Luke chapter 8, and I have only
one verse I want us to look at tonight. Lord's willing, next
week or week after, we'll be going to the book of Deuteronomy
and begin that book. But I had this thought today,
and I want us to look at this one verse in Luke chapter 8 and
verse 40. Profitable to me, I hope it will
be to you. Just one passage, one verse,
Luke chapter 8 and verse 40. And it came to pass, the Lord
always does, doesn't it? It always comes to pass. No matter
what the situation may be today, good or bad, it always comes
to pass. If the Lord has said it, it always
comes to pass. And it came to pass that when
Jesus was returned, the people received Him gladly, or the people
gladly received Him. for they were all waiting for
Him." Now that's a very instructive verse, a very comforting verse,
and I hope tonight it will profit us. They all waited for Him. And our text here says that when
He returned, so He had been there before. He had been there the
day before. He had left this place, and we
have it here upon the record in the context and in the parallel
passages in the other Gospels, that the Lord Jesus had been
preaching to these people. And multitudes were there listening
to Him. You find that out in verse 1
and 2 of this book, this chapter. And in verse 4 of this chapter,
they came out of many cities gathered here to hear the Lord
preach and to be healed of their of their diseases. And the Lord
left this large crowd, a multitude of people, He left them. He got
in the boat with His disciples, went across the water. And you
remember He hit this storm. The sea came down and the sea
arose and the waves and the wind blew. He spoke and He stilled
the wind and the waves. He went on across the sea. There
in the country of the Gadarenes, this maniac met him full of devils. He cast the devils out of this
maniac, and they didn't want anything to do with him, asked
him to leave. And then he left the country
of the Gadarenes, came back across the Sea of Galilee, and here
is where this text is taken from. When he returned from what he
was doing, they received him gladly. Now it's a marvel, it's
amazing, and I love to just look at these places where the Lord
Jesus works and fulfills His will and fulfills His purpose.
It's amazing to watch Him, what He does and how He goes about
His business, with nobody able to hinder Him. It's amazing at
the opposition that He faced. The Jews had an old no saying
and no writing that the Messiah will come when all the sins of
the nation have been put away and all opposition has been put
down and everything is just right. They said then the Messiah will
come. Well, that couldn't be any farther
from the truth. This is one of the worst times
in the history of this, at least in the modern history of the
Jewish nation. I mean, sin was rampant, was
it not? Devils had filled the country. He was always casting out multitudes
of devils. The Lord Jesus suffered all kinds
of opposition. But you know something, and this
is the amazing thing, this is the marvelous thing. As we follow
our Master around and watch Him work, He worked in spite of the
opposition. He conquered his opponents. As soon as he started over this
Sea of Galilee, and this storm suddenly came down and hit this
sea, and the Bible says the waves were coming into the ship. He
was asleep. Where all this opposition came
from, I don't know. Who started this storm? I don't
know. Was it just Mother Nature? I
have no idea. But I tell you, the Scripture
says it threatened them. They were in jeopardy. But what
did he do? Would this stop him from his
work? Would it hinder him in his purpose? He just arose and
said, peace be still. Ain't that amazing? And the Bible
said there was a calm. And it not only says there was
a calm, but immediately they were at the shore where they
were going. And he gets there to the country of the Gadarenes,
and here comes this man full of devils and says, What have
we to do with you, Jesus, you Son of God? We don't want anything
to do with you. Just leave us alone. But what
did he do to that man? He told the devils, You come
out of him. You come out of him. You come out of him. And there
was enough that when they went into those hogs, those 2,000
hogs, they caused them to commit suicide. ran down over the hill
and committed suicide. And then he faced opposition
from the people. They said, we want you to depart
out of our coast. And he did. And he did. But not
until he saved the object of his electing love. One of the
worst men in that whole country, no doubt, was this Gadarene mania. Isn't it amazing just to see
the Lord go about his business? and working and not letting anybody
hinder him, stop him in his work. He said, Is there any like me?
