If you do not have a copy of God's Word, you have the sermon notes, you have the text in front of you that we're going to look at and several other If you'd like to sing Christmas carols, we, you know, traditionally here at Christ Community Presbyterian Church on the first Sunday of Advent, the first Sunday that we start talking about these things, we start out with a few Christmas carols and then each Sunday we add a little bit more and a little bit more. And of course, if you like singing Christmas carols, we do that on the Sunday evening service too. So we start out a little bit more each week. That's an invitation for that. And of course, on the 11th, which is a Thursday evening, on the second Thursday, not this next Thursday, the week from this coming Thursday, we have our Christmas Carol Sing at 6 o'clock here. And Vicki's fired up. She's fired up because we enjoy singing, and she enjoys playing to people who love to sing. So come out on that evening, and we always cap it off with some ice cream. All right, this morning we are talking, we begin an advanced series of messages that will take us through our Christmas Eve service, which by the way, in case you didn't know, it's December 24th. Christmas Eve service is appropriate, isn't it? And it's at six o'clock, okay, so keep, mark that on your calendar. We really don't follow an Advent calendar here, we just find that it's really counting the time to the coming of our Lord, and of course, that's the incarnation. And just stop and think about the incarnation. The God that spoke the world into existence. Let's talk about Him being the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We can't separate those. And then you think about the only way to save his bride was for Christ to step into his own creation. Step into his creation and then to suffer and die on behalf of his bride to save the bride, the sins that would take that bride to eternal punishment. So the very fact that the Lord Jesus Christ stepped into our world beyond our imagination. We can't even comprehend it. Can't even comprehend what a magnificent event that is. And to come into this world as a baby, to live, suffer all the things that people suffer in this life, so that he can be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. You stop and think about it, that he stepped in. So the incarnation is what we really talk about in his suffering, of course, as part of that, as he humiliated himself and taking on the form of a servant, even becoming like us. On that line, there's an old bluegrass gospel song, okay? And the bluegrass gospel song is called Beautiful Star of Bethlehem. I'm not going to sing it. We don't really sing that style of music here, so don't fear. I'm not going to sing it, but I'm going to give you some of the words. By the way, last year or the year before, we published this article of mine called The Star of Bethlehem, and there are some other copies. If you go out the door and hang a letter, and we always kind of plan out. Let's see what happens when we plan out the same thing. We always plan out an advanced series, a series pointing to the Lord Christ. And it's always interesting as we both plan this out, and then we meet before. We didn't get to meet this past Thursday. I think it was Thanksgiving or something like that. So it'd be interesting to kind of reflect on how we're going the same place, but we go in different directions. Anyway, what we're looking at today is Jesus is the star of prophecy. He's such a star, such a grand star. that prophecy points to Him. And one particular prophecy that actually points to Him as a star is a prophecy from a guy named Balaam, who's a wicked prophet. I'll explain that as we go. But it really tells me that God can use anybody to bring glory to His name, right? Psalm 76 and verse 10, that He causes the wrath of man to praise Him, the rest He restrains like a belt. So that's always to keep in mind. So here we are, we're going to look at this prophet Balaam, and of course, you think about how can God use that? Well, as the old saying goes, if God can speak through a donkey, he can speak through a man who is a wicked prophet, right? And by the way, we'll cover that as well because that's part of Balaam's history that he had a donkey speak to him and kind of catch him off guard. All right, so with that said, we're looking at Numbers 24, verses 15 through 18, particularly verse 17 and a little bit of verse 18, but we're going to read it all. So let me pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. Thank you for the very fact that an unlikely subject would give such glory to the Son of God, calling him the star of Israel. O God, we pray that You would work in us today by the same Holy Spirit that gave Him that Word, that the same Holy Spirit would open our eyes, our ears, our hearts, our very being to receive the Word of God, not just receive it and take it in, but use it to glorify You. We need Your help, and so we call upon You in Jesus' name. Amen. I always like to ask three questions, and on your sermon outline, of course, there's three blank spaces for you to write the answers to these questions. And the first one goes like this. What goes on top of a Christmas tree? Now, I know some of you don't have Christmas trees, and it's an offense to even say that, but if that's the case, just look at it as a hypothetical question. I'm not saying you do or don't, but a hypothetical question. Is it an angel or is it a star? Just write it down, okay? There's a purpose for that, okay? I ask these questions so that we kind of get into the right frame of mind to receive what the Word of God has to say. Second is, from what tribe of Israel was Jesus born? Now, we realize he took on flesh and he was born of a virgin, the Virgin Mary. And we realize, of course, that the body was