Let's open our Bibles to Isaiah
chapter 65. Isaiah chapter 65. I want to conclude this chapter
this evening beginning at verse 17. The message entitled, The
New Jerusalem. And in this passage, in this
portion of this scripture, and really throughout the whole time,
the prophet Isaiah has been given this vision, which is a word
from God, and it's an answer to prayer, an answer to Isaiah's
intercessory prayer. It's an answer of encouragement
in the face of trouble. It's an answer of hope when we
see all around us, or they did then and we do now, a reason
to despair. And it's not just pie-in-the-sky
religion. It's not just the power of positive
thinking. You know, you can think a lot
of things that are positive, but they're still lies. Nothing
wrong with positive thinking if it's based on truth. Positive
truth has a real foundation in the Word of God and His glory
in Christ. And so Isaiah begins to describe
here in the latter portion of this chapter the glory of God's
salvation in Christ as it is now in our day. And as it will
be in perfection in the world to come. In fact, he starts with
that perfection in the world to come. Look at verse 17. He
starts out, for behold, now look at this, listen, give your attention
to this. I, that is God, create new heavens
and a new earth. And the former, that is the former
heavens and the former earth, shall not be remembered nor come
to mind." And you may see in your concordance on that that
that former world that will not be remembered will not come upon
the heart. And I think that's specific because
it's for a good reason. So, you know, this is the first
chapter in the whole of the Bible that tells us of a new heavens
and a new earth. Not that that truth is not in
the scriptures before now, but mentioning them by name. And
what he's speaking of is that future time that the Apostle
Peter spoke of in 2 Peter chapter 3, where God is going to burn
this world up, destroy this world, this sinful world, and create
a new heavens and a new earth where Peter said dwells righteousness. And that means this, that new
heavens and the new earth is the eternal dwelling place of
the redeemed in Christ. And this speaks of a time of
our final glorification in Christ. When our bodies will be changed,
those who died in Christ will be resurrected. Those who are
living when He comes back will be changed in the twinkling of
an eye, which is the equivalent of death of this body. This body,
listen, this body is dead because of sin. The Spirit is life because
of righteousness, because of Christ, because of God's grace.
And then all things will be created new. There will be a perfection
that we can't even begin to imagine what it's like. We have a little
foretaste of it in the new birth. We have the earnest of it in
the Holy Spirit in the new birth who has given us a desire to
be like Christ and mainly a desire and the reality of looking to
Christ. We see perfection in Christ,
but we can't even imagine. Can you imagine what it would
be to have a day without sorrow, without trouble, without pain,
even a moment without sin? Now, that's an amazing thing.
That's the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Now this final glorification
is described somewhat in various passages of Scripture. You can
find it in 1 Corinthians 15. It's spoken of over here in the
passage that I read in the opening in Revelation chapter 21, when
he spoke of what's going to come in the future. And he said in
that chapter there, in chapter 21, remember, he said, I saw
a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, And there was no more sea. That's
the equivalent of saying there's no more danger, no more trouble,
no more death, no more sorrow. And even that final glorification,
which is somewhat described in 1 Corinthians 15 and in a few
other passages, listen to me, we really don't have much to
go on other than that. And that's enough. People say,
well, what's it going to be like in heaven? I really don't know
other than that I know it's going to be perfect. It's going to
be continual, uninterrupted fellowship and communion with Christ. And
that's enough. That's enough. Somebody says,
what are we going to be doing? I've seen guys write books on
it, and they don't know what they're talking about. I'm telling
you, they've had a dream or they have a feeling or an idea. But
I'm going to tell you, it doesn't come from this book. I just know
this. Somebody says, what's hell going
to be like? I don't know. I know this, I don't want to
be there. I want to be with Christ in heaven.
So don't let people fool you on these things that they've
got their ideas on. There's going to be a new heaven
and a new earth. Isaiah knew it. The prophets knew it. This
old world is going to pass away, he says in verse 17, and the
former shall not be remembered. It's not going to be there. It's
going to be non-existent. Now one thing you need to see
right at the outset, is even this final glory, this future
perfection, you see, the realization in our experience of what we
already are now in Christ. We're already perfect in Christ.