Do you know anybody like me? Is there anybody that you can
compare me to? While the disciples had to say,
Well, Lord, there's nobody like you. What manner of man is this? They said that even the wind
and the seas obeyed him. The principalities and powers
were subject to him. And I'm telling you, he can work
in spite of unbelief. He said, where is your faith?
Where is your faith? Well, they didn't have any, did
they? What little bit they had, they couldn't use it, they couldn't
exercise it. Did that stop him from rebuking
the winds and the sea? Did that stop him from fulfilling
his purpose? It didn't, did it? There were
times when the Master allowed unbelief to hinder him. He could
do no mighty miracles because of their unbelief. But when He
set His hand to work, nothing hindered Him. Nothing stopped
Him. And here He returns to this group
of people, and they were all waiting for Him. As things changed,
our Lord Jesus left this multitude. He took His journey across the
Sea of Galilee. And He was gone over there a
night and a day, and then He returns, and they were waiting
on Him. He did His will, He did His work,
and He returned, and they were waiting on Him. Has anything
changed today? We're His church, aren't we?
We're waiting on our Master. We're waiting on our Head, our
God, and our Savior. What's He doing? What's He doing? He's saving a man. What's He
doing in heaven right now? We can't see Him. He's in a foreign
country. He's over across the other side. These people were
waiting on Him, but they couldn't see what He's doing. But we found
out what He was doing. What's He doing right now? You
know what He's doing right now? Whatever He pleases. Ain't that
so? David said, Our Lord is in heaven,
and whatsoever He pleased, that did Him. They are in heaven and
in the earth and all deep places. And He has not changed. And you
and I are here, His people, His church. And what are we doing?
We are waiting on Him. We are waiting on our Master.
And the angel said this same Jesus that was taken up from
among you into heaven, He is coming again. And we are waiting.
The church has been waiting on Him now for almost 2,000 years. Paul said to the Thessalonica
church, he said, You've turned to God from idols to wait for
His Son from heaven who delivered us from the wrath to come. And
He's coming again. We're waiting on Him, and He's
coming again. Let's look now at our text. Look
here at our text. First thing I want to consider
about this is this. Notice in our text, in Luke chapter
8, And notice verse 40. Notice now. I love this. Now
this may get on to some of us tonight. If we're not just exactly
like these folks, we may be smitten just a little bit in our conscience.
Because listen to this point here. It says here, they were
all waiting for Him. They were all waiting for Him. Wasn't that a beautiful sight?
They were all lined up down that sea coast, right here on the
sea coast of Galilee. And no telling how many rows
deep they were, but the Scripture says they were all waiting. Now, it didn't mean everybody
in the whole country was waiting on Him. But everybody that was
waiting was already there before He returned. They were all there
waiting on Him. Boy, how important this must
have been that they were there waiting on Him and not Him there
waiting on them. I bet that was important, don't
you? They were all there before He got there waiting on Him. Now, I'm sure there was other
things to be done, and I'm sure they said there's a time and
a place to do it. But right now, He's going to
return, and we're going to be there waiting on Him. Let me say this to you, bless
your hearts, as your pastor, I can say this to you again.
Because I've watched you through the years. I know you about as
well as some of you know yourself when it comes to worship. I can
look at you, and I can just about tell, when you come in, if you're
going to get anything out of the worship service. And here,
let me tell you this about each one of you. I know you. I know
you. I've watched you. When you worship the best, it's
when you're here before the service ever starts. I know for a fact
I'm going to pick on him. I'm going to pick on him. When
you're here, when you get settled down, when you still your heart,
Your heart is still before the Lord. You want to be here for
the first word that's spoke. The first song that's sung. The
first scripture that's read. You're here waiting on the Lord. You remember Cornelius in Acts
chapter 10. This is one of the most beautiful
passages. And it goes right along with
what we're looking at tonight. Remember when the Lord told Peter
to go down to Cornelius' house and tell them word? whereby they
can be saved. And Cornelius sent some men to
Peter. And the Word got back down to
Cornelius. They're on their way. They're
coming back. Peter is coming to preach words
of life to us. And Cornelius got his family
together, his friends and his relatives. I don't know where
they were meeting at. Maybe he had a big home. He was
a centurion. But he got them all in there,
and the Scripture says they were waiting for Peter. They were waiting for Peter.
