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Isaiah 62, and verse number 1, For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest. The title for the sermon tonight is, For Jerusalem's Sake. For Jerusalem's Sake. Now, what's really interesting about Jerusalem in terms of the book of Isaiah, I've been sharing with you how one of the challenging things about the book of Isaiah is understanding what time period Isaiah is speaking about. When we think about Jerusalem, obviously we are familiar with that city being the capital city of Israel in the time of the old covenant, right? So, when we read about Isaiah speaking of Jerusalem here, you know, we could conclude, well, he might be talking about Israel of his day. As he walked the earth, the Israel that he saw there, the kings of Judah that ruled there, he might be talking about that Israel. All right, but what we saw last week though, or two weeks ago really, is that Jerusalem will be rebuilt with walls, special walls, and it's going to be beautified. It's going to be a powerful capital city when Jesus Christ rules this earth as well. And so, you know, this idea of Jerusalem being reconstructed is a theme that comes up a few times in the Bible. We know that Isaiah also prophesied of the coming judgment upon the people of Judah by the hand of the Babylonians. And you may recall, when the Babylonians came, they destroyed Jerusalem, right? They tore down the walls and they destroyed the temple. And so, 70 years afterwards, when the children, the new generations of the Jews were to come back into the land, they rebuilt Jerusalem. So could Isaiah be speaking about that rebuilt Jerusalem? You know, and that rebuilt Jerusalem is the Jerusalem that Jesus Christ walked when he was on this earth 2,000 years ago. Now, there are many pastors that will take passages like what we're seeing here in Isaiah in other prophets, and they'll say, well, the Jerusalem that's been prophesied about, that's actually 1948 Jerusalem, or today's Jerusalem, right? As we know it today, Jerusalem in the Middle East today, they'll say, well, that's the Jerusalem that many times these prophets are prophesying about. So you've got that third Jerusalem then. And then we also know that in the end times when, you know, we've got that final seven year period where three and a half years of that is the great tribulation and then God pours out his wrath, we know that for three and a half years, the Gentiles tread Jerusalem under their feet, and so it becomes wasteland, it becomes destroyed as well. So when Christ comes back to begin his 1,000 year reign, we also know that Christ also rebuilds Jerusalem in a mighty way, and is that the Jerusalem that Isaiah is speaking about, where Jesus Christ ruled from that Jerusalem for 1,000 years? But then there's also a fifth Jerusalem, which is the Jerusalem of above, it's the heavenly Jerusalem. When God creates a new heaven and a new earth, that heavenly Jerusalem descends from above, and that's the new Jerusalem, the mother of us all, the Bible speaks about. Is that the Jerusalem that Isaiah is speaking about? And so, as I've been studying and working on the sermons through Isaiah 62, I'm often asking myself that question. What Jerusalem are you speaking about? You know, what Israel are you prophesying about? Which coming of the Lord is this about? Is this about his first coming? Is this about his second coming? And we've already seen that many times. The lines are blurred between Christ's first coming and second coming in the prophets, but the New Testament, and especially the book of Revelation, gives clarity for us as to what time period all of this fits. Anyway, we start there in Isaiah 62, and God says these words, For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until, okay, so this is when he's finally gonna be at rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof, as a lamp that burneth. All right, so, let's just quickly ask this question. If this Jerusalem is one where righteousness goes forth as brightness, as salvation, and salvation is this lamp, that bird of coming from this city, is this 1948 Israel? Is this today's Israel? Of course not! There is no salvation coming out of that city, right? So, you know, we can strike that, but, you know, the reason I bring this up is because you'll find prophetic books out there in the kurongs or the sorongs, shops that's out there, and they'll be quoting passages like this. This promises the fulfillment of 1948 Israel, and it's like, dude, you got it all wrong. But before I go into too much about it, like, this obviously talked about a great Jerusalem. You know, when I was reading this chapter, I was thinking, could this be the thousand year reign Jerusalem that Jesus Christ reigns from, or could this be the new Jerusalem coming from above? I could see merit from both points of view. And one thing that I do when I'm looking at God's word is I start to just think about it. I try to read the Bible, like, I try to have a natural reading, a natural understanding of what I'm coming to as I open God's word. And so because I've seen Isaiah 60 speaking about the Jerusalem of the millennium, and then Isaiah 61 about God rebuilding the way cities during the millennial reign of Christ, when I get to Isaiah 62 and I read about this Jerusalem, my natural reading, my natural thought process is still in that millennial period, all right? But before I get too much into that, we're