if you turn your Bibles to Song
of Solomon. Song of Solomon has
glorious bookends to it. It's always good to know the
beginning and the end and in scriptural terms everything in
between is held within them. This is the Song of Songs, which
is Solomon. Solomon, the brightest man, the
smartest man, the most intelligent man that ever lived on the face
of this planet. And when that man, led by the
Holy Spirit, comes to write of redeeming love and the glories
of the Saviour, we must expect glorious things from him. This
was one of the books But I would imagine that the Lord Jesus spoke
to those apostles, those despairing, sad, perplexed apostles on the
road to Emmaus. And He opened their hearts, He
opened their minds to see that the scriptures are about Him.
How does He begin? He said, Let him kiss me with
the kisses of his mouth, for my love is better than wine.
Because of the savour of thy good ointments, thy name is as
ointment poured forth. Therefore do the virgins love
me." This is what she says, isn't it? Draw me and we will run after
thee. Draw me. Lord, you draw me. And she says at the end, She
says, the companions hear your voice, they listen to your voice,
they heed your voice, and then she says, cause me to hear it. If the Lord would do those things
amongst us this morning, it would be glorious. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we praise you
for the glorious victory of your dear and precious Son. And we
praise you, Heavenly Father, for His eternal, covenantal love
which bound Him to His people in eternity and brought Him to
this earth to suffer that cruel and horrible death, to have the
sword of Your justice plunged into Him, to be smitten by You,
our Father, that from those streams, like the streams in the desert
from the spitting rock. Blessings might be poured upon
your people throughout time and into eternity. We praise you,
Heavenly Father. that there are underneath us
everlasting arms and your wings are over us and you care for
your people in this world with a passion which is beyond the
understanding and imagining of men. We pray, Heavenly Father,
that you would cause your Son to be lifted up amongst us and
that we would witness ourselves and others being drawn to Him
as He has promised, that we might gaze upon Him, we might see Him
as all-sufficient, all-successful, glorious reigning God and Saviour. We praise You, Heavenly Father,
for the promise to be here amongst Your people, to minister to us,
and to take Your Word, Heavenly Father, which shall not ever
return to You, not having accomplished His purpose. To take Your Word,
our Father, we pray this morning, and let it be a spirit and life
to us, that we might know again and delight in the glories and
the love of Your dear and precious Son. We pray these things in
Jesus' name. Amen. Song of Solomon is a glorious,
glorious display of the love relationship. between the bride
and her beloved. And in chapter 5, just to put
us into some context, in chapter 5 he has spoken so beautifully
of her. He says, you are all fair my
love, there is no spot in you. And he begins to call her his
spouse, married to him. And then chapter 5, verse 1,
he says, He's come into my garden, my sister, my spouse. I've gathered
my myrrh with my spouse, I've eaten my honeycomb with my honey,
I've drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, oh friends, drink, yes,
drink abundantly. And then we find the bride in
a place that so many of us find ourselves, and maybe today. She
sleeps. She sleeps and the bridegroom
comes. She hears his voice and then
she says those two words which Satan put into the hearts of
all humanity in the garden, I have. Two words at the heart of all
sin, isn't it? I have. I have my way, my wisdom,
my works. I have my time, I have my possessions. And in religion people say, I
have my sanctification, I have my holiness, I have my justification,
I have, I have, I have, and she's left. He comes and she couldn't
be bothered. She treats him who has loved
her with contempt. And then she looks for him, she
goes searching for him. And she couldn't find him. She
calls out to him and she couldn't get an answer from him. And then
she was beaten and had her veil taken away from her by the watchman
in the city. And then she meets the daughters
of Jerusalem in verse 8 and she says, if you find him, tell him
that I'm sick with love. And then she's asked that question,
