I have noticed in reading through
the Old Testament scriptures that in the Mosaic Age, everything
seems to have revolved around Sabbath days. At the end of creation,
on the seventh day, the Lord God kept the Sabbath. He stopped
working, He rested. Having beheld everything that
He had made and declared that it was very good, In perfection
of creation he rested. When God gave the law on Mount
Sinai, he demanded the children of Israel that they keep the
Sabbath day holy. Every seventh day was to be observed
as a Sabbath of rest unto the Lord. But did you ever notice
how many Sabbath days the children of Israel were required to keep?
They were required to keep a seven-day Sabbath, every seventh day. Then they were required to keep
a seventh week, that is, every fiftieth day they had to keep
a Sabbath. Then they were required to keep
a seven-year Sabbath, laboring six years, then the seventh year
they were required to rest. Then they were required to keep
a fiftieth-year Sabbath, seven weeks of years. Then they would
keep a Sabbath of rest unto the Lord. Now, you are aware that
the number seven throughout the scriptures seems to have a representation
of perfection, completion, and grace. And when he speaks of
this Sabbath day, that day on which God demonstrates the perfection
of his work. He declares to us that his work
is finished, and we are to rest in it. The fiftieth-year Sabbath
is discussed in Leviticus chapter 25. It is called the year of
Jubilee. That year-long Sabbath day was
a year-long season of rest and deliverance, the year of Jubilee. Now, that's going to be my subject,
but as I've read this twenty-fifth chapter of Leviticus and studied
this subject more and more these last few weeks, it's just gotten
bigger and bigger. And I have no hope of expounding
these fifty-five verses or this subject. But I want us to read
a few verses out of this chapter, and then I'm going to show you
seven things that are involved in the year of Jubilee. and show
you how those seven things in this year's jubilee clearly portray
and typify the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ in this
gospel age. Let's begin at verse 1. And the
Lord spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai. Remember, in the previous
passages here in Leviticus, as God gave the various ceremonial
laws with regard to worship. the days of worship, seasons
of worship, feasts of worship. He spoke through Moses as Moses
stood at the door of the tabernacle. But now he tells us that this
law, this is something God gave him while he was on the Mount
Sinai. The Lord spake unto Moses in
Mount Sinai, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and saying
to them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall
the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord. Six years shalt thou
sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard,
and gather the fruit thereof. But in the seventh year shall
be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord. shalt neither sow thy field,
nor prune thy vineyard, and thou shalt number seven sabbaths of
years unto thee." Seven times seven years, and the space of
the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. And thou shalt cause the trumpet
of jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, and
the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout
all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth
year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof. It shall be a jubilee unto you,
and ye shall return every man unto his possessions. and you
shall return every man unto his family. A jubilee shall that
fiftieth year be unto you. You shall not sow, neither reap
that which groweth of itself, nor gather the grapes in it of
thy vine undressed. For it is the jubilee, it shall
be holy unto you. You shall eat the increase thereof
out of the field. In the year of this jubilee you
shall return every man unto his possession, and if thou sell
aught unto thy neighbor, or buyest aught of thy neighbor's hand,
ye shall not oppress one another." Verse 17. He shall not, therefore,
oppress one another, but thou shalt fear thy God, for I am
the Lord your God. Wherefore, ye shall do my statutes,
and keep my judgments, and do them, and ye shall dwell in the
land in safety." Now, this year of Jubilee was a season appointed
by God during which the children of Israel, every fifty years,
were required to adjust all social affairs, setting their brethren
free from bondage, free from debt, and restoring to their
brethren all lost possessions, all lost inheritances, so that
in this fiftieth year, those who had been oppressed by their
own doings, those who had been oppressed by God's providence,
and they were brought into bondage, had lost their inheritance, had
lost their substance, had lost their lands, were in debt, head
over heels, on the fiftieth year, the whole thing was canceled,
and they were set free. This year of Jubilee portrayed
and typified the great work of our Lord Jesus Christ in restoring
chosen sinners to God, restoring us to one another, and bringing
us at last into that great Sabbath day called the glorious liberty
of the sons of God in resurrection glory. Now, to many throughout
the land, the year of Jubilee was the accepted time and the
day of salvation. The year of Jubilee was announced
with the blowing of a trumpet. On the Day of Atonement, the
Lord God required that on the fiftieth year in the Day of Atonement,
seventh month and tenth day of the month, they were to blow
a trumpet sounding out the Jubilee. Now that trumpet, and I may come
back to this another time, but that trumpet was a portrayal,
a demonstration, a type, a picture of the preaching of the gospel.
