Ezekiel

And, we're gonna have our our reading now.

So if you've got a bible with you, then you can turn to ezekiel chapter 38. If you're new to the church, this is a series that we've been working through since January, and this is our penultimate session in the book of ezekiel. So just over 4 months, we've spent now in this fantastic prophetic book, and we've learned so much, about the lord and his, his purposes. And, we're gonna be having a look at this chapter now 38. And you can follow along on the on the screen as well.

The word of the lord came to me. Son of man set your face against gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshek and Thubar. Professor against him and say, this is what the sovereign lord says. I am against you, Gog, chief Prince of Meshek and Thubal. I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army, your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields.

All of them brandishing their swords. Persia and Cush and put will be with them all with shields and helmets. Also, Goma, with all its troops and Beth Togemar from the far north with all of its troops, the many nations with you. Get ready. Be prepared.

You and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. After many days, you will be called to arms. In future years, you will invade a land that has recovered from war. Whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety.

You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up advancing like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land. This is what the sovereign lord says. On that day, thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. You will say, I'll invade a land of unwalled villages.

I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people, all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations rich in livestock and goods living at the center of the land. Sheba and Deedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, and all her villages will say to you, Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hoards to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, and to seize much plunder. Therefore, son of man prophesy and say to God.

This is what the sovereign lord says. In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? You will come from your place in the far north, you and many nations with you. All of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. You will advance against my people, Israel, like a cloud that covers the land.

In days to come, Gog, I will bring you against my land so that the nations may know me when I improved wholly through you before their eyes. This is what the sovereign lord says. You are the 1 I spoke of in former days by my servants, the prophets of Israel. At that time, they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. This is what will happen in that day.

When gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares to sovereign lord. In my zeal and fiery wrath, I declare that at that time, there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the beasts of the field, Every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, and the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains declares the sovereign lord.

Every man's sword will be against his brother. I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed. I will pour down torrents of rain hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so, I will show my greatness and my holiness. And I will make myself known in the sight of many nations, and then they will know the time of the lord.

This is god's word to us this morning, and Pete's gonna come and preach it to us now. Gorgon Megogg. There we go. That's my sermon over with. Go and find out.

Father help us now, please, help us to look at this strange passage, very strange to our to our ears. But, help us to see truths in it that would help us follow you and love you in Jesus' name, amen. Now I do need to start with a warning. There's a spoiler alert here. A spoiler alert.

If you don't wanna hear what happens at the end, you need to actually stop listen listening. So just turn off. I'm gonna tell you what happens at the end of history. I'm gonna tell you what happens at the end of time. And if you don't wanna hear that, then you need to to tune out.

History is actually going somewhere. It's leading to a climax. History is not just unplanned random events, 1 after the other after the other. It's actually going somewhere. History is his god's story, and god has a plan and, god has already written the ending.

He's not waiting to find out what happens. He's already written the ending, and he's telling us what's what's to come. So it's not like an Agatha Christie book where you're not meant to read the the last chapter. He wants us to know what's to come because it'll help us live today. So if you don't wanna know how it all works out, if you don't wanna know whether you're on the winning side or not, or that that that dreadful line if you're on the right side of history.

I never quite understand that. But if you don't wanna know whether you're on the winning side or the right side of history, then you don't you should not listen. If you don't wanna know whether what you're committed to right now is worth it or not, tune out. If you don't wanna know how this episode that we're living in, relates to the whole of the play, then tune out. Spoiler alert, stop listening, because I'm gonna tell you.

But first of all, let's look at ezekiel's last action parable. So ezekiel we've seen does these action parables. He makes little clay things of of, Jerusalem and puts a little siege on. He cuts his beard with his with a sword. He lays on 1 side for days on end, and then on another side.

He cooks over over excrement. He does all these sort of weird parables. And this is his last 1. And you get it in chapter 37, so we didn't read it, and in verses 15, to 17. So I'm gonna read it now.

Let's just look at his last action parable. The word of the lord came to me, that's ezekiel, son of man, take a stick of wood, and write on it belonging to Judah and the Israelites associates associated with him, then take another stick of wood and write on it belonging to Joseph, that is to e frame, and all the Israelites associated with him, join them together into 1 stick so that they become 1 in your hand. So this is his last action parable. And what you've got here is that way before his e kill is that there were, Israel split into 2 nations. They had an argument after king Solomon had died.

