In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the last three verses of Isaiah chapter 52. He begins by discussing the image of beautiful feet upon a mountain, representing the remnant company of the last days who will go out into the world to proclaim the gospel of peace. He emphasizes that while the gospel of the kingdom is distinct, it is not different from the gospel preached today. The preacher then highlights the importance of God's grace to a ruined world and how, in the future, a chosen company will proclaim glad tidings of peace and the imminent return of the Prince of Peace. The sermon concludes by connecting these verses to the messianic prophecy in Isaiah 53, which speaks of the glorious fulfillment in the millennial days.

I know at first sight it may not always seem so, and it's all important, for we're told that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. But there are certain parts of God's Word that speak to us more loudly, perhaps, than others do. And the portion of it which we now enter has a very loud voice for all who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, because it brings Him personally before us in such a clear, definite way. We have just concluded yesterday the first subdivision of the last part of Isaiah. You'll keep this clearly in mind, won't you? There's no telling, you know, what you might be asked on examination day. You'll keep this clearly in mind that Isaiah really divides into just three great portions. Division 1, from chapter 1 to 35, prophecies, largely leading up to the dispersion. And then the next is the historical portion, chapters 36 to 39, where you have the story of Hezekiah. And then the last is the chapters that deal particularly with the coming glory, from chapter 40 to 66. And we've already gone over the first division, of course. I didn't try to break it up into subdivisions or subsections. I don't want you to be occupied with that. Just think of it as one great whole. And we've gone over the historical section. And now we are in this last great division of the book, the third division of the book. And in this we have three subdivisions that I would like you to keep in mind. First, as we've already had, Jehovah's controversy with Israel concerning their idolatry. And that's chapter 40 to 48. And that ends, as you remember, with the words, "...saith Jehovah to the wicked." Then we begin this morning with Jehovah's controversy with Israel concerning their attitude toward the Messiah, their treatment of the Messiah. And that begins with chapter 49 and ends with chapter 57. And it concludes with the words, "...saith my God to the wicked." See how aptly these endings come in. There's no peace to the one who substitutes anything else for the one true and living God. When one turns to idolatry or any substitute for the true God, he can never find peace. Then on the other hand, there is no peace for one who rejects the Savior that God has provided. There's no peace, "...saith my God to the wicked." Now, we want to consider, if time will permit this morning, chapters 49, 50, 51, and the first 12 verses of chapter 52. The reason that I'm stopping at verse 12 is that the last three verses of chapter 52 properly belong, in my judgment, to chapter 53. This is another instance, such as I've spoken of several times, where chapter breaks have come at the wrong place. I feel quite certain that the last three verses of chapter 52 are really part of the great Messianic message which we have in chapter 53. And so we'll consider those verses in connection with that chapter when the time comes. Now in chapter 49, we have Israel brought before us as Jehovah's servant. But Israel, as a nation, has failed terribly to fulfill the place of a servant. And so while it's Israel who speaks and says, "...the Lord hath called me from the womb, and said unto me, Thou art my servant," and so on, it is really the Lord Jesus Christ himself who takes the place of Israel, the true Israel. So that the servant, all the way through here, is no longer the nation as such, though the nation does speak in these opening verses. But it's the Lord Jesus who takes the place of the nation. There are other scriptures that indicate that. You remember in Hosea, where God is speaking of bringing the nation out of Egypt, he says, "...out of Egypt have I called my son." In the New Testament, that prophecy is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who as a little babe was carried down to Egypt and brought back to the land that it might be fulfilled, Matthew says, which was written in the prophet, "...out of Egypt have I called my son." So that though in the first instance the son there was Israel, it was the Lord Jesus, the true Israel, who was actually before the mind of God. We ourselves often use language in the same way, substituting an individual for a whole people. For instance, you remember, you who are acquainted with French history, how Louis XIV, that proud, haughty monarch, exclaimed on one occasion, "...France must rule the world, and I am France." You see, I am France. And then you remember when Napoleon Bonaparte expressed himself with a little bit of a Hitler-esque shake of the head. He said, "...the Etat must be supreme, the state must be supreme, and I am the state." You see, and so that even uninspired men use language in that way. How much more has Christ the right to take that place, to