The words to which I should like to call your attention this morning are to be found in the portion of scripture we read in the book of the prophet Isaiah in chapter sixty-three in the first six verses. The first six verses in the sixty-third chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah. Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Basra? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength, I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save, and so on. Now as we come to consider this paragraph here at the beginning of this sixty-third chapter of Isaiah's prophecy, it is of very vital importance that we should see it in its setting and be clear as to the connections. Those who were here last Sunday morning will remember that then we were looking at the 62nd chapter, and we were doing so in order that we might see how the Prophet was facing the desperate condition of the Church, then of course the nation of Israel, as it was in his day and in his time. She was despised, she was in a sad condition, forsaken, desolate. Her enemies were taking her products, the corn, and drinking the wine. And the whole condition of the children of Israel and of the city of Jerusalem, Zion, God Zion in particular, was deplorable. And there we saw the Prophet's reaction to this. And so he decided to watch and pray. He's going to set watchmen upon the walls, and he is going to urge the people to pray without ceasing, not to give God rest, not to take any rest themselves, until Zion shall be restored once more, and until Jerusalem shall be a praise in the earth. The position, you remember, was desperate. and it led to these desperate measures. It was a call to action, to face the urgency of the situation. And there we left the Prophet, exhorting his people and pledging himself, thus forgive themselves to waiting upon God, that he might send relief and restore unto them again their ancient position of privilege and of power. Now here we come suddenly to this extraordinary picture that we have in these six verses. And of course, at first glance, one might very well be tempted to feel that this is something that has been interpolated. It doesn't seem to have any direct connection. The Prophet's prayer goes on in the seventh verse. The seventh verse continues more or less what we left off at the end of chapter sixty-two. But here is this paragraph which comes suddenly into the midst of his prayer and his great act of intercession. And, of course, there have been those who have said that this is something quite extraneous that has just been thrown in here. Those who do not believe in the unity of this book of the prophet Isaiah, but regard it as a collection of odd prophecies given at various times and patched and pieced together, by some general editor, they of course are perfectly ready to say and do say that this should not be here at all at this point, but that it belongs somewhere else. It was a vision given to the Prophet on some other occasion, but unfortunately it was put in here and it interrupts the prayer. Well of course that is just to display a complete lack of spiritual insight. an appalling ignorance of the ways of God with his people. That is how such men, with their rationalism, always miss the brightest glories of the Christian experience and the Christian life. No, this is not an interpolation. This is one of the most characteristic actions of God with respect to his people. Well, what is it? Well, it is this. Here is the prophet in this desperate situation, exhorting and urging his people to join him in watching and in prayer. And the position is desperate. So God looks down upon them and realizes their weakness and the desperate plight, and he just grants them an encouragement. He just does something which enables them to continue in prayer and in watching. And that is what we have in these six verses. This is a vision that was given to the prophet, a glimpse of the ultimate, in order that he might not faint nor falter, but that he might continue and enable his fellow countrymen to continue in waging this great fight in the spiritual realm. In other words, it was given, I say, to encourage him and to strengthen him. And this is one of the most typical actions of God with respect to his people. And that is why I am calling your attention to it this morning. We have need of encouragement in the fight in which we are engaged. Indeed, we would not be able to continue at all Were it not that God gave us from time to time these encouragements. Oh, our hymn books are full of this kind of thing. Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings. It is the Lord who rises with healing in his wings. He does it periodically. Suddenly there's a break in the clouds and a flash and a streak of sunlight. It's given, I say, by God in His graciousness in order to encourage us, in order to help us to go forward. We are called upon to face the situation. It's dismal, it's dreary, it's trying, it's weary. And our tendency, as we saw last Sunday morning, is to fail and to faint. And I say that we would all faint were it not that God periodically does the very thing to us. that he did at this point to the prophet Isaiah and to the children of Israel. Very well then, what we have to realize this morning is this, that there are certain things that we have to remind ourselves of constantly. The scriptures have been given, as we are told by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament, not only for an example, but also for our encouragement. He talks also about the consolation of the Scriptures. That is why the New Testament Church, in her wisdom, was led by the Holy Spirit, you see, to incorporate these Old Testament Scriptures with the New. It's the same God acting. And what He did, He still does. These things are written for our encouragement, for our example, for our consolation. This is how God still deals with His faithful people. And therefore I want to suggest that what we're