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Amen. Isaiah chapter 25 now. And, you know, I'll just remind you where we were in 24. We were at the back of the 10 burdens, if you remember. We just finished those in chapter 23. Isaiah then reminding everyone of what was to come to the region. Then we started seeing that in the last chapter, but focusing in particularly on Jerusalem, too, and how the people were to be scattered abroad. We saw that. We saw evidence of it, if you remember, in the book of Esther. And then we looked at the positive effects of that, of those people being scattered. And at the least, how it set things up nicely for the Gospel to go out en masse at least 500 years later, as we saw, you know, on the back of that and that scattering and people being throughout those provinces, you know, from, you know, all that distance, all that area. And they went out even beyond that as well. And, you know, there were people that came from all over the place, the day of Pentecost, and then went out, you know, having heard the Gospel, believed, gone out to all these different areas. So there was some great effects of that many years later. And we saw how the rich weren't escaping God's judgment due to their money, which will also be the case when the Lord returns, which was also being prophesied of in Isaiah 24. And we saw the reason for God's judgment on the reason being in verse five, because they've transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. And we looked at sort of how they'd done that. Looking back at Leviticus 18, we saw how the parting of the people would end, but there would still be a remnant of God's people remaining. However, for most, there will be no escape. And then it ended with some definite prophecies of the end times. Verse 21, for example, said, And it shall come to pass on that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they should be gathered together as prisoners gathered in the pit and shall be shut up in the prison. And after many days they shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before his ancients gloriously. And that does lead on now to Isaiah 25 one, which says, O Lord, thou art my God. I will exalt thee. I will praise thy name for thou has done wonderful things. Thy counsels of old, of faithfulness and truth. I'm going to pray that I'm going to get started. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for this chapter, Lord. Thank you for the many lessons we can get out of it. Lord, the teachers we can get from this chapter and the encouragement we can get from it as well. Lord, please help me to preach that in the right way tonight. Help everyone to have a tent of ears filled with your spirit. Please, Lord. Fill the room with your spirit, Lord, and just help everyone to just really pay attention to your word and want to hear what your word's got to say tonight. Jesus, don't pray. Amen. Okay, so he said, O Lord, thou art my God. I will exalt thee. I will praise thy name for thou has done wonderful things. Thy counsels of old, of faithfulness and truth. So this is on the back of preaching in Isaiah 24-23. So that last verse of chapter 24 was, Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before his ancients gloriously. And we looked at that last week, referring to Christ's return, the millennial reign following where he will reign along with his ancients being those saints of old. And you get the feeling that Isaiah here is celebrating that truth. So remember the chapter divisions came afterwards, okay, himself being one of those ancients, really, isn't he? Right. And like us as well, that will rule and reign with Christ. Okay. So it said in verse one, O Lord, so on the back of that, and he said, he's going to, you know, the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem before his ancients gloriously. Then he said, O Lord, thou art my God. I will exalt thee. I will praise thy name for thou has done wonderful things. Thy counsels of old, of faithfulness and truth. So he's saying that everything God says is faithfulness and truth. Yeah. Perhaps he's referring to the pictures of the end times back in Genesis, maybe, maybe the prophecies of Jacob, Joseph, maybe when Job said in Job 19, 25, for I know that my Redeemer liveth and that you shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. Maybe he's talking about that stuff because it's on the back of him saying about the second coming of Christ or many other things written before his time. But following a prophecy of Christ's return and subsequent reign, Isaiah is praising God. Okay. On the back of that, he's just going, oh God, I will praise you. Yeah. Knowing that God's coming back and yep, thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. And aside from celebrating, he's also reminding every child of God that reads this, that God's counsels are faithfulness and truth. They're faithfulness and truth. If he says it's going to happen, he's faithful not to break that promise, isn't he? God says something's going to happen. It's going to happen. And if he says it, then it's truth, isn't it? If it's come out of God's mouth, it's truth. The only problem is that we don't know exactly what he said because there's just no perfect Bible. So just move on, right? Is that true? Of course not. Unfortunately, Isaiah, you know, didn't have all the originals, did he? But he was still sure that it would be faithfulness and truth, wasn't he? Okay. What would be the point if we just didn't know what God said? How could he even say that? How could he say all thy counsels are faithfulness and truth if, well, we just don't have the originals, so how would we know, right? What would be the point of Proverbs 30, verse 5, saying every word of God is pure? He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. How could you even put your trust in him if you don't really know what he said? How could every word of God be pure if we didn't have every word? Praise God that he didn't just inspire it, right? That he preserved it too and we have those words in our King James Bibles, don't we? Because we believe God when he promised to preserve his words. That's why Isaiah was able to say, oh Lord, thou art my God, I will exhort thee, I will praise thy name, for thou hast done wonderful things that thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth, because he knew exactly what he said. He knew exactly what he'd said before and we know exactly what he said, don't we? But how do you think he exhorted him? How do you think Isaiah exhorted him? How do you think he praised his name? You don't have to put your hand up. Turn to Psalm 66. I think that Isaiah probably opened up his inspired hymn book, the book of Psalms, which says in Psalm 47.6, for example, your turn to Psalm 66, but it says in Psalm 47.6, sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises unto our King, sing praises. It's a command, isn't it? In fact, that's not just a command, that's a repeated command. In one verse of the Bible there, he told us four times to sing praises. He commands you to sing praises. We're commanded to sing them. Psalm 911, for example, your turn to Psalm 66, but Psalm 911 says, sing praises to the Lord, which dwelleth in Zion, declare among the people his doings. He basically said, sing praises and go soul winning. Sing praises, go soul winning. Psalm 96.2 says the same, sing unto the Lord, bless his name, show forth his salvation from day to day. Who's a command to? Well, Psalm 30 says, sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his. If you're saved, that's you. And give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. We're told to sing. It's such a clear command in the Bible. We are commanded to sing to him. That's why I took such issue with churches just suddenly refusing to sing during COVID. I mean, the whole thing was like a complete nonsense anyways, like somehow singing was going to make everyone get sick. But like, it really bugged me because it was just so clear throughout the Bible. That was just a clear case of who do we obey? God or man? Well, why are we told to sing? Psalm 135 3 says, praise the Lord, for the Lord is good. Sing praises unto his name, for it is pleasant. Because God is good and it's pleasant for him and it's pleasant for us as well. Not only is it pleasant for God, and you can imagine God up there right now listening to us sing to him, it's pleasant to hear his children singing to him. Often I've given that comparison, that analogy of a child on your birthday having your children sing to you. It's a nice thing, isn't it? And also in the same way, can you imagine how you'd feel if one of them kids wasn't singing? How you'd feel about that kid? The rest of the kids are singing, but one isn't. Well, God wants us to sing to him. It's pleasant, but it's pleasant for us as well. And it's pleasant in a few ways for us. You know what singing does a lot as well? When you're singing and you're singing to the Lord, it does humble you as well. It is a sign of humility to be able to just lift up your voice and sing to God and not be looking around. Oh, how much people think, you know, or do they think like I'm a bit, you know, whatever it is. I don't know. What do people think? They think they look nerdy or something, or maybe they, people might not like my voice. I don't know. What's the problem? Because we're told to sing. And you know what? Do you think, do you think Isaiah sang quietly under his breath? Do you think when he made the, he said, Oh Lord, thou art my God, I will exalt thee. I will praise thy name. And then when it came to like singing time, he's just, no one hears me. You get the feeling that Isaiah probably lifted up his voice, didn't he? I think as I lifted up his voice. Now there's a point here though, like there are, and I'm not thinking about anyone in our church, but there are people that will lift up their voice because they want everyone else to hear them. Right. But that's not the point, is it? Or they'll like try and sing a little bit different. So they're kind of, you know, they stand out, but that's not what he wants us to do, but he wants us to lift up his voice to him. Psalm 81 says, and I know you're in Psalm 66, we're getting there in a minute. Okay. Psalm 81, I just didn't want you to just keep flicking through Psalms. Psalm 81 says, sing aloud unto God our strength, make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. So there's another command there, isn't it? Anyone think that wasn't a command? That command was sing aloud unto God our strength. So not only are you commanded to sing, God commands you to sing aloud. Now, I'll just give you a little get out briefly here, okay? If you've just got no idea of the hymn, maybe don't go too loud, okay? Because you probably, it might not be a joyful noise anymore, okay? Then it becomes an unjoyful noise. But you know what, you can learn these pretty quickly, right? And really, look, he wants us to sing aloud. So when we're singing quietly, when you're singing under your breath, when you're not really opening your mouth, when you look around the room, and don't worry, I don't do like singing checks on people, you know, but if you do just happen to walk past and you can't see the mouth moving, then I don't think you can sing loud. You can't sing loud without your mouth being open. I mean, I'll give it a test if you want. What did we just sing? Let's try Come All Ye Faithful. It ain't happening, all right? You've got to open your mouth to sing. You've got to sing. You've got to open your mouth. You've got to open your lungs. Do you know why we stand up in this church? Because a lot of churches don't. Some churches, they sit down, you know, have a tea or coffee during the singing time and stuff like that. We stand up because it opens up your lungs, because you're able to sing louder. But it's a bit pointless if everyone's standing up in the church and then singing like this. Well, you might as well just sit back down. It's a waste of time. The point of standing up is that you sing better standing up, you know, so we stand up and we think it's reverent and your worshiping God standing up. And again, I'm not knocking church to don't, that's our choice, but that's why we do it here. And, you know, with that, you need to sing loud, right? And that is a command. Sing aloud unto God our strength. Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. And I think when it's loud, God's going to consider that a joyful noise to him, isn't it, right? Isn't he? Well, Psalm 66, where you are, says this. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands. Sing forth the honour of his name. Make his praise glorious. So he said, make that joyful noise. He said to sing forth the honour of his name. That's why we don't just sing sort of just vain empty stuff. We're singing forth the honour of his name. We're singing doctrine, rich hymns. We make his praise glorious. We don't just sing some empty stuff. We sing about, you know, the doctrine from the Bible, the stuff that makes him glorious, right? Say unto God, how terrible art thou in thy works. And that's not in an insulting way, okay? That just means, you know, amazing or inspiring. How terrible art thou in thy works. Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. All the earth shall worship thee and shall sing unto thee. They shall sing to thy name, Selah. Come and see the works of God. He is terrible in his doing toward the children of men. He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the flood on foot. There did we rejoice in him. He ruleth by his power forever. His eyes behold the nations. Let not the rebellious exhort themselves, Selah. Oh bless our God, you people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard. Again, that's a command, isn't it? Make it heard, which holdeth our soul in life and suffereth not our feet to be moved. So he said, make it to be heard. And you're going to listen to it. Whispering singers out there, I'm not thinking of anyone, okay, but you need to, you need to, that's a command, right? And you know why? He holds your soul alive. He stops you getting taken by the enemies in life. And he commands you to sing loudly to him. That's kind of quite a good incentive, isn't it, right? Sing loudly to him. Okay, look, no one's, no one's sitting here going, don't know about that voice. Oh, did you hear old, you know, we don't go home, me and my family going, did you hear old Rutz's name? You know, you know, they really sung today. They don't usually, you know, just, and I don't think anyone else is. We just, but you know what, we just want people to sing, right? Just sing, open your lungs, sing your, you know, and you know what, the more you do it, the better you get anyway, okay? And when Isaiah said back in verse one, oh Lord, back in Isaiah 25, oh Lord thou art my God, I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name for thou has done wonderful things, thy counsels of old, of faithfulness and truth. I think you can safely assume that he was going to do it properly, can't you? Yeah, Isaiah was going to do it properly. He said, for thou has made us of a city and heap, of a defensed city, a ruin, a palace of strangers, to be no city. It shall never be built, which I believe is lightly referring to the destruction of Babylon, okay? Now go back to Isaiah 13. So we've just seen that he said about making a city and heap, okay, of a defense city of ruin. Jeremiah 51 37 says, and Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and an hissing without an inhabitant. And we've just seen that he said that it will be a palace of strangers to be no city, it shall never be built. In Isaiah 13, the Babylon, the burden, sorry Babylon, ends with this in verse 19 in Isaiah 13. When Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation, neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there, but wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses should be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there, and the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces, and her time is near to come, and her day shall not be prolonged. And we looked at that before, and we looked at, you know, how that then in fact lined up with what's to come in the future, because it didn't happen straight away, did it? Babylon, you know, Babylon didn't suddenly become just uninhabited when, for example, when the Medo-Persians invaded. So a lot of what happened in chapter 13 was about the day of the Lord, is about what was still to come, and it lined up with Revelation 18 too. You don't have to turn there, I'm just going to quote the verse which said, and he cried mightily with a strong voice saying, Babylon the greatest fallen is fallen, and has become the habitation of devils, and a hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Which is a precursor to the millennial reign of Christ. Hence Isaiah back in chapter 25 saying, O Lord, thou art my God, I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name, for thou hast done wonderful things, thy counsellors of old, of faithfulness and truth, for thou hast made of a city and heap, of a defence city, of ruin, a palace of strangers, to be no city it shall never be built. So Babylon being that world power, with its destruction followed by Christ's reign. So remember we saw that before that he talks about the coming of Christ, he then says, you know, I'm going to praise thee, exalt thee, etc, because of something which is basically the precursor to Christ's second coming, okay. Oh sorry, the precursor to the millennial reign after his second coming, to be more precise there. He said, Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee. Which is really what this chapter is about, okay. So yes there's a part fulfilment, there is as there always is in this, with the return from captivity under Cyrus, I believe is what that part fulfilment is from 536 BC. But what we're seeing here, okay, following on from chapter 24 and verse 23, which said then the moon shall be confounded, the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, okay, that's the key point, the Lord of hosts reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem before his ancients gloriously, what we're seeing is Isaiah prophesying of the coming thousand year rule and reign of Christ, okay. That's what we're going to see in the following verses. And like mentioned previously, it's not going to be a worldwide hippie commune, and I know I've mentioned this a bit just because people are confused about this stuff, you know, or whatever the liberal types want to imagine, okay. It's not going to be just this sort of like floaty, you know, where we're kind of just, just everything's just like peace man and free and easy and all that sort of stuff. He's going to be glorified, but he's going to be feared as well. Okay, he's