say, I am Israel, the true Israel, the very name Israel, not a prince with God. And it was he then who became the true prince, was manifested as the true prince, the servant of Jehovah, when Israel as such failed. And in this chapter, the Lord speaking then talks as though he's reviewing his work and the treatment he received from the nation. He says, "...I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught." You can see how those words apply to his mission to Israel when he was here on earth. He said he came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but we're told he came unto his own, and his own received him not. And so eventually he has to say to Israel, your house is left unto you desolate. It looked as though his mission, in one sense, was actually a failure. I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught. But now the Father answers him, as you see in this chapter, and he says, it's a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Israel. I'm going to make thee a light, the light in the Gentiles. And he implies that through his rejection by Israel, a greater mission would be accomplished. The message would go out to the Gentile world. I'd like my wife to just read those verses, because I want to have them clearly before us. Yeah. Verse 6, and he said it is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Go ahead. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One. To him whom man despises, to him whom the nation of Horat, to a servant of Israel. Kings shall see it arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel. And he shall choose thee. Now, while of course in the Old Testament we do not have the present age brought clearly before us, as I pointed out the other day, the Old Testament prophet was like a man looking at two mountain peaks, one away beyond the other and higher than the first one, that he was unable to see the valley in between. So the prophet testified of the sufferings of Christ, that's his first coming, and the glories that should follow his second coming. But they do not give us any clear teaching and outline as to all that goes on in between. We know now from the New Testament that God had it in his heart from all eternity to call out from Jew and Gentile a people to his name, who should be the body and the bride of his son, so that when the Lord Jesus returns to reign in power and glory, he'll not return alone. He'll have a bride with him who shall sit with him upon his throne. Now, while all that is true, and we don't get any clear, definite instruction in regard to the present age yet, it's very evident that such a prophecy as that which we have just read does cover the present age as well as looking on to the millennium. Of course, it will have its complete fulfillment in millennial days, when all the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ, and when the one whom the nation abhorred, that's a strong expression. But you know it's not too strong to express the feeling of Israel toward the Lord Jesus Christ, the one whom the nation abhorred. Terms are used concerning him in Jewish writings of the Talmud and others as the leper and the hanged one, and such expressions as referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, the one whom the nation abhorred. They couldn't understand, of course. Had they known, had they known, Peter says, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But they didn't know, they didn't understand. But now, God is going to glorify the one whom the nation abhorred, and the kings of the earth are going to recognize him and bow down before him. Well, in a remarkable sense, that has been true even during the present age, though unforeseen by the prophets. Because as the gospel went from land to land throughout the early centuries, whole nations were brought to profess at least subjection to the Lord Jesus, and many kings proclaimed themselves his subjects. And even right down to the present time, there are among the nations certain rulers who confess the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. We think, for instance, of the rulers of Great Britain and of Holland and of Scandinavia, all of whom are professed Christians. Now, that doesn't mean necessarily that they're all born again, but they're all professed Christians and acknowledge outwardly, at least, the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our leaders in this country have been the same. Franklin Roosevelt was a professed Christian, a warden of an Episcopal church, and Truman is a splendid sample of a Southern Baptist. At least I remember when he first became president, some of my Southern Baptist friends said, isn't it wonderful that God has put a Southern Baptist in the presidential chair? Well, I'm afraid he's been a disappointment to some of them. But at any rate, he professes Christianity, professes the Christian faith. And in that sense, recognizes the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember Queen Victoria was very definite in her confession of faith. When that heathen from Africa, a heathen African prince, came to visit Great Britain and was presented to the Queen, he inquired, Your Majesty, to what do you attribute the great prosperity of the British Empire? And she handed him a Bible. And she said, to this book. And he carried that book back to his people in Uganda to tell them that it was on that the prosperity of