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Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word in my sermon text this morning
as we continue to work our way through the book of the prophet Isaiah is in Isaiah chapter
9.
We’ll be focusing especially on Isaiah 9 verses 6 through 7, though I’ll read the first seven
verses of this passage to introduce the fuller context here.
You’ll find that beginning on page 680 in your pew Bibles.
Isaiah 9 verses 6 through 7.
Beginning at verse 1, let us hear God’s holy word.
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.
In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.
But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the nations.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
Those who dwell in the land of deep darkness, on them has light shown.
You have multiplied the nation.
You have increased its joy.
They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide
the spoil.
For the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you
have broken as on the day of Midian.
For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in
blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his
shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end.
On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice
and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever.
Let’s seek the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching of his word.
O Lord and Father in heaven, attune our hearts to the glad tidings of great joy that are
contained in this portion of your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word.
We would pray that by your spirit you would be present as the word is declared, and we
pray that you would cause our hearts to be open and receptive to this word.
We would ask, O Lord, that you would grant unto me, your unworthy servant, the grace
to declare and speak forth your word with clarity, with correctness, with power, and
with the assistance and grace of your Holy Spirit.
We pray that you would be with us now and bless our time in the word.
In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, Amen.
You may be seated.
Title of my sermon this morning is The Coming Prince of Peace, and I’d encourage you to
follow along in your sermon outline.
You’ll notice there’s three key words that I’d encourage you to listen for in today’s
sermon or this morning’s sermon, and those are the words messiah, kingdom, and advent.
Well, my dear listeners, what is the Bible all about?
Well, in answer to the third question of the shorter catechism, which asks, what do the
scriptures principally teach, we are told this, and these should be familiar words because
I mentioned this catechism question and answer in another recent sermon.
The Bible-based answer to that question is the scriptures principally teach, number one,
what man is to believe concerning God, and number two, what duty God requires of man.
In other words, my friends, the holy scriptures were given by Almighty God primarily to teach
what we are to believe about him and also how we are to live our lives for him.
God’s word teaches us both doctrine and ethics.
It reveals theology, and it instructs us in Christian living as disciples, as followers
of Jesus.
Now, all of this is indeed very true, but the scriptures teach us these things not in
the form of a point-by-point systematic theology textbook or in the form of a manual of Christian
doctrine or a manual of Christian ethics, though, of course, we Orthodox Presbyterians
certainly value such books on theology and doctrine and ethics, and well, we should.
But rather, friends, the scriptures teach us these things.
They teach us what we are to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of us.
They teach us these things by telling a story, and that needs to be, we need to understand
the sense in which the Bible is a story.
God’s story, as revealed in the holy scriptures, is certainly not a story in the sense of a
fable or a myth or a piece of theological fiction.
After all, the events that are revealed in God’s authoritative, inerrant word are events
that really happened in real space-time history.
But instead, God’s story, revealed in the Bible, is to be understood as the unfolding
drama of redemption, a story of God’s mighty acts within history, mighty acts of salvation
that climaxed in His sending of a promised Messiah, a Messiah who would come to earth
in order to save His people from their sins.
To put it another way, my friends, in a very real sense, the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation,
the subject matter of the Bible, is ultimately Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament scriptures anticipate and point forward to and prophesy about the coming
of Jesus the Messiah, and the New Testament scriptures record the coming of Christ to
this earth, and the ushering in of the kingdom of God through the virgin birth, the obedient
life, the sacrificial atoning death, and the glorious bodily resurrection of Christ our
Savior.
So from the standpoint of the Bible as God’s story, the Bible is ultimately about the Lord
Jesus Christ and His saving work.
That’s an important thing for us to remember often, especially in our day and age, when
the focus is on us and where many preachers will give you the impression that the Bible
is about you.
No, it’s, surprise, surprise, it’s not about you.
It’s about Jesus.
