The Greatest Thanksgiving Celebration Ever

Let's take our Bibles this morning, turn to Revelation chapter 11. We come now to the end of the trumpet judgments, the seventh trumpet, verses 15 through 19 of Revelation chapter 11. You follow as I read. Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.

And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came in the time for the dead to be judged and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth. Then God's temple in heaven was opened and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple.

There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. Let's pray. God, now, we pray that you would encourage us, strengthen us, help us in the battle in which we are engaged. We pray, Father, that we would look at this not as a means of satisfying our curiosity, but instead see this as it was intended to strengthen your people in the midst of a seductive and persecuting culture.

Would you help us now, as we come to grips with the text of Scripture, to hear your voice speak to us. And Father, we pray that the intention of this passage might be felt and might change us. for your glory and our good. In Jesus' name, amen. A few months ago, we were at the Columbus Airport waiting for the arrival of Annie from Spain. She spent three months there and we not seen her and we eagerly anticipated the reunion I remember standing at the gate peering looking very intently at everybody coming down that long hallway, hoping to see my daughter who I had not seen for quite some time.

I remember the excitement when I saw my little girl walking toward us. Arrivals are like that. They produce anticipation. It could be the arrival of a package, the arrival of your wife who's been gone for some time, the arrival of vacation. Do you ever notice how your attitude at work changes dramatically when your scheduled vacation is only two days away?

That anticipation does something to you. It helps you even maybe work better? Well, in our text this morning, our text this morning is all about an arrival. It's the arrival of the end. Now, how do we know that it's the arrival of the end? Well, you recall that in this book, the book of Revelation, it's not a chronological book.

It's not outlining for us the chronology of the future necessarily. Rather, it describes the age in which we live, the age from the ascension of Jesus to his return, but it shows us that age from several different perspectives. First we saw, we see this age from the perspective of the seven seals. And then we've seen so far this age from the perspective of the seven trumpets.

And what's yet to come is seeing this age from the perspective of the seven bowls. Now when you come to the last seal, the last trumpet or the last bowl, you've arrived at the end of the age. So here we are then at the seventh trumpet. We're at the end of this age. Seventh seal, seventh trumpet, seventh bowl, all described from a different perspective, the end.

We also know we're at the end because in verse 19, the very last part, it says there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and earthquake and heavy hail. We've seen those descriptive phrases used throughout this book to describe what happens at the end. Particularly that earthquake seems to be the core of it. And then as you proceed through the book a few more are added But nevertheless these things you find at the end of the age as described in chapter 6 At the end of the age as it described here in chapter 11 At the end of the ages is described here in chapter 11 at the end of the ages we going to see is described in chapter 16 Those recurring phenomena signal God's arrival at the end.

Now again, I just want to review here just for a moment. Why does God give us this book? Why does he go through the trouble of giving this book full of visions describing this age and the end of it. He does this not to satisfy our curiosity, but to equip us. You remember that the book of Revelation is written to God's people who are in a very seductive culture with all its comfort, with all its ease, with all its pleasures, with all it's stuff that is always trying to seduce the people of God.

And it's also written to people who are in a persecuting culture, who come after us because of our allegiance to Christ our King, and that this culture also persecutes us. So this book is given in order to equip us to withstand and persecution and to resist seduction. You recall as well that this is given to us so that we have hope that as it describes the great battle that we're in and it describes our great battle that we're engaged in against persecution and seduction, that it gives us hope by describing the realities behind the appearance.

The appearance being what we see is only the appearance And this book and all its symbols gives us the realities behind those appearances so we understand exactly what's going on and we have hope and understanding so that we can be successful in a persecuting and seductive age. Now in this text, chapter 11 now, he gives us a glimpse of the arrival of the end so that we will be strengthened, we will be encouraged in our battle against persecution and seduction. So you need to be encouraged then as you anticipate the arrival of the end.

I can say this enough I grew up in a tradition where the book of Revelation was this incredibly complex thing that had all kinds of stuff in it And you know who is the Antichrist and what is that and what does this mean and this seven years and that thing and all this and all was to satisfy our curiosity and all to tell us how to read the newspapers tomorrow and it wasn't about how are we going to live for christ that's what this book is about it's about jesus and how we're victorious in Christ and we share in the triumph of the Lamb at the very end. Well, the seventh angel sounds his trumpet and John hears the voices of the multitudes in heaven shout with loud voices, the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever. Be encouraged then because the kingdom arrives.

