[0:00] Turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel 7. 2 Samuel 7.
[0:18] We'll read verses 1 through 14. Again, reading of God's promise to David. After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, Here I am, living in a palace of cedar while the ark of God remains in a tent.
[0:49] Nathan replied to the king, Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you. That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David this is what the Lord says.
[1:05] Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day.
[1:18] I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, Why have you not built me a house of cedar?
[1:34] Now then, tell my servant David, This is what the Lord Almighty says. I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel.
[1:48] I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great like the names of the greatest men of the earth, and I will provide a place for my people Israel, and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed.
[2:12] Wicked people will not oppress them anymore as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from your enemies.
[2:25] The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you. When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.
[2:49] He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son.
[3:01] When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men and with floggings inflicted by men. Let's hear the word of God. Amen. I was handed a card by Trevor Michael, one of Roger's sons, last evening, in which he said, thank you for the gospel message at his father's funeral.
[3:36] And then he said to you, Grace Fellowship Church, thank you for the meal. It was very generous of you. Dad loved his time while he was with you.
[3:48] Some of you will remember that Roger and Theus were friends of Sharon Stuber, and it was at her home, actually at the Martins' home, that I first met Roger and Theus, as they were visiting Sharon at the same time I was.
[4:08] And then they came to the funeral, and then they started coming, and they've been with us ever since. Two years ago, Roger got COVID, and he just kept getting worse and worse and lost the use of his legs and was starting to lose the use of his hands and just growing weaker and weaker.
[4:35] And so he wasn't able to be with us as often as he would have liked, but he did delight in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[4:46] You know, it's a joy to preach a gospel message at a funeral, but then it's a tremendous joy to welcome the family into a church that's provided a meal for them.
[4:58] And I know many of you had a busy weekend with both a shower to provide for as well as the meal, to set up, to bring food in, to serve it, to clean up.
[5:10] There was a lot that was done, and I think it just commends the gospel. And I'm so thankful for you and the way that you did that this weekend. It's been some time since we've been in 2 Samuel.
[5:23] It's like a diamond that you turn it, and whatever position you look at it from, it has new glories that invite our studies. We've seen that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of this Davidic covenant, promising a king from David's line who would reign forever and ever.
[5:44] The last time we saw that there are two things came with this promised king, two changes that came to Israel. The first was a new constitution for Israel, a new covenant that replaced the old Mosaic covenant.
[6:00] And with that new covenant, sealed in Jesus' blood, came new citizens of the kingdom of Israel. Because with the coming of the new covenant and the work of Christ on the cross, unbelieving Jews were pruned out of the people of God, and believing Gentiles were grafted in.
[6:22] So there came a change upon the Israel of God. And so the promises to Israel in this covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7 are being fulfilled today in the newly constituted kingdom of Israel made up of believing Jews and Gentiles, the church of Jesus Christ.
[6:46] Now I want to show you two more things before we leave this chapter. Two more things that came with this promised Messiah king of David, both of which are seen here in 2 Samuel 7.
[7:00] The first is a land of undisturbed peace and rest. The second is the building of the house of God by David's son.
[7:12] We'll look at that one next time. But for tonight, we're looking at the Davidic promise of a land of undisturbed peace and rest. Now this is a most relevant topic for us today.
[7:25] We live in a wonderful land of freedom and a measure of law and order that many in the world know nothing of. And we should be a most thankful people for that kind providence.
[7:36] But we must surely agree that we do not live in a land of undisturbed peace and rest by any stretch. We have murderers and mass murderers stalking the land, turning our schools and shopping places into bloody nightmares.
[7:54] We have violent gangs roaming the streets. We live in a world where those that hate us have nuclear weapons that can reach us. We have terrorists living among us who could spread plagues with their biological warfare and create all kinds of havoc.
[8:10] We have riots, increasing breakdown of law and order. And on and on we could go. All sorts of threats that disturb the peace, that shake up the rest that we are enjoying.
[8:27] A new drug-resistant fungus, cancers, life-threatening diseases, old age, which is itself a disease that disturbs our peace, natural disasters, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, fires, floods, famines, economic and political disasters, and all the other things that keep you up at night worrying.
