Prophecy

… We bid you a very hearty welcome to the forum. We trust that the time we spend together may be to profit. And for the instruction of us all, because we all need instruction in the Scriptures, especially in the days in which we find ourselves living. Strange days, aren't they? We very often ask ourselves the question, what's going to happen next? Well, these little talks we're going to have this week, I'm not going to tell you much about what is going to happen. That's not on my mind at all. What I have in my mind is to tell you a little bit about what is true, essential, distinctive Christianity. And among the many things that we will touch upon during this week, we'll say a good deal about the Church. Now, you might say to me, well, of course, that's something we're all familiar with. Well, that's all right. But we're going to say a little bit during this week about the Church and its unique place, the Church. We will touch on prophetic subjects, but just touch them here and there. But with the point of view of making large that which truly belongs to us today, as believers belonging to the Church of God. Five shortish Scriptures from the New Testament. Now, the first one is in the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians. The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians. Chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. That's in the New Testament. And I want to read from verse 7. Verse 7 of the first chapter of Ephesians. Verse 7. According to his good pleasure, which he had purposed in himself. That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. Can you turn over a few pages, please, to Colossians. Ephesians, Philippians, and then Colossians. Colossians chapter 1. I want to read verse 24 and 25 and 26. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 24. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you? Paul is writing here, by the way. And fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church. Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill or complete the word of God. Even the mystery, which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints. Now will you turn, please, a little earlier in the New Testament. First Corinthians. First epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. That's a little bit earlier on. Acts, Romans, and First Corinthians. Four gospels, then the book of Acts, Romans, and Corinthians. Corinthians chapter 9. Just a verse or two there. Verse 16 and 17 of First Corinthians 9. Verse 16. For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. For necessity is laid upon me. Yea, war is unto me, if I preach not the gospel. For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. Now then, in your patience, please, the epistle to the Hebrews. Chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. That's a bit further on in the New Testament. Towards the end. Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1, 2, and 3. I want to read. Hebrews 1, verse 1, 2, and 3. Verse 1. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. And lastly, in your patience, Romans. Acts, Romans. Gospels, then the book of Acts. And then Romans. Romans chapter 11. Verse 25 and 26. For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits. That blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so, all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, they shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. Now verse 23. Verse 33. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. That's all I want to read. Now, it's pretty obvious, I think, that we won't have time tonight to go into these passages that I have read. Just maybe to touch upon them, but we haven't time to go very deeply into them. What I did think it would be a good thing tonight to begin with was to say a little about the inspiration of Holy Scripture. The reason why I want to say this is because in many parts and in many places there is a question mark put upon the Holy Scriptures. There are those who call into question the authority and the veracity and the unchangeable character of our Bible. And I want just to say a little bit tonight, even at the expense of losing time for other things, I did feel it pressing upon my mind to say something about the inspiration of the Bible, the Scriptures. Of course, I only have to turn to the Scriptures themselves. I think tonight of some of the words of Paul, the writer whose writings we have been reading together tonight. He tells us, doesn't he, he says, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for instruction in righteousness, for reproof, that the man of God might be completely furnished unto every good work. You know, there are many who question the inspiration of Scripture. And I feel it a burden tonight as we embark upon the series of talks from the Scriptures, from the Bible, I feel it pressing upon me to say something, affirm tonight this faith that we possess in the Scriptures of truth. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. The word inspiration could be rendered God-breathed. All Scripture is God-breathed, profitable, doctrine, reproof, instruction in righteousness. You will find in the Bible that wherever you get mention made of God's breath, it always means there's something particular about what he breathes into. If I was to take you back in thought tonight to the book of Genesis, to the early part of the book of Genesis, where we are told that God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life and he became a living soul. He became different to all the other creatures that God had made. The fact that God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life made him entirely different from all the other animals that he had made. From all that he had created, man was different. Man was different because God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. We can apply that, can't we, to our Bibles. If the words are right, and I believe they are, all Scripture is God-breathed. It means that the Bible we have in our hands is unparalleled. There's no other book like the Bible. There's no other book like the Holy Scriptures. It's not an ordinary book. You can go to the libraries in the town and find hundreds and thousands of books. Only of one book, only of one book can we say it's inspired of God, God-breathed. That's our authority. It's our only authority. We don't want to speak mysticism or anything of that nature during this week. We base what we say upon the Scriptures of truth, the Bible, the Word of God, God-breathed. There's no book like the Bible. I don't know you all tonight whom I'm speaking to. Maybe we're all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't even know whether you are or not, but maybe for the moment we'll assume that we are. Let me ask you the question. As a Christian, since you became a Christian, since you trusted Christ as your Savior, shall I ask a question, a pointed question? How much attention have you paid to the Bible? How much attention have you given to the Scriptures? How much time have you made to read it? Christians are meant to grow, not to be stunted. Christians are meant to grow. And the only way we'll grow physically is by eating the right kind of food. And the only way we'll grow spiritually is by eating the right kind of food. And the right kind of food for Christians is the Word of God. He inspired Scriptures. All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable. The Scriptures also tell us themselves that the Bible is verbally inspired. Oh yes, we believe in the verbal inspiration of Scripture. That is, the very words that are written here in our Bible were the words which the Holy Spirit gave to the various servants who penned this book. They didn't think their own words, they were given the words to write. Communicating spiritual things by spiritual means. Communicating the truth by Spirit-given words. So we're not only talking tonight about the inspiration of Scripture, but we're also talking about the verbal inspiration of Scripture. And we as believers, if we are believers tonight at all, if we are believers, then we ought to be believers, have faith, an unchanging faith in the Word of God as the means whereby God's mind has been communicated to us. I thought that's all I want to say as an introduction. I thought it might be well just to start off by saying that. Now on the little cards that were printed just to advertise these meetings, the subject for our little talk tonight is on the card as Dispensations, what are they? Now, I don't want you to think I'm going to get you lost in highfalutin talk tonight. I'm not going to do that. We'll be wasting our time tonight if I was to talk above your heads. I have no intention of doing that. You've all got a sheet that we're giving you tonight at the back of the hall. And by the way, can I say before we go any further tonight, please, can I say if we have the pleasure, and we do trust we will, have the pleasure of your company again this week. We look forward to seeing you again. If you do, will you please, please bring this sheet with you. That's one little request I want to make. If we see you again and we trust you'll come again, will you bring this sheet with you? Because we shall turn to it again and again during the week just to talk about this chart, call it what you like, that I've given to your headed seven periods of time. Now, I can't say very much about it tonight except to say this, that usually speaking, we talk about periods of time and we talk about seven periods of time. Many, many people have tried to make a chart like this. There are many of them available. I've looked at a lot of them. And I suppose what I've done is, well, I've looked at that one and that one and I've sorted that one out and that one out and, well, I've produced this one. And I've kept to the common process of things and given us seven periods of time. You will notice at the end is the millennium. And whatever God is doing today, whatever God has been doing over past ages, it all has in view this day, which we very often speak about as the millennium. You won't find that word in the Bible. But Christians have used that word for a long, long time now, the millennium. Of course, a millennium is a thousand years. A millennium is a thousand years. And everything that God has been doing in the past ages and what he's doing today has in view this period of time, which we call here the millennium, the thousand years, when Christ shall be upon the throne, when he shall be the head over all things. And make no mistake about it, my friend, he will be head over all things. He may be rejected today by the world. He may be set at note even today by men. But we can take this, he's going to be the head over all things, ere long, not perhaps as long as we sometimes think. A thousand years, he's going to be upon the throne, millennium, and everything is tending in that direction. Everything is tending in that direction. The Bible talks also about the day of God, the eternal state. But we have nothing to say about that tonight because we're not concerned with this. We're concerned with these periods of time. We can't run time into eternity. They're different. Here we have the final period of time, the millennium, when Christ will be upon the throne, and when this world, instead of being full of the glory of men, will be full of the glory of God. I wonder if you can imagine a world, instead of being full of the glory of man, it will be full of the glory of God. And the person of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, who this world rejected upon the throne, ruling in equity, yes, that's where we are tending to. That's where these periods of time move on to. This seventh that I've got down on my chart here tonight, the rest of God. The scriptures speak about God resting in his love. That will be the day when Christ is upon the throne. You'll notice the one I've got marked here, the sixth one is the present day. The present day lasted for 1987 years. What is characteristic of that day? Oh, God is calling out of this world his church. He's calling out of this world the church. Let me ask you a question tonight, a very simple question. What is your idea of the church? Well, of course, many people think, well, of course, yes, it's that little place at the end of the road, has a steeple and the bell rings on a Sunday morning, and that's their conception of the church. Well, that's not the Bible conception of the church. That's not what the Bible says about the church. Thank God the church is not made of bricks and mortar. The church is made up of spiritual stones, stones who have life, living stones, and are built up, the scripture says, into a spiritual house. Having received life from him who is the living stone, built up a spiritual house. And now for 2,000 years, God has been calling out of this world his church. When I was a youngster and I was just a young brother, young Christian, I remember some of the believers used to tell me about this word church. And they would give us the Greek word, the Greek word. I don't know anything about Greek, I can assure you, but at least I know the Greek for church. And they used to tell me it was the word ekklesia. Ekklesia. Ekklesia means a calling. Ek means out of. Simple as that. Ekklesia means a calling. Ek means out of. Put the two together, out of calling. That's exactly what the church means. God is calling out of this world a people for his name. Now that is the period six on my chart, where we have the day of grace, the calling out of the church, the one body of Christ. Now then, there are various points I put on this chart. I'm not going to bother too much about them tonight. I put into this chart two or three little pieces about covenants. Unconditional covenants. The reason why I've done this is this. The church is destined for heavenly blessing. Millennium, church in heaven. Millennium, on earth. Do you think Moscow will be the head in the millennium? Do you think that London will be the chief city in the millennium? New York? London? No. The chief city upon earth during the millennium will be Jerusalem. Jerusalem. Zion. Zion. Beautiful for situation. Joy of the whole earth. Walk about Zion, the writer says. Mark well her bulwarks. Wonderful place. It's a wonderful place. I've never been. Maybe you have. I've never been. But when that day dawns, when the Lord Jesus takes up the reins of government in this world, as far as earth is concerned, the head upon earth will be Israel. And nobody can deny them a seed, land, a king, and blessing. But all here, seed, yes, they'll be there. The nation will be preserved through to that day. The land will be theirs. God has sworn that their king will be of the lineage of David. Christ is the son of David, as well as being the Lord of David. And they'll be blessed in a remarkable way. The law written upon their hearts. Wonderful day when the church is destined for a heavenly place. Israel is destined for an earthly place. We've got to learn, you know, as Christians, simply to keep these things in mind. To rightly divide the word of truth. One of the concerns I have, and I'll say this quite honestly and wholeheartedly before God, one of the concerns I have this week and in the subject before us, is that we might get a grasp, perhaps a renewed grasp, of the place God has destined for the church. Some people think, of course, that the church is a kind of a, well, a continuation of Israel. A lot of people think that. That God's just got one big line of working, and Israel and then the church, and it's all the same thing, just goes on, all the same thing. That's not true, that. The Bible doesn't teach that either. The Bible teaches me that the church is distinct. Distinct from Israel. Israel is destined for an earthly place. The church is destined for a heavenly place. Now, that's true. You'll find it in the scriptures. I haven't conjured that up in my mind. Simple reading of the Bible will tell us that. The church is, somebody has said, God's masterpiece. God's masterpiece. One of the beautiful things is, you know, I can scarcely think about the church, without thinking of the head of the church. I can scarcely think about the church, without thinking of Christ. Because I remember the words that says, Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. Oh, I can't very well think about the church, without speaking about Christ. Because after all said and done, I hope one night this week, we'll be able to see how intimately, together they are. The body and the head. You can't think of anything so intimate as that, can you? The body and the head. Such is the relationship of the church to the Lord Jesus. The body to the head. Just as my body is controlled by my head, the church, the body of Christ, is controlled by the head in heaven. So you can't speak about the church, really, without thinking about the head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Now, I shan't say any more about this chart. As I say, we will come back to it as the week goes on. I will refer to it from time to time. That's why I ask you to bring it with you, when you come along on future evenings. Now, I want to say a little word about this matter of dispensation. Dispensation. Long word, but let's not be frightened of it tonight. Let's not be frightened of these words. You'll find them in a dictionary, if you like. You'll find it in any dictionary, the word dispensation. So you don't need to worry too much about the word. It might be a long word, but we don't want to make it involved, do we? Many people, in fact, for years, I think, I thought that a dispensation was a period of time. And I would say, generally speaking, if you go to a believer and ask him what is a dispensation, he'll tell you it's a period of time. I wouldn't argue with him on that. In fact, it's got so deep-rooted, I don't think we'll ever be able to change anybody's mind as to what a dispensation really is. But you'll notice on the chart I've given you, and I did it purposely, there's no mention on this chart of a dispensation. I've kept it out of it completely, and I've just said seven periods of time. Now, the word dispensation doesn't mean a period of time. I'll tell you what it does mean. It means what that period of time is characterized by. God has perfect right and authority to order his world as he sees fit. And he has ordered his world as he sees fit, and will go on doing so. This word dispensation, some people translate it this way, administration. Now, you know what that word means, administration. I looked at the Greek text of the scripture, just to see what it said, and the word there is given almost consistently a stewardship, an ordering of things. So the word dispensation is not a period of time, it's how God orders those periods of time, how God orders things in his own world. That's what the word means. Now, I read a little verse to you tonight from the epistle to the Corinthians, where Paul said that he was concerned about preaching the gospel. Woe is me, he says, if I preach not the gospel. And he goes on to speak in those words. I better read it because I get it wrong if I don't. In the ninth chapter again, he says, Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. And if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will, a dispensation, an administration, or a stewardship is committed unto me. Now, the apostle Paul, above many others, was a steward. And he had the responsibility of communicating certain truth to the saints, to believers, to the church. He was a steward, and he says somewhere else, it's essential in stewards that they be faithful. And the apostle was a faithful steward in communicating the truth that God gave him to communicate to the church. So you see, can't you, how the word dispensation would be better rendered, a stewardship is given to me. What he's saying is, even if I do it unwillingly, God has given me this stewardship, I must carry it out in faithfulness. In faithfulness. I'm trying just to make it clearer to you what this word really means. In each of these periods of time, God has had his way of ordering affairs, administrating affairs, as he will. And of course in the present day, Paul was the steward to underline it that perhaps we have a mistaken idea about the word itself. It's not a period of time, it's the ordering of those periods of time, the way God dispenses things. That's all it means, isn't it? I don't know if you don't get it much nowadays, but when I was a youngster, each doctor used to have a dispensary next to his surgery, where of course he dispensed the medicine. Well, that gives a little bit of an idea of God dispensing, God's ordering things in life in this world according to his own mind and his own purpose. Well, so much for the word, I trust I have made that clear. By the way, if I haven't made anything clear, will you please ask me at the end? I am very concerned that I make things clear. After the meeting, please ask me if I made anything, you know, not clear. Now then, having said that, I want to talk just a little bit about these periods of time, or these, if I dare use the word after having said what I have said, dispensations, what characterizes these periods of time. We read tonight in the first chapter of Ephesians. Our first scripture was in Ephesians 1. And I want just to look at that for a minute and see what it says there about a dispensation. But I think we'll give it another word, I think we'll say administration. I think that will be better, I think, if we keep ourselves clear on this. In the first chapter of Ephesians, and he begins by telling these believers that they had the forgiveness of their sins. Have you got the forgiveness of your sins tonight, dear friend? Wonderful thing to know, the forgiveness of your sins. Redemption by his blood, even the forgiveness of your sins. It's possible, you know, it's possible through trusting Christ the Savior to have the forgiveness of our sins. According to the riches of his grace, what a marvelous God we have, haven't we? The riches of his grace. But that grace has overspilled. It's overspilled, you might say. It's abounded. And we who are nobodies, we who are nobodies, but who have trusted Christ as our Savior, he says, Paul says, having made known unto us, us, now that was the Christian us, that's the Christian us, having made known unto us the mystery of his will. I'll leave this word mystery because I'm going to talk about that on Thursday night of the Lord's will, the mystery, what the mystery means. How wonderful, isn't it, that the grace of God which has brought us the forgiveness of sins, the grace of God that has brought us redemption through the blood of Christ, that that grace has abounded towards us. And he's made known to us, made known to Christians the mystery of his will. You know the Lord Jesus said in one place that God has hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and made them known unto babes. And he said, even so, Father, for it is good in thy sight. Yes, God has taken up you and me. None entities may be as far as this world is concerned. No bodies, babes. Isn't it wonderful that God has, you might even say, bent down and he whispered in your ear, whispered in your ear. He wanted to tell you the secret of his own heart, the secret of his own heart, the mystery of his will. What is that? Listen to it. That in the administration of the fullness of times he shall head up all things in Christ. This is what I said before. We've got the scripture before us now. Head up all things in Christ. Listen. Both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. You know, my dear friend, my dear friend, when we, I look at a verse like this, you know, I have the certainty of it, the certainty of it. God is telling me this. God is using his servant to pen these words, inspiration, God breathed, verbal inspiration, here it is. God is going to head up everything in Christ. People say to us, don't they? They say, dear, dear, whatever is going to happen next? Somehow they can't get their problems solved, can they? There is still that uneasy tension in the world, isn't there? Even, well, we sometimes say that Russia has put on a different face. And yet in spite of all that, there is an uneasy tension in the world, isn't there? There is no real peace, you know, not basically, there is suspicion and turmoil and overturning going on in the world. Sin, sin, oh yes, that's the trouble, you know, sin, sin. In fact, I'll tell you something, the Bible gives me to learn, to understand that things are going to get worse. You say, oh, that's a very bright prospect you're giving us. Oh well, I've got to be honest, haven't I? That's what the Bible says, things will wax worse and worse. It says that, it says that. You can't tell me that you look around you and you don't agree with what I'm saying. Morally, politically, religiously, things are getting worse. But you know, friend, there's a day coming. Beyond