going to look at this morning is the greatest possible encouragement to prayer and to intercession. And it is only to the extent in which we do grasp the meaning of this great picture, this vision that was given to the Prophet, that we shall be able to continue in a way that is likely to lead to the blessing of a mighty visitation of the Spirit of God. Now then, here we are. This is God's way. The problem, exhortation, then as we start, just an encouragement, lest we become discouraged even before we start. Very well, then let's look at it. What is it? Well, I say it is a vision. The Prophet suddenly was given a vision of someone coming up from Eden, and from Basra, which was the capital of Eden. He comes up and he is marvelous to behold, but the thing that at once attracts the attention of the Prophet is that his garments are stained with blood. Here comes someone obviously who has been engaged in a great fight, in a great skirmish, and yet at once it's obvious to the Prophet that he's a victor, he's a conqueror. He's been through a most bloody skirmish, and yet he's triumphed, and here he is, bespattered with blood, coming in the power of his might. What does this mean? What is the message which is here for God's people? Well, there is really little difficulty about this. You've noticed that that nineteenth chapter of the book of Revelation, in a sense, is a most amazing commentary upon all this. And there are other places in Scripture that do the same thing. Edom is always used in the Scripture. to signify and to represent the powers that are opposed to God and his people. Eden comes originally from Esau. So if you like, you see, it is the picture of the contrast between Jacob and Esau. Esau the profane the man who doesn't get the birthright, the man who values other things more than a birthright, a mess of pottage, the worldly outlook, everything that is opposed to God and the things of the spirit. Now as you read your scriptures you keep your eye on this word Edom and the references to the Edomites and you will always find that they stand in the scriptural typology for the enemies of God, the ultimate enemies of God, those who are set against God and His glory and His people. And so, as you read about them in the Scriptures, you will find that they stand for those who literally and actually oppose the children of Israel. They did so as the children of Israel were going to enter into the promised land of Canaan. They did so on many subsequent occasions after they had entered the land of Canaan. They are the traditional enemy of God's Israel in the Old Testament, the Edomites, these people who live in Edom. But of course it doesn't merely stop at that. These Edomites also represent the powers that were opposed to the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter who they belong to, what nation they come from, symbolically this is Eden. All the forces and the powers that were arrayed against the Son of God, that spiritual Eden. And of course, in the same way, it represents the opposition and the enmity that was displayed against the early Church. Because the Church had not long come into being before persecution arose and attempts were made, as you remember, to exterminate her. There's a great illustration of that in Acts chapter 12, but there are many others. These powers that gather together to try to stifle and to kill the early Church. And also it represents the power that has been there and has been opposing the Christian Church throughout the centuries. If we've seen nothing else during these past months when we've been considering this question of revival, I do trust it has given us a sense of history. The Church is fighting for our life today. This isn't the first time. This has happened many a time before. Edom remains, Edom is always watching, ready to pounce upon us, ready to destroy. Edom, spiritual Edom, has been there, and often times she has been highly successful, very triumphant, and the church seems to have been moribund and almost dead. Very well, it is still the same I say today. And all the powers and the forces that are arrayed against us are typified by Eden. The kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of hell, the kingdom of the devil, the kingdoms of this world. That's Eden. And I needn't waste your time this morning in reminding you of the whole situation in which we find ourselves. We are back as we saw last week. in the same condition as obtained in this period in Isaiah's history—forsaken, desolate. But finally, we've got to bear this in mind, that Eden also represents the forces that will gather together for the last and the final attempt to defeat God and His Christ and the Christian Church. A mighty battle. An Armageddon. That's Eden. All this power that hates God and would bring him down, mustering its unseen arrays for the final conflict. Eden. Now then, let's bear that in mind. Eden, in Scripture, represents all that always. So now you see the picture which has been painted here by the Prophet in his vision. And it has been the custom of the Church therefore in ages past, indeed throughout the running centuries, when she has been fighting for her life and has been faced with the very fact of extinction, it has been the custom of the Church to recur to this passage. And it has often put new life into God's people. They had perhaps been praying for years, but nothing happened. The enemy seemed to be waxing stronger, and her power seemed to be waning. And they were beginning to think whether it was worthwhile going on any longer. Everything was going against them. Suddenly they've come back to this, and have seen the vision coming anew and afresh. And they've taken fresh heart, and they've gone on praying. May God grant that that will be the effect of looking at this vision this morning, as far as we are concerned. Are you faint and weak? Are you feeling discouraged? Are you feeling a sense of hopelessness with regard to the whole future of the Christian Church and of God's cause? You know something about these powers? We are constantly being told about them. In this country, in other countries, what can avail us? Is there any hope for us at all? Well, now I say there's nothing more important than that we should keep our eyes open. That we should be watchmen upon the walls, keeping our eye upon the horizon. Keep your eye on the hills. Is there any hope? There's none here. Well, let's look into the distance. And this is what happens, you see. Here we are in our desperate position. We've organized our forces. We are praying. We are watching. And yet we wonder, how can anything save us? when suddenly somebody cries out saying, who is this? Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Basra? And immediately there is a new hope. Into the midst of the darkness and the despair and the hopelessness, this person suddenly appears. Who is this? And so the story proceeds. And that is what we have to do this morning. We simply have to remind ourselves of this blessed person. The only hope. The last hope. Yes, but the certain hope. Who is this? Let's look at him together. Let's stop looking at London and its parks and all the rest of it. Let's look at him. This is what the Church needs to do, to lift up her head, to look at him. Who is this? Let's stop looking at communism. Let's stop looking at materialism and science and all the things about which we hear so much and about which we talk so much. Let's turn away from them. Who is this? Here's the hope for the Church. Here is the way to be encouraged in prayer and in intercession. Who is this? You know, my friends, our trouble is due to the fact that we're looking so much at these other things that we've forgotten the truth about Him. And hence our excitement and our feverishness and our sense of despair and of hopelessness. No, no. Our business, I say, is to look at Him. And what do we see? Well, the first thing that struck the Prophet is the glory of his person. This that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. Here is the point at which we must ever start. The word translated traveling really means stately. glorious in his apparel, stately in the greatness of his strength. What a person! Have a look at him. Who is this? Come and see. Take a glance at him. Come along, Christ the Prophet. You despondent, discouraged people. Come and have a look at this person. Who is this? And they stand back in amazement at the sight of his glory, his statelyness, his dignity. His majesty, His power? Here is a deliverer coming up out of Eden. There's been a great fight. He's conquered. Who is He? Here is the only hope for the Church—to behold Him. Who is this so weak and lowly? Who is this Who works as a carpenter? Who is this who lies asleep in the stern of a ship, who is hungry and who is thirsty? Who is this who is arrested and tried and condemned and put to death in apparent weakness and expires upon a cross and is buried in a grave? Who is this? And thank God we know the answer. the King of Glory, the Son of God. My dear friends, that's the whole of Christianity. That's the whole meaning of our being together here this morning. In all our situation, this is the thing I say that we must hold on to and never look at. Our Saviour is the Son of God, none other. Of course, this is the great theme of this prophet. You remember how, when he turns to this aspect of his prophecy in chapter 40, he introduces it immediately in putting it in these words. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway. For whom? For our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." That's it. It is this mighty, glorious person, none other than the everlasting, eternal Son of God, The prophets and the psalmists in their prophetic moments, they all saw this. In the depths of Israel's despair and hopelessness, a psalmist cries out, he has laid help on one that is mighty. What are you looking at, they say? Why do you only look at your enemies? Look at him. He has laid help on one that is mighty. What is our hope this morning? It is this. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. We look out upon the world. We remember that the psalmist said in the 8th Psalm, talks about the heavens and the sun and the moon and the stars and says, what is man? All things have been put under men, but we look around and we say, we don't see them put under men. You say the Christian church is the church of God, but look at our positions as somebody. Attacked by the Edomites, defeated by our enemies, struggling to keep going, resorting to this and that, everything against us, desolate, forsaken. We don't see all things subdued unto us. No, no, says the author of the epistles to the Hebrews, we don't. But we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor. That's it. And because we see that, he says, we see everything. Let them despoil us of our goods, let them put us to death, let them massacre us, let them do what they will. We see Jesus, and because He's there, we are going to be there. He is the anchor within man. We see Jesus crowned with glory and honor. And it is only the Christian people who can see Him crowned with glory and honor, who are confident and assured this morning, and who can go on with their prayers and with their intercessions. Who is this? It is the King of Glory. It is the Almighty Son of God. We are not left to ourselves. He is on our side. He is amongst us. He is in the camp. Well then, let me hurry on to other things that we are told about Him, but there is the point at which we must ever stop. If I believed, as some do, that Jesus of Nazareth was only a man and not the everlasting Son of God, and that our only hope this morning was that we'd got his teaching and that we must strive to put it into practice, I would of all men be the most hopeless and the most pessimistic. I would say, let's shut down the church. We are done for. It's the end. But he is the everlasting Son of God. He is