John 3:35: The Grace of Christ Exalted

Isaiah 2:1-5 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”...and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Intro

During the days of the Judges, lawlessness dominated the Land.

The overarching theme of the book of Judges is repeated multiple times:

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).

There was no King to hold it all together.

No justice. No righteousness.

Sin ran rampant; everyone doing what was right in their own eyes...

Inviting the darkness to corrupt and degrade everything it touched.

Its hard when we can look around at our world and say, “I have an idea of what that’s like.”

I don’t know about you, but when I look around at the world, its hard not to get discouraged.

From a worldly perspective it looks like everything is falling apart.

That corruption, death, and decay rules the day.

Everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes and everything is coming apart at the seams.

No matter how you look at it, its never been more obvious that God has given our culture to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done (Romans 1:28).

Romans 1 has never been more true.

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them (Romans 1:29-32).

Everywhere you look is a new sin or a new enemy that grieves your soul.

Whether its strong government overreach that can only be described in biblical terms as a Beast whose raised itself agains the living God.

We’ve had riots and divisions, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another (Titus 3:3).

And praise God that Roe was overturned, but does it really feel like abortion has been purged from our land?

You can still kill your baby with a pill you can buy over the counter.

Many states are expanding the slaughter of unborn children.

And any bill that fights for the equal protection of our unborn neighbors is shot down, and what’s worse, its shot down by the very Pro-Life movement that says they are against abortion.

Roe might be overturned, but our feet are still swift to shed blood anyway we can (Romans 3:15).

Just a side note, when someone tells you who they are…believe them.

And it doesn’t stop there.

The sexual perversion in our culture is insane.

Let alone the immodesty, promiscuity, adultery, and hookup culture that is common place in our culture...

Homosexuality and Transgenderism are shouted from the rooftops and coerced if you don’t comply.

And who would have ever imagined we would be arguing whether or not Drag Queen Story Hour and the mutilation of children under the guise of transgender care is actually good and necessary for the well being of our society.

Our darkness knows no bounds that we are doing everything we can to corrupt and destroy the most innocent among us.

The list could go on. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

God says all who hate me love death (Prov. 8:36). And its obvious that death and sin absolutely dominate every aspect of our culture.

We all feel the weight.

The oppression of this present darkness, because like righteous Lot our souls are tormented day after day over their lawless deeds that are seen and heard (2 Peter 2:8).

This sermon is going to be a little bit different.

Normally we work through a passage and see how the flow of the passage points to the glory of Christ and the author’s overall argument for the book.

And we’ll do that.

Next week we will look at John 3:35 and what it tells us about eternal life and being born again...

But I thought this week we would really zoom in on one part of this verse to see how it might encourage us today.

Because I think in God’s providence, this was a message I needed to hear, and hopefully one you need to hear as well.

Let me tell you where I’m coming from. What put me over the edge this week.

You had that shooting in Allen, Texas last week and then you also had another incident where a man drove his car into a crowd of people killing several.

And it wasn’t just that. Its the continual stream of violence, just another mass shooting in a long line of mass shootings…just a few months ago we had Christians murdered.

And then before you even have time to pray and grieve the evil of this world, all of that gets taken and twisted and turned around and immediately used as an argument for why the government should have more control of our lives.

That’s not an answer. When has that ever worked in the history of the world?

And everything just kind of clicked into place.

It all just kind of spilled over.

This world is such a mess. Its so broken. It seems like its spiraling out of control.

And then you start to wonder, “When’s it all going to stop?”

What’s the answer for all this?

What can possibly fix this and keep us from falling off the cliff into the abyss?

When we just look at the world with earthly eyes, everything starts to get hopeless because it feels like sin, darkness, death, and the enemies of the gospel are just growing stronger and stronger and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it.

The flood is coming and the only thing left is to drown.

Where can you put your hope, when everything looks hopeless?

That’s what I hope to help you with today.

I want to give you hope.

Remember the book of Judges.

There was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).

But there is a King, and His name is Jesus.

And He is the King of Heaven and Earth.

John 3:35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.

When it says given all things into His hand, that is that Christ has been exalted as King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16).

That He has been exalted to the right hand of the Father and is ruling and reigning over all things for His glory and the good of His people.

John has said it several times already.

He who comes from above is above all (John 3:31).

Or as Paul said God has seated Christ at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named (Eph 1:21).

He has given all things into His hand.

