Alright, let's open our Bibles
to Isaiah chapter 60. Isaiah chapter 60. As we come to the closing chapters
of this great and glorious Gospel according to Isaiah, I see more
and more of the glory of our Savior shining through in the
revelation of God's Word. And I thought about this, if
you compare chapter 59 with chapter 60 and sometime you might just
go back and just sit down and read those two chapters 59 and
then 60 because chapter 59 is such a vivid description of our
sinfulness and our depravity and what we deserve according
to our best efforts which is nothing more than condemnation
and death and shows the futility of any sinner trying to be saved
based on their works And then chapter 60 comes along and presents
the glorious gospel of God's grace of salvation conditioned
on Christ. And if anybody is ever in doubt
that Christ is able to save and willing to save, just sit down
and read those two chapters sometime. And also, if you're ever in doubt
on what kind of people the Lord saves, read those two chapters. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. You might, as a New Testament
parallel, just to give you an idea or a little commentary on
both of these chapters, chapter 59. You remember I mentioned
last week that the Apostle Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit
to quote from Isaiah chapter 59 in Romans chapter 3. And there
in Romans chapter 3 beginning at verse 9 it says where he concluded,
all under sin, and then he gives that graphic description, part
of a quote from this chapter 59 of Isaiah, none righteous,
none good, no not one, there is poison of asps, of poisonous
snakes is in their lips, their mouth is full of cursing and
bitterness. And then after he makes that grand conclusion in
Romans 3, 19-20 where he talks about how the law brings in all
sinners in guilty, that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world may become guilty before God. In verse 20 he says, Therefore
by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified in the sight of
God, in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
And that is sort of the theme of chapter 59 of Isaiah. But
then he picks up in verse 21 of Romans 3, and then he begins
to describe in detail what he had already mentioned in the
first part of Romans. And that again is the glorious
person and finished work of Christ to bring the sure salvation of
all his people, his sheep, God's elect, his church. And that is
what chapter 60 is about. This chapter, chapter 60, has
no reference to the sin of God's people. It speaks only of blessing. And so it's a feast for the spiritual
soul. I entitled this message, I'm
going to divide this chapter into two messages, and both of
them entitled the same. The Glory of Zion. The Glory of Zion. This is part
one. We'll do the first part of this
chapter. But as I said, it has no reference to the sinfulness
of God's people, even though the sinfulness of God's people
is implied here. Because if we weren't sinners,
we would not need salvation. And if we were not helpless,
impotent sinners, we would not need salvation by grace. So it
is certainly implied. Chapter 59 has much of sin. Well, what's happened? The Scripture
says, when we were without strength, God sent forth His Son. God saved
us. God justified us by the blood
of Christ. Look at verse 16 of chapter 59,
just by way of reminder. This is the view of God down
towards man. He says, And he saw that there
was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. In
other words, there was no one to be found in this world among
men, among the best of men or the worst of men, who could save
us from our sins. No man to save, no man to intercede,
no mediator. So what did God do? Therefore,
His arm brought salvation unto Him, and His righteousness, it
sustained Him. And that's talking about His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He acted to save. by appointing
Christ to be a covenant for his people. Brother Stan mentioned
the covenant of grace when he read Psalm 132. Look at verse
21 of chapter 59. Well, look at verse 20. This is how it concludes. It
introduces chapter 60, the prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 60. And
the Redeemer shall come to Zion. We're going to talk about Zion.