in Isaiah 62. So my question is, what is the 62nd book of the Bible? First John, thank you, brother. Keep your finger there in Isaiah 62 and come with me to First John chapter one. First John chapter one, we're looking at some of the parallels, the thematic parallels that are in the chapters of Isaiah with the corresponding books of the Bible. So when you get to First John in chapter one, and by the way, this has been a reoccurring theme, so far in the book of Isaiah, about coming out of darkness, about being a people of light, and this new Jerusalem, this Jerusalem that we're reading about is a Jerusalem where a lamp is a lamp that burneth. There's a light that shines out of this Jerusalem. And what we see here in First John chapter one, verse number five, it says, "'This then is the message which we have heard of him "'and declare unto you that God is light, "'and in him is no darkness at all.'" So what we understand that if God is light, and we know that Christ is our Lord God Almighty, and he's going to walk this earth for 1,000 years and roam from this city, that this city is also gonna be a city of light. It makes sense that it's a lamp that burneth. And what we also read is that, "'For Zion's sake, I will not hold my peace. "'For Jerusalem's sake, I will not rest.'" So it is the goal of the Lord Jesus Christ to make Jerusalem a place that shines brightly on this earth. And again, that will begin to be fulfilled in his millennial reign. If we continue there in First John chapter one, look at verse number six. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. All right, we understand a condition that we find here in First John that in order for us to be the people of light and not of darkness, we need to have the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse us from all sin. This is why, again, 1948 or today's Israel is not the Israel that is being prophesied here in Isaiah 62. Because those people there are not washed by the blood of the Lamb, okay? And if they're not washed by the blood of the Lamb, then they cannot be the people of light. They cannot walk in the light of Jesus Christ. They are still in darkness today. Amen. Keep your finger there in First John. We'll come back to Isaiah 62. Isaiah 62 and verse number two. Isaiah 62 and verse number two. It says, and the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness. And again, I've been saying this over and over again as we go through the book of Isaiah, the word Gentiles means nations, all right? Some people have this idea that Gentile means non Jew. Kind of, but that's not the primary meaning. The primary meaning of Gentiles is nations, nations, okay? And the Gentiles or the nations, you could say it, shall see thy righteousness and all kings thy glory. And thou shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. So we learn about this Jerusalem, it's gonna be called by a new name, okay? Now, again, we can either say, is this is Jerusalem itself receiving a new name? Or we could ask the question, are the inhabitants of Jerusalem receiving a new name at this point in time? Well, if you can, again, keep your finger there and come back with me to First John and look at First John chapter three. First John chapter three, please. So it says here that Jerusalem or the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be called by a new name. Well, First John chapter three, verse number one says, Behold, what manner of love the Father have bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Did you know that you've already been called by a new name? The moment you got saved in Jesus Christ, you've already been given a new name, as it were, and that new name that you've been given is the sons of God. Before you were saved, you were not the sons of God, all right? John chapter one, verse 12 says, But as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. And so the moment you believe in the name of Jesus Christ, you have been made and you are called the sons of God. Continue there in verse number two. First John chapter three, verse number two. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, that's when Jesus shall appear, we shall be like him, look at this, for we shall see him as he is. All right, so we learn a few things here that when we see Christ, we're going to be like Christ. We're going to be just like him. We're going to have new resurrected bodies by the power of the resurrection of Christ. And so when we talk about this Jerusalem and ruling with him for a thousand years, you need to understand that we're not going to be ruling from sin-cursed bodies. We're not going to be battling the flesh as these rulers with Jesus Christ. We are not only saved inwardly, but our outward flesh is saved as well in these new bodies, and we will be like Christ. So come back with me to Isaiah 62. And what I like about that is that we're going to see Christ and be like Christ, and Isaiah 62, verse two, again began with, and the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness. And of course the righteousness of God as it's been termed a few times in the book of Isaiah is ultimately a reference to Jesus Christ, that they're going to see Christ ruling from this city, and when we see Christ, we're going to have those new resurrected bodies, and we're going to rule with him. Something else that's quite interesting about these passages is that concept of the new name. Like I said, even today, you are called by a new name. You are called by the name of the sons of God. But the book of Revelation speaks more so about what this name might reflect. So what I want you to do is come with me to Revelation chapter two, please. Revelation chapter two. Revelation chapter two. And it's really when I was looking at this concept of the new name that helped me identify Isaiah 62 as the Jerusalem of a thousand years, that Christ rules from, and not the heavenly Jerusalem in the new heavens and the new earth. But Revelation chapter two and verse number 17 says, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh, so I'll keep that very simple. To him that overcometh is the one that has believed on Jesus Christ. If you've put your faith on Jesus Christ, you are this person that has overcome. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. I've read this passage before in Isaiah, and what we learn here is that one day Christ will give us all that has overcome, all that has believed on Christ as a savior, that he gives us a new name. Now, I don't know what that new name is. We don't know, okay? The way I kind of think about it is, we know about Abraham, for example, and Abraham is the father of faith, and we're the children of Abraham, as it were, because we're the children of promise, we're the children of faith, and Abraham, before that was his name, his name was Abram, you might recall that, right? Abram. Does anyone know what the meaning of Abram means? It basically means father, and then his name was changed to Abraham, which means what? Father of nations. Father of nations, father of many nations, okay? And so, yeah, he's a father, but father of what? Well, father of many nations. Well, that kind of makes sense, because what we saw last week is that the people of God will be made up of all nations, and these people that have trusted Christ will be given a new name, so that's quite interesting. Also, in Revelation chapter three, look at Revelation chapter three, and verse number 12, there's another new name that is spoken about here in Revelation three, but this new name is not a new name that is given to us. Believe it or not, this is a new name that is given to Jesus Christ, and in Revelation three, 12, it says, him that overcometh, so that's you and I once again, will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, look at this, and I will write upon him my new name. These are the words of Jesus. He says that for those that have overcome the believers, that we're going to rule with Christ, he speaks about this Jerusalem being new Jerusalem, which cometh out from heaven above, that heaven Jerusalem is the one when Christ, or when God creates a new heaven, a new earth, after the thousand year reign of Christ is over, and that new Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of that new Jerusalem, will have the name of, the new name of Jesus Christ written upon them. I don't know what that new name is, something we're going to discover when we enter into that eternal state with Jesus Christ, but what I found interesting is, when I was considering is this Jerusalem of Isaiah 62, I was thinking, is this heavenly Jerusalem? Well, let me associate this concept of a new name, and when I had a look at heavenly Jerusalem, the concept there is relating to Christ having a new name, and so when I look at this idea that Jerusalem, or those that inhabit Jerusalem, will be given a new name ourselves, then this must be the millennial Jerusalem. So that's one differentiation that you can tell, if this is about us having a new name, then it must be the millennium, but if it's about Christ having a new name, it must be about Jerusalem, which descends from above. I hope that makes sense, okay? Look, as I've been going through Isaiah, and same for Isaiah, it's been very deep, it's been very heavy, but I've been thoroughly enjoying a lot of things that I've been learning. Like, I've been thoroughly enjoying, like, I have a better grasp of the millennium than I have ever had in my life, I'll be honest with you. It's not that I've never read Isaiah before, of course I have, but there's a big difference between just reading through the Bible and stopping, thinking, preparing, studying, trying to preach from it, and the depth you need to go to, comparing scriptures. Man, I really want to do a sermon just from the millennium, and cover all the things that I've discovered as I've been going through the book of Isaiah. So, with these things in mind, with the natural reading of Isaiah, plus this idea of the new name being given to Jerusalem rather than a new name given to Christ, I've concluded that Isaiah 62 is about, once again, the millennial reign of Christ, Him reigning from Jerusalem. I hope that kind of makes sense. Let's continue there in Isaiah 62 and verse number 3. It says in verse number 3, Thou shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. So, God is saying that the people that dwell in this Jerusalem will be a crown of glory. I want you to think about these words, a crown. We associate crowns with kings, right? Kings and queens. And a royal diadem, I don't know if you guys know what a diadem is. It's kind of like a crown. It's another, just another, like a headpiece that might be made from jewels and precious stones and things like that. So, the concept here is that the people that dwell in this city are a royal people, okay? A royal people. And you may recall, if you look