In my experience, most Christians don’t know what to do with Christ’s reign at the right hand of the Father.

They know His death, burial, and resurrection is important.

And His second coming when He returns to judge the living and the dead is important.

But we don’t really know what to do with in between.

For many Christians, Christ session at the right hand of the Father is little more than a holding pattern where everything is king of put on pause until Christ returns.

But is that true?

God has exalted Christ to the right hand of the Father and put all things in subjection under His feet.

Does that have any bearing on our life today?

When it looks like sin, paganism, and the enemies of the gospel are stronger than ever before...

And the walls of Satan’s Kingdom are stronger than the walls of Jericho...

And it looks like we are just grasshoppers compared to all the giants in the land...

Is there any hope to be found in Christ and His reign at the right hand of the Father for our life and the world we are facing?

Here’s the Big Question:

What grace does Christ’s exaltation at the right hand of the Father give to you today?

That’s the goal we are trying to answer in our sermon today.

The Father has given all things into His hands. He has exalted Him to the throne.

What grace does that afford to all of us who trust in Christ’s name?

So here’s what we are going to do.

We are going to first look at what does it mean that Christ is on the throne theologically.

What are we saying when we say that Christ has been exalted to the right hand of the Father?

And then we are going to end this sermon with five applications, five graces Christ exalted gives to our life.

Let’s start with the most quoted Old Testament passage in the New Testament: Psalm 110.

Christ on the Throne

Psalm 110

Psalm 110:1-3 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

This is the most quoted verse in the NT.

And every time it refers to Christ’s current reign at the right hand of the Father.

In Acts 2, Peter tied this verse directly to Christ ascension into heaven after He rose from the grave and said Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified (Acts 2:33-35).

Jesus is on the throne today. He sat down when He ascended into Heaven, and He continues to reign over all things.

And what this is is the LORD God, God the Father, rewarding Christ for His work.

Christ was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross to save God’s people…Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name (Phil 2:8-9).

And here is God’s promise: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

In Hebrews 2 the Author said “You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.

That’s Christ exalted at the right hand of the Father. But verse 8 goes on...

At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him (Hebrews 2:8).

The not yet implies that this is ongoing.

Its been accomplished. Its all done. Everything has been subjected to Him. But its still working itself out.

This gives you a hint of where history is going.

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul says For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death which will be destroyed at the resurrection when Christ returns (1 Corinthians 15:25-26).

But until then, every enemy has been put under Christ’s feet and will be made throughout history to be His footstool as Christ grows His Kingdom on the earth.

Look at verse 2...

The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!

Zion is prophetic language for the Kingdom of God.

In Hebrews 12:22 the Author of Hebrews tells Christians in the mid 60s AD you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.

According to the Author of Hebrews they were there already and so are we.

Does Ephesians not say we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6).

That we are transferred from the Kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of His beloved Son (Col. 1:13).

And from Zion, from the Kingdom of God, the Lord sends forth Christ’s mighty scepter, a symbol of His power and authority, and gives Him a command: Rule in the midst of your enemies.

Notice this is on earth.

There are no enemies in heaven.

So from heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, God promises to extend Christ’s Kingdom over the earth to He rule from heaven in the midst of His enemies.

And this reign is not a merely a spiritual reign.

Its not a mere heavenly reign that rules over the world but has not real world effect down here.

Later in the Psalm Jesus judges nations and shatters kings. Kings on earth.

Christ’s heavenly reign is a real Kingdom.

All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me.

He rules from heaven the same way a king rules a nation from a capital city.

The King may not be physically present, but that does not mean the King and His will, His law, and His Sovereignty doesn’t still rule over the land.

Christ is already reigning, He’s on the throne.

All His enemies have been subjected under His feet, but we do not yet see them there. The full submission of His enemies is still ahead.

Its been accomplished, and now its being worked out and applied.

Therefore, this Psalm is speaking of where we are today.

If it was a map, it would say "You are here.”

Then we are told in verse 3

Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments...

These are you and me.

The saints. Pictured here as a holy army following the Lord into battle.

We are told they offer themselves freely or willingly.

They love the King.

Will go anywhere for the King.

Even die for the King.

And they are clothed in holy garments; that is robes washed in the righteous blood of Christ.

And this army comes to Christ and send out from Christ on the day of His power.

Now what is that?

Well if verse 1 is Christ’s ascension, what is the next thing that happens in the history of redemption?