this, when the Lord comes to take his church to glory, and he comes back to reign, and God has decreed that he should be head over all things, things in heaven and things on earth, all under his sway and his lordship. Do you really think, my dear friend, tonight, do you honestly think, before God I mean, soberly, soberly, do you really think that God is going to allow things to go on the way they are forevermore? He's not. You know, this passage has got to do with the purpose of God. It's the purpose of him, the purpose of him, that counsels all things or the counsel of him who purposes all things according to his will. It's all of God. Nothing can change or alter the purpose of God. I'm thankful for that. What an anchor that is in a day like this, isn't it? What an anchor. The unchanging purpose of God. Yes, he's going to put Christ at the head of all things. That's the future, you see, a future administration. That's the seventh on our chart, as I mentioned a few moments ago. A future administration, stewardship, ordering of things here in this world, the ordering of a house. God will order this world the way he wants it with Christ at the head of all things, Christ upon the throne. Well, I'm going to tell you one night this week, if the Lord spares us, that when Christ is upon the throne, he's going to have his church to share with him, to share with him in that coming day of glory. Now, in Colossians, we read about a dispensation in Colossians, which I, why I turned to it was this, just very simply, the reason why I turned to it was this. I'll read it again, shall I, in Colossians 1. Yes, whereof I am made a minister, Paul is writing here, and I want you to notice something, according to the administration, stewardship of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, listen to it now, even the mystery which have been hid from ages and generations, notice, hid from ages and generations, that's the past period of time, the past periods of time on our chart, until the day when the spirit of God came down, on the day of Pentecost, they were hidden from ages and from generations, past ages, past generations, but it's now, he says, N or W, now, that's the present day, the present day, the present administration, the day, as I said a moment or two ago, when Christ God is calling out of this world, a people for Christ, a people for his name, the church. So, we have at least, in the scriptures, a future administration, a past administration, which is suggested, hid from ages and from generations, and a present dispensation, a present administration, where God is calling out of this world, the church, and thus completing the word of God. So, you see, we have very definite, clear, distinct characteristics given us in the Bible, with regard to these different periods of time. Now, my time has gone, but maybe I could borrow a few minutes, if I may. I would like to say what I have to say tonight, and I turned you tonight as well to the epistle to the Hebrews. Now, I can't say a lot about it, but I want to say a little bit about these first two or three verses of Hebrews 1, if I may. The reason why I read the verses is that, once again, there is a reference made to the past ages, the past ages. God, who at sunry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past, spake in time past, unto the fathers, by the prophets, hath in these last days, spoken to us in his Son. Now, shall we try and simplify that? Just make it a little bit easier to understand. In the Old Testament days, and days before, the Lord Jesus Christ came to this world, and became incarnate. God was made flesh. God manifest in the flesh. The Word became flesh. God had made himself known in different ways, but partially, partially, fragmentary. I would use that word fragmentary. Temporary. But now says the Apostle, now in these last days. Now, when he refers to the last days here, he is referring to the closing up of all the Old Testament Scriptures. The Old Testament days, the dispensations, the past ages. In these last days, God has spoken in the Son. Who do you think the Lord Jesus Christ is? Oh, he is the Son. He is the Son. God has spoken in the Son. And when God speaks, and when God did speak in his Son, it was a full, final, and complete revelation of God. Looking through these ages on this chart, these periods of time, you would find if you read your Bibles well, and carefully, you'll find there's always been a kind of a progressive revelation being made. And so says the Apostle, after all that in these last days, God has spoken to us in his Son. Wonderful thought. God has been made known today. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. And so, in the Old Testament, you might remember when God made some promises to Abraham. Oh yes, he made some promises about the seed and the land. He made some promises. And he made himself known to Abraham as the Almighty God. The Almighty God. Why did he say that? Why was it the Almighty God? Because it was God who was able, fully able, to accomplish every promise that he had made. The Almighty God. Powerful God. The God that can bring life out of death. Why? Old Abraham was an old man. How could he have a seed when he was an old man? And Sarah was an old woman. Far beyond the time of life to have a child. The fact that Sarah had a child, spoke about God as the God that can bring life out of death. Brought to life the deadness of Sarah's womb. And a seed was born. God was great enough to accomplish that. The Almighty God. Life out of death. Powerful, isn't it? Later on, In talking to Moses a little bit later on in the book of Exodus, He said to Moses, Well, I made myself known to Abraham as the Almighty God. But I'm going to make myself known to you Moses in a different way. And he made himself known to Moses as Jehovah. Jehovah. And God made a covenant with Moses. Unconditional again covenant. Jehovah stands related to that covenant because it means this, look, that God is entirely faithful. Entirely faithful to keep his word. You know my dear brother and sister, don't you thank God that even in small matters, God is able to accomplish his purpose and his promises. He's faithful. I Jehovah change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Jehovah the eternal. The eternal. Unchanging. Yesterday, today and forever. Unchanging God. Jehovah. But you know when the Lord Jesus Christ came here, Listen. Oh listen to it. He said to his disciples just before he left this world. This is what he said. He says, I have manifested thy name. Unto the men whom thou hast given me out of this world. He goes on to say, I have declared unto them thy name. And will declare it. But the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them. And I in them. Do you know what that name was? That name is the Father. The Father. Oh my friend, that's not power only is it? That's not faithfulness only. Those two things must abide of course. But when I think about this final speaking of God in the Son. He's made known God in his affection. In his love. In his compassions. The Father's name. Now the Father's name thou tellest. Joy is in thy heart. We sometimes sing. Oh how wonderful. This is the top stone of revelation. That the Father has been made known. This is Christianity. Don't you think I'm talking revelries and things that are just fanciful. My dear brother and sister. We're talking about genuine Christianity. Genuine Christianity. God has been made known as the Father. Oh my dear friend. I think this is wonderful. Wonderful beyond compare. Only the Son who dwelt in the bosom of the Father. Could ever have told out all the secrets of the love of God. And the Father's love. Spoken to us in the Son. Well now progressive revelation. Now I'm going to close now. The scripture and the official of the Romans I read. I'm just going to talk, just going to read to you again. The doxology at the end of Romans 11. Romans 11. Just the doxology. For who hath first given to him. And it shall be recompensed unto him again. Listen to it. For of him. And through him. And to him. For all things. To whom be glory. Forever. Amen. All I want to say is this. As I think about these various periods of time. As I think of these various administrations. That we've been talking about. You know. They're not man centered. They are not man centered. They're God centered. Man might have a place in it all. Thank God he has. God has took down and picked you and me up from the dunghill. And set us among princes. Brought us near from distance into the nearness. From darkness to light. Bondage to freedom. Thank God for that. But God's plan. And God's purpose. And God's counsel. Is not man centered. It's God centered. What God is working for. Is his own pleasure. And his own delight. The fulfillment of his own counsels. And here we have a verse. Which seems to tell me of the end. That God has in view. Of him. Through him. To him. Be all things. To whom be glory. Amen. Wonderful word isn't it? God is working for his own glory. He even made things. Fourth chapter of Revelation. He made all things for his own pleasure. He made them. And if God has took down my dear friend. And saved you. A lost and guilty sinner. He did it for his own pleasure. And for his own glory. Did you know? He did. He made your son. For his own pleasure. And for his own glory. …

… Will you turn with me tonight please to first of all to the Old Testament tonight, the book of Daniel and I want to read a little from chapter 9 and then I'm going to go to the New Testament but first of all we shall read from Daniel chapter 9 beginning to read from verse 20. And whilst I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, yea, whilst I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation and he informed me and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth and I am come to show thee for thou art greatly beloved, therefore understand the matter and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks. The street shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times. And after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off but not for himself and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a flood. And unto the end of the war desolations are determined and he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease and for the over spreading of abominations he shall make it desolate even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Now in the new testament please Matthew chapter 16 very well known passage beginning to read from verse 13 when Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples saying whom do men say that I the son of man am? And they said some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, others Jeremias or one of the prophets. He saith unto them but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said thou art the Christ the son of the living God and Jesus answered and said unto him blessed art thou Simon Barjona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my father which is in heaven and I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now will you turn just to a verse in Acts chapter 2 please just the first two or three verses will do I think. Verse 1 and when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like those of fire and it sat upon each one of them. And lastly Ephesians chapter 5, Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 25 husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish. That will do for us tonight. The subject that we are to look at tonight on the card the little advert card that was given out is prophecy interrupted, prophecy interrupted. Now then this evening you ought to have two sheets, you ought to have two sheets. First of all will you have a look please at the one that you got given you last night and I want to make a little comment on that first. We have read a little this evening from the book of the prophet Daniel, very very interesting book is the book of Daniel. If we as believers are at all interested in the prophetic word then Daniel is essential to know something about that book. Now where we began to read tonight in Daniel chapter 9 we will find ourselves in the section of the chart to do with periods of time towards the right side where I have written Israel under Gentile oppression, Israel under Gentile oppression underneath that a quotation from the book of Hosea, lo am I not my people and below that again the times of the Gentiles. Now that's where we are dealing with tonight where we have read from the book of the prophet Daniel. Daniel was one of the captives, Daniel was one of those who had been taken from Judah to Babylon as a captive and there he was he had a fairly good position it would seem a responsible position yet there he was a captive under Gentile oppression. The times of the Gentiles had begun. The times of the Gentiles dated from the point where Judah was taken away captive to Babylon that's the beginning of the times of the Gentiles and as far as we are here well tonight yes it's still the times of the Gentiles and the times of the Gentiles will go on until the kingdom until the world to come the millennium of which we were talking a little last night the times of the Gentiles. God took rule from his people Israel and placed it in Gentile hands Israel his own people and particular Judah had been so steeped in idolatry the things that they were called to be a witness against they went in hook line and sinker as we would say in our day they turned to an idolatry even worse than the nations which surrounded them and God having tolerated in patience their idolatrous ways eventually had no other course of action before him but to take them into captivity to Babylon and that's where we are as I say in Daniel chapter 9 God had pronounced lo am I not my people the book of Ezekiel very very interesting book tells us about the day when the glory left the temple it went away by stages it went away reluctantly Ezekiel tells us all about that in his prophecy and so God's people Israel were in captivity and Daniel was one of the captives now that's just the setting of our passage in Daniel chapter 9 now I said a little earlier that if we are concerned tonight about prophecy and I hope we have got some concern about prophecy I say this with a certain reserve you know I prophecy is very good but I think we've got to put limitations on it and not just be overrun with prophecy we can be so much taken up with it that we forget what belongs to us today you may have prophetic students who know all the answers with regard to what is going to happen after the church has gone to glory they know all the pros and cons and the A to Z about prophecy they tell you all about the Great Tribulation and all that and ask them a question about the church the mystery and you possibly find they can't tell you very much well prophecy is good but let's be sure we know about our dispensation our particular period when God is calling out of this world a company the church the body the house of God that which is for the pleasure and for the joy of the one who laid down his life that he might have it so talking about prophecy I always put that little note of reserve in let's keep everything in balance let's keep first things first another thing I'd like to say tonight about this subject of prophecy you know it can be a very cold analytical subject if you're not careful can be very cold and icy I think sometimes but you know there's a most striking verse in the book of Revelation which often comes before me as I think of the prophetic word it's this verse you'll find it in your leisure you'll find it in chapter 19 of the book of Revelation and the writer says this the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy you can turn it round if you like the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus when the writer says the spirit of prophecy he's not talking about the Holy Spirit it's not a capital S it's a small s the spirit of prophecy and what he means is the life of it the life blood of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus if I don't get that I miss the mark and prophecy may well become analytical and cold and icy in reading it let's put Christ in the center let's put Christ there as the true spirit and life of it and then it becomes living it becomes powerful that becomes real it becomes formative in the heart and life so I think it's a good thing just to mention these little points with regard to the prophetic word before we touch a little bit upon it tonight in the ninth chapter of the book of Daniel not that I'm going to say very much about the ninth chapter of Daniel I will give you a little outline of the passage but my subject is not really completely Daniel 9 it's prophecy interrupted we could have taken many a scripture up from the Old Testament many a prophetic scripture up from the Old Testament and looked at it in the light of an interruption an interruption in the prophetic word but the reason why I've taken up Daniel 9 is because well I once read a comment by someone who was writing about prophecy and he said that Daniel 9 was the backbone of prophecy now I agree with that I agree wholeheartedly with that Daniel 9 is the backbone of prophecy if I want to know something about the prophetic word and I suggest you read and pray about these verses at the end of the ninth chapter of Daniel because they are indeed the backbone of prophecy good thing you know to have an interest in the Word of God isn't it good thing to have an interest in the scriptures of truth there's nothing like it no book like it we were saying last night there's no book like the Bible and well here we are and Daniel was a reader of the scriptures you know Daniel was a reader of the scriptures at the commencement of chapter 9 we are told that Daniel had learned something he learned it from the writings of the prophet from the prophet Jeremiah it says he understood by the books and it says that they were the books of Jeremiah good thing isn't it he understood by the books good thing isn't it if we Christians understand by the books far better be guided by the Bible than the world's books isn't it far better to be guided by the scriptures than the flimsy ideas of men he understood by the books and Jeremiah had written that the captivity in Babylon would last 70 years 70 years and when we come to chapter 9 of Daniel I would say Daniel was getting on to be an old man he was getting on to be an aged man and he read what Jeremiah had said 70 years a exile in Babylon and this made Jeremiah this made Daniel pray it made him confess his sins and the sins of the nation he confessed that the plight they were in in captivity was because of their own folly and their own sin and their own idolatry and because he read this prophecy of Jeremiah he began to pray and he cried to God that his face might shine again upon Jerusalem God's city yes he did two things you know did Daniel two good things he read the scriptures he understood by books and he prayed if I have anything to say to young believers tonight have I got something to say to the young in our midst tonight it's this read the scriptures and pray Daniel did Daniel did you know what God said about Daniel he says Oh Daniel greatly beloved greatly beloved wonderful thing to be a reader of the word and to be a man of prayer Daniel was well now he got an answer to his prayer Gabriel came along with an answer but he got for far more light than what he asked for he got far more understanding than what he asked for he was only concerned about the 70 years captivity in Babylon but God gave to him light which covered the whole area of Israel's history from then when Daniel lived right on to the day when God brings in that Millennium the world to come it's a wonderful prophecy wonderful prophecy some of it has been fulfilled some remains to be fulfilled we have what we sometimes say fulfilled prophecy and unfulfilled prophecy and he tells Daniel this this prophecy Gabriel he bring he gives him light as to the whole history of Israel from start to finish very remarkable prophecy it is now first of all then shall we just say a little bit the Lord helping us about these 70 weeks 70 weeks now I'm not going to give you any long proofs tonight of this except to say that these weeks are not weeks of days they are weeks of years you could read the passage quite rightly 77 are determined upon thy people and upon thy city they are weeks of years not weeks of days now this was something which was embedded in the Jewish timekeeping you'll find it in various places in the books of Moses where there is a question of weeks of years so we have 70 weeks here covering the whole area of Jewish prophecy their history from the captivity till the day when God brings them back into their land under the rule of the Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ 77 77 which of course if you look at the bottom of your diagram makes 490 years 490 years and when that 490 years is completed God is going to do a wonderful thing for that nation a wonderful thing for them let's have a look at the word in Daniel 9 shall we that what it says about the end of this 70 years he says very very simply 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city listen to these words will you to finish the transgression to make an end of sins to make reconciliation for iniquity to bring in everlasting righteousness to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy six statements there are they not six statements will have their fulfillment when that day dawns when Israel shall look upon him whom they pierced when they shall mourn for him as a man mourneth for his only son and in his bitterness in his in bitterness just think of these middle words reconciliation for iniquity they're going to keep the day of atonement in reality they're going to say yes he was despised and rejected they're going to say we saw no lordliness in him that we should desire him all we like sheep have gone astray we've turned everyone to his own way they'll say he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquity you read the 53rd of Isaiah Zechariah chapter 12 there you have the words that that nation will say as a future day when God brings a remnant back to take them into the kingdom into the promised land before they go into the kingdom and the promised land they shall repent of their crucifixion of the Messiah reconciliation from iniquity transgression and sins will certainly characterize that nation at that day and then God will bring in everlasting righteousness we were talking about that last night weren't we about righteousness we were saying that this world knows very little about righteousness the present moment the world is full of man's glory man's doings in that day it would be full of God's glory full of God's glory the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea God will bring in everlasting righteousness this world needs a bit of righteousness doesn't it I think you'd agree this world needs a bit of righteousness tonight some people ask the question you know why is it so difficult to find peace why is it so difficult to get peace amongst the nations why is there so much suspicion and mistrust between the East and the West and so on for the simple reason my dear friend is there's no righteousness unrighteousness is in the ascendancy righteousness suffers righteousness suffers today but in that day righteousness will be upon the throne righteousness will rule righteousness will hold sway and so God says he's gonna bring in everlasting righteousness wonderful moment when this world is dominated by a righteous ruler king shall reign in righteousness the scripture says the king of course is the Son of God the Lord Jesus Christ then it says in the same passage to seal up the vision and prophecy well prophecy has reached its end it's sealed it's complete remember what we said last night the great focal point of God's dealings with this world is the kingdom the world to come the millennium when Christ will take up the reins of government to seal up the vision and prophecy prophecy has reached its climax then and then it says to anoint the most holy undoubtedly of course a reference to the day when the temple will be reconstituted as it is in Ezekiel the latter part of the book of Ezekiel the temple the glory comes back and takes a dwelling place there again and then there Israel is in the place which God promised for her I in Abraham's day blessing I will bless thee multiplying I will multiply thee multiply thy seed the dust of the earth sand of the seashore heavenly two stars in multitude yes God is going to accomplish everything he said we were talking last night again about unconditional promises unconditional promises are promises that don't rest upon me for their fulfillment they rest upon God for their fulfillment conditional promises rest upon me and of course they always fail unconditional promises rest upon God and they always triumph always triumph and God will