back at Isaiah 61 and verse number 6, Isaiah 61 verse number 6, it said, But ye shall be called the priests of the Lord. And I had proven, and I'm going to prove it once again, if you can come back with me to Revelation 5, just to cement this home, come with me to Revelation 5, please, Revelation 5. So, what we see in Isaiah 62 is that the people that dwell in that city are this royal diadem, a crown of glory, speaking of royalty. We also learnt in Isaiah 61 that these people are the priests of the Lord. And when we look at Revelation 5 and verse number 10, Revelation 5-10, it says here, And hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. Well, that is, that aligns with what we're seeing in Isaiah. That the people that reign on the earth, the people that reign from millennial Israel are kings, they're part of the royal family, and they're priests. And that's what people say, Well, that must be only the Jews. But if you look at Revelation 5-9, the verse before, as a reminder, we saw this last week, and they sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the sills thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by the blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. So people saying these words are people of every kindred, of every tongue, of every people and every nation, and has made us, who's us? People of every kindred, of every nation, of every tongue, of all people, right? And has made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. I want to just submit this. I know I covered this last week, but I need to because there are so many pastors today and even pastors that I love. I don't think they're trying to be deceptive, all right? They would just say to you, No, the people that reign for that thousand years with Christ are the Jews. Well, the spiritual Jews, the Jew that is one inwardly, not the Jew that is one outwardly, but they mix that up. They think it's the Jew that is one outwardly. So they look at the Jews, which are ones outwardly today, the 1948 Jews, today's Jews, and they think it's the same people. They think it's the same Jerusalem. No, it's not the same people. It's not the same Jerusalem. The people that rule with Christ, that are kings and priests, are of every tribe, of every nation, of every tongue, of all people, those that have overcome and trusted Christ as their Savior. All right, a lot of that is just a bit of an introduction to this chapter. Again, I'm just cementing the things that you already know, and you might say, pastor, it's becoming a bit redundant. You keep repeating the same things, but I have to, because I'm telling you now, there are other churches that will teach you otherwise, and I don't know how, because to me, the Bible is so consistent. It fits so well, like it's such a puzzle that all the pieces fit perfectly together. I may not understand every piece, but they all fit. That's the thing, okay? And that's what's great about God's Word. So let's continue there in Isaiah 62 and verse number four. It says here in Isaiah 62, verse number four, thou has, sorry, thou shalt be no more termed forsaken. Neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate, but thou shall be called Hepzibah, and thy land Beulah, for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. Now there is a hymn that we sing sometimes, dwelling in Beulah land. You guys probably familiar with that one? I'm living, is that how it goes? On the mountain, underneath a cloudless sky. Anyway, you know that hymn, we'll sing it after the sermon, all right? Dwelling in Beulah land. Well, this is the only place in the Bible where Beulah is even mentioned, did you know that? It's the only reference in the Bible. Now here's what's funny, I'll tell you what's funny. It's because that hymn is sung in just about every independent Baptist church here in Sydney. At least every independent Baptist church that I've been part of, we've sung that hymn. Dwelling in Beulah land. But when you read about it in the Bible, oh, that's the Jews. I thought we were dwelling in Beulah land. It's like, can't your songs match your doctrine, match your theology, right? Or, you know, what's the other song that we sing? Ye chosen seed of Israel's race, ye ransom from the fall. We're talking about us as Israel's race, the chosen, right? Oh, that's the Jews. It's like, why do you keep singing things that are contradictive to your theology? You know, I say that is because, you know, a lot of these hymn writers, I don't know if all these hymn writers were saved, I have no idea. But many of these hymn writers, they're just singing out of a pure heart to just praise the Lord. You know, they're not coming from, does this line up with my Bible doctrine? Right, sorry, does this line up with my Bible college? You know, they're not coming from that perspective. Does this line up with dispensationalism? They're just praising the Lord, they're singing this passage of the Bible like, man, this is about me, I can't wait for the promises to come. And you know, they sing these songs and they've been passed down generation to generation. Many of these songs are old, and they're great songs and we sing them in church. But the theology that comes out of your preacher is contrary many times to these hymns. It's amazing how much doctrine is actually correct in the hymns and then our past is contradicted behind the pulpit. It's strange, I don't really fully understand it. But anyway, I have no