[0:00] Well, if we turn our thoughts to the chapter which we read, and if we would glean from that chapter, or a portion of that chapter, or even a verse from that chapter, from verse Mark 10, my quotations will be from King James, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and on earth, even in him.
[0:41] And I would like to link this portion of scripture with Isaiah 53, just a text there, where it says in verse 11, that he shall see the travel of his soul, and shall be satisfied.
[1:01] I feel that this can be linked to this event. There is no other event like it that shall happen in the history of this world.
[1:20] And what we glean from this verse is that God will gather together all things in Christ, that is, things in heaven and things on earth.
[1:35] All things. There will be nothing left untouched. The whole creation itself will be renewed or regenerated.
[1:47] We have that in Romans 8, from verse 19 to verse 22, where the whole creation groans and travailer, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God.
[2:01] The whole creation is groaning, waiting. Now, if the animate and the inanimate creation is groaning, we wonder why we, who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, do not look forward to that day.
[2:24] For it is the work of the Spirit that should work in us to look to that day.
[2:34] And each successive age, that we are now this, our age, we should continue as the age has gone before us, in expectation for the coming of Christ, for the second coming of Christ.
[2:55] And the church at Thessalonica, they were very concerned that those who had died, and who would not be alive at the second coming of Christ, that they would not be accepted amongst those who would be gathered.
[3:12] But the apostle collects them, chapter 4, and he reminds them, even their loved ones you shall see. And I was reading there of a commentator, Brown, and he says it is a sad fall.
[3:28] When we do not look forward to this blessed hope, but rather death is looked to. And that sometimes is the problem with the Lord's people.
[3:43] They look to death, rather than the second coming of Christ. Because the scripture very seldom speaks of death, but always of resurrection.
[3:59] So if we would consider these thoughts this morning, as we link this portion of scripture to the words we find in Isaiah 53, when he shall see the anguish or the travel of a soul and be satisfied, he shall see.
[4:23] He is going to see what he has never seen before. And he is going to see them when he shall gather them together.
[4:35] I love that word, together, in scripture. It appears so often. Together. There is something about being together.
[4:47] It means so much. Because it was the Lord's intention to bring us all together. And to stay together.
[4:59] Now we know that the Lord has seen now. But there is yet to be revealed to his eye something which he has never seen before. He shall see.
[5:12] Sometimes we read these portions of scripture, especially in Isaiah 53. And we tend to look to the suffering of Christ more than what he is going to see.
[5:24] And in which case, the Lord himself is anticipating this day. We could say that he is looking forward to this day.
[5:38] And the angelic host, who are ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them, who shall be heirs of salvation. They also are looking forward to this day.
[5:49] This is the day, friends. There is not a day like it. When it speaks of the fullness of time, what it means is that all the events that lead up to this moment of time is completed.
[6:04] The other mention of the fullness of time is in Galatians chapter 4. And when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son.
[6:15] See? See? Born of a woman made under the law for the redemption of them, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
[6:30] And because we are sons, now listen, he sent forth his spirit into our hearts.
[6:41] Into the womb first came the son, and then secondly, keep the spirit into our hearts. Whereby, he says, we cry, Abba, Father.
[6:56] And the departed spirits, that is, the church in our intermediate states, that we call her, they look forward to this day.
[7:09] It's called the day of the Lord. The day of the resurrection. And the New Testament sheds the light of what he shall see.
[7:22] We find in Isaiah. And if we are to profit in our pilgrimage, it would be good for us to spend more time on these thoughts.
[7:39] Because, after all, life is but a brief journey of pilgrimage. And the goal, the goal is to see, to see him.
[7:52] And to remind ourselves that one day we shall bask in his very presence. Otherwise, our religion is merely just to fill in something in our lives which is wanting.
[8:09] The world is awash with religion. But we believe that this is the true religion. If we have experienced, friends, the power of the Holy Spirit in bringing us from darkness to life, surely that is, in a sense, a foretaste of what is yet to come.
[8:32] And if we understand this scripture, that is, Isaiah 53, we will have a basic understanding of God's plan of salvation.
[8:49] For it's all focusing on what he shall see in that day. And it's good for us to focus on these issues, to set our minds on the things which are above.
[9:03] In Colossians 3.1, it reminds us where to focus our minds on. On the things which are above which Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. To set your affections on the things which are above and not on the things that there's there.