And Cornelius goes out in the yard, and he meets Peter, and
he falls down in reverence to him. Peter makes him get up and
says, I'm a man just like you are, and says, let's go in the
house, and I'll sit and talk with you. And maybe Peter thought
this was going to be one-on-one. But when they got in the house,
Peter walked in that door, and the Bible says many were gathered
there to hear him. And here's what Carnelius told
Peter. We are all here to hear. In other words, we've been here
waiting. I bet you that centurion would
rather have Caesar waiting than Peter, don't you? This was important. It was so important that all
of them got there and they were all waiting. Now isn't that wonderful?
Now there's times, I know this, I realize this brothers and sisters,
I'm not getting on you and I don't want you to leave your feeling
back. There's times when all of us, all of us, something happens. You know, we can't make it. Something
happens during the day. But wouldn't you love to be like
this people? They're a light to us, aren't
they? They're an example to us. They
all waited for Him. And I bet you there's a correlation
between that and it said they received Him gladly. They were
anxious, weren't they? They were anxious. Nothing, nothing,
nothing was going to keep them from being there waiting on Him. Now, wouldn't it have been sort
of sad if the master had got there, and he said, let's begin
our service with prayer. And he lifts his holy eyes to
his father, and he begins and says, Father, I thank Thee. And
just about the time he gets that out of his mouth, here comes
an old man and his wife on the ox cart with a bunch of kittles,
and everything's rattling, beating, and banging together. How would
you have felt at that hour? How would that old man and his
wife feel if that had happened? They were all already there. See what I'm saying? They were
all there. That's the way, brothers and
sisters, you and I should be. They were all waiting on the
Lord. Okay? You'll take that, won't
you? I know you will because you love me. Number two, look
at this again in verse 40. This is a beautiful sight for
this reason. They were all waiting for Him. Ain't that wonderful? They weren't
just waiting, but they had a specific cause. They were waiting for
Him. They weren't waiting for James
and John. I imagine they knew them. This was close to their
hometown. But they weren't waiting for Peter. They had a time when
they went up and said, Peter, I'm glad you made it across the
sea. I heard there was a bad storm. I'm glad you're here with
us. And hugged his neck. There was a time for that. But
they weren't waiting for Peter were they? They were waiting
on the Lord. Why were they waiting on Him?
Because Peter and John couldn't help them. James could not heal their soul's
diseases. Only the Lord Jesus Christ could
help them. And brothers and sisters, I know
that you love me and I appreciate you being so willing to listen
to me and be so reverent when I preach to you. But I hope that when I preach,
and if the Lord doesn't show up in my preaching, if it's just
my voice that you hear and He don't speak through me, I hope
you leave disappointed. I hope you go home and say, Lord,
I've left so disappointed. My pastor, I love him to death,
but you weren't there. And Lord, it's not just my pastor,
and it's not just preaching. It's when you show up in his
preaching. It's when you speak to me through
him. I appreciate my song leader. I appreciate my teachers. I appreciate
them reading the Word to me. I love the saints. I love to
spend time with them. But Lord, if you don't show up,
I mean, it's dry, isn't it? They waited for Him. They waited for Him. Well, we've
been in services where He didn't show up, haven't we? I don't know why that is. I really
don't, but that happens. That happens. You know a church
is like a garden. I've often thought of this. A
church. This church. The church of Christ
is like a garden. Sometimes the ground gets so
hard, you can't rototill it. Your tines will just jump up
and down. You can't control your tiller. You know something about
that way. The ground gets so hard. You put seed in an old
dry ground, but it won't germinate. It won't grow. You know what
softens the ground? Water, doesn't it? Let a shower
come down on that old hard ground. And it softens the ground. It
wets that seed and it germinates and the moisture then gets in
the roots and it grows and becomes healthy and produces fruit. What is it that will soften our
old hard hearts? Christ's presence. Isn't His
presence like a shower? There shall be showers of blessings. And what is that shower of blessings?