that most searching question, what is he? What is he to you? Who is he to you? What is your
beloved more than another beloved? What is he? It's repeated twice
and then she has the most glorious description through Faith's tearful
eyes of her Saviour. She describes Him from head to
foot. She describes Him as glorious
and she says that He's altogether lovely. This is my beloved, this
is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. And then they say
to her, where has he gone? are fairest among women. She
now knows where He is. My Beloved has gone down into
His garden, to the bed of spices, to feed in the gardens and to
gather lilies. I am my Beloved's and my Beloved
is mine, she says. She still hasn't heard from Him. She knows where He is. And in
6, verse 4, we have His first words to her. through that dark time, through
that despairing time. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus to his bride. Thou art beautiful, O my love,
as Tersa, comely as Jerusalem, as terrible as an army, with
banners. What a great description he gives. No rebuking for her sin. She knows it. He's worked that
in her heart already. Thou art beautiful, O my love. as Tersa, as comely as Jerusalem,
as terrible as an army with banners." And then he goes on to describe
her, and he describes her in the words that he's used previously
of her. In chapter 4, verses 1, 2, and
3, he repeats the words. In a sense he's saying to her,
you have wandered. You have sinned. You have caused
yourself great harm. You've been in darkness and despair. But our relationship, what you
are to me, has not changed. What a glorious thing. What a
glorious thing salvation is. What a glorious thing forgiveness
is. This is what redemption is about,
isn't it? The Lord Jesus has put away the
sins of His people perfectly, completely, forever. They were put on Him God's justice
is satisfied. He was put to death because of
our sins and He was raised because of our justification. It's a
glorious return and glorious words, glorious things to ponder
on this resurrection day. I thought what I'd do is start
at the end of that verse because no doubt like you, like me, you
have wondered for ages why would he describe her as terrible,
as an army with banners. Surely there must be something
more appealing to say of a bride who is so beautiful that her
eyes overcome him. She's as fair as the moon, as
clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners. Majestic is what that word terrible
means. It means to be amazed, to wonder,
to marvel. It has elements of miracle about
it. In fact the same word in the
Greek is used in Mark 10.32 and it's talking of a triumph, the
triumph of the Lord Jesus on his way to Jerusalem. Going on
their way up to Jerusalem and Jesus went before them and they
were amazed as they followed and were afraid. terrible, majestic as an army
with banners. The Church, of course, is an
army. The Church is not one, but many. It's a multitude, beyond numbering. And they march under a common
leader, They march with one design in view. They are like an army,
involved in a conflict and with a victory assured, both in our
sufferings and in our service. We are made to see again and
again that we are in enemy's territory. and contending for
the truth of God against error, light against darkness, the glory
of God versus the glory of man. We are like those men that stood
with Nehemiah to build that wall of Jerusalem. A wall of God's
appointing. We stand there with the sword
in one hand and the other hand building the wall. An army. So often the pictures describe
the Lord's people as an army. It's glorious when you think
in Exodus and in Numbers they actually leave, Numbers 10, they
actually leave Mount Sinai after that long time, building the
tabernacle and all of those things they went through. They then
arrayed themselves as an army to march out. They had three
tribes on the east towards the sun under the banner of Judah. And they had three tribes on
the east under the banner of Reuben, three tribes under the
banner of Dan, and three tribes under the banner of Ephraim.
And the people of Israel, or the people of Levi, carried the
Ark. And the Ark went before them. And each of the tribes, each
of those groups of tribes, was there marshaled under a banner. But what was the banner over
all of them? There was a banner, wasn't there, brothers and sisters?