My friends, the traditional Advent season as celebrated historically in the church provides
us with a wonderful opportunity to get reacquainted with a vitally important aspect of God’s story
as revealed in the scriptures, namely, God’s Old Testament promise to send a messiah or
anointed one in order to redeem and rescue His people.
Of course, in hindsight, from our New Covenant perspective, in hindsight, we know that this
promise was fulfilled by the incarnation and birth of Jesus Christ, which is traditionally
celebrated on Christmas.
But the Old Testament scriptures are filled with types and prophecies which teach us a
great deal about the coming messiah.
The Old Testament is filled with Christology, with the doctrine of Christ, teachings about
the promised coming messiah.
And one of the clearest messianic prophecies in all of the Old Testament is our text for
this Lord’s Day morning, which teaches us about the kind of person that the Christ or
messiah would be and also which teaches us about His kingdom.
Now once again, it’s important to remember the context, the historical context in which
the Holy Spirit or in which the Holy Spirit revealed these truths to the prophet Isaiah.
Chapter nine begins by reminding the reader of the gloom, the national gloom, if you will,
that had been experienced in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali.
Bible scholars believe that Isaiah is here referring to the fact that the tribe of Naphtali
in northern Israel suffered greatly when the Assyrian king Tiglath-Paleser III attacked
it and he attacked it in 734 and 732 BC.
This gloom that is being spoken of is a national gloom.
It is national distress that came upon the northern kingdom.
But this same verse also points to a time when the same region which had experienced
such darkness and gloom would be honored in the future and would see a great light.
Again let me read to you chapter nine, verses one and two, where the Holy Spirit through
Isaiah says, but there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.
In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.
God brought into contempt his sinning covenant-breaking people among the northern tribes, including
the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.
But then it goes on to say, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea,
the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
And then we read these wonderful words in verse two.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, the land of Naphtali and Zebulun, those who
dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
When was this fulfilled?
Well actually, when we compare scripture with scripture, the Bible makes it very clear.
Matthew chapter four, verses 12 through 17 tells us that this prophecy was fulfilled
in our Lord Jesus’ ministry in the area of Galilee.
Let’s turn briefly to Matthew chapter four and let me read Matthew four, verses 12 through
17.
The apostle Matthew writes these words beginning at verse 12.
Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he, that is Jesus, withdrew into Galilee.
And leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea in the territory of Zebulun
and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.
The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee
of the Gentiles, the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light.
And for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death on them, a light has dawned.
And then it says this, from that time Jesus began to preach saying, repent for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand.
The light of the world, Jesus Christ proclaims a message of light, a message of hope.
The kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent.
The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
So friends, it is clear when we compare scripture with scripture that this whole passage here
in Isaiah chapter 9 is a messianic prophecy that was fulfilled by the birth, advent, and
ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But what kind of a person is the Lord Jesus Christ, this promised Messiah, to be?
Well that brings me to my sermon text for today.
Let’s focus on verse 6 as we consider first of all the person of the promised Messiah.
That’s the first point in your sermon outline, the person of the promised Messiah.
It says this, for to us, these are very familiar words but we need to hear them afresh beloved,
for to us a child is born, to us a son is given.
And the government shall be upon his shoulder.
Let me pause there.
He’s going to be a child, he’s going to be human, but he’s also going to be a royal child.
He’s going to rule, he’s going to have a government, a kingdom.
And what is his name?
Remember that in the Bible your name represents your attributes, your character, who you actually
are.
It’s not just a title or a designation.
It says his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
and the Prince of Peace.
What do we learn here about the person of the promised Messiah?
What kind of a person the Christ would be?
Well we learn first of all that he is to be a real flesh and blood human being.
That is very clear from the words, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given.
By the way, this language of a son being given speaks of the Messiah as a gift from God.
The emphasis is on his grace, his gift to us, not our works, our merits, or anything
of the sort.
But we learn that he is a real flesh and blood human being.
