Ancient Words

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Ancient Words Some months ago we happened upon a Christian hymn entitled Ancient Words, and as we listened, it took our minds back to the words of God given to us in the Bible, contained in the writings of Moses and the prophets, and especially his Son, our Lord Jesus and the apostles.

These words were long ago, as God tells us through isaiah in Isaiah 44:7, who is like me? Let him step forward and prove to you his power. Let him do as I have done since ancient times, when I established a people and explained its future, and what do these ancient words tell us? That this planet and this universe in which we exist was created long ago by a being who was so wise, so skilled and so powerful that he says in Isaiah 46 and 9, for I am the Lord, I am God, and there is no other.

I am God, and there is no one like me.

Though God spoke to us in ancient times, Apostle Paul writes more recently in Hebrews 1 and verses 1 and 2, God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets, in many portions and in many ways, in these last days, have spoken to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the world. God sent his Son into the world not just as a witness of these ancient words, not just to explain them to us, but even more importantly to fulfill them.

You know, we can learn from these words that God and his only begotten Son made this universe and everything that exists in it. You know, the ancient words by way of David tell us in Psalm 33, verse 6, by the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by his breath, by the breath of his mouth other host. You know, by these ancient words God himself spoke in the heavens were made, and life was given by his breath. In that same 33rd Psalm, verses 8 and 9, the Psalmist writes, let all the earth fear the Lord. Let the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

For he spoke and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. You know, Apostle Paul tells us In Hebrews the 11th chapter that it is by faith that we recognize unseen beings, beings more powerful than we ourselves, are responsible for everything that we see around us. Hebrews 11:3. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what was not so, what is seen, was not made out of the things that are visible.

Because it was God’s intention to create additional life with free will, he needed to decide on the conditions for maintaining that life, and those requirements would be a perfect heart based obedience to the same principles God Himself adhered to. God would not force his beings to obey, but rather would make obedience voluntary, but would incent them to obedience by the blessings of continued life, and he would remove that life from those who would not obey. You know, God expressed this principle through Moses in the second giving of the law, Deuteronomy, the sixth chapter, and beginning with verse five, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul or breath, and with all your strength.

And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commandments that I’m giving you today. If you obey all his decrees and all his commandments, you will enjoy a long life.

Now, with this plan in place, God created the first being, the Logos, also the arm of the Lord, and we read about this in Proverbs the eighth chapter, verse 22. The Lord formed me from the beginning, before he created anything else. I was born before the oceans were created, before the mountains were formed. I was there when he established the heavens.

I was there when he marked off the earth’s foundations. I was the architect at his side. The lotus was God’s only begotten Son, his only direct creation, and through Him God created everything else, as John tells us in John the first chapter, beginning with verse one. In the beginning, the Word existed.

He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through Him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.

To summarize our brief journey to this this afternoon through God’s plan, we’ve created this little chart, sort of track our progress, and we begin with God being alone, and his first step would have been the creation of a plan, not just for the creation of beings and a realm for their home, but also teaching these beings the principles on which the the gift of life would be based. His second step would be the creation of an assistant, an associate, to help him carry out this plan, and so he created the plan and the first being with free will to help him carry out this plan, the Logos.

And the result was God, and that Logos had a plan to guide their next steps. The next step would have been God and the Logos to complete the creation.

And so God and Logos embarked on this. They created a spiritual realm, they created a terrestrial realm, and all of the life within those realms. This involved the creation of the angels, and then the creation of all forms of terrestrial life that we find on this planet, and when completed, all was in harmony with God.

But we learned something else from these ancient words. While the initial work of the creation had been completed and God rested from his work related to that creation. God’s work was not done. You know, the ancient words tell us that God foresaw the rebellion of Satan, and he did not abandon his creation to the chaos that that rebellion brought. Because of his ability to know the future, God had a plan already in place to bring the creation back into harmony with himself, despite the rebellion.

And this is because, as he told Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 46, 9, 10, he says, for I am God, and there is no one, there is no other. I am God, and there is no one like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, those things which have not been done, saying, my purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure.

While this plan has been a great mystery to the bulk of mankind, it’s been hidden to most, even the bulk of Christians, by the deception of the adversary. But it has been revealed to a few via the Gospel message, and Paul writes about this in Ephesians 4, 9, where he says, God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill all his good pleasure, and then in the next verse, Paul explains what the essence of God’s plan is. Verse 10, and we’re reading from the NLT.

And this is the plan that in a lifetime he will bring together everything under the authority of Christ, everything in heaven and also on earth, and all the chaos and all the disharmony that we see in the world today and has existed since the fall will be brought to an end.