accomplish all his promises blessed be his name and here in this passage six wonderful things are said which from the Israel's portion in the day which is yet to come the kingdom the millennium the world to come of which we speak but that day hasn't yet come hasn't yet come and you will notice in this passage rather any interesting kind of word where he says shall we look at verse 25 I think we better read it because and get it right no therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem on unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven years seven weeks and three score and two weeks well if you look in your diagram again we've got seven years seven weeks I mean 49 years we've got 62 weeks which gives us four hundred and four hundred and thirty four years add them together gives us 483 years you know my dear friend I'll tell you something the Bible either stands or falls with regard to this prophecy 483 years from the day when the edict went forward to build the city note my words not the edict to build the temple and set up the altar on its basis that was Ezra's prophecy this prophecy begins from Nehemiah to the edict to build Jerusalem the city the city not the temple the city 483 years from when that edict went forward was going to finish when Messiah the Prince appeared and who do you think Messiah the Prince is who do you think Messiah the Prince is well of course it's a beautiful reference isn't it to the Son of God the Lord Jesus Christ a lovely reference to him and then it says also after these years three score and two years weeks and the seven Messiah shall be cut off cut off the passage actually says cut off and have nothing and have nothing you know my dear friend if this prophecy isn't true the Bible isn't true if this has been fulfilled then the Bible is true to what it says it's inspired of God in every possible feature you know it's a wonderful thing but when the Lord Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem upon a cult and they put palm trees down remember and they said Hosanna to the King of David it was the beginning of what Christians call the passion week few days after scarcely a week he was crucified crucified from the edict going forth for the building of the city in Nehemiah chapter 2 to the day that he rode in to the city on the asses cult was 483 years oh I'm not a mathematician I don't pretend to be neither am I an expert at chronology I've had to take my information from those who are much cleverer than I am I've had to get my information from men who are far far more intelligent than I am I could never have calculated anything like that but these years are lunar years 360 days in a lunar year 30 days to a month and you will find if you consult men who were clever enough to do so I quote from one very famous Christian man Sir Robert Anderson and he calculated I accept his calculation that from the edict of going forth to say that the city must begin to be built until Messiah the Prince was 483 years that's exact you know my dear friend the Bible is a striking book a striking book that has been fulfilled cut off cut off and has nothing what does that refer to you remember the hundred and second Psalm the Lord Jesus at the end of his pathway the end of his life may be in the garden I don't know in prophetic words he says take me not away in the midst of my days 53rd of Isaiah cut off out of the land of the living and here it says Messiah cut off and has nothing here we have a prophecy that doesn't only tell us how Christ would come into this world doesn't only tell us where he was born but tells us the time when he would be crucified that's why I say if this prophecy is not true the Bible falls down if the prophecy is right and it is right this Bible is all it says it is it all that says it is every scripture all scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable for everything that we need as we said last night fulfilled prophecy Messiah the Prince cut off cut off crucified have nothing it appeared didn't he he had nothing I labored for naught spent my strength in vain he says Isaiah chapter 50 it looked as though everything had gone wrong cut off and has nothing that's not the end of the story of course is it what happened of course was that in AD 70 Jerusalem was ransacked it was torn apart it was set on fire thousands upon thousands of Jews were crucified in Jerusalem terrible days they were and here it is here in this prophecy long before it took place it says and the people of the Prince that shall come joy the city and the sanctuary happened exactly as it was said remember they came to the Lord they said Lord look at the beautiful stones of the temple look at the ornate building that Herod built for us took him so many years to build it and the Lord Jesus says not one stone should be left upon another and it happened it happened this chapter is fulfilled perfectly and completely until we get to the end of verse 26 that's really end of verse 26 and the end therefore thereof shall be with a flood unto the end of the war desolations are determined for centuries after centuries century Jerusalem lay waste the people scattered across every part of the world Jews in every part of the world scattered and peeled in every nation of course we've got to remember that we live in remarkable days you know very remarkable days many of us some of us here tonight can remember the day when Jerusalem when Israel was given nationhood again not so long since is it not so long since remarkable fact isn't it and many many of that nation have gone back there they are today just as Zechariah said there would be a burdensome stone just exactly what he said they would be a burdensome stone and every nation that troubled themselves would fall over them a burdensome stone they are they not they've gone back of course in unbelief they've gone back not accepting their Messiah they've gone back with no faith really in Christ they've gone back in unbelief there may be a nation there today but I can tell you after the church is gone again the book of Revelation tells me that again Jerusalem will be trodden down of the Gentiles says so and so this prophecy has been fulfilled certainly as we can see it in the ninth chapter of Daniel the prince that the people of the prince that shall come let's try and verify those words shall we just to be careful about it the people of the prince that shall come the prince that shall come hasn't come yet it was the people that desecrated Jerusalem under the leadership of Titus and the Roman hordes in AD 70 the prince that shall come hasn't come yet now then what about our title tonight prophecy interrupted now then verse 26 and verse 27 between those two verses is an interruption an interruption it's an interruption that has lasted nearly 2,000 years nearly 2,000 years shall we look at verse 27 just carefully then 27 it says and he shall confirm a covenant now who is the he let's have our prophetic students who is this hey well of course it's a reference again to the prince that shall come and who was the prince that shall come the prince that shall come is the man whom we read in the beginning of Revelation chapter 13 the beast the head of a revived Roman Empire don't forget the people of the prince that shall come destroyed Jerusalem it was the Romans that destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70 the people of the prince that shall come hey hey it is in verse 27 and he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week we've only dealt with 69 haven't we 483 years we've only dealt with 69 weeks one week remains to be fulfilled and that week will be fulfilled that seven years shall be fulfilled when the church after the church has been taken to glory at the rapture we believe in the rapture I believe in the rapture I believe in a pre-millennial rapture rapture before the Millennium comes into being oh yes God is going to claim his church he's going to claim the assembly for which he gave his life he's going to deliver it from the wrath to come it says in the epistle to the Thessalonians but when the church has gone to heaven this one remaining week shall be enacted of seven years in those remaining seven years this prince that shall come the head of a revived Roman Empire shall make a covenant not the covenant it's a covenant shall make a covenant with the many that's the Jews who've gone back to Palestine in unbelief the Antichrist will be there the false prophet the Jewish anti-messiah he'll make a covenant with the head of the Western powers the head of the Roman Empire and this covenant will hold it will hold for three and a half years half of the remaining week in the midst of the week it says here in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease he will put an end to Jewish sacrifices he put an end to the Jewish ceremonial rites and he'll constitute idolatry and the nation that was once subject to idolatrous ways in the Old Testament days will return to it again the house is swept and garnished the Lord said it is a vacuum swept and garnished nothing put in its place but they shall return to idolatry sevenfold in that day the abominations will be idolatry they'll return to idolatry and God will bring that nation down in terrible and fearful judgments that the scriptures speak of as the Great Tribulation the church shall have no place in the Great Tribulation mainly to do with Jacob's trouble never had anything been seen like it before it seems to me that the awful Holocaust of Nazism and Germany will be nothing nothing like what will take place in those last three and a half years of this seven this last week the terrible atrocities of Germany will be nothing nothing put alongside those terrible days of the Great Tribulation the Bible says there's never been anything like it before nor will there ever be anything like it again the Great Tribulation Jacob's trouble yes it says that if God didn't come in in his mercy there'll be nobody left there'd be nobody left book of Revelation tells me that the repercussions of that last half week will spread worldwide other nations shall feel the repercussions of that terrible day Gentile nations shall feel it in their measure although the center and the crux will be Jerusalem well now God will out of this of course bring a remnant and so Paul says in the 11th chapter of him of Romans and so all Israel shall be saved oh yes he'll be find them in the fire just like those friends of Daniel those three men were put into the fiery furnace in chapter three of this book Nebuchadnezzar saw one with them like unto the Son of God he brought them through they came out unscathed and God will bring a remnant of Israel through in that day and they shall go into the kingdom to enjoy the joys and the pleasures of that wonderful millennium day well now that's the outline of Daniel chapter 9 taking me longer than I thought but I I don't apologize for that I only pray that you might look at it yourselves please look at it yourselves and see whether you can follow it on your handout I've given you may give you some light as to the meaning of these words now then I'm not quite finished because I have to talk about this interruption can I talk about this interruption for a moment what happened in this interruption I'm talking about them between verse 26 and 27 on your handout I've given you tonight you'll see here parenthesis parenthesis church called out that's what happened that's what's happened between verse 26 and 27 remember the well-known words in the ninth chapter of Isaiah unto us a son is given unto us a child is born by the way around isn't it unto us a child is born unto us a son is given incarnation the government shall be upon his shoulders the increase of his government there shall be no end there's a tremendous jump from incarnation right on to the coming Millennium Day an interruption an interruption the stone which the builders rejected the cross the same shall be the head of the corner this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in your eyes a parenthesis tremendous parenthesis and when the Lord Jesus opened his Bible in the synagogue at Nazareth to the book of Isaiah is it chapter 60 and he read those words the Spirit of the Lord is upon me anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor and he goes on to say and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord it says he closed the book why did he close the book the next statement said and the day of the vengeance of our God tremendous parenthesis again from one point to the other many many scriptures in the Old Testament New Testament as well take into consideration this parenthesis what happened in this parenthesis our diagram tells us the church was called out in that parenthesis now that's why I turned you tonight to Matthew chapter 16 well-known words at least I hope they're well known when I was a young believer we often used to get Matthew 16 in the meetings the Lord Jesus was in the vicinity of Caesarea I better get the place in Matthew 16 again otherwise we'll get it wrong Caesarea Philippi that's it Caesarea Philippi the reason why I just emphasize that and underline it it's right at a north northern part of Palestine if you get home have a look at the maps in the back of your Bible and you will find that Caesarea Philippi is in the north of Palestine it's almost in Gentile territory almost in Gentile territory but not quite not quite it's a very striking thing you know that it was there that the Lord Jesus made this announcement about the church I think that's very striking because he was almost in Gentile territory and we can almost see the thought can we not that God had in view that in the church that Christ was going to build there would be Jew and Gentile Jew and Gentile brought together in one in one oh yes very significant I think the place geographically where the Lord gave this announcement of the church even more striking is this that there should be any mention of the church at all in Matthew's gospel the gospel which is so clearly and distinctly Jewish in its aspect Jewish in its teaching where is he that is called king of the Jews the wise men asked son of David son of Abraham it begins like that doesn't it and yet in that gospel we get an intimation of what we know tonight as the church the assembly the Ecclesia we were talking about last night why should it be in Matthew's gospel I tell you why in Matthew's gospel the Messiah presented himself to Israel for their acceptance and they rejected him they rejected him and because they rejected him we read three or four times that the Lord Jesus departed he departed very significant all this isn't it remember there was a point in Matthew's gospel when the Lord Jesus came to the point of where he was being rejected I thank the old father he said Lord of heaven and earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes he said this in the light of his being rejected it had become clear and direct he was rejected and from that point onward there was a move away he departed he stood by the seashore in chapter 13 he left the house and sat by the seashore all very significant of a leaving Judaism a leaving for the moment the nation he'd come to save and so we come to chapter 16 and in chapter 16 at Caesarea Philippi he said whom do men say that I the son of man and all the Apostles the disciples said oh some says this and some says the other some say up John the Baptist come back again some say Jeremiah's and had all kinds of ideas as to who he was no convictions of course no convictions careless maybe in their thinking and then he turned to the disciples the company of the disciples and he says whom do ye say whom do ye say that I the son of man and Peter who was so often the spokesman of the little band of Apostles he piped up the name he had something to say wonderful words he says thou art the Christ the son of the Living God wonderful words weren't there from Peter with all his failings with all his shortcomings oh I love these words of Peter thou art the Christ a son of the Living God the very fact of him being the son of the Living God suggests God in his power over death over every element of the power of Satan blessed art thou Simon Barjona flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my father which is in heaven the father had made it known to him he didn't learn it in the schools of men he didn't learn it in the colleges or the places of learning the father taught to him the father in heaven taught him this that's what it says flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my father which is in heaven this tells me something else tonight very simple very simple that the church belongs to heaven the church its foundation its origins are heavenly its destiny is heavenly when that kingdom comes that we've been talking about tonight the Millennium the church will occupy not a place upon earth but a place in heaven the city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven for coming down from God out of heaven the church is not earthly it belongs to heaven you see again the word Ecclesia we were talking about last night a calling out of a calling out of the world church belongs to Christ where he is he's the head and the church is his body one with him and so he says to Peter blessed art thou Simon Barjona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my father which is in heaven and listen I say unto thee I say unto thee thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my assembly my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it oh how wonderful those words are are they not now what Peter you know I don't think Peter was the rock do you I don't think that Peter was the rock there are those of course who would tell us that they think that Peter was the rock but you know Peter means a stone oh yes Peter just simply means a stone the word Petros a stone upon this Petra large massive massive stone that's how the passage reads thou art a small a stone a stone upon this rock this massive rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it he said I will build it I will build it he hadn't began to build it it was an announcement I will build it will build it every one of us tonight who are believers again I say we said this last night every one of us can fit in where Peter fits in can't we living stones second chapter of first Peter living stones we were saying last night that the church is not a brick building the church isn't the brick building with a steeple and the church bells that's not the church is it the church is a spiritual house made up of living stones Peter thou art Peter that means a stone a stone and we all come in as stones but the foundation of it is Christ the Son of the Living God is the rock he is the foundation and the gates of hell the authority of darkness and the authority of death shall not prevail against it that's what God is doing in that parenthesis the only reason I read from Acts 2 was because of this announcement in Matthew 16 the birthday in Acts chapter 2 the birthday of the church when the Spirit of God came down and indwelt the disciples there they were at Jerusalem it sat upon each one of them it filled the house where they were sitting yes the church was formed on the day of Pentecost the church was formed on the day of Pentecost here we live in 1987 how much longer have we got to go do you think before the church is complete I don't know I don't know the Bible doesn't tell me when it's going to go when it's going to be complete but I know it will be complete that's why I read Ephesians 5 Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it sanctifying it cleansing it by the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a church all glorious not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing oh my dear Christian friend I take courage I take courage reading passages like this you know we look around don't we sometimes and we say dear dear dear what a complex condition we are surrounded with today aren't we thousands of splits and splinters and all kinds of isms and one thing and another I don't know I don't suppose we could even attempt to count them church has failed you know failed everything that's been put in the man's hand has failed I tell you one thing God looks at it from his standpoint and the Lord Jesus said and the gates of hell the authority of hell of death shall not prevail against it the day is coming when he shall present it to himself a glorious church before that day of presentation on your little chart tonight you'll see just at the end of the parenthesis I've got on there the rapture of the saints a rapture of the saints when the church is complete the Lord Jesus Christ will take it to heaven to be with himself forevermore never to have part in the day of wrath of judgment of tribulation with him and like him forever well now that's all I've got to say I just wanted to say a little bit about this prophetic scripture in the ninth chapter of Daniel I do trust you'll look at the chart and I've given you tonight and see if you can fit it in to the end of the ninth chapter of Daniel and understand what takes place in the parenthesis the parenthesis now then if the Lord will I trust to be here again tomorrow night and if you have one of these cards that have been handed out you will see that the subject tomorrow night is headed is given as the mystery now I hope tomorrow night with the Lord's help and guidance to say a little about what the mystery is what the mystery is it's something that Christian should know what it is oh yes so I hope with the Lord's help that the Lord will to say a little word about the mystery …