going to be feared, which after that three and a half years of wrath preceding it should be inevitable, shouldn't it? That should be quite inevitable. Three and a half years of God's wrath. You'd imagine by the end of that three and a half years of all sorts of, you know, just, just fantastic, just amazing biblical judgment stuff that you, you know, if you didn't read the book of Revelation, be like, what on earth is going on here? You'd imagine he's going to be feared, but also because he will be ruling with a rod of iron. So it's not just because of the wrath of God, it's because of the way he will rule. Revelation 19, 15 says, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God. But he's not just being glorified out of fear though. So look, the Lord is scary as well, right? But that's not just why we glorify him. Verse three said, therefore shall the strong people glorify thee. The city of the terrible nations shall fear thee. For thou has been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. So you get these people, I don't know if you ever come across them sometimes, you get very angry at people being taught to fear God. You ever come across these, you get like these liberal, liberal church types kind of try and come out with it. They try and change it till it just means respect. You don't really want to have to fear him, you know, because they've got kind of created this new image of the Lord maybe. Or they try and say, you know, they'll claim it's a scare tactic to be religious. I don't like these people talking about hell. You're just trying to scare people into putting their, you know, into being religious, scare people into converting or whatever they want to call it. They're not going to go and put in their faith in Christ. But God isn't just black and white, okay? That's not how it works. God's complex, isn't he? And we can love and fear him at the same time, can't we? And I hope that you both love and fear the Lord, you know, because he warrants love, but he also warrants respect and he warrants fear as well. And we have a lot of reasons to love him, don't we? We do, right? And not only did he provide us the free gift of eternal life, but he also helps us through this physical life too. I mean, just eternal life, just salvation alone would have been enough. More than enough. I mean, more than you could ever, more than you could really ever have imagined, right? That you've just been given a free gift of eternal life and you've been given a buy for every single sin you've ever done, ever will do. And it's all taken away off your eternal account and put onto the Lord Jesus Christ. But he also does other stuff for you, right? Said in verse three there, therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee, for thou has been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against a wall. Who are the terrible ones? Now, these are people to be feared, the strong, the mighty, the fierce, but specifically here, it's those against God's people, okay? There were the terrible ones of Assyria, the terrible ones of Babylon, and in the future it will be the terrible ones of the Antichrist, one world government of sorts, or, you know, whatever, however you want to picture it. And that will be when God's people need him to be their strength, right? I mean, more than ever. A refuge, when we need him to be a refuge, a shadow, when those terrible ones are besieging God's people. And whenever we're reading and seeing of what's going to happen in tribulation, especially going into the great tribulation, it's going to be a scary time for God's people, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against a wall, which is basically a picturing of just being besieged by scary people, you know? Like an army of reprobates. Bit worrying, well, and it's for then, I think, in the great tribulation that we're told, you know, in Luke 21-28, and when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption, draweth nigh. You can imagine just how amazing that would be, to be alive in that time, to have made it through the great tribulation, to look up and see the Lord coming. And wow, well, and then you know what happens when that comes verse five, thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers as a heat in a dry place, even the heat with the shadow of a cloud, the branch of the terrible one shall be brought low. So that's when he returns, the noise of the world's Christ rejecters shall suddenly be brought down, the heat of that persecution shall end like when a cloud just suddenly covers the sun. That whole Antichrist army will be brought low, and then it's celebration time. Okay, that's time to celebrate. That's celebration time for God's people. It says this in verse six, and in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts may come to all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees, well refined. Now what mountain is he talking about? Turn to Isaiah chapter two, Isaiah two. So this is talking of Christ ruling and reigning the world from Jerusalem, okay, from Mount Zion. That's the mountain it's talking about. Back in Isaiah two, if you remember, that was quite a long time back now, it says this in verse one, Isaiah two one, the word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people should go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Look, for many people around the world, you can imagine, I mean right now, for people living in certain places in the world, war talk, imagine people living in Ukraine right now, who just seem to have like a borderline world war being just fought in their nation, and you know, you can imagine that's got to be a pretty amazing time, isn't it, right? Well, the initial fulfilment was likely, by the way, when I think when Artaxerxes sent Ezra with a letter demanding the governors to give them everything they wanted, because it says here, and in the mountain, in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, so we're back in Isaiah 25, a feast of wine, wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. But this also represents the marriage supper of the Lamb, okay? And fat things is talking about the rich foods, the best foods, marrow being the essence, which is traditionally the best part. And I'm not going to go into depth