It's when He comes. When He visits. And you know
something else, a garden won't grow without the rays of the
sun, will it? That's why we can't grow gardens
in the wintertime. It's too cold. But boy, let the
sun come out. Let those rays reach the earth
and let it begin to warm the soil. What happens? Oh, it grows
then, doesn't it? It grows. You know, if it stayed
night all the time, nothing would grow. I don't know what would
grow if it stayed night all the time. We have to have light,
don't we? When the Lord Jesus Christ Oh, the Son, our true
Son, when He arises and shines upon our hearts and gives the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ, and He warms our hearts, doesn't that produce and doesn't
that grow His graces in our souls? This is what we need. We need
Him to visit us with His friends and shine upon us. That's when
we love it, ain't it? Oh, I love you folks. Bless your
hearts. I love you. And I know you love me and you
love one another. We love to worship and sing. But you know
when we come here, we're really waiting on Him. We're waiting
on our Master to show up. Just like these fellows here.
They're waiting. The Scripture says, He giveth
power to the faint. And them that have no might,
He increases strength. They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up like eagles
with wings. They shall run and not grow weary. They shall walk and not faint.
Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen
your heart. Lord, we're waiting. We're waiting. We're waiting for You. Waiting
for You. They were waiting for Him, and
they were all helped when He returned. That brings us to our
third point. This was a pleasant sight to
the Lord, for this was a needy people. This congregation that
He returned to was a needy bunch of people. You know there's congregations
that don't need the Lord. There are congregations that
just don't need them. I ain't just talking about city churches.
I'm not talking about city churches. I'm talking about little country
churches. Well, you think, boy, if the gospel is ever preached
anywhere, it's there in the little country church. But there are
congregations, big congregations and little congregations, they
just don't need the Lord. They don't have any spiritual
need for Him. They're like the Odyssean church.
The Lord says, You're rich. You're increased with goods and
you have need of nothing. You're satisfied. You don't have
any need of me. You don't have any need of my
grace. You don't need my presence. You don't have any diseases in
your soul to be healed. You don't need me. And he doesn't
go there, does he? He doesn't go there. But boy,
he came here to this congregation. And I tell you why. Because they
needed him. They need it. And we have some
examples of that here in verse 41. This was the very congregation,
the very group of people where this man by the name of Jairus,
remember him? Had a daughter, twelve years
old. Verse 41, And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and
he was a ruler of the synagogue, and he fell down before his feet.
And he had a daughter that was twelve years of age, and lay
dying. And the Bible says over in the
context here that she did die. He was in this congregation.
He was waiting on the Lord. Why was he waiting? Oh, I tell
you, he had a desperate need. His little daughter was dying.
And if the Lord don't show up, she's going to die. And we're
going to bury her. I tell you, when we need the
Lord that bad, that we're so desperate, that we can't live
without Him, that's when He'll show up in us. That's when He'll
show up. If we're content to come and
go, we don't care where He's here or not, we've got our little
programs, we've got an educated pastor, we've got just what we
need and we can supply our own need, we really don't care if
He has a part in it or not. Let Him stand on the outside
and say, and you're wretched, miserable and naked, and knock
at the door. and say, hey, I'm not here. I'm not in there. You don't need
me. But boy, I tell you, they needed
me. They needed me. Lord, I've got one little daughter.
