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The Law of Kindness (KC)

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INTRODUCTION

The Bible says that a man who doesn’t sin with his words is perfect and has tamed something wilder than beasts and serpents (Js. 3:2-8). If this is the case ordinarily, how much more so are we up against it in a world that has embraced profanity, perversion, lies, and violent words and has the technological ability to send and multiply them exponentially around the world?

But this is one of the marks of a new heart in Christ. No man can tame the tongue (Js. 3:8), and out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Lk. 6:45). Therefore, only a new heart from God can turn the tongue into a well of blessing, and when He does, it is exponential blessing.

THE TEXT

“She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness” (Prov. 31:26).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The Proverbs 31 woman is the culminating summary of Lady Wisdom who was introduced in the opening chapters of Proverbs, as the woman a young man should seek to marry with all his strength. While wisdom certainly is understanding, knowledge, skills, and virtues, the picture of wisdom as a woman is not merely a picture, but part of the point is that seeking, finding, wooing, and marrying a good woman, and building a home with her under the blessing of God is where wisdom is found and cultivated. So wisdom is woman to be pursued, and a good woman embodies that wisdom, particularly in her words. But ultimately Christ is the wisdom of God and on His tongue is the law of kindness (1 Cor. 1:24, 30). Therefore, in every Christian home, everyone is learning to speak that glorious dialect.

THE TORAH OF GRACE

The word “Torah” is the word for “law,” and it refers specifically to the first five books of Moses, but Christ is the end of the law for everyone who believes (Rom. 10:4). The word “Torah” generically means “guidance” or “instruction.” So on the one hand, the mouth of wisdom includes teaching the grace of the law of God, the goodness of the law of God, the sweetness of the law of God: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul… the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart… more to be desired are they than gold… sweeter also than honey” (Ps. 19:7-11). “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous” (1 Jn. 5:3). On the other hand, the mouth of wisdom guides and instructs in grace, in kindness, toward grace and kindness. Ultimately, these two things are the same: for against the fruit of the Spirit “there is no law” (Gal. 5:22-23).

LIES & FLATTERY

The law of kindness is first of all truthful: “A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin” (Prov. 26:28). And while straight lies, cheating, and all deception must be renounced and repented of, flattery is often excused under the guise of being nice or kind. Flattery is false, insincere, or excessive praise, usually with the aim of either avoiding conflict or gaining some favor. Socrates said that flattery is a show of friendship but not the actual fruit. The evil woman flatters with her tongue; her lips drip honey, luring to sexual immorality (Prov. 2:16, 5:3, 6:24). Flattery is satanic, going all the way back to the garden (Gen. 3:4-5). True biblical love confronts sin in love (Lev. 18:17-18, Eph. 4:15).

Flattery may happen in a refusal to address sin or problems, and flattery may occur angling for honor or friendship or gifts. The Psalm says that those who flatter have “double-hearts” (Ps. 12:2); they have ulterior motives. But the law of kindness is sincere, single, simple (2 Cor. 1:12). The first Christians were characterized by this “singleness of heart” (Acts 2:46). The center of this kindness and singleness of heart is the fear of God; it is not “eyeservice,” or being “menpleasers” (Col. 3:22). It speaks always fully aware that Christ is in the room.

A TREE OF LIFE

As opposed to the hatred and destruction of lies and flattery, good words are a tree of life (Prov. 15:4). In particular, words of blessing are like good food for the soul: “The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life” (Prov. 10:11). “By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked” (Prov. 11:11). “A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.” (Prov. 13:2). In other words, we are always “eating” our words, either for good or for ill: “A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled” (Prov. 18:20). “Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel” (Prov. 20:17). But the tongue of the wise is health (Prov. 12:18).

APPLICATIONS

Pray, write, and say blessings over one another: Husbands, bless your wives literally (Prov. 31:28). Here are a few: “Be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them” (Gen. 24:60). “Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners” (Song 6:4). Parents, especially fathers, say blessings over your children: “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace” (Ps. 144:12).

