In his sermon titled 'The Great Wrath,' Peter Allison explores the passage from Luke 21:20-33, focusing on the prophetic description of Jerusalem's destruction and the end of the Old Testament age. The sermon discusses the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus answers the disciples' questions about the destruction of the temple and the signs of the end times. It highlights the distinction between the 'last days' of the Old Testament era, characterized by upheaval and judgment, and the unpredictable 'last day' of the New Testament era, marked by ordinary life and the coming of Christ. The sermon emphasizes the metaphorical yet real nature of the language used in these prophecies, illustrating the spiritual and literal implications of God's judgment. Historical accounts from both biblical and non-biblical sources are referenced to support the interpretation of events as the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy. The sermon concludes by underscoring the reality of God's wrath, the seriousness of sin, and the demonstration of God's mercy in preserving His people. Believers are reminded of the importance of preparation, the power of prayer, and the assurance of God's protection and grace.

Please turn to Luke chapter 21. We continue through this book, the Gospel of Luke chapter 21. We've been looking at the section between verses 5 and the end of the chapter, but this morning we'll focus in on verses 20 through 33. Beginning at verse 20, Luke chapter 21. Hear God's Word.

But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, and all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe to those who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days. For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people.

And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars. And on the earth distresses of nations with perplexity. The sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them from fear, and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of the heaven will be shaken.

And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near. Then He spoke to them a parable, look at the fig tree and all the trees, and when they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. May this law be our delight and cause us to long for His salvation. Heavenly Father, thank you that you have preserved your word. Thank you that you have brought it to us this morning. We ask that you would open the eyes of our understanding and illumine our hearts that what we have heard might be mixed with faith.

We ask that you would feed us. And as we continue to worship, Lord, may you speak to us by this word through Your Spirit in Jesus' name, Amen. Well, the last couple of weeks we have been working our way through this passage sometimes called the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus is answering these questions of the disciples about when This temple that Jesus said not one stone would be left standing on another stone, would be totally destroyed, are in amazement asking Him, when will these things be? And what will be the sign that these things are about to take place. And this is Jesus is answering this discourse that we read is part of Jesus' answer to this question, one of the longest answers that's recorded in the Gospels to any question that he received.

And as we've seen, it's a very important question because it deals with the end of the Old Covenant ceremonial system, the Old Covenant ceremonies of the temple sacrifices and the elvitical priesthood and the Old Testament prophets. This is all being done away with. This is a momentous change in the history of the church. And so Jesus spends quite a bit of time answering it. It's also probably one of the most difficult sections in the Gospels to understand and to be able to study because of the unusualness of the language in the New Testament.

It uses, this chapter uses a language that is metaphorical, it's figurative, but as we've seen, it's old language that's common in the Old Testament, and so that has been a, one of the principles of our understanding of this passage is that we use scripture to interpret scripture, and we look to scripture to see and to understand the meanings of these terms, of these metaphors, of these symbols. And we've also seen that even though they are symbolic, yet they are often descriptive of things that have happened. We might say they're literal. Sometimes they're spiritual things, so they're not always physically seen. But they are nevertheless real, even if they are concerning spiritual matters and angelic or demonic beings.

And so we've seen then over the last couple of weeks that this chapter speaks about the end of two different times. It speaks about the end of two different eras or epochs, the end of the Old Testament age and the end of what I'll call the New Testament age when Christ bodily returns to earth at the resurrection and final judgment. Two different events. These times are differentiated in several ways we've seen. We've seen that the end of the Old Testament age is referred to as the last days in the plural.

And in Jesus' discussion of this time, we see temporal sequence then, after these things, afterwards, and so on. Whereas the end of the New Testament age is typically referred to as the last day in the singular. We see another difference is that Jesus says that the last days and the things that lead up to it and happen in it, they are predictable. It says when you see these signs, then you know that this is what's happening. Whereas the last day is not predictable.

You won't know that it's coming. You won't see any signs to indicate it's coming, according to Jesus. The very nature of these two different times is very different. One is characterized by great upheaval, disturbances in the heavens, powers of earth being shaken, men in great fear, tribulation, judgments. The other time, the last day, is ordinary life.

Eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage. And the end comes without warning. Of course, these two sections are separated by this great time text in the Gospels in Matthew 24 and here in our section in verse 32 where Jesus says, where Jesus says, assuredly I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away until all these things are fulfilled. This generation, he's speaking of the people that are standing in front of him. That's that generation.

A generation we might say is 40 years or so. That generation, those people that he's talking to, wouldn't pass away until all the things that he's just mentioned come to pass. We also saw that Jesus divides His discussion of the last days, the end of this Old Testament age, era, that He divides these into, there's two basic events that happens. One we'll call the great tribulation. Matthew 24 described that great tribulation as the worst tribulation that had ever come upon the earth or that ever would come upon the earth afterwards.

And this was a tribulation that affected the Christians. Jesus said in Matthew 24 that it was so severe that unless the Lord had cut it short, which He did when Nero died, unless He cut those days short, Even the elect would not be saved. But then there's also the great tribulation of which the church went through. There's also this great wrath that falls upon the apostate Jews and the Romans that the church did not go through. And so we are, we saw in the great tribulation, which happened roughly between AD 62 and 66, that there was, we saw this corruption of the Gospel with all the imposters, the adulteration of the Gospel, and Jesus said, don't be deceived.

There were wars and an international intrigue. There were disasters and upheaval on the earth. And we looked at some of those last time. There was the outlawing of Christians and the Christian faith. There was the extension of the gospel witness by the church, despite the persecution.

There was the triumph of the Gospel witness. There was family betrayals and division. But through it all, the church was preserved. The Lord Jesus Christ preserves his people. So we want to look this morning at this second part, this second aspect of the end of the Old Testament age, this great wrath.

It is after these things would follow these days of vengeance. When you see, the first sign that Jesus gives of this great wrath is that when the church saw Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. And when they saw the Jerusalem surrounded by armies, Jesus' instructions is that the Christians were to flee to the mountains. Then let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let none of those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance that all things which are written might be fulfilled." Remember, Jesus had said on His way into Jerusalem He had wept over the city because she didn't know the day of her visitation.

He had wept over the city because he knew the horrible, awful, terrific judgment of God that would fall upon that city. And it brought him to tears, His compassion for even these rebels, apostates. And we know from Historians, contemporary historians and historians in the early church that had access to many documents that we don't have access to today, we know that there were a couple of opportunities to flee. One of these would have been after the attack on Jerusalem of Flores in April of 1866. The second would have been when they saw the heavenly chariots.

And we'll look at that in a minute, surrounding Jerusalem in May. And the third would have been after Cestius attacked Jerusalem in November. And then, in God's providence, mysteriously fled on November 25. No one really knows why he fled, but God made that happen. And so this opened up an opportunity for the Jews to flee.

Ordinarily, when an army surrounded a city, they sealed it off so that no one could escape. And they laid siege to it and starved the people out. So they cut off their goal was to cut off their food supply, cut off their water supply, and then wait until they were weakened by famine and disease, and then take the city. But God provided this opportunity for his people to flee. And history records that just as Jesus commanded them to do here, they did.

They fled to a city, Pella. A city that had been decimated and essentially emptied by zealots in their rage against Rome and against Gentiles. They completely decimated the city and the Lord basically provided a place for them to flee to and occupy for the next three years and a half years while great wrath was poured out on Jerusalem and and the land Israel and on Rome Jesus calls these days of vengeance Days of vengeance. This was the vengeance of the covenant. If you want to know in a little more detail what these days of vengeance consisted of, you could read Deuteronomy chapter 28.

Because that is the description or the delineation of the covenant. You remember when Israel went into the land of Canaan that God had given them they renewed the covenant they half the people stood on Mount Gerizim and half the people stood in Mount Ebal and they in an antiphonal way recited the curses of the covenant the sanctions of the covenant and the blessings of the covenant and so obedience God promised to bless and but He promised vengeance on those who didn't obey. And it goes on, the greater part of Chapter 28, which is a fairly lengthy chapter, delineates some of the things that God said He would bring upon them if they disobeyed. Things that are just horrific. In chapter 28, for example, in verse 51, this covenant, God said, You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the Lord has given you in the siege, and the desperate straits in which your enemies shall distress you.

The sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, so that He will not give any of them the flesh of His children whom He will eat because He has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all their gates. The tender and delicate woman among you who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity were refused to the husband of her bosom and to her son and to her daughter, her placenta which comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, for she will eat them secretly." That's some of the descriptions in Deuteronomy 28 of the vengeance of the covenant that God said He would bring on His people when they turned away from Him. And this is what Jesus is referring to when He says, in verse 22, For these are the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days, for there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people, and they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations.

And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. That was a very sobering, sobering description of the wrath of God, a just and righteous God. Jesus then goes on to talk about signs in the heavens. Signs in the sun, in the moon, in the stars, and on earth, distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring. There was a lot of intrigue going on it was this year that that Nero died and there was a interruption in in the the persecution And there was in this period Rome in a sense ceased to exist.

There was great upheaval. There was a year in which they had three different people claiming to be emperor at different times. And it was only through Vespasian and his son Vespasian, who's better known by Titus, that reestablished the power of the Roman Empire and came back and completed the destruction of Jerusalem. But I want to look this morning at and I think We can understand some of this language more easily, because in the Old Testament it uses very similar language. I'll just read what Matthew writes, and then We'll look at a couple places in the Old Testament that use this language and see what it was referring to in the Old Testament.

So Matthew says in Matthew 24, 29, immediately after the tribulation. So the great wrath follows the tribulation. Immediately after the tribulation, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken." Stars falling, moon darkened, sun darkened, moon not giving its light. And what does that mean? The sun darkened, the moon not giving its light.

Well in Isaiah for example in Isaiah 13 we have the oracle against Babylon, a pagan land. Remember Babylon is the nation that conquered Israel in the days of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, under Nebuchadnezzar. And Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon is the nation that carried Daniel away. You remember Daniel and the lions. He was carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

This is the burden, oracle, against this nation Babylon that Amos saw. In verse 9 it says, Behold, the day of the Lord comes cruel with both wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate, and He will destroy its sinners from it for the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine." Almost identical verbatim to the words that Jesus uses here to describe the fall of Jerusalem. Isaiah used to describe the fall of Babylon. I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity.

I will halt the arrogance of the proud and lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. Therefore, I will shake the heavens and The earth will move out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of His fierce anger. Behold, He says a little later, I will stir up the meads against them who will not regard silver or gold." And we know that in 539, Darius the Mead conquered the city of Babylon. So this is what Isaiah is describing, the sun being darkened, the moon not giving its light, the stars falling from the sky. This is what happened in the fall of Babylon.

Obviously, the stars are still up in the sky. And actually if a star ever did fall on the earth, there wouldn't be any earth left, right? I mean, the sun isn't even a big star, and yet it's millions and millions of times bigger than the earth, and it's so hot, it would turn the whole earth into just a plasma. So it's not a literal falling of a star to the earth, but it's speaking of a great judgment. But it is literal in the sense that the sun is often darkened.

The sun can be darkened. It was darkened at Jesus' crucifixion for three hours, and it's not an eclipse because you remember, an eclipse can only happen on a new moon the first day of the month or right around there. The crucifixion which is at the Passover is on the 14th day of the month. It's at a full moon. So It's not an eclipse.

God darkened the sun. Meteorite dust can darken the sun. Volcanic ash can darken the sun in the sky. It can cause the moon to turn blood, a blood moon. So just because these things are metaphorical, used to describe the destruction of a nation doesn't mean they can't also be real, signs that happen.

Stars falling can also refer to meteorites falling. And that can be quite a spectacular and terrifying event when there's massive meteorites falling onto the earth. It's so remarkable, these signs are so remarkable that men's hearts fail them in verse 26 from a fear of what's falling or what's happening. These events strike great fear into the hearts of everybody that's living through them. This, but this is the judgment of those outside of Christ.