What about our poor children, brothers and sisters? What about
our grandbabies? What about our friends? What
about our neighbors? We have needs that only the Lord
Jesus Christ can meet. We've got children that's lost.
Wouldn't you love for the Lord to stand over your child like
He did this man's daughter and say, Maid, arise? Wouldn't you
love for the Lord to come to your kids and your grandbabies
and folks that you bring here and just come to them and say,
Soul, arise and give them life? We need Him, don't we? There
was this lady here. This lady that had the issue
of blood, remember her? She was right here in this congregation. waiting for Him. And you know
why she was waiting. She had an issue of blood and
she was dying. And she was waiting for the Lord.
And I tell you, those who wait on Him and those who need Him,
I'm telling you what, He's going to come. He delights in mercy. He delights to show mercy. And
if you need mercy and you're waiting on Him, I tell you, He'll
show up. Now, He'll do it. He'll show
up. They waited for Him. They waited for Him. They were needy people. A needy
people. And fourthly, I want you to consider
this about this text. Sometimes the Lord makes us wait
on Him to teach us to value His presence. He teaches us to value
His presence. And how does He do that? He withdraws
Himself for a while. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, once
He comes into the heart, He never leaves that heart. I'll give you a comforter and
He'll abide with you forever. But I tell you one thing, He's
got a way of hiding Hisself. That He's gone, isn't He? In
our apprehension, in our estimation, He's not here. He doesn't make
His presence known. And boy, He uses this sometimes
to correct us and to make us appreciate His presence when
we do have it. I can't help but, as I said a
minute ago, to see the correlation between their waiting on Him
and their receiving Him gladly when He did show up. When He
finally showed up, man, they were glad. They were glad. You remember what David said
after he'd committed that awful sin with Bathsheba and committed
murder. Remember what he said about the Lord's presence. One
of his greatest fears was the Lord was going to take his presence
from him. He said, Lord, restore unto me the joy of your salvation.
Take not your Holy Spirit from me. Those two things go hand
in hand. Take your Holy Spirit from me.
Don't manifest yourself to me. Let me feel as though you've
left me, and the joy of my salvation, the confidence that I'm even
saved, will finally be lost." And boy, the Lord does His people
that way sometimes. And one of the reasons He does
it, brothers and sisters, is to make us value His presence. I just wonder, the Lord was here
the day before. The day before this he was here.
I just wonder if they valued his presence as they should have. Reckon they were willing to let
him go when they saw him getting in that ship crossing the other
side. I wonder what they were doing
and what they were saying when they saw him getting in that
boat. Reckon they thought he'll never
be back? Reckon they thought, well, he's blessed us so we can
do without him. I wonder what they were thinking.
I don't know what they were thinking the day before, but after losing
his presence and realizing what they lost, I know how they felt
now. But when they got him back this
time, I mean, I bet you as they saw him coming, don't you think
they shouted? He's returned. He's come back. I just wonder if this woman with
the issue of blood, she was here the day before. You just know
she was. She had saw Him. She had heard of Him. I just
wonder if all that night, and maybe the next day, while she
waited for Him, I wonder if she didn't turn these things over
in her mind. Why didn't I come to Him yesterday? Now here I am waiting. And maybe
I've so offended him that he won't come back. He was here yesterday, but I
didn't care. Where were you yesterday? I wonder
where she was. She's probably at one of those
doctors, those physicians of no value. The Bible says when
He finally saved her, when He finally healed her, she came
and told Him all the truth. I wonder if that ain't part of
the truth she told Him. I was here yesterday, and I didn't
come to you yesterday. I didn't value you yesterday. Well, she learned her lesson,
didn't she? She learned her lesson. Oh, brothers and sisters, has
this happened to you? You've taken His presence for
granted. You grieved Him by your unbelief. Oh, I should have loved
Him more. I should have esteemed Him more.