And his 2 sons, had an argument, and there was a split. The northern kingdom, kingdoms eventually, went. They split into north and south. The northern kingdoms eventually were taken off by a Syria into exile scattered all over the place they never returned. The southern kingdom, which we've seen, were taken into exile by Babylon, and ezekiel was 1 of them, and then some of them eventually came back to to Judah.

They rebuilt Jerusalem. They rebuilt the wall, and then they bought built a smaller temple. But god we're seeing here in this action parable is somehow gonna bring the scattered people together, the 2 sticks are gonna become 1. And so ezekiel sort of I don't know whether he's been practicing, but it's like a practicing like, so it's like a magic show. It's what I love about Izikyo.

He has a go at all kinds of things. And he says, here's a stick. Here's a northern kingdom. Here's a stick. What?

2 sticks. Way 1 stick. And he does this magic show. To show that god could bring these 2 scattered nations together. Now if you read through, the rest of that, end of that chapter, ezekiel 37.

You'll see an emphasis on the word 1. 2 sticks become 1. And there's now 1 stick, 1 nation in his 1 hand, 1 shepherd, who is now David, which is a picture of Jesus. There's 1 law, and there's 1 new covenant. The emphasis is 1.

Now this is not talking about, ethnic, Israel. This is a prophetic action parable looking towards the age that we're living in. The church age, the age we live in, the age of the new covenant, the age of the church, the age when David or David's greatest son Jesus is ruling. The age when god does this miracle of making these scattered people who are divided into more than 2 sticks, but are divided into all kinds of groups that god does this miracle through this 1 greater, than David, Jesus in bringing people under his rule. And at the time of Jesus, the biggest divide was between Jew and Gentle.

They were the 2 big sticks. But Jesus, by the good news of his message, brings those sticks together. Listen to colossians. This is a new testament letter, Paul writing. He says here, and he's talking about in the church, here in the church, there is no due or gentile.

No circums, circumcised or uncircumcised. He's brought the Jew and the gentile together. He says, barbarian, scythian. These were people that hated each other and slave and free, but Christ is all and is in awe. Listen to Ephesians, another letter in the new testament.

And the emphasis is on 1. There is 1 body. Remember ezekiel? 1 bod 1 body, 1 spirit. Just as you were called to 1 hope when you were called, 1 lord, 1 faith, 1 baptism, 1 god and father of us all, who is overall and through all.

Many sticks Look at the sticks. There's 1 in Christ. Paul in the book of Galatians calls the church now the Israel of God. We are the Israel of god now. Jews, gentiles, Scymarians.

And then in the book of Revelation, of course, we see, John looking, and he says, after this, there before me was a great multitude that no 1 could count from every nation, tried, people, language, standing before the throne, and before the lamb. People who were scattered are being gathered together by the great and good shepherd, David, or rather David's greater son, Jesus. That's what happened at Pentecost. That's what we're seeing in part in this room here. This is the age of the 1 shepherd of the great new covenant who's calling people together from every nation to be 1 in Christ Jesus.

That's the miracle that Izikyo did with his sticks, and he wants us to see. We've already seen in chapter 34. There's 1 good shepherd. We've already seen in chapter 37 that the sheep are going to actually be cleansed and made new and raised to life so that they have sensitive hearts towards god. We've already seen, that, in chapter 36 that god is gonna cleanse a new land, so the the shepherd could lead the sheep into a place that's detoxified of sin, and they can eat and graze there.

And now we're seeing the calling together of the flock. To come together, to go into the new land under the 1 shepherd. You see it's beautiful, isn't it? The end of chapter 37 verse 27 says this. My, this is god speaking, my dwelling place will be with them, and I will be their god, and they will be my people, then the nations will know that I am the lord, that I the lord, make Israel holy, that's the church of god holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.

That's where history is going. That's what it's about. That's what we're about now gathering the flock so that 1 day we'll see the shepherd come and bring us into the new land. But history doesn't quite end there. It does, but not quite yet.

That's where it's going, but it hasn't ended yet. There's 1 more thing to do. There's an archenemy that needs to be dealt with. There's an enemy who is out to destroy and to wreck everything about god's plan. And without that enemy being dealt with, we'll never be at peace.

We're always feel. Is the enemy there? Is he outside the garden? Is he gonna sneak in as a snake again? Is he gonna ruin us again?