again about wine in the Bible, but needless to say, okay, that Isaiah isn't prophesying of a massive knees-up with the Lord, okay? And if you think that, maybe you need to take the beer goggles off, okay? He wasn't going, right, you're not going to believe it, when he comes back we're all just going to get smashed, okay? So, honestly, people think this stuff, yeah? Because then you look through it through the lens of just, well, what sort of feast are you going to have without the, you know, the wine on the lees? That sounds like the real posh stuff, doesn't it? Well, wine, as we know, can either be fermented or unfermented juice. But before industrial farms, like we say many times, right, before mechanical pressing, trodden out juice was a luxury, right? Now, and to some it still is. And by the way, it should be at least treated as such, too. Just, you know, let's just have a quick commercial break for health advice here, okay? People that drink lots of juices and sugary drinks are unhealthy, okay? It's meant to be a luxury item. So if you're just hammering juice all day every day, if you are one of these people, I don't mind if I insult you now. If you're one of them people that goes, I don't like water, there are people out there, okay? I've heard kids say this stuff, don't like water. Well, you're just going to be unhealthy, all right? You need to just drink it. You know, everything you have in life doesn't have to be a taste sensation, all right? It doesn't have to be, well, I just so enjoyed that and everything else. I had some kids once around our house, some old family friends, and they didn't want any water. So I told them I got this great drink called H2O, and they were really excited about the H2O. We got them all built up, they said they were going to have the H2O, and they got smashed with the water. But anyway, point being that, look, it should, so even though it's cheaper now, even though you could get juice pretty cheap, right, the reality of it is it should be treated as a luxury, it should be something that's a treat and stuff, because if you're just drinking that stuff and whatever, especially all the soft drinks and all that stuff, you drink that stuff regularly, you're going to be unhealthy, right? But anyway, let's carry on though with it. But wines on the lees, okay, they just, basically they're not watered down, they're not weak flavoured juices. Can you get like some weak juice, right? Okay, lees are the sediment, the dregs, the stuff at the bottom if you don't shake the bottle. So if you ever had like juice where it's not filtered, if you ever had like, I don't know, orange juice with the bits, yeah, if you don't shake that bottle, by the end, there's all the, grimacing over there. Come on, that's the way to have it, isn't it? Okay, so if you don't like, but anyway, if you've ever had orange juice with the bits, you never shake that bottle, you're going to end up with a lot of bits at the bottom, right? Okay, that's the sediment, the stuff, but that's why it's rich flavoured, right? It's because of that stuff. Well, here's the thing though with it, is that here it's also well refined. He said of wine, the last bit of it, of wines on the lees, well refined. So it's full flavoured, but the dregs are then filtered out when it's served. So this is like the best quality juice you can have. It's full flavoured, it's rich, it's full bodied, but then it's been filtered, it's been refined, so you're not drinking all the nasty kind of bitty stuff and chewing it while you're drinking, yeah? Okay, so he said, and in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow of wine, wines on the lees, well refined. So basically it's a feast of the best foods and drinks. That's a bite. It's the best stuff. Top quality, top notch, the best quality stuff. No more getting stitched up for a good piece of meat. That's how I look at the millennial reign, yeah? No more getting ripped off for just trying to get a nice piece of meat, yeah? Which isn't just filth and doesn't shrink when you cook it. No more laboratory meats either, because I don't know, if it doesn't happen soon, then this plant-based meat stuff is only growing, isn't it? I mean, while they're trying to take over farms and everything else and try and push this filth on us. I mean, you can imagine by the time it comes to millennial reign, we might just be desperate for just a bit of meat. It's been like, please, it's been years, you know? They banned it, they put tax on it or something, you know? Made us eat Frankenstein food. No more genetically modified pesticide juice. That'll be good, won't it? Some good, proper organic juice. Not all that GM stuff, not all that weird stuff. That'll be nice, won't it? No pesticide residues in it all. You probably taste the difference, right? Especially once you're in that glorified body. No more juice drinks, if you don't know what I'm talking about. This is when they try and con you in the shop, and it's like something juice drink. Oh, it's a bottle of juice, and it's like, no, it's the aspartame version with everything else in here. I should have just got the juice, but it was a juice drink. None of that anymore, I don't think. Okay, and for those that love that stuff, I think your glorified body won't, okay? And you know why? Because there is a lot of abundance in the earth, isn't there? You go, well, yeah, but how? I mean, what about all believers from time past? How are they going to afford all that stuff? Well, there's a lot of abundance in the earth when it's not being siphoned off by the rich elite, by the very small minority. There's abundance everywhere, isn't there? Okay, well, it'll be a time of celebration, because the Lord is being united with his people. It'll be like a marriage, okay? And it's picturing the marriage supper of the Lamb, with the veil then being removed. Verse 7 says, and he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering, cast over all people, the veil that is spread over all nations. So that covering, that veil, representing blindness to the Gospel, okay? 2 Corinthians 3.15, you'd have to turn this, it says, but even unto this day when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. So this is people that just, they've just got a veil, they can't understand it, but that will be