We're already righteous in Him as He is, so are we in this world,
John wrote. But we're not in ourselves yet,
but we will be. But when we are, understand that
that too, just like all of salvation, is of grace and not by works. You see, you don't get saved
by grace and then at that point in time start working your way
into God's favor and rewards and in heaven. No, sir. It's
all of grace. From election to glory, it's
all of grace in Christ. It is all because of His blood
and righteousness, because grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, we have
the beginnings of this, as I said, in the New Birth. Now, in time,
as far as the Church as a whole is concerned, we have the beginnings
of this in the establishment of the New Covenant by the coming
of Christ and His redemptive work on the cross of Calvary
here on earth. I want you to turn with me to
Hebrews chapter 10, and I'll show you what I'm talking about.
Now, Isaiah and the nation Israel, as you know, they were under
the Law of Moses. They were under the Old Covenant.
That Old Covenant had a glory, and its glory was mainly seen
and revealed in the types and the pictures and all the shadows.
that taught the gospel of God's grace in the promised Messiah
who would come in time as the substitute and representative
of His people. He would be made sin, He would
obey the law perfectly, and He would be made sin. Sin would
be laid upon Him, charged to Him, accounted to Him, and imputed
to Him. He would die the death that we deserve, die as a substitute,
as a sin-bearer, an offering, You see, all of that prophesied,
typified over and over again in the Old Testament, in the
Old Covenant, that he would die and be buried and be raised again
the third day because of the finished work that he completed
on the cross in establishing the only ground of our justification,
that he would ever live to be the advocate, the mediator, of
his people, one mediator between God and men. You remember that
was pictured in the holy place, in the altar of incense, his
prayers for his people and our prayers going up to him. See,
that was all pictured. There wasn't any facet of this
gospel of grace that was left out. And that he was coming again
to make this anew, to gather his people and judge the world.
So that old covenant had a glory. But the glory of that Old Covenant
is nothing compared to the glory of the New Covenant. The New
Covenant being the establishment in time of all the requirements
of salvation by the actual coming of Christ. That Old Covenant
and its glory had to pass away. It had to go away. Over here
in Hebrews chapter 10, listen to this, he says in verse 9 of
Hebrews 10, He says, Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will,
O God. He taketh away the first, that's
the old covenant, first in time, that he may establish the second,
by the which will we are sanctified, set apart through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ one time, once for all his people. And he says, and every priest
standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. Those blood sacrifices
can never do it. But this man, Christ, the God-man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on
the right hand of God. Now, this has already been accomplished,
you see. And he says, "...from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." Now
there is the glory of the new covenant. Read on down, look
at verse 19. He says, "...having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Christ,
the blood of Jesus." Now the holiest in the old covenant was
where the mercy seat was, where the Ark of the Covenant was.
Only the high priest could go in there. Even believers back
then, they had no right to go in there. They were barred from
that place, only the high priest. But now we who know Christ, we
who believe in Christ, we have boldness to enter into the holiest,
not an earthly tabernacle now, but a spiritual one, that is
the personal work of Christ into the very presence of God, And
he says in verse 20, now listen, "...by a new and living way."
A new and living way. This is a new way and a living
way. Well, what's he talking about? He's talking about the
new covenant. The old one's done away with. It's gone. And it's
missing. We study it because it's in God's
Word. But our heart's not there. That's
done away with. And he says, "...by a new and
living way, which he hath consecrated," that is, Christ hath newly made
it, he is the one who made it, "...for us through the veil,"
that is to say, his flesh, his body, "...and having a high priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart,
in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." Now,
that is the glory of the New Covenant. So there was a glory
in the Old Covenant. But there is a greater glory
in the New Covenant. But let me tell you something else. There's
an even greater glory coming. That's what Isaiah speaks of
here back in verse 17. We see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. But you know what? We don't see
it now like we will see it in the new heavens and the new earth,
in our glorified body. You see, we have a rival, an
enemy within us. And that's sin and selfishness
and self-righteousness. Right now, I'll guarantee you,
let's put it down to brass tacks. Right now, I guarantee you, you're
struggling. And it's not just to listen to
me. Don't get me wrong. But I'm talking about just even
worship. I mean, isn't it a struggle? You have to fight thoughts that
enter your mind. You have to fight things that
would distract you. I do it even up here preaching.
I'm telling you. I'm just being honest with you.
Think, you know, somebody, a car will go by out there and that
will get everybody's attention. Just like that. Mine too. I hear
it too. And we have to fight. But you
know there's coming a day we won't have that fight. We won't
have that battle. Our focus and our attention will
be so consumed with the glory of Christ and His perfection
and His greatness, that nothing will take our attention away.