… Now, will you turn with me tonight, please, first of all to the Book of Acts, chapter 26, and I want to read from verse 13. At midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee. Romans 16, beginning to read from verse 25. Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith. To God, only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Ephesians chapter 3, beginning to read from verse 1. For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if we have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery. As I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. Whereof I am made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hidden God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. To the intent that now, unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. And lastly, in Colossians chapter 1, beginning to read from verse 24, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church. Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you to fulfil or complete the word of God. Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you. The hope of glory. That's all I think we'll read tonight. Well now, quite pleasing to see one or two younger faces here tonight. This is always an encouragement to see one or two younger ones here tonight. This is our third meeting and when we originally planned these addresses on these evenings in Carlisle, it was the original plan to have five addresses. Lord's Day evening is an extra one. Five. And when we were thinking over the subjects for these meetings and praying about the right and the best way to put them, I immediately said to myself, Well now, we must make the mystery tonight's subject, we must put that in the middle. We thought it was right and proper to put that one as the central theme of our meetings. So, we've had a meeting this week to try and find out what this word dispensation means. And last night we were looking at some prophecies from the Old Testament and we were observing that in many of these prophecies there is an interruption, an interruption, a parenthesis. And, well, we were seeing that in that parenthesis, which has lasted now for nearly 2,000 years, that God has been calling out a people for his name. He has been calling out the church of God, the body of Christ, to be the bride of Christ, his companion for all eternity. Now, in this parenthesis, this interruption in prophecy, that's what God is being doing. That's what he is doing tonight. I'm going to say to you tonight, look, and I address young and old alike, all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ here tonight, all trust in Christ as our Saviour, if we have done that, then we form an integral, vital part of that church, the body of Christ that God is concerned with today. I feel very often, I don't know about you, but I feel very often the greatness of a subject like this. We're not talking about things that even belong to time, or I suppose in one sense they do, but they had their source long before this world began. They were there in the heart of God long before this world as we know it was brought into being. And here you are tonight, young though you might be, old though you might be, having been brought to Christ to trust him as your Saviour and your Lord. You've got a vital and an integral part in that which God purposed in himself before the foundations of the world. You know, I tell you, my dear Christian friend, thoughts like that stagger, stagger the heart to think that here I am and nobody so far as the world is concerned yet a vital part in that company who are going to assist the Lord Jesus Christ in the day. He regulates and rules the universe. You might say, well that's, is that right? Oh yes, the scripture says so. I do trust that before we finish tonight we'll see that. Well now, we're going to talk tonight about this central theme then, the mystery, the mystery. First thing we might ask ourselves the question, whatever does this word mean? We find it many, many times in the New Testament, mostly by Paul. It's mostly Paul that uses this word mystery. You'll find it twice, I think, in the book of Revelation. But apart from that, it's always Paul the Apostle that talks about the mystery. He talks about it in different ways. For instance, in one place he says, in writing to Timothy, he says, great is the mystery of godliness. Great is the mystery of godliness. God manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, and so on. The mystery of godliness. Now, it may help, look, it might help tonight, if we say great is the secret of godliness. Now what he means is this. Great is the secret of godly living. Great is the secret of how to live a godly life. That's what he says when he uses the word mystery in the epistle to Timothy, chapter 3 and verse 15 or 16, is it? 16. Great is the mystery of godliness. Christians know the secret. Believers know the secret of godliness. There's nobody here tonight who's a believer but doesn't desire earnestly to live a godly life. If you have a new nature given by God, then you desire to live a godly life. And Paul tells us what the secret is of a godly life. Great is the mystery of godliness. And the secret, of course, is Christ. God manifest in the flesh. We know God as having been made known in the Son. In all his love, his mercy, his compassion, his complacent love resting upon us. And this becomes the secret that the believer treasures in his heart as the real power for godliness. That's one way in which the apostle talks about this word mystery. Well now, at least we can gather by this that a mystery is not something which is up in the air in the clouds. It's not something airy-fairy as we would speak. It's not something mysterious. But it's this. It's something that wasn't made known in the ages gone by. It wasn't made known in the Old Testament days. But is made known today. It is made known today. And those who know the secret are those who have the Holy Spirit and the capability of understanding it. So, a mystery is something which was once hidden. Unknown. Known to believers. Known to the initiated, we sometimes say. Put that simple, shall we? Known to believers who have the Spirit of God dwelling in their hearts. The mystery, something revealed that we know. Wonderful, isn't it? We were saying the other night, what a wonderful thing it is that God has been pleased to tell us about his secrets. Why should he tell you his secrets? Why should he tell you the secrets of his heart? Well, it's all because of his grace. All because of his grace and his love towards us. He would want us to know his secrets. Therefore, this word mystery, don't let us just dismiss it tonight as something which is difficult and hard to understand. Let's get to grips with it. Let's get to grips with it tonight. It's something that has been made known, that was once kept secret. Now, the great mystery that we're going to talk about tonight is the mystery of Christ and the Church. Now, I'll tell you first of all, in the fifth chapter of Ephesians, I didn't read the passage, but it's a well-known passage. This is what he says, what Paul says. Listen to what he says very carefully. This mystery is great, but I speak of Christ and the Church. Will you observe those words, please? He doesn't say, this mystery is great, I speak of Christ. He doesn't say that. He doesn't say, this mystery is great, but I speak of the Church. He doesn't say that. He says, this mystery is great, but I speak of Christ and the Church. That's the mystery. That's the mystery. And we're going to talk tonight, I trust, in some little way, of the wonderful union which God has formed between the members of his body here upon earth and the living head in heaven. I use the word union. God would desire unity amongst the members of the body down here. But as far as our relationship to Christ is concerned, it's union. We are united to him in the power of the Spirit into one body, the head in heaven. It is union. This is the mystery. The mystery is not Christ, nor is it the Church. It's Christ and the Church. Let's get that tonight. You'll see, I think, as we go along through our scriptures this evening, this will come to light, I trust, this matter of union between the body and the head. I think, you know, very often I feel that this truth, you know, has been greatly lost sight of by Christendom. Perhaps the greatness of the Church, the greatness of this divine concept, that there should be those on earth forming one body, a corporate company, a corporate body, united to Christ in heaven with an indissoluble union. This has been lost sight of. And I say, I do say tonight again to every one of us, do give some thought to this. Consider the greatness of those things to which you have been brought as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. It may be, well, I was once young, and I, perhaps I rejoiced. I rejoiced that I knew that my sins were all forgiven. I rejoiced, maybe, that I knew I was justified before God, and I was happy because my sins were gone. These are very wonderful things to know, but you know, God doesn't want us to stay there. God doesn't want us just to stay there in our hearts, but to go on and to make progress, to feed upon the Word of God, and become mature believers, full-grown believers. That's what God wants. You know, wherever I go these days, somehow I get round to this, I don't know why it is, but I'm impressed with the fact that God is looking for saints who are full-grown, full-grown. You know, of the Apostle, in writing to the Epistle to the Hebrews, he says, Let us go on to full growth. Let us go on to full growth. God never intended Christians to stay in the baby school all their lives. God intended believers to make spiritual growth and spiritual progress. Well, he says, let us go on to full growth. Let's be concerned about it. And I think if we were touching this truth tonight of the mystery, we're teaching, we're touching things which perhaps belong in their measure to full growth. Now then, well now, so much for introduction. Now I read to you tonight a little bit from the conversion of the Apostle Paul. I thought it was right to do this because Paul, or Saul of Tarsus as he was, was the servant, the steward, the vessel that was used of God to bring to light this mystery that we are talking about this evening. Nobody else really told us anything about the mystery apart from the Apostle Paul. And we read about his conversion. Wonderful conversion was that of Saul of Tarsus. And I think it would be right to say that on the night or the day he was converted, on the Damascus road, what he heard and what he saw characterized all that he wrote about afterwards. When I first heard that, you know, I was very interested. What he heard and what he saw on the day of his conversion characterized all the things he wrote in his epistles afterwards. Now we read a little bit tonight from chapter 26 of the Acts. It's the account he gave of his conversion to a Gentile audience before Agrippa. Twenty-two, of course, was a Jewish audience. Chapter nine was the actual event itself. Here in chapter 26, he tells his conversion to a Gentile, to Agrippa. And he tells of that day when he was struck down by the light on the road to Damascus, going along, breathing out slaughterings against the people of God. And you remember the story about how he was struck by the light above the brightness of the sun. And how he heard some words, and what were those words? The words were these, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? That's what he heard. And what did he see? He saw Christ in glory. He saw Christ in glory. We have no record of Saul ever having seen the Lord Jesus in his life down here. But one thing we are certain of, he saw him up there. Am I not apostle, he says, in remonstrating with the Corinthians? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus Christ, my Lord? Yes, he saw him. Last of all he was seen of me as one born out of due time. He saw Christ in glory. I want to suggest to you very, very simply, that what he saw that day characterized him in all he said and all he wrote. Christ in glory. That's where the apostle Paul begins. He begins up there with a glorified Christ, the head of the church, the heavenly man, telling us what we've been saying again and again this week, that the church of God is not earthly, it's heavenly. Paul saw Christ not down here, he saw him up there in heaven. Now then, what did he hear? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? How striking those words are, are they not? The apostle was seeking as hard as he could to stamp out the name of Christ, to exterminate the saints, get rid of them. But ah, listen, what he was doing, he was touching Christ. It was affecting Christ. Why persecutest thou me? The simple truth comes to light, doesn't it? Of that indissoluble link, that indissoluble union with the saints on earth and Christ in glory. I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. In touching the saints, they were touching him. In persecuting the saints, they were persecuting him. Because of this indissoluble tie between his saints down here and Christ up there. Now how important that is, isn't it? That's what he heard. So we've got a whole tonight, I trust, of what he saw. He saw Christ in glory, the heavenly Christ. He learned from the lips of the Lord about this union that we've been talking about. And I repeat again that these things characterized his writing. But there's one other thing I want to draw your attention to in the 26th chapter of Acts, if I may. I just want to refer you to verse 17 for a moment in that chapter. It's a very, very striking verse. Verse 17 of the 26th chapter of Acts. I'll read it. I think it's very important. Delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee. Now that's a very striking verse. There's more in that verse than meets the eye. Delivering thee from the people, that's the Jews, Paul's people, his countrymen, and from the Gentiles unto whom I now send thee. You might remember on Tuesday night, I gave you the word, the Greek word for church. The word Ecclesia. You should remember that word. You know it's important. The word Ecclesia. Well, it was interesting, in this verse, the Apostle uses that preposition. He uses that preposition, Ecc. This is how it goes. Delivering thee out from the people and out from the Gentiles unto whom I now send thee. How striking that is. The Apostle, in the epistle to the Ephesians, he goes on to talk about something he describes as one new man. One new man. Out from the people, out from the Gentiles, one new man. Here we have in these words of the Apostle, of the Lord, addressed to Paul at the time of his conversion, we have this in seed, shall we say. This one new man, neither Jew nor Gentile, one new entity before God. And this is what God is doing today. Out of the people, out of the Gentiles, to whom I now send thee. This only underlines, doesn't it, the truth of the heavenly character of the Church of God. Out of. Do remember that little preposition, won't you? We'll get it again tomorrow night, if the Lord leaves us here tomorrow, we'll get this little preposition again, Ecc. And, well, you'll find it lots of times in the New Testament, worth looking up, you know. Well, here we have it in the 26th chapter of Matthew. Well, I've just drawn your attention to this chapter because I wanted to let you see this matter of Paul's conversion and what took place at his conversion marked his ministry afterwards. Now then, apart from that, I have read to you the three passages in the New Testament which refer to the mystery. Romans 16, Ephesians 3, and Colossians 1. Now then, the mystery. Well, we've had it, haven't we? Christ and the Church. And, well, in each of these three passages that we have read, it is stated clear as anything can be that it was not made known in Old Testament days as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and his prophets in the power of the Spirit. Every one of these three passages emphasize hidden God, kept secret, hid, now revealed, now revealed. Look, let's just analyze for a moment the kind of talk and the kind of teaching that tells us that the Church is a continuation of Israel. Let's just look at it in the light of Scriptures like these. How foreign the idea is to the Word of God. There was no suggestion at all in the Old Testament, not one jot or tittle of light in the Old Testament with regard to the Church of God. It was absolutely new, absolutely new to the present day and age. Nothing said about it in the Old Testament at all. If we as Christians find types in the Old Testament, we only find them there because we look at them in the light of the New Testament. There's nothing revealed of this mystery in the Old Testament. It's something distinctive. It's something unique. It's something characteristic of the day in which we live. And I tell you, my brethren, brothers and sisters, if you're Christians tonight, you ought to be vitally concerned with this, which is distinctive Christianity. So we have the uniqueness, the absolute uniqueness of the Church of God to which we belong, never known before until this day, made known to Paul and also to his holy apostles by the Spirit, things which were hidden in Old Testament days. Don't you think tonight the very expression, head in God, tells me that God had it treasured up, God had it kept within himself, shall we say, waiting for the moment, the right moment, when the Son of God should come and make it known and complete the Word of God. We've read a scripture tonight in Colossians with regard to this mystery as fulfilling the Word of God. Fulfilling the Word of God. You could use the word complete. It's a better word, I think. Complete the Word of God. Of course, somebody here tonight might say, oh, well now, I thought the book of Revelation completed the Word of God. Well, it might close the volume of Holy Writ. It might do that. It happens to be the last book in the New Testament, but it doesn't complete the Word of God, it's Paul's ministry, the truth of Christ and the Church which completes the Word of God. All that God has to say, all that God has to say to you and me has now been said in the truth of the mystery, Christ and the Church, the Word of God is complete. There's nothing more to say. No new light. No, nothing more to say. God has completed His Word. That's what it means. Here was the top stone, the top stone, shall we say, in the edifice of divine revelation. The mystery, Christ and the Church, companion for the Son of God, one with Him in union. This completed the Word of God. Well now, perhaps I've said sufficient tonight to emphasize to you the uniqueness of that which we belong to. I would like to think that if nothing else transpired from these meetings or this meeting tonight, I would like to think that in some way we went home tonight with some impression of the greatness of those things we've been brought to as Christians. Now I want to say a little bit then about this Church of God tonight, the uniqueness of it, but I want us to look at the third chapter of Ephesians, mainly tonight, and we look at Colossians before we are finished. But I want to have a look at Ephesians 3 first of all, and I'll tell you something interesting about the third chapter of Ephesians, something very interesting, I think it's very interesting. The third chapter of Ephesians, you know, is a parenthesis. The chapter is a parenthesis. And I never cease to be struck by the fact that God brings to light that which is a parenthesis in the ways of God in a chapter which is parenthetical. There it is. The Church of God is a parenthesis in God's ways. As we saw last night, the prophecy interrupted a parenthesis coming in somewhere. That parenthesis being the Church of God and this chapter, the third chapter of Ephesians, is in fact a parenthesis. Now then, I want to look at one verse in particular in this chapter, which tells us about what this mystery really is. The third chapter of Ephesians, just one verse. God hasn't, shall we say, elevated the Jew or elevated the Gentile. No, no, no. He's put them both on a new platform entirely. Joint, yes. Joint body. Think about it, you know. If you think about it, you think of the enmity which existed between Jew and Gentile. Think of the way God hedged about his people in the Old Testament, made them separate. As we think of the enmity which existed between them, it's nothing short of a miracle that God could take a Jew and a Gentile and integrally put them together. Joint heirs, joint body, joint partakers. That's what he's done. That's what the Apostle is saying here in the third chapter of Ephesians. He's put them on the same platform, same level, no difference. In Christ, one new man. He talks about them here as being joint heirs. A joint body, as we have said, a joint partakers. Now very, very simply, chapter one talks about the joint heirs. Chapter two talks about the joint body. Very, very sweet, I think. Chapter one, perhaps you remember on Tuesday night, we were reading the happy passage in chapter one, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together all things in Christ, whether they be things in heaven or things in earth, even in him, in whom we also have obtained an inheritance. Listen to it, can I say it again? In whom we also have obtained an inheritance. Did you know you had an inheritance? Did you know you had an inheritance? That's what God says. You know, believers in the Lord Jesus are not the inheritance. Believers in the Lord Jesus are the heirs and we have an inheritance in him. If he is going to take up his authority in the kingdom, the church shall share it with him. In whom, in whom we also have an inheritance. Maybe you didn't think you had an inheritance. Maybe you thought you had two pennies to rub together. Well, God says that we have an inheritance. He also talks about our inheritance. Sealed by the Spirit, we've got the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. Oh yes, we've got an inheritance. And what God has done is, he's given us even today the guarantee, the earnest. This word earnest, you know, has a connotation to an engagement ring. If a lady gets an engagement ring, it's a guarantee of marriage. Well, says the apostle, we have the earnest of the inheritance, the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. And then he prays at the end of that chapter, just one little expression I refer you to in verse 18 to this inheritance. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance. His inheritance in a sense. Well, God is going to take up this vast inheritance by putting you and me in possession of it. That's what the verse means. So, we are not the inheritance, we are the heirs, joint heirs with Christ. Heirs of God. Yes, along with him. Well, joint heirs. Chapter 1 has to say about the inheritance. Heirs. Maybe you didn't think or know up to tonight that you had an inheritance. Well, you have. What is it? It's all things. Things in heaven and things on earth. We're going to share it all with Christ one day. Wonderful hope, isn't it? Staggering, isn't it? All connected with his own purpose and grace. Given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Now in chapter 2 he speaks about the body. The body of Christ. He talks about the middle wall of partition that came between Jew and Gentile. Perhaps you remember the little parable in Matthew 21 about the vineyard and how the master of the vineyard sent his son. You remember. He sent his prophets first, then his son. And you know how he was badly treated. Well, you remember too. It says that he hedged it around. He hedged it around. You look up any good book you'll find that word hedged is the same word as the apostle uses here in Ephesians 2 the wall of partition. The wall of partition. And now in Christ that middle wall of partition has been broken down and God has made both one. Miracle of grace. Miracle of his purpose. Made both one. Jew and Gentile. Think of the enmity which once existed between them. In the cross it's gone. Jew and Gentile. One. One. And it goes on to say, doesn't it, in that passage that having abolished in his flesh the enmity the law of commandments but to make in himself of the twain Jew and Gentile of the twain one new man. Reconciled both in one body by the cross. We both have access by one spirit unto the Father. Can you see, my dear friend, tonight what the apostle is driving at here in this very beautiful epistle that God is forming and has been forming in this world this organism. Not an organization, thank God it's not an organization. It's an organism. Men have turned it into an organization and it's rotten, ruined. Paul in Colossians says we ought to hold the head. Draw from the head what the body needs. Christendom hasn't done that. They haven't done that. They've organized it so well that the head has been forgotten entirely. He's been replaced by men's organization and men's ideas. Alas, alas, it's only too true, isn't it? God has formed this wonderful one body one body unity but united to Christ in heaven. That's the wonderful truth of the mystery, the mystery. Oh yes, says the apostle, we should be holding the head. All the body needs is in the head. Just think of your physical body. Think how your head controls your body. Come off badly without your head, wouldn't you? Well, there it is. Speaks for itself, doesn't it? If we forget the headship of Christ things are going to go awry down here. The head and the body are one. And I say again tonight how sad it is that this is where Christendom has gone wrong. They've substituted the headship of Christ by earthly heads earthly powers earthly organizations and alas, alas, the unity has been broken on the responsible side. Well now, one body. How wonderful, isn't it? One body, never known in the Old Testament never even mentioned in the Old Testament. Sometimes when I've heard brothers and I probably think it quite good they refer sometimes to the 10th of John. Well, OK. A fold. 10th of John, a fold. F-O-L-D A wall. A wall in which the sheep are kept. A wall. Oh says the Lord, other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I will bring and there shall be one flock. Your authorized version, by the way, says fold. I trust you will beg my pardon if I say that's not a good translation. Any other translation, any translation puts that right. Even modern translations if you're an enthusiast of the RSV or any of these NIV take your pick. They all put that right at any rate. They say flock and not fold. It's not a fold any longer. It's a flock held by the affections to Christ the shepherd. Gentiles and Jews together in one flock. Not a fold. The fold has been dispensed with. The middle wall of partition has been broken down. The hedge has been broken down. There's no longer a middle wall of partition. No longer the fold but the flock. Well now, you know, that was never known quite as that in that way in the Old Testament. But I'll tell you something about it. There always was a flock in the Old Testament. There always was a flock in the Old Testament. And that flock of course was Israel. That's what David had in mind, the sweet psalmist when he sung those lovely words the Lord is my shepherd, Jehovah is my shepherd. Oh yes, Israel was God's flock. But Gentiles had nothing to do with that. Now I'll tell you something more. There might have been a flock in the Old Testament. There's one thing certain. There was no thought of one body in the Old Testament. No thought of one body. That's absolutely new. Completely unique to Christianity. A body united to the head in heaven. You know, I don't know how you'll take these things that we are saying tonight. But all I've got to say, and I'll say it again. I don't care if I repeat it again. But what we are talking about tonight is Christianity. It is honestly, it's genuine, real Christianity. And I think very often we forgot about it. We've forgotten about it. Now the apostle in Colossians, just a word in Colossians before I close tonight. In Colossians he says a little bit more about this mystery. In Colossians 1. I only refer to one little point, if I may. In verse 27 of the first chapter of Colossians this is what the apostle says. Talking about the mystery again. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. Which is, which is Christ in you the hope of glory. Gentiles, mark my words, Gentiles. Strangers from the commonwealth of Israel. Without hope. They didn't have the covenants and the promises and the glory. Gentiles. Christ in you. Sometimes when I was younger I used to hear brethren say in the epistle to the Ephesians it's we in Christ. In Colossians it's Christ in us. I think that's right. Happy little distinction. Remember it. Ephesians, what we are in Christ. Colossians, Christ in us. And here we've got the body again. We're back to the thought of the mystery. Christ in the church. The body of Christ. United to Christ. Christ in you. Christ in you. Let's close tonight on this little thought, shall we? If there is that in this world tonight and there is, thank God, in spite of all the failure the body of Christ exists upon earth tonight. And that body is the vessel I can't think of a better word. I'm sorry. It's the vessel through which the life of the head is lived. The body is here to show forth the character and the moral features of the head. In other words you might say, well now yes, the life of the Lord Jesus Christ was a lovely life, wasn't it? 33 years of moral beauty. Oh, how charming it was, wasn't it? And then he died on the cross. They crucified him. Was that the end of that life? Was that the end of that life? Listen, my friend. God has triumphed. God has triumphed. He's produced thousands and thousands of believers forming part of this one body. And for 1987 years there has been an expression of Christ in this world. God has triumphed. Oh yes, he's triumphed. He's continued the life of Christ in his members here upon earth. Isn't that wonderful? God has triumphed. God wasn't defeated, dear friend, at the cross. God wasn't defeated when Christ was crucified. Oh no, redemption brought to light thousands and millions who formed the body of Christ in which all the beauty of Christ is to be seen. Well, Christ in you the hope of glory. That's what the apostle goes on to say, remember in chapter 3 of Colossians Put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercies and compassions love and meekness and humility all the features that came out in Christ. The body is here in order that the head might live through it his life. Well, I haven't got anything more to say than that. I trust that what I have said is will give us some little inkling feeble though it might be of the greatness the greatness of the mystery the riches of the glory of the mystery riches with your tremendous wealth Christ in you the hope of glory. …