gone, okay? He's going to destroy the face of the covering, cast over all people, the veil that is spread over all nations. I suppose it's a bit hard to just, to not understand, to reject the Lord when he's ruling and reigning on earth. It's a bit hard to go, well, I don't believe in this Jesus when he's ruling and reigning from Mount Zion, right? Okay? So he's going to destroy that. Verse 8 says, he will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from our full faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from our fall, from off all the earth, for the Lord has spoken it. So first fulfilment would be with the return from captivity, I believe, but turn to 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul uses similar language when talking of the resurrection, okay? 1 Corinthians 15, you're turning to, he's talking about the resurrection, he's talking about Christ's return, where we receive our immortal bodies. Now, aside from the good food, okay, aside from ruling and reigning with the Lord, don't forget we're also going to receive immortal bodies, okay? And maybe some of us as we get older, this is what we focus on more, maybe others, you know, the younger men are just like, yeah, whatever, you know, who cares? I feel pretty immortal right now. Well, as we get older, we don't feel quite as immortal, so this bit is starting to become more exciting for me, okay? Verse 15, 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Corinthians 15, 50 says, Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. So, basically, these sinful, fleshly bodies aren't inheriting the kingdom of God, okay? Anyone thinks that you're going to be up there, you know, with your sinful flesh, with all the temptations, cravings that your flesh has, you know, with your, you know, all the stinking and all the everything else, yeah, we're not going to have any of that, okay? With your manky feet and, you know, and whatever other stuff gets worse, you get older, okay? That's not inheriting the kingdom of God. That wouldn't be such a nice place, would it? There'd have to be a lot of deodorant going around as well, otherwise it'd be kicking up in there. Well, verse 51 says, Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. So, not all believers will physically die, okay? Some will make it to Christ's return. He said in verse 52, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Immortality sounds good to me, doesn't it, right? It's like superhero stuff, yeah, okay? Anyone, you know, gets excited by that stuff. It's gonna happen, right? Gonna get an immortal body. Verse 54, So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. So no more physical death after that either. He said in verse 55, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. So with that, all of that in mind, okay, knowing what we're waiting for, it's got to be even more worth telling other people to get saved, isn't it? Even more worthwhile. Just aside from, oh, I don't want him to go to hell for eternity. Aside from that, they're not even gonna get an immortal body. It's even better than just not going to hell. It's amazing, right? Which is why it says in verse 58, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. It's not in vain. So back in verse eight, okay, Isaiah is saying what will happen with that second coming, the resurrection. He said in verse eight, he will swallow up death in victory. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from our full faces. And the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth for the Lord have spoken it. Now, wipe away all tears is a term that we see used. Talking about both Christ's imminent return in Revelation 7 17, it says, For the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Okay, and that is just before his return. Okay. And then also, after the millennial rain, we see it mentioned with the new heaven and new earth, Revelation 21 4 says, And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there should be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the form of things that passed away. Well, at that point, there will be no more of the unsaved left. Hence, no more death, sorrow, crying, whereas back with the rapture, it will be a time of comfort, okay, for when he first comes back for those that have gone through the trauma of the tribulation, especially, right? Okay. It says in verse 8, He will swallow up death in victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from our full faces and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from a fool the earth for the Lord has spoken it. And that's going to be pretty amazing, isn't it? And look, even if you're saying, well, okay, I'm not going to be there, maybe like, maybe the rapture's way off, okay, and we're not going to live to that, but just him taking away the rebuke of his people, you coming back for a thousand year rule and reign within that thousand years of rebuke of his people taken away. And aside from not being hunted down for believing the gospel, okay, for not believing, you know, sorry, for believing the gospel, not believing some ecumenical nonsense apart from that, aside from that, okay, aside from that, if you do live then or if you don't, how about no more getting mocked by the wannabe intellectual? That'd be nice, won't it? No more of them idiots out there and you just, it's like, where do you even start with them? No more of those people that just want to, with their stupid little comments, when you try and give them a church invite or try and knock on their doors. I believe in science. So I said, I haven't been to church since I was a child or something. No more of that stuff, right? No more getting insulted for just believing in God's word. No more getting insulted for believing that God preserved his word. I mean, fancy that, right? Yeah, KJV only. Yes, I, yeah, what would you believe? You believe 400 different perversions of the Bible that all say something different. Which one do you believe? Which one do you, oh, well, I think that he's given us a variety. All of them are good. Really? All of them because they all say something different. Oh, but we're so stupid, aren't we? No more, no more being told we're giving people a license to sin. That'd be nice, won't it? No more angry Pentecostal