the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible God, in the glory of his apparel, in the dignity and the stateliness of the greatness of his strength. And then we go on to read about his righteousness. He answers himself. The prophet says, who is this? He says, I, that speech in righteousness. Here is his great characteristic. He is the king of righteousness. His whole concern is with righteousness. The world is full of lies and deceit and vanity and Because God himself is righteous, and God is just and holy, and God made a perfect world, and it was a righteous world, but sin and unrighteousness came in, and he is concerned about righteousness. It is the passion of his life. And he came into this world because of righteousness. He is described as the branch of righteousness, the righteous branch. That's why he came. Sin is disorder. Sin is unrighteous. Sin is lawlessness. Sin is rebellion. And God is righteous. And the whole object of this person's coming is to bring righteousness back. His one concern is righteousness. That's why he taught as he did. That is why he died as he did. God hath set him forth as a propitiation for our sins, that he might be just, righteous if you like, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. The whole object of salvation is the restoration of righteousness. Righteousness in earth as well as the righteousness that is in heaven. His object is to produce a state in which peace shall be like a river and righteousness as the waves of the sea. That's it. I speak in righteousness. This is my dealing. This is my conversation. This is my way of thinking. Everything is concerned with righteousness. He is the truth. He is the light. Yes, it means that, but you know, I think it means another thing which is very comforting, and it's this. He speaks in righteousness, which means this, that there is no equivocation in his speech, there is no uncertainty. He has given a promise, he has outlined his proposal, he has indicated his plan, and he says to his trembling, frightened people, I speak in righteousness. What he hath promised he will most surely perform. For His mercy is ever faithful, ever sure. One of the designations applied to Him, you remember in the book of Revelation, is faithful. He is not only righteous, He is faithful. And discouraged people, remember this this morning, whatever may be happening round and about you, He has promised, He has said, and He will most surely perform. I speak in righteousness, But I must hurry on. I'm trying to give a composite picture this morning. We could stop for the remainder of the time on any one of these descriptions and ascriptions which are made to him here. But I hurry to mention another thing which he repeats. You notice that there is a repetition of anger and of fury. The Prophet asks, Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fet? He answers, I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me, for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment, for the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and will bring down their strength to the earth." There is nothing more comforting than that. Do we realize what it means? It means this. And this is our comfort and our hope this morning. His anger and his fury are against these Edomites. He said there was nobody to help me, he said, but therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me and my fury it upheld me. There he was left alone to fight this terrible power and he says my fury it upheld me. Thank God for the fury. What does it mean, says someone, well let me put it in more ordinary terms by putting it like this. Righteousness and the glory of God are his passion. You know, that's why he came from heaven. He came from heaven primarily to vindicate God's glory and God's honor. No, no, not just to save us. You know, that's incidental in a sense. Don't misunderstand me. But the great motive was the glory of God, which had been violated by the devil and by sin. And Christ has come to reestablish, as it were, the glory and the honor of God. He is furious against Eden. His anger is roused against the enemies of his holy and his righteous father. And he was consumed by a zeal for God's house. Didn't he say so? The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. I know of nothing more comforting than this. We see something of the might and the fury of the enemies of God of modern Eden. What can be done about all this? Can you and I organize a way of quelling it and controlling it? We are patently failing. Things are going from bad to worse in spite of all our efforts. He is evil to triumph over all. Can nothing be done with the forces of hell? Here is my only comfort. He, the blessed Son of God, he hates it all. With a divine and a holy hatred, his wrath is upon it. His fury is against it. And he is determined to crush it and to quell it and to destroy it. That God's name and glory may reign over all and his people may be redeemed. His anger and his fury. And then the next thing, of course, he emphasizes is this is his conquest. Though stained with blood and bespattered in this way as if he'd been treading down vines in a wine fat, in a wine press. He's triumphed. He's slaughtered them. He's destroyed them. He's crushed them. And you remember another emphasis is upon the fact that he has done it alone. I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me. And I looked, and there was none to help, and I wondered that there was none to uphold. He trod the winepress alone. And we must emphasize this for a moment because it is the great central fact about Christian salvation. It is the great theme of the Bible from beginning to end, and it is just this, that the work of salvation is entirely and only and exclusively that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody has a share in it, there was nobody with him. All that has been done, he has done alone. The first prophecy tells us that