Old Testament prophet Nahum. Comes after Micah, Jonah, Micah, and Nahum. We are going to begin chapter two this morning. Chapter two of the prophet Nahum. We're just gonna look at the first four verses this morning, but we will read the entire chapter now before we begin. So, Nahum chapter two, beginning at verse one. He who scatters has come up before your face. Man the fort, watch the road, strengthen your flanks, fortify your power mightily, for the Lord will restore the excellence of Jacob like the excellence of Israel. For the empires have emptied them out and ruined their fine branches. The shields of his mighty name flaming torches in the day of His preparation, and the spears are brandished. The chariots rage in the streets. They jostle one another in the broad roads. They seem like torches. They run like lightning. He remembers His nobles. They stomple in their walk. They make haste to their walls, and the defense is prepared. The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved. It is decreed. She shall be brought up, and her maidservants shall lead her, as with the voice of doves beating their breasts. Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water, now they flee away. Halt! Halt! they cry, but no one turns back. Take spoil of silver, take spoil of gold, there is no end of treasure or wealth of every desirable price. She is empty, desolate, and waste. The heart melts, and the knees shake. Much pain is in every side, and all their faces are drained of color. Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion walked, the lioness and the lion's cub, and no one made them afraid? The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, killed for his lionesses, filled his caves with prey, and his dens with flesh. Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts. I will burn your chariots in smoke, and a sword shall devour your young lions, I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we come to you now and we pray that you might fill us with your Spirit. We pray for the power of your Spirit in the preaching of the Word, that you might take this Word and that you might bring it to the hearts. We pray for your Spirit in the hearts. Lord, I pray that if there be any here this morning not in Christ, that your Spirit would work in their hearts, that your Spirit would shine the light of the Gospel into the hearts, in the dead and the dark hearts now, and that they would run to Christ, they would see Him as the one who could release them from the bondage of slavery that they are in, and that today would be the day of salvation. be glorified. And it's in Christ's name that we ask this. Amen. Well, maybe just a brief reminder for us here. I know we have some new faces and visitors, so to understand the prophet Nahum. Nahum is a prophet who is prophesying against the city of Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital city of the kingdom of Assyria, but they were a city, they are If we go back through the Bible, we find that there was a man named Nimrod. He's described as a fierce hunter against Yahweh. He was a man who wanted to overthrow the Lord. He wanted to fight against Him. First, he built the city of Babel, the Tower of Babel. And the idea was they wanted to ascend into heaven. They wanted to overthrow the Lord. But then we know what happened at the Tower of Babel, and he moved on and he tried again, and he built Nineveh. And so there's a lot of connections here, we need to understand that. So Nineveh is again, is the attempt by this man to overthrow God, the attempt by this one to thwart the plans of God, and to build for himself this structure. river running through the middle of it, beautiful gardens in there, and when we think of it that way, and that's what Nineveh was, it sounds very much like the New Jerusalem that we find in the Book of Revelation. It's this beautiful city, high walls, fortified, and there's a river running through it, there's beautiful gardens, and all that, so the idea here is that Nineveh is the attempt to overthrow God's plans and to set up for themselves what God had intended, but yet without God, and instead having Nimrod being, now Nimrod's long dead, you have to understand that, but the Bible is giving us this picture here, Nimrod being the one who wants to set himself up as the king, his name is to last forever and he's going to have this glorious city. So, but God says it's going to be overthrown, it's going to be destroyed. Now, in this passage, as we come to this passage here, as we read through it, you probably noticed it's this chaotic scene that's happening here. There's chariots are raging, there's flashing fire, flooding water and things are dissolving and melting and things are shaking and trembling and it's very terrifying scene if you picture what's going on here. And this scene depicts the destruction of the city of Nineveh and that happened in the year 612 BC. The Babylonians were starting to become a very strong nation and they were starting to take over ground that Assyria had owned or this area of control, we should say. Nabopolassar was the king at that time, and then as time went on, he joined forces with the Medes, and together they marched against the city of Nineveh. For three months, he besieged the city, but then history tells us that there was a heavy, heavy rainfall, and the river came up. Nineveh was built right on the And it had another river flowing through the center of it, the Koser River, into the Tigris. But it was built right on the edge of the Tigris