[9:17] For ye are dead, he says, and your life is set with Christ in God. And when Christ our life shall appear, then shall ye appear with him in glory. And then he says, set, he says, your mind put on.
[9:31] Put on as beloved of God. Holy and beloved. When we read Isaiah 53, we read so much of his humiliation.
[9:47] But what he will see belongs to his exaltation. That is what he will see. And it will enable our hearts to glow with love to a merciful God.
[10:03] Knowing that someone we love will see something he loves. You see, it's like joining with him in the very thought as we project our thoughts.
[10:15] That what he is going to see, we anticipate with love. Because he will love what he will see.
[10:27] He will see the anguish of his soul. And he will be satisfied. There's nothing we would love for our old loved ones than satisfaction.
[10:39] And that is what we have here. And when we consider how much we owe to the Lord Jesus Christ, and how much we owe to the Father who gave his only begotten Son to deliver such riches as we are.
[10:59] Friends, he found only riches. That's all. He didn't find any that he could actually focus on and bestow upon them his love because there was something good in them.
[11:18] No, not one, friends. Not one. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, that every mouth may be stopped. The whole world is guilty before God.
[11:35] And our attention is drawn here to what has happened, the suffering, travel of his soul. It talks about anguish.
[11:46] Well, we cannot enter into the sufferings of Christ. What Christ suffered for you and me is enough for us to pause and to think.
[12:02] Did he really do this for me? Yes. For you. For you. And his suffering. So, here's to see what is yet to happen.
[12:19] Now, it is God that is speaking here. First of all, it's Jehovah who is speaking of his son. My son shall see.
[12:31] And my son will experience satisfaction that he has never experienced before. That's what the language gives us here.
[12:41] We must always remember the human nature of Christ. But he will experience in his nature what is humanly possible. And what we have here is a proof of God's love.
[12:58] God himself speaking. Like he had Jacob when he went down to to Egypt and he showed Joseph. Can you imagine when he saw him face to face?
[13:12] He says, I never thought I would ever see your face again, Joseph, my son. But he says, I see your seat. Not only did I see you, but I see your seat, he says, the children.
[13:27] And that's what he gives us also. He shall see his seat. We have that in the same chapter, chapter 53 of Isaiah. He shall see his seat.
[13:38] He shall be satisfied. You know, friends, it's wonderful to think that our saviour will be satisfied. And that's what he will see.
[13:50] He will see the fruit of his own work. He will see redemption completed. there will be no more work to be done.
[14:03] His intercessory work will cease. And he will then see. And all this belongs to his exalted state. He will see the completeness of it all.
[14:17] He will see his own body, the church, gathered together. Isn't that wonderful? Surely that in a world which is so full of sadness and broken promises, the foundation which is for a nation, isn't it wonderful, friends, to think that there is one day to be completeness.
[14:52] At the moment, he has not seen the church in all its fullness gathered before him. some are yet unborn, and there only are the spirits of just men made perfect before him.
[15:08] The churches here on earth, and the great number are yet to be redeemed. But he shall see the souls of the resurrected bodies. He shall see everyone that he died for.
[15:21] And he shall see, as we have it in that chapter, in Ephesians, chapter 1, at verse 14, he shall see the earnest of his inheritance, the redemption of his possession, and it will all be to the praise of his glory.
[15:36] We have that in 6, 12, and 14. Everything is to the praise and to the glory of God. Everything. Everything, friends, to the praise and glory of God.
[15:50] That's a wonderful chapter, Ephesians 1. And he shall see his seed. And he shall see the church by which he has suffered.
[16:01] And what suffering. From the cradle to the grave were descending steps of suffering a sin-bearer. He shall see what he suffered from, what he worked for.
[16:15] He shall see the reward as she gathers before him. and he will see her delivered, all of them from this present evil world.
[16:28] That's what he shall see. Is there any wonder then that the words of Isaiah speaks of satisfaction? And it will mark the beginning of everlasting separation from all evil and from all sin.
[16:44] That in itself should fill our hearts. with longing to be delivered from this present evil world.
[16:55] Not that we should seek to leave this world. We are those who are in Christ should be happy in Christ where they are to serve them where they are. And he shall see what he has never seen before.
[17:10] He shall see the church gathered together in one place. How great the place is we do not know. But it is not possible for the church to be gathered in one place now.
[17:28] There is scattered, there is separation, there shall be no more sea of separation. And some are in heaven as spirits and some on earth and some yet unborn.
[17:45] And we are all separated by continents so we cannot be together. Impossible for us to be gathered.