I should have honored Him. I got so careless. I didn't appreciate Him when
I had Him. And now He's gone. And now what are you doing? You're
standing out on the seacoast waiting for Him. And it's not
easy to wait, is it? Well, I bet you when these people
got back, well, I know when he got back, they resolved never
to let him go again. You read it here in the text.
They thronged him. They pressed on him. They grabbed
him. He said, Who touched me? And Peter said, Everybody's touching
him. Look at them. They're crowding around you.
They're about to crush you. They're never going to let you
go again. I tell you, he teaches us a good lesson sometimes. Esteem
his presence, brothers and sisters. When he manifests himself to
you, don't let him go. Be like those
two on the road to Emmaus. Compel him to spend the night
with you. Compel him to dwell in your heart. Lord, never leave me. Never leave
me. You see him getting in a boat and he's going to take off, you
go with him. You go with him. Or you grab a hold and don't
let him go. Value His presence. That's what I'm saying. As a church, let us value the
presence of Jesus Christ. He's in the midst, isn't He? He's in the midst. He walks in
the midst of His church. We need Him. Let's value His
presence. We can go through the farm. We
can go through the reading and the praying. We can go through
all that. We don't need papers. Somebody
talked about the big uptown churches. They got everything wrote down
on paper what they're going to do. We just know it in the heart. We can go through it. You know
what we need? His presence. Value His presence. Value His presence. Fifthly, let's look at this right
quick. Something else about waiting. Waiting. They waited here at
the place where they knew he would return. Now I don't know
how they knew where he would return. Maybe this was the dock
where most of the boats docked. Maybe it was some sort of a clarion.
I don't know. But they knew. They knew there
had been a storm. They knew that he'd be coming
back. And they knew where he would show up. And that's where
they were waiting. Where he would return. If you
and I are waiting on the Lord, then let's wait where we know
that He'll show up. The Bible says this, wait on
the Lord and keep His way. Wait on Him and keep His way. If we're truly waiting, then
we're walking in His way. We're keeping His way. What is
His way? What does He mean by that? What we're doing right now is
His way. Public worship is His way. Forsake not the assembling
of yourselves together as some are. Some claim to be waiting
on the Lord. Some claim to be seeking Him,
but they won't gather with the saints to worship and pray and
seek the Lord. They're not waiting, are they?
If you're waiting on the Lord, you're waiting in His way. You're
waiting where you know He's going to show up. And this is one of
the places where His gospel is preached, where His gospel is
loved, where His gospel is believed, where His saints are gathered.
That's where He's going to show up. Where two or three are gathered
in My name, there am I in the midst. Show up. Be where you know that He's going
to be. Secondly, His way is this, in
His Word. In His Word. When you get down,
when you get discouraged, and you're seeking Him, where do
you go? His Word, don't you? You go to
His Word. That's why the book of Psalms
especially wore out in my Bible and probably in yours too. Because
David was always seeking the Lord. And that's where we go. We find Him in His Word. Listen to this. I wait for the
Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His Word do I hope. Well, that's where He shows up
so often. While you're sitting under a message, while you're
sitting under a Sunday school teacher, while you're at home
reading the Bible for yourself, He often shows up. Right there
in the Word. That's where you find it. He
makes Himself real to you. And you say, oh, He's come. He's come at last. Here's the
way that we wait on Him. We wait patiently. The way of
the Lord is to wait patiently. Don't be murmuring. Don't get
mean or hateful. Don't throw up your hands and
say, I'm going to quit if He doesn't come today. We wait patiently. That's His way. Listen to David
in Psalms 41. I waited patiently for the Lord. You say, yes, Bruce, but I'm
in a much direr condition than David. Well, I challenge you
to go read Psalm chapter 14 when he made that statement. And the
Lord brought me up out of the horrible pit in the martyr clay. How could he wait patiently in
a pit? That's the Lord's way. And it
pleases Him when we patiently wait in the time of our affliction,
in the time of our long, dark valleys. It's good that a man
should hope and quietly wait for the salvation, the deliverance
of the Lord. And here's another way, a way
of seeking Him. That's His way, a way of seeking
Him. This is what David said, The Lord is good unto them that
wait for Him, unto the soul that seeks him. The Lord is good to
those who wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. This is what he said in Psalm
37. Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for him, fret not yourself because
of him that prospers in his way, because of the man that brings
wicked devices to pass, cease from anger, forsake wrath, fret
not yourself in any wise to do evil, for evildoers shall be
cut off." Now listen to this, "...but those that wait on the
Lord, they shall inherit the earth." For yet a little while,
and the wicked shall not be, you shall diligently consider
his place, and it shall not be found, but the meek shall inherit
the earth, and shall delight themselves in abundance of peace."
