Well, we're coming back to Zechariah
chapter 4 this week. We looked at it last week and
I said it felt like a jar full of good sweets, too many to grasp
hold of at one go. And so I suggested that we might
be returning to it this week, and that's what I want to do.
I've called this message Golden Oil for a Golden Candlestick.
Last week it was the Lord's grand design in building his temple,
his kingdom, his church. But this is Golden Oil for a
Golden Candlestick. This chapter four, of course
the chapter divisions were put in there by, I think it was a
monk some time ago, but nevertheless they turn out to be extremely
useful for guiding us through and dividing it up. This chapter,
Zechariah chapter 4, is the fifth of the visions given to Zechariah
in the same night. It's a message from God dwelling
in eternal light. There they were, these people
who had returned from Babylonian captivity, 70 years of Babylonian
captivity, they'd come back to Jerusalem and the temple, which
had been flattened, it had been laid waste, it had been ruined
by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. There was great rumor that it
was a rebellious people and they needed to be put in their place
and have it all obliterated, and so it was, it was for the
idolatry that God judged them. And they were taken away for
70 years, but then, at God's behest, for as I said last week,
the heart of the king is in the hands of God, At God's behest,
Cyrus, the Medo-Persian emperor, is raised up and it's put in
his heart by God that God should have a temple built in Jerusalem,
that his temple should be restored. And so these people come back,
he says, you of the Jews, you that have been here 70 years,
you can go back to Jerusalem to build this temple. And not
only did he give them authority, He sent them, but he resourced
them. He gave them the resources that
was needed. But they met opposition and difficulty, and the work
faltered, and nothing happened, and they sort of started to settle
and to mingle in to the society that was there in that area,
and they didn't progress with the work. What was the motivation
for them to rebuild this temple? It had been the Temple of Solomon.
Glorious, majestic, beautiful. It was so impressive to visitors. The Queen of Sheba came and was
staggered by what she saw. It was a beautiful temple. The
old men, there were some who had been young lads when they'd
gone away to Babylon and they'd come back and they must have
been in their 90s by now. And it says in the prophecy Haggai
before Zechariah, it says, are any of you left that saw the
temple as it was, the Temple of Solomon? What is this like
now, this ruin? It must be to you as nothing. What a mess, what a terrible
thing. So there's a motivation for building, but what is that
motivation? It is this. If God is to build his kingdom,
if God is to restore his kingdom that was captured, that was usurped
by Satan in the Garden of Eden in the fall of man, Adam and
Eve, if he is to restore his kingdom to the triumph that is
rightly that kingdom's, Messiah must come. God must come as a
man, and he must walk the courts of that building and the streets
of Jerusalem, and he must preach the message of the kingdom. And
not only that, but above all, he must go to the cross and bear
the sins of his people. and bear the punishment under
the justice of God for the sins of his people, that his people
might be made the righteousness of God in him. If that temple
were to lay waste and to continue, the word of God would not be
fulfilled. He must come. They must build it because Messiah
must come. But they were greatly discouraged.
You know, we today, in 2025, Believing the gospel of Christ,
in a sense, are like these people building the kingdom of God.
God does it all, please don't misunderstand me, but we're here
as instruments of God in this world, building the kingdom of
God towards his return and to our going to be with him in eternal
glory. But we get discouraged, don't
we? We get discouraged, it's as if we've set off in a little
boat and we've completely lost sight of land, and where are
we? Where are we heading to? Where have we come from? Where
are we heading to? And these people had discouragements. They
had several discouragements. And God gave them, via Zechariah,
these visions to counter their discouragements. First of all,
they were discouraged by their own inadequacy. They felt inadequate
for the task. How were they going to do it?
It seemed such hard work, and they'd been working for several
years, 15, 16 years, and they seemed to have gotten nowhere.