Those who put their trust in Christ do not need to fear these judgments. And do not need to be afraid of the earth. Though the earth, Psalm 46 says, though the earth be removed, Though the mountains are tossed into the sea, Psalm 46 says, we don't need to fear. Why? Because we have peace with God.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, Romans says, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into His grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." So we don't need to fear any of these events. We don't need to fear them on a spiritual level, what happens in a spiritual plane among the demons and the angels. We don't need to fear what happens in the physical plane when the bodies of heaven are shaken. We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has given to us.

Now what happens when love is shed abroad in our hearts? What's the significance of that? Well when love is poured out in our hearts, love casts out fear, John says, doesn't he? There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

Brothers and sisters, you see, when we have hope, the love of God is poured out in us and we don't need to fear. If we love perfectly, it casts out all fear. And if we have fear, John says, it's because We're not made perfect in love yet. And we all have fear. But we need to remember that perfect love casts out fear.

And Jesus repeatedly told his disciples, don't fear, don't fear. When they were rowing across the water and the lake, and they couldn't make headway, and they were afraid. And Jesus rebuked their fear. He wouldn't say, well, I understand why you're afraid. It looks like the boat was gonna sink.

He said, no. Why are you afraid? Why are you afraid? If you had perfect love, you wouldn't fear. Then, then after that, they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Jesus said this generation, because remember he said all these things are not going to pass away. This generation would see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. So we know that they did that they did see that Jesus said they would see it. Those people he was talking to would see this. Now what I know that's hard to imagine because our some I think our minds are just conditioned to immediately think that this must be referring to the second coming at the end of history.

But I'd like to offer you a few, the testimony of a few historians that Pastor Kaiser had assembled and I really am indebted to his very, very detailed work in the book of Revelation in mapping all this out. Those of you that are going through our afternoon service know what I'm talking about. But I think he has put together the best material that I know of today on the book of Revelation and these events that we're talking about here. And there was very recently translated the work of an unbelieving Jewish historian by the name of Sefer Yosef. It's an old work, but it was only recently translated, and he describes what the Jews saw beginning with the Passover of 8066, followed by an event that then happened at Pentecost of that year.

And he writes this, as it was translated. So he's a contemporary Jewish historian, not a Christian. He's not trying to justify anything in the Bible. He could care less what the Bible says. He's one of the people that was mocking Jesus and rejecting Him.

But this is what he writes, For one year before Vespasian came, a single great shining star, a single great star shining like unsheathed swords, was seen over the temple. And in those days when the sign was seen, it was the holiday of Passover. And during the entire night, the temple was lit up and illuminated like the light of day. And thus it was all seven days of the Passover. All the sages of Jerusalem knew that it was a malevolent sign.

But the rest of the ignorant people said it was a benevolent sign. Then he describes what happened in May of 1866. Now it happened right after this that there was seen from above over the Holy of Holies for the whole night the outline of a man's face. The like of his beauty had never been seen in all the land. And His appearance was quite awesome.

This is a theophany. This is the sign of the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. It was seen by the people of that day. Its glory illuminated the temple throughout the night as if it was the sun. He goes on to say, Moreover, in those days there were seen chariots of fire and horsemen, a great force flying across the sky near to the ground coming against Jerusalem.

And all the land of Judah, all of them horses of fire and riders of fire. And when The holiday of Shavut came in those days. During the night, the priests heard within the temple something like the sound of men going and the sound of men marching in a multitude going into the temple. And a terrible and mighty voice was heard speaking, let's go and leave this house. God is departing from the temple.

This place where His Shekinah glory had rested, this place that was represented in a sense the physical presence of God this is where people needed to go to worship God. God is departing because there is a new. Temple in heaven has been sanctified by the blood of Jesus as he's passing through the heavens. The earthly temple was just a shadow. It was just a, it was built according to the pattern of the heavenly temple.

Moses had a pattern of the heavenly temple, And this temple is now about to be destroyed. God has departed. An ancient Christian historian from the fourth century who had access to a number of Jewish works writes, also after many days, a certain figure appeared of tremendous size which many saw just as the book of the Jews have disclosed and before the setting of the Sun there was suddenly seen in the clouds chariots and an armed battle arrays by which the cities of all Judea and its territories were invaded. Moreover, in the celebration itself of the Pentecost, the priests entering, they interior the temple at night time that they might celebrate the usual sacrifices, asserted themselves at first to have felt a certain movement and a sound given forth. Afterwards, even to have heard shouted in a sudden voice, we cross over from here." Josephus also writes about this appearance of the Son of Man.