… First epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians chapter 1 and I want to read verses 9 and 10. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you and how he turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come. Chapter 4 the same book beginning to read from verse 13. But I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them that are asleep that he sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent or if you like shall not go before them that are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. The second epistle chapter two and verse one. Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him that he be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled either by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except they come of falling away first and a man of sin be revealed the son of perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not that when I was yet with you I told you these things and now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time for the mystery of iniquity does already work only he who now leteth will let until he be taken out of the way and then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness but but we are bound to give thanks all the way to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's all I want to read. The subject on the card, the invitation card for tonight, it may be it may be a provocative one. Will the church go through the great tribulation? I'll repeat that again. Will the church go go through the great tribulation? Now on the two sheets that I gave you, one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday, on each of these two sheets, on each of these sheets there is marked very clearly the great tribulation. The first sheet, the one I gave you the first night, this one here, between six and seven are the words the awakening of Israel and the great tribulation. Between circle six and seven you will find the words the great tribulation, just before the circle which has to do with the millennium. Now on the other sheet, the second one that I gave you, you'll find once again that there is a section just before the millennium, just before Messiah reigns, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, there is a section marked the great tribulation. You will notice that that little section has to do with one week, and that one week of course is a week of years we were saying, and I've got that week halved, you'll notice halved, and the second half of that week I've got it tallied the great tribulation. Now it's this great tribulation that we are going to be concerned with tonight largely, but I want you to see this very clearly, there still remains one period of seven prophetic years to be fulfilled. They are fulfilled just before the Lord Jesus Christ takes up his government in this world, just before he takes his place as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, there is this great tribulation as it's called, and the worst part of it so far as we gather from the Bible will be the last half consisting of three and a half years, that is half of the last week of Daniel's prophecy that we were talking about the other night in the ninth chapter of the book of Daniel. Now then this great tribulation then, let's just pinpoint it precisely, it will take place just before the Lord Jesus Christ comes back with all his saints, and he'll come to set up a kingdom which will last for a thousand years. We often refer to it as a millennium, the word millennium is not found in the Bible, you'll not find it anywhere, but you will find in one chapter in the book of Revelation about six or seven references to a thousand years. In fact we are told for instance that Satan is bound for a thousand years, and other things are said to happen inside of this thousand years when this world instead of being filled with the glory of man will be filled with the glory of God. As the Bible says, the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall fill the earth as the waters cover the sea, yes in place of the glory of man there will be the glory of God, because the Son of God, the true Son of David, the true Lord of David, the root and the offspring of David will be upon the throne, but before, just before he takes up his dominion will be this great tribulation. The Bible says that this tribulation will be unparalleled, never been anything like it before in the history of this world, except the Lord shortened the days, they will be non-saved, non-saved, so terrible will this day be. Well now the question is of course on the sheet, on our little card, will the church go through the great tribulation? There's one thing certain of course we can say at the beginning tonight, that every believer suffers tribulation. Before the Lord Jesus Christ left this world, you might remember, some of you, in the 16th chapter of John, isn't it, the end of the gospel, at the end of the chapter, just before he went to the cross, just before that remarkable prayer in chapter 17, he said to his disciples, left behind in the world, he says, in the world ye shall have tribulation. We have good cheer, I have overcome the world. Apostle Paul in writing to the fifth chapter, in the fifth chapter of his letter to the Romans, he says, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God, not only so, we rejoice in tribulations also. Tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. And there are many other scriptures that tell us that the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will have to pass through tribulation, and I would suggest that every one of you here tonight, every one of you, without exception, who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, know something about trials, and difficulties, and problems, and tribulations in our lives here. In the world ye shall have tribulation. They that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, the Bible says. So as Christians, there's nothing in the Bible to say that we're going to have as Christians a bed of roses. The Bible seems to suggest that as believers in the present day, we suffer because righteousness suffers today. If righteousness suffers, then the Lord's people will suffer. So then, let's be clear on that point, shall we? That every believer in some way or another finds circumstances of affliction and trial crossing their path. In the world ye shall have tribulation. But that is not the great tribulation. We've got to be careful, I think, to distinguish between the tribulation that crosses the path of the believer today, and what the Lord Jesus speaks about as the great tribulation. If you're interested to look this up yourselves, you'll find the term used twice in the 24th chapter of Matthew, and once in Revelation chapter 7. The expression The Great Tribulation. We are given to see a company in the 7th chapter of the book of Revelation, a Gentile company. And the one who is speaking says, these are they who have come out of The Great Tribulation, and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. The Great Tribulation. Now every believer, I repeat, has tribulation, trials. But is it right to say, is it right to say that believers will go through The Great Tribulation? That's our question, isn't it? That's our point tonight. Will the church go through The Great Tribulation? Well now, that's a question that has to be faced this evening in our little talk together. Now then, one of the things I want to say about this Great Tribulation, I should say that if you want to read about it very, very carefully and in detail, and I would suggest you do, when you've got some time, read from chapter 6 to about chapter 16 of the book of Revelation. There you'll find, you'll read about some judgments, seals, trumpets, vials. Of these seven seals that are unloosed, there are certain judgments falling upon the earth, which I would say were maybe of a providential nature. But as we go through the book, these judgments increase in severity, and when you come to these seven vials, I want you to notice this, when you come to these seven vials, the Spirit of God says, the vials of the wrath of God, vials of the wrath of God. Now my dear friend, this Great Tribulation that we are talking about tonight will not consist of providential judgments. It will consist of definite, clear wrath from God upon a world that has thrown aside every restraint and refused to bow the knee to the Christ of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's wrath that this day of Tribulation is characterized by, not providential judgments, but divine wrath. It may be, as we were saying here tonight, that Israel shall be the center maybe of this matter, I'm sure she is. Do you remember what they said when they crucified the Messiah? They said, His blood be upon us and our children. And for a long, long time now, that nation has suffered, suffered, but they're going to suffer again. They're going to pass through this time of Jacob's trouble. Unparalleled, we repeat. Yes, the world will feel the repercussions of this awful day. I have no doubt about that. Why is it that we are trying to emphasize that these judgments are not providential, but are the wrath of God upon the Christ-rejecting world? I tell you why. We've asked the question tonight, will the church go through the Great Tribulation? If I may speak about myself for a moment. If, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, if, as a Christian whose hopes are centered in Christ, and who has found all his blessing in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross, if I'm going to go going to go through the Great Tribulation, there's a question mark against the cross. There's a question mark against the efficacy and the value of the death of Christ. I wonder, my dear friends tonight, if we're all aware of the place in which Christians have because of the death of Christ. Again, to turn to the fifth chapter of Romans, the Apostle says, being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath. Saved from wrath through him. Oh, I don't trust me know what it is to be justified. Justified. Paul likes to use the word justified. Justified by grace. Justified by blood. Justified by faith. Oh yes, if I'm going to suffer the wrath of God in the Great Tribulation, there's a question mark against the efficacy and the value of the death of Christ. And I, as a believer, can see no question mark. No question mark against the death of Christ at the cross. Fellow believer in the Lord Jesus, all your blessings, all that you have of eternal value finds its center, finds its basis in the work that was done on Calvary's cross. Two thousand years ago, he took my place upon the cross. He bore the judgment that I should have borne. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. He that heareth my word, believeth him that sent me, hath everlasting life, shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life. In the light of the work of Christ, I say, no believer, no child of God, shall pass through that season of unparalleled wrath that will fall upon this world. I don't trust we got that first point. It's a simple one. It's the simplest point in my little discourse tonight, but oh, how important it is. Do we really understand, my fellow believer tonight, of the matter of being justified and brought near, always sometimes saying so near, so very near to God, nearer we couldn't be. For in the person of his son, I am as near as he. He took my place, that I might have his place up there of acceptance. Now I ask you, if that's true, if that is true, could it be, could it be that any believer in the Lord Jesus will have to suffer the wrath to come? These Thessalonian believers that we've read about tonight were young believers, just young believers in the Lord Jesus. There were three weeks there were three weeks ago when Paul wrote this letter, they had been converted. They were converted to the truth that the Lord was coming, turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his son from heaven, our deliverer from the wrath to come, from the wrath to come. These Thessalonian believers had no doubt in their mind that they would never see the wrath of God, they knew the deliverer from the coming wrath. I do trust we all know that tonight. I do trust we're not amongst those who tremble at the thought of what's coming upon this world, because my friend, let me assure you, when these awful judgments fall upon this world, we believers in the Lord Jesus will not be here, will not be here. I have no doubt about it, the more I read the Bible, the more I read what Paul has to say, no believer will be here upon earth, no believer, no Christian believer, anyway, I better be careful, there will be other believers, but not the church, no member of the body of Christ, no believer will be here on this earth when these terrible days of wrath fall upon this world for the simple reason we look at the cross and we say he took the guilty culprit's place, he suffered in our stead. For man, oh miracle of grace, for man the Savior bled. Well now, how are we going to escape this, this tribulation? How are we going to escape these terrible days that are going to fall upon this earth? Well as I said before, these Thessalonian believers, they were very, they were very much taken up from the very commencement of their Christianity, not only with the fact of their being converted from idols to serve the living and true God, but they had been converted to the truth, they were waiting for his son from heaven. Let me assure you my friend, although 1987 years have rolled by, thank God the church are still waiting for his son from heaven. I'm waiting for his son from heaven, I do trust we all are on the tiptoe of expectation waiting for his son from heaven. These believers at Corinth had learned something about the day when the Lord Jesus shall come, note the words will you, when the Lord Jesus shall come with his saints, w-i-t-h, with his saints. You know, before the flood, before the flood, there was a man, lived the seventh from Adam, Enoch, and he wrote and he said, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, Enoch, long time ago since he lived, oh yes the Lord Jesus Christ is coming with all his own, with his saints, with the church, they're going to be with him when he takes up the kingdom, takes up the reins of government, but ah look what was happening to these believers at Thessalonica, oh they were troubled, they were cast down in spirit, they were getting anxious because some of the believers had fallen asleep, in other words, they had died. Perhaps you might just take a note of that, that in the Bible in a general way, when believers are said to die, they are said rather to fall asleep, fall asleep. Some of their company had fallen asleep, dead in Christ if you like, and they were very very much concerned, very much concerned as to whether these believers who had been laid to rest in a grave, buried, that they would miss this wonderful day when the Lord Jesus Christ came with all his saints. They were a little bit concerned lest they miss that wonderful day, and they were sorrowing, sorrowing because they had lost some of their company, and they thought, well they thought that they were going to lose out, lose out. Now the apostle says to them, we don't sorrow as those who have no hope, and I want you to listen to these words, if we believe on him, if we believe on him that, I better quote it, I better read it, hadn't I, for this, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that sleep in Jesus, note the words, will God bring with him. I hope you just catch on to those words, if we believe on him who died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. What he is saying is this, there's no doubt, you don't need to sorrow, you don't need to be careful and care worn. Those believers who have died, they'll be there all right when Jesus comes with all his saints, they won't be missing, everyone will be there when Jesus comes to display the triumphs of his grace, when he displays the trophies of his love, everyone will be there, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so they that sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him, with Christ that is, with Christ, there's no doubt, even those who have been put in the graves and buried, they'll be there when he comes out with all his saints, no doubt about that. Now then, what you're going to say to me tonight, well all right now, but if they've been put in the graves, if they've been buried, how are they going to get there? How are they going to get there? How are they going to get there to be able to come out with him in glory? And this brings us to the truth, that we've mentioned once or twice this week already, that we believers very often refer to it as the rapture, now you don't find the word rapture in your authorised version, you won't find it anywhere in the authorised version, but we did read tonight, perhaps you noticed it, we did read the words caught up, wrapped up, if you like, r-a-p-t, you could give it snatched up if you like, I remember some years ago, looking at a translation of the scriptures, and the writer said, he said swept up, well you can take which one you like, the authorised version before you tonight is caught up, caught up, and so the apostle says here, for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, which we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent, not go before them that are asleep. We here tonight believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we might be here when the Lord comes, we might be here alive upon earth when the Lord comes. You know I believe my friend, my Christian friend, I believe in the eminence of the Lord's return, I believe he may come at any moment, there's nothing, nothing that I can see that should bar this wonderful truth of the Lord's coming for his saints. Note what I've just said there will you, the coming of the Lord for, F-O-R, we've been talking about the coming of the Lord with his saints, but before he comes with them, he must come F-O-R for them, and so we get this word for the Lord, we which are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord, yes you might be here when he comes, I might be here when he comes. Many of us who are believers in the Lord Jesus, we like to think that we will be here when he comes. When the apostle talks about this in another place, you know he says, listen he says, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, all be changed, we shall not all sleep, some of us, some of the saints of God, some of the church of God will be here upon earth when the Lord comes. But listen, because these Thessalonians were worrying, concerned about those that had fallen asleep, he says, oh well, we which are alive and remain, we shan't go before them that are asleep. If anybody's going to have precedence at all, is going to be the sleeping saints, the sleeping saints, it might be momentary, it might be the twinkling of an eye, but we which are alive shall not go before them that are asleep, and so we get this happy word for the Lord himself, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ, listen, the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, so shall we be forever with the Lord. It may be, I don't know, maybe I'm talking to someone who's never heard this before, I don't know, I don't know, I have met quite a lot of believers in my life that haven't any knowledge of what we are talking about tonight, you know my friend, it's here in the Bible, it's here in the it's here in the Bible, it's not a matter of something that somebody suddenly thought about a few hundred years ago, oh no, no, no, my dear friend, it's what the apostle taught in the time of the Thessalonians, it's what he taught in the very beginning of the dispensation of this era, what he taught at the very outset of Christianity was this, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, do you know that, is that your bright and blessed hope, you know, if I hadn't that hope, if I hadn't that hope, I'd be of all men most miserable, if I thought I had to exist down here and pass through all the carnage of the world, of the of the great tribulation, well I wouldn't have a very big smile on my face, I can assure you, the reason why believers can sing and the reason why believers can triumph for the day when the Lord shall come, and I say again, this world is going to get a rude awakening along, a very rude awakening along, may not be long, but every believer shall disappear, they shall disappear, just you think, here is a family, next door to them is a family of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, Christians, maybe they've said, funny lot they are those Christians, don't do this and don't do the other, well you know the day will come when in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye they'll go, they'll go, do you believe it, do you believe it, you know the other night, the other night we were talking about a prophecy from the book of Daniel, and we were noticing that part of it was fulfilled prophecy, and we were saying together that every single detail that was said and written hundreds of years before, took place exactly as it was said, exactly as it was said, the Bible prophesied as to where the Son of God should be born, how he should be born, and we were looking through the night at a prophecy that told when, when the Lord Jesus Christ would die, and every detail of those promises and those prophecies have been fulfilled to the letter, well if that's so, why should I doubt, why should I doubt why should I doubt the fulfillment of unfulfilled prophecy, I have no doubts, I hope you haven't got any doubts, it may be that the Lord will come very soon. The coming of the Lord for his saints, for the church has nothing to do with the happenings in the world, not really, we do of course say well things are getting pretty rough, we often say well I don't know what's going to happen next, many of us we see the formation of the AEC, the Treaty of Rome, some of us have lived to see the fig tree putting forth its leaves, many of us have had the remarkable experience of seeing an Israel nation set up in this world, many of us are bewildered as we think of the the fears of men, think of how men are so fearful today of nuclear energy, what will it do, Chernobyl and all these things have got people afraid, got people afraid, well