Peace and Plowshares for the Peoples

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Good morning, everyone. My name is Sitara, and I'm part of the CC Kids.

A reading from the book of Isaiah.

This is what Isaiah, son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In the last days, the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains.

It will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.

Many peoples will come and say,

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths.

The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples.

They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

You, Lord, have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob.

They are full of superstitions from the east.

They practice divination like the Philistines and embrace pagan customs.

Their land is full of silver and gold.

There is no end to their treasures.

Their land is full of horses.

There is no end to their chariots.

Their land is full of idols.

They bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.

So people will be brought low and everyone humbled.

Do not forgive them.

Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from the fearful presence of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty.

The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low.

The Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty,

for all that is exalted and they will be humbled,

for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan,

for all the towering mountains and all the high hills,

for every lofty tower and every fortified wall,

for every trading ship and every stately vessel.

The arrogance of men will be brought low and human pride humbled.

The Lord alone will be exalted in that day and the idols will totally disappear.

People will flee to caves in the rocks and to the holes in the ground

from the fearful presence of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty when he rises to shake the earth.

Stop trusting in mere humans who have but a breath in their nostrils.

Why hold them in esteem?

The grass withers and the flowers fade.

The words for God is in his heart.

Thank you for that reading, Sitara.

Well, as you've heard already, it's the season of Advent,

which is strange because everything around us is Christmas.

But we're encouraging you to lean in to this season that's primarily focused on the second coming of Jesus.

We say every week in communion, Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.

And then we say in the creed that we believe Jesus will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead

and his kingdom will have no end.

And Advent says, let's give our attention to this.

Maybe something we've been neglecting.

This coming reality of Jesus' return and glory.

And ask ourselves, am I ready for that?

Am I prepared for the judge to come?

And as Andrew said, there are two prophets in Advent.

There's the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament, the prophet John the Baptist in the New Testament.

So if you're not sure what to be reading right now, read there.

And I want to invite you to turn in your pew Bible to page 554.

Page 554.

The reason that's important to look at is that we printed it for you here.

It looks like prose, but it's actually poetry.

And page 554, you can get a better feel for the flow of the poetry.

And we're going to talk about three things.

We're going to talk about the longing for peace, the necessity of justice, and the coming king of majesty.

The longing for peace, the necessity of justice, and the coming king of majesty.

When you look at verse 1, it says,

this is what Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

And that's what a prophet is.

A naviim is a seer.

It's someone to whom God's given a vision.

An inspired vision, an authoritative revelation of this new world that Isaiah can see.

Of what the world will be like.

Of what it will look like.

What it will feel like.

When God's Messiah comes to establish the kingdom of God on the earth as it is in heaven.

In quote unquote, the last days.

And so he says in verse 2,

In the last days, the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains.

It will be exalted above the hills and all nations will stream to it.

He says that a day is coming when Jerusalem will be made new.

And when Mount Zion, the temple where the presence of Yahweh dwells,

That place will be elevated as the highest of all the mountains in the world.

It will be exalted among all the other mountains and hills.

And why does that matter?

Because mountains in the ancient Near East were high places where the presence of the deity was thought to dwell.

And so people built temples on those high places.

And they went to worship on those mountains.

To worship the gods of Egypt and Canaan and Assyria.

The gods of Persia and Babylon.

The gods of China and India.

The gods of Greece and Rome.

The world was absolutely full of these mountains with their temples and with their gods.

And Isaiah sees this vision that a day is coming when the dwelling of Yahweh,

the presence of Yahweh himself will be lifted up.

But when the Messiah comes, the place where people can gain access to the presence of the living God will be exalted.

And implicit in that is that all the other mountains, all the other temples,

all the other homes of the gods in that day will be downgraded.

Will be humiliated.

They'll be shown to be false deities and dumb idols.

And many peoples, it says, of all the nations will forsake their gods.

And they'll come streaming to Mount Zion.

And this supernatural triumph of the Lord over all the other gods will result in a great movement of the nations.

Kids, have you ever seen a stream or a river that's flowing upward to the summit of the mountain?

No, you've never seen that.

But Isaiah is seeing that.

That the nations from the Middle East and from Africa and Asia and Europe and the Americas.

Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, secular people.

It's like they're a stream.

They're a river that is seeing the supernatural exaltation of the dwelling place and the presence of Yahweh.

And it's as if the world's strongest magnet is pulling all of us up and all of us in.

And Isaiah sees this international universal upflow of the peoples that are streaming up this mountain.