problem singing about Beulah Land. I'm looking forward to rowing for a thousand years with Jesus Christ. But I don't know, how do you sing it if you don't believe that doctrine? It's strange to me, I don't know. You know, again, I don't wanna just attack these pastors. If they're saved, it's my brother in the Lord. If they're pastoring, I wanna honor their office. You know, if they're serving, I wanna thank them for their sacrifice. If not for these pastors that I've sat under over the years, I would not be the man that I am today, I'd probably not be a pastor today, all right? So I'm very thankful for the man that God has put in my life. But when their doctrine is wrong, it needs to be called out. It's not that I have hatred to all these people. I don't think they're even trying to be deceptive. They're just afraid to step out of line many times. They're just afraid. If I step out of line, then what are my friends gonna say about me? You know, and who cares? I believe that, I just think who cares? But many times it's easier said than done. You know, when you have a lot to lose, you have a reputation to potentially lose. I didn't have such reputation to lose. I had no reputation. You know, when I became a pastor inside of this church, I was already a non-dispensationalist. I was already non-Zionist, okay? And I just saw these words and these promises given to Abraham and to the seed. I already knew that seed was Christ. And I know that I'm in Christ Jesus and you're in Christ Jesus. And these promises to come and this ruling and rendering of Christ for a thousand years on this earth is to all of us, of all people, of all nations, of all tribes. But they have a hard time with it. And again, look, if one day you find yourselves in one of these churches, brethren, and these pastors say these things, love them, appreciate them, no one is perfect. I don't think anything, everything that I've ever preached has been 100% perfect, but I'm sure trying my best to be aligned to God's word as much as possible. Let's continue, sorry, I wanna give you the term. So the people living on this land, we know it's all about Beulah there, but the first word there was, I don't know how to pronounce it exactly, but Hepzibah. And you say, what does Hepzibah mean? Well, it kind of gets answered, for the Lord delighteth in thee. That's what it means, the Lord delights in the city. The Lord delights in these people that live in the city. And Beulah is, as it says there, and thy land shall be married. Beulah means married, a married land, all right? Or married city, if you wanna look at it that way. I'll talk about that in a moment, let's keep going there. Verse number five. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee, and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. All right, so let's take the last part of verse number five. And as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. So the relationship that God has with the city is as a bridegroom rejoicing over his bride. And again, this is where you're gonna get funny teachings. Oh, God must be married to this city. And again, to really some strange issues. But you need to understand that many times when God says these words, it's like a illustrative, it's a poetic language, it's expressive language, teaching us something. Because look at verse number five again. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, okay, so shall thy sons marry thee. What woman marries her sons? You go, no, that's not right. So what I'm trying to say is you can't always take these verses so literally. God gives us a definition of what marriage is in Genesis one and Genesis two. You know, people get confused about what marriage is. God makes it very clear. Marriage is one man, one woman for life. It's not God and a city. It's not the inhabitants of a city and that city. It's not a woman and a fallen angel. That's what some people think married means, right? From Genesis six. I had the giants on the earth were there and they'll start teaching that, what do they call it? The Nephilim doctrine. They start to mix what marriage is. So marriage is between one man and one woman. What we learn out of this is that God is describing the relationship he has with this city and the people relationship of that city is as though it were a marriage, okay? Because if you look at the end of verse number five, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, in the same way that a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, the same way God rejoices over that city. So if we understand what a marriage is, it's not that complicated, right? A marriage is a union between two, excluding all others. That's essentially what marriage means. A union between two, excluding all others. All right. So God's people of every nation, of every tongue, they're gonna be married or united to the city. This is a city that we're going to be ruling and reigning from for a thousand years. We are people of that city. That's our capital city. We're gonna rule over the whole earth. I'm sure some of us will be in Australia, in the United States, in New Zealand, who knows where. I've always said, Lord, if you allow me to rule over the Sunshine Coast, I would love it, be wonderful. But at the end of the day, no matter where we rule from our capital city, our headquarters, where we get our commands is this Jerusalem for a thousand years. So as it were, we're married to that city, we're united