or someone else. Sounds like giving people a license to sin. So, no, we, we, I'm not even going to go down that one. No, no more getting criticized for choosing to actually parent your child. That'd be nice, won't it? Parents out there. No more getting, you know, no more like family and friends trying to knock you and trying to say little digs and everything else for actually choosing to parent your children and not just sending them off for the world, you know? No, no, no more getting criticized for avoiding booze. That'd be nice, won't it? Getting mocked, scorned, treated like you're some sort of weirdo because you don't want to get smashed and risk ruining your life and poisoning your body and whatever else, right? That'd be nice, won't it? He said the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth. There's just so many things about the millennial reign, aren't there? And, you know, he tells us all these things because, don't get me wrong, ruling and reigning with Christ, amazing. Being with the Lord, amazing, right? Not going to hell, amazing, but there's more, there's more and it's like, it's, we should enjoy that, we should look at that, praise God, like Isaiah is just saying, I'm going to praise you, I'm going to exhort thee, you know? I'm going to glory in the Lord because of just so many blessings we're going to receive. He said he will swallow up death in victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from a full face and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth for the Lord has spoken it. How can we be sure? For the Lord has spoken it. He's spoken it, we can be sure. Oh well, I don't know, is this the right translation though? Oh, maybe not. We know, we know, we know, for the Lord has spoken it, this is going to happen, it's going to happen. As sure as everything else, as sure as all those other prophecies that came true from the Word of God, as sure as the fact that you know, you know, and you put your faith in Christ, you know it's true, don't you? Yeah, you might get wobbles sometimes, you might get doubts, you might get times in your life where you question your faith and you know what you do, you open up the Word of God and you read the Word of God and it agrees with your spirit and you say I know it's the Word of God and the Word of God says not only are you saved, not only do you have everlasting life and you shall not come into condemnation, but you've passed from death and life. Not only does it tell you that, that you have it, it's yours, you're saved, but it tells you you're going to have all of this to come as well. How amazing is it, right? Well, he said this in verse 9, and it shall be said in that day, lo, this is our God, we have waited for him and he will save us. This is the Lord, we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. I don't know, it made me think of that song, you know that old kids song, this is the day that the Lord has made, you know, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Is everyone looking at me like a man? I went to like a Christian primary school, okay, you sing that stuff every day, right, but that's a pretty cool hymn and I was thinking maybe that because it, you sing it thinking about what I was just talking about this morning, yeah, great, you know, God made this day, right, but maybe that hymn is talking about that day, that day, constantly called that day, this is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it, right, and won't that be a taunt to a child? It's just going to be amazing, isn't it? We're all knocking about in the millennial rain and be like, I hope you're gonna go, I remember that sermon you preached past the tabernacle last night at 25, that's much better, you did it, no justice at all, all right, because this is so much better, I mean what, I mean it's going to be amazing, right, we're up there high-fiving each other going, yeah, wow, okay, what a day that will be, another good hymn, right, what a day that will be when our saviour wishes to see, right, and the first fulfilment here, I mean would have been, obviously, I think the first fulfilment is probably the reaction to the temple being rebuilt, etc, and all of that going on with the return for captivity, he says in verse 10 then, with that in mind, being the first, the initial fulfilment, for in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, a Moab shall be trodden down under him, even a straw is trodden down for the dunghill, now you might say, but weren't the Moabites already pretty much wiped out by the Babylonians, okay, so what's this now, something about the Moabites, obviously we've been looking at the future, but there is an initial fulfilment, but if he's talking about the return for captivity, didn't the Moabites, when we look to the burden of Moab, seem to just get pretty much done by those Babylonians, well there remains some, okay, and if you turn in Nehemiah chapter 2, who went up to Jerusalem a little after Ezra, so in a, it seemed to be about 446 BC, he went to rebuild the city walls, I remember Nehemiah went there, well guess who was Nehemiah's main adversary, Sanballat the Horonite, if you remember the name, if you read through the book of Nehemiah, Sanballat the Horonite, okay, which, and a Horonite is from Horanean, and guess where Horanean was, well Isaiah 15 5 says, my heart shall cry out for Moab, his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, and heifer of three years old, for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up, for in the way of Horanean, they shall rise, raise up a cry of destruction, Horanean was a city of Moab, Sanballat was a Moabite, he was Sanballat the Horonite, he was from Horanean, okay, a city of Moab, well in Nehemiah 2, this Horonite ends up being basically the number one adversary to God's work, Nehemiah 2 10 says, when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant the Ammonite heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, when they heard of it being rebuilt, Jerusalem being rebuilt, that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel, so they weren't happy when he turned up to get on with his work, okay, he then causes all sorts of trouble, but guess what ends up happening to him, he gets trodden down, okay, he gets taken down in the end, and