In this sermon, the preacher starts by singing a hymn about Jesus' blood and righteousness. He then mentions a speaker at a convention who struggled to speak and sarcastically comments that if God had meant him to be a missionary, he would have been able to talk. The preacher then focuses on Isaiah 9:6 and breaks down the verse into three parts: the child born, the son given, and the government upon his shoulder. He emphasizes that Jesus' first coming was as a humble child, but his second coming will be as a powerful king.

Seven, seven. Jesus, thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are my glorious dress, with flaming worlds in these arrayed. With joy shall I lift up my head. One, seven, seven. And listen for the tune, it's an old-fashioned one this evening. We're changing to a new tune, thank you Lord. Book of the Revelation, chapter 19, and this is a very thrilling paragraph this evening. We're going from verse 11 to the end of verse 16, and we'll read it through together. Revelation 19, verse 11, John speaking said, And I saw heaven opened. You can see that John is back in Earth and he's looking upwards. He says, And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. Capital F, capital T, it's one of the double titles of our Lord Jesus. There's many double titles in this book. He's the Alpha and the Omega. He's the Apostle and High Priest of our profession. He's the Bishop and Shepherd of our souls. He's King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Great many double titles that belong to Christ in this whole book. And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make law. Lots of people don't like me when I say that if the enemy came to take this country over, I should go to war. And you can bet on that. I most certainly would. An old fellow stopped me the other day and said, I was reading why you said you would go to war. Yes, I lived. We went to war against Hitler, didn't we? And it's a good job we did. And I said to him, you wouldn't go? No, he said, I wouldn't go. I said, you're too holy to go. I said, I can tell you this, that Michael the Archangel shall go to war, it's said in this book. And that the Lord Jesus shall go to war. That's what we're reading just now. Yes, he's going to come to this earth to make war. Don't make any mistakes about it. That's what it says just where you're reading. And in righteousness he doth judge. And the words and make war are quite clear, I hope. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he hath a name written, that no man but he himself. And he was clothed with the vest you get in blood. And his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heavens hauling upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And also his mouth brought a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. And make no mistake about the nations there. And he shall rule them with the rod of iron. And he treasures the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This great paragraph that we have this evening, you'll see from the notes that have been given to you, that I've called this paragraph, Christ's second coming to this earth. He's going to come to this very planet again. And he's going to come to make war. He won't be doing that in heaven. And he's going to come to smite the nations. So I think that it should be established quite clearly from the few phrases, that this is Christ's second coming to earth. What a difference from his first coming. At his first coming, Christ came as the babe of Bethlehem. But at his second coming to earth, he's come as King of Kings, Lord of Lords. I think that sometimes the saints get mixed up in Christ's first coming to earth and Christ's second coming to earth and Christ's coming to the air, which is not for the earth. They're waiting for Christ's coming to the air this evening. He leaves the throne and comes to the air. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God. And all who have died in Christ shall rise first and we, believers who are alive at that moment, shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And don't go mixing these comings up, please, or you'll get into confusion with your Bible. Christ's first coming to earth and Christ's second coming to earth and Christ's coming to the air are all different. I try to outline the differences for you this evening. At his first coming to the earth, he descended and the whole purpose was to deliver sinners. I was sitting down beside the young woman who was trembling in the evening and longing to be saved and I said to her, dear, do you know this? That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's what they came for the first time. He came into the world, came to our planet, came into the world to save sinners. And you know, I had to sit here and I said, dear, now get the truth of this. He came to save sinners. He didn't come to ask sinners to save themselves. And he didn't come to help sinners save themselves. And let me say this, he didn't come to ask them. Let me get this quite clear to you. He came to do the job. He's not asking you to do anything. He came to do the whole job. He came to save sinners. Not expecting any help from you. First he knew this, that before he could save sinners, he would have to die to save sinners. He had to become the sacrifice for our sins. We've all sinned. We've all sinned many times. Well, he died to save us. But he knew that he not only had to come to save us and then die to save us, he knew he would have to rise again so that we could have a living Savior. What a church we offer you, you know. They