the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head, and it's one person, this person. Do you remember how the Apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Galatians, chapter 3, goes out of his way to emphasize this point? He said the promise was to Abraham and his seed. He says, notice, it doesn't say seeds as of many, but of seed as of one, yes? There came a point at which the people of God came down to one person, and it was this blessed person who had taken unto him the seed of Abraham, and not the nature of angels. He and He alone became our representative in the fight. And how often did He refer to that? How often was He lonely? Every man went into his own house, I read at the end of John chapter 7. Jesus went into the Mount of Olives. Why? Well, He hadn't got a house. The lonely Jesus, alone. You remember how towards the end He said to these disciples of His who were protesting their loyalty, He says, the time is coming. when every man shall leave me and forsake me and I shall be left alone. Do you remember in that terrible moment of agony in the garden of Gethsemane? He selects Peter and James and John out of the twelve. He takes them into the garden. Then he leaves them and goes on alone. There they were. He asked them to remember him and to pray and to intercede. They slept. He went on and alone he was in an agony. Alone. Facing this ultimate question, the drinking of the cup, if it be possible let it pass by, nevertheless not my will but thine be done. Alone with no one to help, he takes the cup, alone, nevertheless. And we read, they all forsook him and fled. Peter denied him, the bold, impulsive, self-confident Peter, who protested that he'd go with him through hell. They all forsook him and fled. He trod the winepress alone. He died alone. He took upon himself, upon his own shoulders, the sins of the world, alone. And you know it even continues afterwards, for I read this in the book of Revelation in chapter 5. John is given his vision of a scroll, you remember, with the seals upon it, the scroll of history. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof. And no man in heaven nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book within, neither to look thereon. No man. But the angel said, Weep not. The lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the book. When no one else in heaven or earth nor anywhere else can do it, one can. I cloud the mind-press alone, and he alone is the Lord of history and can open the book and tear away the seal. Salvation is altogether and entirely and exclusively in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't bring a scrap or a shred or a rag of your filthy righteousness anywhere near Him. Him that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Don't talk about your goodness and your efforts. It's all in Him. Thank God it is. I trod the winepress alone. He can do it alone. He has done it alone. What has he done? Well, in the Old Testament he conquered the enemies of Israel. He was the angel that was with the church, says Stephen in his great sermon. He was the one who appeared to Moses in the burning bush. He was the captain of the Lord's host that appeared to Joshua outside Jericho at that moment of crisis. He, the Lord of hosts, the captain of the armies of Israel, the same person. Oh, we haven't the time, my dear friends. We should be staying here for hours, looking at him and considering what he's done. Let me hurry you then to the cross. What was happening there? Well, you see, it was a great fight, it was a great skirmish. All the powers of hell were out against him. But this is what happens, says Paul, in Colossians 2.15. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made an open show of them, triumphing over them in it, in his death. They thought they'd got him. They massed their last reserves. The fight was on. The Aedolites brought out their last reserves. But he conquered them. He smashed them. He put them to an open shame. Triumphing over them, he did it alone. No one helped him. No one was able to assist him. He, through his one and solitary death, destroyed him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil. And finally, let us look at him. He is dying upon the cross. He expires. They take down the body and they put it in a grave. They roll a stone over it and they seal it. And the soldiers are set to watch and to guard. There he is. He's finished. But wait a moment. What is this I see? Who is this? Who is this that I see suddenly? Standing there upon the shore that morning, after Peter and the others had been fishing all night and had caught nothing, there's somebody on the beach. Who is this? The grave is empty. They've met together in a closed room because of their fear of the Jews. Suddenly someone stands amongst them. Who is this? It is the same person. He has even triumphed over death and the grave. He has brought life and immortality to light. He can look at death and the grave, and so can we, and say, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious. See the man of sorrows now from the fight returned victorious. Every knee to him shall bow. Have you seen Him? Look, you saints, lift up your heads, look at Him. Who is this? It is the King of Glory. Lift up your heads, ye everlasting doors, and let the King of Glory enter in to the glorious, royal, eternal reception of Heaven. That is what is done. And you know throughout the running story of the church throughout the centuries, he has been doing the same thing. The church has been dying, he has been finished. Suddenly he just appears and his enemies are scattered and the church is revived. That's what is meant by revival, times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. That is what revival means. that the church has another glimpse of the vision. The church sees him, and seeing him can smile and laugh at her foes and all her enemies. Revival is always his work. He always treads the winepress alone. Of course he uses men, but