He said, behold, besides these, a few days after that feast, on the twenty-first day of the month are the Missius, a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared. I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it. And were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals. For before sun setting chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner court of the temple, as their custom was to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that in the first place they felt a quaking and heard a great noise.

And after that, they heard a sound as of a great multitude saying, Let us remove hence. Remember how God's voice is described in Revelation as the voice of many waters, the sound of many waters, a great multitude. Tacitus, another historic contemporary historian, describes says this. Prodigies had occurred, which this nation prone to superstition. He's not a Jew, he's not a Christian, the Jews are objects of his scorn.

He said they're prone to superstition. But hating all religious rites did not seem at lawful to expiate by offering and sacrifice. There had been seen hosts joining battle in the skies. The fiery gleam of arms, the temple illuminated by a sudden radiance from the clouds, the doors of the inner shrine were suddenly thrown open, and a voice of more than mortal tone was heard to cry that the gods were departing. At the same instant, there was a mighty stir as of a departure.

Some few put a fearful meaning on these events, but in most there was a firm persuasion that in the ancient records of their priests was contained a prediction of how at this very time the East was to grow powerful and rulers coming from Judea were to acquire a universal empire." So he's explaining it away. Eusebius is a church historian. Writes that, but not many days after the feast, on the 21st of the month of Artemisium, a wonderful specter was seen which surpasses all belief. And indeed, that which I am about to tell would appear a prodigy were it not related by those who had seen it, and unless the subsequent miseries had corresponded to the signs. For before the setting of the sun there were seen chariots and armed troops on high, wheeling through clouds around the whole region and surrounding the cities.

Chariots and armed troops in the skies. And then he describes how the priests entering the temple at night heard a voice saying, let us go hence. He calls it a confused voice saying, let us go hence. See, this is a description of the end of the Old Testament age. And the writer of Hebrews tells us in chapter 12, see that you do not refuse Him who speaks.

For if they did not refuse Him who spoke on the earth much more, shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven? Whose voice then shook the earth, but now, He has promised saying, yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. Now this yet once more indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. This is the shaking, the removal of this old covenant ceremonial system, because Christ had now come. Christ was the sacrifice.

Christ is our great high priest. Christ is our king. And Christ is our prophet. And these Old Testament types are no longer needed. They've passed away.

Therefore, the writer of Hebrews goes on, since we have received a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. And that to come is a Greek verb that means about to be, about to be, to be on the point of coming. He said we are seeking a city that is about to come, we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken. And so that's what Jesus is saying here in verse 28.

He says, when you see this sign of the Son of Man in heaven, then these things, when these things begin to happen, look up, lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near. See, the remaining Christians, the Jewish Christians were preserved through the next three and a half years of the days of vengeance. There is no more tribulation for them. They went to Pella and had a relief and a break. But this kingdom, God says, know, in verse 30-31, know that the Kingdom of God is near.

When you see these things happening, know that it is near. See, the Kingdom of God came then, at that time. And the Scriptures speak of Christ as ascending the throne and beginning to reign. Revelation describes the saints praising Him, the four and twenty elders praising Him because He had taken His authority and He began to reign and He would reign until He put all His enemies under His feet. Psalm 110 that we sang this morning speaks of Him reigning in the midst of His enemies.

This is a reign that is now. This is a reign that began with this event. In 1 Corinthians 15, then comes the end, Paul writes, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power, for He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. Jesus said in Matthew 16, Assuredly I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.

Jesus said in Matthew 16 to the people that were listening to Him, some of you won't die until you see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. John the Baptist proclaimed, repent, right? For the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's about to be. Matthew 4, from that time after his baptism and temptation, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

It's about to be. Matthew 4, from that time after His baptism and temptation, Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And when He sent the seventy out, He told them, Go preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Mark 1 tells us the same thing, that Jesus came saying, The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the gospel. This is what Jesus is describing here, this kingdom.