[17:57] And he shall see his church, his own body, gathered together under one head. There is only one head and that is himself. The head and the body shall be joined together, never be separate again.
[18:11] but by seeing, there is more to it than seeing. He is going to experience.
[18:24] You know friends, the ultimate test of truth is experience. The apostles, when they left the Sanhedrin, they were threatened not to speak any more of this name.
[18:38] They wouldn't even give Jesus' name. We cannot but speak of the things which we have seen and heard. Neither should you.
[18:53] The Lord will experience that day. So we can say that Christ's satisfaction is yet to be truly experienced.
[19:08] because when he shall see, surely the experience will be to him something new. Something he had never experienced before because he anticipates this day and he will experience satisfaction as never before.
[19:35] Though he experience satisfaction now has seen the work of the gospel and the Lord adding to the church daily such as should be saved.
[19:48] But on that day, the day of the Lord, when he speaks of the day of the Lord, there's something stupendous about that statement.
[20:00] The day of the Lord. and he will experience satisfaction when he said on the cross it is finished.
[20:15] He will see what was finished that day and he will truly experience in his own soul what he suffered and died for.
[20:31] He will see them. All of us pray to God that we shall all be there. And the church redeemed shall enter into a state of eternal glory.
[20:45] That's the language of the scriptures, friends. And the gospel is not something to tickle our ears and to listen to some fanciful story. The gospel is there to prepare sons to glory.
[20:57] That's what it means. in order to bring many sons of glory, he made the captain of our salvation perfect through suffering. That's why. He suffered in order that he might bring sons to glory and the gospel proceeds from that suffering Christ in order to prepare a people for glory.
[21:19] And we often miss the true meaning of what the gospel really means. It will be an eternal paradise. That's what it will be. Otherwise nothing makes sense.
[21:34] Nothing makes sense in this world but this. Only will it be attended by the holy angels.
[21:51] We tend sometimes to overlook the angelic spirits because as he tells us in Thessalonians 1 7 and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.
[22:12] Isn't that exciting? He's not going to be alone. He's going to be accompanied by the angels. They announced his incarnation.
[22:23] they sang. You know when they sang I always imagine that they looked up to heaven because the first word they spoke in the song was glory to God.
[22:40] It's not for this earth friends. It was glory to God in the heavens. Everything is to the glory of God.
[22:51] Everything so that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he will gather together in one all things in heaven and on earth even in him.
[23:11] And he did everything in order that he would gather them in one. All of us friends. Church Thessalonica was reminded to comfort themselves with these words.
[23:27] Where else is the comfort? We tend to look for good preaching, orators, something that will move our hearts.
[23:39] Nothing, nothing will move your heart more so than this. And he will see them perfectly redeemed in body and in soul.
[23:52] Verse 4 of this chapter which we read. That he says, so that we in Ephesians 1, verse 4, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
[24:17] Imagine, imagine that the sinner, that awful man, the sinner, that evil, evil man, the sinner, shall be holy and without blame before him in love.
[24:39] Isn't that some advancement? To think of it, friends, is enough to move our hearts with joy and gladness that he, our beloved saviour, should see his church holy and without blame before him, before him, same as you're before me just now and I'm before you, before him, in his very presence, he shall see the travel of soul and he shall be satisfied.
[25:13] and they shall hear them, he shall hear him for the first time. We've never heard his voice, we hear him in the gospel and the revelation speaks of his voice being like the sound of many waters.
[25:37] Well friend, who knows what that sound is like? Isaiah speaks of our peace being like a river.
[25:52] I remember as a young lad, I used to love sitting by a stream and listening to the silence and hearing but the ripple of the water over the stones, just the prequel of water.
[26:10] There's something about water, the noise of water, but his voice will be the sound of many waters.
[26:22] It will be so musical that it can only be descriptive of waters, water of life. Only a few ever heard his voice.
[26:35] They heard his voice in agony. hear, they will hear, come ye blessed of the father and inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was.
[26:53] And he will see every redeemed soul filled with joy. We cannot speak of that joy now.
[27:03] I'm sure there are some here who have been overcome with joy at some moment of time in their Christian life that they themselves were overcome with it.
[27:14] That's an experience that is not peculiar to the church of Christ. Many of God's people have felt such an expression of joy in their souls that has left them weak.
[27:26] Weak. But you see, this will be joy unspeakable. And as we look and admire him, all the language of scripture will be fulfilled that day.
