Micah 4, verses one through five. This is God's holy and inspired word. Let's give our full attention to its reading now. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills, and peoples shall flow to it. And many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken for all the people's walk, each in the name of its God. But we will walk in the name of our God forever and ever. People of God, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord remains forever, and it is sure and steadfast written for you and for me. Well, blessed congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have now moved into this section of Micah's prophecy, moved into the center section of the book. We've moved from a progression of the book of Doom. You remember chapters one through three is really considered the book of Doom where Micah is proclaiming this judgment that is going to come upon the house of Israel. He's using that very vivid language to show us that the people of Israel, namely the leaders, had caused the people to fall into idolatry by profaning the temple, and therefore God was going to bring judgment. And now we move from chapters one through three into chapters four through five, where if the book of, or chapters one through three was considered the book of doom, we've now entered the book of visions. This is the second of three cycles. You remember that Micah, in these three cycles, as he moves through his book, he advances from judgment to promise. shows the judgment that is to come, but in and through that judgment, we always see that Micah provides a glimmer of hope. That glimmer of hope may be small at sometimes it's only one verse, but what we have this morning is we've got five verses for us that show us the glimmer of hope, but not only these five verses, because these belong to a bigger section, namely chapters four through five, we're at the center of the book. You remember in the second cycle, the promise section takes up the most real estate. And why that's significant is because we see that the judgment of God does not have the final word, but rather the promises that He has given to His people will go a long way for those who are looking to Him in faith, for the remnant that is looking to Him, even in the midst of the people being led into idolatry because of the wickedness of their leaders. And so we've spent the last several weeks showing or seeing this heightened judgment that would come upon the people of Israel. Seeing the glimmers of hope, and last time we were in chapter 3, we saw that it is the Lord Jesus Christ who comes as our chief prophet, as our only high priest, and as our great eternal king, steps in the place of those offices of prophet, priest, and king, the nation of Israel, and he reverses the judgment that is due to the people because of their sin by taking the sin upon himself." You remember that from last week, and we see this furthering advancement of the promises that we found there. And what we're seeing in our passage this morning So up to this point, we've looked at the judgment that is coming, that is a future time where judgment is coming. But this morning, we are looking at a time where Micah is proclaiming that the peace of God is going to come for his own, that his own people are going to experience peace in this time that Micah is speaking about. So we're going to consider, well, what does this mean? What is the peace of God that the people are going to experience? What we're going to see is that Micah is speaking about a time of a great reversal. where the nations are going to flow to the mountain of the house of God. A great reversal that even during the midst of conflict, God's people are going to experience a peace that surpasses understanding. Micah is not speaking here about a time where nations are going to be at peace with one another. In other words, Micah is not speaking about a time where there is going to be no war anymore. We need to grasp that. I hope to show that as we work through the passage. Instead, Micah, which, just look at verse six through eight with me real fast. I wanna make this point right up from the beginning, especially verse eight. He says, and you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come. Micah is speaking to the remnant. Micah is speaking to the people of God, those who have received faith in Christ, those who have been given a new heart, that's who Micah is speaking to. In other words, he is referring to the peace of Christ that has come to their hearts, that they might find peace with God and also with their neighbor. So we need to grasp that. So here's what I want us to see. As we look at Micah 4, verses one through five, I want us to see that because Christ has secured our position before God by the shedding of His own blood, we can now enter the heavenly Mount Zion, offer right and true worship to the only true God, and now live as those who desire to walk in the ways of God, who desire to live according to the path that He has set out for us. Verse five says that the people respond and say, we want to live according to what God has done. And so because of what Christ has secured for us, we now enter this holy mountain of the Lord that Micah is speaking about. And so to do that, we're gonna look at Micah's vision, then we're gonna look at Micah's reflection, and then we're gonna look at the people's response. How do they