prepared for him, that his lineage did not come directly from any man, but we also understand that he was born so that we would know where he came from as far as the lineage. And so it's described, and so what tribe of Israel was Jesus born from? What tribe of Israel? And the third question is, where would you find the wonderful words from Handel's Messiah, which quotes Scripture, of course, King of kings and Lord of lords? Where would you find that in the Bible? By the way, the Hallelujah Chorus is made up of, I think there's three different quotations of Scripture that was used in the Hallelujah Chorus. If you look for the Hallelujah Chorus somewhere in the Bible, you won't find them all together. There's three different quotations. All right, we're going to get to that. All right. Before we read the text this morning, we need a little background. Children of Israel had come out of Egypt, and they were heading to the Promised Land, and they made a mistake with the fact that they didn't go into the Promised Land when God told them to go into the Promised Land, and so they were going to wander in the wilderness. As they were wandering in the wilderness, they went by a place of the Amorites, Og, king of Bashan, I think it was, and he attacked them. God said, go for it, okay? And they attacked back and they beat him up, okay? And then so they were camping in the, just outside of Moab, and the king of Moab was really upset because Israel was such a big group of people and they had destroyed their neighbors. So now what are we going to do? So the king of Moab hires this guy named Balaam to come up and just curse these people. Because it was known that if Balaam was cursing someone, they would be cursed. Okay, so he sent this entourage of people, very important people, with lots of money and everything else, and told Balaam he wanted him to come and curse these people, the Israelites. Balaam says, I can't do anything. I need to consult with God. It's a good thing to do. So he consulted with God, says, don't go. He said, these people are blessed. You can't curse them. And he told them, told the entourage, go back home. I can't do it. So they went. So the king of Babylon said, or I mean, the king of Moab said, I'll tell you what. I'll just get some more important people, some really big shots, and a lot more money. A lot more gifts. Went up and said it again to Balaam, come and curse these people, that I can't do it unless God gives me permission. But he consulted with God. Keep in mind that God had already told him not to, right? But he consulted again and said God was angry with him for asking him the second time because God had already told him. He was trying to tempt God is what he was doing, and so God said, go. Did that out of anger to him. Because now something else is going to happen. So as he goes, he's walking down the way while he's riding his donkey along the way. And all of a sudden, the angel of the Lord appears before the donkey. And the donkey takes off and appears to the right and goes into the vineyard. And Adam gets off the donkey and smacks the donkey. I've never heard of things like that. But when I was in Arkansas, I was riding horses with these guys in the church that they're rodeo guys. And the guy's horse, he wanted him to go up this real steep mound, and the horse wouldn't do it. So he gets off the horse, and boom, hits him. Whoa. And then he got back on the horse, and the horse went right up. OK. So Bayum is a little upset that the donkey just veers off, right? Smack the donkey and gets back on, back on the trail. going through this little crevice here between rocks. And there all of a sudden, the angel of the Lord stands before the donkey. Balaam doesn't see the angel of the Lord, but the donkey does. And so the donkey just goes to the side. When he does, he rams Balaam's foot into the rocks. So he gets off again and smacks the donkey, right? Goes a little bit farther. As they're going a little bit farther, the angel of the Lord shows him again. front of him. Donkey sees it, Balaam doesn't. This time they're in such a small area that the donkey just lays down. Balaam comes out with his staff and starts beating on the donkey. So the god opened the mouth of the donkey. Donkey said, what are you doing? And Balaam answers the donkey, you made a fool of me. And the donkey says, I've been your donkey all of your life. Have I ever acted this way before? No. About that time, God opened the eyes of Balaam. He knew that the angel of the Lord was standing. Now, Balaam went. Now he has the lesson. If God wanted to, he could take care of him. Now he understands, angel of the Lord watching over him. Balaam goes to Balak, the king. Balak, the king, takes him to the places where Israel is, and he says, curse them. So Balaam opens up his mouth to curse and out pours blessing. Oh, maybe that was a bad place. Let's go to another place. Opens up his mouth when he should be cursing according to the Balak, and Balaam pronounces a blessing. What's this fourth blessing that we are talking about today, the fourth blessing in Numbers chapter 24, that when Balaam opened his mouth, cursed God's people, here's what he said. He took up his discourse and said, the oracle of Balaam, the son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eyes are opened. The oracles of him who hears the words of God, who knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty falling down with his eyes uncovered. I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel. It shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down the sons of Sheth. Edom shall be dispossessed. Seir, also his enemies, shall be dispossessed. Israel is doing valiantly." So I'm going to point out the star of Jacob, the scepter of Israel, and Israel doing valiantly. But first of all, let's talk