My friends, our Lord Jesus was a real flesh and blood human being, truly human.
In his human nature he possessed a real human body and a real human soul.
He was a body soul.
That’s what human beings are.
We have a body, we have a soul, we are body souls.
And so was our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He wasn’t just a God indwelt body, he was the God man.
So he’s a real human being with a real human nature, yet without sin.
That’s what makes him different from us.
But it’s so interesting and important to understand, beloved, that when God sent his
Son into this world to be our Savior and Messiah, he didn’t have the angels drop him down fresh
out of heaven.
Jesus didn’t descend directly from heaven and then miraculously, instantaneously take
upon himself a human nature.
No, instead the scriptures indicate that Jesus spent the usual time in his mother Mary’s
womb and was born into this world in the usual way as a child through the process of labor
and delivery.
Now, of course, his conception was indeed unique and supernatural as he was conceived
by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
But nevertheless, the way he came into this world was through the ordinary process of
spending time in his mother’s womb and being delivered into this world in the ordinary
way.
Friends, the point of this all is that our Savior had to be a real, true, full human
being if he was going to be qualified to save us.
Since it was only as a real flesh and blood man that Jesus could save men and women from
their sins.
Only as a person with a genuine and full humanity could our Lord Jesus Christ fulfill his role
as the second or last Adam.
As the new covenant head and representative who would represent and rescue the fallen
sons and daughters of the first Adam.
Now it might be interesting to you to know that one of the earliest heresies in the early
church right after the age of the apostles was the heresy that denied not the deity
of Christ.
The deity of Christ was openly and fully acknowledged from the very get-go.
We see clear evidence of that in the New Testament scriptures itself.
The apostolic Christians believed that Jesus, the man Jesus, is the divine Lord.
The evidences for his deity are so clear in the New Testament scriptures.
One of the earliest heresies in the church was not a denial of our Lord’s divine nature,
but a denial of his human nature.
This was the heresy, for example, of the Gnostics who because of the influence of Greek philosophy
viewed the human body as inferior and even dirty and evil.
And the idea that the divine Christ would take upon himself a filthy inferior human
body was regarded as disgusting to them.
And so one of the earliest heresies that the church had to fight off was the heresy of
Gnosticism that denied our Lord’s full humanity.
So that’s one of the reasons why I belabor this point.
We need to understand Jesus is not just a man, but he is truly man, fully man.
He has a full human nature.
And that is brought out clearly in this prophecy here in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6.
But in this same verse, the promised Messiah who is revealed to be a real flesh and blood
human being is also revealed to be divine.
He is revealed to be God, God Almighty.
How do we know that?
Well, again, notice what is said of this child to be born, this son to be given.
It says, and his name shall be called.
And remember the name represents who he is, his attributes.
His name shall be called, wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, Prince of
peace.
My friends, clearly these are titles and names that could only be properly ascribed to Almighty
God.
And yet here we find Isaiah the prophet ascribing these divine titles to this human child, this
child who would be born.
What a high Christology, what a high doctrine of Christ Isaiah has.
And remember, this was written, this was revealed and written hundreds of years before Jesus
of Nazareth showed up on the scene of human history.
Well, let’s take a look at these terms.
He is first of all described as wonderful counselor or as some translations like, for
example, the King James and the New King James Version translated, wonderful comma counselor.
There’s a debate about, are these two distinct titles or names for Jesus, the promised Messiah,
or is it wonderful counselor, one name?
Well, I would favor the way it is recorded here or translated here, I should say, in
the English Standard Version and versions like it.
As one commentator puts it and points out, it seems likely that the prophet intended
us to understand that the child has four names, not five.
The first two suggest divine wisdom and power, for the word translated as wonderful has overtones
of deity.
What does that term wonderful mean in wonderful counselor?
Well, as Derek Kidner points out, wonderful regularly means supernatural.