And as Brother Stan mentioned, Zion is the church. The church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that, it says, the Redeemer
shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression
in Jacob, saith the Lord. And as for me, this is my covenant
with them, saith the Lord. My spirit that is upon them,
my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out
of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of
the mouth of thy seed-seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and
forever." Now, it is based upon the Redeemer coming to Zion,
the Lord Jesus Christ, sent of the Father in the fullness of
the time, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law. It is based upon that that the
glorious truth of chapter 60 is founded. It starts off with
a rise and shine. Do you see that in verse 1? Be
enlightened, as your concordance may say. for thy light cometh,
arise, and shine." In other words, this is said to a people whose
darkness was described in the prior chapter. By nature, and
based upon our best efforts to save ourselves, it is nothing
but darkness. But when the Redeemer comes to
Zion, and when the people of God turn from the transgression
of Jacob to Christ and become part of that covenant, that is,
that covenant in their experience. Listen, we were part of that
covenant from the very beginning, from before the foundation of
the world, chosen in Christ. But when we become part of that
covenant in our experience by looking to Christ, then here's
the exhortation, here's the command, arise and shine. And now who's
he talking about? He's talking about Zion. He's
talking about his people. The glory of Zion, all the good
news of this chapter, all the glory of Zion is the consequence
and the result and the fruit of the saving work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And they had not become covenant
keepers on their own. You see, we're not going to come
to Him on our own. He comes to us. He's the first
cause of everything. Salvation is of the Lord. And
as a result of His work, we'll come to Him. Let me just say
this at the outset. The glory of Zion lies in the
glory of its Redeemer and the redeemed. Christ is our glory. Now, Zion is the church. When
we speak of the church, the church of God, we can talk about the
local church. This is a local church here.
Local body of believers. We know about the church here
on earth. We know that up until the time that Christ comes again
to glorify His people with Him that this will be a mixed assembly.
There will be true believers here, truly born again by the
Spirit, and there will be false professors. The Scripture doesn't
tell us that so that we can sit around and wonder and fear or
be afraid whether we're one or the other. It gives us enough
instruction and evidence in the Word of God so that we can have
the assurance that God not only desires His people to have, but
commands us to have. He commands it. And I'm telling
you right now that the only way that you can know that you're
a member of the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ is to keep
your eyes focused and looking to Him. And that's it. Keep your eyes upon Him. Don't
turn away from Him. Don't turn away to look to any
man or any denomination or any group. You just keep your rest
and your faith and your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what he does for us. So there is the local church,
but there's also the universal church. Now, the local church
is God's institution in this world whereby he promotes his
gospel, his truth, his worship, the ordinances, lights in a dark
world, getting the gospel out, evangelizing. But the church
of God is also universal. Now, what is that? That's God's
elect in every generation, God's elect, those on earth and those
in heaven, chosen by the Father in eternal election, redeemed
by the Son at Calvary, and born again by the Spirit in time.
One body. The church is one foundation.
We sang that song. That's the whole church. That's
the true church. That's the pure church. And it's
one body, it's one church, it's one kingdom, it's the church
that Christ loved so much that he gave himself for it. What
he said and what was recorded in Ephesians chapter 5. It's
called Mount Sion or Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and the general assembly and church of the firstborn,
who is Jesus Christ, under which all believers have come, as recorded
in Hebrews chapter 12. It's called the sheepfold into
which the Good Shepherd gathers his sheep. It's called the kingdom
of God into which we've entered by the new birth. It's called
the family of God which we've been born into by the miracle
of the Holy Spirit. It's called Jerusalem which is
above, not an earthly city, but a heavenly city, the mother of
all God's saints. And in Revelation, it's called
the new Jerusalem which shall come down from God out of heaven
and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband when our God
makes all things new. It is called the Kingdom of Heaven,
of which Christ is the King and all believers are the subject.
We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom, not an earthly kingdom.
It is Zion, the city of the Lord. Now, in the Old Testament, the
Church of God was pictured by the nation Israel. But as no
type, and think about this, and you're not going to understand
the Old Testament unless you understand this, there is no
type or picture that is perfect. None. Neither was the nation
Israel. Somebody said, well, the nation
Israel, as a nation, they were a bunch of rebels. They rebelled.