There was a banner there, the most remarkable banner. That
banner was the cloud that was upon them. Just let me read a
little bit of it. They departed from the Mount
of the Lord, three days' journey, and the Ark of the Covenant went
before them in the three days' journey to search out a resting
place before them. And the cloud of the Lord was
upon them by day, and they went out of the camp, and it came
to pass when the Ark set forward that Moses said, Rise up, Lord,
let Thy enemies be scattered, and let them that hate You flee
before You. And when it rested, He said,
Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel." Of course, the Lord is a bearer. We have We have our marching
orders from our sovereign, don't we? The first time the Lord Jesus
is described as a banner is in Exodus chapter 17, if you turn
there. And you know something of their
wanderings beforehand. They'd been across the Red Sea
and that banner had stood before them, stood between them and
the Egyptians. And for them, it was light. And
for the Egyptians, it was darkness. And God tells them to stand still. In a place of desperation, in
a place of no hope, He says, stand still, you army of God,
and you'll see the victory of the Lord. You'll see the glory
of God and the victory. They move on and they come to
a place where the rock is struck. And water gushes out. A picture
according to 1 Corinthians 10 of the Lord Jesus. He is that
rock that was struck, that rock that was cleft, and that water
flowed out. And Amalek came against these
people, and Moses and Joshua and her were on a mountain. Moses'
hands were heavy. Moses held up his hand, the Israelites
prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy,
and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on the
stone, and Aaron and her stayed up his hands, one on one side
and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until
the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited, it says,
Hamlet. It means he thrashed him. and
his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said to Moses,
write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it in the
ears of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek
from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and
called the name of it Jehovah Nissi, the Lord my banner. For he said, Because the Lord
has sworn that he will have war with Amalek from generation to
generation." The Lord Jesus is a banner. He's described in Isaiah
Chapter 11 as a banner, a banner that we lift up. What are we
doing here today, brothers and sisters? What do we do, Lord
willing, week in, week out? We raise a banner. Verse 10. He talks about this
great day that we in some sense celebrate today and celebrate
every time, the great day of the Gospel. and they shall not
hurt nor destroy all my holy mountain, for the earth shall
be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the
sea. And that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall
stand as an ensign of the people, a banner of the people. And to
it the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious." come and you'll gather the remnant
of his people from all of those places. Australia gets mentioned
in verse 11. From all of those places you'll
come and gather them, and from the islands of the sea, just
so we don't forget. The Lord had his people throughout
the world. And he shall set up an ensign
for the nations and assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather
together the dispersed from Judah. He is the banner, Jehovah Nissi,
our banner. The great and glorious God that
we read about and we hear about We shall rejoice, says Psalm
20 verse 5. We shall rejoice. We will rejoice
in your salvation and in the name of our God, we will set
up our banners. The Lord fulfill thy petitions. Now I know that the Lord saves
his anointed. He will hear him from his holy
heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust
in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name
of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen,
but we are risen and stand upright. Save Lord, let the King hear
us when we call. So what do these banners mean? in a marching army, the banners
are there for distinction, so that you can see clearly and
you can't be mistaken whose banner you are under, whose you are,
and whose you serve. And if you're under that banner,
necessarily you're not under another banner. Brothers and
sisters, everyone in this world spends time under a banner, don't
they? They are marching through this
world and they have something they look up to, something that
they find their shelter in, something that they march to. There are a multiplicity of banners
in this world. The Lord Jesus, Christ and Him
crucified, the glorious Gospel, is the banner, the only banner
that we'll be saving. There is a war. Our weapons,
we are distinct. The weapons that we fight with
are not the same. God's people are never called
upon to fight with carnal weapons. Our weapons are spiritual. Our
weapons are powerful. I love what Spurgeon said, a
Christian on his knees is invincible. We don't need to fight. We don't
need, in some sense, even to argue. We are called upon to
contend for the faith that's been once forever delivered to
the saints. But our weapons aren't the weapons
of men. Our weapons are weapons which
the only one that has the power of God. It is the gospel. So often we plead with men, and
so often we rightly do, that we bear witness to the fact that
no matter what we do and what we say, no matter how convincing
our arguments are, at the end of the day the Lord must move
and the Lord must work. If hearts are going to be changed,
if hearts and lives are going to be transformed, the Lord must
do it. Spurgeon said he didn't often
give advice to people. He said, mostly they've made
up their own mind what they want to do and where they're going.