the British Empire was based. And I remember reading, you probably read, how Queen Victoria on one occasion made public the statement, when she was quite well on in years. She said, I'm a firm believer in the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I've sometimes thought he has permitted me to reign so long that perhaps I will never lay down my crown until I lay it down at his feet when he comes again. That's a lovely expression of subjection to the Lord. Of course, the Lord took her home before that time. But the kings of the earth and the rulers, there have been many of them who have outwardly at least honed the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ as the victorious, evidently, truly new Christ as their Savior. I remember the story of when she used to go to Balmoral every year, you know, up in Scotland. Lovely place. I've been all through it. They didn't invite me in to take dinner with the king somewhere. But the queen used to go around visiting the highland women living in the little cottages in the hills around. She got acquainted with all of them and would go from one to another and chat with them. And of course, they were delighted to think that the queen would take that notice of them. And finally, she came to bid one old cottager goodbye as she was returning to London. And the old lady said, well, your majesty, I may never see you on earth again. May I ask your gracious majesty a question? She said, yes, as many as you like. Well, she said, will your majesty meet me in heaven? And Queen Victoria said, yes, through the all-availing blood of Jesus. So that's a good testimony to come from the ruler of a mighty empire. So the kings have bowed down before the Lord Jesus Christ. The nation of Israel at the time rejected him. They didn't understand. But God has made his name glorious throughout the world. And the passage, of course, looks on to complete fulfillment in millennial days when all the kings of the earth will bring their riches of glory into the new Jerusalem. 8 through 11, Thus saith the Lord, in an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee. And I will preserve thee and give thee for a covenant of the people to establish the earth, because to inherit the death will inherit you. That thou mayest make the prisoners go forth to them that are in darkness. They shall feed in the ways, and their pasture shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them. For he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. Now here's a passage, two parts of which are clearly brought before us in the New Testament. In an acceptable time have I heard thee. We read in the New Testament, Behold, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. So that God takes up these words and applies them at the present time while the gospel of the grace of God is going out into all the world. And then the latter part of this scripture carries us on to the time of the great awakening when all over the world men will be brought to recognize the Lord Jesus Christ. And you have that pictured in the seventh chapter of the book of Revelation. I want this read in a moment or two. This in the seventh chapter of the book of Revelation after giving us the vision of the 144,000 of Israel. John says, I saw a great multitude that no man could number clothed in white robes and with palms in their hand. And they stood before the throne of God and of the Lamb. Now before the throne, many have thought of these. Many commentators look upon these as saints in heaven. And many interpreters of the book of Revelation say that they're the martyred saints who will be slain under the beast and the false prophet, but that now they're seen up in heaven, the same as those referred to under the fifth seal. But as you read on, it seems very evident that that's another mistake. That this is the great multitude who will form the nucleus of the coming glorious kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ right here on the earth. Because one of the elders turns to John and says, Who are these who are arrayed in white robes? Whence came they? And John said, Sir, thou knowest. Just another way of saying, I give it up. Tell me. And so the elder replied, These are they which have come up out of the great tribulation. Literally, you know, there are two definite articles there. They've come out of the tribulation, the great one, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Here's a great blood-washed multitude who have come up out of the great tribulation. Not ascended to heaven, but they've gone through all that period of trial and been preserved by God. And now, see what the Lord says of them. We've seen in 17 verses of the 7th chapter of the Revelation, They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of His crone shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living facts of the world, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Now, will you go back again and read the kindred passage in Isaiah? It's supposed to just show how exactly the one fits the other. The last part of the 9th verse, They shall feed in the ways, and that pasture shall be in all her pasture. And then, they shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them. For He that hath mercy on them shall lead them even by the springs of water, shall He guide them. You see, the two passages refer to exactly the same group. It's an