River. And the Tigris River flooded. It rose and flooded the city. And it washed away a big section of the wall. And it also washed away the temple of Ishtar, the goddess of the Assyrians, Queen of Heaven, as they called her, Ishtar. And history tells us this is what happened. Now you'll see that you probably will recognize that in verse 6, the gates of the rivers are open and the palace is dissolved. That's exactly what history tells us happened. And once the wall was washed away, the Babylonians and Medes, they entered the city, all of their chariots as we find here, and they ransacked it. And according to one historian, the king of Nineveh, who at that time was Sargon II, when he saw that the wall was washing away and it was about to be over, he erected a huge funeral pyre. So it's a big pile of wood in his palace. In the middle of his palace, he made a massive pile of wood and had a chamber, a big open area in the center of it. and he took all his wives and his children and a lot of the court officials, entered into that funeral pile and set it ablaze in the midst of all this while all this chaos was going on around them. So that's the historical context. And that's what Nahum is prophesying about. But as we've seen in the past, the Bible is not just a historical textbook. It's not just It's not just here to tell us what happened to Nineveh. It's not here just to tell us, to prophesy what happened to Nineveh and then we go to history and we see it was fulfilled exactly the same way and we can say, yes, now we know the Bible is true. We can do that for sure, but that's not the sole purpose of the book of Nahum. We saw this a couple weeks ago. in our afternoon study. The Bible is redemptive revelation. That means it's teaching us about how we can be redeemed, how we can belong to the kingdom of Christ. It's not just about the history of the ancient Near East. It's about God's plan for all of history, for God to build himself a kingdom from those who are in bondage to sin and darkness and to take those who are captive there out of that to build a kingdom for himself and death and simultaneously to overthrow that kingdom of darkness. To cleanse the earth of it and so that all that is left at the end when he's done is perfect bliss and joy and happiness and goodness for eternity. So that's why Nahum is in the Bible. Nahum is pointing us to that reality ultimately. It's using imagery, it's using symbols Paul talking about the symbolism of the covenants and the historical situation with Abraham having two children, one by a bond woman and one by a free one and one according to the flesh and one according to the promise. And Paul says, we need to learn from this. We need to learn that this is pointing us to the kingdom of Christ. Well, that's the same thing that we do here when we come to the Old Testament. It's pointing us to Christ. Now this afternoon, If you have questions about that, you've maybe never thought about that, never realized that. This afternoon, service will actually be discussing that from God's Word, finding the biblical warrant to see the Old Testament in this way. So hopefully we'll explain more of that then. But that sort of sets the stage for this chapter. So as we go through it today, we'll try to destroying them for good. So we begin in verse 1 with this warning of the impending judgment. He who scatters, literally just the scatterer, has come up before your face. Scatterer, where have we seen scattering happen before? Tower of Babel, remember, built by Nimrod. This attempt to ascend into the heavens and to overthrow Yahweh. He foiled their plans and then Nimrod goes and tries again with Nineveh. Now God through Nahum tells us this is the same God you're trying to overthrow. Don't you get it? Don't you get it? He's the scatterer. He's the one who scattered you before. He's going to come and he's going to scatter you again and scatter you in judgment. And he's always clear, the second time he comes, when he comes again, there's no second chances after that. There's no, and we know that from history. Nineveh was, and it tells us here, Nineveh was destroyed and it was never rebuilt again. Babel, Tower of Babel was the warning, and Nineveh was the finality of it. We have that same warning for ourselves as well. We've seen this several times already as we've gone through the book of Nahum. When we look back through history, we had a time of warning, a big warning of judgment, and that's the flood. We've seen many connections to the flood already in the book of Nahum. Chapter 1, verse 8, for example, with an overflowing flood. He will come and make an utter end of its place. So the flood that happened in Noah's day was for all mankind was a warning judgment. The earth was corrupt before God. It says it was filled with violence and God came and brought judgment. But it was a warning judgment. The earth continued on after that and the Bible tells us that it was because it says after that Sin wasn't done away with. The intents of the thoughts of man were still evil continually after the Flood. So this was not a final judgment. It was a warning judgment. And God promised, with the implications, I should say then, are that this is a warning judgment. The next judgment to come is a final judgment. God promised to Noah and to all of creation, all that belonged to this new creation, that he would never flood the earth again to destroy it in that manner. But that doesn't mean that judgment won't come. That, again, symbolism, what's going on here is the Bible's