And why are they doing that?

Why are they seeking the presence of the Lord?

Verse 3 says that many peoples will come and say,

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths.

The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Isaiah can not only see this vision, he can hear the peoples talking.

And they're not saying to one another, let's go on vacation.

Let's go on a sightseeing trip.

They're saying to one another, let's go on a spiritual pilgrimage.

Let's go on this purposeful journey to this holy place, to the house of the God of Jacob.

And what they're saying among themselves is, you know, there must be more to life than what we currently have.

There must be something here at the center of the world, something here at the house of the God of Israel,

that our mountains and our temples and our gods do not have.

The nations in this moment are being converted.

They're being converted to the one true God,

who created the massive universe that we live in,

who created the marvelous bodies that we inhabit.

The one true God who made all the physical and mathematical and scientific laws that hold everything together.

The God who made all the spiritual and relational and moral laws that make life meaningful.

And what do the people say?

They say, when we get to the new Jerusalem,

when we get to Mount Zion,

we will receive from the Lord himself the teaching of his Torah, his law.

We will receive the teaching from the Lord himself from his prophetic word.

He will give us his own self-revelation of the truth.

The truest truth of the universe.

Truth with a capital T.

And when we receive that truth,

we'll get a new kind of life.

And so we will trust in his ways,

and we will walk in his paths.

See, Isaiah is giving us a vision of the conversion

of many peoples from all the nations.

And these are people who had been

inveterate enemies of the kingdom of God.

These are people who had been bitterly antagonistic

and diametrically opposed to Yahweh.

And their conversion means that

these pagan idol worshipers

are renouncing their gods,

and they're beginning to worship the Lord.

They've been reconciled to him.

They've been brought into harmony with him.

They're acknowledging his sovereignty

and his authority

and his power

in their lives and in the world.

And what they're saying is that

we want to be part

of God's covenant people.

We want to enjoy the new Jerusalem.

We want to learn and live

according to God's word.

We want to conduct ourselves

according to the Lord's character.

We want to walk

in his specific spiritual and moral paths

for his people.

And notice that

there's no hint of reluctance

or resistance.

None of them are half-hearted

or indifferent.

But all of them are encouraging one another

and exhorting each other

in their astonishment

at who Yahweh is

and what Yahweh has done.

And they've said,

come,

let's go to the Lord

and let's go get his teaching.

The conversion of the nations

is this great reversal of history

that's beyond any kind of human engineering

or human manipulation.

And what do we see is the fruit

that's flowing out of their conversions.

How do we know that their hearts

have been converted

and transformed?

Well, Isaiah says

they have a new longing

for peace.

They have a new longing

for shalom.

They have a new longing

for wholeness

and well-being

and human flourishing.

And they not only have a longing

for peace,

but they begin to practice peace.

They begin to live

as peacemakers.

Verse 4 says,

He will judge between the nations

and will settle disputes

for many peoples.

They will beat their swords

into plowshares

and their spears

into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up

sword against nation

nor will they train for war

anymore.

Notice that this peace

does not come about

through the United Nations.

It doesn't come about

through diplomatic

unilateral disarmament.

It doesn't come about,

this peace doesn't happen

because the nations realize

their mutually assured destruction

so that out of pure

political self-interest

they sign a treaty

on the non-proliferation

of nuclear weapons.

No.

Peace happens

because they now

know the Lord.

Peace happens

because they're now

in a right relationship

with the living God.

Peace happens

because they've been

converted

and their hearts

are transformed.

Peace happens

because having been

reconciled to the Lord

they want to be reconciled

with each other.

Peace is happening

here friends

because

as a first fruits

of their conversion

they're people

of peace

and they want

to be

peacemakers.

And two things

are happening here

in verse 4.

First of all

it says

he will judge

the Lord will judge

between the nations

and will settle

disputes

for many peoples.

You see

what's been happening

is that

this nation

has been coveting

and exploiting

that nation.

And

this people

has historical

resentments

because of

that people's

historical injustices.

And

this oppressor

has been

taking advantage

and victimizing

this victim

over here

by its strength.

death.

And so

by his

authoritative

and prophetic

word

the Lord

diplomatically

intervenes.

The Lord

begins to mediate.

He begins to

arbitrate

among the peoples

to judge

and settle

their disputes.

To practice

restorative

justice

by putting

wrongs right.

By repairing

all the

relational harm.

And by

restoring

broken

relationships

and the

fruit

of

the

conversion

of

the

nations

is

they

gladly

participate.