could join all the Baptist churches in Ireland and then die and go to hell. Far too much talk about old churches. We're not talking about old churches. We're talking about a living Savior. That's what he came for, to save. That's what he died for, to save. That's what he lives for, to save. But he didn't only come to save and die to save. Doesn't only live to save. In this book he promises to save. That's where you get faith, you know. If he comes to you and says, look, dear, I'll finish this work, and I'm alive, and I can't save you against your will, but whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you just call on me, believing, believing that I'll do exactly what I promise to do, then I'll save you. That's what he descended for the first time. Came to save sinners. But he came to do a wee bit more, didn't he? You know, he descended the first time, not only to deliver sinners, but to declare God. You know, it's perfectly true that no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, you know, he hath declared Him. He could say to Thomas, see that I've seen me. I've seen the Father. You see, he let us see God's blood, and he let us see God's grace, and he let us see God's truth, because grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Let us see God's mercy. Let us see God's wisdom. He came to reveal God. What a wonderful job it was to deliver sinners, to declare God. And then he descended at the same time to defeat the devil. This book says that the Son of God was not affected to destroy the works of the devil. You know, the day that I got gloriously saved, it was the Lord Jesus that entered into the strong man's house and spoiled his goods and delivered me. I was a captive there. I was held captive by the devil. But I'm free tonight. The prince of this world is judged. Ah, yes, he was judged at Calvary. Why had Calvary quite spoiled principalities and powers? He made his throne so openly. It was at Calvary that he crushed the serpent's head. You can see the first coming. He descended to deliver sinners, to declare God, to defeat the devil. We believers must never forget this. There was something more. You know, at that first coming, as he walked on the broad acres of earth for thirty-three and a half years, you know, he raised us believers an example that we should follow in his steps. He came to demonstrate for saints how they should live. Don't be taking that and applying it to sinners, you know. He didn't leave them an example. It's not an example from the life of Christ that they need. It's life from the death of Christ they need. But you believers, he left you an example. Didn't he leave you an example in temptation? Why, when the old devil tempted him, he knew what to do. He turned to the book every time. He left you an example. And he left you an example in persecution. Why, when they spat in his face, he never uttered a word. A young doctor in the meeting came to me some time ago. He says, you know, the same things about me in the hospital. And the same undoing things I'm not doing. He's trying now. I said, I'll tell you a wee thing, doctor. Christ left you an example, you should follow it. When he was reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened. He just committed his way to God. That's it. Left you an example, you know, in temptation and in persecution. And he left you an example in supplication. Well, he was up before the day was up. A great while before day. There's something you can't get up for your work. The Christians running for the bus every morning. They pray a lot, don't they? They haven't even got their breakfast. Why you're not following the example? The master didn't lie in his bed all day, you know. You're supposed to be following. Your mother can't get you out of bed in the morning. Yes, he left us an example, didn't he? In temptation and in persecution and in supplication. Surely he left us an example in evangelization. You know, he went away up through Samaria one day. Oh, the Jews didn't go there. No, they had no dealings with the Samaritans. They didn't go there. While Jesus went way on up through the hills there, sat on Cyprus well and waited on a woman that was no use. Just to draw closer. What a wonderful person he was. I mustn't keep this bit of it all much. Now, at his first coming, at his first coming to this earth, he descended to deliver sinners, to declare God, to defeat the devil, to demonstrate for saints. You know, at his coming to the earth, I think you should mark this, he descends to receive from the world his own. You know, only those who have died in Christ will rise first. I don't know why you get a general resurrection into it when you get first in it. The dead in Christ shall rise first. Unless there's somebody second. If it was a general resurrection, you wouldn't need to use first, would you? Oh no, it's just the dead in Christ. All those who have died in Christ, all their bodies will rise. And all we, and the we is we, believers, which are alive and remain, you know, will all rise to meet the Lord in the air. He's coming to the earth to receive from this world his own. What a day it will be. He's going to take us out. There's a whole lot of folk in Ulster looking for a way out. I can tell them the way out. There it is. You go that way. It's not south you go. And it's not towards London you go. Rise to meet the Lord in the air. You know, he's coming to the air to redeem these bodies of ours. You see, it's perfectly true that I was saved about forty years ago. And it's perfectly true that when Jesus comes I'll be perfectly saved. You see, it is true