The Glory of Heaven

A little in your bibles with me once again to Revelation chapter seven. And we have at last come to the end of Revelation chapter seven. That does not mean that we have exhausted Revelation chapter seven, as that is an impossibility with any part of the Word of God. However, we have come to the end of our time of walking through Revelation chapter seven in the context of our broader study of this great book. On this morning, we'll read through the chapter as a whole before focusing our attention on that last section. There in verses fifteen through seventeen Revelation chapter seven, and again it's important to go back to the end of chapter six in order to put this into context. Chapter six, beginning verse fifteen, Then the kings of the earth, great ones, and the generals, and the rich and powerful, and everyone slave and free hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, For the great day of their wrath has come. And who can stand Chapter seven our answer to that question, after this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth, or see or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the Living God. And he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the earth and see, saying, do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of the sealed. One hundred and forty four thousand sealed from every tribe of the Sons of Israel. Twelve thousand from the tribe of Judah were sealed, twelve thousand from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand from the tribe of God, twelve thousand from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand from the tribe of Natalie, twelve thousand from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand from the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand from the tribe of Zebulin, twelve thousand from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed. After this, I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with loud voices, salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. And they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, Ahmen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, who are these clothed in white robes? And from where have they come? I said to him, sir, you know, And he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple, and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the lamb in the in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. And those last few verses we come to what I believe is the true glory of We don't speak of heaven often, but when we do speak of heaven, we tend to speak of heaven in terms that are either related directly to an individual who has just died, or we speak of it in terms related to things that we want and like and yearn for in the here and the now that we will have in abundance there. And in both of those instances, I believe we miss the true glory of heaven. In the first instance, I believe we miss the true glory of heaven when we speak about individuals who have just died, and the fact that essentially all that is happening by the way it's a very platonic idea. It's a very gnostic idea, the idea that flesh is bad and spirit is good, that the physical world is bad, but the non physical world is good, and so essentially speak about people who have died as though they have been released from the bad, fleshly world into that other world of the beyond, not realizing that even our flesh will be redeemed. That's a very pagan idea. It's an extremely pagan idea. And so even if people aren't believers, they talk about now being in a better place. It's not better because of what's there or where it is. It's just better because of this gnostic platonic idea flesh bad on flesh good, world bad, non world good, not taking into account at all that God will redeem our flesh and our physical world. On the other hand, we air when heaven is just about golden streets and pearly gates and the beauty and majesty and glory, essentially things that we like here from a purely physical sense, that we will enjoy there in abundance. We like shiny things there, it will be all shiny things. We like precious stones there it will be all precious stones again missing the glory of heaven. Now, let me just let you in on a little secret. We're eventually going to get here, but let me take you there first before we go on our journey. The glory of heaven is found in two things. That question that is asked at the end of chapter six. Listen to it carefully. They're calling for the mountains and rocks, and they say, fall on us and hide us from the face of what one him seated on the throne? And two the wrath of the Lamb? What's the horror of the great judgment? The one seated on the throne and the Lamb? What's the glory of heaven? The one seated on the throne and the Lamb? What are they terrified of? The One seated on the throne and the Lamb? Who removes our terror? The one seated on the throne and the Lamb? Who is bringing the just judgment that sins deserve? In chapter six, un seated on the throne and the Lamb? And who is bringing the salvation to those who have been sealed? In chapter seven, the One seated on the throne and the Lamb? Whom do they not want to see in chapter six the one seated on the throne and the lamb, who can we not see enough of? In chapter seven, the one seated on the throne and the lamb. That is the glory of heaven? Why is it a glory? The glory of heaven. That's what we'll look at first. Remember these two important questions. The one important question is who are these one hundred and forty four thousand. That question is extremely important because of the connection between being sealed on the earth and standing before God in heaven. Won't labor the point, but we have demonstrated, I believe quite convincingly that this is not merely a list of ethnic Jews. I think John has gone out of his way to make that point that this is not merely a list of ethnic Jews. And when you look at the connection between chapters five and chapter fourteen and chapter seven, we recognize that what he has done, especially when you look at chapter five, he's used the same device, the same mechanism to explain the connection between the lion and the lamb that he uses to explain the connection between the one hundred and forty four thousand and the innumerable multitude. It's the same thing. He uses what he has seen versus what he has heard, and he uses the repetition of