The kingdom arrives. Now, what do the voices mean when they say the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our God and his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever? When he uses the term kingdom of God, when the Bible uses the term kingdom of God, it is not speaking of territory. That's one thing we have to understand. It's not speaking of a particular geography or a territory ruled by God.

It means the kingdom of God means the rule and the reign of God. The kingdom is found wherever God is ruling. All right? That's where it's found. So the kingdom of this world is the kingdom that stands opposed to God. And when the end arrives and the kingdom arrives, it now ends its opposition to God and willingly submits.

The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. The opposition is now ended. All then is under the reign of God. But wait a minute, someone says to me, I've heard from this pulpit that God already reigns. I have heard over and over and over from your mouth and from many others in this congregation that God is sovereign, that God rules everything.

So what does this mean when it says the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ? I thought he already was ruling. Good question. In one sense, that is true. The whole of the universe, from every germ to every galaxy, from every sparrow to the hair on your head to the length of your days, to what nation wins what war, is all... under the sovereign control of God.

We know that because, for example, in Daniel chapter 4, verses 34 and 35, we hear the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar when he says, at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. And he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done?

Clearly, God is ruling. This is the kingdom where God controls his opposition. Let's think of it this way. This is the kingdom where God controls his opposition. There's nothing outside of his control, not even the opposition. It is under his control.

Every minute speck of the universe is under the rule of God. It is under his control. So this is the kingdom where God controls the opposition to his rule. But someone else objects, but didn't the kingdom of God arrive with power when Jesus appeared? And the answer again is yes. In Colossians chapter 1, verses 13 and 14, here's what we read.

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. All right, that's true, too. This is the redemptive rule of Christ. This is the redeeming rule of Jesus, where God actually redeems some of the opposition. Where some of those who oppose him are now redeemed and are on his side as they fight opposition.

So there we might say that God redeems some of his opposition. But now, in the book of Revelation, at this end, as we're seeing this description of the end, we find that the kingdom of God and of his Christ arrive and it eliminates his opposition. alright from controlling his opposition to redeeming some of the opposition now to eliminating it completely no more opposition the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ Everything now submits to the rule of God No more opposition as all of creation willingly submits now to God rule Willingly submits to God's rule. Here is the answer to the petition that Jesus taught us to pray.

Right? Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. as your will is done in heaven by all the angelic beings and there is no opposition to you in heaven may that happen here on earth. This is the answer to that prayer. The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. Everyone willingly submits. As we move on, the 24 elders then witnessing this as they somehow see this fall down on their faces before God.

They fall out of their thrones. They fall flat on their faces in honoring this great God. And they give him thanks because what they see is that the rule of God is founded on the character of God. Now, I want you to see this. This is, this is, this to me is fascinating. So I hope it's fascinating to you.

And if I'm not fascinated by it, you won't be. Maybe. Maybe. This is fascinating. to me. That the rule of God is based on his character. His character, what is it?

They praise God for what? They praise God for his power. The kingdom comes not because all of the forces of history are aligned just right so that he ends up ruling at the end. That's not what's going on. Okay? Do you know why the United States won the war of 1812?

I said, Boy, talk about what's not fascinating, Pastor. Well, let me just throw this by. You know why the United States was victorious against Britain in its second war against Great Britain in the War of 1812? It's because Great Britain was too tied up in Europe with Napoleon. It's not that we were that great. We just had a wimpy little army and a navy that barely could float.

Why on the world did we win the second time against one of the greatest powers in the world? because they were busy somewhere else. That's why. All the forces of history aligned themselves, so we won. They didn have time for us Basically we just fought a bunch of Canadians who are not very much stronger than we were That why we won But you see that not why God wins Because he's described here as the God who is and who was.

Now, what does John mean when he uses that term? Because we've seen this before, have we not? Only we've seen it in a kind of a different form, the God who was and who is and who is to come, right? And we've seen that before in this book. What does that mean? It means that God transcends history.

God is above history. God is above the events of this world. He is and he is who was. He transcends history. He is sovereign over it, not subject to it. You follow?

It goes according to the way he wants to. He's not trying to get all lined up with everything so it comes out good for him in the end. God is sovereign over the course of history. So the kingdom arrives because of who he is, the God who was and who is. And instead of now saying, and the God who is to come, he uses another phrase. the God who is to come speaking of the future means taking your great power and beginning to reign it is because of the power of God that the kingdom arrives for you have taken your great power and begun to reign the kingdom arrives because of the power of God because of the character of God he is called here what?