that this body is dissolving. It's not redeemed yet, you know. I'm waiting for the redemption of the body. This old body's gone to pieces. Well, I have no teeth now. None left. They're all gone. And I can't see only with these things and I hate the look of them. Yes, and my hair, the touch is off. The old house has gone to pieces. But when Jesus comes he shall change this body right onto his purest body. What a day that will be. Why I should get my photograph taken then. Yes, he's coming to receive from the world. He's coming to redeem the body. He's coming to enter the graves of the body of every believer. You know, it's at that moment of the saints, of the bodies of the saints come out of their graves, it's at that moment the song will take place. O graves, where is thy victory? O sin. My dear friends, that's the great moment when Jesus comes to the earth. Now, let's get this bit quite clear that he's going to come to the earth again. That's the portion that went out this evening. And any man looking at this with one eye at all can see that this is quite different from his first coming to the earth. He came as the babe of Bethlehem. He came to deliver sinners. The next time he's coming as the king of kings. He's coming to destroy sinners. You know, there's a lot of people down here who blast his name every day and who have no respect for God's Son and who have no time for God's Son. Our old friend, he's going to deal with you one day. Don't you think that you'll spit in the face of Jesus Christ and belittle him forever? Because you're not. He's going to come in glory. But we'll see what he'll do when he comes. Let's have a look at 2 Thessalonians and at the first chapter, please. 2 Thessalonians and at the first chapter. He says, talking to these Thessalonian converts and he's saying to them, in verse 7, unto you who are troubled, rest with us. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven because he's going to be revealed to this whole world, when he shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, fire won't be baffling his name to them. In flaming fire seeking vengeance on them that know not God. Is that what it says? Because I'm telling you, that's what it says. When he comes to this earth in the portion that we're looking at tonight, he's coming in fire seeking vengeance on them that know not God. Oh, there's such a thing as the day of vengeance, you know. God says to all us believers in these terrible days in which we're living, he says, render not evil from evil to any man. He says, vengeance is mine. I will repay. There's a lot of these murderers who are shedding blood night after night. They're going to meet him on the day of vengeance. They're not getting out of it, you know. And we're getting terribly close to his coming. And after that he comes to earth. Look at this. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire seeking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are people who have no time for the gospel. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. Is that what it says? My dear friends, in this day of grace he's offering you on this time everlasting life. If you'll only trust him. I will go on despising him. And there will be everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. He'll cast you out, you know. Yes, he's coming to take vengeance. You know, he's going to descend this second time to this earth to take the throne of his father David. He's going to take the throne of David. Some people argue with me about that. Let's go back to Ezekiel 21 and you'll find there's no argument. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, then comes Ezekiel. And it's Ezekiel chapter 21. And you have to read a verse or two just to get the proper connection. Verse 1, Ezekiel 21, verse 1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy feet toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel. And I would think that everybody ought to know where Jerusalem is and the land of Israel is, but it seems that some of the believers don't. People coming in tonight said to me, we were in Palestine, we were at Jerusalem, and I didn't think they were in heaven, you know. I knew exactly where they were, that's where they were. They were at Jerusalem, they were in the land of Israel. That's what the prophet's talking about. Break free and say to the land of Israel, Thou saith the Lord, behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut out from thee the righteous and the wicked. Saying then that I will cut out from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north. And I would have thought that would have settled it for some of them. It's a geographical location, isn't it? It's not the spiritual one. I don't know how you say south and north for spiritual. Now he's talking about the land of Palestine and he's talking about these unbelieving Jews and God's getting fed up with them here and he's going to bring Nebuchadnezzar upon them. And that's what the whole chapter's about, bringing the cow beings upon them. But there's this, the day that Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem and he took the king's captives and he took many of the prince's captives. That's what the first chapter of Daniel's all about. But you'll find this, that something happened at that time. You know, God took the crown off the king of Israel and God never let them have another king again. You can go right back as far as you like. You can go back to the day when you could never change. And there was a king in Israel then. There was a king, you know. And he was taken captive