolved in our section. This is the question. Zechariah seven.

Now in the fourth year of King Darius, it came to pass that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month.

Chisled.

When the people sent Sherezer with Regem-Melech and his men to the house of God to pray before the Lord and to ask the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets saying, should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years?

This is the practical and theological question posed by those who have not yet come back to Jerusalem. The temple is being rebuilt. Should we continue to fast as we have these last 70 years in exile? To travel to Jerusalem, to the house of God, to pray before the Lord, to ask the priests and prophets, should I weep, should I fast in the fifth month?

Our section, you can turn back now to chapter eight, answers the question, should we keep the fast days? This has become the tradition of our exile, our fathers these last 70 years. It's also important to remember that these commemorations recall dark days in Jewish history, but they had not been commanded by the Lord.

They had self-imposed these fast days, and now as the tide has so dramatically turned, the temple's being rebuilt. The people are returning to Judea. Should the unregulated fast days continue, a significant encouragement can be taken, drawn from the question.

At least the people seemed interested in conforming their doctrine and practice to the truth. How many today in the church never question the validity of their own position, or ask the why of their own practices?

Well, Lord willing, today this question will be answered. This fasting had an appearance of devotion, we learned in chapter seven, but may have been selfishly executed. You and I may make many motions of piety externally, and they may betray a heart that is not longing for God.

It's very convicting for us to consider that we could have a hollow superficial religion. Let's consider the first point. Look again at verse 18 and 19. Fasting will be turned to feasting. The prophetic word again comes to Zechariah.

These are not the words of Zechariah, this is the Lord speaking through the human instrument of Zechariah. This is the Holy Spirit inspired word of God coming through the prophet. This is what he says, thus says the Lord of hosts.

The fast of the fourth month, that wasn't included in the question. The fast of the fifth month was, the fourth one wasn't. The fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the 10th. What are these and what do these mean?

You may remember that we mentioned before what the fast of the fifth month was, but Zechariah, the Lord himself, has expanded the reach of these fast days. The fast of the fourth month is to remember the initial breach in Jerusalem's wall.

The first day that the wall was broken open and the enemies started to come in. There was also a theory of this time that this is also the same occasion and same day where the tablets of the original law being given were broken.

So it's kind of this two-fold warnings related to this fast of the fourth month. This is articulated, all of these really are articulated in 2 Kings 25, we'll look at that later. The fast of the fifth month was the burning of Jerusalem.

The destruction of the city walls and the exile of the people. On the fifth month, it was sure that Jerusalem had been sacked. The city was on fire. The people were being pulled away by the military of Babylon.

They were being dragged out of the city. The fast of the seventh month corresponds with the assassination of Gedalia. And this we read in Jeremiah chapter 40. And the failure of those efforts that Jeremiah and others were making toward reform.

Their plans of reformation were dashed and they mourned the loss of the prospect of those reforms. The fast of the 10th month is the recognition of Nebuchadnezzar's the onslaught and siege of Jerusalem.

It started in the 10th month. These fasts memorialize Israel's shame and failure. And in fact, when your city is under siege, people start to starve. A lot of bad things start to happen. So the fast seems to correspond really well with what they were facing, what they were remembering.

But the question of fasting now is brought to bear by what's happening in Jerusalem. There's a time of refreshing at hand. There's a renewal of covenant at hand. There is legitimacy again to the people of God as they reside in Judea.

Now Jerusalem is being rebuilt and the temple is under construction. The fasts that memorialize Israel's shame and failure were fast commemorating the removal of God's hand of protection. But now they shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts.

Brethren, these are encouraging words in the scripture. When I think of my sin and your sin, I'm horrified at the ways in which we have failed our God, but we have Christ. Well, when I think of our sin, I think of the cross.

Israel's failure to keep covenant shines a great light on God's capacity and willingness to keep covenant with them in spite of their unfaithfulness. They had a cause for mourning. And you and I, when we approached a holy God in worship, we had cause to tremble as we confessed our sins corporately today.

But that fasting, that mourning, that terror, that fear is allayed and removed and washed away by Christ. God's love for his people, he says, there may have been a cause for your mourning, but now these are going to be occasions for feasting.

I'd like you to turn back with me to the book of Nehemiah in chapter eight. I love this section. And I have been asked to preach at presbytery this year, and I'm preaching on Nehemiah eight. I want you to sketch something here because this is gospel, and this is what the worship of God's people looks like.

And there's a lesson for us in Nehemiah eight, and it illustrates something that's happening in Zechariah eight, Nehemiah eight one. Now, all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the water gate.

And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding in the first day of the seventh month.