earthly group. It's people who will be saved for the glorious millennial kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Primarily, the remnant of Israel, associated with them a great company from among the Gentiles, who will be brought to acknowledge the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, the once rejected Messiah, now as their Savior and their Lord. So that the Spirit of God is saying, as it were, to the Lord Jesus Christ, It's true the nation didn't recognize you. It's true that you seem to have labored in vain and spent your strength for naught. But the coming day will show what a tremendous harvest will result from your labors of love when you are down here unrecognized and misunderstood. Now, when we come to chapter 50, God shows us why Israel has been set to one side during all the present age. In the first verse, the question is put, Where is the bill of your mother's divorce? That is, now why did God divorce His earthly bride, His earthly wife, Israel? Israel is spoken of as the wife of Jehovah. But during the present time, she's divorced. She's like a divorced wife. God no longer recognizes her as in covenant relation with Himself. And the question arises, Well, why? Where's the bill of your mother's divorce? On what ground did God set her aside? On what ground was she divorced? And then the answer comes, Wherefore when I came was there no man? This passage is so wonderful. I want it read. I'm afraid to trust my memory. I think I could quote it all, but I might miss it. Verse 2, Wherefore when I came was there no man? When I called was there none to answer? Is my hand sharpened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, if my rebuke I drive to sea, I make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish stinkish because there is no water, and dies for thirst. I close the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. The law of God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning. He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. I gave verse 6, I gave my backs to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hay. I hid not my face from shame and pity. What a wonderful passage we have here. I've sat down oh so many times with a thoughtful Jew, several times with Jewish rabbis, and I've just said to them, Now, let's just consider this passage carefully. Here's Jehovah telling why he sent Israel to one side. He says, Wherefore when I came was there no man? When who came? Well, they look at it, you know, and they have to say, Well, it was when Jehovah visited Israel. All right. There's no question about that. He says, I'm the one that, there was no one to welcome me. I'm the one that clothes the heavens with blackness. I make sackcloth their covering. I dry up the waters, their fish stinketh and dieth for thirst. He's going back to the time when he dried up the waters of the Red Sea and dried up the waters of the Jordan for Israel to go through. It's the eternal God speaking, the God of creation. And there's no change in the person as he goes right on speaking and he tells how he came down to earth in humiliation. He says, He wakeneth, is that the next part? He wakeneth morning by morning? He wakeneth? Oh, sir. The law of God is in the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak the word in freedom of him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning. He wakeneth man here to hear and to learn. Now here's one who says himself that he clothes the heavens with blackness and he dries up the waters and so on. And he goes right on speaking. You've got an indication here of the Trinity. But he says, Jehovah, God, hath given me the tongue of the learned or the disciple. I who clothes the heavens with blackness, I have taken the place of a disciple. I've come down to earth and taken the place of a learner. It was the Lord Jesus Christ in infinite grace coming down here in his humiliation, choosing to lay aside, as it were, his claims to full deity. Not that he laid aside his deity. He couldn't do that. But he refused to act in the power of his own omnipotence. But he chose on earth to learn from the word of God and to be subject to the Holy Spirit. He increased, we're told, in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. And he says, The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the disciple that I might learn how to... I like Lieser's translation. Lieser's a Jewish translation. It's very beautiful here. ...that I might learn how to comfort the weary with the word. How that fits in with the Savior's own invitation. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who is tempted in all parts, like as we therefore able to succor those that are tempted. He comes down to earth and goes through all human experiences apart from sin. Entering fully into our sorrows and our griefs and our troubles and thus learning in a practical way how to comfort the weary with the word. And what treatment did he get for it? I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to those that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. That lowly man in Pilate's judgment hall or delivered over to the soldiers who gathered about him and in their ribaldry mocked him and smote him and exposed him to all kinds of vulgarities and indecencies was God manifest in the flesh. I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to those