So that's the Lord's way. That's His way. Wait on Him in
public worship. Wait on Him in seeking Him. Wait
on Him patiently. Wait on Him in His Word. And
I tell you, He'll show up. He'll show up. And here's our
conclusion. When He was returned, the people
received Him gladly. When He was returned. He'd been
there before. He'd been there before. And you
know what that tells us? Wherever He goes and begins His
saving work of grace, He'll keep coming back. Want Him? He'll keep coming back. He may
leave for a while, as I said, in our apprehension. And I tell
you, you read some of the stories of the old saints, our forefathers,
and some of them went for years waiting on the Lord. I mean years. John Bunyan went for years waiting
on the Lord. And here was his hope. And here's
the hope of a lot of our forefathers that got in these long, dark
valleys. Here was the thought that comforted
them, and let this thought comfort you, and let it comfort me. Because
I'm telling you, brothers and sisters, it's difficult to wait.
Sometimes your heart can get full of doubts and fears, but
here's a good thought to remember. If He has visited you, If He
has visited you in saving grace, and He's begun a work of grace
in your heart, He'll be back. He'll be back. Wait on it. Wait on it. Isaiah chapter 25, and I'll close
with this. Isaiah chapter 25. I think this
includes our presence waiting on Him for Him to come in His
Spirit and visit our hearts. And this chapter also includes
our waiting on Him to come and resurrect us physically, our
bodies. Let's read this chapter. Look
in Isaiah chapter 25. Thou art my God, I will exalt
Thee, I will praise Thy name. For Thou hast done wonderful
things, Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. For Thou
hast made of a city, not a heap, of a defense city a ruin, a palace
of strangers to be no city. It shall never be built. Therefore
shall the strong people glorify Thee. The city of the terrible
nations shall fear thee, for thou hast been a strength to
the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from
the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible
ones is as a storm against the wall. I tell you, he's everything
to us, ain't he? He's everything to us. Thou shalt
bring down the noise of strangers, As the heat in a dry place, even
the heat with the shadow of a cloud, the branch of the terrible ones
shall be brought low. And in this mountain shall the
Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast
of wines on the leaves, of fat things full of marrow, of wines
on the leaves well refined." I don't understand that, but
it sounds good, doesn't it? And He will destroy in this mountain
the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil
that is spread over all nations. He shall swallow up death in
victory. And the Lord will wipe away tears
from off all faces, and the rebuke of His people shall He take away
from off all the earth, for the Lord has spoken it. And it shall
be said in that day, Lo, this is our God, this is our Triune
God, our Savior. We have waited for Him, there
it is, and He will save us. This is our Lord, we have waited
for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. When this mountain shall the
hand of the Lord rest, And mobs shall be trodden down under him,
even as straw is trodden under the dunghill. And he shall spread
forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that spreadeth
forth his hands to swim. And he shall bring down their
pride together with the spoils of their hands. And the fortress
of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low,
and bring to the ground, even to the dust." And our Master's coming. Our
God's coming. And when He does, we'll say,
we've waited. We've been waiting. Been waiting. Lord bless His Word.