Now, that's the greater glory. Now, look back at Isaiah 65. So that former, now you can look
at it in two ways now. He says, the former shall not
be remembered. You can look at it as the Old Covenant. That's
what the Apostles tried to teach the Jewish nation, that the Old
Covenant is done away with. Don't bring it back. If you serve
that tabernacle, you're denying Christ. You serve Him. Christ
is our Sabbath. Christ is our High Priest. Christ
is our altar, our sin bearer, our sin offering. He's our righteousness,
and He's all we need. Just keep your eyes on Him, and
you'll be fine. Just keep your trust in Him and
what He accomplished on Calvary, and you'll be fine. You say,
well, I worry about a lot of things. But you look to Him as
the author and finisher of your faith, and you'll be fine. When
you stand before God on that last day, you just say, Christ
died for me. His blood washed me clean. I'm
wearing His robe. I've got the right wedding garment
on. It's His righteousness, not mine, His. And you'll be fine. So that old covenant's done away.
But when the new heavens and the new earth are established,
this old world that we're living in right now and have to deal
with every second of our lives, it'll be done away with. It will
not be remembered. And it will not consume our heart.
We won't even think of it fondly. You see, right now, I'll guarantee
you that there are things that you think you'll miss about this
world. Now, isn't there? There are things
you think you'll miss. Uh-uh. You won't miss them at
all. It's hard to imagine, isn't it?
There are things I think I'll miss about this life. I know
there are bad things we all want to get away from. You know, when
we have the pains and the death and the sorrow. No, we want to
get away from that. But there are some things that
we think we'll miss. Oh, no. You won't miss a thing. You won't set your heart upon
it. That's what that means. Now, you can't imagine that.
I can't either. But it's true. It's true. Now, go to verse 18 of Isaiah
65. He says, now listen to this,
he says, but be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create.
For behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a
joy. Do you know about Jerusalem? What do you think of when you
think of Jerusalem? Well, most people today, they
think of a city in Palestine. Or they think in the Bible, they
think in history, they think of the capital. of Israel, they
think of the place where the temple, they think of the city
of David. I know the city of David was Bethlehem, but David
made Jerusalem the capital. You remember when he came to
the Jebusites and they said, you can't come in here and all
that, you know that history. Jerusalem is first mentioned
back in Joshua, but David made it the capital city. So it's
called the city of David, the city of the king. The word Jerusalem
literally means city of peace. That's what it means. The Bible
says, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the city, came to
its highest glory, really not under David, but under Solomon.
In fact, that was the pinnacle of Jerusalem's glory. Other than
that, it is pretty much a tainted, dark history. It was one of the
most conquered cities in history. But it came to its greatest glory
under Solomon. That's when the temple was built. And that temple must have been
something to see. You've probably seen pictures
of it or captions that historians think it looked like. And it
was a beautiful thing. It had a great glory in that
sense. But here's the point. That physical,
geographical city called Jerusalem did not last. Its glory did not
last. Here in Isaiah's day, it retained
some of its glory. but nothing like it was in Solomon's
day. The temple was still standing at the time, but there was a
point in time when it was in shambles under King Hezekiah.
You remember when he sent those fellows over and they dug around
the shambles of it and found the book? And they said, well,
we better read this. Better take this to the king,
you know. That's how bad it had gotten. Later on it was destroyed. And ultimately in A.D. 70 it
was destroyed. Parts of it have been built back
today. But it has no glory like it had. Look back over at verse
9 of Isaiah 65. He says, I will bring forth a
seed out of Jacob and out of Judah, an inheritor of my mountains,
and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell
there, talking about Jerusalem. Well, my friend, let me tell
you something. He's not talking about an earthly Jerusalem there.
He's not talking about a rebuilt physical city. It's true that
after the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem, that Nehemiah and
Israel and Jeroboam came back and they rebuilt the city, but
again, it wasn't anything like the first one. They even rebuilt
the temple, but it wasn't anything near like Solomon's temple. That
glory was gone. Well, Isaiah's vision is speaking
of another Jerusalem, same one John was speaking of in Revelation
21. He's talking about an eternal
city. He's talking about the church.
That's the new Jerusalem. The church of the living God,
of which Christ is the builder. At which he stood on that grand
day and asking his disciples questions about who do men say
that I am, and Peter spoke up and he said, Thou art the Christ,
the Messiah, the Son of the living God. And Christ said, Blessed
art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed
this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And he said,
I tell you, Peter, it's upon this rock, not Peter, not the
little rock, But this great rock of Gibraltar stone, upon this
rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail
against it." Do you know what that means? That means it cannot
be destroyed. I'm going to tell you, if the
gates of hell cannot prevail against it, no army of man could
ever prevail against it. He's talking about his church
that's built upon the rock of Christ Jesus. He's talking about
his church upon which he is the chief cornerstone. He's the heart
of the church. He's the head of the church.
