Let's open our Bibles to the book of Micah, chapter 4. Micah, chapter 4. And we'll begin reading in verse 8. And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come. Even the first dominion, the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.

Now, why dost thou cry out loud? Is there no king in thee? Is thy counselor perished? For pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail, but in pain and labor to bring forth Oh, daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail. For now, that's the title of this message tonight. For now, just for now, just a little while for right now, shall thou go forth out of the city and thou shall dwell in the field And thou shalt go even to Babylon, and there shalt thou be delivered.

There the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies." How oftentimes we see in God's providence with the children of Israel in the Old Testament a picture of our own spiritual pilgrimage when the Lord sent Moses down to Egypt to bring the children of Israel out of the bondage of slavery. What a wonderful picture we see of the Lord delivering us from our sin in the new birth and baptizing us in the Red Sea and bringing us into that land of wilderness where we spend one generation, 40 years, and then Joshua taking us to the River Jordan, and that river parting, and our Lord Jesus taking us into the Promised Land. Here, many years later, the Lord's going to send his church into captivity again.

This time it'll be in Babylon. This time they'll be there for 70 years, the life of a man. And we have in the history of Israel, in that Babylonian captivity, Micah is prophesying of that event. Micah is before the Babylonian exile, captivity. Michael's telling them what's going to happen. But in Babylon, they're going to seek the Lord. And in seeking him, they're going to find him. And he's going to redeem them and bring them back to the promised land.

And we know what Babylon is a picture of. starting with the Tower of Babel and going all the way through to the destruction of the great harlot of Babylon in the Book of Revelation, Babylon is this world. Particularly, it is a picture of the religions of this world. All the confusion of speech that men have in trying to define God and trying to explain how it is that men can be saved right there from the Tower of Babel. And we live in Babylon.

Three score and ten is our life in this world. And here we have in these few verses a glorious promise of what the Lord will do for his people in this world of darkness, this world of confusion. And he tells them in verse 10, I understand that you're in travail as a woman that's going into labor, but the good news is that a child will be born And when that child is born, all the pains of labor will be forgotten and rejoice in the life that we have. And so the Lord is saying for now, for just a little while, you're going to suffer in Babylon, but be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. You will be delivered and the Lord will redeem thee from the hand of all your enemies.

How so often we find ourselves far too enamored with and attached to the temporal things of this world. And what a blessing it is when God the Holy Spirit reminds us of the heavenly home that the Lord Jesus has prepared for us and enables us to set our hearts on those things above. Puts everything in this life, everything in this world, puts it in perspective. I need that.

I suspect that perhaps you need it also. In verse 8, and thou, O tower of the flock. David said in Psalm 61, thou hast been a strong tower from the enemy, a place of escape. Proverbs chapter 10, Solomon said, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe. This is a prophecy speaking of Christ. In the volume of the book, it is written of me. And the Lord is reminding us that in this travail, this trouble, this world in which we live, in which Everything we have in Christ is contrary to all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

We have a tower, a strong tower, one that is high above all the things of this world. Not the Tower of Babel, not a tower of confusion, not a tower of bricks and slime for mortar, but a strong tower, a tower that reaches. Remember what the people said at the Tower of Babel, let us build a name for ourselves, let us build a city, and let us build a tower that reaches up into heaven. They weren't able to do it.

But that's what religion's all about. Man-made works religion, free will religion is all about man, fashioning bricks with his own hands and trying to put them together with slime and building for himself a name, trying to reach up into heaven. What a great blessing it is when the Lord causes us to put down all those all those efforts, and flee, flee.

Let me quote this verse again, Proverbs chapter 18, the name of the Lord, the name of the Lord is a strong tower, and the righteous flee to it and are safe, and are safe. This is who Micah is speaking of, and thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion. Zechariah, there's a verse in Zechariah chapter 9 that the Lord tells us. He says, turn ye to the stronghold, and then he identifies his church in a very curious way, a very interesting description. He calls the church prisoners of hope. Prisoners of hope. Oh, what a blessing it is to be a prisoner of hope.

Hope that is seen is not hope. No, we hope for that which we have not seen yet. We look for a city which have foundations That's that new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven that has 12 foundations, a sure city, a city that will never be destroyed. Not like the city that men try to build for their own name and for their own efforts to climb up into heaven. This is a city that comes down from God.