and he was taken down to Babylon. But the nettle was an orgy. And they're in the land tonight and they're in nations tonight and they have money tonight and they have princes tonight and a government tonight and must be dined to run a war for them. But they have no king and they're not having one. No, there's a king coming. He's coming soon. I'll tell you what God said in that chapter. Watch it very carefully now. You know I didn't write this chapter. Verse 26. God said to the Lord God, remove the diabetes and take off the crown. Taking the crown. This shall not be the same. Exalt him that is low and debase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it. And this shall be no more until he come whose right it is and I will give it in. He took the crown off that day. He said I'm set up with you. And I'm taking the crown off and you're not having a king anymore. And you can go on through the Old Testament after that down to Malachi and you can come into the days of Christ and you can come down through all the years of such history and you can come to this moment and Israel never again have a king from that moment. And they never will. If they do, this word is broken. It will not be broken. But the Lord is coming back you know. Let's go to see what the angel said to Mary. You remember him coming into the Virgin Mary in Luke's Gospel chapter 1. Luke's Gospel and that's the first chapter. Verse 26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God onto a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. Not the girl's name. The virgin's name. And the angel came in unto her and said Heal thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him she was troubled at his saying and cast in her mind what manner of salutation there should be. And the angel said unto her Fear not, dearie. For thou art conceivable with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in my womb and bring forth a son. And remember that's a tremendous statement. Because the angel is giving the sex of the child before the child is conceived. Thou shalt conceive and bring forth a son. And before the conception took place and it was a miraculous conception the sex of the child was given. Which absolutely proves beyond any doubt that Mary was a pure woman. And she was a virgin. That's not the bit I'm after. Verse 31 Behold, thou shalt conceive in my womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. Is that right now? Tell me, did he get it the first time he came? No, he didn't. It wasn't the throne he got, it was a cross. It wasn't the crown that was taken away that he got, it was the crown of thorns. Ah, but he's coming back again. It's not over yet. Oh, not at all. And he's coming back and it will be to take vengeance on those that murdered him. And he's coming back to take vengeance on those that know not God and that obey not the gospel. And he's coming to take the throne of his father David. I'll tell you a wee bit more. He's coming to take the government of the whole world. Boy, we would need somebody to take the government, wouldn't we? I think we forget a lot of things. Let's go way back to Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 9 it is. Prophecy of Isaiah chapter 9. And it's this great sixth verse. Now watch it very carefully and there are three rifts in it. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Then there are two dots there. That's what they call a semicolon. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And there's another two dots. His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor of the Mighty God. The everlasting Father, or as it should be, the Father of Eternity. Isn't that better? The Prince of Peace. Now if you look at these three parts in this verse you'll see three things. You know, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. It makes you turn around and look back. And you're looking back at the Christ of yesterday. He was the child born. There are so much little mistakes. He was the son given. The son was never born. The son was just given. The child was born. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Now if you take the middle bit, the government shall be upon his shoulder. You know, you need to turn around now and look forward. For in a very short time he will come out of heaven right to this earth and he's coming to take the government of the whole world. I mean, it's too much to do because I think we must have found out before now there's a lot of hopeless cases in the governments. You get fed up listening to them and you begin to see by the books they're writing the things they were planning. And Heath and Wilson and all the rest. God help us. And we have got a picker in our own government too. Somebody said, yes, they're going to do away with Scotland. What are we going to do with this big place? I said, make it a lunatic asylum because there were not cases there all the days of its life. We've had a lot of them. Well, the Lord is coming. Coming to this earth. Coming to take the government. Not only of Israel, dear. He's coming to take the throne of his father David. I know all about that. He's coming to take the government of the whole world. And Jesus shall reign wherever some doth its successors journey from. What a day it will be. So I think you can differentiate now if you keep those notes beside you. You can differentiate at any time between his first coming to the earth and his second coming to the earth and his coming to the air. We'd better go back and start the passage this evening. Sorry about that introduction, but there you are, as hard goes. We've