When my children were young, I would say this over my sons: “May the Lord bless you and keep you and make you a mighty man; may you fight sin, Satan, giants, and dragons, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And I said this over my daughters: “May the Lord bless you and keep you and make you wise and beautiful; and may your children and grandchildren rise up and call you blessed.” Quote/imitate Scripture and write your own for bedtimes, Sabbath dinners, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc.

We want to continue to cultivate a culture of blessing: “And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee” (Ruth 2:4). “By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted” (Prov. 11:11). And all of this is based on the fact that God’s Word and God’s ways are blessings. His command in the beginning was simultaneously a blessing (Gen. 1:28). And in Christ, His single-hearted word to us is hesed, His covenant faithfulness, His lovingkindness, to a thousand generations.

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The Duty of Ordered Love & the Sins of Identity Politics (State of the Church 2023)

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INTRODUCTION

As the Christian foundations of our society continue to crumble, animosity is the inevitable result, because in this New World that Christ rules, there is no other integration point, no other peace, no other fellowship. It is literally Christ or nothing. But this doesn’t stop rebellious men in their pride from forging false integration points, politically, culturally, or racially, but since they are all idolatrous rivals to Christ, they will only succeed in deforming men, inciting malice and envy (Ps. 115:8). Our presbytery recently adopted the following statements in order to address our current situation, proposing them to the full CREC to be adopted as memorials:

ON ETHNIC BALANCE

We believe the human tendency to congregate around shared affections is natural and can be good—it creates the blessing of cultures and subcultures, for example. But as with all natural goods in a fallen world, there is a temptation to exalt it to a position of unbiblical importance, thus making it an idol. While an ethnic heritage is something to be grateful for, and which may be preserved in any way consistent with the law of God, it is important to reject every form of identity politics, including kinism—whether malicious, vainglorious, or ideologically separatist/segregationist.

ON ANTI-SEMITISM

We believe the conversion of the Jews is key to the success of Christ’s Great Commission, and it is incumbent upon us to pray and labor toward that end. While, apart from Christ, the Jews are as all others––alienated from God—they have remained an object of God’s care because the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. God’s plan for converting them is for them to see Gentile nations under the blessings of Christ’s lordship, thus leading them to long for the same. Hence, the cancerous sin of anti-Semitism has no place in God’s plan.

THE TEXT

“And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mk. 12:29-31).

RIGHTLY ORDERED LOVES

Biblical love is treating others lawfully from the heart. And Augustine’s definition of virtue as “rightly ordered love” is inherent in being created, finite creatures. We cannot love everything and everyone infinitely; we must choose and calibrate our loves. Sin is disordered love: loving evil or else loving something good too much or too little. Our loves are ranked in the greatest commands: we must love God first, above all else, heart, mind, soul, and strength, and then we must love our neighbors as ourselves (Mk. 12:30-31, cf. Lev. 19:17-18, 33-34). Jesus is teaching this same ordering of loves when He insists that loyalty to Him and His people must rank over our own families and will sometimes even appear as a hatred of them or even your own life (Lk. 14:26, Mt. 12:48-50, Lk. 12:53).

But Jesus also affirmed the fifth commandment over certain church fundraising programs (Mk. 7:10-12), promised to abundantly restore families and lands to those loyal to Him (Mk. 10:29-30), and honored His own mother greatly (Jn. 19:26-27). Jesus was closer to some disciples than others: the 70 were closer than many, the 12 were closer still, but Peter, James, and John were His closest friends, while John was His best friend. A certain sentimentalism resents this as “not fair” or even “hateful,” but this is the way God made the world. This applies to friends (Prov. 27:6, 17), marriage (Mk. 10:9), and children (Is. 49:15, Mt. 23:37). Bitter and envious sentimentalism resents this and will eventually defend every form of treachery.