teaching us that there was judgment, but then all who belonged to that new creation did not have to face, did not have to worry about this judgment. Again, it's pointing us to Christ, that all who belong to the new creation that Christ has inaugurated by His coming, His judging the kingdom of darkness on Calvary when He died and rose He inaugurated a new creation, and so that all those who are in Christ, as Paul says, is a new creation. If you are in Christ, you belong to the new creation, the one that never has to fear this final judgment that is coming. Maybe a bit of an aside, but worth pointing out for a moment. God gave the rainbow as the sign of that reality, that He would not come again. to judge those who are members of the new creation. The rainbow signifies to those who are in Christ, those who belong to the new creation of Christ, don't need to fear final judgment. But the rainbow signifies to the unbelievers, those who are not in Christ, those who continue to reject Christ and refuse to join that new creation, refuse to enter that Noah's Ark. Remember Noah's Ark? The Ark is Christ. The Ark is the one who gets us safely through this flood of judgment and with Noah and his family inside. Well, those who refuse to enter the Ark of Noah, the Ark, Christ, the rainbow to them signifies their eternal and final judgment that's coming upon them, inescapable judgment. We've just come to the end of another pride month. We've seen rainbows everywhere, all over the place. And you have to realize, brethren, this is much more than just a, much deeper than just a bunch of people who want to express their sexuality in whatever way they want. This is a God-hating movement that's flaunting their rebellion against God. saying, saying, saying, we don't care, we don't want you, we're gonna, we don't care about your ways, we wanna overthrow you, we're gonna resist you, and having the, the rainbow, choosing the rainbow as their flag, that's not coincidence. That is, that is, it is a, it is a flaunting into God, saying, I'm gonna say this carefully, bring it, God, come, try it. And that's, it's exactly what they call it, it's pride, it's arrogance, thinking that they can go against God and somehow escape judgment. But God says here, this is, he's scattered before, he's coming again. He came in judgment once, he's coming again, this time there's no second chances, this time it's final. So that's what Nineveh was here. It was arrogance, it was pride. God can destroy a babel, we're gonna do it again. And we're gonna set up this kingdom, we're gonna resist him, we're gonna overthrow him, we're gonna thwart his plans, we're gonna reject him, we don't want him. But God says he's coming. You've had your time, you've had a long time, you've had your movement, and you may have become very powerful on this earth, but the time is coming when you will be brought to nothing. And I'm speaking more of just the LGBTQ movement here now. This is not just that. This is the entire kingdom of darkness that falls under this category. This is all who reject Christ. All who reject him belong to this kingdom. So whether you're not part of the LGBTQ movement, if you are against Christ, meaning if you don't believe in Christ and trust in him, you belong to this kingdom of darkness. and it may seem so powerful right now, the world is so, there's so much wickedness, there's so much chaos and evil, it seems powerful, it seems strong, it seems like they've thwarted Yahweh's plans and taken the glory for themselves, but it's coming to an end. The time is coming. The glory, the power, the might returns to God's people. That's verse two. The Lord will restore the excellence, I should say glory. The Lord will restore the glory of Jacob like the glory of Israel for the emptiers have emptied them out and ruined their vine branches. So remember God's purpose for the nation of Israel. Now, we're back in a historical context here. The nation of Israel, they were to enjoy promised land, it was this land of milk and honey of abundance and vineyards and olive yards and it was a land of life, a land of plenty and they were to live there, they were to have peace and prosperity and joy and bliss and they were there and the purpose of that was to make Yahweh's name great. He tells us that in Deuteronomy many, many times. I will dwell there with them. I have chosen that to be the place where my name dwells, or where my name is made great. I will make a name for myself through this people of Israel. That was their purpose, was to glorify Yahweh, their God, was to reflect His glory in the land there. But there was one problem, one thing. They needed to live in obedience to God's laws in order to do that, in order to reflect the beauty of the Creator You have to live in obedience with his laws. But they didn't. They sinned. And therefore, they were oppressed. They were afflicted by the enemies of God. The vineyards and the olive yards were pillaged. Their crops were destroyed and taken away. They had no more wine, and they had no more grain, and they had no peace and no security. But God says, I'm going to restore them. They've been afflicted, the emptiers have emptied them out, poured them out, is what it should say. It comes from the Hebrew, you probably remember, maybe you'll remember this from, I think it was in Hosea, we saw that. The Hebrew word bak buk, remember it was that, what's called onomatopoeia, it sounds like what it's doing, it's pouring. When you take a bottle and you pour it out, it goes buk buk buk buk. That's what