got this passage to deal with now. We're back at Revelation 19. Now, I want you to note the titles that are here. There've been many titles in these two verses. The words faithful and true are there. And then it says in verse 12, at the end of the verse, he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And then it says he's called the Word of God. That's a very wonderful title, and it belongs inseparably to Christ. And then at the end of our paragraph, he has a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You know, when you think of this title, faithful and true, you think about the fidelity of our Lord Jesus. You know, Israel is going to find out that he was always faithful and true to them. And he always will be. He'll come and take the throne and he'll bring them out of the mess they're in. And you know, when it comes to the end of the day and the Church of Jesus Christ stands at the judgment seat, they'll remember that he's been faithful and true. He's been faithful and true. And listen, dear, you can separate yourself out tonight and you'll find this out, that the Lord Jesus will always be faithful and true to you. Always will. You know, he won't always say the things to you that you want him to say. But he'll say what you need to hear. He'll be faithful to you. You know, we're living in a day when people want smooth things. Preach unto us smooth things. The Lord's got a lot to say to you at times and unto me. And I'll tell you it shakes you up a bit. But he'll always be faithful to you and he'll always be true. Sometimes when I'm faithful and true, you know, I'm misunderstood. Because I'm quite prepared to be misunderstood. The fellow came to me at the convention in Port Russian. It was a pity of him and I have all the sympathy for him of the day he had a stoppage in the speech and it took him ever so long to get it out. I very patiently listened. And he said, after staggering at it for so long, I want to be a missionary. I said, somebody should tell you to have a better sense. Because if God had meant you to be a missionary, you would have been able to talk, wouldn't you? I was being very faithful to him, you know, I'm sure he didn't like it a bit. But sometimes when I have to talk, sense the people. They don't like it here. But the Lord will be faithful to you whether you like it or not. He'll always find them true. You know, this is only bringing out the fidelity of the Lord Jesus. And then you see this name that no man knew but he himself. You know, we must never forget that Jesus Christ is God. Yes, he's God manifest in flesh. You know, it's easy for us who know this great truth to look at him and know that he's the infinite. Infinite and eternal is what we say in the Catechism. But we must always remember that we can never know infinity. Once you say God, once you say infinite, you may know the infinite one, but you can't know infinity, can you? Oh no, that's the mystery of Jesus Christ. Faithful and true is his fidelity. The name that no man knew but he himself is the infinity. You see, this done here at the end of verse 13, the Word of God. Well, this is his deity, isn't it? Now, John knew all about this because John wrote the Gospel and the Gospel of John begins like this, In the beginning was the Word. I asked enough, I said this. When anything that ever had a beginning began, the Word was. The Word never had a beginning. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was God. I can see it there. You know, when you come to the name King of Kings and Lord of Lords, you can see this quite clearly that his royalty is here because he was born King and he shall take the throne and he'll be King of Kings because the government will be upon his shoulder and, of course, Lord of Lords and the Lordship has to do with his authority. And if you're looking at the names quickly, you can see his fidelity and his infinity and his deity and his royalty and his authority and it's all there at that look, just on the page where you're looking just now. I think you can see the title quite clear. I want to take a time, a bit of time, with this tunic that he was wearing. Now, you know he's coming out of heaven. Verse 11 says, I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him. He's coming out of heaven and he's coming down to earth, he's coming to the nations, he's coming to make war. Now, verse 13 says, and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. I want you to take your time with that. That's the tunic he's wearing. It's a vesture dipped, it's a great word that's there, dipped in blood. Now, if he's coming out of heaven, he went to heaven that day when he left the Mount of Olives and he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty and high and the voice from the Majesty said, sit thou here until I make thine enemies thy footstool and he's never left heaven since. Now, you have a right to ask, where did he get this vesture? It's bloodstained. There was nobody killed in heaven. They're quite sure of that, there's no death out there. Now, you have a right to think about where he got it and if the word dipped is used, you have a right to ask who dipped it in blood. For the information of everybody here, it's the old words for baptism. You see, when people are baptized by a mercy, they're dipped. They're usually called the Baptist and the Brethren and the Dippers. That's what they call me, Dipper. I'm worried about it. It's a great word. Well, this vesture was dipped. You have a right to ask, who dipped it? It was dipped in blood. If it was dipped in blood, who wants to know who dripped on