LEARNING TO LOVE RIGHTLY

Christ is the only true integration point of all things (Col. 1:20). But this reconciliation is not an obliteration of differences, loyalties, or loves. The fact that that there is neither male nor female in Christ Jesus does not abolish a husband’s duty to his wife; nor does his godly favoritism mean that he hates all other women. In fact, the Bible insists that we learn love from the lesser to the greater, from the closer to the further away, from the more concrete to the more abstract. The right kind of love of self teaches us to love our neighbors, beginning with those closest to us (Eph. 5:28), and ultimately teaches us to consider others better than ourselves (Phil. 2:3). David says that he learned to trust in God from his mother’s breast (Ps. 22:10). This covenant loyalty charges families to provide for their own before others, and so learn godliness and generosity there first (1 Tim. 5:4, 8), which, when done rightly, prepares justice, mercy, and hospitality for strangers and emergencies (cf. Lk. 10:25, Lev. 19:33-34). But it is not true love to give what you don’t have (2 Cor. 8:12), and where ordered covenant loves are despised, all talk of “love” is empty, aimless, selfish, and destructive. Just as you cannot really love God (whom you have not seen) if you do not love your neighbor (whom you have seen), neither can you love your neighbor whom you barely know if you do not love the neighbor who lives with you (1 Jn. 4:20).

PROVOKED TO JEALOUSY

The Bible teaches that envy is the satanic lust at the heart of much animosity (Js. 4:1-5), and vain glory and pride often feed and provoke this bitter envy (Js. 3:14-16, Gal. 5:26). But the more faithful God’s people are, the more provoked to envy their enemies will be (e.g. Gen. 26:14). However, there is also a godliness that provokes love and good works (Heb. 10:24, 2 Cor. 9:2). The Bible says that this is what God is doing with the Jews in particular, saving the Gentile nations first “to provoke them to jealousy” and “emulation” (Rom. 11:11, 14) “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Rom. 11:25). As it relates to the gospel, the Jews are no different than any other nation, but as it relates to covenant history, the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (Rom. 11:29). Paul says, “For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh… As concerning the gospel, they areenemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes” (Rom. 9:3, 11:28). Paul’s example teaches us to hate what God hates (all vain glory, malice, lies, theft, unbelief, etc.) and to order our covenant loves faithfully (family, church, nation, etc.).

CONCLUSION

The vision in Revelation is of a great multitude that no one can number from every nation, tribe, people, language, standing before the throne worshipping the Lamb (Rev. 7:9-10) and the kings of the nations bringing the glory and honor of the nations into the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:24-26). This vision is of a glory that is both one and many, with unity and diversity.

No scheme of man can ever conjure this, and so we reject all identity politics: socialism, social engineering, racial vain glory, and all ethnic animosity. The gospel restores families and nations without putting them in a humanistic blender or coercing a false unity through superficial diversity (guilt manipulation, quotas, etc.). True virtue is a rightly ordered love, beginning with your own people, gathered around shared loves, with worship of the Lamb at the center.

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His Banner Over Me is Love (Christmas 2022)

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INTRODUCTION

The Song of Songs is both a love song between Solomon and his wife, as well as an allegory of the love of God for Israel, prefiguring the incarnate love of Christ for His Bride, the Church.

When the Word became flesh, He “tabernacled” among us, dwelling with us like a faithful bridegroom, come for His faithless bride. When He came, He came to build a new house, the Church, which turns out is a feasting hall, but this is the kind of festival that organizes the participants into platoons and regiments. The love of God establishes the armies of God.

THE TEXT

“He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love” (Song 4:2).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Literally, the bride says that she has been brought to a “house of wine,” which may literally refer to King Solomon’s palace, but the broader allegorical allusion would be to the tabernacle and temple, where wine was regularly offered as a drink offering to the Lord (e.g. Ex. 29:38-40). But drinking wine was strictly prohibited in the presence of the Lord (Lev. 10:9). So it is very striking when Jesus turns around 150 gallons water of purification (for going into the temple) into wine at a wedding feast, and then He proceeds to establish a feast with wine in His presence that we celebrate until the end of the world (Jn. 2:1-11, 1 Cor. 11:26).

