prophecy

Happy, Happy, Happy Day

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

...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- Isaiah 2:2, 3

Once in the year all the people of Israel were wont to go to the little hill of Zion; and now, once for all, you see, not Israel, but all the nations of the earth coming to this great hill of Zion, to worship the Most High God.

I beg you carefully to observe the figure. It does not say they shall come to it, but they shall “flow unto it.” Understand the metaphor. It implies first their number. Now our churches are increased, converts drop into the churches; drop after drop the pool is filled. But in those days they shall flow into it; now it is but the pouring out of water from the bucket; then it shall be as the rolling of the cataract from the hillside, it shall flow into it. Now our converts, however numerous, are comparatively few, but then a nation shall be born in a day. The people shall renounce their gods at once. Whole nations shall of a sudden by an irresistible impulse flow into the Church, not one by one, but in one vast mass. The power of God shall be seen in bringing whole nations into the Church of God. You have seen the river flowing onward to the sea, with its banks all swollen, bearing its enormous contribution to the boundless ocean. So shall it be in the last days; each nation shall be like a river, rolling towards the foot of this great mountain, the Church of the living God. Happy, happy, happy day, when all the nations of the earth, with their multitude of tongues, shall flow into the mountain of God! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0249.cfm

It Shall Come to Pass

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

And it shall come to pass in the last days… – Isaiah 2:2

…that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills – Micah 4:1

The day is coming when the Church of God shall have absolute supremacy. The Church of Christ now has to fight for her existence. She hath many foes, and mighty ones too, who would snatch the chaplet from her brow, blunt her sword, and stain her banners in the dust; but the day shall come when all her enemies shall die; there shall not be a dog to move his tongue against her. she shall be so mighty that there shall be nought left to compete with her. As for Rome, you shall seek but find it not. It shall be hurled like a millstone in the flood. As for Mahomed’s lustful superstition, they shall ask for it, but the imposter shall not be found. As for false gods, talk to the bittern and the owl, to the mole, and to the bat, and they shall tell you where they shall be discovered. The Church of Christ at that time shall not have kings of the earth to bind her, and to control her, as if she were but a puny thing, nor shall she have them to persecute her and lift up their iron arm to crush her; but she, then, shall be the queen and empress of all nations; she shall reign over all kings; they shall bow down and lick the dust of her feet; her golden sandals shall tread upon their necks; she, with her scepter, with her rod of iron, shall break empires in pieces like earthen vessels. She shall say, “Overturn! overturn! overturn! until He come, whose right it is; and I will give it HIM” The destiny of the Church is universal monarchy. What Alexander fought for, what Ceasar died to obtain, what Napoleon wasted his life to achieve, that Christ shall have:-the universal monarchy of the broad acres of the earth. “The sea is His, and He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.” The whole earth shall come, and worship, and bow down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker; for every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0249.cfm

The Mountain of the Lord’s House

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, Sovereignty of God 1 Comment

But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. – Micah 4:1

The Christian religion has become more conspicuous now than ever it was. In every part of the world all people are thinking of it. The hill is already growing, and mark you, it is to grow higher yet; it is to be so conspicuous, that in every hamlet of the world the name of Christ shall be known and feared. Rising higher, and higher, and higher, from north to south, from east to west, this mountain shall be beheld; not like the star of the north which cannot be seen in the south, nor like the “cross” of the south which must give way before the “bear” of the north-this mountain, strange to say it, contrary to nature shall be visible from every land. Far-off islands of the sea shall behold it, and they that are near shall worship at the foot thereof. It shall be pre-eminently conspicuous in clear, cloudless radiance gladdening the people of the earth. This I think is one meaning of the text, when the prophet declares “that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains. and shall be exalted above the hills.” There is something awfully grand in a mountain, but how much more so in such a mountain as is described in our text, which is to be exalted above all hills, and above all the highest mountains of the earth.

The Church is to be awful in her grandeur. Ah! now she is despised; the infidel barketh at her, it is all he can do; the followers of old superstitions as yet pay her but little veneration. Ay, but the day shall come when men shall bow before the name of Christ, when the cross shall command universal homage…The hour cometh, yea, and now draweth nigh, when the mountain of the Lord’s house in her awful grandeur shall be established on the top of the mountains. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0249.cfm

An All-Conquering Church

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, prophecy, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. – Isaiah 2:2

Of old, the Church was like Mount Zion, a very little hill. What saw the nations of the earth when they looked upon it?-a humble man with twelve disciples. But that little hill grew, and some thousands were baptized in the name of Christ; it grew again and became mighty. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands began to break in pieces kingdoms, and now at this day the hill of Zion stands a lofty hill. But still, compared with the colossal systems of idolatry, she is but small. The Hindoo and the Chinese turn to our religion, and say, “It is an infant of yesterday; ours is the religion of ages.” The Easterns compare Christianity to some miasma that creeps along the fenny lowlands, but their systems they imagine to be like the Alps, outsoaring the heavens in height. Ah, but we reply to this, “Your mountain crumbles and your hill dissolves, but our hill of Zion has been growing, and strange to say, it has life within its bowels, and grow on it shall, grow on it must, till all the systems of idolatry shall become less than nothing before it, till false gods being cast down, mighty systems of idolatry being overthrown, this mountain shall rise above them all, and on, and on, and on, shall this Christian religion grow, until converting into its mass all the deluded followers of the heresies and idolatries of man, the hill shall reach to heaven, and God in Christ shall be all in all.” Such is the destiny of our Church, she is to be an all-conquering Church, rising above every competitor.