And here he's speaking of spiritual blessings that we have right
now, that we can enjoy right now. Look at it, verse 18, but
be ye glad and rejoice forever. In other words, what he's saying
now, there's going to be a new heaven and there's going to be
a new earth. There's going to be a perfection that we can only
imagine what it's going to be like. But we don't have to wait
to be glad. We don't have to wait to rejoice. We can do that right now in the
New Jerusalem, in the church that Christ has built. We as
saved sinners, we will inhabit the new heavens and the new earth.
But we're already inhabiting the New Jerusalem. We're spiritual
Israelites, spiritual children of Abraham, children of God.
And we're to look forward to the new creation, but we're to
enjoy the New Jerusalem right now. We can rejoice in Christ
today. Our brother Don McGinnis is seeing
our Lord with a perfect eye today in a spiritual sense. He's not
yet glorified in his new body. That will happen to all of us
together, but he can see with an unhindered eye. He can hear
with an unhindered ear now the glory of the Lamb of God. But
you know what? He's been enjoying and rejoicing
in the blessings of the New Jerusalem for a long time, ever since God
brought him to a saving knowledge of Christ. That's what this is
about. Look at verse 19. He says, "...and I will rejoice
in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall
be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying." Christ
rejoices in His Church, in His people. It may seem strange to
us. How in the world could the Lord
rejoice in folks like us? Yes, we're sinners saved by grace,
but we're still sinners, aren't we? I'll tell you how He can
rejoice in people like us, in His people. They are His delight. He said that. They're the apple
of His eye. They're trophies of His grace.
They're the results of His goodness and power. They're the manifestation
of His glory. Did you know that? That if you're
a safe sinner, you're a manifestation of the glory of God. You didn't
save yourself, did you? You didn't wash yourself clean
from all your sins. You didn't construct or sew together
your own robe of righteousness. Christ did. And you are a walking,
talking manifestation of His glory. Think about what kind
of responsibility that is for a man or a woman walking on this
earth. Isn't that something? Manifestations
of His glory. And there'll be no more weeping,
no more crying. Now, we'll weep today. We weep for the loss of
our Dear brother, we weep for the loss of loved ones, but we
joy in Christ. That never stops. Sometimes we
may not face it and realize it, but it never stops. And one day
our joy will be perfection as all tears shall be wiped away.
Look at verse 20. Listen to this verse. He says,
There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old
man that hath not filled his days, For the child shall die
an hundred years old, but the sinner being an hundred years
old shall be accursed." Now, what in the world does that verse
mean? Well, let me give you what I believe it's talking about.
Basically, the idea here is this, that it doesn't matter whether
you're young or you're old, if you're in Christ, you're complete
in Him. Now, that's it. Of His fullness
we all have, you see. But those who live a long life
and die without Christ, it doesn't matter how long they live, they're
cursed. We spend a lot of time reading
about, studying about, thinking about living long lives. Back in the Old Testament before
the flood, that was common for a man or a woman to live a long
life. They say Methuselah lived 969
years old. You all heard me talk about Methuselah.
Read about him. Read about him. What did Methuselah
accomplish? You don't know, other than he
died. And that's it. You say, well,
good for Methuselah. He lived 969 years old. Well, he died. He still died. And that's the way it's going
to be with us. People say it's not going to be long, for we'll
live 150 years. Well, that may be true, but 151,
you'll be dead. Death is coming. The wages of
sin is death. I hope I feel good right up before
the day I die. I'm going to do my best. I'd
say I will, but I hope to. But you see, that's not the issue.
Death is coming. And what he's saying is this.
As far as God's elect people are concerned, as far as the
redeemed of the Lord, sinners saved by grace, it doesn't matter
whether they die as infants or his old men, they'll all fulfill
their days and their purposes on this earth. One who dies in
infancy, I'm going to tell you what that person did, one who's
in the Lord, they died fulfilling their purpose here on this earth
for the glory of God. One who lives to be 969, if that's
the way it goes, they'll fulfill their purpose. So God's elect
who die as infants, they'll lose nothing by what appears to us
to be their untimely death, which that's not what it is. There's
a time and a place appointed, isn't there? And it's by God.
But they won't lose anything. They won't lose their reward.