Then he read it in the open square that was in front of the water gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand in the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

So Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood, which they had made for the purpose. And beside him at his right hand sat Mattithiah, Shema, Ananiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Messiah. And at his left hand, Paddaiah, Meshael, Melchizedek, Heshum, Hashpadonah, Zechariah, and Meshulam.

And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people. And he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. It's because of verses like this that we have a pulpit made of wood that we stand in the honor of the reading of God's word.

This is ancient for God's people to do these things. They have not been hearing the word, they've not been reading the word. And Ezra blesses the name of the Lord, the great God. And the people are zealous and they're saying amen and amen.

And they lift up their hands and they bowed their heads and they worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Yeshua, Bani, Sherabiah, Jameen, Akum, Shabbatai, Hodeisha, Messiah, Kalita, Azariah, Josabath, Hanan, Paliah, and the Levites helped the people to understand the law when the people stood in their place.

So they read distinctly from the book in the law of God and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading. I want you to imagine our friend Abraham just reading Deuteronomy, he was telling me.

I want you to imagine them reading the book of Deuteronomy, the second giving of the law and the terror that would fall upon them. They get to a place like 28, Deuteronomy 28, the blessings and the cursings.

So the people are coming and they're eager to hear the word of God and the law is open and they're so filled with hope and promise, but they're brought under heavy conviction. Their sins have been exposed.

So this day of recovery of the word of God and proclamation of it, distinct understanding and explanation, expounding of it, no doubt a formulation for us in expository preaching. It says in verse nine, Nehemiah was the governor, Ezra, the priest and scribe and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, this day is holy to the Lord, your God.

Do not mourn nor weep for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. The exile of Zechariah's day, the people keenly understood that was because of their sin. You have conviction no doubt on the Lord's day when you come into the presence of God and there's something in the singing or the reading of the word, the proclamation of scripture from the preacher, there's something that grabs hold of you and you're exposed and you have a sense of your unworthiness and your guilt.

I should say that this is woefully lacking in our day. There's very little guilt that leads to repentance. Can never say anything and cause anybody to have any guilt. The words of God coming to the people cause terror.

They're stricken with grief and guilt and awareness of their sin and their need of deliverance. Nehemiah says this day is holy to the Lord. Do not mourn nor weep. You see, this is a day of renewal and restoration.

The Lord's love for you is on display. He's correcting you as a loving father, chastens his own children. And this part is really amazing to me. Look at verse 10. It says, I want you to think about this.

The nation's sins have been exposed. They're all pronounced guilty. He tells them in their weeping, in their mourning, do not mourn, do not weep. Then he says, go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared for this day is holy to our Lord.

Do not sorrow for the joy of the Lord is your strength. The people are ready for sackcloth and ashes. That this is the natural response that the people are ready to wail and contrition about their sin.

And Nehemiah says, let's stop this now. This is a holy day to the Lord. This is in fact a feast day. Come, kill the fatted calf, get the best wine. There's people who aren't here at the assembly, cook it all up and send them good portions.

For this day is holy to the Lord. Do not sorrow for the joy of the Lord is your strength. And so I say to you, I want you to be brought under heavy conviction about your sin. I want you to mourn and fast briefly, but I want you to spend more time rejoicing and giving thanks and feasting for what the Lord has done for you in Christ.

That work of grace is greater than all of our sin. That forgiveness and that love is greater than all of our transgressions. When the Lord comes in deliverance, the time of fasting and mourning has passed.

Now we rejoice.

It's with us.

Let's turn back to our text in Zechariah. This is, I believe, a shocking answer to the question under the guise, maybe well-intentioned in some cases, piety of the believers, the fast to commemorate the dark days of Israel's history leading up to the exile and maybe the harsh treatment of Moses and the law and all those things now is set aside in favor of feast days.

Brethren, the Lord has called us to feast. Jerusalem is being transformed. Imagine in context. The temple is being reconstructed. The priesthood has been cleansed and consecrated. The hearts of the people hardened by sin are being made fleshy and pliable.

God has renewed covenant with them. He says, they shall be my people and I will be their God. He called them to strengthen their hands for the glorious work they had been assigned to labor zealously in the Lord's kingdom building work.

They have duties and obligations. They are to love God and neighbor. Therefore, love, truth and peace it says in verse 19. The weightier matters of the laws as James might articulate. The people of God have a tendency to focus on an unappointed fast day and to neglect the weightier matters of the faith and law.

So I asked the question for you today, should our faith be characterized by fasting.

Or feasting?

I'd like you to turn with me to the New Testament in the book, the Gospel of Mark, Mark chapter two. Going to read verses 18 through 22. The Pharisees, they were the people who looked really spiritual and the only rivals and maybe they eclipsed them were the disciples of John, many of whom would become the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

There's something big here for us and it's gonna be developed from here to the end of the scripture. Mark two, beginning at verse 18. The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to him, why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast but your disciples do not fast?