It points to the fact that this child to be born will be of a supernatural nature.
And again, this term has overtones of deity.
And interestingly, as Kidner points out, it is Yahweh himself who is described in chapter
28, verse 29 as wonderful in counsel.
So when we compare scripture with scripture, it’s clear that this wonderful counselor is
none other than Yahweh himself had come to be born.
Another commentator points out with respect to the term counselor that this term points
to the Messiah as a king, a king who determines upon and carries out a program of action.
As wonderful counselor, the coming son of David will carry out a royal program that
will cause all the world to marvel.
And so the title and name, wonderful counselor, clearly points to the Messiah’s deity, his
full divinity.
He is indeed supernatural in his person.
But he is also described in the next title and name as mighty God.
Again, this is a clear affirmation of the coming Messiah’s divinity.
Now how do the liberals and the skeptics of the Bible explain this away?
Well, some attempt to reduce the significance of this title to mean God-like hero.
But the problem with that is that this language here of mighty God doesn’t merely mean God-like
hero because again, when we compare scripture with scripture and when we compare the way
Isaiah uses this term in other places in his own book.
For example, Isaiah chapter 10 verse 21, the term clearly refers in that passage to
the Yahweh, to the Lord.
So again, the promised Messiah is to be fully divine.
He’s not only wonderful counselor, but he is the mighty God.
Again, this term also emphasizes the Messiah’s divine power as a divine warrior.
He is the mighty God.
He is the divine warrior who fights for his people.
And by the way, this is an emphasis in scripture that is tremendously common throughout the
scriptures, especially in the Old Testament, and it’s also tremendously comforting.
Think of it, brothers and sisters in Christ, our God, our God who has redeemed us and saved
us.
He is the divine warrior who fights for us.
God and that manifested itself.
God manifested himself as the divine warrior on such occasions as, for example, the Exodus.
The Lord, Yahweh, was the divine warrior who defeated the mightiest king on earth in the
known world at that time, the great Pharaoh of Egypt, the Pharaoh who was oppressing God’s
people.
The Lord is the divine warrior who conquered the oppressors and persecutors of his people.
And that is the same divine Lord who fights for us today.
And in Christ, God has fought your battles and mine, for Christ has conquered our sin
and risen victorious from the dead.
So he is the wonderful counselor.
He’s the mighty God.
He’s also described as the everlasting Father.
Now, for those of us living as we do in the New Covenant era and aware of the full revelation
that the Scriptures give us of the triunity of our God, this may cause us to scratch our
heads a little bit and say, well, what’s he talking about?
Why is it that the promised Messiah, Jesus, is described as the everlasting Father?
Doesn’t this confuse the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, with God the Father?
Does this not blur the distinction between the persons of the Holy Trinity?
Well, again, we need to understand, we always need to interpret passages of the Bible in
their context.
And here in this particular context, the Holy Spirit through Isaiah is not giving us detailed
information on the doctrine of the Trinity.
Rather, the title, this title, everlasting Father, it’s not meant to confuse Jesus, the
Son of God, with God the Father, nor to deny personal distinctions within the Godhead,
such as the distinction between God the Father and God the Son.
Rather, the way this title is being used here by Isaiah stresses the Messiah’s father-like
compassion and care towards his subjects.
Dr. Kiddner explains it this way.
He says, Father signifies the paternal benevolence of the perfect ruler over a people whom he
loves as his children.
Jesus as everlasting Father is, in the words of another commentator, enduring, compassionate,
provider and protector.
That’s the significance of this title.
It’s not that Jesus is God the Father, or that there’s any kind of blurring of distinctions,
and certainly the prophet Isaiah is not teaching the heresy of modalism, the heresy that does
blur the distinctions between the persons of the Trinity and says that sometimes God
shows up as Father, other times as Son, other times as Spirit.
No, no.
This title is pointing out, this name is pointing out that the promised Messiah is to be one
who is the enduring, compassionate, provider and protector of his people.