Lord Almighty, the Lord of hosts you see what does that look like? What does a kingdom look like? You know what it looks like? Peace. You know why it's peace? We need to think here in a Hebrew kind of a way of thinking.

You all know the word shalom, right? That's the Hebrew word for peace. What does that mean? You know what it means? It doesn't just mean the absence of conflict. You know what?

The absence of conflict is not peace. That's just people rearming themselves for the next war. All right. What is peace? Peace is everything operating in the way that God intends it. Okay.

Now think about that. Peace is when everything operates the way God intends it God kingdom has arrived The kingdom of this world is now submitted Everything is under There is no opposition to the rule and the reign of God Everything now in all creation operates the way God intended it Now think about this. A life where there's no more arguments between people. that's beyond my scope that's almost beyond imagining isn't it to be human for most of us is to get into a fight but we'll be operating the way we always should have we'll be willingly submitting all of us willingly submitting to the reign and the rule of God means we'll just be operating with each other the way God always intended right all of creation creation rebels against God right that's why we have to fight the earth to live it's not going to be that way the other night beck and i just went out took our chairs out and sat in the sat in the garden to watch the moon come up i'm thankful for my wife i'd never done that years ago i never would have occurred to me still doesn't she just said do you want to go out watch the moon come up and i said okay she loves it and i love it because she loves it but it's really great to watch the moon come up when it's full.

It was going to be full that night. And it was just neat to see, even under the curse of sin, it was so cool to sit out in that garden and see a whole system operating that we've not seen before. A night time, dusk time kind of life. Which included as we were sitting there, bats dropping out from behind a door in our barn, one by one. And that was really cool.

Just, and they'd take off. And another one would drop. And they'd take off. And then two more would drop. That was cool. All right, now even under the curse of sin, to see all that stuff.

You know, and the chimney swifts flying around. Then the bats joining them. And the moon coming up. That was so cool. Now that's life under the curse of sin. Imagine. and maybe there'll be bats on the new earth, I don't know.

There certainly won't be mosquitoes. But everything, everything just operating together the way God intends it. That's what it means when it says the kingdom of the sword has become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ. Everything's operating. It means peace, peace beyond anything we've ever imagined. The kingdom then arrives with peace.

That should encourage us. As we look forward then, we see the kingdom arrives with peace. I can keep going. I will not be seduced, and I will not crumble under persecution, because the end is coming when everything will be the way it should be. no persecution, no desires being drawn out in ways that are just awful and corrupting, but just desires operating the way they should.

You see? The kingdom arrives with peace. Be encouraged because judgment arrives. Verse 18, The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear in aim, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth. Now, judgment arrives. You need to be encouraged.

You need to be strengthened. You need to be ready for the fight. Because when you look to the future, you're going to see that judgment arrives. Now comes what John calls in verse 14, the third woe. Verse 14, the second woe has passed. Behold, the third woe is soon to come.

What is that third woe? It's this trumpet blast. Now you remember, the other two woes are parts of those plagues that God is sending on the earth dwellers, the idolaters, the unbelievers in this book. And he's sending those plagues. Remember, we're in this age in which God sends plagues. plagues that harden the hearts of people plagues that get the world ready for the great exodus that's going to come when Jesus appears and God manifests his glory like he did in the original exodus but now this third woe comes it's worse than the other two plagues because this is the ultimate woe this is the ultimate woe this is where God arrives with judgment and here we step back for a moment and ask John how does the conquering kingdom arrive and he says it arrives with the wrath of God it arrives with the wrath of God that kingdom that means peace is going to explode on the scene with the accompanying fury of God Here is the horrifying listen to me I want every one of you to listen to me now Some of you young people are checking out already.

I can tell by your faces, I want you to listen to me now. This is the horrifying spectacle of the unalterable fury, wrath of God. That's what he's talking about here. Now at last the time of reckoning has come and God unleashes his fury. now keep in mind that this wrath is not some irrational excessive explosion of anger it's not an irritable spasm of cruelty it is not god flying off the handle we want to too often think of the wrath of god in our terminology with our corrupt anger god's anger is always righteous god's anger is pure.

Right? It is the righteous expression of anger against those who have defied him. I want you to listen to William Grinnell. He's a Puritan. And I've edited a little bit so it's not so much in that old way of talking, but listen to him. Every one of you listen now.