Does it not often appear like that to us, that we preach the
gospel, and yet things seem to be going backwards? Where are
the churches that they once were, even 40, 50 years ago? So he
gives them a vision. And the first vision is in the
first chapter. And it is this, in summary. I'm
not going to go back there because we haven't got time. But this
is the vision. However weak and frail you appear
to be, however weak and frail we appear to be, however inadequate
we appear to be, God is with us. God is in the midst of his
people. God is with his people. It's
the picture in Revelation. God is with his people in this
world, and God is determined to complete the triumph of his
kingdom. That's the first one. Then, secondly,
Worldly powers were opposing, although Cyrus had been raised
up to give them the authority to go and do this. Worldly powers, the horns of
power, always seemed to be opposing the kingdom of God, the church
of God, the people of God. It's pictured in Revelation 11
that those who are God's witnesses in this world, his preachers,
his people believing him, It seems as though we're lying dead
in the streets for all the effect that we're having on this world.
The power of worldly opposition, the horns of worldly opposition
seems so strong, so God gives a second vision. And in the second
vision, he raises up carpenters to fray the horns, the power
of this world. And that's God's word preached,
God's word preached. to fray, to oppose worldly powers. It says in, I think it's in Jeremiah,
is not his word like a fire and like a hammer that breaks a rock
into pieces? These carpenters, these preachers
of the word of God are coming to fray these world powers. Don't
be despondent because the power of worldly authority, we look
at it today and we see the evil that's all around, the satanic
delusion that's all around, the powers that be, the rich, and
what they're trying to do in this world. We see that. Don't be afraid of it. Don't
be afraid of it. The power of God's word will
fray those forces. Thirdly, thirdly, discouragements. Why were they discouraged from
building? Because of worldly complacency. It's so hard, isn't
it, to keep going? Isn't it so hard to be on your
own? to be the naughty nomades around
because nobody else believes what you believe. Isn't it so
hard, wouldn't it be easy just to be complacent with the world
and to settle for a quiet life? and to just join in with everything.
And so God gives a third vision. And the third vision is this,
that it is God's unstoppable sovereign purpose to save his
elect. You who are thinking that it's
not worth continuing because it's just too hard, you are going
to eternal glory. to that kingdom, to that place,
it does not appear what we shall be. But we know this, that whatever
goes on in this life, it's not worthy to be compared with that
glory of that kingdom. God has an unstoppable purpose
to save all his elect, his elect multitude. This is where our
hopes in this life should rest. Where do your hopes rest? In
what you're going to do, the things you're going to do, the
schemes, the plans? in what God has purposed for his people.
And then fourthly, you say, yeah, well, okay, but my sin, what
about my sin? Have you ever been overwhelmed
with a sense of your sin? As David was overwhelmed with
the sense of his sin when he committed adultery with Bathsheba
and organized the, the murder effectively of her husband, and
then he was overcome when Nathan the prophet pointed out to him
that it's you are the man, it's you, you're the sinner. Oh, Psalm
51, God be merciful to me. Against thee the only have I
sinned. What about my sin? What about
our sin? And then the fourth vision comes,
and it's the vision of Joshua clothed in filthy garments, and
he has a new garment and a new mitre, holiness to the Lord.
It's effectual redemption, saved to the uttermost, accomplished
by the branch, the stone, which is Christ, which is substitutionary
atonement. And then fifthly, There are obstacles
in the way. There are mountains put in the
way of progress. The godless society that we live
in... the evil politics of our day,
the godless politics of our day. They're obstacles to the prospering
of the church, aren't they? Aren't they obstacles that get
in our way and prevent us? We can't even rent a building
in the society that we live in in this country, never mind build
one and have the resources to do that. That's the way it is
here. Surely, great obstacles. And
then he gives this fifth vision, which is chapter four, of the
holy oil of God's Spirit accomplishing the purpose, right up to the
headstone. It's going to be finished. He
shall finish it. Zerubbabel shall finish it. This
temple is going to be built. It's saying Christ is going to
build his church and nothing can prevail against it. If you
are numbered with God's elect, If you are one of that innumerable
multitude chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the
world, you are on the road to the celestial city as it's portrayed
in Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress. We're just passing through this
world. We're not striving to make it better. We do what we
can not to cause offense to anybody, but that isn't our purpose in
this world. The purpose of Christians is not to make this world a better
place. Certainly we shouldn't go out of our way to make it
worse, but it's not our purpose to do that. No, we're looking
for a city who has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
We're already seated there, it says. If you can believe this,
we're already seated there. In Ephesians chapter two and
verse six, Paul tells us that believers are already there. You are, you know, I think I
said when we were looking at Revelation that when John saw
much people in heaven, he saw himself and all of us there because
outside of time we're there now in Christ. We're soon to leave
this sinful, oh shock, Don't talk like that, please don't
talk like that, the world says. But it's true, isn't it? It's
true, in a blink of an eye. We're soon to leave this sinful
flesh, all of us. I don't care how young you are
or how fit you are. It's not long, it really isn't.