we're not concerned really as believers with these signs and these signs that we say, no no, but, but we can't help but say to ourselves the coming of the Lord must be getting very near, very near, coming of the Lord for his church is not connected with times and seasons and happenings, it can happen at any moment, but there are many things that make us think today as to the nearness, the nearness of the coming of the Lord. Prophecy, we were talking about prophecy the other night, prophecy, the coming of the Lord for his church is not part of prophecy, people think it is, but it's not, it's not part of prophecy at all, it's the conclusion of the church period, it's the conclusion of section 6 on the diagram, the conclusion of the church period, and then prophecy begins again. I remember a brother once telling me that when the church goes to heaven, the clock will begin to tick again, the clock of prophecy will begin to tick again, it stopped for nearly 2,000 years, tick up again, when the church is gone, when the saints are gone, it'll start off ticking again, God will revert to his dealings with his earthly people Israel, and they'll have to pass through the great tribulation, but the church won't be here, the church won't be here, well he's coming, he's coming, oh thank God he's coming, you know there were days, you know when I was a little chap, just a little fellow, not very old, I heard a lot about this, you know a lot about this, very often I, before I was converted, I was very, very fearful, very often somehow, I wasn't prepared, I wasn't ready, I hadn't trusted Christ as my Saviour, I hope we are all ready tonight, the Lord Jesus says be also ready, be also ready, are you waiting for him, the Lord himself, he's not going to send an archangel either is he, he's not going to send any, any wonderful heavenly being, the Bible says the Lord himself, oh I'm glad about that, the Lord that I've known, the Lord that I've known day by day in present grace, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, archangel's voice, the trump of God, the dead in Christ shall rise first, we which are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, so shall we forever be with the Lord, does that hope not brighten your heart, my fellow saint tonight, does that hope not cheer your heart, coming of the Lord draws near, I trust we're all ready, I trust we're all on the tiptoe of expectation, he may come tonight, no other reason, no good reason, no good reason at all, when the church is complete, the last stone is put in the building, the bride is prepared for her husband, he'll take her to glory, Lord himself, lovely words aren't they, the Lord himself, nobody else. In the 14th chapter of John, you know these words I'm quite sure, words of the Lord Jesus, he said this, let your heart be troubled, let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me, in my father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also, he's coming for his saints. I remember somebody saying to me once, oh well of course that doesn't really mean what you say it means, and they said it really means when a believer dies, that's what it's all about, the 14th chapter of John, well of course that cannot be, because when a believer in the Lord Jesus dies, he goes to be with the Lord, depart to be with Christ, which is far better, in the 14th of John he says, I will come again and receive you unto myself, when a believer passes away, absent from the body, present with the Lord, but when the Lord comes, I will come again and receive you unto myself, in the 14th chapter of John, those well-known words often read at funerals in one place or another, they have, they are a reference, they are a reference to what we are talking about tonight, from the fourth chapter of first Thessalonians, the rapture of the church, well now I'll have to leave that passage, I hope I made that clear, I hope I made it clear, I hope you'll leave this meeting tonight my dear believer in the Lord Jesus, with a hope that you never had before, with a hope that you never just thought about before, any moment, any moment, maybe it might make you more concerned about that next door neighbour who's unsaved, it might give you a greater concern about those folks you know who are lost, because when the Lord Jesus takes his church to glory, oh dear me, those that are left behind, left behind, they'll have to go through that day of wrath, the day of tribulation, they didn't believe the truth, if they didn't believe the truth, they'll believe a lie, or be concerned my dear Christian friend, about your friends who are not saved, well now I want to turn now to the second epistle, I shall have to ask you to be very patient tonight, please I seem to have a lot I want to say, but in the second epistle to the Thessalonians, something else had happened to these believers at Thessalonica, and Paul had put the first matter right, wherefore comfort ye one another with these words, and he put the matter right about the sleeping saints, oh Lord they'll be all right, they'll come first when the Lord comes, then somebody had come along, and you know these Thessalonian believers, they were suffering because of their faith in Christ, they were going through tribulation, going through problems, meeting opposition, we all meet opposition don't we, as believers in the Lord Jesus, and they were just doing that, they were having a rough time, because they trusted in Christ, and somebody had come along and said, you know you Thessalonian believers, what's happening to you is, that you're going through the day of the Lord, you're suffering the day of the Lord, somebody it would seem, had even even forged the apostle's signature, and put it on the bottom of a letter, to lead these saints astray, to lead them up the garden path, and make them think, that the problems they were going through, were that sufferings in the trials of the day of the Lord. Notice the words will you, in the chapter, I think it's very very important that we get the idea, that he be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letters from us, as that the day of the Lord is present. You'll have to beg my pardon, I beg my pardon tonight, I have altered that a little bit, because it's a little bit of a textual change, that I have made according to other translations of the scriptures, which are fairly consistent, the day of the Lord is present. They were given to think, and to believe, that the trials they were passing through, were the trials of the day of the Lord. And once again of course, they were getting all upset, and getting all concerned, and anxious about things. But you know, the beginning of this chapter is very good, I haven't quoted it, I'll quote it again to you. Now we beg you, we beseech your brethren, by the coming of the Lord Jesus, and our gathering together unto him. Now I'll tell you, that's a reference, to what we've just been talking about, the rapture. The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him. Now what he's saying is this, look you Thessalonian believers, I beg you to think, I beg you, I beseech you, by the coming of Christ, and our gathering together to him, that you're not going to be cast down in your mind. Putting it very simply, it's this he says, it can't possibly be the day of the Lord. It can't possibly be the day of tribulation, because the Lord hasn't come yet. Because the Lord hasn't come yet. Oh yes, get the argument? Do you get the burden of the Apostle's argument? He uses it as a lever, and he says it can't be the day of the Lord that you're going through. By the way, the day of the Lord and the great tribulation is more or less the same thing. You can't be doing that, going through that he says, because the Lord hasn't come yet. This of course is this of course is underlining what we've been already saying tonight, that the Church of God, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, shall not be here, shall not be here, when the day of the Lord dawns. So Paul says it cannot be the day of the Lord, because you're still here, because you're still here. The Church is still here, cannot be the day of the Lord. Then he goes on to say, well it can't be the day of the Lord, because first of all, A, there must be a falling away, and the revelation, the revealing of the man of sin. Man of sin. Well now, this could keep us going for a long time tonight. Just I want to say this about it, the falling away means apostasy. Just means, all it means is, the word apostasy means a total giving up of everything that we've held precious before. And you know my friend, even Christendom, even Christendom, they're going to give up, throw overboard, all the precious truths that we have held so dear for many a long century. The falling away. Man of sin. Well now, this man of sin, he's called the Antichrist, in another place. And I want you to notice that, that the man of sin, and the falling away, stand and fall together. They stand together. The Apostle Paul, Apostle John, in his epistle, he says something like this, already there are many Antichrists. Already there are many Antichrists. You listen my dear friend, to the voices of many in this land of ours, pulling this old book to pieces. We don't believe in the virgin birth. We don't believe the Lord rose from the dead. We don't believe in atonement. We don't believe in this. And they're tearing our precious bible to bits. Even now, there are many Antichrists. But when the liar comes, he shall deny that Jesus is the Christ. That's Jewish apostasy. The Antichrist shall deny the Father and the Son. That's Christian apostasy. By the way, the Father and the Son is Christianity. The Father revealed in the Son is Christianity. And there's going to be a total giving up of all this. Whether it be Jewish or whether it be Christian, there'll be a complete apostasy from it all. And the man of sin shall appear, the man of sin, the man of sin. Who is he? Well, I don't know. When the Lord Jesus was here, remember he said, one occasion he says, I came in my Father's name. And you wouldn't believe me. One shall come in his own name, him you will receive, him you will receive, the Antichrist. You can read about him in the 13th chapter of Revelation. It says he has two horns like a lamb, but he roars like a dragon. Antichrist. End of the book of Revelation, the false prophet. The 11th chapter of the book of Daniel, the king who regards not the God of his fathers. Makes us think, doesn't it, that this Antichrist, this lawless one will come out of the ranks of Judaism. He'll be a Jew. Maybe, I'm not going to be dogmatic, but it does say he regards not the God of his fathers. The Antichrist. Oh, he's going to catch everybody out, you know. Oh yes. He's going to catch everybody out. They'd all worship this man. He'll set up a beast. He'll set up an image of the other beast, the man we were talking about the other night, the head of the revived Roman Empire. And he'll call men to worship the image that he makes, just like Daniel chapter three. False prophet, the Antichrist, the lawless one, the man of sin. This world is just waiting for people like that, you know. This world just wants a man to put things right. And if they can get a man that shoots them, here he comes. This is the man that's going to put things right. Head of the Roman Empire and his lieutenant, the false prophet, the Jewish leader. But oh my friend, they're going to be terrible days, terrible days. The mark of the beast, the mark of the beast. If you haven't got the mark of the beast, you won't be able to bar yourself. They're going to be terrible days, terrible days. But Paul says it cannot be the day of the Lord. The man of sin hasn't come yet. The apostasy hasn't come yet. And then he goes on to say, I want to finish up with this tonight. He says in this chapter, For the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Oh no, I'm sorry, the verse before. I'm sorry, the verse before. And now ye know, listen to it, what withholdeth. Shall we read it this way? But ye know what restraineth. What is it, dear friend, that's holding back the tide of evil today? What do you think it is that's holding back the tide of corruption? The mystery of iniquity doth already work. Remember last night we said that word mystery was a secret, wasn't it? Something not public yet, not public yet. There's something which holding things back. Well, people say God in his providential sway over nations. Well, okay, that's all right. God is still on the throne, thank God he's still on the throne. But when the apostle says that which restraineth, I believe he's referring to the he's referring to the presence of the church of God in this world. These days will not come to pass until the Lord comes and takes the church to glory. The church is here, the restrainer, holding back, checking the tide of evil. And then he says in the next verse, he says, he who now restrains will restrain until he be taken out of the way. That and he, that I believe is the church. He is the spirit of God that dwells in the church. The spirit of God dwells in the church. The other night we were talking about the second chapter of Acts about the spirit of God coming down on the day of Pentecost and filled all the house where they were sitting. Spirit of God took up his dwelling place. Habitation of God filled the spirit. That and he are restraining. Salt of the earth, the preservative. But when the church of God goes and the spirit of God goes as well, the day of wrath, the day of tribulation, Jacob's trouble and all connected with it will come in. But we won't be here. We won't be here. We'll be in the glory. We'll be in the glory. The church is here holding things back. I don't trust tonight, my dear friend, I've said sufficient to convince you. I don't want to convince you by argument. That's not what I've got in my mind. Just by looking simply at the scriptures of truth. We've asked the question tonight, will the church go through the great tribulation? I think you'll be agreeing with me tonight. But I do hope, I do hope and pray that you go home and get your Bibles out and read it for yourselves. Don't take my word for it. Go home and read it for yourselves and you can come to a conclusion whether I was right or wrong. But you look it up for yourselves. I think you'll find if you're prayerful about it, you'll come to the conclusion that God could never put you into a circumstance of the wrath of God because all the wrath was expended at Calvary's cross upon his beloved son on your behalf and mine. You know, the verse that I just mentioned to you in the epistle to the Thessalonians, just one little point please. Our deliverer from the wrath to come. More than once this week we've been talking about a little Greek preposition, ek. We were talking about the church, ecclesia, called out of. And when the apostle says this in the epistle to the Thessalonians, he says, listen to it, our deliverer out from the coming wrath, out from the coming wrath. Well, I better stop there. I don't trust my dear friend that what we have said tonight will be of value and of profit to your eyes. It's my earnest prayer that your hope might be centered in the Lord Jesus Christ, the precious savior who is coming soon. …

… Revelation chapter 19 and I want to read two or three passages from the closing part of the book. Chapter 19, first of all reading from verse 6, And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness or righteousnesses of the saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he saith unto me, Say thou do it not, I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written, that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God. Verse 19, And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. Chapter 20 and verse 1, And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more, till a thousand years shall be fulfilled. After that he must be loosed a little season. Chapter 21 and verse 9, And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. And her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal, and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Verse 1, verse 1 of the same chapter, go back to verse 1 please. Chapter 21, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new, and he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in this lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. I suppose that when we come to the close of a series of talks, as we have had during this week, it's a good thing perhaps just to very, very briefly, very briefly capitulate and think of what has been before us on the previous evenings. I can't afford to take up much time doing that, but I'll try just very simply to go over one or two of the points that we have dealt with during this week. I suppose that the exercise that has brought about these meetings in the first place was that we might be concerned and get an understanding on what we as Christians sometimes refer to as dispensational truth. This has been our thought and our objective during this week to try and give a layer basis for what we as believers in the Lord Jesus, at least I think we here tonight, would say that we have had something of this dispensational teaching before us. You may remember on our first occasion together, we sought with the Lord's help to say a little bit about the word dispensation. We tried to correct an error which is in the minds of many Christians that a dispensation is a period of time. Well, a dispensation is not a period of time. A dispensation, an administration, is the way God orders his world during periods of time. The word administration or stewardship has got to do with the way that God orders things as a man would order his house as a steward. We might remember we thought about the dispensation of the fullness of times. We'll think about that again tonight before we're finished. The kingdom, the millennium, and of course God has an ordering of that particular period of time. It will be ordered in this way that everything will be put in the hands of Christ. He shall be the head over all things. We thought of the present dispensation, the present administration, ordering of things, where God, through his servant the Apostle, brought to light the truth of the mystery, Christ and the Church. And so we could go on, but we wanted to lay down this simple basis as to what this word actually means. One of the essential ideas with regard to dispensational teaching is fitting the Church into its right place. This is very important, I think. Those who are not dispensationalists in their thinking do not concern themselves with the uniqueness of the assembly of God. They are inclined to say, as we have said once or twice this week, that the assembly of the Church is just a continuation of a long line of grace, a continuation of Judaism. Well, of course, that's a long way from the truth. And we have sought this week to say a little bit about the uniqueness of the Church, the distinctive character of the Church of God as belonging to the present period of time. In our second lecture, our second talk, we talked about prophecy interrupted, an interruption in the prophetic word. And what filled the interruption was God's calling out of this world, a people for his name, the Church, the Ecclesia, the called-out ones. That's what God has been doing during this interval in prophecy. When the Church is complete, prophecy shall begin to tick again. God will take up his earthly nation again, and prophecy shall continue. Our third talk was, I thought, was at the very heart of the matter really, the mystery. This lies at the very heart of what we would call dispensational teaching. And so we looked a little at the particular work given to the Apostle Paul as being a minister of the assembly. To him was given the revelation of the mystery. And we attempted very simply to speak about the joint heirs, the joint body, the joint partakers of his inheritance or of his promise. We talked about made both one, you remember, one new man, one body, one spirit. They were saying that Christianity is characterized by unity. The mystery is unity amongst believers and union in being linked indissolubly to Christ, the head. The body and the head, one, the mystery. Last night we answered or we attempted to answer the provocative question, will the Church go through the Great Tribulation? And I trust that we, in our feeble way, were able to answer the question. And well, I'm quite sure we came to the conclusion, of course, that the Church will not go through the Great Tribulation. Indeed, we saw how foreign the thought would be, how foreign to Scripture the thought would be, that we who belong to the Church, who have been justified by the blood of Christ, that we should have anything to do with the wrath of God. We quoted the verse, happy, well-known verse, being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. That, to me, well, gave the answer straight away. We who belong to the Church of God will never have to do with the Great Tribulation, because the Great Tribulation is not providential judgment. The Great Tribulation is the wrath of God, the wrath of God. And now here we are tonight, then cometh the end. Now, the verse that, this little heading, then cometh the end, we haven't read it tonight, we haven't read it, I only took it up as being a heading for our talk. If you're concerned about this little expression, then cometh the end, well, you may like to look it up in your leisure. You'll find it in the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians, verse 24. There you'll find this expression, then cometh the end. The 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians is one of the very few scriptures we have that tells us anything about what will happen after the kingdom has run its course. 