respond to the vision that Micah has for the people? So first, Micah's vision, if we look there in verse one, It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it should be lifted above the hills." So we've started a new chapter, but we don't want to miss the fact that verse 1 of chapter 4 is so closely wed with the final verse of chapter 3. Do you remember how Micah spoke about the house of the Lord in chapter 3? Look back there at verse 12. Verse 12 of chapter three told us that Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins in the mountain of the house of the Lord. It doesn't say the house of the Lord, it just says the house would become a height or a house as a wooden height or on the wooded height. In other words, Micah goes from saying, because you have caused the temple to be defiled, In and through idolatry, this building is going to be nothing more than a pagan house that is set up an empty shell where you're going to continue offering your sacrifices, continuing to profane the name of the Lord and the people. That's what he says in verse 12. But then without skipping a beat, without stopping to take a breath, he proclaims in verse one of chapter four, that it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord is going to be established. not only established, but firmly established. It will not be shaken, it will not be moved, it will no longer be able to be defiled by the wicked priests. Why? Because Mike is talking about a time when it would be the Lord Jesus who would be the high priest, that He would cleanse it with His own precious blood, and it could no longer be defiled. So that's how we see that shift from judgment to promise. The mountain of the house of the Lord was brought low in false worship. And so the Lord would bring judgment. Yet judgment would not have the final word. Instead, the Lord would intervene. This was his house. It was his place of worship. And so he would fix it firmly. Judgment would not have the last word. And so as we look at the mountain of the house of the Lord being set up above the hills, what Micah is not saying is that this mountain is going to be higher in terms of physical height than all other mountains in the entire world. For instance, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem only sits at about 2,400 feet, 2,000 feet. If we think about the mountain ranges that span across our globe, the Temple Mount is a tiny molehill. What Micah is saying is that this place, this location, this mountain of the house of the Lord is going to be the imminent mountain. It is gonna be the mountain that is full of glory. It is gonna be the place where people come and worship our God, the mountain of the Lord, not in physical height. Each year, as you're probably aware, roughly about 35,000 people flow up to the highest mountain range on the earth. And of those 35,000 people, those numbers are rough, it could be different at this point in time, but of those 35,000 people, about 800 people attempt to conquer the highest mountain. What is that mountain? Mount Everest. They come to this mountain and they attempt to climb, they attempt to conquer the 29,000 feet trek Many of them accomplished this summit at this point in time with our technologies. What Micah is not saying is he is not saying that this mountain, this mountain of the house of the Lord, is going to be higher than Mount Everest, higher than 29,000 feet. But catch this. 35,000 people flow to the foot of Mount Everest each year. They flow up to it. Well, what Micah is saying is that during this time that he is looking forward to, that he is prophesying about, it would be the nations, the multitudes that would flow up to the mountain of the house of the Lord. So hold that thought with me as we think about the nations as the mountain of the house of the Lord, which would so far surpass the wonder and the splendor of even Mount Everest. As many people come and they come to see the glory Today, well, the mountain of the house of the Lord is all the more glorious because that's where true worship happens. It would be firmly established, unshakable, lifted for all to see as the true place of worship. And so using this flowing language, what Micah is doing, he's saying they're going to flow up to a mountain. It's very odd to think of something flowing upwards. Typically, things flow downwards, right? But when he's using this flowing language, what he's doing is he's coloring in the lines between true worship and false worship. What do I mean? Well, the great city Babylon is set up as the idolatrous city that was offering false worship, serving themselves, worshiping the creator, or rather the creature rather than the creator. So what Micah is saying, he's referring to how the people would come to Babylon and worship. And he's saying, it's not going to be like that any longer. You're going to flow up to the mountain. What do I mean? Well, in Jeremiah 51, Jeremiah comes after the book of Micah, but listen how Jeremiah speaks about worship that was taking place in Babylon. Verse 44 of chapter 51 in Jeremiah says, and I will punish Bel in Babylon and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed. The nations shall no longer, listen, flow to him. The wall of Babylon has fallen. the nations flowing to Babylon. Micah is saying the nations during this great time of reversal are gonna flow to the mountain of the house