Jesus said to them, can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them and they will fast in those days.

No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment or else the new piece pulls away from the old and the tear is made worse. No one puts new wine into old wineskins or else the new wine bursts the wineskins.

The wine is spilled and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins. The question I have for you to consider, I think it'll become clear what my position is by the end of this.

Do we have the bridegroom with us or are we waiting for him? Tough question, isn't it? Is Christ really present in the supper? Are we really filled with his Holy Spirit? Things are not yet consummated to what they shall be so there must be an already and not yet, I acknowledge that.

But has the presence of Christ departed from his church? Are we waiting for the bridegroom? I'd like us to turn to Psalm 23 really quickly. It's probably the first or second ranked most memorized portion of scripture.

John 3 .16, Psalm 23, one and two. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. And that's the point I want you to really slow down on.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Verse four, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. He leads me, he makes me to lie down, he restores my soul. The Lord has prepared a table for me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. If you be a Christ, it's impossible that you could be snatched out of the Father's hand.

If you be the bride of Christ, there's no possibility, like a cheesy Hollywood movie, that you would be left at the altar. This marriage, this betrothal, wherever we are in that process, it will come to its full consummation and completion.

There's not gonna be a certificate of divorce for the church of Jesus Christ. Ever leaves us or forsakes us, I think he's with us. He is Emmanuel, after all, incarnation. He's God with us. Did he come to be with us that he might leave us?

I don't think so. Turn back quickly to Matthew chapter 22. Thank you for your patience. I could have just read through these. I have them written down, but I think reading it sometimes is helpful when we look at it in the scripture ourselves.

And see it.

Matthew 22. This idea of feasting is very prominent in the ministry of Christ. Matthew 22, beginning at verse one. And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding and they were not willing to come.

Again, he sent out other servants saying, tell those who are invited. Now, I wanna tell you here that the servants who go out are the prophets, the apostles, particularly the apostles in this time, referring to the prophets calling upon Israel to repent and turn to the Lord.

But today, the people of God, the priesthood of the church, we too are the servants who go out and herald in the streets as town criers, we say, be reconciled to God and Jesus Christ. Repent and believe the gospel.

That's our job too. So this idea is something that's been happening throughout the history of God's people and we continue to be the people who herald and call with the invitation of Christ and his gospel to come to the wedding supper of the lamb.

Look at verse four again. It says, see, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fatted cattle are killed and all things are ready. Come to the wedding. But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.

And the rest seized the servants, treated them spitefully and killed them. When the king heard about it, he was furious and he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. And he said to his servants, the wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

Of course, I think this has big implications for national Israel. It's happening and the Olivet discourse coming and all of that. Therefore, go into the highways and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.

This is a big part of Gentile inclusion. It's the unwillingness of Israel, the physical descendants of Abraham, to turn to their God. So the servants went out into the highways and gathered together all they found, both bad and good.

And the wedding hall was filled with guests. When the king came in and he saw the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?

And he was speechless. I'll tell you what that wedding garment is. It is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's what you have to have to come to the wedding supper, the wedding feast of the lamb. The king said to the servants, bind him hand and foot, take him away and cast him into outer darkness.

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. Lastly, I'll end my tour through the scripture and revelation. If you turn to Revelation chapter 19, do this now and we'll complete our section, Revelation 19.

Zechariah is very important because the imagery of Babylon is prominent in Revelation. So if you wanna know about Revelation, the study in Zechariah, I think is very helpful. Revelation 19, and I heard, this is verse six, I'm sorry, Revelation 19, six.

And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and the sound of mighty thundering saying, alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife has made herself 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. And he said to me, right, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the lamb.

You as the people of God have been called to the, fasting has some value, but don't ever fast on Sunday. Don't fast this table on Sunday. That would be beyond count. And finally, Revelation 22, it'll sections three, actually small portions.

Revelation 21, verse two. Then I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Brethren, I think mystically Jerusalem is the church.

And I think physical Jerusalem no longer holds that place. I believe Revelation is clear about who the whore of Babylon is. It's Jerusalem and her disobedience. The people of God, the new temple in Christ, they make up the new Jerusalem.

The people who have been washed in the blood of the lamb, the people who are clothed in fine linen and the righteousness of Christ, these are the ones who are prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Listen to what it says. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. Sounds a lot like Zechariah. God himself will be with them and be their God.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away. He who sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things new.

He said to me, write for these things, for these words are true and faithful. Skip down to verse nine. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me saying, come, I will show you the bride, the lamb's wife.

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Finally, skip over to verse 22.