There is much to be done in the courts of heaven. It's a good
place to take our battle. And our victories aren't the
same, are they? Our victories aren't seen as
the world sees victories. You think of what happened in
the early church. What extraordinary triumphant
things they did. And yet, and yet they were weak. Yet they were torn about by enemies. It's interesting isn't it, the
Lord calls his people an army and they march under the banner
at the end of Hebrews. That great list of those faithful
witnesses Listen to this army. They were stoned. They were sworn
asunder. They were tempted. They were
slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom
the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth. And all
these, having obtained a good report through faith, they receive
not the promise, God having provided something better for us, that
they, without us, should not be made perfect. All of God's
people will be seen to be a victorious army, a victorious army of faith. By faith we understand. By faith we are victorious. But to have a banner, it's our
duty, isn't it, to make a clear and distinct declaration of the
Gospel we declare. Everything about the Gospel is
just a declaration about He who is the Gospel. So to raise up
a banner means to present him with such clarity that people
who are under that banner know clearly who it is. Just like
the song, the lady, the Shulamite in the Song of Solomon, again
and again she doesn't say he might be like this and he might
be like that, she says he is, he is, he is, he is. She has
seen him, she has met him and she declares him with clarity. We love to proclaim a victorious
Saviour. He was God over this universe
from the foundation of the world. He loved his people from the
foundation of the world who came into this world and he bore their
sins. They are robed in the righteousness
of God. He's taken away their sins. He's
atoned for their sins. He sits in heaven right now. gloriously interceding for them
as a lamb as if he has been slain. His wounds are speaking now,
brothers and sisters, that he is a lion. He is a lion of the
tribe of Judah. He is a successful Saviour. The Gospel is not a yes and no. It's not a maybe. It's not a
possibility Gospel. The Gospel is a declaration of
a glorious Saviour who has gloriously finished His work. There is a
banner. It is a banner for distinction.
I was asked this week by a dear friend of mine to listen to some
messages. She wanted me to know about a
church that she was interested in going to, and I listened to
five or six messages. I just couldn't get over it how
often their default position in every situation, and I think
I'm not lying in saying that I might have heard it 20 or 30
times in 6 sermons and the question time that came after it, is again
and again, God loves you. God loves everyone. And Jesus
died for everyone. Jesus died for you. In fact,
one man has summarised it very succinctly and shortly. God loves
us, all humanity, to death. God loves us to death. Brothers and sisters, it is not
true according to this work. If these people with all of their
banners and with their marching army could go back in time, why
don't they go back to the apostles and say, when you wrote that
history of 30 years of the Church, not once Is it mentioned? Why didn't they mention God loves
all of you to death? On that great day when the Lord
Jesus' great victory was proclaimed at Pentecost and throughout the
rest of the Gospel age, they just don't have that banner. That is not their banner. It
cannot be found in this book. They take the thing which is
most precious to God's people and they make it the most common
thing in all of the world. If God loves you, brothers and
sisters, He's loved you from eternity. He's loved you with
an everlasting love. He loves you now, He'll love
you forever, and His love is free. He'll heal your backslidings,
He will love you freely. The love of God is bound up with
the Lord Jesus and it's not outside of Him. We've just read about
Amalekites. Did God love them? He hated Esau and he loved Jacob. The expression of his love in
sending the Lord Jesus is an expression of that eternal covenant. The Lord Jesus came. He came
with a purpose. He came as God, God manifest
in the flesh. He came as God and He reigned
victoriously. He reigned over sin. He reigned
over temptation. He reigned over Satan. His death
on the cross, according to Colossians 2, was a triumph. He marched
to Jerusalem with His face set like a flint. He knew where He
was going. He knew what He was doing. He
knew what He would achieve. A glorious Saviour. That was
the banner that Moses marched under. It was the banner that
the children of Israel had before them. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. A glorious banner. That's what
the cloud says, doesn't it? What a great picture it is. The
cloud is light and the cloud is darkness and the cloud separates
and divides. The cloud covers his people. The cloud illuminates his people. The banner is a banner that needs
to be lifted up. again and again and again. The
banner is a signal, isn't it, that we are, as God's people
in this world, distinct. The banner is one that draws
us to say this is where we stand and we cannot stand anywhere
else. The banner and the army was there
for discipline, wasn't it? There was just a discipline and
an order. God is a God of order. Let all things be done decently
and in order. The tribes marched and that army
marched as one. such that when Balak saw them
he was terrified and he called upon Balaam to come and curse
them because he couldn't stand against them. He'd seen the victories
that the Lord had won. It's an order, isn't it? It's
a discipline. And in an army And in the Church,
every man and woman has a place, a gift, a service. We are put together as a body
by the Lord Jesus, complementing, supporting such that the whole
is joined together and the whole operates as one. And the whole operates. to care
for itself, to nurture itself. In the most remarkable way is
the Spirit's gifts. The gifts that the Lord Jesus
has won are poured out. There is a nurturing, there is
a nourishment, there is a collective caring of God's people. The banners, of course, are seen,
it says. Terrible as an army with banners.