to that city, we're citizens of that city, excluding all others. Unbelievers, that's not their city. Other people that live during that thousand years, they're gonna have their own places to live, their own nations, their own cities that they're gonna be part of. Let's continue, verse number six. God says, I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace, day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence. This is so interesting. So God is saying, you know how in the time of Isaiah, the city of Jerusalem had walls and they had watchmen on the walls, right? And those watchmen were watchers. They were to watch for danger. They were to watch for enemies, to watch for armies that might come out against them. And when they saw danger, they would sound the alarm, right? They would make a noise, hey, there's danger, right? Close the gates, prepare the army, whatever it is, right? Prepare yourselves, we got danger on our way. So when they're calling out danger, when they're making a lot of noise, they're not holding their peace. They're not being quiet. What's quite interesting, God is saying that during this time, this thousand year time, that they're gonna be watchmen on the wall. Now, I don't know if there's gonna be literal watchmen on the wall, but the idea here is they will not hold their peace day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence. So these watchmen, they're not actually screaming out, danger, warning, what they're doing on the wall, because there is no danger. Christ rules with a rod of iron. There's gonna be peace on the earth, all right? But instead of calling out danger, right, warning, they just praise the Lord. They just praise, they're not gonna hold their peace, these watchmen. So we're used to the watchmen once again, being quiet and only loud when there's danger. These watchmen will never shut up. They're constantly praising the Lord from the walls of this Jerusalem. And then in verse number seven, it says, and give him no rest. So it's kinda like, I think the him, I think the him is God, all right? And give him no rest till he, God establish, till he, God, make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. So it seems like, well, because we saw in previous chapters that this Jerusalem needs to be constructed, right? The walls are going up, the buildings are going up, and while this is all happening, the watchmen are giving praise to God till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. When the construction's all done and dusted, and the house of the Lord is upon the high mount, then all the earth will be praising the Lord during that thousand years. We've seen this before, all right? So there'll be praises in Jerusalem, praise in the Lord, rejoicing in the Lord. Once Jerusalem's done, now all the earth praises the Lord. All the earth are made subject unto Christ. So we learn that this city is a city of just constant praise, constant praise. Keep your finger there and come with me to Isaiah, chapter two, please. Isaiah two, please. There are things in this chapter that remind us of things that we've already covered in the book of Isaiah. So come back with me to Isaiah two, please, Isaiah two and verse number one. Isaiah two and verse number one, it says, "'The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 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.'" Look at this, "'And all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will teach us of his ways. And we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.'" All right, so with Isaiah two, we see how Jerusalem becomes a praise of the earth because we have all people, all nations in the millennium coming to Zion, coming to Jerusalem because they want to hear about the Lord. Amazing. You've come tonight, Thursday nights, you hear of the Lord. And there aren't many of us. Praise God for those that are here. What about if all the nations? We got to go to church. It's time to go to the house of the Lord. I don't know if they'll call it church at that point. But we got to go to God's house. We got to go to church and all that. Yes, we're all going. And of course, that's how Jerusalem becomes a praise of the earth. Not because of the land per se, but for the man that rules from that city, Jesus Christ. He is the one that is being praised. Come back with me to Isaiah 62 and verse number eight. Isaiah 62 and verse number eight. The Lord has sworn by his right hand, by the arm of his strength. All right, so God makes this, swears this, or makes a vow, okay, by his own hand. God can't swear to any greater but himself, okay? The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by the arm of his strength. This is a vow that he makes. Surely, I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies. And the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast labored. But they that have gathered it shall eat it and praise the Lord. And they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. This is important as well. God says, look, whatever you labor for in Jerusalem, in Zion, in that area, right? Whatever you make, wine or meats, whatever it is, corn, your wheat, whatever it is, whatever you labor for, you're going to eat of it. God makes a vow. Never again will some stranger or some foreigner take advantage of our labor and our work and eat our meat, our food, our drink, our drink. That's never gonna happen again. You say, pastor, why is that