O Lord Jesus! by Thy grace turn every one of us to Thyself! Bring in Thine elect; let Thy redeemed rejoice in Thee; and then let the fullness of the nations flow unto Thee, and Thine shall be the glory, for ever and ever. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0249.cfm

A Great Subject for Praise

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, salvation, Sovereignty of God 2 Comments

“And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.”- Isa 2:2

Standing at the gate of that glorious temple, Isaiah looked into the future and he saw, with tearful eye, the structure burned with fire; he beheld it cast down and the plough driven over its foundations. He saw the people carried away into Babylon, and the nation cast off for a season. Looking once more through the glass he beheld the temple rising from its ashes, with glory outwardly diminished, but really increased. He saw on till he beheld Messiah Himself in the form of a little babe carried into the second temple; he saw Him there, and he rejoiced; but ere he had time for gladness his eye glanced onward to the cross; he saw Messiah nailed to the tree; he beheld His back ploughed and mangled with the whip. “Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,” said the prophet, and he paused awhile to bemoan the bleeding Prince of the House of David. His eye was now doomed to a long and bitter weeping, for he saw the invading hosts of the Romans setting up the standard of desolation in the city. He saw the holy city burned with fire and utterly destroyed. His spirit was almost melted in him. But once more he flew through time with eagle wing, and scanned futurity with eagle eye; he soared aloft in imagination, and began to sing of the last days-the end of dispensations and of time. He saw Messiah ones again on earth. He saw that little hill of Zion rising to the clouds-reaching to heaven itself. He beheld the New Jerusalem descending from above, God dwelling among men, and all the nations flowing to the tabernacle of the Most High God, where they paid Him holy worship.

Is it not a great subject for praise that the nations of the earth may flow to the hill of God and to His house? Ye are come to a mountain which is not forbidden to you. there are no bounds set about it to keep you off, but you are freely bidden and freely invited to come to it. And the God who invited you will give you grace to come. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0249.cfm

The Future is in the Father’s Power

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, Sovereignty of God, The Father 1 Comment

When they therefore were come together, they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? …It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power. – Acts 1:6, 7

The future is all in God’s hand. No prophecy will lack its mate. No word of God will fall unfulfilled to the ground. Possess your souls in patience: the things that are foretold are sure to happen. “Though the vision tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” I am persuaded that God never is before His time, but He never is too late. He never failed to keep tryst with His people to the tick of the clock. The future is in the Father’s power….He must arrange it rightly; He must arrange it in infinite love to us. It cannot be that, in some dark hour yet to come, He will forget us. He is our Father; will He forget His children? If the times could be in my hand, how earnestly would I pray that Christ would take them into His hand, or that the Father would take away from me the dangerous power, and wield it all Himself!

“All my times are in Thy hand,
All events at Thy command”

The time of birth, the time of the new birth, the time of a sore trial, the time of the death of your beloved one, the time of your sickness, and how long it shall last, all these times must come, and last, and end, as shall please your Father. It is for you to know that your Father is at the helm of the ship, and therefore it cannot be wrecked. It may rock and reel to and fro; but, since He rules the waves, the vessel will not have one more tossing than His infinite love permits….The Father hath it in His own hands, and there we wish it to be. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2330.cfm

You are Witnesses, not Prophets

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prophecy, Sovereignty of God, The Father 2 Comments

Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power. – Acts 1:6, 7

You are not sent into the world to be prophets; you are sent into the world to be witnesses. You do not come here to be prognosticators of the events of tomorrow about yourself, or about your children, or about your friends, or about the nations of the earth. A veil hangs between you and the future. Your prayer is to be, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” You are told to look for the coming of your Lord, and to stand in perpetual expectation of His return; but to know the time when He will come, is no part of your office. You are servants who are to look for your Lord, who may come at cock-crowing, or at midday, or at midnight. Keep you always on the tiptoe of expectation.

As it is not proper for you, so it is not profitable for you. What would you be the better if you could make a map of all that is yet to be? Suppose it were revealed to you tonight, by an angel, in what respect would it alter your conduct for tomorrow? In what way would it help you to perform the duties which your Master has enjoined upon you? …For my part, I would rather not know any more than my Lord pleases to reveal to me; and if He did reveal all the future to me, I should feel like the prophets who spake of “the burden of the Lord.” Neither would it ensure your salvation to be able to foretell the future, for Balaam was a great prophet, but he was a great sinner; he was an arch-rebel although he was an arch-divine. Nor do I know that, by foretelling the future, you would convince your fellow-men; for Noah told them that the world would be destroyed by the flood, he could give them a very accurate account of the time when the rain would descend, and yet they were not converted by his preaching, neither did they come into the ark. Those truths which God has revealed, you must accept for yourselves and proclaim to others; they are profitable for all purposes, and sufficient for your work; but the future is known only to God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2330.cfm