The enemy needs to be dealt with. We need to know that he's been dealt with and then we can live at peace. And so from the beautiful ending of chapter 37, we're suddenly taken into the dark clouds of war looming on the horizon. In chapters 38 and 39. We've just sort of was getting used to ezekiel, telling us some bright hope for the future, and suddenly the dark cloud of war is rolling over us.

John, in the book of Revelation, does exactly the same thing. He obviously takes it from ezekiel. Just before the last chapters of the book of the Bible, chapter 21 and 22, where we're shown the new creation in all its beauty and the rivers that flow and the temple of god that is there. And the people of god always eating fresh fruit at all of the beautiful descriptions that you've got in chapter 21 and and 22. The the new just before those 2 chapters, 21 and 22 is chapter 20.

Where Satan is let out off the leech, the leech, and the battle of Armageddon. Is gonna happen, and all evil forces are gathered. Now the point is, and I think we've gotta get this, is not to take us back to hopelessness, not to say, oh, no. Is the whole thing gonna happen again? Is the history gonna have to repeat itself?

We've got a new people with a new earth and a new kingdom and a new ruler. Is is is the battle of Armageddon gonna destroy all of that? Is the snake gonna sneak in again? The point is not to bring us back to hopelessness. But to show us all the armies that the evil 1 can gather together so that god can destroy them before us so that we know they're gone.

God's people are safe. The future is safe. God is bringing his people in. This is his story. And he's made us new and he's given us a new heart, and he's given us a new creation to live in.

And he's brought in a new unity of people from all over the world, and he's gonna destroy the enemy before us. All will be clean. Everything will be gone. No more sin, no more enemy. So that now, in the presence of the great shepherd, we will carry on getting more and more potential as we serve him forever and ever.

So that leads me to my second point. The last battle Gog and magog. I don't know. I mean, the word Gog makes me laugh, but got when I was a kid, I used to have a gonk. Did you have gonk?

So anyone know what a gonk is? Did you you know what a gonk is? They have them now. Gonks are back. What?

What a world we live in? GOGs are back in fact. Anyway, this is GOG. It's not a GONG. GOG and Magog, the Battle of Armageddon, the Battle that has mystical status.

And I'll show you that it doesn't need that. So first of all, the gathering of the army of gog. Rick at verse, chapter 38 1 to 6. Let me just read those words again. The word of the lord came to me, that's ezekiel, son of man, set your face against gog of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshek and Thubel, prophesy against him and say, this is what the sovereign lord says.

I'm against you, gog, chief priest of, chief prince of Mishhek and Thubal, I will turn you around. Now look what he does. This is what god is doing. I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you. It's like he's dragging Gorgal to bring you out with your whole army, your horses, your horsemen, fully armed, and a great horde of large and small with a great horde of, large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords.

And then there's these other nations there. Look at verse 9, you and all your troops, and the many nations with you will go up advancing like a storm. You'll be like a cloud covering the land. Now there's a whole load of weird and wonderful ideas about Gorg and Megog. Just put that in, well, don't.

Put that in Google and you'll see all kinds of weird things coming up. Gorg and Magog. And I'm sorry, but most of them do come from America. So if you're American, I'm a bit sorry. But there's all kinds of weird ideas.

Now there is a magog, in, in, back in Genesis, in the chapter in chapter 10, but they're long gone. Gorg and Magog are mentioned, as we'll see in a minute, in the book of Revelation, as being inspired by Satan. So these people, and these nations, are representatives of the forces of evil, past, present, and future, all gathering together. They're symbolic. You don't have to try and find out who exactly Gog is.

They're symbolic of all the world's evils coming together to overthrow god. And we're told here that god gathers 7 nations. That should get us realizing that this is a parable in itself. 7 nations are allied together against yahweh and against the people of god, 7 being the complete number, and it's even the number of god. So they're pretending to be as powerful as as as as he our way himself.

And it's a terrifying army when you read it. It's advancing like a storm, like a cloud coming towards you, covering the earth. They've got the latest technology of that time. And they're out to plunder, and they're out to loot, and they're out to ruin, and they're out to kill the people of god. So they gather to form this last battle to attack because everything else has been in place Everything else is good, so they gather together.

That's the gathering of the army. But here's the question. Who calls the army to gather? Who is it that calls the army together? Well, GOG thinks it's him because he thinks he's in charge.

He thinks it's his idea. Look at verses 10 to 12 of chapter 38. This is what the sovereign lord says. On that day, thoughts will come into your mind. He's talking to Gorg, and you will devise an evil evil scheme.