They say

yes Lord

we want

what you

want.

And the

second thing

that's happening

here is it

says they

will beat

their swords

into plowshares

and their

spears

into pruning

hooks.

Nation

will not

take up

sword

against

nation

nor will

they train

for war

anymore.

The result

of their

conversion

is that

disagreement

is no

longer

settled

through

conflict.

And war

therefore has

no more

usefulness

because the

nations

trust the

Lord and

they trust

each other.

And the

Lord shows

them how to

take their

swords and

their spears

and to

turn them

into

plowshares

and pruning

hooks.

The Lord

shows them

how to take

their weapons

of war

and their

military

arsenals

that bring

death

and to

turn them

instead

into

instruments

of gardening

that bring

life.

And Berkeley

people should

love this.

The reason

they love

it or

they should

love it

is manifold

!

But part of

the reason

they should

love it

is because

this is a

massive

recycling

project.

They're not

throwing their

instruments of

war away,

they're

recycling them

into instruments

of peace.

A new

world order

is coming

when nations

will not only

forsake the

means and

the practice

of war but

they'll renounce

the mentality

of war.

They'll no

longer train

for war

or learn

war anymore.

And what

will they be

doing instead?

Well they'll

be gardening.

They'll be

growing food

and flowers.

They'll be

cultivating

nourishment

and beauty

for one

another.

They'll no

longer be

violently at

each other's

throats in

covetousness

and conflict

but now they'll

be peacefully

gardening

together in

a world of

flourishing and

fruitfulness.

And why will

they be

gardening?

Because God

made us for

the Garden

of Eden

and his

plan is to

get us

back there

to make us

right with

him, to make

us reconciled

with each

other, to

remove that

curse, that

ancient curse,

to end the

serpent's

oppressive

dominion over

us and to

put us back

into an ideal

environment for

our wholeness

and our

well-being and

our shalom.

friends, the

vision of

Isaiah is that

when the

kingdom of

God finally

comes on the

earth as it

is in heaven,

sin and

death and

war will end

and peace and

security and

prosperity will

reign and who

doesn't long for

that?

And how does

this apply to

our lives this

advent?

Well, first of

all, in the

first advent, the

first coming, when

God came in the

flesh as the

baby of Bethlehem,

and that prince

of peace grew

up and Jesus

marched into

Jerusalem, he

said, destroy

this temple and

I will raise it

up again in

three days.

And he was

speaking of

himself, he was

speaking of his

body.

He said, I

will be, in

that last day, I

will be raised

up, I will be

exalted, I will

be put in the

highest possible

place.

And elsewhere in

the gospel, Jesus

says, when I'm

lifted up, I

will draw all

people, Jew

plus Gentile, all

the nations to

myself, and all

the peoples will

have access to the

presence of the

living God through

me.

And I will begin to

teach them my

ways so that they

can walk in my

paths.

And friends, if

you're here today

and you want to be

part of the

fulfillment of this

prophecy, then you

need to go to

Jesus.

You need to go to

that resurrected and

exalted Prince of

Peace and ask him

to teach you his

way of grace so

that you can walk in

his path of peace.

The second application

is this, that the

way we are to live

between the first

advent and the

second advent, the

first coming of

Jesus and the second

coming of Jesus is

found in verse 5.

Come, descendants of

Jacob, come, people

of God, let us walk

in the light of the

Lord.

The nations might be

in confusion, the

nations might be in

conflict, but the

church says we're

going to live according

to this vision of

peace.

We're going to let

this vision of peace

steal our nerves and

comfort our sorrows.

We are going to

pledge ourselves to

walk in the light of

God's peace.

We're going to be

people of peace.

We're going to agree

with Jesus.

Blessed are the

peacemakers.

We're going to say

amen to the Apostle

Paul that we're going

to make every effort

to keep the unity of

the Spirit through the

bond of peace because

we want to be signposts

that God's reign and

God's universal peace

has come in Jesus.

And indeed that peace

is coming finally and

fully when he returns

in glory.

So that's the longing

for peace.

But I also want to

talk not just about the

longing for peace but

also about the

necessity of justice.

The necessity of

justice.

Isaiah says when this

new Jerusalem comes it

will be the center of

global peace and

worldwide shalom.

the Lord of peace will

reign over all the

nations there and the

passion for war that we

all seem to have will be

subdued by a greater

passion, a passion for

worship, a passion to

discover the ways of the

Lord, a passion to

practice and walk on his

paths of peace.

That will be our passion.

Don't you long for this

world of peace?