[8:53] We simply do not live in a land of undisturbed peace and rest. In fact, no one really has since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden.
[9:04] But here's the good news. A land of undisturbed peace and rest is coming for all the citizens of God's kingdom. And that promise is found here in this great chapter of the Bible, 2 Samuel 7, so please have your Bibles open to it.
[9:22] To be sure, the promise that gets front and center stage in this chapter is the promise of a dynasty of Davidic kings, and one of which that will reign forever.
[9:35] But there are other promises surrounding this forever king and kingdom. And I don't want you to miss this. So in 2 Samuel 6 and 7, God would not rest until He had given His people rest.
[9:52] But it's not enough to have a home of their own. That would be the promised land. It must be a home in which they are secure and no longer disturbed of what use is a mansion in Ukraine if Russia is your neighbor.
[10:12] And so look what He says in verse 10 and following. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed.
[10:28] What do you mean? Wicked people will not oppress them anymore as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel.
[10:39] I will also give you rest from all your enemies. A place for my people Israel. And I will plant them in that place which speaks of stability and permanence.
[10:53] no longer roaming about a home of their own and with security of no longer being disturbed.
[11:06] Disturbed by what? He says wicked people who oppress them and have been oppressing them from the very beginning. Think back to the Egyptian bondage and the oppression for hundreds of years there as slaves in a foreign land.
[11:20] Think of all the people that oppressed them during the cycle of the judges as God would raise up nations to punish them. But no, he says wicked people will not oppress anymore.
[11:34] I will also give you rest from all your enemies. So here is the promise of a land of undisturbed peace and rest for God's people Israel.
[11:46] Now this is not the first time God had promised such a place for Israel. But here it is attached now to the coming of the Davidic king who is to reign forever.
[11:58] This land and this place of undisturbed rest and peace is to be the result of Messiah's reign in perfect righteousness and justice forever and ever.
[12:11] Do you remember years ago in this Sunday school class we studied the kingdom of God and we defined it and we first traced it from the Garden of Eden right through to the new heavens and the new earth.
[12:25] We define God's kingdom as God's people in God's place under God's rule and blessing. Say that with me. God's people in God's place under His rule and blessing.
[12:42] That's right, under God's rule and blessing. Let's do it once more. God's people in God's place under God's rule and blessing. That's worth memorizing because it holds together the great storyline of the Bible.
[12:59] And so in the Garden of Eden there was peace and rest for Adam and Eve. They were in God's place in His presence.
[13:10] And even there though, the peace was disturbed, wasn't it? It was disturbed by a snake, that old dragon, the devil, who by getting them to sin got them kicked out of that place of perfect peace and rest.
[13:22] And ever since, mankind has been living in a cursed world without this undisturbed peace and rest. So that's Genesis 3, Genesis 4.
[13:34] Abel's peace is disturbed by his own brother Cain murdering him. Genesis 6. The whole earth is so corrupt and full of violence that God wipes the face of the whole human population except for Noah, a total of eight people kept alive in the ark.
[13:54] And that restored peace after the flood, that restored rest, was soon again disturbed by all kinds of sin and violence and injustice. So the whole earth has been groaning for this rest.
[14:11] The promise of a homeland for God's people goes all the way back to the father of the Jews, Abraham, in Genesis chapter 12. Remember God said to him, leave your home in Ur of the Chaldees, go to a land I will show you and give you.
[14:27] And so he went by faith. And he and his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob lived in tents as strangers in the land of promise. And then famine hit and took them to Egypt where Joseph was ruler.
[14:43] And the whole family of 72 people moved to Egypt. But after Joseph died, another Pharaoh that did not know Joseph rose up. And the Israelites were oppressed as slaves in Egypt.
[14:56] God called Moses to bring them out of Egypt into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So after 40 years in the desert, they're now on the border of the promised land.
[15:09] And Moses tells the Israelites before they cross the Jordan to go in in Deuteronomy 12.10, but you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety.
[15:28] Well, Joshua led them in that conquest into the land. But not all their enemies were driven out. Some remained as thorns in their sides.
[15:40] Yet, after 21 chapters of battles fought, as we come to the end of Joshua, we read this. So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers and they took possession of it and settled in it.