So he's he's thinking. Got it. I'm gonna get an evil scheme, and you will say I'll invade the land. So he's I mean, and if you read through, there's there's a number of eye wheels. So you'll say you'll say, I will invade the land of unwarged villages.

I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people, all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. I will plunder and loot. I will. I will. Gog.

He's responsible. I will for the evil schemes. But, actually, all of this is part of the plan of Yahway. Look at verses 3 and 4. This is what the Soviet lord says.

I'm against you, Gog, chief priests, chief prince of Meshek and Tuble. I will turn you around, put hooks in your your jaws and bring you out with your whole army. Your horses and your horsemen fully armed and so forth. Look at verse 16, the second half of that. GOG, I will.

This god's speaking. Gog, I will bring you against my land so the nations may know that I improved wholly through you before your eyes. It's a battle of the I wills. Gorg saying got it. Evil scheme.

Get those people of god. God's saying, I'll make you do this. The enemy imagines. He's worked it out. He imagines it's his bright idea, but then suddenly we're told that god's in control here.

GOG gathers his hoards and and, descends upon this innocent people. And, he thinks this is the time to plunder them. I've I've I've I've got the right time here. They're all gathered together. There's 1 shepherd.

I can go for it. But the lord is getting him to gather the hordes. So that when he gathers the hordes, he'd be able to destroy them all before our eyes. Now this is the sort of thing that goes, if you know the story of pharaoh, pharaoh's heart was hardened, in order that the lord shows his great power in delivering Israel, if you know that story. So gog and his horse, they're following their evil plans.

They're freely choosing to be the enemies of god and his people, they're scheming, they're manipulating mass evil and violence, and yet, god rules. God drags them out. How do you explain that? I can't, but god's big enough to do that. So we have this gathered evil enemy army called for battle so that god could show that he's bigger than all of them.

So the battle then, the gathered army, who called them, now the battle, this vast army of enemies of the lord. With all their schemes and evil ways, this future battle. What do you notice about it when we read it? Maybe you've only read that for the first time, and Anything you noticed about this battle? Anybody alive?

Well, there isn't a battle. That's what you notice, if you read it through again. There's this vast army in a massive battle, and there isn't a battle. No battle happens. All the powers of evil are scheming and planning and advancing and god's ski scheming is, you know, and god's bringing them out and look at verse 18.

This is what will happen in that day when Gore attacks the land of Israel. Here's the battle. My hot anger will be aroused, declares the lord. And in my zeal and fiery wrath, I will declare that at that time, there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish in the sea and the birds of the air and the beasts of the field, and every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence.

The mountains will be overturned. The cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. I will summon a sword against God on all my mountains declares the sovereign lord, every man's sword will be against his brother, they fight each other, I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed, and I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones, and burning sulfur on him, and on his troops, and on the many nations with him. That's it. It's over.

It's done. You get it? And it's exactly like the plagues of Egypt. God brings down his judgments. It's all over.

And if you read chapter 39, it's even vividly more over. We didn't read that, but there's some really vivid stuff there. You should go home and read. There are 3 types of images that describe the final fate of god. God comes with all the armies, and god sends an earthquake.

In chapter 39, they're plundered, they're buried, and then they're devoured, sacrificially by all kinds of animals and birds pecking their eyes out. Yeah. They're plundered, dead and buried and devoured. No more enemy. You come to battle against god.

God says that's it. And to make sure we've got that, ecu rubs it in because he's a good preacher. 7 nation army come against that would be a good song. You could even hear their battle cry. Does.

Does anybody know that song? 7 Nation Army. 7 Nation Army? Well, in chapter 39, there's 7 kinds of plunder listed. God plunders them in 7 ways, and then they're burned for 7 years in chapter 39.

And then it takes 7 months to bury their dead and clean the land. In chapter 39. And then in chapter 38, there are 7 judgments listed against gog and the 7 Nation Army. And then there are 7 items on the menu for the birds to peck and the animals to eat. 7 7 7.

And by the way, the 2 chapters are composed of 7 oracles. So this is clearly a prophetic parable. The battle of armageddon. No battle. You can't fight god.

Even if your name's GOG. Now I've, as I've said, behind all of this war and violence, an evil is Satan, the great enemy of god, and he doesn't wanna surrender without a struggle. And against, against, against god. And, again, you see, in, in the book of Revelation, John takes up Ezekiel's prophecy. And he says the same thing.