the word is, so they're pouring, They've been poured out. They've ruined the vine branches. Desolation has come upon them. They've been oppressed by the enemies of God because of their sin. Because they sinned against God. But God says, I'm going to restore that glory back to them. I will return them to the former glory as my people representing me in the land. Now we widen our scope and we see this is pointing us to the bigger picture. plans of redemption. Man has sinned against God. Man has created in the image of God, glorifying God, reflecting His glory, living in this beautiful garden, but they had a law to obey. What happened? They broke the law, and they were cast out of that garden, poured out, we might exile, emptied, lost the life, the connection, the unity with God that they have. But God's promising here, and we can see that promise of restoration to come. That once again, you can be returned back and you can again have this glory that he once had. So God's hinting here that his people, his chosen ones, his elect we might say, they've sinned against him. We've been afflicted and oppressed. We're in bondage to sin and slavery but we're going to be restored. There's a way. Somehow, someone is coming. Something's going to happen. points us beyond that, beyond the redemption of our souls, pointing us to the true Israel, the true Son of God. Remember God called the nation of Israel to Pharaoh, He says, let them go, they're my firstborn. This is pointing us forward to the only begotten Son. because he had his own sin but because he took our sin upon himself and therefore he was oppressed and he was afflicted he was crushed his life was emptied out or poured out as he as he shed his blood on the cross he was empty he was he faced the curse the results of sin not for his own He was poured out. He was like Job. Job, the righteous, suffering servant of Yahweh who says, my soul is poured out. The days of affliction have taken hold on me. Or in Psalm 22, that famous psalm that starts out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Pointing us to Christ. And in there, this one who's forsaken by God has been cut off. pointing us to this one here, but it's not just pointing us to the fact that he's oppressed, but it's pointing to the fact that he's gonna have his glory restored to him, and he's not gonna be overthrown and done away with and be over-consumed by this suffering. He's going to overcome it. He's gonna be raised with power, raised with might. He's gonna be glorified again. And through this, through this, he will receive the glory for Yahweh throughout the earth. That's what this verse is speaking of here, ultimately pointing us to the suffering Son of God. But His subsequent glory after His suffering, He would go through this suffering, but His glory would be given to Him. It's pointing us to this One who would bear the curse. He would come, He would experience the curse, but He would overcome it. He would fulfill the curse and He would enter glory so that those who are under the curse could then, can escape this final judgment that's coming to them and they can enter glory with Him. It speaks of the Son of God born under the law, born to redeem those who are under the law, born under this law that brought a curse because of sin. they too might receive adoption as sons. We read that last week in Galatians chapter five. God sent his son born under the law to redeem those who are under the law so that they might receive the adoption as sons. This verse points us to the one who would be poured out unto death under the wrath of God so that the love of God can then be poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who's given to us, Romans 5, 5, of this one who is full, who then would be emptied, who would be poured out, so the ones who are empty could be filled. The one who would suffer then enter glory, so that he can bring many sons to glory, sons who are in bondage, and bring them to glory. The glory of imaging our Creator again, reflecting His glory, making a name for Him throughout the earth, bringing glory to Him as we are faithful on our way to everlasting glory. And again, we need to remember, that's why God saved us. God called us. his name so that he receives the glory. That's why he called Israel out of Egypt. They were in bondage in Egypt and he called them out and brought them out and redeemed them and he said, I'm doing this for my name's sake. Not because there's something special about you, Deuteronomy 7. I'm doing it because I loved you and because I'm going to use you to glorify me. I'm going to use you to make my name great. That's why God saved us. God would release his people from the affliction of Assyria so that they can again glorify him as they obeyed his laws and enjoyed the abundance that he gave to them in this outward temporal way in Canaan. But that's why we have been saved, so that we can reflect his glory. Psalm 23, we all know that psalm probably by heart. He restores my soul. He restores my soul. He brings us out of bondage, restores us back to that glory again. But he leads me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. That's the goal of creation. Us glorifying God. Adam was created in the garden to glorify Yahweh, his creator, in the created realm. To represent him, to image him. to make his name great throughout the earth as he was fruitful. He was called to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with image bearers of Yahweh who would reflect his glory throughout the earth. God's plans