I think back, something crossed my mind, something that happened
in the early 2000s, just the other day. And it seems to me
like it was just last year, but it was 20 plus, 22, 23 years
ago. And I think when that same amount
of time has come again, I'll be nearly a hundred years old
if I'm still here. We're soon to leave this sinful
flesh. How can you be sure about God's
kingdom? How can you be sure that you
have a place in that kingdom of God? answer, God confirms
it by his word in these visions. Are you taking notice? Are you
listening? Are you taking notice to what
God is saying? Look at verse 1 of chapter 4.
The angel that talked with me came again and waked me as a
man that is wakened out of his sleep. Wake up is the first point. Wake up! Flesh is so prone to
sleep, especially in spiritual things. You know what sleep is? When you're asleep, you're insensitive
to your surroundings, aren't you? Some people sleep more deeply
than others, but sometimes I can sleep very deeply. We don't see
things, we don't hear things, we're insensitive to what's going
on around us. Even the disciples of Jesus,
when they were with him, and the most profound things were
happening, they fell asleep. In the Garden of Gethsemane,
when Jesus went to pray, they couldn't stay awake. They kept
falling asleep. On the Mount of Transfiguration,
they couldn't stay awake. They regularly slept while the
most profound things were going on around them in spiritual terms. Don't we all do that at times? Of course we do. The spirit might
be very willing, but the flesh is weak. We're weak in prayer. How does our concentration stay
focused on what we're thinking about? in reading God's word,
and in listening to preaching, and things like this. We're so
prone to sleepiness. The angel that talked with him,
the angel that talked with me, it says there, the angel that
talked with me is God, manifest in Christ. We need him to wake
us up. We need him. Naturally, in our
flesh, all people are walking in darkness. We're spiritually
blind. We're spiritually deaf. were
unable to receive God's truth. It says, doesn't it, in 1 Corinthians
2.14, that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they're foolishness to him, neither can he know them.
Why? Because they're spiritually discerned.
We must have that spiritual discernment. It is God, it says in Isaiah
50 verse 4, the Lord God wakeneth mine ear. We need God to wake
us up as this man, this angel who is Christ came and waked
me. We need God to wake us up. And
unless God wakes us and shines his light, we will remain in
darkness. Do you see that? Human intellect,
your power of human intellect, your physical strength, your
mental strength will do nothing for you. It cannot. Even the
most religious and devoted of people For example, Nicodemus,
who came to Jesus by night in John chapter 3, he thought he
knew. He said, we know that you are
a teacher come from God. He came by night because he didn't
want his colleagues to know that he'd gone. So he comes to Jesus
by night, secretly, and has an interview with him. We know that
you are a man come from God, because nobody can do the things
you do unless God is with him. And Jesus said, I'm telling you,
Nicodemus, you know nothing. You know nothing, except you
be born again. Unless you are born of God's
Spirit, unless the Spirit of God comes and opens your blinded
eyes to the truth, you will see nothing. Whatever degrees you've
got in the school of your Jewish religion, you will see nothing,
you will understand nothing, you will know nothing. And the
same is with us. We know nothing ourselves, by
our nature. Do you know that you know nothing? That's a good place to be, to
know that when it comes to the things of God, you know nothing. So where are you going to get
the answer from? Lord, do you know to pray to the Lord? What
do I say? Lord, Lord, Lord, be merciful
to me. Be merciful to me. Enlighten
my sin darkened soul. Show me your truth. Wake me up. Wake me up to see the things
of eternity. So then, What do you see? Verse
two, he said to me, what do you see? He said to Zechariah the
prophet, what do you see? What are you seeing? And I said,
I've looked and behold a candlestick all of gold with a bowl upon
the top of it and his seven lamps thereon and the seven pipes to
the seven lamps which are upon the top thereof. When Zechariah
saw a golden candlestick with its seven branches, one in the
middle and then three each side, he must have thought about The
candlestick in Solomon's, well, in the tabernacle first, but
then in the temple of Solomon, that golden candlestick, its
specifications are given by God. through Moses in Exodus chapter
25. And it was what was a light in
the temple, and it was never allowed to go out. It was continually
maintained by the priests, keeping the oil topped up, trimming the
wicks, because the light, it was a picture. It was nothing
but a picture, but nevertheless, it was a vivid picture. of the