Hold your hands here and let me show you a few passages. Look
in Isaiah 27. Isaiah 27, verse 13. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the great trumpet shall be blown. and they shall
come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the
outcast in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in
the holy mount at Jerusalem." Look in Psalm 89. Psalm 89, I've
told you many times, this psalm is a psalm portraying God's covenant
blessings and grace in Jesus Christ our Lord, pictured in
David. Here in Psalm 89 verse 15, blessed
is the people that know the joyful sound. Oh, Paul's my soul, adore
and wonder. Rejoice and give thanks. Blessed
are these ears, because God has made these ears to know the joyful
sound of redemption and grace in Christ. Blessed is the people
that know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the
light of thy countenance." Now, as you read the scriptures, there
were four distinct and special sounds of the trumpet in the
camp of Israel. Each one distinctly portrayed
the preaching of the gospel. We read in the book of Judges
about a battle trumpet. In Judges chapter 3, the trumpet
was sounded and the people gathered themselves to battle. And so
the preaching of the gospel is that which gathers God's people
together to assault the very gates of hell. But the apostle
says, if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare
himself to battle? There were memorial trumpets
sounded, this is spoken of in Leviticus 23 and verse 24. These
sounded the announcement of the new moon, the beginning and the
assembling of God's people in solemn assembly to worship him. And in Joel 2, there were trumpets
of alarm, trumpets warning men of impending judgment, and calling
sinners to repentance before God. And then there was this
jubilee trumpet, spoken of here in Leviticus 25. It was different
from all the others. This trumpet sound was never
heard but once in fifty years. Now, Paul, think about that.
That means most people would only hear it one time in their
lives. Once in fifty years. I'm fifty-two
years old. I would have never heard the
trumpet sound before right now as it would have sounded today.
Except when I was two, and I wouldn't have known anything about it
then. Because once in their lives would they hear this trumpet
sound. And yet the sound was so sweet, so distinct, so well
spoken of in Israel, that no poor captive in any corner of
the land, when he heard the blast of that jubilee trumpet, was
at a loss to understand its meaning. As soon as he heard the trumpet
sound, he understood what it meant. He understood the music
and knew it well, and he had never heard it before. When he
heard that blast, here he goes, going back home. I'm no longer
in bondage. I sold myself here, but I'm no
longer in bondage. Goodbye, buddy. I'm going home. I'm going to my position. I'm
going to my inheritance. My debt's been canceled. I'm
set free!" He understood it immediately, and so it is with the preaching
of the gospel. Senators scattered throughout
the land, whenever God, by his grace, causes you to hear the
When he gives you ears to hear, immediately you understand the
sound. Immediately. Oh, that's it. That's it. My sins have been
taken away. I've been set free. I walk at
liberty. I will dance in the streets of
Jerusalem now. I'm free. Oh, what a joyful sound. What a joyful day when the gospel
jubilee trumpet first sounded in my soul. I understood the
acceptable year of the Lord had begun for me." Turn to Isaiah
61. Isaiah 61. Lindsay referred to this in his
study this morning in Luke 4, where our Lord referred to this
passage. In Isaiah 61, the Spirit of the Lord, the Lord God, is
upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me, this is the Son
of God, our Savior speaking, to preach good tidings unto the
meek. He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to them that abound. to proclaim the acceptable year
of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that
mourn." How can the proclamation of the vengeance of God comfort
the mourner? It is not a proclamation of vengeance
yet to come, but a proclamation of vengeance accomplished and
satisfied. We hear the joyful sound. Through
the blood of Christ, God's justice is satisfied. God's vengeance
is now satisfied. His wrath is turned away, and
there's no fury in Him. Look at Isaiah 63.4. For the
day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is
come. Now, let's go back here to Leviticus
chapter 25, and let me show you seven things. These seven things just kind
of jump out at you when you read this chapter. The first thing
I want you to see is that the year of Jubilee began on the
Day of Atonement. Look at verse 9. Then shalt thou
cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of
the seventh month in the Day of Atonement shall you make the
trumpet sound throughout all your land. Now that's where gospel
preaching begins. That's the sum and substance
of all true gospel preaching. The preaching of the gospel is
the declaration of atonement accomplished. It is the declaration
of blood shed, blood accepted, and atonement finished. Were
there no blood atonement to declare, there would be no gospel to declare.