will not be thwarted. Satan thought he had thwarted those plans in the garden. It seemed like he had. He had broken the image. The image no longer looked like the God they were supposed to represent. It looked like God's plans were thwarted, but that's what we've seen in this book so far. God's plans will not be thwarted. God is a jealous God, he told them. He started out that way in chapter one, verse two. Jealous for his own glory is what that means. He will not give his glory to another. God had other plans. Satan looked like he had thwarted them, but God had other plans. Plans from before the foundation of the world that he would send his own son who would come and accomplish that goal. And he would do it by rescuing and redeeming those broken image bearers and making them again glorify their God. That's the whole story of the Bible is leading us to that goal. the vanquishing of all evil. That's how these two verses tie together. We have judgment, judgment upon the kingdom of darkness, and the rescue of the afflicted people of God. It always goes together. Happened at the Tower of Babel. Genesis chapter 10, God scattered the people, but Genesis 11, He called Abraham out of there. and he promised to make from Abraham a nation. It happened in Egypt when he called out Israel, his firstborn, out of bondage and then destroyed the Egyptians in the sea, the Red Sea as it came crashing down upon them. It happened later in history when we look at the Southern Kingdom being carried off to Babylon. They were in exile in Babylon. Cyrus comes, he just, He destroyed the Babylonians and released the people of God who were held there so that they could go return back to their promised land and again build their house for God. And it happens here as well. Nineveh is destroyed and the people of God are rescued. They're no longer afflicted and oppressed by them. And this is all pointing us to the fact that through the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glorification of Christ, through his suffering and glory, that's the very means by which this kingdom of darkness is overthrown. Remember in Hebrews 2, I quote that verse often, through death he destroyed him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and released those who all their lifetime were subject to bondage through fear of death. They were held in bondage to death because of their sin, but Christ, through his death, comes and destroys the devil, the one who has the power of death, and releases his people, the sufferings and the glory of Christ, his death and his resurrection. That's how he wins this battle. He dies, he enters death, but God raises him from the dead with power, as Paul says to the Corinthians, in this display of power, display of might, display of victory. It's described, in the Old Testament, it's always described as a battle, as this fierce battle, as this warrior king who comes in, he goes into enemy territory, he strikes fear into the hearts of his enemies and he releases the captives that are there. Isaiah 42, he comes in and he goes into the prison houses bright light now as they come out of the bondage that they were in. This warrior comes in and he strikes fear and he strikes terror into the hearts of his enemies. He destroys them and releases the captives that are there. That's what we find now coming in verse 3 and 4. valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots come with flaming torches or flashing steel, maybe better. In the day of his preparation, the spears are brandished. The chariots rage in the streets. They jostle one another in the broad roads and they seem like torches and they run like lightning. The army has entered the city here, verses three and four. This army of Babylonians brandished or slaughtering Minovite soldiers in the streets, calvaries there with their chariots raging around, racing through the streets. They were, sometimes they were thought to have large knives on their chariot wheels that stuck out, so as they drove through there was, they They're flashing, looking like fire as they're glinting as they race through the streets here. It's a scene of destruction. The soldiers, their shields are red and it looks like they're wearing scarlet clothes, it says here. Why is that? Because it's a bloodbath. They're covered in the blood of Ninevite soldiers. It's a bloodbath in the streets. Blood is flowing from this udder his afflicted people and to do it by destroying this kingdom of darkness so that they no longer can oppress, no longer enslave his people. God uses, in the historical context, God uses Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon at the time, to be his servant or to be his instrument to come and to carry this out. So you say, well does that mean that Nebuchadnezzar, he's the king of Babylon and he's pointing us to Christ, he's a type of Christ? Because Babylon is always a picture of the kingdom of darkness as well in the Bible, isn't it? And you're right, it is. Later, as his history progresses, Babylon again takes that spot as representative of the kingdom of darkness. But that's another cycle, another cycle of this bondage and judgment there. In that case, when Israel, when the southern kingdom is in exile and bondage to Assyria, sorry, Babylon, God sends Cyrus, the Persian king, and in Isaiah 45, he calls Cyrus, who's not a godly man by any stretch, he calls Cyrus his brother. Listen to what he says there. Thus says Yahweh to his Messiah, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held. That's Isaiah 42. Yahweh