Now, the ancient words tell us that the creation started in harmony. Job 8:38, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.

You know, while God rested from his creation, the angelic throngs sang. They sang for joy at what had been accomplished. But the rebellion was already brewing in the heart of one of those morning stars by name of Lucifer. As we read in Isaiah 14, beginning with verse 12. Oh, how you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn.

You have been cut down to the earth. You have been weakened, you have weakened the nations. But you have said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the recesses of the north.

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high. Now, even though Satan only said these words in his heart, God was able to read them even ahead of time to sorry and plan for them, The ancient words given to us through the prophet Ezekiel explain what happened and why. Beginning in Ezekiel 28 and verse 12, Son of man, sing this funeral song for the King of Tyre. Give him this message from the Sovereign Lord.

Perfection full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty. Now, King of Tyre here represents Lucifer, that perfect spirit being who was created with great beauty. Verse 13. In Eden, the garden of God, your clothing was adorned with every precious stone for you and set in the finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created.

I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You have access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. You know, because God knows the end. From the beginning, he could read Lucifer’s heart. He could see that the rebellion was brewing in there.

And so he made Lucifer the angelic guardian over God’s earthly creation of man, putting Lucifer in the perfect place to carry out his rebellion and further God’s plan.

The saga continues. In Ezekiel 28:15, he says, you were born. You were blameless in all that you did, from the day you were created until the day that evil was found in you. Your rich kindness led you to violence and you sinned, and I banished you in disgrace from the mountain of God. I expelled you, O mighty Guardian, from your place among the stones of fire.

Your heart was filled with pride because of your beauty. Your wisdom was corrupted by your love of splendor. So I threw you to the ground and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings. You know, while Lucy was created perfect, his beauty filled his heart with pride, corrupting his heart in his wisdom and leading to his sin and his rebellion.

Lucifer, to all of God’s intelligent creation, is a cautionary tale on the danger of pride, as Ezekiel goes on to explain in verse 18, he said, you defiled your sanctuaries with your many sins and your dishonest trade, and so I brought fire out from within you and it consumed you. I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching, all who knew. You are appalled at your fate. You have come to a terrible end and you will exist no longer.

Because God knows the end. From the beginning. God has not only foresaw Lucifer’s rebellion, he foresaw Lucifer’s ultimate demise.

Coming back to our chart, we begin with all of the creation in harmony with God. Now, God’s plan is to test the intelligent beings loyalty and obedience to God’s principles, and this involves every intelligent being. Lucifer fails the test, lying to our first parents leading them to disobedience, and man is condemned to death, and so this leads mankind under the curse of sin and death.

Additionally, the angels fall, some of them fall in the first dispensation and they are constrained to earth, and so there is no rebellion in both the spiritual and the terrestrial reigns.

While creation started in harmony with God’s righteous principles and laws, God’s plan was to test that harmony by testing the heart condition of every one of his intelligent creation. Would they obey God’s principles and God’s laws perfectly from their heart? That’s why God let Lucifers of rebellion go on to demonstrate that perfect obedience from the heart was to be God’s requirement for continued life on any plane of existence. So rather than placing Satan on some far off quadrant of the universe where he couldn’t cause any trouble, God assigned Lucifer as the guardian angel, where his rebellion would test both men and angels. That’s why God frequently allowed false prophets to test Israel, as expressed in Deuteronomy, the 13th chapter.

In verse 3, he tells Israel, you shall not listen to the wounds of those prophets or those dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and the Lord is testing each of us in the same way, whether or not we love the Lord with all our heart and all the breath of our life.

Now, as part of his plan, God would use His Son. He would use His Son as the role model for the perfect character and obedience required for everlasting life. The one who would love God with all his heart in all his life. But even in greater appreciation of the obedience and loyalty of his only begotten Son, God had a special role for His Son. He would make His Son the Savior of all creation, elevating His Son above the rest of the creation, as we’re told in John 5:23, so that all would honor the Son even as they honor the Father.

And in this way, as we read in Ephesians 1:10, God will bring everything back together under the authority of Christ.

You know, God’s plan for making His Son the Savior of mankind involved an incredible test of loyalty and obedience, and brother Tim referred to that in his lesson this morning. You know, we find this described in the ancient words of the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 53:10. But it was God’s good plan to crush him and to cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants.