And except when blood atonement is declared, the gospel is not
preached. The Lord God has sent me here
this day to sound this trumpet to you. Jesus Christ, by the
shedding of His blood at Calvary, has made atonement. He has put
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He satisfied the justice
and law of God Almighty on behalf of His people. The Lord Jesus
Christ, God's darling Son, was delivered into the hands of God's
angry justice because of our offenses that were imputed to
Him. And he suffered all the terror
of God's holy wrath as our substitute, and now he was raised again from
the dead because of our justification accomplished by his sacrifice.
See yonder, the risen Christ. Accepted in heaven, seated on
the right hand of the majesty on high, he declares that the
sin, all the sin imputed to him, all the sin made to be his has
been put away, and God has accepted him as our substitute. This trumpet
was blown by a man. Our Lord Jesus is that one who
blows the trumpet. Oh, he uses men like me. wonder, wonder, wonder of grace. But I can't make you hear it. But he says the Spirit of the
Lord is upon me. He's anointed me to proclaim
liberty to the captives. Oh, blessed Son of God incarnate,
speak now by your word, by the power of your spirit, and call
prisoners of hope to be set free. This trumpet proclaimed the year
of Jubilee, and it was blown throughout the land, to every
inhabitant of the land. I don't know who God's elect
are. I don't know who Christ has redeemed.
I know that the way he saves sinners is by the preaching of
the gospel. And so we preach the gospel to every creature,
calling all men everywhere to repent and believe, and declaring
to sinners with absolute confidence on the authority of God's word,
you believe and this liberty is yours. Believe on the Son
of God, and redemption is yours. Believe on the Son of God, and
heavenly glory is yours. Believe on the Son of God, and
eternal life is yours. Now, look at the second thing.
Not only was the year of jubilee begun on the Day of Atonement,
it began with the proclamation of liberty. But that's not all. It was liberty according to the
demands of God's holy law. Look at verse 10. You shall hallow
the fiftieth year, sanctify, honor the fiftieth year, and
proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof. It shall be a jubilee unto you. and you shall return every man
unto his possession, and you shall return every man unto his
family." Now, be sure you don't miss this. Look in verse 1. The liberty proclaimed in the
year of Jubilee, the liberty proclaimed in the gospel, is
the blessed liberty of grace. but it is liberty demanded by
the very law and justice of God. Let it sink in. The Lord spake
unto Moses in Mount Sinai. Remember, I told you before,
you can go back and look at the passages preceding These other
ceremonies, these other rituals that God gave instruction concerning
the worship of our God by the children of Israel, those holy
days and feast days, Moses spoke to Israel by the commandment
of God as he was standing, as it were, at the door of the tabernacle.