The word for “banner” can be translated as “ensign, military standard, or tribal division.” The same word is used elsewhere in the Song: “Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners… Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, andterrible as an army with banners?” (Song 6:4, 10). The book of Numbers also used the same word many times to describe the tribes of Israel arrayed as a war camp around the tabernacle and how they go out to battle (Num. 1:52, 2:2ff, 10:14ff).

AUGUSTINE’S WELL-ORDERED LOVE

In City of God, Augustine says, “It seems to me, a brief and true definition of virtue is ‘rightly ordered love’” (Book XV. 22). And he cites our text as it is translated into Greek: “That is why in the holy Song of Songs Christ’s bride, the City of God, sings, ‘Set love in order in me’.” The connotations of “banner” with the military organization of Israel make sense of this translation.

CONCLUSION

At Christmas, God came for His wayward bride in His love, but that love not only saves and rescues, it offers the wine of joy and celebration. And yet, this is not an anarchic joy, it is the joy of the Lord, and therefore, it is a joy that drives us to greater holiness, greater virtue, greater militance. Because Christ was born, we are the armies of God. Because Christ is born, our festivals are warfare. So guard your hearts. Guard your families. And guard this joy. “Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a warrior shouting because of wine.” (Ps. 78:65).

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Rise the Woman’s Conquering Seed (Christmas Eve 2022)

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Christmas is a celebration of the birth of the great dragon slayer so that the human race might become a race of dragon slayers. In the beginning, God put Adam and Eve into a perfect Garden, in a perfect world, with a perfect marriage, a perfect job, and a perfect relationship with God and one another. And then God allowed a dragon into that world, a talking dragon, a crafty dragon, a lying dragon. And the woman listened to the voice of the dragon, and the man listened to the voice of his wife, and plunged our race into a snakebit darkness, poisoned with selfishness, bitterness, guilt, shame, death, and accusation.

But we serve the infinite, omnipotent God who is not stymied by anything. He is not puzzled by anything. There is nothing that can stop His plan, and everything that tries to is only taken up into His plan: He works all things together for good. And so in His mercy and justice and power, He promised to take away the sin of man, satisfy His perfect justice, and at the same time deliver man, crush sin, Satan, and death, and restore all things. And He promised to do it all through the seed of the woman, the seed of Eve. And we should have known that this would be beyond anything we might expect even from this first promise, since properly speaking, a woman does not have seed. A woman may conceive seed, but properly speaking, it is the male part of the human race that has seed, but his seed became poisoned, disfigured, and evil.

And so the women were barren: Sarah was barren, Rebekah was barren, Rachel was barren, and Hannah, and Ruth, down to old Elizabeth. Only God could open wombs. Only God could give conception. All their schemes turned into trouble and misery. But the promise was unmistakable: the seed of the woman would kill the dragon. But a woman does not have seed. And so the prophet finally said what everyone had to be thinking: a virgin will conceive and bear a son. The seed cannot come from a fallen man, a snake-bit man; God will provide the seed.

So He did, and Mary brought forth her Son, never having known a man, and laid him in a manger. Here at last in Bethlehem, for the first time is the seed of the woman. No other woman has ever brought forth a child without the aid of a man. The Holy Spirit hovered over that empty womb, and said Let there be light: and there was the Light of all Light, the Lightest Light, the Brightest Light. And she called His name Jesus, because He came to kill the dragon and save His people from their sins.

But the poison of the serpent infects everything. It is death and uncleanness in everything. Everything that a sin-infected person touches is covered in it. Evil thoughts, envy, jealousy, biting words, rage, bitterness, lust, pride, arrogance, hatred, deviance. You can’t wash it off. You can’t make up for it because even your good deeds are still full of it, your best deeds still reek of the serpent smell, the foul odor of selfishness, pride, fear, resentment, shame. The dragon is a tape worm sucking life from every corner. So how can the Seed of the Woman kill this hydra-dragon, this many-headed tape worm? The only way is for every infected human to die. Like all parasites, if the host dies, the parasite dies. But then the problem in our case is that the human has died.