And the Lord says that we are to Turn to our stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. I'm thankful to be a prisoner of hope. I can't ever escape the hope that is set before me. And every time we get enamored with and distracted by, and as the psalmist that we did, the psalm writer that we just read, how prone we are to wander, how prone we are to leave the God that we love. The Lord brings his prisoners back home to their hope. He causes them to not find anything of any comfort of any piece of any of any foundation in all the things that the world has to offer. And once again, we find ourselves chained as prisoners to the hope that is set before us.

And thou, O tower of the flock, speaking of the Lord Jesus, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come. Now, Micah is speaking to Christ. He's telling us about who the Lord Jesus is, but he's saying to the Lord Jesus, who's seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, that his bride is coming to him. that she will be redeemed. She has been redeemed and she will be glorified with him in heaven.

Unto thee shall it come even as in the first time. That's what first dominion means. This is a reference back to the covenant of grace before time ever was. The Lord is saying to the Lord Jesus, your bride is coming home to you, and you're going to possess her in the fullness of her glory, even as she was in the first, in the first, when all of the elect of God were found in Christ before the foundations of the world.

Not a one of her is going to be lost. What a what a glorious what a glorious hope we have in knowing that the daughter of Zion looking to her tower, looking to her stronghold will be brought together to be with him. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is exactly the same size right now today as it was before Adam was made and is exactly the same size as it will be in eternity future when we gather together with our Lord. Not one will be lost and none can be added to it.

Unto thee shall it come. even as in the first time, even as it was in the beginning, in the first dominion. But now, and for now, she's going to be in Babylon for a while. This world has been Babylon from the very beginning, since the fall. Abel and Cain made a point of that even before the Tower of Babel. Cain trying to work his way to heaven by offerings that he made with his own hands, Abel bringing a blood sacrifice. The distinction that's made between Babylon and the kingdom of God, the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem, The kingdom of God.

The Pharisees asked the Lord Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming. And the Lord said, the kingdom of God cometh not by observation, but the kingdom of God is within you. Within you. It's possessed in the heart through faith by the power of the spirit of God in the revelation of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God cometh not by observation.

One day it will. One day it will. Now abideth faith, hope, and charity. And the greatest of these is charity. Why? Because right now the kingdom of God cannot be observed. As we've already said, hope that is seen is not hope. We have faith, which will be our sight and hope, which will be our experience in heaven. And the reason why the greatest of these is love is because love will last forever. We won't need faith and hope in heaven. We need it here.

The kingdom of God for now is not received by observation. The Pharisees were looking for something physical. Even the disciples were confused about the kingdom of God. Is it time now, Lord, for you to establish your kingdom? And what'd the Lord say? It's not for you to know the time of the season.

I know what you're talking about. You're talking about me sitting upon my throne and all of my people. being gathered together around me, all of Israel being saved, I know. You go back into Jerusalem, the Holy Ghost will come upon you and you'll be my witnesses. Because for now, my church is going to live in Babylon. And for now, she's going to suffer.

The Lord told Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God cometh not by observation. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. You cannot perceive of it. It's a spiritual kingdom. The kingdom of God is within you.

It's not something we look. We set our affections on things above, not on things of the earth. We look not on those things which are seen, for the things which are seen are temporal. We look on those things which are not seen. The things which are not seen are eternal. Only the eye of faith can do that.

They that are after the flesh, and how oftentimes we find ourselves after the flesh, minding the things of the flesh, thank God, being a prisoner of hope, they thereafter the spirit do mind the things of the spirit. Every time they find themselves minding things of the flesh and being overwhelmed with the circumstances of their life, the Lord brings his prisoners home and renews the hope that they have of knowing that, oh, this life is truly a vapor. It's truly a vapor. The daughter of Zion will look to the tower and the stronghold and she shall come to be with him even as it was in the very first.

This kingdom of God spoken of so often is also called the kingdom of heaven. Matthew never refers to the kingdom of God in his writings, in the gospel of Matthew. I don't know how many references there are. I think there's 25 or 30 times Matthew refers to the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven.

The Lord is saying to me and you, that the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom that can only be understood through the eye of faith in the power of the spirit of God in the heart. Christ in you is your hope of glory and that this kingdom will one day be fully established in heaven for now. For now, we're going to be in Babylon. And like a woman travailing in the delivering of a child, it's not going to be easy.