light of God, seven branches, the perfection of God, the seven
lights of God, the seven-fold light of God, the perfect light
of God there in the Holy of Holies, where the presence of God was
with his people, in the midst of his people. It was continually
maintained by the priests, and it had been removed from Jerusalem
by Nebuchadnezzar when they took all the treasures of the temple
away. It's a symbol. of the permanent presence of
God in the midst of his people. And it's as if to say to Zechariah
and the people that he was prophesying to, who were flagging in their
determination to complete this temple, it's as if he was saying,
come on, we must finish this temple so that the light of God
can burn again, so that the candlestick can be there burning again. But
this one, this candlestick, in this vision, it had a bowl on
top of it, which wasn't there in the Exodus one, in the Solomon
Temple one. And it was fed with oil from
two olive trees. Verse three, two olive trees
by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on
the left. And then in verses 11 to 14, we see those again,
the two olive trees feeding the oil into that bowl. This candlestick, this candlestick
in the vision, needed no human priestly maintenance. This is
the light of God, the true light, of which the physical candlestick
is just a picture, and of which physical light in general is
just a picture. God said in Genesis, chapter
1, verse 3, God said, let there be light, and there was light,
and God saw the light, that it was good. It's a picture, his
physical light, of the true light of God. Look at John chapter
one. Just let me remind you of these
verses here. In John chapter one and verses
four to nine. Speaking of Christ, who is the
Word of God, who was with God and was God, and by whom all
things were made, and without him nothing was made, in him,
in him, in Christ, the Word, was life. And the life was the
light of men. And the light shineth in the
darkness. And the darkness comprehended
it not, couldn't understand it. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John, that's John the Baptist. The same came for
a witness, to bear witness of the light that all men through
him might believe. He, John the Baptist, was not
the light, but was sent to bear witness of that light, which
is Christ. That was the true light, which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. This is the true
light of God in this world, the true light of God. Jesus is God,
manifest in the flesh, and he is the light of the world. He
said it several times. John chapter 9, verse 5. John
chapter 12, 46, he said, I am come, a light into the world,
that whosoever believeth on me, are you in darkness spiritually?
Are you in darkness? He says, I am come, a light into
the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide, should
not rest, should not stay, should not live in the darkness of Satan
in this world. Believers have that light, and
believers reflect it. It says that in the Sermon on
the Mount, in Matthew 5, verse 14. Ye, says Jesus, ye. He said, I am the light of the
world, but he says to his people, his disciples, in union with
him, he said, you are the light of the world. A city that is
set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel. but on a candlestick, and it
giveth light to all the house. Let your light, which is that
light of God, let your light so shine before men that they
may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Just as
the moon on a bright moonlit night has no light of its own,
but it is a light to light the earth, that moon reflects the
light of the sun. It's the sun's light reflected
from the moon that we see on a bright moonlit night. God's
people on earth, God's people on earth, his church are pictured
as seven golden candlesticks. It's in Revelation chapter one.
Revelation chapter one and verse 10. Am I right? Yes. Have I got that right? Yes, there we go. Well, we'll
start at verse 12. I turned to see the voice that
spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven
candlesticks, in the midst of them, one like unto the son of
man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the
paps with a golden girdle. And then look down at verse 20.
The mystery of the seven stars, which thou sourced in my right
hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels,
the messengers, the pastors of the seven churches. Seven, symbolical,
perfect number. It represents the whole church
of God. And the seven candlesticks, which
you saw, are the seven churches. They hold. The candlestick is
not the light. The candlestick holds the light. It's not the light. in itself. It holds the given
light of God, the light of divine truth, of eternal life. In this
world, God's church and his people, fallen though they be, they hold
that light of life which is the light of God, the life of God. And it shines. How does it shine?