of the Lord. Contrasting false worship in Babylon to true worship at the house of the Lord. Micah goes on in verse two and he says, and many nations shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the house of the Lord that he may teach us his ways and we may walk in his paths. So painting another imagery for you or relying on the text as it does this for us, the 11th chapter of the book of Genesis, you remember, speaks of the peoples. What do they do? After the flood, they come together and they say, let us build a tower. Let us make a name for ourselves, is what they say. Let us build it so high that we can ascend to the heavens and that we can be the famous ones. Let us worship ourselves in the place of God the Creator." So what does God do? He comes in judgment, confusing their language, he scatters them, right? So the nations are gathered at Babel. That's the Tower of Babel. He brings judgment, and he scatters them throughout the earth. In other words, he causes division. He changes the languages. He causes division between cultural and ethnic groups. That's what happens at Babel. And then the great city Babylon is later constructed as another tower or a heightened tower of Babel, where the people are seeking false gods and worshiping the creator or the creature rather than the creator. So what is Micah talking about then? Why is it important to recognize the Tower of Babel and the Great Babylon? It's because Micah is coming in the face of those two types of worship, worshiping the creature rather than the creator. He's speaking about a time where the Tower of Babel would be destroyed and heavenly worship would be instituted as we see it in this time of great reversal. a result of this heavenly reversal, the peoples would come and they would say, come, let us go up to the house of the Lord. Instead of saying, come, let us build a tower that we might ascend it and find glory in and of ourselves, finding glory in our own names, Micah is saying, no longer will the nations worship at Babel, but rather they will come up to the house of the Lord. So what time is Micah speaking about? I'm sure you're on the edge of your seats wondering, so when is he talking about? If there's going to be a reversal from Babel to worshiping the name of the Lord, well, let's consider what he means when he says, in the latter days. First, I think it'd be helpful to note that it would be incorrect for us to think about the term the latter days as that small sliver of time that sits at the time of history right before Jesus comes. So oftentimes when you hear in those last days, people mostly refer to that small sliver of time, however much, you know, some people say it's seven years, some three and a half years, whatever it is, That's not what Micah is speaking about when he says the latter days. How do I know? Well, because the New Testament uses this term, the latter days, in several different ways. Three ways to be most specific. The first way is when the New Testament speaks about the time in which the Messiah came, when he was born. Think about the author of Hebrews. In Hebrews chapter one, the author reckons that he is in those last days. Long ago and in many ways, God spoke to our prophets, but in these, what? Last days. God spoke to us through His Son. The second way that the New Testament speaks about these latter days is Pentecost. Acts chapter 2, Peter stands up. The first sermon after Jesus ascends, and what does Peter do? Refers to the book of Job, and he says, sorry, Joel, Joel spoke about the last days, here they are. We're in those latter days, is what Peter says in Acts chapter 2, verse 17, which we'll get to. And the third way that the New Testament speaks of the latter days is the time right before Christ's return. And we see that in 2 Timothy 3 and James 5. But what I want to show, and I think the text does it for us, is that when Micah speaks of the latter days, he is talking specifically about the coming Messiah and Pentecost. So you ask, what are the latter days? Well, they are in our history. They have passed. It happened at Pentecost. and is continuing to happen even as we are now gathered in the house of the Lord and heavenly Mount Zion. And so to show this, let's turn over to Acts chapter two, if you will. Acts chapter two, let's look at the way that Peter speaks about what he is reckoning with at Pentecost. So Acts chapter two, you can keep your hand in Micah. I think this is helpful for us to see what Micah is speaking about. So Micah chapter, or sorry, Acts chapter two, Peter stands up and he begins preaching. Peter standing with the 11, verse 14, lift up his voice and addressed them. Men of Judah and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words for those people are not drunk as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day, but this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. What does Joel say? In the last days it shall come to be, God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men or your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. Even on my male servants and female servants in those days, I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor and smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day, and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. What Peter is doing is he is saying, Joel spoke about those last days. And what Micah is doing is