holding the right hand of his servant, the Messiah, who we know is Christ. So Cyrus here is being compared to, he's a typological Christ-like figure as he comes. He's coming to subdue nations before him, to loose the armor of kingship. gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron, that's opening up prisons, gates and bars, I'll give you the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places, and he goes on. So a Wicca king can be seen as a messianic type pointing us to Christ. That's why I mentioned that. So that now we see, now the colossal here is this warrior king Yes, in reality, he's wicked and he's evil, but in this picture, in this symbolism, this imagery that's going on here, he's the Christ-like warrior who comes in and to come as the chosen instrument of God to carry out this destruction. So verse three and four are pointing us to Christ as well. So verse two, Christ is the suffering servant who would be glorified. Christ in his humanity is the suffering servant as he faces the oppression and the curse according to his humanity. But according to his divinity, as he comes, he's the warrior king. He's the warrior who comes, who enters the city of his enemies. He does this. He enters death. itself, as it were. He's swallowed up by death. He enters the enemy territory, territory of the one who has the power over death. And he himself enters that. He dies. He's swallowed up by that. He enters the dragon's den. We've seen that in the Old Testament, how the Bible talks about this fierce dragon slayer who enters the dragon's den to crush and kill the dragon. entering that den of the lions. Christ does that. He enters enemy territory. He overpowers the dragon. He overpowers the lion. He overpowers death itself. He enters the house of the strong man, to use his own language now in the Gospels, and he binds him so that he can plunder his goods. palace, his goods are in peace until a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him and takes from him his armor in which he trusted and divides the spoils. Jesus said nobody can come and take a strong man's goods until he first binds the strong man. That's what he did through his death and his resurrection. He's a fierce warrior who enters through the enemy territory, overpowers this one by rising again from the dead. has the victory. He has secured the victory. He has undone the entire kingdom of darkness. He has taken away its power by, it's a removal of their power. He's victorious. And now he sets himself up as king. He's the conqueror. He's the victorious one. Notice in verse three, in the day of his preparation, it says here, The word means to be established. In the day that he is established, that word established is used not exclusively but almost exclusively to describe a king being set up over a kingdom. A king being established over his kingdom. That's what's happening here. This one, on this day, or the day that he is established as king, he comes in. He destroys his enemies and he has given, he sets himself up as king. God promised that one day a son of David would come who would be established as king over his kingdom forever. And here he is, Christ, the warrior king, Christ victorious in this battle that he comes. Coming, removes the power of death from the devil, takes the keys of death and Hades for himself. And he's set up as king. overall and he ascends to the right hand of the Father in Glory to rule and to reign as King. But notice, I mentioned, I alluded already, he has the power of, or the keys of death and Hades, Revelation 1. That's how John, the apostle, sees him. Revelation 1, verse 12. Sorry. Well, we can see him here as a warrior In the midst of the seven landstands, one like the son of man, clothed with a garment down to his feet, girded about the chest with a golden band, his head and hair were white like wool, white as snow, his eyes like a flame of fire, his feet were like brass, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice, as the sound of many waters, he had in his right hand seven stars. Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance And I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me, and he said, Do not be afraid. Be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am he who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Sufferings and glory. Amen. He says, And I have the keys of Hades and death. He has the power of death. He's removed, extinct. We saw that in Hosea. He has the keys so that he can unlock his people now from bondage and release them from the bondage they were in to death because of their sin that made them guilty of death. But it was a fierce battle. It was a fierce battle that Christ had to fight. He had to end it. and he was going to die himself, but he would overcome that. It was this incredible display of might and power. By the power of God, as the Apostle said, God raised him from the dead and seated him in glory. He's utterly destroyed death. He's removed the power of death. That's why it's described here as a bloodbath. Because he's a warrior. of incredible power, bringing destruction upon his enemies. Isaiah 63, we saw this when we looked at Obadiah, because Obadiah was about the overthrow of the kingdom of Edom, which is another way to look at the kingdom of darkness. Who is this who comes from Edom? And your garments look like one who treads in the winepress. He says, I have tread and trodden the winepress alone. No one was with me. I have trodden them in my anger, trampled them in my fury. Their blood is splattered upon my garments, and I have stained all my robes. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come. The day of vengeance, the day of judgment, of coming to overthrow in the year of my redeemed to rescue his people by overthrowing their enemies. This is your king, brethren, your redeemer, Christ. He's a warrior. What he had to do to rescue you, he had to die and he had to overpower death and he had to rise again. He's a warrior. He's a war hero, Saul. may have slain his thousands. David may have slain his 10,000, but Christ has slain the greatest enemy of all, death and the devil. His armies have been defeated. Turn to Revelation 14. Revelation 14, verse 19. The angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and threw it into the great wine came out of the wine press up to the horse's bridles for 1,600 furlongs. It's a bloodbath. Again, it's described in this type of imagery so we can see the power and the might of this warrior king and what he has done to his enemies. Now jump ahead to chapter 19 for a moment, verse 11. and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, saturated in blood is what that should say. His name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, and with it he should strike the nations, and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself Almighty God, and He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's your King, brethren. Victorious over death. He had to rescue you from bondage. He's conquered death. He entered enemy territory. He died so that He could redeem us. He suffered. and rescue us from them. That's what we remember when we celebrate the, when we take communion and we celebrate the supper in a few moments here, that's what we're remembering, that he died, he bore the curse, he was poured out unto death so that we can enjoy the blessing, we can have the wine again of abundance and joy and bliss and he was crushed and he was, he was, he was, He faced the crushing himself as he was afflicted and suffered, but he defeats his enemies and we can then enjoy the blessing and we can be glorified again. That's what we remember in the supper. Next week we'll look at some more practical application as we go through, finish the rest of this chapter here and bring out some more applications for us as we walk through this life. on our way to glory. But for now, behold your king. Behold your God. The enemies of God have been overthrown. This is verse 15 of chapter one, this message, this good tidings that comes on the mountains. It's a heavenly message that comes down to us that we have peace again. We're no longer in bondage. We have peace with God and that we will be, we will be, and we are headed for Eternal, eternal glory. As we partake of communion, look to this one, the suffering servant of God in our place, but a warrior, a hero who overcomes so that we can be free and that we can have eternal life with him. And for the unbeliever, if you're here this morning and you're not in Christ, I hope that you see this, that you take warning here. You cannot resist this one and expect to get away with it. He's coming in judgment. Your sin has you in bondage. Your sin, you might not realize it. You might not feel like it. But it's what it is. You're in bondage because sin makes you deserving of death. So you are in bondage to death. You're in chains. You're in the prison house, as it were. But picture this scene as it's described here. You're in this city. You're in bondage here. You're locked in the prison. And outside you hear this chaos, this noise, this confusion going on and this war hero has ridden in on his white horse and his sword is slashing and he's killing the ones who have you in bondage. He's striking fear into his enemies. and he's destroying those Ninevites that had enslaved so many people. And as he's riding through the city and there's people in chains and people in bondage throughout there, as those people look to him and call out to him and say, let me, free me, he comes, he rides up to them and he breaks their chains. He releases them. He rides over anyone who's in their chains, rides over on his white horse and he breaks those chains off and he says, you're free. You're free indeed. That's how the gospel works. You're in bondage. There's nothing you can do to escape it. You're there, held captive. But Christ has overpowered that one who holds you captive. Death itself, he's overpowered death. And if you look to him as he rides around on his white horse, if you look to him, He will come to you and release you. Faith is trusting in Christ to set you free from the guilt of death, to release you from being held there worthy of death. You don't have anything to offer Him. Those prisoners don't have anything to offer this one, this warrior. in exchange for their release. They just look to Him and call out to Him and say, Lord, release me. That's what faith is, looking to Him to release you from bondage, from the guilt. And as this king rides around the city, setting captives free, there's captives that reject him, captives that that would, those slaves, they would rather stay in their bondage, rather stay in their chains than to be set free by this one. And those who reject him are left in their chains and they'll perish along with the rest of the city, with the rest of the captors and with their captors. trust in the Lord Jesus today, trust in Him now. He will set you free. When the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. Believe in Him and you will have