But this, he reaches back to Mount Sinai, and Moses writes
and says, this God spoke to me in the Mount Sinai, while he
was there receiving the oracles of the law. The ceremonial law
of God, all the moral law of God, all the precepts of the
law, pointed us in one way or another to Christ. But here,
the liberty proclaimed in grace is liberty demanded by justice,
and that's the only way any prisoner can ever go free. Only way it
can happen. The law of God being totally
satisfied by the blood of our Savior demands the liberty of
every redeemed sinner. Grace reigns. Thank God grace
reigns. But grace reigns through righteousness. Turn to Romans chapter 5. Romans
chapter 5. I used to hear preachers, I don't
listen to such nonsense since God saved me, but I used to hear
preachers once in a while when I was growing They say, don't
deal with me in justice, let God deal with me in grace. God's
going to deal with you in justice. He won't deal with you any other
way. God's grace is not given at the expense of justice, but
because of justice satisfied. Mercy is not bestowed at the
expense of holiness, but because of holiness fulfilled in the
person of our substitute. And the scriptures are explicitly
clear. Listen carefully. Every sinner whose debt has been
paid by the Son of God must go free, because the law and justice
of God demands that he go free. Do you understand that? The law
can't condemn when the law has been satisfied. The law can't
condemn when justice has been satisfied. The law can't condemn
when the debt has been paid, when it has been canceled. But
here in Romans 5, moreover, the law entered that the offense
might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, Even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The Lord God Almighty forgives
sin freely. He justifies sinners freely by
His grace. But it is freely by His grace
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, stood as our representative and substitute,
stood in the room instead of His elect. stood in the room
instead of chosen sinners, stood in the room instead of God's
people, given to him as a coveted charity before the world began.
And he took on himself our sins, and for our sins satisfied divine
justice. And now justice cries as loud
as mercy, liberty, and sets the prisoner free. The liberty the
Lord Jesus gives to sinners. The liberty proclaimed in the
gospel is judicial liberty. Jubilee means I'm free from the
law. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. It means that I am delivered
from the curse. It means that I have been delivered
from the fear of death. It means that I am set free before
God Almighty, because the law has no demand from me. Jesus Christ met the demands
of all men. It is also spiritual liberty. We come and proclaim liberally
obtained by a substitute. And when he causes you to hear
the word of his grace, when the Son of God by his Spirit through
the gospel speaks peace to your heart, when he causes you to
hear this silver trumpet blast, sweet and melodious, he sets
you free from bondage and death. sets you free from guilt and
oppression, sets you free from debt before God. Oh, how can I possibly speak
in such a way as to make you hear this glorious good news? That which oppresses guilty sinners,
that which keeps men beat down. That which will not cease to give unrest
in your soul is your conscious awareness that you're guilty
and in debt head over heels. You're guilty and in debt and
you keep trying to figure out some way to cancel the debt.
Satisfy the debt, and I'll join the church. I'll start going
to church. I'll read my Bible. I'll start
praying. I'll start doing good works.
I'll start giving to this cause and that cause. I will, I will,
I will. And you go to bed and you're
still guilty and in debt. And your conscience screams,
oh God, make it a scream in your soul. Not enough, not enough. until the trumpet blast is heard
in your soul. And you hear, Redemption accomplished
by Christ Jesus the Lord! Now, I'm set free! That's enough! Liberty is mine. And the liberty
proclaimed and represented in this Jubilee trumpet, proclaimed
in the Gospel, is a liberty yet to come. There is a day coming when the
Son of God shall sound the trumpet, and he will cause the dead to
rise. And in resurrection glory we
shall enter into the glorious liberty of the sons of God." Here's the third thing. Look
at verse 35. The year of jubilee began on the Day of Atonement.
It was a proclamation of liberty based upon atonement accomplished.
And the year of Jubilee was a time of forgiveness. Forgiveness such
as no man ever imagined in any land, anywhere, except God proclaimed
it. Look at this, verse 35. If thy
brother be white and poor, Doesn't matter how he got there. Doesn't
matter whether it's because of his own folly. Doesn't matter
whether it's because of his guilt in some act. Doesn't matter whether
it's because of some providential circumstance. If thy brother
be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt
relieve him, yea, though he be a stranger. or a sojourner, that
he may live with the poor wretch who had lost everything, who
had incurred such a tremendous load of debt that first he sold
his house and his farm and his lands, went down to the jewelry
store and pawn shop and hopped all of his jewelry, and still
couldn't satisfy his debts. So he sells himself into bondage.