He will enjoy a long life and God’s good plan will prosper in his hands, you know. To be this sin offering, our Lord had to humble himself to be made flesh, as Paul explains in Philippians the second chapter, beginning with verse six. Jesus, who did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondserver, and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by being obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Jesus humbled him himself twice. First to be made flesh, to give up his spiritual glory, and then to humble himself even unto the death on a cross, you know.

And this is such a contrast between what we read about Lucifer, who sought to elevate himself to be like God.

Apostle Paul explains a little bit more about our Lord being made flesh in Hebrews, the second chapter in verses nine and ten. But we do see him who is made a living for a living. Angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God should taste death. For every man to be a ransom for Adam, he had to give up his spiritual life. He had to be made flesh in the likeness of the first man, Adam, verse 10.

For it was fitting for him for whom all things and through all things, that in bringing many sons of glory to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings, you know, this humbling, this test of royalty and obedience was required before God could give him the divine nature, and thus make him the everlasting Father to redeem mankind, as Paul goes on explains in verse 14. Therefore, since children share in flesh and blood, he himself also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil.

Going back to the ancient words of Isaiah, we learn about what had to endure as a part of this test. Isaiah 53, beginning with verse 4. Surely our Greece he himself bore, and Versailles he carried. Yet we esteem, we ourselves esteemed him, stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, and the chastening for all being fell upon him.

And by his scourging we are healed.

All. We, all of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way, but the Lord has called iniquity of us all to fall upon him. But despite this test, Jesus remained faithful, as we’re told in Hebrews, the fifth chapter, beginning verse eight, and reading from Phillips, Son, though he was he had to prove the meaning of obedience through all that he suffered.

Then, when he had been proved the perfect Son, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who should obey him, being now recognized by God himself as high priest. After the order of Melchizedek, Jesus proved himself the perfect, the faithful role model for all the rest of creation.

Through all of this, the plan has been a mystery both to men and to some extent to the angels. As Paul expressed in 1 Corinthians 2, verses 7 and 8. Now the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God. His plan was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. But the rulers of this world have not understood it.

If they had, they wouldn’t have crucified our glorious Lord, and so God allowed Lucifer to lie to our parents, our first parents, and the rest of mankind, to touch their love for him and to accomplish this plan and his righteous objectives. You know, Jesus said something really interesting about Satan in John 8:44. He said he was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth because there was no truth in him.

When he lies, he’s consistent with his character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. You know, Satan’s lying and the resulting blindness has continued to this day. All we have to do is look around us and look in the media and look at the conditions of the world, look what’s happening in our country and other countries, and seeing that the lying is still there, the deception is still there. As Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians 4:4, he says, Satan, who is the God of this world, has blinded the minds of those who who don’t believe.

They are unable to see the glorious light of God of the good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

Continuing with our chart, the creation is in rebellion. However, God’s plan is in place and he begins to reveal it to us in little bits and pieces and symbolic language and types and shadows. First to Eve and then to the fathers Abraham, followed by Isaac and Jacob, and eventually the nation of Israel, and he sends Jesus as a sin offering while testing Jesus loyalty and obedience and his qualifications for being that perfect role model, and the result is Jesus is proved the perfect Son and becomes the author of eternal salvation, a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

God used the ancient writings of Moses to explain how he began revealing this plan to our first parents. He began this revealing with speaking to Adam and Eve when he sent them out of the garden. Genesis 3:15 he told the woman, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed, and he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. There was to be an offspring, a seed from the woman who would crush the serpent’s head after the serpent would bruise his heel.

And later, in the ancient words, Paul gives us specifically how this conflict would play out. As he says In Romans the 16 chapter, in verse 20, he says, the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. It’s consistent with God’s earlier promise that Satan’s existence would come to an end, and Paul is explaining us who would participate in this question.

Hundreds of years later, God begins to a little bit more about the seed through the ancient writings of Moses, through his dealings with Abraham and then Isaac and then Jacob. But to Abraham, God explains that it will be two parts to the sea. Genesis 22, beginning with verse 16 because you, Abraham, have obeyed me and have not withheld your son, your only son, that I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars of the sky and the sand upon the seashore. The your descendants will conquer the cities of your enemies.

And although your descendants, and through your descendants, all of the nations of the earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me. There was going to be two parts to this seed, pictured in the offspring of Abraham’s son Isaac and Isaac’s son Jacob, and God begins this revealment to isaac in Genesis 26:4. I will multiply your descendants as the stars of him. I will give your descendants all these lands, and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.