It shines by gospel preaching. It's not the light of human wisdom.
We were reading in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. It's not of human
wisdom. The wisdom of God is so much
greater than the wisdom of man. It's not human wisdom. Nor is
it the wisdom of the Mosaic law, though there is wisdom in the
Mosaic law. Of course there is. Periodically we get these movements
like moral rearmament that there was years and years ago to try
and make society a more holy and more righteous society. No,
no, that's not where the light lies. The light is in the gospel. It's gospel light. It's the gospel
of God and the light that comes with that. God's kingdom is light. It is righteousness. It is truth. It is justice against Satan's
kingdom of darkness. In John 3 verse 19, this is the
condemnation, that light is coming to the world. And men loved darkness
rather than light because their deeds were evil. The world is
in the grip of satanic forces, the rulers, as it says in Ephesians,
the rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness. But Jesus said, I am the light
of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. God's light
shines in the face of Christ. As he said in 2 Corinthians 4
verse 6, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
let there be light. Genesis 1 verse 3. God who did
that has shined in the hearts of his people to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God, where? In the face of
Jesus Christ. If we would see that light of
God, that light of life, we must look at Christ, for Christ is
all and in all. It's entirely of God, from the
start of it, from the foundation of it, to the finish of it, from
the foundation stone to the headstone. The building of the kingdom of
God is entirely the work of God. How is the work of God certain
to triumph? How is it to triumph? His power. His light, this oil flowing from
the olive trees through this bowl to constantly feed them.
It's the light of God, the life of God, the grace of God shall
complete it as surely as Zerubbabel shall finish this temple. As
it says in verse nine, he shall, yes, in verse nine, he shall
finish it, the hands of him shall finish it. Him, Zerubbabel, as
a picture, of our God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who said it? Who said it? Verse eight. Moreover,
the word of the Lord came unto me. The word of the Lord. The
Lord said it. The Lord has said it. The God
of the universe has said it. He has decreed it. If God has
said it, it can't be stopped. If God before us, little flock, dismayed little flock, seeming
to achieve nothing or so little. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Whatever this world, the horns
of the power of this world, threaten and try to do, they cannot stop
God from completing his kingdom. If God continues to pour holy
oil out of into his church. His spirit's
irresistible power will come with that. And no mountain, no
obstacle, can stop it from happening. Verse seven, who art thou, O
great mountain? There were obstacles trying to
stop Zerubbabel, the prince, trying to stop the king from
completing this. Who art thou, O great mountain?
Those obstacles are just going to be flattened. They'll become
a plane. He shall bring forth the headstone. He's going to
complete it. It's never going to be hindered.
It's going to be measured out. Verse 10. Who has despised the
day of small things? For they shall rejoice and shall
see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven.
That's speaking of Christ. Zerubbabel's a picture of Christ
here, Christ the King. And he's got the plummet, which
is the measuring device of building. And it's all measured out according
to his sovereign purpose and grace. It may seem like a day
of small things that we are inclined to despise. Who has despised
the day of small things? But it's constantly under the
gaze of the seven eyes. Perfect vision of the eyes of
the Lord who controls all things. So then, the two olive trees
in verses 11 to 14. What are these two olive trees?
And what are they? What are these branches from
the two olive trees? Don't you know what these are?
No. And he says, these are the two anointed ones that stand
by the Lord of the whole earth. Now some say, some commentators
say that the two olive trees represent Joshua, the high priest,
and Zerubbabel, the rightful prince. Well, maybe there's some
truth in that, but they were types. They were pictures. And what were they pictures of
and types of? The Lord Jesus Christ, God himself
in Christ. Jesus Christ is the antitype
of which they were the types. He is the priest. We have this
high priest after the order of Melchizedek. He is the king of
his kingdom, God in the midst of his people. And the oil symbolizes
divine life, radiating as light. In him was the light of life.
But let us ask, how is the kingdom built and completed as it's pictured
by this temple being completed and built? Answer? It's on a
sure foundation. It must be on a sure foundation.