look at the last few verses of Nehemiah, so Nehemiah ends in chapter 13 with this from verse 28, so Nehemiah 13 and verse 28 says this, and one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priestesses, verse 28 of chapter 13, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, therefore I chased him from me, so not only did Sanballat get put out of town, but the son-in-law to him was then chased away by, Nehemiah was pretty, he was pretty rough and rowdy wasn't he, Nehemiah, okay, so he just chased this guy away, said remember them, oh my God, because they've defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites, thus cleansed I them from all strangers and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, everyone in his business, and for the wood offering at times appointed him for the firstfruits, remember me, oh my God, for good, okay, so he cleansed them from these people, he chased away the final sort of remnant of Sanballat, this Moabite, well where we were with that in mind back in verse 10, where he's talking about this kind of time, this great time, where he's talking about the Lord ruling and reigning and everything else, and for me this is talking about things being rebuilt, the first fulfillment, the initial fulfillment is with this return for captivity, he said in verse 10, for in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, a Moab shall be trodden down under him, even a straw is trodden down for the dung hill, and he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim, he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands, and the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground even to the dust, now which although, like I said, likely being part fulfilled by Sanballat, his family, probably others as well, perhaps represents those still left during God's wrath being humbled, I think, okay, verse 11, where it said he should spread forth his hands and miss them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth forth his hands to swim, and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands, I think it's a picture of them being wiped out, the swimming in case you're thinking what strokes is he talking about, I just think like breaststroke, right, he's just talking about swimming like this, just wiping out the whole lot, right, okay, which really for me that's God's wrath, isn't it, okay, and obviously like I said, first fulfilment probably with Sanballat and his Moabite buddies and everything they're trying to do, just getting scuppered by Nehemiah and then kicking them out, because they tried to basically worm their way in there to Baia as well, his servant, but then after that ultimately the main fulfilment is God's wrath, okay, and it's just like, I mean, how else can you explain God's wrath when people are just getting wiped out, killed, there's all sorts of destruction coming down, and the description here is like this, basically, he wipes out a large amount of the earth, a lot of people get destroyed, there's a lot of destruction of the earth, it said, but with that he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands, so this is along with their wealth as well, and, you know, when God's wrath comes, that's when pride, if you're still prideful in your wealth, everything, when it just gets smashed, when, you know, the great men and the poor, everyone's hiding in the dens of the rocks and everything else, that's pride done now, right, and anyone who's not at least reprobate at this point, it hasn't taken the mark, you would hope they're being a humble enough position, he said in verse 12, and a fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low and bring to the ground, even to the dust, and if that doesn't humble you, I don't know, what will, right, if you're not humble at that point, the Lord appears, you know, getting smashed, you've got those 144,000 witnesses running around, you've got the two witnesses, you know, and if you still don't get saved then, well, I don't know, I think that's pretty much it, isn't it, right, well, I think that's what it's talking about there, I think that's kind of that picture at the end, but probably first fulfilled, I think, in Nehemiah's time, on the back of that, that return from captivity, that's what I believe with that, that was Isaiah chapter 25, and on that we're going to finish in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for your word, thank you, Lord, for, well, just the glory that awaits us, Lord, the millennial reign, our glorified bodies, Lord, those immortal bodies that you have, that we're waiting for, Lord, just the amazing things that are going to come with ruling and reigning with Christ for a thousand years on this earth, Lord, and, you know, we know it's true because you've spoken it, and we can trust every word that we have in our King James Bibles, Lord, and it's pretty clear that that's what's going to happen, and, Lord, help us to, to, you know, to be maybe encouraged by that when things are hard, when times are hard, help us to be buoyed by that, help us to know, therefore, with that, that our labor is not in vain, Lord, help us to keep laboring, to give us the energy that we sometimes need for us to give us that, sometimes, you know, that kick up the bum from behind, we sometimes need to just keep working, keep grafting, keep going out and preaching the gospel, keep reading our Bibles, keep getting into church, Lord, and just keep serving, knowing that, you know, one day we're going to be ruling and reigning with you for that thousand years, and, Lord, what a day that will be, help us to, Lord, to show that truth, or at least part of it, as much as is needed to other people to, but help, you know, help us to do it in the right way, Lord, and ultimately with them accepting that they need salvation from hell, help us to get many people saved, not just, not just on tomorrow in Tilbury, but on Saturday in our marathon, Lord, please just bless that whole marathon in Colchester, help people to make it there, help the travel to be good, help us, help me with the route planning and everything to just be the most receptive we can to find the people that, you know, most receptive to your gospel, Lord, help everything to go great on the weekend, and in Jesus' name, promise, amen.