don't you give the praise to men. I don't care who they are, whether they're Kelvin or Luther or Wesley or Whitefield or anybody else. He treads the winepress alone. It is when He arises with healing in His wings that the enemy is defeated and the church is revived. It is always He and He alone. And revival means to see Him in His glory and to turn to Him and to pray to Him. There it is, I've brought you up to date, but wait a minute. There is a great and a mighty day coming. A day that passes in glory and in amazement, anything that we can even imagine. There is a day coming when there will be a sight of someone coming on the clouds of heaven, riding upon them, surrounded by his holy angels, and the peoples will cry, Who is this that is coming? And the answer is the same, this majestic person that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, coming for the final battle, the ultimate defeat of all that belongs to hell. It is all there, as you've already seen, in that nineteenth chapter of the book of Revelation. He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. He shall rule them with a rod of iron, and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and He is come to finally destroy every enemy and everything that is opposed unto Him. And I saw the beast And the kings of the earth and their armies, yes, all the empires of this world, all your reasons, your communism, your materialism, your scientificism, and all the rest of it, I saw them all 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 into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone, and the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and the fowls were filled with their flesh." Do you believe that? That is coming. It is coming. We live in the hope of that. This is the essence of Christianity. He is coming. Are you frightened by these present enemies and foes? He will destroy them by the word of his mouth and by the brightness and the glory of his coming. The hell that seems to be let loose upon the earth today is itself going to be destroyed completely until there shall not be even a vestige left behind. He will come to do it, the Christ who came as a babe of Bethlehem, the carpenter, the Son of Mary, will come in His glory and His full majesty. And the whole world, every eye shall see Him, yea, and them that smote Him that pierced and the kings and all the great ones will be humbled and defeated. The crowning day is coming, by and by. Christian people, have you seen him? Have you been amazed by him? Have you cried out in astonishment, who is this? Who is this that has saved me? Who is this that guarantees my eternity? Who is the Lord of the Church? And do you know the answer? I say there is nothing more wonderful than this. To belong to such a person, to be a citizen in such a kingdom, to belong to such a Savior. Glorious things of Thee are spoken. Zion, city of our God, He whose word cannot be broken, Formed thee for His own abode On the rock of ages founded. What can shake thy sure repose With salvation's walls surrounding? Thou mayst smile at all thy foes, Look at them again, and look at them with contempt, smile upon them, laugh at them, even the devil, resist him in the name of Christ and he'll flee from you. What a privilege to belong to such a king. What a joy and a comfort and an encouragement to know that his victory is assured. that his triumph will be complete. Very well then, as we find ourselves today, let us look to him, let us plead with him, let us ask him to give us a visitation, a sort of sample of what he is going to do, an encouragement in the meantime. Let us ask him to arise and to blow upon these enemies and to lift us up again and make us mighty in his strength and power. What a privilege to be able to do so. Is there, on the other hand, anything more terrible or more appalling than this? Not to belong to Him? Oh, the tragedy of men and women who belong to the world and not to Christ and His kingdom! Are there any of you in this congregation this morning? You who live for the world and who ravish and your hearts are ravaged by it, and who delight in it, and who apologize for your Christianity, you whose heart is with the world and not with this Christ. Do you know that if you die like that, a day will come when you'll be trampled under his feet as grapes in the winepress, and destroyed from the glory of his presence, and the enjoyment of his blessed company? Christian people. That is going to be the fate of all unbelievers. Doesn't that press upon your mind and heart and spirit? Doesn't it alarm you? Don't you pray for them? Don't you ask for God to empower His servants? Don't you pray for revival? They're going to hell. They're going to be crushed beneath His feet. Don't you think it's about time we began to feel the burden of their souls upon our spirits? Don't you think we should be praying without ceasing, asking Him to give power unto His gospel, to visit us and to revive us, and to give us this might and this authority that will be irresistible, that they may be saved from the wrath to come? Yea, from the very wrath of the Lamb. the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world. Well, there, my dear friends, is the encouragement that was given to the prophet. Thank God it's given to us still. Have you seen him? Have you asked? Do you now ask? Who is this? My Lord, my God, my Saviour, my Redeemer. My all in all. We do hope that you've been helped by the preaching of Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. The MLJ Trust retains exclusive copyright ownership to all audio files of Dr. Lloyd-Jones sermons, including all derivatives, such as translations, modifications, or edited versions of the files. You must gain written permission to license, distribute, or broadcast the audio files. And under no circumstance may the files be offered for sale to or by a third party. You can find our contact information on our website at mljtrust.org. Thank you.