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians tells us that the day will come when the Lord Jesus shall deliver up the kingdom to God even the Father, put down all rule and all authority. He shall reign till every foe is beneath his feet, and then the last enemy to be destroyed is death. And then the Son, a Son becomes subject to him that put all things under his feet that God might be all in all. That's what it says in the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians. And the expression, God shall be all in all. I understand it to mean, I think it's right, I understand it to mean that it's God in triunity. Godhead if you like. God shall be all in all. The eternal day. Peter speaks about it, he says the day of God. We sometimes speak about it as being the eternal state. Well that's alright, the eternal state, but Peter says the day of God. When that kingdom, that thousand years of the reign of the Lord Jesus has run its course, and it will run its course. All through the kingdom he reigns and rules till every enemy is subdued. And just think about it, the last enemy to be destroyed is death. You know my dear friend, enemy, yes death is an enemy. You can argue any way you like, death is an enemy. We here tonight who are believers in the Lord Jesus, of course we know that God, that Christ has taken the sting out of death. He's been raised from the dead. And the Apostle says in one occasion, of the many things that belong to Christians, he says death is yours. Death is yours. Whatever did he mean? He meant this, death is yours in as much as death will put you into the presence of your Savior and of your Lord. Absent from the body, present from the Lord, present with the Lord. But you know, I still think that scripture is right when it says the last enemy, the last enemy. Oh yes, he will cast it out. He will bring it to an end. On that diagram I've given you tonight, I'm going to turn to it in a minute, you'll find on that diagram a point where it says death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Well now, all right then, the passage in the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians that we have alluded to, because it's the heading of our little talk tonight, then cometh the end, has to do with a time when time has ceased to be, when time has ceased to be. And the eternal state, the new heavens and the new earth come into view, of which Peter says, there dwelleth, there dwelleth righteousness. Righteousness. I've often wondered why it says that, you know. I would have thought when we come to the eternal state, it might have said, wherein dwelleth love. Well of course, I'm sure that love will be there as well. Divine love, the source of all, the source of all. But it's a wonderful thing, isn't it, to think that over so many thousands of years of time, on righteousness had characterized things here. During the kingdom, the reign of the Lord Jesus, righteousness shall be on the throne, righteousness shall rule, but mark my words, it will be absolute inflexible righteousness. Woe betide anyone that raises their head against the reign of inflexible righteousness in the hands of the Son of God. A king shall reign in righteousness. The Bible gives me to understand that a movement of sin during those thousand years of the Lord's reign shall be met with instant punishment. It will be a reign of true inflexible righteousness. But you know, my friend, peace is the fruit of righteousness. Oh yes, in that day, there'll be peace upon earth in a way never known before. Well, now I think we better just turn for a moment then to our little chart that I've given you tonight. Now what I want to do is, just go very very quickly through this chart. I trust you'll go through with me and we'll just pick out one or two of the points on this chart. Now the first thing that is mentioned on the left side of this chart is given us as the married supper of the Lamb. Now I'm coming back to this later on. I'm just going to point them out just for the moment, point them out, then we'll come back to some of them and enlarge upon them. The married supper of the Lamb is on the left side of your diagram and it's one of the things which is going to happen after the rapture. After the Lord has come for his saints, this will happen, the married supper of the Lamb. Something will happen before that though, that's not on here, and the reason it's not on this diagram is it's not mentioned in the book of Revelation. But there is something which will happen before the married supper of the Lamb, and that is the judgment seat of Christ, the judgment seat of Christ. Every believer shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ, not to be judged because of their sins, but their works might be made manifest, that there might be an assessment made of service, conduct, life, and works. Then the married supper of the Lamb. You will notice at the top of the diagram, rider on the white horse, the appearing of Christ. Now we were talking about this last night when we mentioned the coming of the Lord with his saints. Remember? W-I-T-H, with. That's his appearing. Remember we mentioned the oldest prophecy in the Bible, the prophecy of Enoch, the Lord cometh with 10,000 of his saints. Did you notice as we read this passage tonight, he comes with the armies of heaven with him, the armies of heaven with him, he cometh with all his saints. This is alluded to here on our chart, we've read about it tonight, the appearing of Christ. And if you follow that line right down to the bottom of the diagram, Armageddon, supper of the great God, and the beast and the false prophet are cast alive into the lake of fire. Now we've been hearing about these two men this week, haven't we? Oh yes, we heard about one on, was it Wednesday night? That's right, we heard about one on Wednesday night, the beast, the head of the revived Roman Empire, and we heard about the false prophet last night, the Jewish Antichrist. The two beasts of Revelation 13, thoroughly wicked men, men motivated from hell, motivated from the pit itself, motivated by Satan, and these two men are cast alive into the lake of fire. I remember being told when I was a young believer in the Old Testament, as two men went to heaven without dying, Enoch and Elijah. In the New Testament, two men are cast into the lake of fire without dying, the beast and the false prophet, two men that opposes all that God is, set themselves up to be God themselves, take upon themselves divine honors. When Satan said to Adam, he shall be as gods in the garden, remember? There you have it, in its full-blown character, in these two wicked men, and the Lord Jesus Christ banishes both these men into the lake of fire, which burneth with fire and brimstone. Very, very solemn things, aren't they? An angel having the key of the bottomless pit, read about that tonight, didn't we? Chapter 20, and Satan is cast into the bottomless pit, and there he's kept in there for a thousand years. He's not allowed to deceive the nations anymore, he's kept down, and therefore, for a thousand years, we've got righteousness and peace upon earth. For a thousand years, there isn't any war, they beat their swords to plowshares, and their spears to pruning hooks. Instead of war, they learn war no more, and peace fills this world for a thousand years, because the deceiver is in the bottomless pit for a thousand years. During that day, you know, my dear friend, Satan will be bound. Sin will not be able to raise its ugly head. It will be judged instantly. War shall be no more, and all that sin has brought in shall be set to one side. There's going to be an abundance of corn on the top of the mountains. The desert shall blossom like a rose. The lion shall lie down with the lamb. The child shall play on the cockatrice's den. A complete changeover during the thousand years that Satan is locked up in his prison, the bottomless pit. At the end of that period, Satan is loosed again, and the moment he is loosed, he gets back at his old job again, deceiving the nations. There's a revolt against God and against his Christ, which is immediately put down. The devil that deceived them is cast into the lake of fire. A great white throne is set up, a great white throne. We haven't read about this tonight. I didn't want to read too many verses, but the great white throne is where the dead stand there before God. They are not sheep and goats. No, no. There's no sheep and goats at the great white throne. The great white throne, those that stand before that great white throne are unconverted people, people who have refused the gospel, people who had refused to bow the knee to the lordship of Christ. Those who did not accept the gospel testimony, did not believe the truth, were more concerned with a lie, took pleasure in unrighteousness. There you stand before the great white throne, and who do you think sits upon the great white throne? It doesn't say. It doesn't say. Who do you think sits upon the great white throne? Well now, we can answer that question, can't we, by turning to another chapter in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus said on one occasion in John Gospel, I think, chapter 5, the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment into the hands of the Son. There's your answer. Who is it that sits upon this great white throne? It's the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Because he is the Son of Man, God has given him authority to judge. It was as man, they refused him. It was as man, they dishonored him. It was as man, they nailed him upon the cross. It will be as man, he sits upon the throne of judgment. After the great white throne is ushered in, time has ceased to be. Then cometh the end, and we have on our little diagram a new heaven and a new earth, referred to, as I said a moment ago by Peter, a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. The day of God, the day when God shall dwell with men, when all that sin has brought in shall be completely irrevocably banished forever. A new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Well now, that's just very simply an outline of the diagram that I have given you. Now, what I have in mind tonight, just to say a little bit about, is once again the unique character of the church. What will be the part played by the church during this thousand years of the millennium? First of all, let's say a little bit shall we, about this marriage supper of the Lamb. Lovely expression isn't it? The marriage supper of the Lamb, and his wife has made herself ready. Well, I believe this is a reference to the church, a bride of Christ. Although you haven't got the word bride in the fifth chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians, nobody would say I was wrong would they, if the thought of the bride is there. Christ also loved the church, gave himself for it, and today he sanctifies, cleanses it by the washing of water, by the water of the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. All this to me seems to sum up the thought of the church as the bride of Christ. Here of course, she's not called the bride, she's called the wife. The marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready. The presentation day, the marriage day, the nuptial day, when that company for whom he bled and died shall be complete for his glory and for his joy, that for which he suffered the reproach of the cross, despising all the shame. Well now, here we have the marriage supper of the Lamb. Very, very striking thing said about it, we'll have to hurry tonight, but very striking thing said about it, the bride, this wife, made herself ready, made herself ready. Let's stop here for a moment. You might say to me, well now, you've been telling us this week about how God has justified us by his grace. Yes, that's right. So far as what God has done and what Christ has done, everything is finished for the pleasure of God and for the pleasure of his Son, the Lord Jesus. But look, it does say here that his wife has made herself ready and to her was granted that she should be clothed in fine linen, which is the righteousnesses of the saints. Now that's the word there. It's not righteousness, but righteousnesses. You see, if we take up the thought of righteousness, we had it last night, he who knew no sin was made sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We added nothing to that at all, not one jot or tittle did we add to that righteousness. It was all by him and through him and by the value of his precious blood made the righteousness of God in him, the best robe of heaven he bids they put on, or couldst thou not be better arrayed. From the standpoint of the efficacy and the value of the work of Christ, there's nothing to be done, nothing to be done, but righteousnesses is what we do. It's what we do. That's what makes me think, you know, that this marriage supper of the Lamb follows after the judgment seat of Christ. There the assessment has been made, there the judgment has been passed, all has been brought out into the open, manifested. You know, my dear friend, I like to think about the judgment seat of Christ. I might have secret tremblings about it, but I know that whatever happens at the judgment seat of Christ, it would be righteous, it would be just. Some of the little things that we had forgotten, the Lord will say, you know, you did them for me, you did them for me. And some of the things that we thought were ever so great, they may even be burned up, wood, hay, and stubble. His assessment will be right. Don't forget, my dear brother and sister, you've got to stand before the judgment seat of Christ one day. Don't hear much about it, you know. Long, long time since I heard an address on the judgment seat of Christ. Don't hear very much about it. When we are there, of course, we'll be like Christ. Perfect love casts out fear, nor trembling. But I hear his word, well done, my good and faithful servant, well done, or otherwise. But I think this is the art, the thought, in the righteousnesses of the saints. In other words, you could say, I suppose, that the bride, the bride, the church, the wife, is busy today, is busy today putting together her wedding garment. I want to make that clear because we've got to keep in perspective, I think, what has been done for us. Nothing can be added to that, the church all glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. But the other side, the practical side, righteousnesses of the saints. God is going to take note, Christ will take note of what has been done in his name. And so we have this marriage supper of the Lamb. We haven't got time to go into the guests because speak about the guests. There's the bride and there's the guests. Well, of course, if we take the words of John the Baptist for it, in the third chapter of John, then the guests will be converted Jews, Old Testament saints, Jewish remnant, guests invited to the marriage supper. But the bride, the wife, is the church to which you belong and to which I belong. Well, so much for that. In the thousand years rule of the Lord Jesus Christ, the kingdom, the millennium, the world to come of which he speak, one night this week we made a remark, I think, that when he takes up the reins of government, the church will share that rule with him. They'll share that rule with him. Remember what Paul said to the Corinthians, know ye not that the saints shall judge the world? Well, of course, it's a judgment of administration in connection with Christ himself, along with him, along with him. Chapter, verse 9 of the chapter we read, verse 9 of chapter 21 that we read tonight, begins the little section that tells me of the place that the church will have during the millennium, during the thousand years reign of Christ. She's called three things. She's said to be the wife, the bride, and the city. The wife, the bride, and the city. Three very, very simple thoughts, nothing much involved in them. As I think about the wife, I think of the church as being Christ's help meat. What was said about Adam and Eve, she was to be a help meat for him, share with him in his rule, and so the church is his help meat. Paul puts it like this, the fullness of him, the fullness of him that filleth all in awe, the wife. When I think about the church as the bride, I think of the words of John the Baptist again in that chapter, John chapter 3, he that hath the bride is the bridegroom. You know the church is the bride, is the object of his affections, it's the object of his love, the object of his heart's desire, that for which he bled and died. Oh just think about it, the bride of the Lamb, the Lamb's wife. Why ever does the Spirit of God keep repeating the Lamb, the Lamb, the Lamb, because our thoughts are directed back to the cross, where he gave himself, sold all that he had, that he might have that eternal companion, the bride. It's for him. We ought to be for him today, we ought to be for him today. Paul, he said on one occasion that he desired to present the Corinthian Christians as a chaste virgin to Christ, a chaste virgin to Christ. We ought to be faithful today, we ought to be marked by fidelity today. In every way we live and move and have our being. Well, here we have another thought, the bride, for him. Then the city, the city, oh well of course the city I believe speaks of, yes I'll use the word, administration, administration. Not hard is it to think about a city in connection with, and connected with administration and rule, and rule, a city. It has gates, you see, gates are the place where judgment was administered in the city. So we have the thought of administration. The nations walk in the light of it. The nations on earth, they walk in the light of this heavenly city. So we have three thoughts, the wife, his fullness, his helpmate, the bride, all for him, all for his heart, all for his affections. The city, administration and rule. Remember, Abraham, remember, he looked for a city which had foundations, whose builder and maker was God. This is what he looked for, this is what he looked for. You know, a city, a city, think about a city today. Abraham was delivered out of Ur of the Chaldees, delivered out of Babylon I suppose, idolatry, idolatry. He looked for a city which had foundations. Ur of the Chaldees and Babylon had no foundation, not the kind of foundations that the scriptures speak about here. But I believe the scripture means moral foundations, moral foundations. You go to any city you like, London, Birmingham, Epswich, any city you like, and you'll find rotten to the core, rotten to the core. No moral foundations, but this city will have moral foundations, built on righteousness and love. Moral foundations, city which has foundations. Well now the church is going to be that vehicle, that vessel that will share with him in his administration. We shall help him in his administration of the universe. I haven't got a lot to say about it, a lot we could say. The gates of this city, you know the gates are the outgoings of the city, the outgoings of the city. If you want a scripture for that, last chapter of the book of Ezekiel, there's a reference made there to the gates of the city as it will be on earth, the earthly city during the millennium. And the twelve gates are referred to as the outgoings of the city. And here we have these gates, and at these gates is the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. What does that tell me? What does that teach me? It teaches me this, there's going to be a very definite link between the city and earth, earth. What's going on down here? Didn't I say one night, one day this week, that apart on earth during this kingdom, this millennium day, the head on earth amongst the nations will be Israel. They're the head and the nations the tail. But there's a definite link, you see, between heaven and earth during the kingdom. All fits in, you know, with what we had about that administration of things in heaven and things on earth. Everything under Christ, and the church sharing it with him. And so we have this link with earth and heaven at the gates, or the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Very happy thought, isn't it? There's going to be a very definite movement between one and the other, between heaven and earth during this millennium day. Another thing it says about it, it says that the foundations of the city, the foundations of the city, they're connected with the twelve apostles of the Lamb, which of course links immediately, doesn't it? Links up immediately with the second chapter of Ephesians built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. If you want a scripture to prove that this city is the church, there you have one. There you have one. Twelve apostles of the Lamb, the foundation. Another point I want to raise with you, it talks about her shining, her shining. Light will shine out of that heavenly city which will serve as administration upon earth below. Light, light of righteousness and power and all that is needed. Light, her shining the word is, her shining is like a jasper storm, most precious. You know, that word is an interesting word because it only occurs twice in the Bible, only occurs twice in the Bible. It occurs in the second chapter of Philippians. Remember when the Apostle taught, he wrote to the Philippian believers in the second chapter of that letter, he says to them, among whom ye shine as lights in this world. The word lights is the word for heavenly luminaries. Generation surrounding these Philippians, surrounded by a generation among whom ye shine as lights in this world, holding forth the word of life. You know, my dear brethren, my dear Christian friend, if we're going to shine then, we ought to be shining today, shouldn't we? And if we are shining today, thank God, we'll shine with luster in that day. Oh, my dear Christian friend, let's be concerned. You know, a light never makes any noise. A light never makes a noise, not usually anyway. Well, that's good, isn't it? It's a matter of shining. Not what we say, it's what we do. Not what we say, but the way we live. Not how many words we can say, but our conduct in our life and our daily routine, among whom we shine as heavenly luminaries in a dark, dark world. Well, in that day we will shine, we will shine, we'll shine. Light, yes, light. You see, everything would be right on the side of affection. The bride adorned for her husband, all for him. Our affections are true and they are faithful to him, therefore the light is true as well. You remember, can you remember that one church, the church at Ephesus, he had to say, well, a candlestick, wasn't it? A lampstand, a lampstand. The church was described as a light bearer, if you like, and because they had lost their first love, the Lord said he would remove the candlestick. Light and affection go together, go together. And here we have the bride adorned for her husband, all for him. And on the other hand, there's this light, this shining, a shining is like jasper stone. Yes, if we are going to shine then, let's say to it that we are shining today. Just one thing more I'm going to say about this city, before I pass on to the other passage. I shan't be too long tonight. At every gate of this city, every gate of this city, and there are 12 gates, every gate of the city was a pearl, a pearl. And whatever way you approached the city, you saw a pearl, one pearl. There will be 12, of course, but it's happy the way the Scripture puts it, at every gate, a pearl, a pearl. Well, undoubtedly that takes us back, doesn't it, to the little parable of the merchantman, remember? The merchantman who went out seeking for goodly pearls, and when he found one pearl of great price, he gave all that he had, he sold all that he had, that he might obtain that one pearl. What do you think is characteristic of that? Pearl, unity, beauty, beauty and unity, a pearl. Whatever way you approach the city, however approached the city, there it was, that which would tell us the price, the price he paid in order to have that pearl of great price, sold all that he had, that he might have that pearl of great price. Well, now, I shall say no more about the city or the church during the world to come. We'll just say a little word in closing about the eternal state and the place of the church then. Now, we've been saying tonight about this eternal state, the day of God, the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwell righteousness. There isn't any more sea separation is done with. Two-thirds of the earth, I believe, is covered by water. I think I'm right. Nobody assure me figures. In the new heaven and the new earth, there shall be no more sea. Separation shall be gone. God will dwell with men. God will dwell with men. During the kingdom of the nations walk in the light of the heavenly city, but in the eternal state, it says God will dwell with men. There shall be no more crying, no more tears, no more death, no more pain. All that has characterized this world will be gone, gone forever. We shall rest with God's beloved through God's eternal day. No more pain, no more sorrow, no more death. Former things have passed away, all things have become new. He that speaks says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the A to the Z, the A to the Z. All that God has had to say, he has said it, he has said it. Alpha and Omega, A to the Z, Alpha and Tau, have at which will you like. All that God has had to say, Christ has said it, he's the Word. Beginning and the end, all that God has done or purposed to do, he has done it. He has done it. And at the end of our Bibles, added to those two names, between them is the first and the last. Who did it and who said it? Everything's in Christ. Well now, it may be that God dwells with men, but look, one happy little thought is this. The church seems to me to maintain its distinctive place as the bride and the city, not the wife. The wife seems to me to belong maybe to the kingdom and a thousand years of administration and rule, but here we come to the eternal state and she's the bride. She comes down out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. Thousand years of administration have passed and there she is, as fresh as ever she was, adorned for her husband. It might be interesting if I just tell you tonight that this little word, coming down from God out of heaven, coming down from God out of heaven, well, we get back to our little Greek preposition again, ek, out of, out of. To tell us of course, again tonight, to tell us of the heavenly character of the church out of heaven. Heavenly in origin, heavenly in destiny, heavenly in character. Well, the eternal state, God's eternal day, the church should be there as his eternal companion. There she should be a bride adorned for her husband. Well, I haven't got any more to say tonight. We could have said a lot more, but just before I close, can I just read you two or three verses at the end of the book of Revelation? Just very simple words. You don't need to turn to them. Verse 16 of chapter 22. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star. The spirit and the bride say come and let him that heareth say come. Let him that, and let him that there's a thirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely. End of the chapter. He which testifieth these things saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. …