This is important. Here's what he said. When I consider how the goodness of God has been abused by the greatest part of mankind, I cannot but be of this mind that said, the greatest miracle in the world is God's patience and bounty to an ungrateful world. If a prince has an enemy that gets into one of his towns, he does not send them in provision, but lays close seeds to the place and does what he can to starve them.

But the great God that could wink all his enemies into destruction bears with them, and it is at daily cost to maintain them. Well may he command us to bless them that curse us, who himself does good to the evil and unthankful. But think not, sinners, that you shall escape thus God milk goes slow but grinds small The more admirable his patience and bounty now is the more dreadful and unsupportable will that fury be which arises out of his abused goodness Nothing smoother than the sea yet when stirred into a tempest, nothing rages more.

Nothing so sweet as the patience and goodness of God and nothing so terrible as his wrath when it takes fire. Do you see what he's saying? Do not think that God's flying off the handle. Do not think that God is having this irrational explosion of anger and he's lost his temper. That is not the case. For century after century, millennia after millennia, he has given and he has given out of his goodness and he has given out of his goodness and people spit in his face.

It's as if your father gave you everything that you had and you slapped him in the face and said, I don't owe you anything. Leave me alone as you drive away in the car that he just gave you. Do you think he'd have a right to be angry? God has a right to be angry. And you see that when his wrath arrives, it's time for judgment. It's not God flying off the handle.

It is God coming now in judgment. The end has arrived and justice must be served. And he says all the dead are called or summoned before the judge who will now give an account. He comes, he says in the last part here, verse 18, to destroy the destroyers of the earth. Those who sow seeds of greed and suspicion and corruption and hostility that seduce human beings into rebellion against this good God.

These are the ones who violate the earth and its inhabitants. Do not think that God is unfair. He is not unfair. For he arrives now to see that all accounts are squared. We live in an unjust world. Would you agree?

Is the world we live in unjust? certainly it is there is injustice all around us I saw a news story I don't know a week ago or so about some Cambodian guys who had finally made it to trial they were henchmen of Pol Pot some of you aren't old enough even to remember who Pol Pot is some of you don't even know who he is but when Southeast Asia started collapsing when the United States pulled out of Vietnam and Vietnam went communist Cambodia went communist and we went communist with a vengeance And this guy named Pol Pot swept into power and literally killed one million of his countrymen, sent them to re-education camps where they're re-educated to death. three of those men were on trial a few weeks ago Pol Pot has never been on trial he has escaped justice or has he? no he has not no he has not he will stand before the bar of God's justice you see now before you walk away saying before you walk away saying well I'm glad for God's justice God doesn't just go after the heavy hitters either alright he's not just going after the heavy hitters let me ask you are you hiding anything from your parents are you doing things that you know they wouldn't like Are you involved in stuff and keeping it from your mom and dad? You'll stand before the bar of justice someday. How about your job?

No, no, no. Not your job. How about your complaining about your job? That is a sin against the goodness of God. Do you realize that? When you complain about your job, you're slapping God in the face and saying, God, you give me a raw deal here.

What about the harsh words and the heated argument? What about the sins of omission? What about the fact that we in this country know about these poor starving people all over the world and we just live in comfort and luxury and don't even think twice about it? When we hear about millions who don't have the gospel, we yawn and say, that was a boring missionary speaker.

See, God's justice. It goes from the greatest to the least in our eyes. There is no one who will escape the justice of God. Do you hear? Everyone will be summoned before the bench. Everyone.

Every one of you who is looking at me now will be looking at the judge someday. This is punishment serving justice. But by the way, What else does he talk about here? He talks about reward. There's reward when judgment arrives. Who is it to?

It is to his servants, to the prophets and the saints, to those who fear your name. You know what the greatest expression of the fear of God is? Embracing Jesus Christ. And saying, Lord God, I know of your judgment. But I know that He's taken my judgment, and I embrace Him. You'll be ready to stand then, and you'll be ready for the reward that He's going to give.

The reward here is the reward of vindication. The reward of vindication. The oppressors of God's people will be punished, and His people will be vindicated before them. Turn over to 1 John for a moment. This kind of says it in a short little compass. 1 John chapter 3. verse 1 see what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called what? children of God and so we are the reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him beloved we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared but we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is and everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure you know what he's saying there He says, the world persecutes you because they don't know you're God's children.