he's speaking about the same days that Joel is prophesying about. So Pentecost is the time in history where the spirit of God is outpoured. And what we can think about Pentecost being is a great reversal of the Tower of Babel. What do I mean? Well, at Babel, I already said that the nations are gathered. And then what does God do? He brings judgment, and they're scattered. Well, what happens at Pentecost? The nations are gathered, and they hear the word of God as Peter proclaims it, and what happens? They hear it in their own tongue. Tongues of fire falls on the people at Pentecost. They hear, and then God does what? He scatters them. So Pentecost is reversing what happened at Babel, and the reason why he is scattering them is that they might bring the word of the Lord to the nations, that they might proclaim Christ and that many might be saved. We see this as the word of God is preached as they go, that at Pentecost, the true Israel is no longer defined by culture, no longer defined by ethnic group, but rather the true Israel is defined by all those who look to Christ in faith. The wall of hostility is broken down. That's why Paul in Ephesians 6 can refer to the church of God as the Israel of God. This is the time that Micah is speaking about. We need to understand that Pentecost marked the beginning of the fulfillment of this prophecy. We could say it's the first installment, the down payment of what God is doing in future times. And it is going to be completely fulfilled when the Lord returns. As he gathers his elect from where? Every tribe, every tongue, and every nation. What's happening here? Who's coming? The nations. They are what? Flowing to the house of God and they are saying, come, let us go up to the house of the Lord. And that's what we have done this morning. We, all coming from different ethnic backgrounds, coming from different tribes and tongues and nations, what have we done? We have made our pilgrim journey up to the house of the Lord, even though it doesn't always feel like it at times, this is where the heavenly worship takes place. The church has understood that it is the spirit of God that takes us up to the heavenlies and we commune with our God. What does Paul say in Ephesians chapter two? We have been seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Well, it is here that we have that experience. That's why we find worship on Sunday mornings to be the heightened point of our week because we come and commune with God. Have you thought about that, kids? that when you come here on Sunday mornings, you come to commune with your God who has sealed his promises to you in your baptism, who confirms those through the preaching of the word, and you can commune with God in that way. Hebrews chapter 12 tells us this. We aren't just making this up, but rather the way that Hebrews talks about our worship. Listen to what Hebrews 12 says. But you've come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly city, or the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, who, the mediator of a new covenant, to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel." Micah is speaking about the blood of the New Covenant where God reinstitutes heavenly worship where as people come up to mountain of the house of the Lord." So that's the vision. What is his reflections? He is now saying in verses four or three through four, he's reflecting on what's going to be happening in this vision. How are the people responding? What is God doing? So we want to reckon with some of the things that are happening there. He explains that God is going to be the judge between the nations, and he says that He shall judge between the peoples, look there at verse three. He shall decide disputes for strong nations far away. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Why does he speak of swords and spears? It's because that is the entirety of a military arsenal. And he is saying that the entirety of the military arsenal of this remnant of these people of God are going to be beaten into harvesting tools. They're gonna be changed from war to peace, that they're gonna be changed from swords to pruning hooks, from spears to plowshares. Part of this reversal is that the people themselves would turn, that they would bring peace. So think about the time of judgment. It was God who brought destruction on Sennacherib's army in 2 Kings. God destroys the army there. He turns their swords and spears into plowshares. But what the text tells us here is that it's going to be the people that turn their swords and spears into harvesting tools. Why? It's because they've received new hearts. They've been saved. They've been changed. And so now they no longer come with sword and spear, but rather they come with harvesting tools to do what? To continue harvesting a people for God's namesake. God changes this time of war to now a harvesting point, which is how we've been gathered in together that God has brought the harvest in. And we pray that God would continue bringing the harvest. This is exactly what Paul says in Ephesians 2. He says, for he himself, Christ Jesus is our peace. He has made us both one and has broken down in the flesh the dividing wall of hostility, that he might reconcile us to God, that we might have peace with God and our neighbor. Do you see how Paul in Ephesians understands that what Micah is talking about is what Christ did on