Verse 7. In verse 9, the hands of Zerubbabel
have laid the foundation of this house, and his hand shall also
finish it on a sure foundation. Romans 9, 33. I could refer to
other texts. As it is written, behold, says
God, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense,
and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. We read
about it at the start of the service in 1 Corinthians chapter
1. Let's just look at verses 18
to 24. The preaching of the cross, the
preaching of Christ and him crucified, what do people think of it? It's
foolishness to those that are perishing and not saved by it.
But to us, which is being saved, it is the power of God. It's
not according to the wisdom of the wise of this world. That's
being brought to nothing. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer? Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews
require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach
Christ crucified. To the Jews, a stumbling block,
a rock of offense, a stumbling stone. We preach Christ crucified. To the religious folks, a stumbling
stone. to the philosophers of this world with human wisdom,
just foolishness. But to them which are called,
to those who believe, Jews and Greeks, irrespective, every tribe
and tongue and kindred, it is Christ, the power of God, and
the wisdom of God. In Revelation 11, the chapter
where he's given a measuring rod to measure the temple, in
Revelation 11 and verse four, we see two olive trees again. There are two olive trees and
two candlesticks standing before the God of all the earth. And
what are these? They're his witnesses. Two witnesses.
Two witnesses. Preachers and his people personally
testifying to the truth of God in Christ. The witnesses are
in union with him. In Matthew 10 verse 40, Jesus
said, he that receiveth you receiveth me. If you are my people and
you are preaching my gospel and my word, he that listens to you
is listening to me. We're in union with him. We're
in union with him. As Zerubbabel and Joshua were
pictures of Christ, There are also pictures of his witnesses
in this world in union with him. He that receiveth me, receiveth
him that sent me. Luke 10 verse 16. He that heareth
you, heareth me. And he that despiseth you, despiseth
me. And he that despiseth me, despiseth
him that sent me. This is how God is pleased to
build to completion his kingdom, symbolised in Zacharias day by
the completion of this temple, this ruined temple, building
it back so that Christ could come and walk there. This is
how God is pleased to do it, by the Spirit of God. by the
oil of divine truth, by the oil of grace, by the oil giving light
into a darkened world, the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ, shining light into darkened minds,
giving hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I will build my church. He said that in Matthew 16 verse
18. I will build my church and nothing
can stop it. It will progress. It will possess
what it has to possess. The gates of Satan's hell try
to keep out the light of life, but they won't prevail. What
do the builders do? What do the builders do? What
can we do? Answer? Continue preaching gospel grace. You say, well, we're not building
a great big church building and gathering a great number of people.
No, continue preaching gospel grace. Continue to preach redemption
from sin. the preaching of the cross. The
preaching of the cross, which to the philosophers is foolishness,
to the religious folks is a stumbling block, but to those who are being
saved, it is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Preach
it exactly as God has revealed it in his word. Don't twist it
and adjust it to try and make it fit with what you think people
will listen to. Oh, you'll never get anybody
to believe you if you preach that doctrine in there. This
is the Word of God, and this is what we preach. Don't despise
the day of small things, as it says in verse 10. Don't despise
the day of what appears to be small things, because our Zerubbabel,
our Lord Jesus Christ, his hands shall also finish his kingdom. He shall complete his kingdom.
What he started, he shall complete from foundation stone to headstone. What does it call him in scripture?
He is the author and he is the finisher of our faith. He is
the alpha and he is the omega. He is the beginning and he is
the end. This is how God builds his church. And we need not be discouraged
because if we believe him, we're part of him. And what we see
here by God's spirit showing to us this vision and applying
it to the day in which we live and the building of Christ's
church here and now, we can have absolute confidence in God that
that kingdom will be completed, that we will be there in his
presence, in those mansions, in my father's house and many
mansions. We will be there. It will be reality. It's that
which we see by faith now, but then it will be reality. There's
a lot of talk. of bucket lists, and you know
what I think about talk of bucket lists. If this is your life's
single item bucket list, what do I mean? I mean, as that old
song used to say, I want to be in that number when the saints
go marching in. If that's your one item bucket
list, then I'm telling you, Everything you do, or you might do, or you
might want to do, everything that you possess or you might
want to possess, everywhere that you might want to go, it's all
a fleeting, secondary, incidental, passing significance. The objective
of the child of God is the kingdom of God. We look for a city. Here
we have no continuing city, but we look for one to come. It will
be completed with shoutings crying grace, grace unto it.