But we have to wait a little bit later until the New Testament, until Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians, to be clearly told who these stars representative represented. Galatians 3:16 now these promises are spoken to Abraham and to a seed, and he does not say and to seeds, referring to many, but to one and to your seed, which is Christ. You know, Isaac’s seed or offspring pictured by the stars of heaven would be Christ. But while there is one seed, as Paul mentions in the very same chapter, the seed would involve many members, not just Jesus alone. Genesis 3, excuse me, Galatians 3:29 and if you belong to Christ, you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

And Paul confirms in his Epistle to the Romans that the spiritual offspring represented in the stars of heaven included the followers of Jesus, as he says in Romans 12, 5, we who are many are one body in Christ, and expanding this idea Even further, in First Corinthians 12, beginning with verse 12, Paul talks about the body being part of the Christ. For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one, so also is Christ. For by one spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we’re Jews or Greeks or slaves are free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit, God’s Holy Spirit.

The opportunity part of this spiritual seed was first offered to the Jewish people, as God explained through Moses in Exodus 19, verses 5 and 6. Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all peoples of the earth, for all the earth belongs to me, and you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation. This is the message you should give to the people of Israel.

But God was, with his ability to read the heart, to see the future foretold, that the nation of Israel would not take advantage of this opportunity. He told Moses in Deuteronomy 5, 21, he says, 29 Excuse me. He says, oh, that they would always have a heart like this, that they might fear me and obey my commands, and if they did, they and their descendants would prosper forever. But their hearts and their service to God became lax over time.

As Jesus said in Matthew 15:8, 9, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, and their worship is a farce, for they teach man ideas as the commands of God.

So when Jesus came to them at his first advent to offer them this opportunity to be a nation of kings and priests, instead, they rejected him as their Messiah, and so he rejected them as a nation. Matthew 23, verses 37 and 38. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones, God’s messenger. How often have I wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.

And now look, your house is abandoned and desolate, and so the message and opportunity were taken from the unbelieving Jewish nation and extended to individual believing Jews and Gentiles.

And because God had forsaken this rejection, this passing of the opportunity had really always been part of his plan. But it was the Apostle Paul, a former Pharisee, who had the privilege of promoting this opportunity far and wide through the Gentile world. As we Read in Ephesians 4, verses 5. Excuse me. Ephesians 3, 4 5.

As you have read what I have written, Paul writes, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. God did not reveal it to the previous generations, but now by His Spirit, he’s revealed to his holy apostles and prophets. You know, it’s only through the power of the Holy Spirit, after the risen Lord had appeared to Paul on the way to Damascus, that Paul, a devout Jew, a former Pharisee, finally gained this insight, and then in verse six, Paul reveals what that insight was, and this is God’s plan.

Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the good news share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body. Both enjoy the promised blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus, and by God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this good news. So Paul, the devout Jew, now has the privilege of spreading the message to Gentiles.

It was God’s plan all along for both Jews and Gentiles, believers in this good news to share equally in the riches of being God’s spiritual children.

Paul mentions about this in Colossians the third chapter, verse 11, where he says, in this life it doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter if you’re a Jew, a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave or free, Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. Christ is to live, and each one of us by faith, and Paul in the next few verses in Colossians 3 explains how that happens. Since God has chosen to be holy people, the holy people he loves. You must clothe yourselves with tender hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive anyone who offends you. Above all, clothe yourself with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony, and let the peace which comes from Christ rule in your hearts, and always be thankful. Let the message about Christ in all its richness fill your lives.

But there’s a second part to the offspring promised to Abraham. God told Abraham in Genesis 22:17, he says, I will greatly multiply your seed as the sandwiches upon the seashore. Now God had previously described his seed in earthly terms when Abraham, Abraham and lot parted Genesis 13 and verse 16, I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust, then your descendants can be numbered, and then later to Jacob. This promise was repeated in Genesis 28:14.

Your descendants will be like the dust of the Earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and the south, and all your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. You know, while Israel missed out on the spiritual seed promise, God made a special provision for them, the offspring of his good friend Abraham.

So continuing with our chart, while the creation is in rebellion, Christ is a high priest. After the order of Melchizedek, and overlapping with this development, God’s plan is proceeding with the development of the two seeds promised Abraham and all involved in this is God, the Logos, Israel and believing Jews and Gentiles. It starts first of all with the war made with Israel, but after the rejection with Jesus as their Messiah, it continues with the development of believing Jews and Gentiles into the church, and it ends with the completion of the church and the saving of Israel, natural Israel and Jacob’s trouble.

You know, the earthly seed centers on Jacob’s descendants, the nation of Israel, as God has promised. Via the ancient words, we think of Jeremiah 31, beginning with verse 31. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days. Because the Lord I will put my law in them, on their heart I will light it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

And they will not teach again. Every man his neighbor and every man’s brother, saying, no, the Lord, for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord, For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. What a beautiful promise to the followers, to the descendants of Abraham.