… Daniel chapter 2 and we read part of the chapter and perhaps we can fill in by telling the story afterwards. These are the words of Daniel addressing this King Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 29. As for thee, O King, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed. What should come to pass hereafter? And he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sake that shall make known the interpretation to the King. And that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart. Thou, O King, sawest. And behold the great image, the great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible. The image's head was a fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet, that were of iron and clay, and break them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This is the dream. We will tell the interpretation thereof before the King. Thou, O King, art a King of Kings, for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall rise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, for as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, and as iron that breaketh all these shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes part of potter's clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, for as much as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. As the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. For as much as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountains without hands, and it break in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter. And the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. I will return please to the New Testament, the book of Acts, chapter 4, I want to read out of verse 8. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you all. This is the stone, this is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. That's all I want to read tonight. Now the heading of our little talk tonight, on the card that was given out, the invitation card, says the stone cut out without hands. Now the passage that we have been reading from the second chapter of the book of Daniel talks about this stone made without hands. And as you would notice as we read this passage through, we would come to the conclusion that this stone had to do with a coming kingdom, a coming kingdom. During this past week in our meetings here, during the week, night by night, we have often mentioned this coming kingdom. We have often referred to the world to come. We have often referred to the millennium, thousand years of the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope we are all very interested in the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what's referred to in the passage we read tonight, when it talks about this stone falling upon the feet of the image, and the stone fills the whole earth and becomes like a mountain. And you would notice that when we read about the interpretation of the dream, this represented a kingdom that would know no end. It wouldn't be passed on to any other kingdom. It would be a final kingdom, and that kingdom of course will be in the hands and under the rule and under the dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ, who we have read of in the Acts of the Apostles. The one that the builders rejected, but who has become the head of the corner. I'm not going to say very much about this prophetic passage. I'm more concerned with the gospel content of our message tonight. But I have given you a sheet again tonight, and I might as well make some comment on the sheet. It was the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, when he was here that talked about the times of the Gentiles. The times of the Gentiles. Down the side of your chart you'll see in big letters, times of the Gentiles. They're still going on, still going on. They began a long time ago, many, many years, hundreds of years ago, when God's people, Israel, because of their unbelief, and because of their idolatry, God took them into captivity. God banished them into captivity to Babylon. God said, Lo am I, not my people. The glory that had filled the temple, it went up, up, up, and left the city. And they were captives. The nation that God had set at the head of other nations under Solomon, the Prince, the King of Peace. And they turned to such grave idolatrous ways that God had to discipline them and banish them into captivity at Babylon. And I tell you, ever since then, Israel have been scattered and peeled under the domination of Gentile powers. The times of the Gentiles. It started with Nebuchadnezzar, the head of the Babylonish Empire. His empire didn't last all that long, 70 years, but it was an absolute imperial government. Never been a government like it. Empirism in its greatness. What he said went. Who he said had to die, died. Who he said had to live, lived. He had absolutely autocratic power in his hands for about 70 years. Then that dominion was passed on to the Medes and Persians. You might remember, there's a story about a man in the book of Daniel, who was daring in his regard for God. He made a feast. Perhaps you've heard about Belshazzar's feast. Belshazzar's feast. A man that had no regard for God at all. He was having what we call in modern days an orgy. He took the golden vessels that had once been in the temple in Jerusalem and he used them to drink wine out of. They worshipped the gods of Baal and total disregard for God. It says, in the midst of it all there was some writing on the wall. People use that expression, don't they? People sometimes say when something's happened, the writings on the wall. Don't they? We often hear that expression, the writings on the wall. This was on the wall. That was on the wall. You know it says about Belshazzar that his knees began to knock together. Have you ever been like that about your sins? Have you ever been like that about your sins? Have you thought about the God you've got to stand before one day and your knees have knocked together? Belshazzar, I shan't tell you all the words that were on the wall. I'll tell you one phrase that was on the wall. Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. These are serious words my dear friends. They are serious words for believers as well as unbelievers. Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. The Bible says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's as much as saying thou art weighed in the balances and found to be short weight. None of us by nature is capable of standing before God. Belshazzar, he didn't pay much regard. He might have trembled and that kind of thing. The man that interpreted the writing, he said well Daniel, you're at the top of the tree now for telling me what the writing means and what it says. That night, that night, Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans died, died and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom. Darius the Mede took over the kingdom. Very serious thing my dear friend that he was a man who spent his last hours of his life in total disregard of God, absolute thoughtlessness. That night he died. Well that's how the kingdom passed on to the Medes and Persians. That lasted a little bit longer. Along came a friend that my young people, our young friends tonight would learn about when they were at school. I'm quite sure you could all tell me your young folks about Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great, one of the greatest soldiers perhaps this world has ever known, died at 35 year old and he died, just before he died, he wept because there was no more worlds to conquer. No more worlds to conquer. Alexander the Great. We are told of course in the book of Daniel exactly who followed after the Medes and Persians. You'll find it two or three chapters over in the book. And then of course, do you remember when the Lord Jesus Christ was here and they brought to him a coin and they questioned the Lord about paying tribute. And he said to the scribes and Pharisees, he says, render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things which are God's. Why have I quoted that? I tell you why. Anybody will tell you that Caesar had to do with Rome. Anybody will tell you that the Caesars were the heads of the Roman Empires, which tells us that after Alexander the Great captain had exhausted his conquest, had died and his lands were divided amongst four of his generals. After that came along the Roman power, the Roman power. Iron, strong as iron, Rome. And Rome lusted well the Lord Jesus Christ. I suppose he was crucified, wasn't he, by the Roman soldiers. It was the Roman soldiers that put the Savior upon the cross. The Roman soldiers, Gentiles, Gentiles. I know the responsibility rests upon the nation of Israel. They said his blood be upon us and our children. But it was Roman soldiers that nailed the Savior to Calvary's cross. Gentile soldiers. My dear friend, what is your attitude to the Savior? What is your attitude to the Lord Jesus Christ? Everything, my friend, for time and for eternity depends upon your attitude to the Savior. They crucified him, nailed him to a cross. Well, the fourth Empire was Rome. It goes on a little bit, as you'll see on your diagram, into the present day of the Spirit, into the present day. And, well, we come on this diagram that I've given you to the Lord's birth, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, the giving of the Spirit of God. And we start that little piece that's a parenthesis, the calling out of the church. And then at the end of that parenthesis, you'll notice a word, rapture. We've heard all about that this week, haven't we? We've all heard about the rapture this week. If you don't know what the rapture is, then I'm telling you that you should. It's the coming of the Lord for his saints. Coming of the Lord for those who believe. Do you know, my friend, that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming again? He's coming a second time, without sin unto salvation, coming again. And many of us in this hall this past week have rejoiced together because we've been reading and thinking and singing about the day when the Savior will come and take us to the glory. I tell you, there's nothing so sure as that. Nothing so sure as that. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. You know, do you not agree with me, my friend, that we need an anchor? We need an anchor. The young people here might be saying, of course, well, of course, we're just young and things aren't so bad after all. My friend, it's a good thing to go through life with an anchor. Have you got an anchor? Or are you depending on yourself? Are you depending on your own good works? Are you depending upon your own thinking? How you can get around the problems as they come? I wouldn't like to be without an anchor. We have an anchor. Keeps the soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll. Well, here we come down to this rapture, the coming of the Lord. He's going to take his saints to glory. When I say saints, by the way, I'm talking about believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not talking about people that have been dead for 500 years and have been canonized. I'm not thinking about those. I'm thinking about believers, simple believers in the Lord Jesus. The Bible says they're saints, called ones, sanctified ones. He's coming for them. He's coming for them. And we've been saying this past week, and I trust we have been gripped with a fact of its imminence. Its imminence. And then, if you look at the diagram, when you have time, after rapture, you'll see it says, the revival of the Roman Empire. The revival of the Roman Empire. We live in very momentous days, you know, momentous days. Many of us, many of us feel, many of us Christians feel that we are beginning to see the formation of that Roman Empire. The AAC, the Treaty of Rome, Common Market, that's the area which will be covered again by the revived Roman Empire. Now, I don't think we're seeing it in its final formation for any, for one moment, because people keep telling me, well, of course, there's more than ten members. And we know, of course, according to the Bible, there will be ten member states in the revived Roman Empire. Of course, well, that doesn't bother me very much, because I believe that when the church goes to heaven, things will move very, very fast, and it will form into its ten kingdom character then. But it's coming. Coming. And you know, you read the paper sometimes, and you say, dear, dear, they can't get it right in the Common Market. Butter markets, butter mountains, I mean, and milk lakes, and we can't seem to get it sorted out somehow. We can't get it sorted out. And they have their meetings, and things never seem to go right. They come together all at odds with each other, and they can't get it sorted out. You know, I'll tell you something, it won't be long before there'll be a man appears, and he'll say, I'll put it right. I'll put it right. He'll take over, and he'll sort it out all right. He's a man that the Bible talks about as the beast. The beast. That's the character of the man. That's the character of the man, the beast. Might look all right. He'll dazzle, dazzle multitudes, dazzle the crowds. Oh yes, and another man will, will say, oh yes, he'll make an image of this, of this man. And if anybody doesn't bow down to the image of the beast, they won't get anything to eat. They won't be able to buy, or sell, because they haven't got the mark of the beast. You know, I'm going to tell you something, friend. When the Lord Jesus comes to take his church to glory, his saints, this world will be a terrible place to live in. Terrible place to live in. I wouldn't like to be here. I won't be here. Oh, you say, you're sure? Yes, I'm sure. How are you sure? I'm resting upon the precious blood of Christ. That's why I'm sure I won't be here then. I put my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior when I was a boy of 14 years old. Goodly number of years have rolled by since then. I trusted Christ as my Savior when I was 14 years old. And I learned about redemption by blood. Oh, I learned about what the Savior did for me upon the cross. Yet we've been saying, yes, they crucified him there. But listen, behind it all was God's determinate counsel and foreknowledge. And God allowed him to go to the cross. And there he took the sinner's place. Took the sinner's place. You know the gospel is the greatest love story this world has ever known. Greatest love story you could ever read anywhere. If love stories turn you to tears, friend, the gospel should turn you to tears. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Why ever should God love me? Why should he set his love upon you? Because you're a sinner and in danger of perishing and that you might be saved and be given eternal life, he sent his Son to take the guilty culprit's place and suffer on the tree. Oh yes, wonderful, isn't it? Oh yes, I'm sure I won't be here. I won't be here when these terrible things fall upon this world. But believe me, the Bible tells me about them. I'm not talking fancy notions tonight. I'm not, we're not, we're not, we're not funny people here who believe some funny concocted ideas. We're not that, my friend. We believe the Bible, thank God, we believe the Bible. And when the Lord Jesus comes, he's coming to take his people, his people, Christians, believers, to be with himself forever. And this terrible man will appear and his friend, the false prophet, and well, this very, very soon it will be formed perfectly, this Roman Empire, but rather rather than be political, it comes from the abyss, from the abyss. It becomes devilish, devilish. But you know, Nebuchadnezzar saw this dream, didn't he? Head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, feet of iron and clay. The iron and clay tells me of the character of the Roman Empire after the church has gone to heaven. It'll be different to what it was before. There will be imperialism along with breaking up into ten kingdoms, which of course will weaken the Empire. When it's won its course, maybe around about three and a half or so years, maybe more, we read in our passage in the book of Daniel of this stone, cut out of the mountains, cut out without hands, and the stone, it falls upon the feet of the image and the whole thing comes down like this, the summer threshing floor, and it fills the world, it fills the earth. And you know, my friend, when all this world's kingdoms have passed away, when they've all gone, man in his pride, his greatness, his power he thinks, has had their day. It'll all be brought down. You know, the Bible says, he that exalteth himself shall be abased. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. It'll be brought down and this stone will fill the earth. And in place of a kingdom full of man's glory, there will be a kingdom full of God's glory. Instead of there being war and suspicion and mistrust amongst nations, there shall be peace. Peace. The world wants peace, doesn't it? People say, we cannot get it somehow, it seems to elude us. We try, something comes up and tips the balance and off we go again. Well, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, when he comes to reign, when he comes to reign, he set up his kingdom and it will be righteous, righteous and peace will be the result of it. Equity will exist. There won't be millions in the Sudan and Ethiopia starving then, starving with hunger. Things will be balanced, things will be equitable, things will be right under the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Stone cut out without hands, of course, tells me it's of divine origin, not human origin, not human origin, divine origin. A kingdom which will never be superseded by another in the hands of the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, the one who once suffered for you upon the cross of Calvary. That's the tale, you know, of the second chapter of Daniel. Daniel, this man, Nebuchadnezzar, I should say, he had a dream, you see, he had this dream and he forgot his dream, so he said, so he said. Very doubtful whether he ever forgot his dream, that's only my opinion. I think he was only trying to find out these crooks and wags that were astrologers and magicians and what have you. He asked them ridiculous things, tell me my dream and the interpretation at all and they said, man, Nebuchadnezzar, nobody's ever asked such a thing before. All right, he says, I'll cut you in pieces and make your houses like a dunghill. What a fierce chap he was, wasn't he, this Nebuchadnezzar. The edict went out, all these wise men must be slain and Daniel was one of them, you know, Daniel was one of them and he and his friends, you know, they got together, they got together. Daniel and his friends, they got together. You know what they did? I suppose, I suppose Daniel was really praying for his life because he would have been chopped up as well and his house made into a dunghill. So he and his friends, they prayed and God answered the prayer. God answers prayer, you know. Oh yes, many of us here have known what it is to have our prayers answered. God is a prayer answering God and Daniel got the light and he told them his dream, he told them interpretation and what I've been saying to you tonight was what he told them. The image and the stone smiting the feet of the image, it all came down like the chaff of the summer threshing floor. Well that's the story of Daniel 2. Prophetic? I'll say no more about that. But I do want to speak to you about the Lord Jesus Christ personally now because I think it's right to say that whilst the stone is the kingdom, him and his kingdom, yet the Bible does speak about him as the stone. Stone. Years ago, long long years ago before Daniel lived, Jacob. Jacob, before he died, he blessed his sons. He blessed his sons and when he was dealing with Joseph, he says the archers shot at him but his arms or the hands of his arms were made strong by the mighty God of Jacob from whence cometh the shepherd and the stone of Israel. You know my friend, we need a shepherd don't we? Oh we need a shepherd to lead us and to feed us and to guide us through life's stormy way. And we need a stone and I think the stone very very simply speaks about something secure. Security. Security. The stone. The Lord Jesus Christ are both of these, the stone and the shepherd. The shepherd to care and to feed and to care for us, lead us along life's way and one to rest our souls upon to give us stability and security when everything goes wrong. Then we read a little bit further on in the Bible and we come to a psalm. 118th psalm. These are the words, listen to the words of that psalm. Long before the Lord Jesus Christ came here, the psalmist as indicted by the Spirit of God, he wrote these words, the stone which the builders rejected the same has become the head of the corner. That was written years before the Son of God came into this world, to Bethlehem, to Calvary, years before. The stone which the builders rejected. Didn't want him did they? Didn't want him when he came. Another scripture says that they stumbled at the stumbling stone. What does that mean? They stumbled at the stumbling stone. Oh they were expecting a Savior to deliver them from the Romans. They were expecting a mighty king that would banish the enemies out of the land and give them a land back. Instead of that, instead of that he came the meek and lowly Jesus, a meek and lowly Jesus. Learn of me, learn of me, he says I'm meek and lowly in heart. Feeding the multitudes, giving sight to the blind, taking the children up into his arms, touching the leper, meeting every need that crossed his path. Oh how gracious he was. He had to say on one case, he said show me a penny. How poor he became. Oh yes they thought, they expected a great deliverer and well they just couldn't get over it and they stumbled over the stumbling stone. Yes he was rejected when he came here, rejected. The stone which the builders refused, set it not. They had nothing to do with it. It didn't fit into their schemes in one possible way. Rejected. Still rejected isn't he? Still rejected, the Lord is now rejected we sometimes sing and by the world disowned. Have you rejected him or have you accepted him? Everything depends upon it, everything depends upon it. The day will come when he will be set at the head of the corner, the headstone of the corner. The security of the coming kingdom will rest in the hands of the Christ of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. At the moment he's still rejected. 53rd chapter of Isaiah says he is despised and rejected. Doesn't say he was, it says he is. He is. Oh my friend, you must trust Christ as your Savior. You must get onto the right side, get onto his side. Make him your Lord and your Savior. Christian friends, make Christ to be the Lord in your life. Give him the proper place, the place he really should have in your life. See that your life is controlled by this wonderful person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is despised and rejected of men. Well, the words I've quoted from the psalm, you would notice, I think you would notice, when I read those few verses in the fourth chapter of Acts, that Peter quoted from that psalm, he quoted from that psalm. He had just been the means, he and John, Peter and John, of a miracle, of making a man that was a cripple, a lame man, to walk, to leap. And he got into trouble for it. That's how the world regards things, you know, isn't it? Got into trouble for it. He's pulled up in front of the Jewish leaders and asked to give an account of things. And he tells them, doesn't he, that it was by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom he crucified, whom God raised from the dead, it's by that man that this man stands whole before you today. And he says, he turns to them, I can see Peter, I can visualize Peter with his finger saying, the stone which the builders, which ye builders, he says, the stone which ye builders refused. Same is made ahead of the corner, ye builders. Oh, Peter accused them as hard as he possibly could, ye builders. Yes, they refused him, they refused him, nailed him to a cross, no place in their building. Thrown aside as worthless, is what the Scripture says, just thrown aside, no place for Christ in their schemes. Well, you know, it's a good thing, isn't it, to put Christ in the center of our lives, to trust him as our Savior. Remember what Peter goes on to say, listen to it, he goes on to say, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name given amongst men, whereby we must be saved. You have the, you have the word there, you have the word there, I can't add to it, I can't add anything to it really, the word itself is so plain and simple, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name given unto heaven among men, whereby we must be saved. Are you saved? The quiet and the gospel meeting, we've come to the close, I shan't overdo it, I promise, I shan't overshoot the mark tonight. Are you saved? Are you resting upon the death of Christ for salvation, or are you still resting upon your good works? Shall I quote you another verse about being saved, an easier one perhaps to understand. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, or Jesus is Lord, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. S-A-V-E-D. Well I haven't got anything more to say than that, the one who died upon the cross now lives, now lives, thank God we don't preach a dead Saviour, thank God he lives. God raised him from the dead, ascended up beyond every power and might and dominion, every name that is named, there he is upon the throne, but you know he can come down into your heart tonight and fill that heart of yours. Oh don't you, won't you trust him as your Saviour? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. May you do so for his namesake. Amen. …