Where the SAF and the

RSF in Sudan,

where Israel and Hamas,

where Russia and Ukraine,

where China and Taiwan,

where Republicans and

Democrats live together

and enjoy each other in

peace?

Wouldn't it be amazing

if we woke up tomorrow

and we read that headline

that said in the

newspaper, nations beat

death-dealing military

weapons into life-giving

gardening tools?

Wouldn't that be a great

headline to read tomorrow?

It'd be incredible.

But friends, the

supernatural peace that

we're longing for is not

going to come without

divine justice and divine

judgment.

When you go out to

modern protests, you hear

people walking in the

streets and they'll say

this line, they'll say,

no justice, no peace.

Anybody heard that?

No justice, no peace.

No justice, no peace.

And whether people realize

it or not, they're quoting

Dr. Martin Luther King

Jr.

Dr. King said, peace is not

the absence of tension or

conflict.

Peace is the presence of

justice.

And where did Dr. King get

that?

He got that from the

prophet Isaiah.

The prophet Isaiah is

saying that unless the

injustices of human sin,

unless the injustices of

our self-centeredness are

dealt with, we're going to

have a false peace.

We're going to have a

hollow peace.

We're going to have a

shallow peace.

No, the basis of a real

peace, a durable peace, a

worldwide lasting peace is

Yahweh's divine justice.

And this is not a standard of

human justice that comes from

inside of our world and

emerges organically from the

bottom up.

No, it's a standard of

divine justice that comes

from outside of our world and

that sits over us and above us

authoritatively and comes into

our lives from the top down.

And this is what verse 4 is all

about.

Yahweh will judge between the

nations.

The one true creator God is the

only one really qualified to be

the judge of all that he's

created.

And Isaiah is saying that the

only way we'll experience his

peace is through his cosmic

justice.

And that's what verses 6 to 22

are all about.

If you just turn there for a

second, four times in this

section, Isaiah says that in

that day, in that day, in that

day, in that day, he's talking

about the day of the Lord when

humans will be humbled and the

Lord will be exalted.

And what he's saying is that this

day needs to happen because there

are serious injustices that need

to be dealt with and there are

terrible wrongs that need to be

put right.

And it's not only injustices and

wrongs that are out there, out

there with all those bad people.

No, it's the line between good

and evil runs not just between us

good humans in here and those bad

humans over there.

The line between good and evil runs

right through the middle of every

one of our hearts.

And Isaiah 2 says the line between

good and evil actually runs right

through the house of Jacob, right

through the people of God.

If the house of Jacob is going to

be this place where the nations can

come and worship the Lord and learn

His word and His ways and be in

fellowship with the living God, then

the house of Jacob, the people of

God, have to come under His

scrutiny.

And so Isaiah says in verse 6,

you've abandoned your people the

house of Jacob.

They're full of superstitions from

the east.

They practice divination like the

Philistines and clasps their hands

with pagans.

Their land is full of silver and

gold.

There is no end of their treasures.

Their land is full of horses.

There is no end of their chariots.

Their land is full of idols.

They bow down to the work of their

hands, to what their fingers have

made.

Isaiah is saying, look, instead of

trusting and clinging to and relying

upon the Lord for your life, the

people of God are adopting the

practices of the Babylonians in the

east and the Philistines in the

west, all the cultures around them.

They're living like the people around

them.

He says, instead of trusting in all

the spiritual riches you have from

the Lord, the people of God are

trusting in their material wealth,

their silver and their gold for their

security.

The prophet says, instead of being

peacemakers like God is a

peacemaker, the people of God are

piling up horses and they're piling

up chariots and they're piling up

all these weapons for war.

They're being conformed to the world.

He says, look, instead of bowing down

to the one true creator God, they're

bowing down to created things.

And instead of worshiping their maker,

they're worshiping the things that you

can make with your hands.

Don't we do that?

Don't we look at finite temporal things

like money or sex or power?

Don't we look at our work or our

retirement or our spouse or our kids or

whatever and we look at these finite

temporal things and we say to them,

please fill me with infinity.

Please fill me with eternity.

Please give me that sense of

transcendence that my heart cannot live

without.

And of course, they can't do it.

None of these things can do it.

You know, the first commandment that

God gave his people is you shall have

no other gods before me.

You need to love me with all of your

heart.

And the people of God are breaking that

command all the time.

In fact, Isaiah says, you know,

murder's wrong, adultery's wrong,

stealing's wrong, but you know the

worst of all injustices, you know the

most outrageous of all wrongs, is that

in your arrogance and in your pride,

you've abandoned God.