Look at verse 9. Now why does thy cry out? I'm thankful the Lord put aloud there. He's talking about, well, what David said in the psalm that we read. Why are we so disquieted? Disquieted. Why are we so loud in our complaints and in our, we should be crying out to the Lord, yes, quietly in our hearts for him to help us in our time of need, not expressing ourselves in anger or frustration or fear, but calling out to him from the heart. Why does that cry out aloud? Psalm 42 verse five says this. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me?

Hope thou in God, and I shall yet praise him. For the hope of his countenance is my hope. The hope of his countenance. Now that's something Lord, cause thy face to shine upon me, and I shall be saved. That's not something we observe physically. That's not something we look for in a tangible manner. That's a spiritual work of grace in the heart. And it overrides and overcomes everything else that's physical, whatever it might be. in verse 11 of that same Psalm. Let's turn there just a moment. Psalm 42, Psalm 42. Look at verse five.

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Now look at verse 11. Same words, except it ends a little bit differently. Why art thou cast down, O my soul?

And why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance. So in verse 5, for the help of his countenance and then in verse 11 he says he or his countenance is the health of my countenance. You know I thought of a Just a common day experience that we have when one person smiles to another and the response is a smile back. The Lord's countenance is what I'm looking for and his countenance is the health of my countenance. when I'm able to set my affections on things above where he is, then whatever troubles, whatever troubles I have here in Babylon, I'm able to reflect his countenance back to him.

Go back to our text. Look at verse nine. Why does thy crowd aloud Is there no king in thee? Is thy counselor perished? Now, the reference to the Lord being the king is his omnipotence, his power. A king is a man of power. He's a man of authority. He doesn't have to ask permission. He has the power to do what he wills. And counselor has a reference to his wisdom. And how oftentimes we've thought if we had the power of God, we would change most everything, if we could. But if we had the wisdom of God, we would change nothing.

And now the Lord is saying to us, why are you crying out loud? Why are you so disquieted? Why are you so upset about your circumstances? Is there no king in thee? Is there not one that has the power? And is there no counselor in thee? Is there not one that has the wisdom to shine his face upon you and cause his countenance to be the health of your countenance?

I need to hear these words. Look at the last part. For pains have taken thee as a woman in travail. I can't even imagine. Been around a lot of, been in the hospital for many births over the years and watched women in the last stages of pregnancy going through the travail. I had no idea what that would be like.

But as soon as that child was born, All that's for God. The Lord is using that experience to encourage us to know that yes, I understand you're in the travail of birth. That's what this Babylonian exile is. Your birth into the kingdom of God. But it's not gonna last long. Not gonna last long. Just a little while. Look at verse, Look at verse 10, be in pain and labor to bring forth. This, this walk of faith is a spiritual labor. It's not easy.

We're battling against the world. Everything in this world is contrary to everything we are and everything that we believe. The values of this world, the direction of this world, the religions of this world, the things that this world loves. Bombarding us constantly with things that are contrary to everything that we know to be true and everything that we genuinely love. And yet we're in this world battling the world.

There are spiritual powers all about us. Satan is as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. We live in a body of death. We're dragging around this dead body of flesh with us, this rotting body of flesh that reminds us every day of our sin nature. It's not easy. I believe that's what our Lord's encouraging us here with.

But just for now, just for now, this exile in Babylon's not long. It's not long at all. We're not here much, compared to eternity. Be in pain and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail, for now, for now thou shalt go forth out of the city and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon, and there thou shalt be delivered.

Now the Lord's telling us the blessing of this Babylonian exile, the blessing of this conflict that we have with sin and with the world and with Satan, and it is that it is through this travail that we are brought to see our need for him and cause us to, David said, before I was afflicted, I had gone astray. But now, but now I've kept thy word. Actually, David didn't say that. The writer of Psalm 119 said that. Let's turn there just a moment. Psalm 119, verse 67. Psalm 119, verse 67.

Before I was afflicted, I went astray. That's the, these trials and troubles that the Lord has ordained for us. Now I've kept that word. Now I've come to thee. Look at verse 70. Their heart is as fat as grease, but I delight in thy law. Verse 71, it is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Look at verse 75. I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that in faithfulness hast thou afflicted me.