They won't lose anything. Their reward is just like your
reward. It's Christ and His glory. And those, the wicked who die
in old age, they'll gain nothing by their long lives here on earth.
They'll be cursed. So the shortness or the length
of life here on earth has no bearing on our eternal state. The only thing that matters is
how do we stand with Christ? How do we stand with God in Him?
Are we in Him or not? Look at verse 21. He says they'll
build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and
eat the fruit of them. Verse 22, they shall not build
and another inhabit. They shall not plant and another
eat. For as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and
mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands, And it says,
"...they shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble,
for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their
offspring with them." Now, you know, this had a physical, though
temporary, fulfillment for the Jews when they returned from
captivity. But the spiritual fulfillment of this is found
in our life in Christ, our spiritual, eternal life in Him, beginning
in this present life of grace and ultimately in our everlasting
life with Christ in glory. We have a foretaste of it here.
And it is here promised that the work of our hands shall be
blessed and made to prosper. That is not working to be saved.
It is working for the Lord out of grace and gratitude and love.
It is the fruit of grace, the result of His power. And we will
at last gain that which we sought. Look over Philippians chapter
3. Paul talks about it here. Now, as I said before, we are
already perfect and righteous and holy in Christ, not in ourselves. There's a sense in which we've
attained everything that we're ever going to have. And that
is in the person of Christ, our substitute. But there's a sense
also in which we have not already attained. We haven't reached
our goal. And that's what Paul's talking about here in verse 12.
We'll look back up at verse 7 of Philippians 3. Paul says, "...but
what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ,
and all of his works and efforts in religion he thought were gained.
But when he saw his sinfulness in the glory of Christ, he said,
that's loss." Nothing. He says in verse 8, "...yea,
doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ, Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may
win Christ, and be found in him." You see, there is the goal. He
said, "...not having mine own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, his faithfulness,
the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know
him and the power of his resurrection." The fellowship of his sufferings
being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Now when he says,
by any means, what Paul means there is, it doesn't matter what
I go through here on earth. You know, some believers experience
a pretty joyful time in this life compared to others. They may have money, they may
have health, they may live a good long life. not have much trouble. We're all going to have some
trouble, you know that. But then it seems like others
just go through problems after problems after problems. And
Paul, the apostle, he had problems. He talked about how he was arrested,
how he was beat with stripes, so many times threatened, run
out of town. And what he's saying, if by any
means now, whether I go through a time of trouble or whether
I'm in the lap of luxury, that I might attain the resurrection
of the dead." That's my goal. In other words, it doesn't matter
how good I have it here or how bad I have it, my goal is the
resurrection of the dead, from the dead. And so he said, verse
12, now look at it, "...not as though I already attained." I
haven't already been resurrected from the dead, that's what he's
saying. I've heard preachers use that verse and they say,
well, don't you think you're certain for heaven yet? Paul
didn't believe. That's not what this is saying. Paul's just simply
saying, I have not already attained sinless perfection in the resurrection
from the dead. I'm not there yet, and you're
not either. It doesn't mean I haven't already
attained salvation. I've attained salvation in Christ. I'm certain for heaven in Him.
Where's He? Where's Christ? He's in heaven.
Are you in Him? You could no more lose your salvation
if you are saved by his grace than he could be thrown off the
throne in heaven. But we have not yet experienced
final glory. So he says, not as though I had
already attained, either were already perfect, that is, in
myself. He says, but I follow after,
if that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of
Jesus Christ. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended that perfection now. But this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth
unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark of the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Now you
know what that is? A perfect conformity to Christ
in every way. In my mind, in my affections,
in my will, in every way. A glorified, perfected body.
Now go back to Isaiah 65. What he's saying here when he
speaks of the work of our hands, first of all, he talks about
trees. He says in verse 22, for as the days of a tree are the
days of my people. Well, that's just another Old
Testament symbol of sinners saved by the grace of God in Christ.
What are we? We're like trees planted by the
water, and we shall not be moved. We sing that. Our leaf shall
not fade, it shall flourish. Psalm 1. Trees of righteousness,
the scripture says, planted by the Lord. You remember that?
Isaiah 61.3. And so, this work of our hands
is not, again, working to be saved. It's building our house
on the rock. Christ Jesus. And we'll never
see that house broken up. We'll eat, we'll drink, we'll
enjoy the good of our labor according to the gift of God as He sees
fit. And this promise is connected
to our eternal life in Christ. Christ is to us the tree of life. And He makes us trees that will
not wither. And the work of the ministry
of grace will be successful. Now, many will not believe Many
will not believe, but he says here, look at verse 23, they
shall not labor in vain. Some will believe. There'll be
some who believe it. They're the seed of the Lord,
scripture says. And it's not, this is not teaching.