I just want you to see this. I'm not sure if I've got this up if I have, then find Revelation 20. So it says, when the thousand years are over, that's the thousand thousand years is is not really a thousand years. It's an age. Yeah.

That's the Christian age. That's the age that we gospel in. That's the age we're living in now. When the it would take me some time to prove you that, and I'm not gonna do that. And we've done it before, and you can listen to the book of Revelation Sermons.

So when the thousand years are over, symbol of the gospel age, satan will be released from his prison. So it's like god is grabbing him from the prison, like gog, and dragging him out of his prison. And will go out to deceive the nations in the 4 corners of the earth, GOG and Magog, and to gather them for battle. In number, they are like the sand on the seashore. They march across the breadth of the earth and surround the camp of god's people, the city he loves.

But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil and all who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur where the beast and the false prophet have been thrown. They will be tortured day and night forever and ever. If you wanna know about the false prophets, you have to listen to a series on on a revelation. In other words, the battle is over.

You see that? God brings Satan out. Satan devises a scheme, thinking he's in charge. Is over. It's the same thing in Revelation 16.

I'm not sure if I put this up in Revelation 16, where the words will brilliant, where the word armageddon is used. Armageddon's only used once in the whole bible. I mean, if you put it in the internet, you'd think it's there's thousands of armageddon things. But it's the same thing. Look, verse 16 of chapter 16 of Revelation.

When they gathered the kings together to the place that is in Hebrew called Armageddongedon, so here's the great last battle. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and and out of the temple, that's where god lives, came a loud voice from the throne, that's god saying, it is done. There isn't a battle. Then there came flashes of lightning rumbling, peels of thunder, a severe earthquake, and you've got the same picture again. So the last battle is no battle at all.

It is done. That means it is finished. Now notice the church doesn't fight this battle here. We do fight battles, but not this battle. God fights it.

The ultimate destruction of evil, it doesn't isn't dependent on us. It's on god. It is finished. It is done. There is no way Satan can win in the future battle of Armageddon because it's already done.

It's already decided, and it was decided on the cross when Jesus went on the cross and said it is finished. It is done. And made a public spectacle of all the evil, which leads me on to my third point. Where the battle was won because the battle was won in the past. That's why it's 1 in the future, and it was 1 on the cross.

And you see the same sort of things going on here. Just have a look at Psalm 22. This is a Psalm that Jesus himself quotes on the cross, And we'll just look at some of these verses. Just go down to verse 6. Gathering army.

Do you see the gathered army around? Let me read this. You'll see the gathered army of evil. It's put in poetic terms, but let me read it to you. But I am a worm.

This is the lord Jesus Christ. I am a worm and not a man scorned by everyone, despised by the people, all evil around Jesus on the cross, all who see me mock me. They hurl insults shaking their heads. He trusts in the lord, they say. Let the lord rescue him.

Let him deliver him. Since he delights in him. First 12, many bulls surround me, strong bulls of basham encircle me. Now the biggest strongest bulls were from basham. And he's painting this idea of these strong bulls encircling him.

You know, this is the gathered army of evil all around Jesus. Look, roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me. Satan is coming with all his wild forces. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of choice. My heart has turned to wax.

It has melted in me. This is a real battle that the son of god is going through here. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death, dogs surround me. We've got bull surrounding.

We've got, a lion surrounding, dog surrounding, a pack of villains encircle me. They pierce my hands and my feet. My bones. All my bones are on display. People stare and gloat over me.

They divide my clothes among and cast lots. Here is Satan coming, gathering his army, all the evil forces back then on the day of the cross. This is where Satan strikes the heel with his venom. As we're told in that ancient prophecy in the book of of Genesis chapter 3 that Satan will strike the heel of the son of god. There's the gathered army.

But who's in control? Who gathered the army? Well, remember, gog thought that he was in control and that he gathered the army. But listen to this verse. It's acts chapter 2.

This is Peter now preaching at Pentecost when the church is being gathered. This is listen to what he says. Acts chapter 2, fellow Israelites, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by god, to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which god did among you through him, as you yourself know. You know who this Jesus is.

Listen, this man was handed over to you by god's deliberate plan and foreknowledge. God hand he's handed over by god's plan. Yeah? And you with the help of wicked men put him to death by nailing me on the cross. You see that?