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

What did Christ say?

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

This helps explain how God will ultimately send forth Christ’s scepter and grow His Kingdom: through the preaching of the gospel.

Then we come to verse 4...

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

This speaks to Christ as a Great Priest-King.

The way Hebrews interprets this, Christ is not only a King, He is also a Priest who saves His people from their sins.

He is our Great High Priest who offered His life as a sacrifice for our sins, and now He lives forever with the promise to save us to the uttermost (Heb. 7:21-25).

He sits at the right hand of the Father to intercede on our behalf, and will the Father ever deny any prayer of His own Beloved Son?

Verses 5-7...

The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.

This is Christ conquering the nations.

Shattering all those that refuse to bow down to Him.

The Lord is at His right hand to say that God is with Him in this task, ensuring the full success of His Kingdom to world wide dominion.

Psalm 72:8 He shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the River, presumably the river of eternal life and salvation, to the ends of the earth.

And then we are even told in verse 7 He will drink from the brook by the way.

The picture here looks back at David pursuing his enemies in 1 Samuel 30.

200 men stayed behind because they were too exhausted while David and 400 men took a quick drink and kept up the pursuit.

That is a picture of our Lord Jesus.

He will be continually refreshed in building His Kingdom and not grow faint or weary until He has established His Kingdom over the earth (Isaiah 42:4).

That is why it says Therefore…He will lift up His head.

People bow to kings, but He Himself will bow to no one.

He will be victorious.

Every other King, every enemy will bow before Him.

This is Christ exalted on the Throne.

And we get a fuller picture of this in another Enthronement Psalm, Psalm 2.

Psalm 2

Psalm 2 has these famous words in Psalm 2:7-9.

Psalm 2:7-9 “I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.

This again, according to the New Testament, was fulfilled in Jesus Christ’s resurrection and ascension (Acts 13:33).

The beginning of the Psalm talks about the nations raging against the Lord and His Anointed.

They want nothing to do with Him or His Kingdom.

They oppose Him at every turn as sinful man is inclined to do.

But all the while, God laughs and holds them in derision using all their plots and devices to accomplish His own will.

And once enthroned the Father promises the Son...

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.

Remember how Jesus came and said All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

I am King of kings and Lord of lords.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).

They are my inheritance. The Father has promised them to me. Go get them.

And then verse 9...

You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

This is a warning to everyone who does not serve the Lord with fear and trembling.

Kiss the Son lest he be angry and you perish in the way…Blessed are all who take refuge in him (Psalm 2:12).

Salvation and judgment. This tells us how Christ will advance His Kingdom.

Christ has two weapons. The Sword of the Spirit and the Rod of Iron.

The Sword of the Spirit is of course the gospel which is carried forth to all nations by the church.

Christ’s holy army who offer themselves willingly on the day of his power.

The Iron Rod is His sovereign providence and judgments.

Job 12:23 He raises up nations and he destroys them.

If they do not repent and worship the Son through the preaching of His gospel, He smashes them like a potter’s vessel.

And Christ will continue to reign over all History until Psalm 22:27-28 All the ends of the earth remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations worship before Him. For Kingship belongs to the LORD, and He rules over the nations.

This is what Christ is doing in History.

It is not Chaos.

Christ is on the throne. He is ruling and reigning over all things, to perfectly accomplish His will which is the glory of God and the good of His people.

The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hands.

He has exalted Him to the place of highest honor over all things and Christ will build His Kingdom and save His people to the ends of the earth.

You wanna know what God is doing now? That’s it.

He is exalting Christ above all things and giving Him the nations as His inheritance to show the glory and power of His love and salvation towards all who believe.

Christ exalted ultimately exalts the Love and glory of God.

Philippians 2:8-11

Don’t miss why God has exalted Christ to His right hand from Philippians 2:8-11.

We referenced it earlier.

Philippians 2:8-11 He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore...

Because of Christ’s sacrificial life, death, and resurrection...

God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God exalted Christ to the Throne as a reward and declaration of His good pleasure in the Son offering His life as a sacrifice for our sins because in doing so, Jesus declared to the world that God is love.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

When we see the glory of Christ on the throne, what we are really seeing is the glory of God who loved us and gave His own Son for us.

Christ exalted reveals the love of God in all of His infinite glory.