Isaiah's vision of supernatural peace

peace is not happening because of the

injustice of human pride.

Humanity's pride and God's peace are

incompatible.

The world cannot have God's peace until

he decisively deals with our pride.

Verse 9 says,

So people will be brought low,

and everyone humbled.

Do not forgive them.

Go into the rocks, hide in the ground

from the fearful presence of the Lord

and the splendor of his majesty.

The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled,

the human pride will be brought low,

and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

The Lord Almighty has a day in store

for all the proud and lofty,

for all that is exalted,

and they will be humbled.

All of us who are proud.

All of us who are exalted.

All of us who think of ourselves more highly

than we ought.

The prophet says,

We're outside the circle of the Lord's forgiveness.

In verse 9, it says,

Do not forgive them.

They don't deserve to be forgiven.

And remember,

he's not speaking about unbelieving people here.

He's talking about the house of Jacob.

He says,

If you do not repent of all the ways

that you are pridefully ignoring the Lord

and neglecting the Lord

and abandoning the Lord

and breaking his commandments

and failing to pray

and dishonoring him with your lives,

then the coming presence of the Lord,

the coming splendor of his majesty

is not going to cause you to feel joy.

It's going to cause you to be afraid.

He says in verse 17,

The arrogance of all people will be brought low

and human pride humbled.

The Lord alone will be exalted in that day

and idols will disappear.

People will flee to caves and the rocks

and to holes in the ground

from the fearful presence of the Lord

and the splendor of his majesty

when he rises to shake the earth.

Isaiah is saying that on this coming day of the Lord,

this coming day of cosmic justice,

Yahweh only has to rise ever so slightly

from his heavenly throne

and it will be enough to shake us to the core.

That he will simply unveil himself

as he's always been

and he'll reveal to us the splendor

of his royal majesty.

We'll see his sovereign glory.

We will have this vision of his kingly goodness

and holiness and authority

and he says that will be enough

to shake every one of us

and to convict us

of the pride

that makes peace impossible.

And on that coming day,

he says all human pride

that's infected and devastated

God's good creation

will be exposed

and it will be humbled.

And all the thoughts that I've ever had

and that you've ever had

of thinking of ourselves

more highly than we ought

will be revealed.

And all the times

that we've dispensed

with relying on the living God

and we've exalted ourselves

and lived as if we are God,

that will be shown up

for what it actually is.

And all of our idols in that day,

he says,

will be seen as good for nothing

and thrown away

as utterly

and completely useless.

And two times here,

he says,

the Lord alone

will be exalted in that day.

On that day,

the Lord will be exalted

over everyone

who has exalted themselves.

And that's necessary.

That's a necessary justice

because only

when he's dealt with our pride

can the world finally have peace.

So how do we apply this

to our lives this Advent?

Well,

this is a strange message,

isn't it?

Because this is supposed to be

the half-happiest season of all.

And Frank Sinatra

sings to us,

he says,

have yourself a merry little Christmas,

let your heart be light,

and from now on

our troubles will be out of sight.

But I encourage you

to immerse yourself

in a different kind of song

this Advent.

The songs of the prophet,

Isaiah.

Because Isaiah

has this uncomfortably,

you know,

sort of awkward,

unavoidable song

that seems less concerned

about our hearts feeling light

and pretending

that there are no troubles

in our world

or in our lives.

And he seems radically

more concerned

about God's judgment

on all that's wrong

and all that needs

to be put right

in his good creation

starting right here

with me

and with you.

Application number two,

I want you to imagine

the live,

high-voltage power line

that's coming into your house.

Now,

if you,

can you have that in your mind?

live,

high-voltage power line

coming into your house,

if you respect that power line

and if you have a right relationship

with that power line,

it's going to be good for you.

It's going to bring light.

It's going to bring heat.

It's going to bring all the things

that you need

in your house

to flourish

and be comfortable

and be at home.

But,

if you disrespect

that live,

high-voltage power line

and you're not

in a right relationship

with it

and you try

to grab hold of it

in some way

where you're not ready,

what's going to happen

to you?

It's going to be

a bad day.

And the prophet,

one of the commentators

on the prophet Isaiah,

he says,

the day of the Lord

is designed to be

a time of glory,

light,

blessing,

deliverance,

safety,

and renewal

and believers

look forward to it

like Christians

anticipate the second coming

of Christ.