Banners unfurled means that the army is on the march. The army is exercising, the army
is marching, the army is fighting. When the banners are unfurled,
the army is marshalled for attack or for defence. when the banners
are unfurled, there is a confidence, isn't it? There is a battle to
be engaged. We cannot put too much confidence
in the Gospel. We cannot put too much reliance
upon the Gospel. Our weakness comes when we look
to other means to achieve our purposes. the glorious Gospel
of a risen Saviour, the glorious Gospel of a victorious crucified
Saviour, is the power of God and the wisdom of God. We are
ambassadors, ambassadors for God. We bring His message. It is not Ours is to determine
how he uses it. Ours is just to say, this is
the king, this is what he's done, this is what he's doing. We're ambassadors bringing the
word of God, telling people of the eternal covenant, the only
covenant that saves, saved by sovereign grace. Saved by a triumphant
Saviour, saved to a certain victory. When Esther was fearful of going
to the king in those days when Mordecai was there in Susa, Mordecai
says something remarkable to Esther. He says, may have raised
you up for this very time and this very place." Then he says
something remarkable. He says, but if it's not through
you, Esther, God will still be victorious. He will be victorious. You can read about it in Esther
4, chapter 14, verse 14. See, the power and the battle
is God's. We read of Jehoshaphat a couple
of weeks ago where he says, God says to him, the battle is not
yours but God's. Set yourself, stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. The Gospel's power and its majesty
lies in its simplicity. God forbid that we should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel is the
Word of God, the voice of the Eternal God. It has the same
creative power which created the universe. the same sustaining
power which sustains the universe. It is the same victorious power. Our God reigns, the heavens do
rule." The banners imply a constancy. The Gospel that Abel believed
The gospel that Noah preached, the gospel that Abraham rejoiced
in and David loved, all the prophets proclaimed, is faith once for
all delivered to the saints. It is the gospel. Paul said that
in that gospel, like an army, you stand. You can turn to 1
Corinthians 15. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received,
and wherein you stand. by which also you are saved,
if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received, how the Christ died for our sins. according to the Scriptures,
and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures. And he was seen of Cephas and
then of the Twelve, and after that he was seen of above five
hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain
unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. and after that
he was seen of James and then all of the apostles, and last
of all he was seen of me as one born out of due time." Christ crucified. Christ buried, died for our sins
according to the Scriptures. That's the fellowship that John
long for in those churches that we're being assaulted by false
teachers. He writes these things. He declares
what we have seen, what we have heard, that you may also have
fellowship with us, that you might march under the banner
with us in those churches around Ephesus where so many were departing,
so many were marching to another banner. John was pleading, as
the apostles do, this is the banner, stay under this banner. that you may have fellowship
with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write unto
you, that your joy may be full." as all the apostles did. He wants
the people who profess to be following the Lord Jesus to march
under that banner, to stay under that banner. There are many banners
in the world, brothers and sisters. If you were in Satan's shoes
and you wanted to deceive this world, what would your banner
look like? Your banner would look like the
banner of the men who in great zeal marched all the way from
Jerusalem to Galatia. They marched under a banner,
and they marched under a banner that looked so much like the
banner of the Lord Jesus that they could go into the churches
that the Apostle Paul was preaching and pastoring in, and when he
left they could rise up in those churches and lead people away. It's extraordinary, isn't it,
how subtle the enemy of the souls of God's people is. how much
his banner looks Christian. They weren't saying turn from
the Lord Jesus. They weren't saying turn from
this word. They were just saying that you
can add some little thing. You can work out your salvation
by going back to the law to show how much you please God. The
finished work of the Lord Jesus is the most precious thing in