They didn't believe. Is that the church? No. No. But
God's choice of them, and God's formation of them, and God's
dealings with them, and God working through them, is a type and picture
of the Church. Now, no type is perfect. Let
me give you another example of that. There are many, many types
of Christ in the Old Testament. Many types. We talk about the
biblical typology. We can talk about all kinds,
the sacrifices, the altar, the tabernacle, the priesthood. Do
you know that none of those types are perfect? Do you know the
high priest was a type of Christ? Do you know that high priest
was a sinful man? And do you know that some of
those high priests down through the ages didn't even believe
the promise of the gospel? And yet they in their office
were types of Christ. But they were imperfect men.
None of those types. Now, where's the perfection?
The perfection's not in the type. The perfection's in Christ. He's
the perfect one. He's the fulfillment and the
consummation of all those types. It's the same way with the church.
You see, Israel the nation typified the church, but now the type
wasn't perfect. But now the church in the Lord
Jesus Christ, the true church, the universal church, is perfect
in Him. We are perfect in Him right now,
but one day we will be perfected in ourselves when we come to
glory, the glorified church. So this is a type of the church
here. Now, the only true church in
Christ and in glory is spiritual Israel. And from the beginning,
God purposed and revealed that His purpose was to gather His
elect from the four corners of the earth It would include both
His elect among the Jews and among the Gentiles, and at last
present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that it should be holy without blame."
Now Isaiah is here describing the glory of God's church, the
glory of Zion, which began with Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, coming
to Zion. And it will be consummated, it
will be perfected when He comes again. and brings His church
into its final glory as a bride adorned for her husband. Christ
purchased the church with His first coming. He will perfect
the church in His second coming. And that is what this is talking
about. Look first at these first two verses, the glorious light
of Zion. Now, listeners, what is our light?
He says, Arise, shine, for thy light is come. And the glory
of the Lord is risen upon thee." What's he talking about? He's
talking about the coming of the Messiah. The Redeemer shall come to Zion.
Your light has come. Look at verse 2. For behold,
the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the
people, but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall
be seen upon thee. Zion's glory, the church's glory,
is the glory of the Redeemer. It's the glory of Christ. Our
glory is a reflected glory. We reflect the glory of our Savior. He is the light of the world.
This is the glory of Christ, our light. He is the light of
the world. He is the Son, S-U-N, of righteousness, the Scripture
says. Christ is the revelation of the light of the glory of
God. When John the Baptist came in, he pointed sinners to the
light. Out of the darkness of false religion, works religion,
and pointed them to Christ, who is the light of the world, the
light of his people. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse
6 says that Christ is the light that shines in our hearts by
the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the gospel in the new birth.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has
shined in our hearts to give unto us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That is the glory of his person,
who he is. He has a glory in himself as
God-man, and it is the glory of his finished work that he
accomplished on Calvary to save us from our sins by the shedding
of his blood and the establishment of righteousness. He is the light
of truth in all ways. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the light. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And
it's through His light that we see the glory of the Word of
God. These Scriptures are nothing but darkness until we see the
light of Christ in these Scriptures. The 2 Corinthians chapter 3,
you remember when Paul was talking about how the Jews of his day
didn't understand the Old Testament? And he said it's just like when
Moses came down out of Mount Sinai and there was a glory that
was showing on his face and he had to put a veil over his face.
And he likened that to the darkness of his generation. He said there's
a veil over their heart, a darkness, that they cannot see the end
and the purpose and the fulfillment and the glory of the Word of
God in the Old Testament. And the reason they can't do
it is because they've rejected the Messiah. But when they turn
to the Lord, that veil is taken away, and then they see that
glory in this Word. That's why Christ told the Pharisees,
he says, you do search the scriptures for him, then you think you have
eternal life, but they are they which testify of me. If you want
to understand the glory of Moses, he said this, Moses' glory was
not in salvation by works of the law. Moses' glory was not
in himself. Moses' glory was in this fact
he wrote of me. He wrote of Christ. He pointed
sinners to Christ. And that's the glory of Zion.