[15:55] The Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to the forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them. The Lord handed all their enemies over to them.
[16:07] But that rest did not last long at all. For after Joseph died or Joshua died, another generation rose up that knew not the Lord.
[16:20] And that's the book of Judges. There were still Canaanites in the land. Israel had refused to drive them out completely and they became thorns in their sides and their gods became a snare to them.
[16:33] Israel forsook the Lord and worshipped the Baals, the various gods of the people around them and this provoked God to anger. And so he handed them over to raiders who plundered them and he gave them over into the hands of enemies all around as the Lord fought against them.
[16:51] And then they'd cry out to the Lord for mercy and he'd raise up judges who would deliver them from their enemies and grant them peace until they turned aside to idols and the whole cycle just kept going round and round.
[17:06] There was no undisturbed peace and rest that remained. And then the Israelites wanted a king like the other nations. Saul was made king but there was no rest.
[17:19] He had constant wars. The Amalekites, the Philistines. David was then made king over the two tribes. And then there was civil war with the other ten tribes and the two kingdoms.
[17:34] The ten tribes against the two tribes. Until finally they were united under David's rule. But there were still lots of wars that David fought.
[17:45] He conquers Jerusalem and he brings the ark there. Builds his palace there. And so here we are in 2 Samuel 7-1 after the king was now settled in his palace in Jerusalem.
[17:57] The Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him. David wants to build a house for the Lord. And the Lord says, no, I'll build you a house. A house of kings. And it's then that the Lord promises to provide a place for his people Israel.
[18:15] A home of their own. No longer disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore as they have. I will give you rest from all your enemies.
[18:27] Now again, what we see in these promises and we'll see it again with the building of the house of the Lord. It was Solomon, the next son of David that built the house of the Lord.
[18:37] But that doesn't fulfill what was being promised here. It would be Jesus, David's greater son who would build the house of the Lord. And so it is with this peace that God gave to David at this time.
[18:50] Yes, there was peace from his enemies but it did not last. You remember Solomon. Yes, Solomon reigned in relative peace for his reign. But you remember when, well even before that, Absalom under David's reign led a revolt against his father.
[19:10] There was definitely not undisturbed rest. But Solomon, though he did have a peaceful reign, when he died, civil war broke out and divided the kingdom then into the northern and southern kingdom.
[19:24] And the whole record of the kings is a record of what? Of war and wars. Eventually, God had enough of their wickedness and raised up powerful nations against them.
[19:35] First, the northern kingdom went into captivity to the Assyrians and then the southern kingdom went into captivity to the Babylonians. So undisturbed peace and rest was little more than an unrealized dream for Israel.
[19:51] But 2 Samuel 7 establishes a connection between this promised peace and rest in the land with the promised eternal reign of this coming king of David.
[20:05] In other words, this promised undisturbed peace and rest will only be fulfilled under this king who would reign forever who is Jesus Christ. And so the succeeding prophets, the last half of our Old Testaments, continue to connect this period, this everlasting period of undisturbed peace and rest with the everlasting reign of Jesus Christ.
[20:30] I want to survey some of the prophets. I begin with Isaiah 9, 6 and 7, a familiar passage for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, the government will be upon his shoulders and he'll be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.
[20:51] Oh, he will bring peace and of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. what have we seen?
[21:03] The end of this period of peace and security, always disturbed, but of the increase of his peace and government, his reign, there will be no end.
[21:14] No end to his reign and no end to his peace. He'll reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
[21:29] The zeal of the Lord will accomplish this. So the peace is to come with Messiah's government, his kingdom, his rule. And notice the peace lasts as long as his kingdom.
[21:41] It is without end. That's chapter 9 of Isaiah. Chapter 11 says that this Messiah king will judge the earth with righteousness. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, with the breath of his lips.
[21:56] He will slay the wicked. And only then when the wicked are slain and removed will there be peace. For what follows?
[22:08] Isaiah 11, 6-9. Then the wolf will live with the lamb. You've seen that lately? Then the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf with the lion, and the yearling together.
[22:20] And a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear. And their young will lie down together and the lion will eat straw like an ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.