The wicked men have devised a scheme to nail Christ on the cross under the power of Satan. But it was all the plan of god. God raised him from the dead freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep hold of him. The schemes of evil gog the schemes of evil man, the schemes of evil satan, in their wicked violence, in their free choice, to be anti god. Are in the plan of god so that he will be glorified in saving us.

So who's in control? The gathered army, who calls that army together, the battle. The battle on the cross. There, Jesus is surrounded by all evil on the cross. And what does he say at the end?

It is finished. Done. Victory. Tethalestai is the word. I'm done.

It's finished. I'm done with it all. Of 1 of conquered. So Paul could write in colossians chapter 1, having disarmed the powers and authorities. Having disarmed the powers and authorities.

That's Satan in his evil ways. Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a speck a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. On the cross is the victory. And why? For us?

In corruption to just before that verse, it says, when you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive in Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us condemned us. He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And what do we see there? The ancient prophecy of Genesis 3 being fulfilled.

On the cross, satan injects his poisonous venom on him, all the anger surrounds him, all the evil. Surrounds and and is injected into Christ, but Christ crushes Satan's head. It happens on the cross. So that we see who god is. God demonstrates, Paul, says.

His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. As god crushes Satan, it's declared who he is. He's a lover. Outstanding love. Total grace, utter love, undeserved, totally planned by god, totally won by god, love, love, demonstrated where?

As he crushes satan and crushes all evil. Love wins. Love wins. And love is demonstrated. And if you go through, which I won't do, the rest of Psalm 22, you see that it is Jesus on the cross after being surrounded by evil that brings the people of god into the assembly of god and where god is praised forevermore.

That's where the battle was won on the cross. So the future battle armageddon doesn't even get going. Satan's already lost. But that brings me on to my fourth point, ever lasting peace. So, you know, if you don't wanna hear this, then switch off.

Look at the end of chapter 39 verse 25 to 29. Therefore, this is what the sovereign lord says. I will restore the fortune of Jacob, and that I will have compassion on all people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name. They will forget their shame. Well, we were to remember the shame before, but they will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed towards me when they live in safety in the land with no 1 to make them afraid.

Did you hear that? No 1 to make them afraid. Why? Enemy gone? All the enemies are gone, all the lies and deceit and the murder and the violence against the church, all the way through history, all comes out on 1 day.

It is finished. Already dealt with that on the cross. When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will be proved wholly through them in the sight of many nations. I'm holy because I judge sin on the cross, and yet I bring forgiveness and love. And then they will know that I am the lord their god.

For though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my spirit on the people of Israel declares the sovereign lord. Knowing the future should change us. Knowing the future should give us a courage. Knowing the future is already sorted in Christ.

Should embolden us, shouldn't it? The church is the only organization that never loses 1 member at death. Never. They're just promoted. Always.

The enemy is defeated. So we can battle with him now. We can fight him now knowing he's already dead. He's already defeated, rather. Knowing that when armageddon comes is over, why it was over because of the cross.

So praise god, brothers, and sisters, and if you're a Christian, you're on the right side of history, you're on the winning side, and therefore it's worth battling. It's worth fighting. It's worth going through those dark times because light is at the end of the tunnel, for sure, because of the cross of Christ. And god is suffering. Let's bow our heads and pray.

Heavenly father. We thank you for that great victory, which our lord Jesus Christ won for us on the cross. Where he triumphed over all of our enemies and over the forces of evil and our sin and death and, with his sacrifice and with his words, it is finished. Our enemies were defeated. And we thank you that as we've been hearing, we we live now knowing that 1 day these defeated enemies will be destroyed enemies forever and ever, and we will inhabit a new world 1 day, which is free from everything that has stood against you.

And stood against the church. And we thank you that going into this next week, we can now wage war with great confidence and assurance, knowing that we are on the winning side. Father all of us in this room will have will have battles. Sins that we're struggling with or or valleys of darkness that we're going through, some may feel particularly vulnerable and under attack by Satan's schemes at this moment. And we pray that this morning's message would have been a great help.

To remember that in Christ, they have the victory and in Christ, they have a future without these enemies. We thank you for an opportunity now to take the lord's supper, and to remember that victory won for us. By the lord Jesus Christ. And please, even as we take this juice and this bread together, might you, give us greater confidence in Christ, a greater resolve to fight against sin. And, establish our hope in us.

More more strongly we pray as we take this meal together in Jesus. Oh, man.