But another powerful name that the promised Messiah is given, this one who is fully human
as well as fully divine, is the title, Prince of Peace.
And that should raise the question in your mind as a discerning Bible reader, well, peace
with whom?
In what sense is he the prince, that speaks to royalty obviously, but in what sense is
he the prince of peace?
Peace between whom?
Well, friends, the Bible makes it clear that in our fallenness, not only are we at war
with God, not only are we at enmity with God, but God is at war with fallen humanity.
We need to be reconciled to God and God, the Holy One, needs to be reconciled to us.
And God has taken the initiative in sending the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ,
to provide and accomplish peace between himself and us sinners.
This reminds me of what the apostle Paul writes in Romans chapter 5 verse 1 and following,
where Paul writes, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, that is, declared
righteous in God’s sight through faith in Christ alone, since we have been justified
by faith, we have what?
We have peace with God, but how do we have peace with God?
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, through the one who himself is the Prince of Peace.
You see, friends, by his saving work, the Messiah, our Lord Jesus, makes it possible
for us sinners to be restored to a right relationship with God, a relationship of peace with God.
Jesus brings peace with God and peace with our fellow believers, for if we are in Christ,
we are at least in principle at peace one with another, and that peace, that will be
fully manifested in the new heavens and the new earth, but that’s something that we can
even now experience, at least at a prototypical level here in this present age.
My friends, as the God man, Jesus of Nazareth fulfills this wonderful messianic prophecy
perfectly, and let me ask you, is this the Jesus that you worship?
Is this the Jesus that you believe in, that you trust in?
The reason I raise that question, my friends, is that only this Jesus, this child who was
born, this son who was given, this Jesus who is the wonderful counselor, the mighty God,
the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, only the Jesus revealed in the Bible can save
you from your sins, can make you right with God, and can bring you, by his grace, to heaven.
Is this the Jesus that you trust in?
The liberal Jesus, who most liberal theologians believe that Jesus was perhaps a God-intoxicated
man, a God-endwelt man, but they reject his deity as the God man.
The liberal Jesus cannot save you.
The liberal Jesus will leave you dead in your trespasses and sins.
The Mormon Jesus cannot save you.
The Jesus of Islam, who they believe to be certainly a prophet of God, but certainly
not the son of God.
The Muslim Jesus cannot save you.
The only Jesus who has the power to save sinners is the one who is both true God and true man
in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Are you trusting in this Jesus, the Word made flesh, the living Word made flesh, who came
to dwell in our midst, our Emmanuel, the God-man who lived for us, who died upon the cross
to pay the penalty for sin, and who rose from the dead for our justification?
Is this Jesus your Jesus?
Only this Jesus, only this promised messianic King and Lord has the power to save you.
Believe in him and repent today.
But we learn here not only of the person of the Messiah, we learn very briefly about the
rule of the promised Messiah, and his rule is certainly indicated in verse 6, where it
speaks about him having a government, the government shall be upon his shoulder.
That indicates that he is royalty, that he reigns, but then it is brought out more explicitly
in verse 7, where it says, of the increase of his government and peace, there will be,
excuse me, there will be no end.
On the throne of David, remember Jesus the Messiah, he is great David’s greater son,
with respect to his humanity, he is of the house and lineage of King David.
On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice
and with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore, and then to give us assurance
that this will be accomplished, that this prophecy will come to pass.
We read these words, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end, we’re told.
Dear ones, this reminds us of the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is King of kings and
Lord of lords, as he is revealed in the scriptures to be.
He is Lord over all.
Now he is Lord over all with respect to his divine providence, in his divine providence,
in his providential kingdom, if you will, he does indeed reign over all of creation
and all of nature and all of the nations and peoples of humanity, whether they recognize
him or not, whether they believe upon him or not.
With respect to his providential reign, Jesus our Lord rules over all peoples and all nations.