We take this word, and we go to passages in the Old Testament
and in the New, but in the Old, and we open up the darkness that
is there by turning to Christ and Him crucified. Showing sinners
how this is speaking of our Savior. That's why he says in Matthew
chapter 5, let your light so shine before men. that they may
see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
It's not a light that draws attention to ourselves or our works. It's a light that draws attention
to pay homage and worship and serve and rest in the Lord of
glory. Look here, look at verse 3. Now,
here's the second thing, the far-reaching, all-embracing scope
of Zion. See, our light is the gospel.
that leads sinners to Christ for all salvation. But now, how
far does this go? How far does it reach? Well,
look at verse 3. He says, And the Gentiles shall
come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
Lift up thine eyes, look around. That means look up and look around
you. And see, he says, all they gather themselves together. They come to thee. thy son shall
come from afar, and thy daughter shall be nursed at thy side."
How far does Zion reach? Well, all over the world. God
has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
The inhabitants of Zion are to come from all parts of the world.
Our Lord made this statement. He said that many shall come
from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. You know what that means, to
sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? That means that when
they come into this kingdom, they will be equal citizens with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They'll be part of the covenant
of grace. God has a people out of all these tribes. Look over
at Romans chapter 11. This is what the Apostle Paul
in his commentary in Romans 11 is teaching about. this issue
of Zion and Israel, what it's all about. Look at verse 25 of
Romans 11. He's talking about a mystery
here. This mystery, this particular mystery, was one that the Lord
revealed to Paul first. And it's the mystery of the church,
the makeup of the church, that it was to include both Jew and
Gentile. Now, somebody says, well, Isaiah
said it. It's not anything new. And it's
not. It's not new, but it was newly
fulfilled in the New Covenant. And look at verse 25, he says,
of Romans 11, he says, For I would not, brethren, that you should
be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your
own conceit, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, that's
God's judgment upon Israel for the rejection of the truth, until
the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so, all Israel
shall be saved. As it is written, there shall
come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob." That's quoted from Isaiah 59, you see. For this
is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins.
In other words, all of this is showing that spiritual Israel,
Zion, is going to be made up of God's elect out of every nation.
Christ is the Redeemer of all sorts, all kinds of people. Kings, servants, Jew, Gentile,
male, female. Paul wrote in Galatians 3.26,
for you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. He said, for as many of you as
have been baptized into Christ, placed into Christ, have put
on Christ, You are washed in His blood. You are clothed in
His righteousness. There is neither Jew nor Greek.
There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female.
For you are all one in Christ Jesus." Not divided. Not pockets
of people without any connection. And if you belong to Christ,
then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
He said in Colossians 3 and verse 11, in Christ there is neither
Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian,
bond nor free, but Christ is all." There is our glory, you
see. The glory of the Church is not that it has a big Jewish
population. The glory of the Church is not
that it has a big American population or a big Baptist population.
The glory of the Church is this, Christ is all and in all. There is the glory of the Church.
And in Him, He's everything and we're nothing. What I am and
where I come from means nothing. What I've done means nothing.
It's all the Redeemer. That's our glory, you see. And
that's the scope of it. That's why Paul wrote in Galatians
6.14, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and
I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Now, you
know what that new creation there is? It's the Church made up of
individuals chosen, justified, redeemed, and regenerated. That's who he calls the Israel
of God. That's the scope of it. Look
back at Isaiah 60. Look at verse 5. Here's the third
point. The great riches of Zion. Now, he uses a lot of language
here. The prophet does. Materials that
symbolize wealth untold. Treasure that people could not
imagine that they could own. Things that he brings up here
would be things that would bring up in their minds something so
vastly out of their reach. You know, being a citizen of
Israel or just a regular person, be so vastly out of their reach
that they couldn't imagine. But look here, here's the great
riches of Zion. Look at verse 5. He says, "...then
shalt thou see and flow together, and thine heart shall fear and
be enlarged, Now, that's an interesting statement there. Your heart's
going to fear and be enlarged. It's almost like you're going
to fear, but you're going to have a big smile on your face.