[22:35] They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain. In that day, the root of Jesse, that's this promised king of David, will stand as a banner for the peoples.
[22:48] The nations will rally to him and his place of rest will be glorious. Under Messiah's reign, nothing to threaten harm, to disturb their rest.
[23:04] Chapter 32, 17 and 18 of Isaiah, the fruit of righteousness will be peace. He's going to reign in righteousness. What will be the fruit of that reign? Absolute peace.
[23:15] The effect of righteousness? Quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.
[23:29] You hearing the echo of 2 Samuel 7? Undisturbed places of rest. When? When Messiah, the king, comes to reign forever. Chapter 60, your gates will always stand open.
[23:44] Speaking of Jerusalem, they'll never be shut day or night so that men may bring you the wealth of the nation. You see, there's no need to shut them. There's no threat. There are no enemies to protect them from.
[23:59] I will make peace, your governor, and righteousness, your ruler. No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders. Then will all your people be righteous, and they will possess the land forever.
[24:14] That's why there'll be perfect peace. Everyone will be righteous. The new heavens and the new earth is called the home of righteousness. So Jeremiah prophesies the same thing.
[24:27] God is going to gather his scattered people. Jeremiah 23, 4-6, They will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing. The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous branch, a king.
[24:43] That's the name for Messiah. Who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved. In his days, Israel will live in safety.
[24:55] This is the name by which he will be called the Lord, our righteousness, and then they will live in their own land. Micah, chapter 4, verses 3 and 4.
[25:08] They will beat their swords into plowshares, talking of the many nations that will come to the house of the Lord to be taught his ways. They will beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks.
[25:21] In other words, military weapons will be re-outfitted for agricultural use. Nations will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
[25:33] Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree. That's a sign of perfect peace when you're sitting under your own vine and fig tree without any threats, drinking your lemonade without any worries at all.
[25:46] and no one will make them afraid for the Lord Almighty has spoken. Well, nobody but the Almighty can accomplish that. We're talking about this world where you and I live.
[26:00] No one will make them afraid. This coming Davidic king to be born in Bethlehem, Micah 5, 4, says he'll stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord and in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God and they will live securely for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth and he will be their peace.
[26:25] Charlie quoted from Isaiah 46, 1 that God is never present help in trouble. But that psalm goes on to say that there will be a day when there will be no more trouble.
[26:38] verses 6, 8, and 9. Nations are in uproar. Kingdoms fall. He lifts his voice. The earth melts.
[26:49] That's it. Just lift his voice. It's over. Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth.
[27:03] He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the shields with fire. In other words, he brings a lasting undisturbed peace to the ends of the earth with all weapons destroyed.
[27:19] You know, the U.S. military spends nearly 16% of our entire federal budget $782 billion last year.
[27:34] You know, that won't be necessary to spend on military anymore because he makes wars cease to the ends of the earth and the nations will not train for war anymore.
[27:47] Think of all the nations of the world and all their military spending. Not to be in that day. So, God's promise of a homeland of undisturbed peace and rest is to be fulfilled in Jesus Christ, this great king who reigns forever.
[28:07] Only he is able to bring his people into their final and perfect rest. When he was born king of the Jews, John the Baptist's father, Zechariah, prophesied by the Holy Spirit in Luke 1, 69 and 70, saying, the God of Israel has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David as he said through his holy prophets of long ago, salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant.
[28:42] The oath he swore to our father Abraham to rescue us from the hand of our enemies and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him.
[28:52] all our days. Those promises were to be fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
[29:05] But what the New Testament revealed is that they would not be fulfilled at his first coming. That in fact, what the Old Testament saw just as one coming of the Lord was in fact two comings with now 2,000 years between and this promised land of undisturbed peace and rest was not something that he was going to fulfill at his first coming but only at his second coming.
[29:34] The New Testament makes that clear. In the Old Testament they saw darkly and much more clear in the New Testament.
[29:46] At his second coming, 2 Thessalonians 1 says when Jesus Christ is revealed from heaven and blazing fire with his powerful angels to punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people.
[30:10] So peace only comes to his holy people when judgment comes upon his and their enemies. that's the way it's been.