A love so loving, that God suffers indignation every day in patience, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance and give glory to the Son and have life in His name (Psalm 7:11, 2 Peter 3:9).

So you see, the exaltation of Christ, isn’t just about authority.

It is that. Christ has been given power, a Kingdom, and dominion.

But the exaltation of Christ is so much more.

Its a declaration of the gospel.

A declaration that God so loved us He sent His own Son to die for us.

And that Christ in perfect obedience has fully satisfied the Father’s wrath once and for all to save us from our sins.

Summary

That is a brief theology of Christ’s exaltation.

Christ is on the throne. Exalted at the right hand of the Father.

God has given all things into His hands.

And from there He is reigning and ruling over all things, growing His Kingdom like leaven until all is leavened (Matthew 13:31-33).

Until all of His enemies are made a footstool under His feet, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

That is the theology that guides the world.

No matter what our eyes see…that’s the truth.

Jesus is King.

And God has exalted Him over all things and promised to Him the nations as His inheritance.

The question we need to ask is has God ever broken a promise? Especially a promise to His own beloved Son.

No. Of course not.

So, that is where we are.

No matter what you might see in the world, no matter how dark and hopeless it might seem...

Christ is on the Throne and God is building His Kingdom and redeeming His people every day.

No matter what we might face, that is the hope and the confidence we can have for today.

Now with all that said...

What application or grace does Christ exalted give to you? How does this work itself out in your everyday life.

Application

The first two applications speak to our spiritual life and salvation...

And the rest have to deal with our life in the world but not of it.

Number 1...

I. Christ Exalted Gives Us the Full Assurance of Salvation

The focus here is Christ as our Priest-King.

Hebrews 10:11-13 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.

The idea is that under the Old Covenant, a Priest could never sit down because His work was never done.

There was always more sacrifices for sins.

But not Christ.

He sits down because offered His life as a once and for all sacrifice to secure for us an eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12).

We are also told in Hebrews 7:25, After quoting Psalm 110: You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, that Christ lives forever to make intercession for His people, and Consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him.

That Christ reigns at the right hand of the Father and from there, He prays for you.

He does not forget us or abandon us, but continually prays for us that we might persevere to the end.

As our Great High Priest who has sat down at the right hand of the Father, Christ saves us to the uttermost.

Number 2...

II. Christ Exalted is King of All Our Life

If God has exalted Him above every name that is named, then Christ should be exalted above everything else in your life.

Is He your King?

Do you follow Him? Obey Him?

Live for His glory and His alone?

Trust Him with all of your life?

That’s the call of the Christian.

If Christ is King, then He rules over all.

And first and foremost He must rule over our life.

Jesus said If you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15).

And when He came preaching He said The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel (Mk. 1:15).

Part of following Christ as King means repenting of sin and obeying Him with all of our life.

The nations are commanded to kiss the Son. They will never do that unless we kiss the Son first.

Number 3...

III. Christ Exalted Rules Over All

This is where we start talking about our life in the world but not of it.

God works all things according to the counsel of his will (Eph. 1:11).

And I want you to look what Paul says in Ephesians 1:20-22 [God] seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church.

So Christ is head over all things, and God has given Him as head over all things to the church.

In other words, Christ rules the world, He rules over all things, to exalt His glory and works all things together for the good of His church (Rom. 8:28, Flavel, Christ humbled Yet Exalted, 176; Christ and His Threefold Office, 143-144)..

Nothing thwarts His purposes or plans (Is. 43:13).

Even though it might look like everything is out of control and falling apart, we must remember the promise that in him all things hold together (Col. 1:17).

All of God’s providences are infinitely wise and infinitely good and are working together to perfectly accomplish His ends (Eph 1:11).

As Puritan John Flavel said, “Christ orders and determines all affairs of [the world] for the special advantage and everlasting good of His redeemed people.” (Threefold Office, 144).

And that takes us to grace number 4.

IV. Christ Exalted Rules Over Even the Enemies of the Gospel

This is related to the last point, but its so important it deserves its own place.

Even Christ enemies are, in a great mystery, working under God’s providence to accomplish His ends. Not their own.

This is what we need to day when our enemies and the enemies of the gospel appear to be so strong and overwhelming.

But...

Psalm 2:4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.

Christ is so infinitely above them that even their best laid plans fall apart and only serve His ultimate purpose.

What do we have to fear?

They might harass us, distress us and war against us, but the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

Their plans will fall because we are promised that the last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Cor 15:26).