That's the connotation that he's talking about there. So what
does that tell us? Well, it tells us that the type
of fear that he's talking about here is not being scared. It's
not legalism. You know, man naturally has a
fear of hell. He has a fear of punishment.
And that's why we've got so much false religion in the world.
People, they know sin deserves punishment. They know if there
is a God, He's angry with sin, therefore He's got to be appeased.
And that's the legalistic fear that spawns false religion, whatever
they do. Well, what does it take to satisfy
this God? And they'll come up with all
kinds of things. Who'd have come up with the Eightfold Path, you
see? Then others come up with some
other way of work, salvation. But the fear here is a fear that
brings satisfaction, that enlarges our hearts. It's a fear of trust,
you see. It's a trusting fear, rather.
Let's put it that way. It's a reverence, and a respect,
and a regard for one who is powerful, but who loves us. For one who
is just to punish our sins, but who is also the justifier of
the ungodly. For one who is true to his law
and his holiness and his work, but one who is also merciful.
And how can that be? Well, he has already said it.
A Redeemer shall come to Zion. We will turn away from the sin
of Jacob. We will repent and come to Christ.
It is His blood and righteousness whereby God is to justify. And that is what brings that
worshipful reverence to look upon God. So He says in verse
5, Then thou shalt see, flow together, thine heart shall fear
and be enlarged, because, listen, because the abundance of the
sea shall be converted into thee, the forces of the Gentiles. The
recompense of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." They looked
upon the sea as being wealthy because of the ships that would
travel across to the seaport bearing all kinds of exotic jewels
and spices and all kinds of things. In other words, he is saying
this is the wealth that the church is going to have. But look at
verse 6, he says, "...the multitude of camels shall cover thee, the
caravans, dromedaries of Midian, Ephah, and all they from Sheba."
shall come. You remember the Queen of Sheba
who came bearing great wealth for Solomon to learn his wisdom. They shall bring gold and incense
and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord. You see,
that's the key. He says in verse 7, "...all the
flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee. The rams
of Nebaoth shall minister unto thee. They shall come up with
acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my
glory." They're going to sacrifice. That's what he's saying. Because
in that blood sacrifice, there's the type and the picture of how
God justifies the ungodly. You see, everything that they
have here by way of wealth, coming to the house of God, that's what,
bringing their wealth, you see, not to be saved, because they're
going to worship by sacrifice. They're not trying to buy their
way into the kingdom. But they're coming to worship.
They're coming to pay homage. They're coming to bow down and
beg for mercy. He says in verse 8, Who are these
that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? Surely
the isles," verse 9, "...shall wait for me, and the ships of
Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far." You see, people
from all over the world, they are silver and they are gold
with them, "...unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the
Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee." You see,
they are going to worship God through Christ. Because He's
the one who glorified us. How did He glorify us? He saved
us from our sins. He washed us in His blood. He
clothed us in His righteousness. Now what does all this symbolize?
Well, it doesn't mean that if you're part of a true church,
you're going to be rich. I know there are folks who believe
that. There are folks who preach on TV all the time. I hear them.
You know, plant your seed, give the money. That's what they're
talking about, seed money. And you plant this. Listen, now let
me tell you something. That is not biblical giving.
That's investing. That's investing. You understand
that? If you give anything in order
to get back, that's an investment. That is not giving. That's not
being a cheerful giver. That's being an expected investor. You understand? So that is not...
He's not talking about people coming in and investing so that
they can get out of God what they pay for. Not at all. He's
talking about people coming with the wealth that God has given
them. And it's a spiritual wealth.
It's not a material wealth. All these things are symbols
and pictures and types of the spiritual inheritance that we
who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and brought into
the kingdom possess by virtue of what He has accomplished. And the Scripture tells us that
over and over again. You know, we're not to seek for
the riches of this world as if that's the end of all things.