the two interconnected passages the same way he does in chapter five. And so we see one as a picture of the ceiling on earth of the people of God, and the other as a picture of the result of this ceiling on the earth, of the picture of the people of God, those who stand before Him in heaven. There's a second question that we've alluded to, and I want to touch on it a little bit more clearly, and that is the question of this great tribulation? What is this great tribulation. We've said time and time again that this reference to a great tribulation is not a reference to something that lies solely in the future, but that it is a reference of the tribulation with which we deal currently that will only intensify as we get to the end of the age. It is not something that we are exempt from, is not something that we will be raptured out of or away from. We've talked extensively about how that in and of itself doesn't make any sin, because all of those things that we associate with the Great Tribulation are part of the tribulation that we deal with in the here and the now. So why is it that God has to rapture us out of the world in order to protect us from something that's been going on all the while. But we also see that this great tribulation is a connection to a prophecy from Daniel Chapter twelve Daniel twelve to one. At that time shall arise Michael, the Great Prince, who has charge of your people, and there should be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered everyone whose names shall be found written in the book. There is no doubt that John grabs on to this description of tribulation when he is writing the Revelation. There is also no doubt that John connects this to everything that is going on in his life, and from his life on up through the end of the age. There is a sension which this great tribulation will be connected to the persecution of God's people and to apostasy, the persecution of God's people in general and also in particular by individuals in power. Daniel chapter eleven, verses thirty to thirty nine and verse thirty four and in Daniel chapter twelve, verse ten make this clear. But we've also seen clearly that this same apostasy is something that John refers to in the here and the Now, because we know that Ephesus, Sardis, and Leah de Seer were all in danger of losing their identity as the people of God. The apostasy that we've heard about Pergamam and thiah Tyra, we're compromising their loyalty to Christ again, the apostasy that we've heard about. We also know that this involves the Judgment of the Wicked Revelation, chapter two, beginning verse twenty one. If you'll turn back there. So this Great Tribulation involves apostasy that also involves the persecution of God's people. We see that here in Revelation, and we see it connected to the here and the now in the Seven Churches Judgment of the Wicked. Also listen to this. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sick bed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works and I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. So he's going to throw this woman into great tribulation. This, Harlan, this is a present reality. We see this from John's writing, both in Revelation and his earlier writing in Revelation chapter one and verse nine. I John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and Kingdom, your brother and partner in the tribulation. He says, he's their brother and partner in the tribulation. He's our brother and partner in the tribulation. Tribulation is not something foreign to John, but look at the context he puts it in Endurance that are in Jesus work on the island of Patmos, on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Why is he there? You should which is part of what great tribulation. In his Gospel John sixteen thirty thirty three, I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world in the acts of the Apostles, acts chapter fourteen, beginning verse twenty one. When they had preached the gospel to the city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God again. Not something foreign to the Christian In Paul's writings Romans chapter eight, verses thirty five and thirty six, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or femininess or femine or nakedness, or danger or sword, as it is written, for your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. That's tribulation. Two Timothy, Chapter three, verse twelve. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. This idea of tribulation again is not something foreign to New Testament Christianity. It is not something out of which God raptures his people It is something through which God protects, guides and delivers his It is something that intensifies as we get closer to that great day of judgment. Why do these things matter? Things matter here? Here's why they matter. Number one because it tells us who is going to be sealed on the earth. The only people who make it through tribulation are the people who are sealed on the earth. If the only people who are sealed on the earth are ethnic Jews, then ethnic Jews are the only ones who are going to make it through tribulation. That is simply not the case. Well well, well no, that's just great tribulation. So wait, you have to be sealed in order to make it through great tribulation, But just regular tribulation. You can do that on your own. That dog won't hunt. Those who are sealed on the earth are the ones who make it through tribulation? That forty four one thousand is beyond ethnic judaism. That's important because you and I need to answer that question. Who on earth can stand those who are sealed? Who are the ones who are sealed? You and I are sealed because we belonged to God through his son Jesus Christ. What will the ceiling accomplish. This is important because of what the ceiling accomplish. Accomplishes, What does it accomplish. It accomplishes bringing us through tribulation and into the presence of God as the conquerors and overcomers that we read about in chapter two and chapter three. And who will be standing in heaven We looked at that on last week. Who will be standing in heaven? The ones who have made their robes white? How do you make your robes white? The blood of the lamb, That's how you make your robes white, the righteousness of Christ. Those are the ones who will stand. And so there is a connection between this ceiling and our making our robes white and standing before God. That's why these questions are important. That's why the issue of who it is that is sealed and who it is that stands, and what it is to be in tribulation matter. Now we get to this last paragraph, this last section, to a promise fulfilled and to the true glories of heaven. Look with me, if you will again, beginning in verse fifteen, before we read that, let me read this for you Isaiah forty nine. Ten. They shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind, nor sun shall strike them. For he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. Isaiah forty nine. Ten. See if you hear any inkling of that verse fifteen. Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And He who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat, for the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. He brings Isaiah forty nine ten directly into the end of Revelation chapter seven, thereby making a connection between this promise and those in the innumerable multitude, again, not just Israel, but the innumerable multitude, from the four corners of the earth, from every tribe and nation and tongue and people. That promise from Isaiah chapter forty nine for all of us, not just ethnic Jews, and it's clear that he brings it in here. It's also clear that what he's doing is going beyond just the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant. What we have here in these three verses is a collection of promise after promise after promise from God's word that had been brought to bear for this picture of us standing before God first priestly service. Look at verse fifteen. Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. Interestingly enough, we talked about the idea that this one hundred and forty four thousand are not just ethnic Jews, but all of the people of God. Now he makes a reference to the priesthood. But we're not just talking about Israelites, and we're not just talking about Levites in this priesthood, to which he refers again bolstering the argument that we're not talking about ethnic Jews, but a kingdom of priests. In Revelation chapter one, we've already seen this beginning of verse four, when he says, grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was, and who is to come, and from the seventh spirits that are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings on earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood. And what made us a kingdom priest to his God and Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and evor a'm in. He has made us a kingdom of priests to his Father. That's who we are. We are not levites, but we are a kingdom of priests. Beyond that, there's this picture of a temple. What temple to? What temple is he referring? Look at what he says, and serve him day and night in his temple? What temple? Is there a physical temple in heaven? Is there a physical temple in the New Jerusalem? To what is he referring here? So we are priests and we're serving God in his temple day and night. Not a new concept, by the way, One Peter chapter two, verses four and five. As you come to him a living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious. So Jesus is a living stone. By the way. When Jesus is here on the earth, what does he say about the temple? Destroy this temple? And in three days I'll raise it up again. What are we told he was referring to the temple of his body. So Jesus was referring to himself as the temple. So during jesus earthly ministry, he refers to himself as a temple. By the way, what's the temple? The temple is this place where God's manifest presence uniquely dwells. What does Jesus say when he is here, God incarnate, I am the place where God's manifest presence uniquely dwells. He is God, He is the temple. He is the place where the manifest presence of God dwells uniquely. That is who Jesus is. Now we see this picture of Jesus as a living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God, is he literally a stone? No? You, yourselves, Christians, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priestood, to offer spiritual sacrifices to acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. So now Jesus says his body is a temple, that place where the manifest presence of God uniquely dwells. And we also see that we as believers are being built into a temple, that place where the presence of God, the manifest presence of God, uniquely dwells. Paul gives us a clearer picture of this in Ephesians chapter two, beginning in verse nineteen. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. By the way, he's talking about gentiles here built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ, Jesus himself being the cornerstone. Same thing that Peter talks about Jesus's cornerstone as a precious stone. Now we see he's a cornerstone. The apostles and prophets are foundation in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into altogether a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you're also being built together into a dwelling place for God by this spirit. There is no literal temple being referred to here in Revelation. By the way, this is all going to be important when we get to Revelation chapter eleven, when Angel tells John to measure the temple. You know that there are people right now who have organizations to raise money to sin to Israel for the building of an end times temple, because again, in their theological constructs, in the construct of futurism, you've got to have a physical, rebuilt temple in Israel, and it has to be what's being referred to here. Again, temple not being referred to here. Literally. We know this because of where the people are amen, and in Revelation chapter eleven, he is not referring to a literal physical temple. By the way, if I could just put a footnote here, it's worrisome to me. It's one thing to disagree, and I hope we've been clear on that we disagree with individuals on the reading of Revelation and the application of Revelation. We're not saying that these people are not brothers, although there are many who say that of us, that we have left the reservation, that we are not Orthodox, that we are heretics because of this reading of theok of Revelation, this historic Orthodox reading of the Book of Revelation. But we're not saying that about individuals. We're not There are people whom we love and respect greatly with whom we disagree on the reading of Revelation and can do so without