all of this universe. To add to it is to destroy it. You cannot add to it. You cannot
add human activity and human works to it to enhance it in
any way at all. This gospel is a glorious gospel. I have loved you with everlasting
love, said the Lord. David died. echoing the words
of Moses. He said, the Lord has made with
me an eternal covenant, ordered in all things and secure. This is all of my salvation,
that God has done something in the Lord Jesus. Which is why
if we turn back to Song of Solomon, we'll go back to those first
few things he says of her. What glorious words. to a sinner
in need of restoration. What glorious words to a backslider. He says, Thou art beautiful,
O my love. Thou art beautiful. You are to
him precious beyond measure. You have sinned You have spent
that necessary time knowing that the works of your flesh profit
you nothing. But you come and you meet with
Him in these first words. You are beautiful. It is that
banner, isn't it? The banner of the Lord Jesus
which He raises above all of His people. He brought me, he
says to her, he says to her, he brought me to his banqueting
house, to himself, to who he is, to what he's done. He brought
me to his banqueting house and his banner over me was love. That's the banner, brothers and
sisters, that I want to be found under. His left hand is under
my head, and his right hand embraces me. She sat down under his shadow
with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. See, he owns her, doesn't he?
He's always owned her. That's why she's drawn back to
him. Oh, my love. Oh, my love. His banner does not change. Look
up and see. Look up and see his love for
his bride written in those letters of blood. He comes back and he
names her, doesn't he? He calls her by name, Mary. What the most wonderful thing
she could have experienced. Mary. He knows all of his people
by name. He only ever appeared in resurrection
glory to his people. What a victory he could have
won in Jerusalem that six weeks. He could have marched down to
Pilate's palace, couldn't he? He could have gathered the crowds,
multitudes together, Herod and Caiaphas and all of those people.
He could have gathered them all together and he could have publicly
proclaimed himself. He could have rubbed their noses
in it. And yet, he goes to Mary. He goes to Peter. He goes to his people. He never
went to the others. He just went to his people. You are beautiful, oh my love. This is the victory of that army,
isn't it? The glorious, glorious Saviour. The glorious, glorious Redeemer. How can you say she's beautiful?
The word Terza, the town is a city in the tribe of Manasseh, but
Terza means pleasant and acceptable. Beautiful, pleasant, acceptable. As comely as Jerusalem. as beautiful
as Jerusalem. Jerusalem which is called the
joy of the whole earth. It's the city of God. It's the
place that he says, my name shall be there. But Jerusalem, of course,
there is a Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of
us all. And there is There is a great
day coming, isn't there, when a new Jerusalem is coming. A new Jerusalem is coming down
out of heaven. A great and glorious God is coming
with all of His redeemed, all of those who are beautiful in
His beauty, all of those that are loved by Him and loved by
the Father as much as He is loved by the Father. What a glorious
Church. What a glorious Bride. What a great victory. I thought
we might finish by reading those amazing words at the end of Hebrews. A great book like the rest of
the books of the New Testament is saying this is the apostolic
banner. The world looks attractive. The
religion of men looks wonderful. The temple worship is extraordinarily
appealing. You can take your Bible and use
it and go to the temple and worship in the temple with us. And if you do, you have no Saviour. Hebrews 13.20. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of
the sheep. He's a good shepherd. He's a
wise shepherd. He's a great shepherd. He's promised
never to lose one of his sheep. The great shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in
every good work to do His will, working in you that which is
well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory
forever and ever. That's the banner, brothers and
sisters. That's the banner that David rested his soul on his
deathbed. He looked around at his house,
his family, even his nation, and said, it's a mess. He says,
but the Lord has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
and secure in every detail, including every detail of what the Lord
Jesus did, including every detail of what the Lord Jesus is doing
now, including every detail of what's happening in your lives.
May God cause us to find our rest under that banner and to
look up and see that the banner over us, over His people, over
His bride, is love. Let's pray.