the cross and what has been poured out to us Pentecost, the great heavenly blacksmith, God Himself removes the stone that is in our hearts and replaces it with the heart of flesh, which results in the weapons of our warfare being dropped, and us coming in peace with God and our neighbor. And we need to deal with the fact, though, that Micah says that the nations will no longer learn war, right? We need to deal with that fact because it can seem like what I've been saying thus far is not taking into account the very fact that Micah seems to be speaking about a time of great peace among the nations. As you know, we live in a time where war continues to wage. Even this morning as we heard a prayer request specifically for the country of Ukraine, there is great war happening in our days. So how can it be that even in the midst of war, how can it be that this prophecy is even partially fulfilled? Well, in order to make that case, we have to remember who it is that Micah is speaking to. I tried to make the point right from the beginning to show you that Micah has turned. He is no longer speaking to the leaders in the nation of Israel, but rather he is speaking directly to the remnant. And he is saying, this is what is going to happen to you. And so when he refers to the nations, he is speaking about the people of God gathered from all different nations. And as they gather, they no longer see each other as enemies, but rather they find peace with one another because of the blood of the cross. So he's not speaking to the nations at large, but rather he is emphasizing the experience that the people of God now have. So our time and place gives a great illustration of this. If you've been watching the news, you see that even in the midst of battle, even in the midst of what's happening in Ukraine, what are Christians doing? There are countless Examples of pastors, evangelists, missionaries that are remaining in the land to do what? Take up the sword and fight? No, rather they are preaching the gospel of peace to the people that they might turn and repent and believe. So when the enemy comes on their own land, they are gonna see their enemy as a friend and preach Christ to them, bringing them into the kingdom of God. This is what Micah is talking about. Providentially, we have this illustration where these people are finding peace in their own place. because they've received peace with God and their neighbor, so they proclaim Christ. And if you think this is a stretch, we can find it in verse 5, where verse 5 tells us, look there, that all the peoples walk. Even if the peoples walk, each in the name of his own God, we will walk in the name of our God. So even in the midst of the time when people are flowing after their own gods, The people that Micah is speaking about are those who are serving the Lord. It's true that the people that do not look to Christ in faith, they are going to receive the judgment of God. God is still going to bring judgment on the nations who do not repent and believe. In fact, Psalm 2 speaks about the nations raging, shaking their fist at God. And he certainly is going to bring judgment. But what Micah is talking to, or who he is talking to, is those who are going to be raised on the last day, not to judgment, but to vindication. Their names written in the book of the Lamb's book of life. Christ saying, they are mine. the great remnant to which we now belong in and through Christ. And we see that the prophet Joel, he flips this language. So we see that in the midst of people finding peace, Right, there's chaos around us, yet we find peace in Christ. What Joel says is that in the midst of the peace that you're finding, people of God, the nations are still gonna wage war against your God. So in Joel chapter three, verse nine, he uses the same language as Micah, but he says this, consecrate for war. Stir up the mighty men, beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. So what Joel is saying is that you nations who think you find peace now, who aren't repentant and turning from God, you better take up your sword and your spear because the Lord Jesus is coming in judgment. Yet that's not for us, the people who look to Christ in faith. And so Micah and Joel are playing off one another in that way, using similar language. And so we've entered this time of peace that Micah is speaking about. We have entered that. A peace that surpasses understanding, even in the midst of chaos that we look at all around us. So the question is, have you received this gospel of peace? Have you received the word of the Lord? Have you received the reconciliation that God offers to you in Christ? Or are you still looking at God, shaking your fist and unbelief? Because if you are, turn from yourself and look to Christ. Look to the one who will bring judgment if you don't turn, but rather who is faithful and just to forgive you if you confess your sins and trust in Christ and his righteousness for you. Because it is Christ alone who took the sins of His people, went to the cross, bore them, was crucified dead and buried. He rose again on the third day, ascended to the right hand of God the Father Almighty, and did what? Poured out His Spirit on His church. Tongues of fire coming down that the nations might hear." And so how do the people respond? That's our third and final point, the people's response. And this call to repentance, as Micah