So the Seed of the Woman was born in order to take the human race with Him down into the pit of the snake, down into the lair of the dragon, down into the heart of the earth, down into death itself. And there, to receive the justice for all our sin, receiving all our darkness, all our filth, every accusation, all the condemnation of the Devil, nailing the handwriting of ordinances that was against us to His cross, until every last one was paid. Until every single tape worm was dead, until the last drop of shame was starved, until perfect justice was paid.

The power of the dragon is the power of death, and he had the power of death because He accuses guilty sinners of their sin. But the Seed of the Woman has no sin. He can fight the dragon because the dragon has no power over Him. The dragon came and tempted Him, but He did not yield. He has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet He remained without sin, so that He can fully sympathize with us in our weakness, and yet He understands all of it better than us because He has never once yielded for a moment.

Death only holds those who are guilty. Guilt is a millstone and death is the ocean of God’s justice. And the dragon only needed to shove you off the plank, and sinners sink all by themselves by the weight of all our sin. The Dragon accuses, and guilty sinners cower in fear. The dragon accuses, and guilty sinners plunge beneath the waves of guilt and shame. But the Seed of the Woman is not guilty of any charge, and so when the seed of the woman died, when He was crucified on a Roman cross, the only way He could die was by virtue of identifying with us. He claimed us as His own, and in so doing, He claimed our filth, our sin, our rage, our evil thoughts, our drunkenness, our rebellion. He claimed it all, and sunk into death because of it all. But when it was all paid, when it was completely finished. There was nothing holding Him down. And so He rose: like light bursting out of the darkness, like a seed out of nowhere, like a buoy surging up through the waves, but when He rose, He did not rise empty handed. He rose with us in tow. He rose with us under His Everlasting Arms. He went down, identifying with us, with our serpent-sins, our snake-bit poison, but when He rose, He identified us with Him. He took us down so that we might die, and all our sin died in Him. And then He rose, so that we might live, so that all His Life and Light might live in us.

Jesus is the Seed of the Woman, and He crushed the head of the dragon. He defanged the Accuser by paying for all the accusations. But the way He did it turns all those who believe into dragon-slayers. So how do the saints overcome the dragon? Through the blood of the Lamb and their testimony (Rev. 12:11). And how does that work? If we walk in the light as He is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman, the Lamb of God, cleanses us from all sins (1 Jn. 1:7). How does the blood cleanse us? If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn. 1:9).

How do you fight the dragon? By confessing your sins to God and one another and forgiving one another quickly. When you confess your sins, you stomp on the head of the dragon. When you confess your sins, a little more Light breaks out in this world. And this is our testimony: that we have been washed and forgiven by the blood of the Lamb, and now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and now we are not afraid anymore.

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of the great Dragon-slayer, and in Him, the birth of a race of dragon slayers. So lift up your heads. Lift up your hearts. Christ is born. The Seed of the Woman has come. The dragon has been mortally wounded, and you have been set free. So take up your arms. Confess your sins. Forgive one another. Rejoice and sing and celebrate. This your testimony, and by this testimony you overcome the dragon.

In the Name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen.

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The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Part 3

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INTRODUCTION

Two weeks ago we saw that Jesus described the sun and moon going dark like an Old Testament prophet describing the destruction of a great city/empire (e.g. Is. 13). Last week we also looked at the judgment of Satan, as the “ruler of this world,” his defeat and binding and plundering by Jesus on the cross. When the curtain was torn in two, Satan was cast down, Jesus ascended, the saints have been delivered from bondage to death and accusation, and a new heavens and new earth came into existence.

In our text this morning, we look at another New Testament reference to a prophetic destruction of an old world. And the apostle says that what the prophet was describing was happening right there in the first century in those last days at the first advent of Christ and the beginning of His Kingdom which will draw all the nations and have no end.