[30:22] That's how peace came to Noah in his family by the judgment of the flood upon that violent world that righteous Noah lived in and that's the way it will be at the end of the day.
[30:36] Peace comes to God's people as judgment comes to his enemies. But for now our Davidic king according to Psalm 110 reigns in the midst of his enemies.
[30:52] For now he prepares a table before us his people where? In the presence of his enemies. Which is to say we have not yet reached this undisturbed peace and rest.
[31:08] Something more is promised. God's people and God's place in a land of undisturbed peace and rest under the eternal rule forever reign and blessing of Jesus the Messiah from David.
[31:25] So though man since the fall in Genesis 3 has not known this undisturbed peace and rest yet man still yearns for it. It's like it's in our DNA.
[31:36] We had it and we lost it and we want it back. Think of all the failed attempts to recover this undisturbed peace and rest.
[31:49] Think back to World War I. What was that called? The war to end all wars. How'd that work out? But you see we long for that and just in calling that war the war to end all wars it was it's revealing this we were made for peace and security that's undisturbed nothing to arouse fear and worry.
[32:21] Think back to the peaceniks some of you are too young to remember but back in the 60's during the Vietnam War singing all we want is to give peace a chance just give peace a chance.
[32:37] what a naive generation that was as if peace had never been given a chance for 6,000 years it had never been given a chance just be pacifists who never go to war abolish the military live and let live well that only works if nobody else wants to go to war as David said though I am for peace they are for war and as long as that's the case that's the end of your peace so they sought peace by dropping out with psychedelic drugs and free love and rock and roll they were to create a world of peace for themselves or some of you remember the bumper stickers think world peace as if by just meditating hard enough we can create this world peace again all these things are revealing something of this craving in man for what we lost back in Genesis chapter 3 or how about that amazing idea that with the creation of something we'll call the United
[33:46] Nations we can make world peace happen how's that one working for us some have clung to a theory of social evolution that the human race will just keep improving and getting better and better until we bring in the age of Aquarius and this wonderful peace forever and ever Stalin and Hitler and a couple bloody world wars put a damper on that pipe dream in fact the Bible clearly teaches that things will not get better and better until we bring in world peace rather just the opposite men will go from bad to worse and only the interruption of human history by the glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ in cataclysmic judgment upon his enemies will bring in an abiding and lasting peace a land of undisturbed peace and rest forever and ever our Lord clearly said that until he returns there will be no peace but rather wars and rumors of wars nation rising against nation kingdoms against kingdoms famines earthquakes pestilences persecutions fearful events causing men's hearts to fail them for fear and then that which mankind has been unable to do for all the centuries a glorious
[35:14] Davidic king will come and accomplish so that's where we're going church Israel of God that's what's been promised us it's almost too hard to imagine this very world soaked with blood is to be purified by fire and made a new heavens and a new earth the land of undisturbed peace and rest now Peter said scoffers will come and they'll say well where is this coming he promised ever since our fathers died everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation not exactly there was a cataclysmic interruption of judgment wasn't there in Genesis 6 called a flood but they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water and by these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed by the same word that word of God that creating word of God that judging word of God the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men that day of the Lord will come like a thief the heavens will disappear with a roar and the elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare but in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth the home of righteousness so the book of Revelation shows that peace only comes through this war this conflict this judgment it's the pattern that's found throughout the scriptures and it will be through the destruction and final removal of all of
[37:08] Christ and our enemies that this undisturbed peace and lasting rest will be established it will be even better than the garden of Eden because then there will not be ever again a snake to disturb our peace to tempt us to sin we'll be perfected unable to sin unable to be disturbed there will be no one to disturb the peace and that's the promise of the God who cannot lie we see it all the way back here in 2 Samuel 7 and it runs right through the book it ends at the end in Revelation 21 and 22 just showing us the fulfillment you know when God first promised Abraham a home a homeland for him and his people it says by faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country he lived in tents as did