is calling the remnant, leads us into this third point because the people respond with great fear of the Lord. They desire to walk in His ways. They desire to walk in His statutes. They are gathered at the house of the Lord, it says, flowing up to the mountain, ready to receive instruction, hungry for the Word, hungry to obey what the Word has said. Is that how we have come this morning? Have you come up to the house of the Lord knowing that God speaks here and that He instructs, that He renews His covenant with us, and then He gives us commands that we might now go and live according to what He has said? The people's response is structured around this great reversal. I want us to see that at Pentecost, the people were gathered and they scattered, that they might bring the word of the Lord to the nations. Do you see that pivotal point in verse two? The people are coming up and then they say that the word of the Lord is going to go out from Jerusalem, that it's going to go to the nations, the work at this time, was happening through a particular nation. God, as He had scattered the people at Babylon, or sorry, at Babel, He chooses to work through this one household, that is Abraham's household, and then to work through the one family of, rather, the one nation of Israel. But rather, what happens as history unfolds is that Jesus Christ comes as the second Adam. Adam is created on a mountain. That's Eden, a mountain of the house of the Lord. He does not obey. The nation of Israel are brought to what? A mountain. Who can go up? Only Moses. Who can go up after Moses, the high priest? Even if an animal touched the fringe of the mountain, it would be struck down and killed. Our Lord Jesus comes on these mountains as the true servant of God. He sheds his own blood that he might go and cleanse the mountain that we might come to. We come to a God, not one who sees sin less heavy as he saw it in the Old Testament, but rather he sees us in the blood of Christ. He sees us as we've been clothed that we might come to the mountain and not be struck down. we have entered through the blood of the new covenant and have found a better way. And we see this by looking at the very fact that the temple was never meant for just the people of Israel. That's what Micah is telling us, is that the temple of God is always meant for the nations. Isaiah chapter two tells us this as well, that it was going to be through the life, the death, the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus, that there would be this pivotal moment that the nations would be able to come to the temple of God that would no longer be in a single geographical location, but rather it would be spread abroad as the nations go and proclaim. That's why we can gather here and now and still be in the heavenly Mount Zion with the people of God abroad. The people's response is that they journey up and then they go out, they go forth. The ways of God go forth as the word advances, as the book of Acts tells us. So even during the world serving their own gods, worthless idols, the remnant serves the Lord. Even in the midst of our context where the world says Christianity is absurd. The cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, yet it is the power of God to those who are being saved. Even in the midst of that, as our friends, family, neighbors are walking after their own God's worthless idols, we do not turn, but rather we keep our eyes fixed on the heavenly Mount Zion that the Lord is bringing us to. He is working and holding us and preserving us even during this time. And so with the remnant of Micah's day, we identify with them as pilgrims on the way. We identify with them as those who are longing for our heavenly home, looking forward with our father Abraham to a kingdom that is made without hands, whose builder and constructor is God himself. So we look forward. to the day when the splendor and the glory and the majesty of the heavenly Jerusalem descends, and the people of God dwell with their God forever. This is our hope, people of God. We get a taste of that every Lord's Day when we gather. God here renewing his covenant with us, us resting in the promises that he has given us, knowing that we can't hold ourselves, but he is holding us because of what he has done. And the good news is that where Jesus has gone, we will be going. He goes and prepares a place for us. There are many rooms in his father's house and he has prepared for us so that we might join with the heavenly hosts and worship today, but also that we might stand at the foot of Mount Zion, rather that we might ascend Mount Zion, where Christ is, that we can now go in by the eternal blood of the new covenant. And so we end this morning by remembering the blessed words of Revelation that looks forward to that time where the new Jerusalem is going to descend. Revelation 21, and I saw the holy city. the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the dwelling place of God is with man he will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be to them a God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." Do you long for that time, people of God, where death will be no more, where our tears will be wiped away, and we will dwell with our God eternally secure? Well, we can rest in that security now because He has accomplished this salvation for us. Let's rest in His name. this morning. Let's pray.