it? Well, that's quite the theological question or two for this class. I had the class of students out at the Bible School and we're going there on Saturday and I have a lot of questions for them, tighten them up a little bit. Now, these are the sorts of questions we might be looking at if you were there. Where did this vesture come from? Who dips it in blood? Whose blood? He is wearing it as he comes out of it. You know, God has a lot to say about the clothes that the Lord Jesus wore. Let's go back to Psalm 23. The Book of Psalms, Psalm 22. You're not in any hurry here. The barrier doesn't shut till twelve. I'm just in that sort of mood just now. Now, this is a great psalm. This is the twenty-second psalm. It has all to do with the cross. It's wonderful that David could prophesy the very words that Christ would offer on the cross and remember he's prophesying them six hundred years before Christ was born. What a wonderful thing. It shows you this is the Word of God. David was prophesying what Christ would say. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me six hundred years before he said? And I don't want to take everything that refers to the cross and the chapter. We'd be here for a week. But look down there at verse 18. They caught my garments among them and cast lots upon my gesture. Well, that's something that David put in. You might think it's insignificant. I hope you don't because there is nothing insignificant in this book. But David could foresee Christ on the cross as he could see that the soldiers who would strike him to the tree because he talks in the chapter there about them piercing his hands and his feet, he could see that they would strip him stark naked. And for his garments, they would part his garments among them, his outer garments. I think what it actually means is that they tore them apart and parted them to one another. But they had a vesture underneath and somehow they didn't feel like tearing it up. They cast lots for who would get it. I think you remember this, don't you? Let's go to John's Gospel, chapter 19, just to make sure about this. We're at John's Gospel, chapter 19, verse 23. I went out to cross and Christ's hanging on the tree. Verse 23. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts to every soldier apart. And also his coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. It's not a special thing, this. They said therefore among themselves, let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be. But the scripture might be fulfilled which says, they parted my remnant among them, and for my vesture did they cast lots. You know, Psalm 22 was being fulfilled and they were fulfilling it and they did no thing about it. It's very strange that man's lips can move and he can form sentences. That's fulfilling something that was written 600 years ago that he knows nothing about. So I want you to watch this. Now they did tear his garments, his outer garments, and give some to each soldier for whatever reason, I don't know. But this vesture, this coat, this inner vesture, they didn't want to tear it. Somehow God wanted it cast. Because it's God that talks first about it. And some soldier won it with a toss of the coin. The soldiers tossed the coin and some fellow won it. I wonder what he did with it. That's the thing. What did he do with it? Now we're just left there. We know that Psalm 22 talks about the vesture and we know that John 19 talks about his vesture. Now there's one thing sure that when Joseph of Arimathea took him down from the cross he was stark naked. I think this is the thing we must consider as we look at the cross of Christ. You see they had torn up his garments and this soldier had won his vesture and therefore he was naked. This book says he endured the cross and he despised the shame on a dreadful thing it was for our Lord Jesus to be stripped naked and hung on the cross where these women were passing by. I don't think we get the picture properly sometimes. And if your arms fail, he did it for you. But he was taken down from the cross stark naked and then they wrapped him in linen cloth. The mood of burial was this that you would take long linen stripes and you'd dip them in a peel of certain ointment and then you'd stop at the toes and you'd wrap this around and tuck it in and get another one and wrap it round and you'd come right up to the neck and tuck it in there and you'd take another one and wrap it round the head and tuck it in and it's called the napkin and all you can see is the face. And if you want to see somebody wrapped like this you can call into the museum in Belsast and there's a mummy wrapped exactly as I'm describing to you now. Now what happens with this ointment or liniment that is dipped in that within an hour this hardens into a crystal shell so that the body is placed in a shell. Now this is one of the truths of the bodily resurrection. Are there any Russellites here? Because I'd love to go from you. It's time that the heresy you preach. You preach that he never rose bodily. Come on now and I'll take you on. Oh you just watch this. This is John 20 we're at now. And Mary comes to the tomb, Mary Magdalene on the first day of the week. That's for Sunday you know. She came out when it was yet dark. Verse 1 Then the first day of the week She came as Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark under the sepulchre and she is the stone taken away from the sepulchre. You know if you were in Palestine and some of you have been there recently and you went out through the Damascus gate and you went up towards where the tomb was you know as you enter