We're to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Let me read you some passages from the book of Ephesians. Turn
over to Ephesians chapter 1. And what we possess in and by
virtue of our union with Christ and what He did for us on Calvary,
that is the glory of Zion. So our glory is nothing that
we have earned. It is nothing that we have naturally.
It is the glory of Christ and Him crucified. Look at Ephesians
chapter 1. He is talking about in verse
3 here. He says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with what? Some spiritual blessings? No, all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in Christ. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
behold him without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved."
You see, that is the glory of Zion, our acceptance in Christ. Look at verse 7, "...in whom
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins
according to," what? "...the riches of his grace."
So all the riches we have that are worth anything, that last
eternally, are riches of His grace, not riches that we've
earned. Christ earned them. Look down
at verse 18 of chapter 1. Look at verse 17 right now. He
says, "...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of Him, that the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints." You see, it's an inheritance. What about an
inheritance? You don't earn an inheritance.
You're born into an inheritance. Somebody else earned it, bequeaths
it to you, they die, and you get it. You don't get out and
work for it, or it's not an inheritance, it's a wage. See, if you work
for it and earn it, it's a wage. The wages of sin is what? Death. The gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Look over at Ephesians chapter
2. Let me read you a couple more, and then I'll close for tonight.
He says in Ephesians 2, look at verse 7. He's talking about how Christ,
how we are in Christ, united to Him and made to sit together
with him in heavenly places, verse 7, that in the ages to
come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. And then, what does he say? By
grace are you saved, through faith, that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast,
for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them."
Part of the glory of Zion is the fruit and effect of what
Christ has accomplished in and through us. And then look at
chapter 3, Ephesians 3. Look down at verse 8. Ephesians 3, verse 8. Paul talking
about his ministry to the Gentiles. That was entrusted to him, and
he says in verse 8, unto me, that ministry was given unto
me who am less than the least of all saints. In other words,
Paul is saying this is a great treasure, a ministry that has
been given to me that I don't deserve and I didn't earn. I'm
the least of all saints. Is this grace given that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ? Now, all of that language back
here in Isaiah chapter 60 from verses 5 to verse 9, that's what
that's talking about. That's the ultimate fulfillment.
Let's say, for example, that it was talking about material
wealth. And that's what we receive by
virtue of the Redeemer coming design. And that was our inheritance. Let me ask you. When you lay
down your head on the pillow and go to sleep and never wake
up again, what good would that do you? What good would it do in heaven?
You know, I know it's not a literal picture, it's symbolic, but if
we could take literal gold with us to heaven, and the streets
were literally paved with gold, all we would have in our bags
was pavement. Isn't that right? You have a
bag of pavement. Now, I don't see many of you
hauling around blacktop or concrete because it's not worth anything
to you unless there's a pothole. So if it were talking about material
wealth that so many preachers point centers to, what good would
that do? Is that Zion's glory? Well, if
it is, it's a fading glory. But Zion's glory is not a fading
glory. When we come back to this chapter
at the end of it, you'll see that it is an eternal, everlasting
glory, just like all that we possess in Christ. Do you realize
this, that we have infinitely better blessings than what Adam
had in the garden before the fall? Obviously, you see that
when you think about Adam. It was possible for him to fall.
He was liable to fall, being a creature. But you know, that
cannot happen to Zion. That cannot happen to any citizen
of Zion. Adam's creature righteousness
was a perfect righteousness, but he lost it in the fall. Our
righteousness is not a creature righteousness. It is the righteousness
of the God-man. What a glory! That cannot be
lost. So that's how we will live forever
and ever and ever with no possibility of ever falling again. Because
we're in Christ. And He's our glory. Alright.
Let's sing a hymn. We're marching to Zion. Marching
to Zion. Hymn number 514.