[38:12] Isaac and Jacob who were heirs with him of the same promise for he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God he wasn't looking forward to some land over in Palestine he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God eternal rest with God in the city of God the new Jerusalem Hebrews 11 goes on to say of Abraham Sarah Isaac and Jacob all these people were still living by faith when they died they did not receive the things promised they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance and they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth not admitting that they did not yet possess that little parcel of ground over in Israel no we're aliens and strangers anywhere on earth because this earth as it is now is not our home they looked forward to a heavenly home as it goes on to say they were longing for a better country a heavenly one therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city for here we do not have an enduring city here anywhere here we do not have an enduring city but we are looking for the city that is to come that's chapter 11 that's chapter 13 what does chapter 12 22 tell every one of us who have come to faith in Jesus
[39:52] Christ but you have come to Mount Zion to the heavenly Jerusalem to the city of the living God to the church of the first born to the God the judge of all the earth and to Jesus the mediator got a new covenant of a blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel we've come to that city the new Jerusalem by faith we belong there that's our motherland and then in vision John sees in Revelation 21 then I saw a new heavens and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed away burned up and there was no longer any sea and I saw the holy city the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband I heard a loud voice from the throne saying now the dwelling of God is with men and he will live with them they will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God he will wipe away every tear from their eyes there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away that belongs to the old order and it's done it's over with behold
[41:19] I am making everything new and then he said write this down for these words are trustworthy and true and then he describes the bride the wife of the Lamb and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God shining with the glory of God on no day will its gates ever be shut for there will be no night there the glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it nothing impure will ever enter it nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life it's the only ones that will be there that's why there'll be no one to a fright no one to disturb our peace and the leaves of the trees of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations no longer will there be any curse I Jesus have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches here we are a church
[42:21] Grace Fellowship Church and Jesus says to John I Jesus have sent my angel to give you this testimony for my churches yes he gave it to the seven churches in Asia Minor but it's now ours isn't it a word for us to encourage us I Jesus have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches we need to know this this has been promised this is coming I am the root and the offspring of David what's he doing he's saying I'm that one in 2 Samuel 7 that was promised to David that king to reign forever I am him and he's saying that in the very last of the last book of Revelation his last word to his church that's who I am I'm that one promised and all this is the fulfillment of what I promised to David in 2 Samuel 7 the Lord Jesus reigning with his people forever and ever in a whole world of undisturbed peace and everlasting rest
[43:42] God's people in God's place under God's rule and blessing with nothing to disturb our everlasting rest that's what the Savior purchased for us all this instead of the coming wrath isn't that something that's what we had coming and because Jesus took that this is what we now have coming so Jesus is saying to the churches remember remember what I bought for you let this fill your vision your hope for the future are you looking forward to his coming Paul said now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me at that day and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing oh we can we can love this present world too much can't we to where we don't long for his appearing but I want you to use this to help you long for his appearing every remembrance that this is not yet the place of undisturbed peace and rest whether it's just a worrisome thought that flits through your mind or whether it's a news flash headline about what's going on in our world whatever disturbs your peace and rest let it point you to what's coming and to turn that worry into praise and if we will do that then yes we can live in hope the hope of glory the hope that is coming to assure the promise of our king and we'll live in anticipation of what will be our everlasting delight well those who are looking forward to such an eternal future with Christ can well afford to suffer a few trials on the journey to get there can't they or as
[46:00] Samuel Rutherford said it were a well spent journey those seven deaths lay between because of where we're going and what we will enjoy not for 80 90 years forever and ever all praise to Jesus so let's sing Christ is coming let's lift our hearts with our song and anticipation of what he will bring to us when he comes this undisturbed peace and rest forever 238 238 stand and sing with me let's pray together thank you Lord Jesus that you wanted us to know this you sent your angel to John to tell the churches that you are the one the great king who has promised who is to bring this glorious peace from shore to shore of every nation and around the globe to the ends of the earth and we've already tasted of that peace and rest with God through our
[47:16] Lord Jesus we who were once at war with him now have peace through his blood and we thank you for it we pray that that message would roll from shore to shore and nation to nation and gather more of the scattered people of God into the fold of Christ and then come Lord Jesus quickly come and bring in your everlasting rule and reign where there is nothing to make us afraid thank you in Jesus name amen this mit when used i here come to me let you see