James said, count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience, and when patience is complete, it maketh thee perfect and entire, lacking, actually, wanting is the word that James uses, wanting nothing. wanting nothing. And what did David say in Psalm 23? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. Oh, when the radiance of his countenance is looked to, and our countenance reflects his countenance, his countenance becomes the health of our countenance, then in the midst of affliction, we find that he is all that we need. All that we need. And we can say with the psalmist, Lord, I know that you've afflicted me in faithfulness.

Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. We're going to get to this maybe in a year or so when we get to Hebrews 10. It might be longer than that. Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse 30. Now, the writer of Hebrews is admonishing believers that were considering giving up.

You know, I thought about an acute illness we've all experienced then. An acute illness passes soon and is difficult oftentimes, but tolerable. Tolerable. A chronic illness, one that never goes away, wears a person down. they risk losing hope in a long-term chronic illness. You've seen it. I've seen it. We've been talking about the brevity of life and how little time that this is going to be experienced. And yet, in our life, It is more like a chronic illness. It's a lifetime experience.

It's not going away. You're going to suffer with this trouble until the end. And these believers were considering, you know, what... It's easy to get excited about something new and it's easy to make sacrifices when something's fresh. But when the trial goes on and on and on for a long period of time, it becomes more difficult.

It's kind of like Job. In the beginning, Job, the Bible says, did not accuse God of wrongdoing. He told his wife, shall we receive good from the Lord and not evil? And in all these things, he's sending out in his heart towards God. And then you read on in Job and the chronic illness. and the loss of life and the troubles and trials as they are piled one on top of the other. Job doesn't talk the same way throughout most of that book as it says of him in the beginning.

Now that's exactly what's happening here when we read these verses. And we run the risk of that happening for us. Stick-to-itiveness, staying with it all the way to the end. That's the real measure, isn't it? The only true evidence of assurance of salvation is being faithful to the end. To the end, all the way to the end. I've seen, you've seen it, I've watched it as a pastor of this church over the last 30 years. People come and people go. Because the The troubles are more than they bargained for, long-term. Now, in light of all of that, look what the writer of Hebrews says. Look what the Lord says to me and you about those things. Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse 32.

Call to remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of affliction. These Jews, when they first confessed Christ, they lost their jobs, they lost their families, they lost their possessions, they were forced out of Israel. Partly whilst you were made gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst you became companions of them that were so used, for you had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourself that you have in heaven a better and enduring substance." You knew these things at the beginning. You willingly let those things go in exchange for the better and more enduring substance that you had in the kingdom of heaven.

Cast not away, therefore, your confidence. You see, now things have gone on longer than they anticipated. We thought the Lord was coming back sooner than this. We didn't know we were gonna have to suffer this this many years. We didn't know it was gonna go on and on and on. We thought we were gonna be taken up to be with him in heaven soon.

Cast not away, therefore, your confidence. which hath great recompense of reward. For you have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. Now the just shall live by faith. And if any man draw back, you see, that's what they were considering. This thing's gone on too long. Thought it'd get easier over time. It's not getting any easier. I thought I'd get better. I'm not getting any better. If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Now, glance down with me to chapter 11, verse 13. Chapter 11, of course, is the Lord recounting those saints of God in the Old Testament, many of whom were martyrs for their faith. And verse 13 says, these all died in faith, not having received the promises but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country that is a heavenly. Wherefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city, a city. But now The bride and her bridegroom will be united in glory. He has made that sure. Not one of his sheep will be lost. But now you're going to surveil like a woman having a child.

You're going to live in the land of Babylon. And you're going to be conflicted in that land because you know in your heart that everything in that land is contrary to everything that you love and believe. And yet another part of you is going to be drawn to the attractions of that land. And this will be part of the travail.

You are prisoners of hope. And in all of your wanderings and all of your afflictions, I'm going to remind you again and again and again of the city that I have prepared for you. And that will be your hope, Christ in you, your hope of glory. Our Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Lord, we confess how needful we are to hear these things and how mindful we ought to be of those heavenly things, those eternal things, those things where our Savior is seated and waiting for our return as we wait for his. Lord, we pray that his countenance would shine upon us and that our countenance would reflect the health of his. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. 290, let's stand together, 290.