They may appear strong and overwhelming, but they are nothing at all compared to the One who has been given all dominion, and authority, and power.

And Romans 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

Therefore…Number 5...

V. Christ Exalted Encourages Us to Get Back in the Fight

This is where I really wanted to land. The other graces are the cherry on top, but this is the icing on the cake.

With Christ on the Throne with the full assurance of victory and the inheritance of the nations promised by the Father, what do we have to lose?

The darkness we face in the world should not drive us to hide in our churches but to follow Christ out in His great and glorious conquest of the nations.

To live out with all of our lives and all that we are the Great Commission.

Acts 17 tells us that the early church turned the world upside down by preaching another king, Jesus (Acts 17:7).

They were facing the Roman Empire, the Jews, every pagan religion under the sun, and the gospel took over the world.

In Colossians Pauls said it was preached to all creation under heaven and that it was bearing fruit and increasing in the whole world (Col. 1:23, 6).

The problem is, many Christians have forgotten how to fight.

We do not war against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual powers of evil over this present darkness (Eph. 6:12).

And the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but have divine power to destroy strongholds (2 Cor. 10:4).

What are those weapons?

Preaching, Prayer, and the Power of the Holy Spirit.

The Three Ps that can change the world.

Preaching

Remember what Jesus said.

Matthew 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of death shall not prevail against it.

What is this rock? Its Peter and His confession.

You are the Christ! The Son of the Living God! (Matthew 16:16).

Its the gospel.

And the gates of death will not prevail against it. We are on offense not defense.

All who hate me love death.

The Bible says all those who are dead in their sins live under the shadow of death (Matthew 4:16).

And Isaiah promised that Christ would swallow up the covering that is cast over the peoples and the veil that is spread over all nations…and that covering is death (Isaiah 25:7-8).

And Christ swallowed up death forever on the cross.

The gospel is the answer, and its the only answer, to all the darkness and wickedness we see today.

There is no King in Israel. Everyone does right in His own eyes.

Do we preach another king, Jesus?...

Prayer

Remember how the Lord commanded us to pray.

Matthew 6:9-10 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, [in our hearts…in some unseen spiritual realm somewhere out there…No!] on earth as it is in heaven.

Notice the prayer that God’s name would be hallowed, or worshiped, in all the earth...

And that His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Meaning that to the same degree that God’s will is done in heaven, that is what we are praying for God to accomplish on earth.

This prayer is a prayer that God would be worshiped and build His Kingdom on earth to such a degree that His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Now remember the context: Lord teach us to pray (Luke 11:1).

Do we really think that Jesus gave us a prayer that the Father would not answer?

If the Lord himself told us to pray this, it is implied that He intends to answer it.

In addition to preaching the gospel, we need to pray for God’s Kingdom.

Pray that God would crush our enemies and that the gospel would go forth.

Do we pray that?

And from there we pray and bear witness relying on the power of the Holy Spirit.

Power of the Holy Spirit

The odds might seem insurmountable.

But Hebrews 11:1 Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Remember what kept Israel out of the land. Unbelief.

They were called to conquer, but spies came back and they said, they're all giants. We are nothing more than grasshoppers to them (Numbers 13:33).

That’s how many Christians see the world today.

It all seems hopeless.

Sin’s too deep.

Enemies are too strong, they have too much power.

But Christ is on the Throne.

Our faith is not in ourselves, our faith is in God and His Power, and the power of the gospel which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16).

If God has promised it, nothing is going to stop. We might not see it. Our kids might not see it.

But the road to the Kingdom is built 1 brick at a time.

When all seems dark and it seems overwhelming and impossible for us to answer the sin and darkness of our culture, we need to remember Isaiah 9:7.

Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

But it must start with the Church.

Conclusion

How is the world supposed to kiss the Son when we are too busy kissing the world?

Christ must be our King, and the joy and treasure of our life.

And from there, the Lord will send forth His mighty scepter from Zion, with a command: Rule in the midst of your enemies.

Christ exalted on the throne, gives us the:

Full assurance of Salvation

The hope that all things, including His enemies, are working together to exalt His glory and establish His Kingdom.

And this gives us confidence to get back in the fight.

To offer ourselves willingly on the day of His power with prayer preaching and faith in the power of the Holy Spirit with the full assurance that He will drink from the brook by the way, and lift up His head.