But resistance to Yahweh

means it becomes

a time of humbling,

darkness,

calamity,

defeat,

insecurity,

and loss

as Christ's coming

will be for those

who have resisted Christ.

So the question

in Advent

is what is your attitude

and what is your posture

and what kind of relationship

do you have

to that live,

high voltage,

powerful person

who's coming again

named Jesus?

the third application

is it's obvious

that Jesus read Isaiah

extremely closely.

He quotes from it

more than any other prophet

and he says multiple times,

he says,

everyone who exalts himself

will be humbled

and he who humbles himself

will be exalted.

It's a beautiful summary

of Isaiah 2.

And we need to ask ourselves

during the season of Advent,

what are the ways

in which I have

exalted myself?

Like in my relationships

with the people I live with,

with the people I work with,

with the people in my neighborhood,

how have I been exalting myself?

Before my God,

how have I been

exalting myself?

And the prophet Isaiah says

in verse 22,

stop trusting in human beings,

including yourself,

who have butter breath

in their nostrils.

Why hold them in esteem?

Why do you have such trust

and such esteem

in yourself

who's living on borrowed breath

And in other people

who are here today

and gone tomorrow,

when we have

the eternal Lord,

faithful sustainer,

gracious redeemer,

just judge,

everlasting king.

Isaiah says,

stop pridefully relying

on human beings

and start humbly relying

on the Lord.

All right,

I've got one last thing.

The longing for peace,

the necessity of justice.

My last point is

the coming of the king of majesty.

And what I want you to do

is turn to your liturgy

to page three.

And I'm just going to walk you

through the final song

we're going to sing

in this service

by Charles Wesley.

It's one of the greatest

hymns of Advent.

I don't think we've ever

sung it here,

but we're going to learn it today.

It's one of the best

hymns about the second coming

of Jesus

at the end of history.

And what

Charles Wesley expects us to do

is to place ourselves

within this hymn

and to understand

what Advent is all about.

He says,

as we sing this first verse,

we imagine ourselves

actually seeing

the coming of the Lord,

the arrival of the king

with his procession

of attendance.

And it says,

lo, he comes with clouds

descending,

once for favored sinners slain.

Thousand, thousand saints

attending,

hail the king

who comes again.

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

God appears on earth

to reign.

And in the second verse,

this glorious vision

of the second coming

does not bring instant joy.

As viewers recognize

the judge to be Jesus,

a fear seizes many souls

and everyone who participated

in his death

begins wailing and mourning

and distress and terror.

It says,

every eye shall now behold him

robed in awesome majesty.

Those who mocked,

despised and sold him,

pierced and nailed him

to the tree.

Deeply mourning,

deeply mourning,

deeply mourning

shall the true Messiah see.

Who are these mourning people?

Well, we recognize ourselves,

hopefully.

These people are you and me.

All of us sinners

who mocked,

despised and sold him,

we do it every day.

We do it constantly.

In our pride,

we disregard him

and neglect him

and ignore him.

We treat the Prince of Peace

as if he's unimportant.

And it's our sin

that nailed him

to the tree.

And we simply cannot

draw a line

between the righteous

and the unrighteous

and see ourselves

on the good side.

But the third verse

is the charm.

Here it's revealed to us

that we are redeemed

in spite of ourselves.

And looking more closely

at the resurrected body

of the Lord Jesus,

we see that he still has

the mark of the nails.

It says,

The narrative force

of this hymn

brings us through tears

of self-recognition

to a blazing

and ecstatic joy.

As we recognize

the Savior

who's redeemed us

from sin and death.

And the fear of judgment

begins to melt away

as we see

this one

who's come to be

our advocate

and our defender.

This one who

is on our side.

This one who stands

not against us

but for us.

This judge

who's been judged

in our place.

And we're filled

with wonder

because we realize

that we were unworthy

but he counted us

worthy.

And we deserve judgment

but he didn't give us that.

He gave us mercy.

And we were slaves

to sin and death

but he brought us over

into righteousness

and life.

So how can we not love him?

How can we not love

with every fiber

of our being

this one

who bears the scars

of our ransom?

And the fourth verse

seeks to speed

the day of his coming

when we will be resurrected

we'll pass

into eternal life

and we'll be crowned

with transforming praise

and adoration

and so even now

we sing this song.

Yes, amen.

Let all adore you

high on your eternal throne.

Savior, take the power

and glory.

Claim the kingdom

for your own.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Everlasting God.

Come down.

do you think

we can sing that

together in a moment?

All right.

Let's sing it out

with joy

in the name

of the Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.