Indeed as Jesus said in the great commission, all authority in heaven and on earth, in other
words universal authority, has been given to me.
But as messianic king and savior, he rules over all things, why?
For the sake of his elect church and in his kingdom, his kingdom being his reign of grace
and salvation, he rules over his church, visible and invisible, and he graciously reigns in
the hearts and lives of us, his children.
His government increases, his spiritual kingdom, if you will, increases how?
Well not by our efforts or works, but his government increases by the grace of God as
the gospel goes forth and as sinners through sovereign grace are brought to faith in Christ
as their savior and come to submit to him by faith as their Lord and King.
His kingdom, his government also increases as gospel preaching churches which hold to
the scriptures as their sole and supreme rule of faith and practice are established.
I’m reminded of one of our Lord’s kingdom parables.
The kingdom of God is indeed a mysterious thing, but Jesus illustrates the nature of
his kingdom through his kingdom parables and in Matthew 13 verses 31 to 33, let me just
read that to you briefly, Matthew chapter 13 verses 31 to 33, he gives the following
kingdom parables.
He says this, he put another parable before them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like
a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden
plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.
He told them another parable, the kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took
and hid in three measures of flour till it was all leavened.
Now there’s much to be said about those kingdom parables, but in these kingdom parables our
Lord teaches that his spiritual kingdom, his kingdom of grace and salvation grow gradually
and they grow extensively.
They start small like a mustard seed.
And you ever tried to watch a seed grow into a plant or into a tree?
You can’t perceive the growth, but the growth happens gradually over time and extensively
just like the leaven that is worked in extends to the whole lump.
My friends, the kingdom of God is growing, but it grows gradually and extensively, but
usually imperceptibly.
And that should encourage us because sometimes it seems like we’re just, we’re just worshiping
the Lord and we’re sharing his gospel and we’re seeking to be faithful to him as a congregation
and we wonder where’s the kingdom growth?
But the word is powerful and it will accomplish all that the Lord ordains for it to accomplish.
Friends, our faithful covenant God has sovereignly decreed that this will be so.
That’s why he says the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
This is our confidence in the church’s missionary and evangelistic task.
The Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
So let us trust in him.
If God has purposed it, he will accomplish it.
We can be assured that his holy zeal will cause it to be accomplished in his timing
and according to his sovereign decree.
Let me leave you, dear friends, with this question.
Has Christ’s kingdom been established in your heart and life?
Is Jesus Christ your Lord?
And as a church, is Jesus Christ our Lord?
We confess him as our Lord.
May we continue by the grace of God to walk together as his disciples in submission to
his Lordship.
Dear ones, during this traditional Advent season, when we reflect upon the incarnation
and birth of our Lord, let us remember that this Messiah child who is born, this son who
is given is none other than both God and man.
The word made flesh, Emmanuel, God with us.
This Advent season and throughout the coming new year, may we worship him.
May we rejoice in him.
May we serve him with all that is in us and with out of gratitude for his gift of salvation
to us.
And let us, beloved, join in spreading the good tidings of great joy.
For by God’s grace, we have seen a great light with the eyes of faith.
We have seen, brothers and sisters, Jesus, the light of the world.
With the help of God, let us shine his light and spread his cheer both now and in the coming
year.
Amen.
Let’s pray.
Our Lord and Father in heaven, once again, we do praise and thank you, Lord God, that
in Christ we have a perfect, all-sufficient Savior.
And we thank you, Lord Jesus, that you were willing to leave your glory in heaven, your
throne in heaven, to be clothed in our humanity in order to live for us, to die for us, and
to rise for us, and to bring us with you into the glories of your Father’s presence.
We would ask, Lord, that this season we might not only reflect upon these glorious truths,
but that we might bear faithful testimony to them in our hearts and in our church.
We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people’s said, amen.
Friends, as we close our time today, let’s rise and sing as our hymn of response, number
292, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.