over the brow of the hill there you can see the door of the tomb long before you come to it. And you know there's a great big stone there and it's still there. Gone now. It was about nine feet in diameter and greater than ours there. And it would take a lot of men to move it. And the stone had been rolled away from the door. Now this is Mary coming and she is the stone taken away from the sepulchre. You know she never went any further. Then she runs. You can almost see her gathering up her long robes round her and running coming to Simon Peter and to the other disciples whom Jesus loved and sat under them. She's out of breath now. They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre. Who told her that? Who is the they? Nobody told her. That's the way a woman gets on. All women are the same. They all do this. They just run and shout open their mouth and don't know a thing about it. The Bible is written properly you know. There's nobody told her that anybody had taken them away because nobody had taken them away. Just the thing a woman would do. But don't get annoyed if she comes in with and she'll come down again. Verse 3 Peter therefore went forth from that other disciple and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together and the other disciple John did outrun Peter. He came first to the sepulchre. He stooping down looking in saw the linen cloth lying. The word cloth should be cloth according to the Greek. Yet went he not in. You know he's a soft-tempered fellow. Didn't want to go in. Then come Simon Peter following him and went into the sepulchre. Can't you see how the story is written? You can see the woman through delight. You can see John through delight. But Peter was a boy like me. He'd walk on in. He'd never stop at all. He'd just go and see what was going on. Then come Simon Peter following him went into the sepulchre and seeeth the linen cloth lie and the napkin that was about his head not lying with the linen cloth but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple John's encouraged now which came to the sepulchre and he saw what's this? And believed. Believed what? You see if you'd been there you would have believed too. Because all the linen cloths are there in their folds you know. And the space is there. And the napkin's by itself. And the body is out. The body came out without disturbing the fold. And John and Peter believed. Believed that the Lord had risen bodily from the grave. Now let me get this bit. If he came out through the cloth he was naked. He needs clothes. If he's gone to meet somebody he needs clothes. Now I have a feeling that when the coin was tossed and the vesture was won and the soldier had got it he may well have laid it at the foot of the cross. I think it was there all right. That's where they took it off. And I believe this. You don't need to swallow this. But I believe it. That when the spear was stuck into the side and forthwith came out blood, it's Christ's blood. It topples his vesture. And the morning that Christ rose and he's going back to heaven just now just at that moment he's going back. Oh I know he went back to stay later on. Let's do this now. Look, he came to Mary and spoke to her in verse 16. Jesus saith unto her Mary You know the moment he spoke like that she knew him. She turned herself and saith unto him, Abonai, which is to say master. Jesus saith unto her touch me not, don't touch me. For I am not yet ascended to my Father. Go to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. You know, he was just about to ascend into heaven. And now, he came back and was with them for 40 days wasn't he? It was a big idea going to heaven just at that moment. The moment of the resurrection. Well you know, according to the old sin offering in the Old Testament when the lamb was slain and the blood was put in the basin the high priest had to go in before God and sprinkle it before his home. How did he take that blood to heaven? I believe he took the flesh and blood his blood. I believe he took it to heaven with him. I believe it's the evidence that a lot of policemen around me, and when there's a murder they're always looking for the clothes and the blood stains. Ah well, the clothes of this murder has been kept, and so have the blood. I believe it's there now. I believe when Christ comes back to take vengeance in this world he'll be wearing the robe. I've walked through this in blood and it's the evidence it's a very important thing that wasn't put in there for fun. Let's get the hold of this. We're back at Revelation 19 Revelation 19 Verse 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed him fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth grew up a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. You know, as he comes to this world a second time you can see the titles, you can see the tunic, you can see the top he comes to judge them to make war, you can see the terror that will spread among the nations when he comes. Why he'll be treading the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Now next Tuesday we're going to follow on with what will happen to man and woman down here when Jesus comes. Let's sing three verses 1 7 8 please 1 7 8 Jesus is coming sing the glad word coming for those he redeemed by his blood coming to reign of the glorified Lord. Jesus is coming again. The first and second and last verses please. First, second, last. 1 7 8 Jesus is coming Jesus is sing the glad Jesus is coming Dear Lord, part us in thy fear and with thy blessings take us to our homes and through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.