You know, Mark Twain wrote a book one time called The Prince and the Pauper, in which this poor little guy named Tom Canty, who looks a lot like Edward VII, somehow their paths cross, and they say, hey, let's trade places. And so here's Edward getting abused and yelled at and beaten, and he keeps telling people, stop it, I am Edward, the son of the king. and they laugh at him and they make fun of him Right Why Because he doesn look like a prince He doesn look like the Prince of Wales He doesn look like the one who going to succeed to the throne He's just a poor kid. That's how the world looks at us.

They go on, though. Listen to the media today. Listen to the media today and try to figure out who are the perpetrators of evil in this world today. Who are the perpetrators of evil in this world? You know who they are? They're the narrow-minded bigots who believe that marriage is just for a man and a woman.

You bigoted, narrow-minded, evil, wicked person. The evildoers are those who believe that each person is responsible for his own actions and that he can't blame anybody else. You heartless, cruelists! Who do you think you are? The wicked are those who propose that God has indeed revealed certain, non-negotiable, definite laws that define what's right and wrong.

You wicked. Isn't that what you hear all the time today? It is, isn't it? You can't be the people of God. God's love, and you're not loving. You're intolerant, narrow-minded, bigoted, wicked, evil people.

Guess what? You know what he says here? When judgment arrives, God's people will be vindicated. All right. It's going to be that God is actually going to say, hey, they're right. You're wrong.

That's our reward. We will be vindicated. I love the confession that we confess today. From the Belgic Confession. I love this part where it said, talking about us, Their innocence shall be known to all, and they shall see the terrible vengeance which God shall execute on the wicked, who most cruelly persecuted, oppressed, and tormented them in this world.

Our cause will be vindicated. It will be vindicated. We don't have to get nasty now. We don't have to go after people now. We can love our enemies now. Why?

Because in the end, we'll be vindicated. That should strengthen you for the course ahead. Now, don't think that God's only going to vindicate the heavy hitters. He not going to just vindicate the heavy hitters He going to vindicate what Both the small and the great It not just going to be that Al Mohler is going to be held up and said you know what Larry King made fun of you on his nationwide radio program You're right, Al.

It's also going to be you who vindicated. Who people have made snide, mean-spirited remarks about you because of your allegiance to Christ. You'll be vindicated too, both the great and the small. I can remember one time I was involved in a pretty intense confrontation. All right. It was intense.

A little bit of police involvement here, you know. That's part of life as a pastor. And I was involved in this confrontation. And I was with this group of guys. And things were pretty tense. Someone mentioned Pastor Tim.

And one of the guys over here said, Pastor Tim, who's that? I said, I am. He looked at me and says, I wondered who you are. You are nothing but, and I won't finish the sentence. okay now the you know what my first reaction was my first reaction all right that's the flesh but god in his grace calmed that down right away and the next thought that came into my mind was well maybe i'm doing something right If they hate me, maybe I'm doing something right.

All right. Even those small things. In those areas, every one of us will be vindicated who have trusted in Christ and have given our allegiance to that king. We all will be vindicated, both the small and the great. So then judgment arrives with justice. lastly he says be encouraged because god arrives verse 19 this is the one that tops them all god arrives on the scene when god's temple in heaven was opened and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple and and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple there were flashes of lightning rumblings peals of thunder and earthquake and heavy hail now when you look at that that phenomenon that's in the last part of the verse they ought to look familiar to you.

Because when you read the Old Testament, you see those things appear whenever there's a theophany. Now, what's a theophany? A theophany is when God's glory or God's presence is manifested in some way For example when God descended to Mount Sinai when the people of Israel come out of Egypt and they met at Mount Sinai God descended to the top of that mountain And with that were all these earthquakes, lightnings, rumblings, all of that was going on.

And when you read the Old Testament, when you see those things, here's what the message is. God's here. Okay? So the end arrives with the arrival of God. And these things signal that God is there. For example, in our flock group on Wednesday nights here, we're reading through the book of 1 Samuel.

We sit in a circle and we read through the chapter or three, however we're reading, and then we talk about that chapter. And I don't know if you in the flock have noticed, but in chapter 12, when the people are kind of saying some things to Samuel, He says, I'm going to pray now, essentially, that the Lord appears. And what happens? There's a thunderstorm.

And this stuff comes down. And everyone's afraid that their harvest is going to get wrecked. We see, what is that a sign of? That's a sign, hey, God's. God's arriving. All right?

So that's what's going on here. God arrives. But this is not just a small, if you want to put it that way, manifest of his glory. This is now cosmic in scale. The whole world, the whole universe is going to see this. This earthquake and hail and everything is a sign God has arrived.