that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. This then tells us why the divorce came. Why Israel has been for the present set to one side. They rejected their Messiah when he came in lowly grace. So the Lord says, Now behold, all ye that kindle a fire walk in the light of the fire that ye have kindled. But this shall ye have of my hand. Ye shall lie down in sorrow. And oh how terribly that has been fulfilled. They turned away from him who is the light of life and they tried to kindle a fire of their own and to walk in the light of their own fire. And what has been the result? This shall ye have of my hand. Ye shall lie down in sorrow. Who have ever suffered? Who have ever known the sorrows nationally that the people of Israel have known? And we who through grace once rejected Christ too, but who have had our eyes open and brought to receive him as our Savior. How our hearts ought to go out in yearning love and compassion to Israel with their eyes still blinded. How we need to pray for them. You know, I think sometimes that oh we're so forgetful. I used to notice this when I was past at the Moody Church. If there came to speak to us some Hebrew Christian like our brother Bernbaum who was then at the Institute or Dr. Max Isaac Reich or somebody like that and different ones were taking part in prayer. My how they prayed for Israel. See, when the Hebrew Christian was there. But I noticed that if it wasn't there, unless I called special attention to it, you could go through prayer meeting after prayer meeting and nobody ever prayed for Israel. They prayed for everything else and everybody else. But nobody ever voiced a prayer for Israel unless special attention was called to it. I used to try from time to time to remind my brethren. Don't let us forget brethren we haven't heard any prayer in this meeting yet for Israel. And God has said pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love thee. Alas, alas, poor Israel have kindled their own fire. They're trying to walk in the light of the teachings of the rabbis and so on. But they've found sorrow upon sorrow and there'll never be relief full relief from it until they look upon him whom they've pierced and they mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son and as one that's in bitterness for his firstborn. Now in the next chapter, chapter 51, God stresses the disobedience of Israel and their suffering because of it but also emphasizes the coming day when Messiah will be recognized and they'll be brought into fullness of blessing. Heaven unto me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord. Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father and unto Pharaoh that buried him. For I called him alone and blessed him and increased him. For the Lord shall comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places and he will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving to the voice of Melody. So that God is going to fulfill every promise made. He says, look unto Abraham. God had said to Abraham, In thee and in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed. But Israel failed at that blessing but still the promise abides. And the day is coming when they themselves will enter into fullness of blessing through the son of Abraham and when they will be made a blessing to the whole earth because they'll become like a nation of priests in the coming day and be used of God to bless all the Gentile nations. The nations that once persecuted them will have to suffer but after God has destroyed the enemies those who are taken in red-handed opposition to his word yet the nations who have never been guilty of all these things will find the Lord as their savior and enter into the blessing of the millennial day. Now in the rest of this chapter and also in the first part of chapter 52 we have three calls to awake. First you have a call addressed to the arm of the Lord. Awake, awake. Then you have a call addressed to Jerusalem as she now is in her suffering and her sorrow calling her to arise. And then you have a call to Zion and to Jerusalem as she will be in the coming day when the Lord leads her into blessing. Awake, awake. Put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in the ancient days in the generations of old. Are thou not it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon? Just a moment there. Lest I forget it. Rahab, the dragon there, refers to Egypt. It's a term used for Egypt. Go right on. The seventeenth verse is the second awake. Awake, awake. Stand up, O Jerusalem, which hath drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury. Thou hast drunken the draught of the cup of trembling and roamed vain hours. And the third awake is the first verse of chapter 52. Awake, awake. Put on thy strength, O Zion. Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. For henceforth thou shalt no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the drunk. Arise and sit there, O Jerusalem. Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck and cast yourself, O Zion. For thus saith the Lord, ye have sold yourselves for naught and ye shall be redeemed without money. These three calls to awake come in consecutively in a very clear, definite way. First, it's the call of the people in their sorrow and their trouble. Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord. Looking back and remembering how the arm of the Lord has been manifested in their behalf in ancient times, they cry now from the depths of their heart, O God, come in and undertake for us. Awake, arm of the Lord. What is the arm of the Lord? One of our hymns takes this, what? Awake, O arm of the Lord, awake, awake. When I was a little boy, they'd sing that. You know, I used to kind of wonder what that arm was. I used to, my arm used to go to sleep sometimes. And I thought, has the arm of the Lord been asleep, what does it mean? I couldn't understand it. Children think queer things about some of these hymns, you know. They don't know just what they're singing about. But the arm of the Lord is what? Well, the arm of the Lord is a person. When you come to the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, you see that he's a person. And it's the Lord Jesus Christ himself. So that it's he who is really being addressed, though the people may not know it. Arm of the Lord, awake, awake. They're calling on him to rise for their defense, for their deliverance. And thank God in due time he will. And this is one of the first things that will take place. There will be a moving in the heart and the part of a remnant of Israel. A recognition of their past failure and sin. And a turning back to the Lord. That's where those words apply. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he's near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord. And he will have mercy upon him. And to our God for he will abundantly pardon. Well now in response to the cry, awake, awake, O arm of the Lord. God addresses Israel in her present broken condition. And he says, awake, awake, O Jerusalem. Arise from the dust. Cleanse yourself from your iniquity. Acknowledge your sin. Confess your transgressions. Repent. And when you do, then deliverance will come. He goes on to show that the Lord in his own time is going to bring them back to Mount Zion. Their ransom to the Lord shall return with everlasting joy upon their heads and so on. Then in chapter 2, I mean chapter 52, God is addressing the restored people. When at last the work of repentance has been wrought in their souls and they've turned back to God. And now the day of their blessing has come. He says, awake, awake, O Zion. And calls upon them to sing with gladness as they come forth from the lands of the Gentiles to enter again into their own land and to come into happy reconciliation with God and in subjection to the Savior that he has provided. There are a few additional verses there I wanted out, weren't there? Here's the, what shall I call it, the remnant company of the last days going out over the mountains, going out through the world to proclaim the gospel of peace. And we speak of it as the gospel of the kingdom. But let us remember that while it is distinguished in that sense, it's not a different gospel to that which we preach today. There's only one gospel. The Apostle Paul says, though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached. Let him be accursed. And unless any of them should think he was just bad-tempered and speaking in, with lack of self-control, he says, as we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached, let him be accursed. There's only one gospel. And that's the gospel of God concerning his Son. But that gospel takes on different aspects at different times according to God's dispensational dealings. When John the Baptist began to preach, he proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom of God. But that doesn't mean that he didn't tell sinners how to be saved. Remember, it was John the Baptist who said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. But the great emphasis of his message was on the responsibility of Israel to receive the king and so enter into the kingdom. And when the Lord Jesus began to preach, he went from city to city proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. And he sent his disciples out to all the land of Israel to preach the gospel of the kingdom. But when the kingdom was rejected, then a new thing came in. And now we're preaching the gospel of the grace of God. But does that mean that we are to be silent in regard to the king and the kingdom? Surely not. Because the Lord Jesus, during the forty days he appeared on earth in resurrection, told, talked to his disciples about things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And in the last verse of Acts, we're told that Paul abode two years in his own hired house in Rome preaching and teaching the kingdom of God. So we still preach the gospel of the kingdom, but the emphasis now is on the gospel of the grace of God. We're dealing particularly with God's grace to a lost, ruined world. By and by, when this age has come to an end and the church has been taken home and God takes up, calls out a little company called in Daniel the masculine, they that are wise, who shall understand, they'll be the ones with beautiful feet to go forth proclaiming glad tidings of peace. Telling the people that the time has drawn near when the prince of peace is going to return. And there'll be blessing for all the world through him. Now how fitting it is that these words should come in right here where they do, immediately before Isaiah presents the greatest Messianic prophecy in all the Old Testament. That wonderful 53rd chapter of Isaiah with which we're linking the last three verses of chapter 52. So we'll begin there this afternoon at 2 o'clock.