parting ways. However, I have a huge problem with Christians who are sending money to Israel so that a temple can be built, so that blasphemous sacrifices of animals can be offered in it. After Christ has made a once for all sacrifice of himself, how dare we fund that? How dare we send money to that Christ seated on the throne at the right hand of God, having made a once for all sacrifice, and we send money so that people can blaspheme that once for all sacrifice in a temple in Jerusalem. God help us. That's unacceptable. That's not just a disagreement on a reading of a text. That's unacceptable. That is funding blasphemy. Please don't do that, Church, if any of you have ever been tempted to do that, please don't do that. Please don't, please don't spit upon the sacrifice of Christ like that. Secondly, we see this picture of God's presence. There's no more yearning for God's presence. And He who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. He who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. Now, by the way, this does not mean that God is just really big and he's gonna block everything out from us. Amen. When the kids, you know, when we talk about God in the Catechism, especially the Beginner's Catechism, the Catechism for boys and girls, you know, when we talk about where is God is? Everywhere we ask questions, who is God? God is a spirit and he doesn't have a body like men. So that is absolutely not what's being referred to here, which, by the way, bolsters the idea that the temple being spoken of is not literal either. Amen. That's not what's being spoken of here, spoken of here, but that the very presence of God is our shelter, that the presence of God is our strong tower, if you will, that God is those things. This goes back to Isaiah chapter four, verses five and six. Then the Lord will create over the whole sight of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flame, flaming fire by night. For over all the glory. There will be a canopy. There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat and for refuge, and a shelter from the storm, And the ring This is not a picture of God forming himself into these physical things, but it is a picture of who our God is and what it means to be forever in his presence. It's being protected. If you are a father, you understand this. If you're a father, you get this. If you're a father, even if your mother, you get this. You understand this. Our children are walking along or they're going on their very merry way, and all of a sudden they hear something go bump in the night. What do they do. They run to mommy, they run to daddy, and they grab your hand. Now, in that moment, they are not thinking that whatever this thing is that's going bump in the night, Mommy and Daddy are bigger than that thing. Mommy and Daddy are stronger than that thing. Mommy and Daddy they haven't thought about that. They haven't figured that out, they haven't put two and two together. And even if that thing comes through the wall and is just huge, and they know that it's bigger than you, and they know that it's stronger than you, what is their inclination to grab your hand and to press in as close to you as is humanly possible, because you are their shelter. That's the picture here. God is our shelter. But unlike your frail, fragile, limited, weak human mother and father, there is nothing that goes bump in the night that's bigger or better than your heavenly father. He is our shelter. That's the glory of heaven, folks. He is our shelter. You don't run and huddle up against a pearly gate or a golden street. God is our shelter. Not only that, but he our provision. No more want, no more lack. Look at the words that are using verse sixteen. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. What are our basic needs? We need food, we need water, We need shelter to protect us from the elements. What's being spoken of here, food, water, protection from the elements. So not only God's presence being our shelter, but God's presence being our provision. Everything we need supplied. Give us this day our daily bread. This is the manifestation of that, the fulfillment of that, the realization of that. It is God who does that. It's not just that the new Jerusalem is so bountiful that we can go and scratch out a living and scratch out surviving. That's not the point. The point is not a bountiful place. The point is a bountiful God. God is our provision. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God himself. This is the manifestation of that. This is the fulfillment of that. This is the realization of that. This is the glory of heaven. God is our protection, God is our provision. It's not stuff, it's God. Then there's the Shepherd and his guidance. No more wandering or searching. By the way, you remember those two things that I said with the glory of Heaven, the two things that are the opposite of what people were hiding from, running from, afraid of at being judged by in chapter six. The opposite of that is the same two individuals, the one seated on the throne and the lamb. So now we've seen a picture of the one seated on the throne and about his presence being our protection and in our provision. Now we see the shepherd who guides us. For the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. If this is not Psalm twenty three, I don't know what is. This is the realization of Psalm twenty three. So again we've gone beyond just those Abrahamic promises. We've gone far beyond that. Now we're seeing, as it were, a fulfillment of every promise that we have ever looked forward to, and ones that we couldn't even understand. Man, we didn't even have sense enough to ask for. All of that is fulfilled here living water. Jesus speaks to us about living water. He speaks to the woman at the well about living water. I will give you water and living water that will spring up into you into eternal life. That's the picture here Psalm twenty three. Look at those first couple of verses. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides still waters. He restores my soul. No more tears. Eternal joy, eternal joy, not just temporal and temporary happiness, but eternal joy. Why is there eternal joy? Because God is our joy? He is our delight Isaiah twenty five to eight. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of the people he will take away from all the earth. For the Lord has spoken the sting of death, the reproach of your sin and your guilt. No guilt, no grief, no mourning, no heartache. But why is that? But why won't we have those things? Because the streets will be so pretty. Here's why we won't have those things. When you cry, when you grieve, it is because you fear that you have lost something that you cannot It is because you fear that there is a place in you that will no longer be fulfilled. It is because you fear that there are people who think of you in ways that you don't want them to think of you. These are the things that cause us grief. These are the things that cause us fear, that cause us a lack of joy. These are those things. If you are in the presence of Him who sits on the throne and being shepherded by the lamb, what can you lose? What do you have to yearn for? What do you have to be sorry for? Folks, trust me. When you are in the presence of the Lamb, you will not fear that people think badly of you. You will know that no matter how badly they thought of you, it wasn't bad enough. But it's all right, because the Lamb has made your robes white and has cleansed you, and you are clothed in His righteousness, no longer foolishly depending upon your own which you never had in the first place. I can't say amen. You ought to say ouch. You are nothing. You are nobody apart from Christ. Revelation chapter twenty one. Turned there with me. Then I saw a new heaven and a new Earth, for the first heaven and the first Earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the Holy City New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Here's that phrase. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death shall be no more neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, For the former things have passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. This is the glory of heaven. Let me offer just a few parting, perhaps disconnected thoughts that I believe need to be addressed here as we talk about this topic. The first is this heaven is about a continuation of a relationship and the realization of a relationship. It is completely illogical to think that people who do not receive Christ as the good shepherd in the here and now will have Him as their good shepherd in the hereafter, just as it is completely illogical to think that people who do not love and long for His presence and his people in the here and now will somehow find themselves ushered into His presence with his people in the hereafter. Completely unthinkable. This is why thinking about heaven in those wrong ways is such a problem. If all we do is think about it in this platonic way, and that somehow, you know, we earn this release from our bodies, we completely miss the glory of heaven. And if you miss the glory of heaven, you miss the nature of heaven. And if you miss the glory of heaven and the nature of heaven, then you have no idea about who belongs there. People who do not love the people of God do not belong there. People who do not love the one seated on the throne and bow down to him here, and who do not serve and follow as their good shepherd the lamb here will not have him as the good shepherd there. They won't. Secondly, there are people in heaven. There are angels in heaven, and the two don't cross over. What are you talking about? Enough, already with he or she died because God needed another angel in heaven. Angels are not people. People are not angels. Angels do not become people. People do not become angels. Amen. Lastly, much of our grief, much of our pain, much of our disappointment, comes because of an over realized eschatology. I've talked about that for what does that mean? That means we are looking for these things that typify the age to come to exist in the here and the now. And so we grieve and we mourn and we hurt and we want to shake our fist set God. Why Well, because I'm a Christian, and I've experienced great loss, I've experienced great pain. Yeah. Now, now, when you stand before his throne, it will be reasonable for you to expect not to have loss and not to have pain, and not to have suffering. But if you are actually shaking your fist at God because you have suffering and loss and pain and the here and now, then you have two major problems. Number one, you are question in God, and number two, you are angry with God because he hasn't given you here and now what he has promised you there and then. These promises make no sense whatsoever if we get them here and now. Amen, what are we looking forward to? If we get him here and now? Why does heaven't have any glory at all? If we get these things here and now, and when you and I become mired in depression, when we become mired in fear and pain of loss, when we become mired in relationships that we want to hold on to, when we become mired in what people think about us, when we become distraught over those things. Ultimately, what we are doing is we are trying to bring into the here and the now something that waits for us there and then it's not yours yet, you know what's yours. Tribulation is yours, persecution is yours, loss is yours, grief is yours, pain is yours, heartache is yours. Those things are all yours. Well, really, then what good is it to belong to Christ? Here? And now there's wards on twenty three? Yay, Though I walk through the valley and the shadow of death, you are with me, Your rod and your staff, they come comfort me. You prepare a table before me. In the presence of my enemies. You annoyed my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Folks, that's in the valley. Amen, that's in the valley. We are going to stand with the good Shepherd in that place where pain is no more. But that place is not this place. We are going to stand with the good Shepherd and that place where heartache and sorrow and disappointment are no more. But that place is not this place. But here's the good news. The same shepherd who waits for us in that place is the one who guides us and walks with us in this one. He who shall be our complete, final and ultimate comfort is our comfort in the here and the now. Cling to him, hold to him, hope in him. He is the one who seals you and sees you through your tribulation, not around it. He is the one before whom and with whom you will stand when your journey is over. We all wanted to say that we've fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith we do. But you know the only way you get to say that fight finish. Keep m Let's spray