about the star of Jacob and a star shall come out of Jacob. And the first thing I want to consider is the star, how he is a star of creation. Before I do that, I'll point out a scripture found in the book of John, chapter 17, verse 5, when Jesus, in his high priestly prayer, praised that the Father would restore unto him that the glory that he had with the Father he would have with him again. glory that He had with the Father. We can't imagine whatever the glory that the Lord Jesus Christ had with the Father, other than if you read the book of Revelation, chapter 5, and you see that the Lamb of God is receiving all kinds of glory and honor for being the Lamb of God. That kind of tells us a little bit about the glory that he had with the Father before the foundation of the world. Or in the book of Philippians 2, it says that, let this mind be also in you, which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Or in the ESV, it says, who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. The point is we must understand that the Lord Jesus Christ enjoyed the same glory that the Father has. He was with the Father. He was there one with the Father in glory. He received angels bowing before him, okay? He received all the seraphim and cheraphim crying out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, and there he is, and rightly so. So that's why when Philippians chapter 2 says, he being in the form of God and thought it robbery to be with God, took upon him the form of a servant who was made in the likeness of man, we'd say, whoa, here's the one who had honor and glory and power and majesty steps into this world to become one of us. He came with a purpose. So first of all, we must point out that when we talk about creation, We have to just go back again what Jesus said one time when the Pharisees were questioning him and he said, your father Abraham rejoiced when he would see my day and he was glad. Now the Jews said to him, you're not even 50 years of age. You've seen Abraham? Jesus said to them these words. Truly, truly, I say unto you, for Abraham was. I am. Same phrase. Exodus chapter three. God says, my name, I am. Now, what's that mean to us when we consider creation? Paul gives us insight in the book of Colossians chapter one, verse 17, when he says, or 16, he says, all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things. And in him, all things hold together. In January, we'll begin a study in Genesis on our Thursday night Bible study. And Genesis really begins, right? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now, God was already at the beginning. He was before the beginning, right? When he marked down the beginning, he created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning, Jesus Christ is right there. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is right there. It says, all things were created through him and for him, okay? All things created through him and for him. In Hebrews chapter 1, it says, and God has spoken in these last days to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the world. He's the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the whole universe by the word of his power. But when we talk about creation, the star of the creation is the Lord Jesus Christ. When you look at the creation, as it says in Psalm 19, you behold the glory of God, right? The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork. But there's something above that that we see, and that's this beautiful star. The star of creation is the one who spoke it into existence. The star of creation is our Lord Jesus Christ. It says it was created for him, it was created by him, and he's the one who upholds it by the word of his power. What a beautiful star. Star. He's the star of the Old Testament. Star of the Old Testament, I didn't put on your outline, but Genesis 3.15 is a very important scripture because it says that when God brought the curse upon, the serpent said that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. He crushed the head of the serpent, although the serpent would nip at his heel. Well, that's what happened when the Lord Jesus Christ died, right? The serpent nipped at his heel, brought death to him. But in that death, he destroyed him that had power over death. That is the devil, right? He had won victory over sin and Satan and death itself. But here's something else. When we look at the Old Testament, 1 Corinthians 10, it says in verses 3 and 4 that some ate spiritual food, and the spiritual food, they all drank the same spiritual drink. But it says, for they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Notice this is spiritual food, spiritual drink. The people in the Old Testament, as we read of them, they were gleaning things, the spiritual food that God was giving to them, and the types and shadows of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the ceremonial things that all pointed to Christ. Everything was about the Lord Jesus Christ. The prophecies that they received was all about the Lord Jesus Christ. And as they ate of those things and they drank of the blessings of God, it was all pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the food and He is the sustenance. Several times in the Old Testament we have him showing up as the angel of the Lord. I know that some people argue about these Christophanies, you know, that, is it really the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, when you realize there's some bowing down to an angel, you don't bow down to an angel unless it's God himself, right? So here we are in Genesis 22, Abraham reached out his hand to take the knife to slaughter his son in accordance what God had said, and he was offering Jacob, or excuse me, Isaac on the altar, and as he had raised his hand with the knife to take his life, the angel of the Lord stopped him and he says, do not lay your hand on the boy, do not do him anything harm, for now I know that you fear God and seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. From me, okay? That's the angel of the Lord saying, from me. This is God speaking, right? God the son. Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it a burnt offering. Yeah, and this is, remember in John chapter eight, Jesus says, Abraham saw my day and was glad. So he saw the substitution of a sacrifice for him in the way that Isaac was spared and the fact that the ram was there. And we find that God has given him insight in the Old Testament to how God would provide himself a sacrifice. I love the passage in the book of Genesis, chapter 32, when Jacob is left alone and a man wrestled with him until the morning. Who's this man? When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket. Jacob's hip socket was pulled out a joint and wrestled with him. Every time I think of that, I just can't. Talking about pain, no wonder. But let me point out some things here. He said, Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. He said, what is your name? Jacob. And he said, your name is no longer to be called Jacob, but Israel. Now watch, for you have striven with God and with men. One strife he would do, wrestling both God and man, man, Christ, Jesus. Now what is this? What did we get here? Jacob asked him, said, tell me your name. He said, why is he asking my name? And he blessed him. And Jacob called the name of the place, Peniel. He says, for I've seen God face to face yet in my life. I always point out that one of the things about Jacob, he was a conniving person, right? He was a tricker. And so he was going to meet his brother Esau. And he'd done a lot of things to Esau before. And Esau was going to kill him. Okay? So he was looking forward to that, and that's why he was there seeking God, and that's why the angel of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, Christophany, steps into the picture and he wrestles with him. And then God blesses him, right? Blesses him also with a hip socket, and so he's going to do some serious limping. All right, and those of you that have had hip surgery or whatever, you understand when that hip hurts, it hurts, right? Hard to go. Okay, so here's Jacob. He's going to be walking up to Esau a couple days from now, walking up to Esau, and there's no trickery involved. He's going to walk in with a limp. First of all, walking with a limp, he's not going to trick Esau now. Secondly, also he got a little compassion from Esau. Here his brother is in great pain as he's walking up to meet him. So instead of stabbing him in the back, Esau falls on his neck and hugs him and kisses him. Okay? So God prepared the way for that. What I'm getting at is in Hebrews 10, it says, the law was a shadow of the things to come. It pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. It pointed to the fact that the sacrifices there were a reminder of sins every year. It was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin, but God would provide a one and only sacrifice to fully take away sin. Is that good or what? So the star of the Old Testament, the star is the Lord Jesus Christ, the star of Israel. Hey, star of the New Testament then. We talk about the Lord Jesus Christ being in a form of God thought it not robbery to be with God, but took upon him the form of a servant was made in the likeness of men being found in fashion as a man humbled himself, became obedient unto death. No, that's not, that's not low enough. even death on the cross. People die. And in the days of Rome, many people died on crosses. But nobody died for others' cross. They became cursed. as Jesus did. So God, it says, has highly exalted him, giving him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow of things in heaven and things under the earth. Every tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord for his Yahweh. is sovereign of heaven and earth, glory of God the Father. So when John had a little trouble, we read earlier about John the Baptist and his ministry. John had a little struggle. He'd heard all the things that Jesus did. I mean, even so, when he baptized Jesus and you saw the Holy Spirit descend upon him like a dove, right? had the voice from heaven say, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Wow, to be among that. And before that, he saw Jesus and said, I'm not even worthy to unlatch his shoelaces, okay? He's the one. Right? But then John's in prison, he's a little discouraged. You ever get a little discouraged about things? Obviously we do, especially when things aren't turning out. Can you imagine being in prison? All right? Prison. And so he sends his disciples, go ask Jesus, are you the one or should we look for another? I mean, come on. And so Jesus says, go tell John. And I think it's in Mark that he says, go tell John again. Sounds like it happened more than once. Go tell John again. what you have seen and heard. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. Dead are raised, and the poor have the good news. Gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but save from our sins, save from the penalty, save from the wrath of God. Going back, he says in Romans chapter 10, he says, that word is near you, it's in your heart, it's in your mouth, that word of faith that we proclaim. If you'll just confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, sounds like familiar territory from the book of Philippians, doesn't it? You'll confess that Jesus is your Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. Why put it off? Get the busy, follow your need before the Lord Jesus Christ. We understand people won't do that, though, unless God the Spirit has worked in their hearts. That's why John says, you know, the things, other things that Jesus did, every one of them be written. I suppose the world itself could not contain the books that would need to be written. Sometimes we think, you know, we read the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, John's gospel, and put them all four together. We get a kind of a picture of the things that Jesus said and did. But John says, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, understand. If we recorded everything that Jesus said and did, the whole world couldn't contain the volume of books that would need to be written. I mean, so when you get a little snapshot, understand it's just a smidgen. Okay, it's just a little small piece of this massive thing that the Lord Jesus Christ did. Can you imagine how many people wanted to go and see Jesus? The throngs of people that just wanted to be around him. John chapter 20 says, I want you to know that many things that Jesus did, other signs present for the disciples and are not written in this book, but these are things that are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, by believing you may have life in his name. Star out of Jacob. Secondly, the scepter out of Israel. Scepter means king, right? Specifically, he says, out of Judah, when he points out in Genesis chapter 49 and verse 10, When you read the genealogies of Matthew and also in Luke, you'll notice that the genealogies compare, but there's a little difference, and then most people say one's a genealogy from the Mary's side and the other from Joseph's side. Either way you get to it, you go right back to Judah, okay? And you go back to it, and it says in Matthew chapter 1, in verse 17, all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations. From David to the deportation to Babylon were 14 generations. From the deportation to Babylon to Christ, 14 generations. Notice how God works in symmetry. Isn't that beautiful how to see that? Okay. Specifically, he says he would be born in Bethlehem. He'd be in the tribe of Judah, Specifically in Bethlehem, in Micah 5, it says, Okay. Talk about that, Lord Jesus Christ, you know, in those days, it says that the decree went out from Caesar Augustus, from all the world to be registered. This was registered from Pinerius, was governor of Syria, and all went to be registered to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee to the town of Nazareth, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. We back up, the Lord Jesus Christ, or excuse me, the angel of the Lord spoke to Mary and said, do not be afraid for you have found favor with God and behold, you are conceived in your womb and bear a son, you shall call his name Jesus for he shall be great and be called the Son of the Most High. When Joseph was having a little trouble with this whole thing, the angel of the Lord spoke to him one night and said, do not fear to take Mary to be your spouse's wife, for she shall bear a son and call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. But in the obscurity, this star, the star steps in in obscurity, born in a manger. And the word went to lowly shepherds out in the field. Oh, some came, the wise men from the East came. Most people that came were not of the wise portion. They were the people, the just common people. Point is, he was born specifically in Bethlehem, in obscurity. He was born from the tribe of Judah and specifically in the days of the Roman Empire. I point this out because in Daniel chapter 2 we find that King Nebuchadnezzar saw this massive vision about this big, big, looked like a statue of a person, and the head was gold, the shoulders and the chest were silver, the midsection was brass, and the legs were iron mixed with clay. And he was just confused. He didn't even realize it. And finally, Daniel consults with him and says, you are the head of gold. After you, there will come a kingdom, two kingdoms. And that's the Medo-Persian. And that's the silver. And after that, there'll be this kingdom that's Greece. That's the bronze. And then the legs, iron and clay. It says, in the midst of those days, in the midst of those kings, the God himself will set up a kingdom that'll never be destroyed. Kingdoms should not be left to other people. In other words, right in the time of the Roman Empire. This is why in Galatians chapter four it says, when the fullness of the time would come, God sent forth his son born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. When the fullness at just the right time, I love what theologians write and they talk about the right time as far as every prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, it could have only been fulfilled at the time that Jesus came. That's the only time that all the prophecies would have just fallen in line. God, marvelous. The star is born, the star that he pointed to, the star of the fulfillment of prophecy. It's also just the right time to launch the gospel. We would have tried to figure that if it had a committee, we'd still be trying to figure it out, right? Just the right time, okay? Greece is the one, the conquering country right before Rome. Greece was real big about language and getting one language. The Greek language was just everywhere, and they were really good on books and studies and knowledge, and so that's what they were pointing to. They, along with the Romans, had a lot of, built a lot of Rome roads and travel facilities and ship lanes, et cetera. That's when, of course, Rome came in. That's exactly what they did. And so when the gospel goes out during the time of the Roman government, boom, it went everywhere. No problem. Do you ever see how Paul traveled in the book of Acts? Easy access here, there, and everywhere. No, he didn't have an easy time when he got there. But traveling, although he did go shipwrecked a couple times. But anyway, but just pointing out, this was just right. The fullness of the time had come. God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law. Specifically, a scepter will come out of Israel. Finally, the last point is Israel is doing valiantly. What that is saying is God's people are living courageously with determination. Let me read to you the scripture that put down after that from Isaiah 42. We read earlier a bruised read, shall he not break in a faintly burning wick? He will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice on the earth. The coastlines wait for his law. Isn't it good that the Lord Jesus Christ, here he is the king of glory. Sometimes we're like bent over like a bruised read. Sometimes God's people are just discouraged. We have about as much stamina as a wet noodle. Okay, and we're really down. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't stand over you and say, straighten up and fly right. The Lord Jesus Christ comes to minister and he's humble. Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden. When you're heavy laden, you're bent over. and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. When we're bent over like a bruised reed, he comes to minister to us. Or when we have a faintly burning wick, it's on, it's off, it's there, it's not, what's it gonna do? And he comes and just brings us fire of his Holy Spirit as he gently blows on that wick, produce a greater fire. I want to get you this and it says, he will not faint or grow discouraged. When leaders are discouraged, it makes people discouraged. When leaders want to give up, people want to give up. but he will not grow faint. He doesn't grow faint. He doesn't give up on us. He's got a job to do to bring his kingdom to the end of the world. And he'll never stop doing it. He will never give up. That's the good news. He will never give up on us or be discouraged. So that's why he says in Isaiah 40, that they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Bound up with wings like eagles, they shall walk and not be weary, and they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not be weary. Jesus is the one who told Peter on this rock, the rock of confession, that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Upon that rock, he says, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he told his disciples to go and to make disciples of all nations, before that he said this, all authority, all authority is given to me both in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, make disciples of all nations. His kingdom is spreading because he has the authority. He does not faint or be discouraged. He is the one who promised, the gates of hell will not prevail against my church. You, child of God, that follow me, you just continue on. You tell the story. You be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and Judea, Samaria, and the other most parts of the earth. You, you, disciple others. Make disciples of all nations. John was on the island of Patmos because of the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm sure he was a little discouraged. Although it says he was in the spirit on the Lord's day, he couldn't be in worship, so he's in the spirit. He's praying for that, probably, the church at Ephesus, where he served as pastor. He's probably praying for the people. I wonder what they're doing now. I'm praying God be with them, so the Lord met with him. Jesus pointed out and said, John, I'm the first and the last. I am the living one. I'm the one who died. Behold, I'm alive forevermore. By the way, John, I have the keys. Death. I loved our study that I had on a Thursday night. Book of Revelation, we came to Revelation 19. Scene where heaven opens and here comes this scene of the mighty conqueror riding riding on a white horse. On his thigh was written his name, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Hence, Handel's Messiah. I don't want to and I don't want you to. Hold on. King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That tell you what kind of star he is? Did that tell you? He's the king of kings. His star goes above every other star. His star makes every star of the universe look like nothing. His star is so brightly shining, king of kings and Lord of lords. That's who we serve. By the way, that hallelujah chorus is written of, taken of a variety of things, including, you know, that says that the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever. That's Revelation 11 15. What we have is a word to go to when we'd like to sing the hallelujah chorus all the time about Isaiah 41 verse 10. Fear not for I am with you. Be not dismayed. I'm your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you by my righteous right. Star is born, incarnation. Jesus is that star divine, brighter and brighter he will shine, beautiful star Bethlehem shine on. There's encouragement from the star which shines bright as he reigns. Balaam prophesied it, yes, and that's why when we read that he prophesied this, that God will cause even the wrath of man to praise him, the rest he restrained. He shines as he reigns, he shines as in the incarnation in his perfect life, shines in his death, he shines in his resurrection, he shines in his ascension, and of course, he shines as we anticipate the second coming. Beautiful star. Jesus is that star divine. So come for Jesus. Father, thank you for I'm considering the Lord Jesus Christ, how beautiful it is to meditate on his greatness, how he shines forth over creation, Old Testament, New Testament. How the scepter has come, he is the one who is king of kings. Father, give us grace as we leave from here today to take these meditations for our hearts, as how how worthy the Lamb of God is devoted love, appreciation, and service. I give you thanks in Jesus.