significant? I'll show you why. Keep your finger there and come with me to Deuteronomy 28. Deuteronomy 28, please. Now, if you're familiar with Deuteronomy 28, it's a chapter where God expresses his blessings on the land. So of course, Deuteronomy is when the children of Israel have come out of Egypt. They've gone into the wilderness for 40 years, right? That generation had passed away. And in Deuteronomy, God is using Moses to once again tell them of the importance of them keeping the law of God, the covenant of God. And in Deuteronomy 28, God outlines some blessings and he also outlines the cursings. And so if the people of Israel do not follow God's commands and God's laws, that they're gonna be cursed by God. And so when you look at Deuteronomy 28 and verse 15, it says, but it shall come to pass that if thou will not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. All right, so God starts to outlay. If you don't obey me, if you don't keep my commandments, you don't listen to my voice, I'm gonna tell you all the curses that are gonna come upon you as a people. Now we don't have time to go through all the curses, but I want you to look at verse number 33. Deuteronomy 28, verse number 33. This is one of the curses. The fruits of thy land and all thy labors shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up and thou shall be oppressed and crushed all way. He goes, one of my curses is that all you labor for, the fruit of your vineyards, the fruit of your cattle and your sheep and all this stuff, is gonna be taken by another nation. That's a curse that falls upon the people. And of course, this curse is about to fall on Jerusalem in the time of Isaiah by the hands of the Babylonians. All of the fields, the farms, the produce, the riches, all of that that belongs to Judah and Jerusalem, a foreign nation, Babylon, will come and take all that for themselves. So that is a curse of God that falls upon Israel or Jerusalem if they disobeyed God. So when we get to Isaiah 62 and God says, I'm making a vow, I'm gonna swear by my right hand, this will never happen again. Never ever are people, the people that live on that land, never again is a stranger or a foreign nation gonna come and take all the labors of your hand. So in other words, God is saying, no more curse. These curses that were given to them in the book of Deuteronomy will no longer apply when Christ rules for that thousand years. Which tells me another thing, that for a thousand years, the people that dwell in this city of Jerusalem, guess what? They will obey the Lord, okay? They will keep his commands. They will hearken to his voice, okay? Because guess what? It's you and I in our resurrected bodies, which cannot sin. So since we cannot sin and we rule from that city, we cannot disobey God, right? So this makes sense for God to make this vow. It's never gonna happen again. And all the beauty, all the riches, all the fruitfulness of that land will be given to those people that dwell in that land or dwell in that city. All right, back to Isaiah 62 and verse number 10. This is also a very interesting verse. Go through, go through the gates, prepare ye the way of the people. By the way, I can't remember what chapter, these gates are never closed in this millennial Israel. They're never closed, there's no danger, okay? But go through, go through the gates, prepare ye the way of the people, cast up, cast up the highway, gather up the stones, lift up a standard for the people. Another thing we learn about is this highway. Now this highway is also brought up for us in another passage of the Bible. But there's a highway that takes, again, I don't fully understand it, okay? But it's a highway that leads people to this millennial Jerusalem, okay? Now what we notice about this highway is as people are coming through, we already saw this in Isaiah chapter two, that people of all nations are gonna come into Zion and hear the word of the Lord in the house of the Lord, that they're gonna access Zion or Jerusalem through this highway. And what we learn in this verse, cast up, cast up the highway, gather up the stones. So as people are walking on this highway, making their way, I don't know if there's gonna be cars, I don't know brethren, people on horses, on feet, I have no idea, okay? But as people are traveling that highway, when people find stones, God's like, clear the stones. Like we don't want any hindrances, all right? We don't want any problems. We don't want, ah, I couldn't make it to Jerusalem because there were stones on the highway. Like just clear the stones, clear it all, right? Make it easy and accessible all the way to Jerusalem. Now I wanna show you where this reference is. Come with me to Isaiah 19. Isaiah 19, Isaiah 19. And Les, I'm pretty sure this highway's not gonna have any tolls. So we don't have to worry about that, praise God. Okay. Probably no speed limit, who knows? It's probably maximum speed. Just go as fast as you can to see the Lord Jesus Christ. But Isaiah 19, Isaiah 19. And just to remind you, I don't know if you remember this, going back a while ago. But Isaiah 19, verse number 23. It says, in that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. Sorry, let me just turn there myself because I think I missed a reference there. Isaiah 19. All right. Yeah, let's keep going there. It says in verse number 24. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, blessed be Egypt, my people. Egypt, my people. I love that, okay? And Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel, mine inheritance. But we learn about this concept of this highway that leads people, and it's like between Assyria, Egypt, and Israel, there's like this agreement. Again, the fact that the people of Egypt are called God's people just tells us that the Egyptians get saved in mass. And if you read this Isaiah 19 in your own time, the Egyptians, they kind of reject the Antichrist. If you get the context of the end times, even though the Antichrist is trying to get as many people to take the mark of the beast and to worship the dragon, the Egyptians are one people that are like, we don't want to do this, all right? We reject this, and they go through some hard times, but eventually they find their way to the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord speaks about this highway from Assyria to Egypt and even to Jerusalem. And so again, I don't know, I don't understand. Like God's going to reconstruct the earth in a different way, a new topography, even highways that will eventually lead the people into Jerusalem. All right, let's keep going there, verse number 11. Isaiah 62, verse number 11. Behold, the Lord have proclaimed unto the end of the world, say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. Does that sound familiar to you at all? Isaiah 62, verse number 11, especially this part. Behold, thy salvation cometh. Well, think about that, who's our salvation? Jesus, is he coming? Yep, behold, what does that mean? Look, not every eye shall see him. Behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. Does anyone know where this sounds familiar? Revelation 1.7. Revelation 1.7. Maybe, let's have a look at it. I'm going to trust you, brother, because you sound pretty confident. Let's have a look. Revelation 1.7. It's in Revelation, okay, but I'm just curious to see. Revelation 1.7. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. Okay, we know that there is a part of that because we know that behold, thy salvation cometh. But the part that I'm really looking at is the reward is with him and his work before him. We'll look at the last chapter of Revelation, the last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22. And verse number, these are some of Christ's last words. Revelation 22 and verse number 12. And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. Behold, I come quickly, right? Behold, I come quickly, and what did Isaiah 62 say? Behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. All right, so this again, this actually helps us give the timeframe as to what Jerusalem, at what period is Isaiah 62 speaking about. Again, is this heavenly Jerusalem at the new heavens and the new earth? No, Christ comes back at the rapture when we're taken up with him in the clouds, all right, in the, after the midst of the week when the great tribulation begins. Shortly after that, Christ comes back. We're resurrected with Christ. He says his reward is with him. So we get rewarded, we get judged by Christ, we receive our reward, whatever that is. You know, if you've been faithful to the Lord, he might say to you, you get to rule over 10 cities. You might be familiar with that parable that Jesus Christ spoke about. Or you get to rule over five cities or whatever it is, right? My good and faithful servant. We get that reward, and then when Christ is ready to come back after his wrath is poured on the earth, we come back to this earth for a thousand years, and we get to rule over those cities. Again, if I could just rule over the Sunshine Coast, maybe Sydney, Lord William, Port Macquarie, hopefully three cities, I don't know, right? If the Lord will allow that, that'd be wonderful, right? But that gives us a timing once again, because that reward gets given from Jesus Christ to us. And that would make sense because then we're ruling over these cities, we're reigning with Christ on this earth for that thousand year period. So for me, that verse once again confirms that the Jerusalem we're speaking about is the Jerusalem of the thousand year period because we get the reward given to us just before that happens. Back to Isaiah 62 and verse number 12. And they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and thou shall be called, sought out, a city not forsaken. All right, so that's us, brethren. We're God's holy people. You know, we're the holy nation. We are the redeemed of the Lord, and we'll be called, sought out. People wanna seek us out. They'll be like, oh, you're one of those resurrected saints. You've got that body made like unto Christ. Let me go and check out your city, a city not forsaken, a city that is loved, a city that is praised by the nations of the earth. Once again, it's not the land, all right? And as beautiful as the city is, it's not even the buildings. What makes it beautiful is Jesus, him ruling and reigning, and us having the privilege to reign with him during that timeframe. All right, brethren, a title for the sermon was For Jerusalem's Sake. Okay, the Lord God is working, and one day we're gonna be in that city. You know, I am somewhat interested to visit Jerusalem today, somewhat to get an idea for some of the Bible locations. But if I never do, I don't care, because I'm gonna be reigning from Jerusalem, and it's gonna be a better Jerusalem. It's gonna be the millennial Jerusalem, and it's gonna be with Christ Jesus. All right, brethren, let's pray.