While this covenant begins with Israel, it does not end with them. The ruling of mankind will also come under its terms, as in the ancient writings of Isaiah and Micah. In Isaiah 2, beginning with verse 2, we read these words in the last days that the mountain or kingdom of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, and all the nations will stream to it, and many peoples will 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 concerning his ways, and then we may walk in his paths.

For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he will judge between the nations and will render decisions for many peoples, and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning goats. Nation will not live up sword against nation, and never again, never again will they learn war.

What a contrast to today.

You know, the ancient words from the prophet Zechariah give us a complementary account of how the Gentiles joined with the Jewish people under this new arrangement. Zechariah 8 beginning with verse 20. Thus says the Lord of yet it will yet be that peoples will come. Even the inhabitants of many cities, the inhabitants of one will go to another saying, let us go up at once to entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts. I will also go.

So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord of hosts. In those days 10 men from all the nations will bring us the garment of the Jews, saying, let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

You know the ancient words of the prophet Isaiah give us many beautiful pictures of this kingdom. But one that’s not mentioned very much is Isaiah 32, beginning with verse one.

Look, a righteous king is coming. An honest princess will under him. That righteous king is Christ, and his body members part of that royal priesthood. After the order of Melchizedek and the honest princes, the ancient worthies who will rule under them, each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land.

Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth, and everyone will be able to hear. Even the hotheads will be full of sense, understanding, and those who stammer will speak out plainly. How different will be in those days men will be full of sense and understanding, as opposed to today.

Continuing verse 5.

In that day ungodly fools will not be heroes and scoundrels will not be respected. For fools speak foolishness and make evil plans. They practice ungodliness. They spread false teachings about the Lord. They deprive the hungry of food and give no water to the thirsty.

The smooth tricks of the scoundrels are evil. They plot crooked schemes. They lie to convict poor, even when the cause of the poor is just.

Regarding this plan in Israel as its hub, God has said in the ancient words of Isaiah beginning in chapter 14 and verse 1 but the God will have mercy on the descendants of Jacob. He will choose Israel as his special people once again. He will bring them back to settle them once again in their own land and people from many nations will come and join them there and unite with the people of Israel. The nations of the world will help the Lord’s people to return, and those who come to live in their land will serve them.

Those who captured Israel will themselves be captured and Israel will rule over her enemies. You know God’s excuse me. Israel’s disfavor comes to an end and they will become God’s special people once again. As we read in Joel 3 and verse 2, I will gather all the nations and bring them all down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and there I will enter into judgment with them on behalf of my people and my inheritance.

Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, you know. But God’s promise of restoring Israel doesn’t stop there, goes on in verse 24. The word of heaven’s armies has sworn this oath. It will happen as I have planned. It will be as I have decided.

And God has sworn an oath to carry out this plan. 25. I will break the Assyrians when they are in Israel. I will trample them on my mountains. My people will no longer become their slaves, no longer bow down under their heavy loads.

Now God had trampled the liberal Assyrians earlier. This points to Jacob trouble when God will trample Gog and his horde on the mountains of Israel.

But I have a plan for the whole earth. A hand of judgment upon all the nations. You know, God’s plan is not just for Israel, it’s for everyone.

The Lord of heaven’s armies has spoken. Who can change his plans? And when his hand is raised, who can stop him? And how thankful we are that no one can stop God from fulfilling his plan to bring goodness and righteousness to all.

Completing our chart, we begin with Israel being saved and the earthly kingdom being launched. The feature of that plan is the new covenant, and while it’s made with natural Israel, it includes Christ as the mediator and the ancient worthies as those honest princes. Under this Satan will be bound. The curse of death on mankind and earth is removed and mankind is encouraged to walk up the highway of holiness and back into harmony with God.

And the result will be the willing and obedient is a return to what was lost in perfection, everlasting life and harmony with God.

We close by sharing the ancient words of David to his Son as found in 1st Corinthians 28, 9, 10 and Solomon my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For God sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him, but if you forsake him, he will reject you. So take this seriously.

God has chosen you to build a temple as his sanctuary. Be strong and do the work. God has chosen us to be part of this temple, this spiritual seat of promise. Let us follow David’s advice. Let us be strong.

Let us do the work. Let us build ourselves up and and stones to be part of this temple, as Paul writes in several verses in the New Testament and now I entrust to you the message of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance in all that he has set apart for himself. We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

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