When he says here, they bring forth verse 23, they shall not
labor in vain nor bring forth for trouble, for they are the
seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them."
That's not teaching that salvation automatically comes to our physical
children. Just because our children are
born of a mother and father who are believers, doesn't mean they'll
be believers. We hope they will be, we pray that they will be,
and we want to keep them under the Word of God as long as we
have authority over them. But the descendants here are
the spiritual seed Those who come to believe the gospel as
the result of the power of God through our preaching. And they
will be saved. They'll be spiritual inhabitants
and citizens of the New Jerusalem. Well, look at verse 24. He says,
"...and it shall come to pass that before they call, I will
answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Now,
he's speaking of access to God there through prayer in Christ. But you know he had already said
back in verse 1, he said, I'm going to be found of those who
sought me not. Those who won't call on me, they'll
find me. That's the same thing here. God says it shall come
to pass that before they call, I will answer. You know what
that's saying? God's sovereign. He's in control. He knows what
we have need of before we even ask. Prayer is not something
that's going to change his mind or his purpose. It's something
that he uses to bring us to submit to his will and to worship him.
But we pray to God through Christ. And then verse 25, now look at
this verse. This one's been taken out of
context quite a bit too. This verse 25 is not talking
about the future glory of a zoo. Now, listen to it. He says, "...the
wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw
like the bullock, and thus shall be the serpent's meat. They shall
not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountains, saith the Lord."
Now, these are symbols. And there are three things that
are here promised about the New Jerusalem and the Church. Number
one, he's showing here that the grace of God, the power of God,
A sovereign God, proclaimed in the gospel of Christ, makes a
great change in people. I mean, it's a great change.
And it's against their nature. Just like a wolf. What's a wolf?
His nature is to eat lambs. The only time you see a wolf
and a lamb sitting down together is when the lamb's in the wolf's
belly. But there's going to be a change of nature. What's the
lamb's nature? His nature is to eat grass. That's
why he eats grass, not because he chooses to do so. That's what
he is. He's a lamb. The wolf eats the lamb because
he's a wolf. And the wolf and the lamb lie down together in
Christ's Kingdom, in peace and harmony, just as they did in
Noah's ark. Because if you're in the ark,
you're going to live at peace. If you're in Christ, same way. Ravening wolves and raging lions,
when converted by grace, are folded with the lambs of Christ. One old writer said, Saul of
Tarsus, that ravening wolf who was on the road to Damascus to
kill Christians, God stopped him, and you know what he did?
Turned him into a sheep. That's right. And all those that
he was after, now he would lay down peacefully in the fold with.
That's talking about the new birth. between natural enemies,
Jew and Gentile. The Jews who hated the Gentiles,
when converted. The Gentiles who hated the Jews,
when converted. The lion and the lamb, the wolf
and the lamb, lying down together in peace. That's what that's
talking about. It's a change of nature. It's
not giving them a perfect nature. It's a change of nature. It's
called regeneration. It's a dissolving of prejudices,
bringing the two factions, the two enemies together into one
fold, one house, under one shepherd, with one heart. It's a sweet
communion of believers in Christ. That's the first thing. Here's
the second thing. Satan shall be bound. It says the dust shall
be the serpent's meat. The great enemy of men's souls
has been bound by the Lord Jesus Christ. and shall be bound ultimately,
and made to eat the dust before the throne of our King." When
he says dust shall be the serpent's meat, he's referring all the
way back to that great promise of redemption in the Garden of
Eden. When he said the serpent will bruise his heel, but he's
going to bruise the serpent's head. He's going to crush the
serpent's head when Adam and Eve sin. God spoke to that serpent. He said, I'll put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, it'll
crush thy head, and thou shalt crush his heel. Christ did his
work. The serpent is defeated in our
case. He's still allowed to roam this
earth for a while, but he's headed to the lake of fire. And that's
the second thing. But now here's the third thing.
He says, They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountains,
saith the Lord. Nothing will ever hurt or destroy
God's church or God's kingdom. Again, the gates of hell will
not prevail against Christ's church. The gates of hell will
not prevail against his cause, his gospel, or his kingdom. We
may be attacked. We may be accused. But we cannot
be destroyed. We cannot be silenced. We cannot
be hindered as we march our way to glory. It shall happen because
of His power and His grace.