But when the jubilee trumpet sounded, he was released from
bondage, released from debt, forgiven completely, freely,
and forever. All that he owed was cancelled. Just cancelled. Just cancelled. Everything. His debt did not
bar him from the joy of jubilee, but it was his debt, now listen
to me, it was his debt, it was his debt, it was his deep, deep,
deep poverty, such poverty that he felt it in his very soul,
it was his debt that qualified him as one for whom the trumpet
sounded. What is it that qualifies you
for grace? Guilt. That's all. What qualifies you for liberty?
Bondage. What qualifies you for forgiveness?
Debt. That's all. I'm set to preach
the gospel, to blow the jubilee trumpet to the poor. not the
righteous sinners Jesus came to call. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
darling Son, has cancelled all my debt. I am entirely and forever forgiven. That's liberty, my friend. That's
liberty. Amen. So I lift my eyes to God
Almighty in His strict holiness and justice, in the dazzling
brilliance of His glory, with no terror in my soul. because
everything he requires I have given in the person of his son
by his own sacrifice. Fourthly, the year of Jubilee
was a year of rest. Look at verse three. Six years thou shalt sow thy
field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard. and gather
in the fruit thereof. But in the seventh year shall
be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord. Thou shalt neither sow thy field,
nor prune thy vineyard, but that's not all. That which groweth of
its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither
gather the grapes of thy vine undressed. for it is a year of
rest unto the land." Now, it may be a good idea to practice
giving your land a rest. Brother Bob asked me every year,
are you going to move your garden to another spot? No, it's convenient
up there. Well, then there's a rest. It
may be a good idea to do that. It may be a good idea. But there
are those who are so given over to legality that they presume
that that's what this is talking about. It ain't got nothing to
do with it. It'll be alright to use the same
land, just put more fertilizer on it. If you glow in the dark,
it won't hurt anything either. But that's not what it's talking
about. That's not what it's talking about. This is talking about
something far greater. The gospel of Christ is a proclamation
of rest. It is the call of weary sinners
to rest with the promise of eternal rest. Come unto me, all ye that
labor heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. And in the preaching
of the gospel, I call you Both you who have never known rest
in your soul, and you who are so prone because of this body
of flesh to turn aside from your rest, I call you, and I call
myself, return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath
dealt doubtfully with thee." Let me see if I can give you
a picture. Can you picture these Jews? Sitting out on the front porch
for a year, sipping lemonade and just visiting every day. Man, look at those Jews. Their pagan Gentile neighbors
walk by, but they're a bunch of lazy sluggards. They won't
work. They've been sitting there for
six months, eight months. Look at them, they're still sitting
there, just sipping their lemonade and talking, doing nothing, doing
nothing. And they could go out there and
pick up, they could at least go out and pick the wild grapes
that come up on their own. I understand you can't sow your
fields for some kind of religious stuff that your God requires
you to do, but surely just laziness makes you not go out there and
pick up the wild stuff that grows anyway. But they didn't understand. You see, their pagan, Gentile
neighbors had no idea what they were doing. They had no idea. God's people in this day are
often mocked and derided by will-worshippers and workmongers because they
have no idea what we're doing. Why don't you take on you the
yoke of the law, you lazy sluggard? Why don't you keep the Sabbath
day, you lazy man? Why don't you at least do a little
something that gives them a peace and assurance and acceptance
with God?" They were resting. They were worshiping. They were,
by the keeping of this Sabbath, displaying what faith is. It
is life in utter dependence on God alone. I can't go pick up that wild
grape of my church attendance. I can't go pick up that wild
grape of my emotions. I can't go pick up that wild
grape of my feelings. I depend on Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, alone for acceptance with God and for all the provision
of my soul forever. Now I bid you, my brethren, stand
fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has set you free, and
be not entangled with the yoke of bondage. Look at verse 19
of Leviticus 25. Here's the fifth thing. The year
of Jubilee was a year of great, unparalleled bounty. And the land shall yield her
fruit, and you shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. Let me see. I reckon it would
be all right to say this. With regard to the grace of God
and faith in Christ, for the sinner who feeds upon