But John sees something else. It's the Ark of the Covenant, clearly visible in the temple. He has this vision, and he's looking up, and he sees the Ark of the Covenant. Now, do you remember what the Ark of the Covenant was? The Ark of the Covenant was that box of acacia wood, and on the top was a gold top to it with two cherubim facing each other. Remember that?

In the box were the Ten Commandments on stone. They were in the box. And Aaron's rod that budded and a jar of manna. All of them in that box. That box was in the most holy place in the tabernacle and then later in the temple. and that gold cover was the mercy seat and on the day of atonement the high priest would go in before that ark and sprinkle blood on that mercy seat to atone for the sins of the people of god for another year that's the ark of the covenant and and john sees it now sitting in the of God visible for all to see.

So the producers of the Raiders of the Lost Ark are wrong. The Ark of the Covenant is not in some warehouse somewhere. But neither is it in heaven. It's not in heaven either. It's gone. This is a vision.

Remember, we don't think in terms of photographs. We think in terms of symbols. He sees the Ark. It doesn't mean that somehow when Jerusalem was destroyed, the Ark was taken to heaven. It wasn't. But what we see here is a vision of the Ark.

What do we see? We actually see it. The curtain's gone. You see? It's gone. Everybody can see it.

People couldn't see it as it sat in the temple. It was behind this curtain, and no one could go back there. No one could go back there but one person, the high priest, and he can only go one day in a year. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. But now it's there for everyone to see. What was the Ark representing?

The ark represented the presence of God amongst his people. And when the high priest went in to make atonement, he made atonement so that God would remain among his people for another year. You read the prayer of Moses. I was just reading it this morning. Where Moses says, God, God, God, God, we can't go on without you. You're talking about leaving.

We can't go on without you. You have to be with us. So here is the hope of God's people. God's presence with us. But you see, with the view of the ark now, he's saying God has arrived to be with us forever. And to be with us in an intense way that we've never experienced before.

More than what you experiencing now God will dwell with us in a way where we can enjoy God presence We can bask in his presence We can enjoy God when he arrives so when God arrives he arrives with his joyful presence so what arrives on that last day on the day when the angel sounds the seventh trumpet God's kingdom arrives with peace God's wrath arrives with justice God's presence arrives with joy peace, justice and joy arrive and you know what, that should strengthen you peace justice and joy are coming withstand be faithful be victorious over this culture that would seek to envelop you in ease and comfort and stuff and be strengthened against persecution. When that day arrives, what will you experience? Not everyone will experience peace and joy.

That's reserved for those who have faced the justice of God in Christ. See here? Here is Jesus. Here is God's demands that we obey Him. and we've failed miserably, and God's justice demands our death. But Jesus freely died, and His death becomes yours. There's the justice of God in Christ.

If you embraced Him then you are safe I must say this Some of you I am convinced sitting here this day will face God's justice without an advocate. And you will. you will experience the fury of God you won't make excuses you will not be crying that God is unfair you will know that Jesus is Lord and that what you have done deserves all the fury that will be unleashed against you some of you have grown up in this church you've heard the gospel over you've heard it and you still remain unrepentant in your sins do not do not court disaster and that is what you're doing earlier it was said in our service I believe it was when Greg was praying this is the day of salvation. This is the day.

Some of you think this is a nice place to come to and you've enjoyed yourself here, but you have not seen the justice of God declaring you innocent because of Jesus. There is a day coming. There's a day of unremitting, unalterable, perfect justice. You must be prepared for that. you must be flee to Christ embrace Jesus you've heard the gospel the only thing left for you to do is simply to cry out for mercy that all and it settled God as we anticipate that day we anticipate peace and justice and joy.

Father, strengthen us, I pray. Strengthen us in this culture to see that the justice of God will not allow the comfortable, easy life that makes an idol out of all that is offered to us. God, help us to see Your justice so that we withstand. Help us to see the joy of God being more than the possessions that we have. And that we can enjoy Him and we'll enjoy Him for our eternity.

Remind us of your peace that your kingdom brings. Oh, Father, we long for that perfect harmony. Oh, God, in your grace, help us then in the culture in which we live. In light of this approaching day, would you strengthen us? And God, in light of that approaching day, I would plead for those here today who have never claimed allegiance to Jesus, some of them who have heard the gospel over and over and over again, O God, make this day real to them so in the light of that future they will flee to Christ now.

Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for Your Word. We pray this in the name of our mighty King Jesus. Amen.