THE TEXT

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel…” (Acts 2:14-21).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

When the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost and the disciples began speaking in different languages, some mocked them as drunkards (Acts 2:13). But Peter stood up and explained that this was not drunkenness but rather the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy (Acts 2:14-16). Joel had prophesied that in the “last days” the Spirit would be poured out on all flesh, young and old, men and women, with prophesying and dreams (Acts 2:17-18). This would mark the beginning of the end of a world, with blood, fire, smoke, and the heavenly lights going out before the Day of the Lord (Acts 2:19-20). But whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Acts 2:21).

THE DAY OF THE LORD

In the Old Testament, the “Day of the Lord” is used prolifically in the prophets to describe a great judgment (Is. 2:12, 13:6-9ff, Jer. 46:10, Ez. 30:3, Amos 5:18-20, Zeph. 1:7-14ff). A similar phrase is “Day of Visitation” (Is. 10:3, Jer. 46:21, Hos. 9:7). This ultimately goes back to the day of the first sin and the first judgment: “And they heard the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…” (Gen. 3:8). The day of the Lord is a day on which God visits His people for judgment but also salvation. This reminds us of when God came down to the Tower of Babel and confused the languages of the people (Gen. 11). In one sense, God reversed Babel at Pentecost, but foreign tongues are also a sign of judgment (Is. 28:11, 1 Cor. 14:21-22). So Pentecost was both: salvation for those who believed but judgment for those who did not.

THE LAST DAYS

So Peter says that the “last days” that Joel was talking about were right then in the first century (Acts 2:17). Hebrews agrees: “[God] hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son…” (Heb. 1:2). Likewise, later, it says, “but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9:26). Peter is still thinking this way when he writes of Christ, “who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you…” (1 Pet. 1:20). And he seems to have the same thing in mind when he writes: “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer” (1 Pet. 4:7, cf. 1 Jn. 2:18).

Certainly, there are references to the final last days, the final end of all things: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn. 6:44, cf. 6:38-40, 54). The resurrection has certainly not happened yet, and so we await that “last day” (cf. Job 19:25-27). Christ must reign until all of His enemies are put beneath His feet; the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death – then shall come “the end” (cf. 1 Cor. 15:12-26, cf. 2 Tim. 2:18). But the primary referent of the phrase “last days” in the New Testament is the last days of the Old Covenant world, the end of that world, when Jesus came, which was also the beginning of the New World, the New Heavens and the New Earth in which the Holy Spirit has been poured out (Acts 2:17), the era in which salvation is proclaimed to the nations, so that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Acts 2:21).

AS THE WATERS COVER THE SEA

Part of the significance of the end of the Old Covenant world is the promised explosion of the gospel for the nations. “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all the nations shall flow into it” (Is. 2:2). And the prophet Micah says almost the exact same thing (Mic. 4:1).

Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as what will happen in the “latter days” (Dan. 2:28): “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever” (Dan. 2:44). And the King’s dream was of a rock cut out without hands that shatters the metal statue and grows into a mountain that fills the whole earth. This is the promise of the Messiah: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end…” (Is. 9:6-7). “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious” (Is. 11:9-10).

CONCLUSION

While there have been and continue to be the “last days” of earthly kingdoms and empires, we are in the era of the New Creation, when Christ’s kingdom grows and fills the earth. In these “last days” of sin and death, we are promised the growth of the kingdom and the nations flowing in.

The Lord certainly still visits this world with His temporal judgments, but in the New Covenant, one of the central ways God visits the world with judgment is through the gathered worship of the saints on the Lord’s Day – the Day of the Lord. In Revelation, John was in the Spirit, “on the Lord’s Day,” and He saw the saints worshipping and judgments falling on the earth. Hebrews says that we have come to Mount Zion, to God the Judge of all, to Jesus the Mediator, and God is shaking all things in Heaven and on Earth (Heb. 12).

This is why worship on the Lord’s Day is central to everything we do. In worship, we are lifted up by the Spirit into the Heavenly places to glimpse the end of all things in order to ask God for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Part of that is being worked out in us individually, making us more like Christ in every area of life, but part of that is also being poured out on the earth by the Prince of Peace who was born at Christmas.

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