Christ the bread of life, who trusts Jesus Christ alone, gluttony and presumption are
both impossibilities. Did you hear me? Go ahead and
eat all you want. Take in all the righteousness
your soul can feed on and feed on still. Drink in all the blood
atonement your soul can drink and drink on still. And know
that right here, right here, you are perfectly safe and secure
forever. Oh, what a gospel we have. In Christ we are made to dwell
in complete safety in a land of infinite bounty. We lie down
in green pastures in fear of no evil. Our treasury is the
unsearchable riches of Christ. All things are yours for ye are
Christ. We have been brought by the grace
of God into the liberty of the gospel, and have been brought
into his Let us therefore be careful for
nothing, but in everything give thanks. All right. Sixth, the
year of jubilee. And this year, every man who
had lost his inheritance, had it returned to him free and clear. Totally free, entirely returned
to him. with no mortgage of any kind,
with no lien of any kind against it. Look at verse 13. In the
year of this jubilee, you shall return every man unto his possessions. All that we lost in our father
Adam is restored and Jesus Christ
our Redeemer. And all that we have lost by
the folly and sin of our own doing is restored without anything
diminished, but superabundantly overflowing in Jesus Christ the
Lord. There was a fellow back in 2
Samuel, by the name of Mendebosheth, who was a son of Saul, who was poor. He'd busted. His legs were broke, lame on
both his feet, hiding in fear and in terror. because he had,
through his father, lost everything. And when Saul was killed, he
was carried in a panic, and a nurse dropped him, and he ran away
and hid down in Lodibar where there was no bread. But David,
unknown to Mephibosheth, long, long before he ever met Mephibosheth,
had made a covenant with Jonathan, Mephibosheth's father. You see, this man Mephibosheth
was a child of Jonathan's and also a child of Saul's. And because
of the covenant David had made with Jonathan, because of his
great love for Jonathan, he sent and fetched Mephibosheth and
set him down at the king's table and fed him all the days of his
life as one of the king's own sons. David understood this restoration. He's saying, he restoreth my soul. Not only has he restored it,
he continually restores my soul. We who were by nature children
of wrath, even as others, are now made to be heirs of God and
joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Look at verse 17 now. Here's another characteristic
of this Jubilee year. In the year of Jubilee, the children
of Israel were required by law to love one another. You shall
not therefore oppress one another, but thou shalt fear thy God,
for I am the Lord thy God." In the Jubilee of the Law, God
required them to love one another, that is, at least to act like
it. In the Gospel Jubilee, saved
sinners are taught and constrained thy grace to love one another."
And they do. And they do. I do not suggest
that believers ought to love one another. That's not the case
at all. Believers do love one another. Not as we ought, but love one
another we do. They do not oppress, but rather
help one another. By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples, if you have love one for another." Turn
to Ephesians 4. Verse 32. Be ye kind one to another. tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved
us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice
for a sweet-smelling Savior. Well, how did God require that
these people love each other? Forgive us our debts as we forgive
our debtors. That's what love's got to do
with. Forgiveness and forbearance and patience and longsuffering
and tenderness one toward another. Now, let me tell you about another
jubilee trumpet. You turn to Revelation 11. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trump, for the trump shall sound, and the dead shall
be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. Revelation
11, verse 15. And the seventh angel sounded,
and there were great voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of
this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he shall reign forever and ever. And the four and twenty
elders which sat before God on their seats fell upon their faces
and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God
Almighty, which art and was and art to come, because thou hast
taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned. And the nations
were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead,
that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward
to thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them
that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldest destroy
them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened
in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his
testament, and there were lightnings and voices and thunderings and
an earthquake in great hail. Now, once that trumpet blows,
and we see in heaven Jesus Christ and the glory of God in him perfectly
and fully, we shall forever learn atonement.