This is what Hebrews is writing about, the kingdom that we have received that cannot be shaken. God was shaking this earth so that the things that can be shaken would be removed, so that the things that cannot be shaken would remain. Well, what can we learn from this? We don't have to fear a tribulation like this because Jesus said there will never be one like it again. But he did say that in this world you will have tribulation.

But be of good cheer I have overcome the world. Well I think one thing we see is that this judgment demonstrates the reality of the wrath of God. This judgment demonstrates that God's wrath is real. It's true. It actually happens, It will happen.

If he brought this judgment on these Jews, how much greater judgment will he bring on those today who having far greater light have rejected the Gospel? See, when Lot went to warn his sons in law of the coming of the wrath of God, they thought he was joking. They thought he was joking. This judgment demonstrates the reality of God's wrath. God is not joking.

Deuteronomy 28 is not joking when it talks about the wrath of God. This judgment also reminds us of the heinousness of sin. God is just in everything that he brings to pass. That's saying that in these horrific judgments that God brought. He was just.

This is what was deserved. It was not everything that was deserved. It was, but everything they received was deserved. That should be a very powerful reminder of the heinousness of our sin. This is the judgment that Christ bore on the cross for his people.

This is the wrath that was poured out on Jesus. The wrath of God for our sin. Our sin is not metaphysically real, but it's ethically real. There is a debt owed for it. A debt that Christ has paid for all those who are in him.

But this judgment also demonstrates the mercy of God toward his people. You say, how does judgment demonstrate mercy? Psalm 136 tells us It describes all of these things that's the psalm that had every other line is for the mercy of God indoors forever For the mercy of God indoors forever and it in a list of fact about what something God did and talk about a judgment that he did for the mercy of God endures forever. It'll talk about a deliverance that he brought for the mercy of God endures forever. You see, in judgment, God's enemies are destroyed and His church is preserved.

If God's enemies were not destroyed, His church would not be preserved. And so God's judgment on the wicked on his enemies on those who would destroy his church God's judgment is a mercy to his people God also also this whole passage and the fleeing of the Christians to Pella and their preservation, their complete preservation so that not so they were not harmed, Not one hair of their head was harmed. As this great wrath was being poured out, this is a reminder that God is able to preserve his people and he does preserve his people. God can and does preserve his people. Isaiah 43 speaks of this deliverance.

It says that the God of Jacob, who has created us, and the God of Israel, who has formed us, is with us. And he says, don't be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by my name, you are mine. And when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And the rivers, they won't overflow you.

And when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you." He doesn't say you won't walk through the fire. He doesn't say you won't pass through the waters, but He says that when you do, I will be with you and it won't scorch you and the waters won't overflow you. But we see preparation as well. Jesus instructed His people how to prepare. Preparing for times of wrath and judgment is not a bad thing.

It's not a bad thing. But we also see in this that without the grace of God, all of these signs and all of these warnings are to no avail. Like Remember the rich man in Lazarus thought that if somebody could rise from the dead and come to his brothers, then they would listen and be spared this wrath that he was experiencing. And Abraham said, no, that's not that way. Even if somebody were to rise from the dead, that doesn't help.

Without the grace of God, all of these warnings and all of these signs aren't any good. That means we need to pray. We need to pray for the Lord's grace to open our eyes and to open people's eyes. All of the evidence that we can amass will never turn anybody away from the wrath of God is only the grace of God and that grace is his gift but the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much do we need to pray for the grace of God let us pray Heavenly Father we we thank you for your grace to us in Christ, for we would be just as these Jews, obstinate, stubborn, rebellious, despising your many warnings, killing your prophets that you sent to warn them. For Lord, our heart is no different.

We thank you that you have conquered us. You have subdued our rebel heart under your dominion. You are our king. You are our lawgiver. You are our savior.

And you call all the ends of the earth to look to you and to be saved for there is salvation in none other. You alone are God and there is none beside you. There is none like unto you. Lord we pray for your mercy upon our land. In Jesus name, Amen.