[27:40] When we read the scripture, friends, it's not just the language for us here on this earth. This is heavenly language. It will all be fulfilled that day.
[27:54] It was a day of satisfaction. that in itself is enough for us to pause. George Smith in his work on the Holy Spirit, he maintains that the Spirit himself, having completed the work in applying what Christ has done will also be glorified.
[28:21] The Spirit's work that day will be finished as regards to his work on earth. It's a wonderful thing to thank God. We have the three persons here working.
[28:35] And when we speak of Christ coming in Thessalonians chapter 4 at verse 13 for he shall for the he will not he will come but we shall meet with the Lord in the air that what it says but I would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope for we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep with Jesus will God bring with him for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise it doesn't say he's going to come on this earth
[29:39] I personally don't believe he'll set foot on this earth but there are those what we call the chilliest millennial isms that speak about Christ been a thousand years friends let us focus on this day when the church shall rise triumphant from the grave rather than get bogged down in things that we cannot understand and our scripture even is silent on because it says here that the redeemed will meet him in the air and the world itself and the whole cosmos will be renewed it will cease to grow because of man's sin and what John saw in Revelation as the holy city and I John I John I was in the spirit he says in verse 1 chapter 1 verse 10 hours in his spirit on the
[30:40] Lord's day and I heard he says a voice behind me a great voice like a trumpet I am the first and the last and he was asked to write these things in a book and he saw the holy city the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for a husband wonderful words friends to invicarate our souls knowing that the time is brief for all of us all of us and it marks the beginning of God's everlasting rest that awaited a rest or a Sabbath for the people of God and he will come to fetch the church and he will bring the church to the Father without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that defileth unblameable in holiness and what we have here is that a picture of a bridegroom with his bride attended by the Holy Host of Heaven brought before the Father that's the picture we have here and Christ in our nature will experience what humanity is capable of experiencing he will experience unspeakable pleasure it's his work it's his day it's the day of the Lord and he will experience unspeakable pleasure and he will greatly rejoice as he had never ever rejoiced before when he shall see he shall see the travail or anguish of the soul and be satisfied he shall rejoice in his church as never before and we find the words in 2 Thessalonians 1.10 when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and admired in all them that believe what language is that?
[33:02] what language is that? when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and admired marvel that's what the word means admired and when his glory shall be revealed says Peter we shall be glad with unspeakable joy and his glory is more or less is to be mirrored in them that they shall reflect his glory that's what it means and all mine are thine and thine are mine and I shall be glorified in them this is what they call beatific language it's what they call celestial happiness it's the language of complete satisfaction and glorified saints the language of glorification when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and he will reveal his own personal glory to them for the first time when the fullness of time has come who knows friends how near that is or what are the awful events that lead up to but between now and then we are reminded that the fall of Jerusalem is the nearest to the sufferings that the world shall suffer and the church but further it but because of the elect he will shorten these days he will reveal his own personal glory and whatever we experience in this life it's not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed not to us but in us that's what he says the glory shall be revealed in us when Christ our life shall appear then shall you appear with him in glory and those for whom he suffered will see then his wonderful love and his mercy toward them it will be a day of completeness and when we speak of the anguish of his soul surely if his soul anguished when he was suffering for his church will his soul not now rejoice will he will he remain impassive unmoved no no he cannot because satisfaction implies emotion we all love to have our emotions moved for we are emotional people and emotion brings out in us something which is hidden and the Lord will experience the emotion of being moved it will be a personal experience to him and it will be seen in his face when we shall see him face to face there's something about the face that we love we only recognize each other by our faces
[37:02] did you see who it was no I didn't see his face but we shall see his face his face will be the face of a human being and it is our face that expresses our feelings and our emotions and we shall see his face and when he shall see us his joy will be increased to a great degree and so will the angels because they desire to look into these things we have that in first Peter one the things which the angels desire to look unto for they announce the first coming and they will be present then as ministry and spirits their work will be complete and that when they shall see all the souls in their resurrected body now is God truly glorified in the work of redemption everything is to the glory of God everything and when you consider all that was done in order to accomplish this end what a work what a work it was when you think of the preparatory work that went into the incarnate before the incarnation when he speaks of the fullness of times and when you think of Christ's sufferings and his death and resurrection you see
[38:52] Christ did nothing as a private person nothing all he did was for us and for himself for he shall enjoy the travel of his soul for which he suffered and the great work of redemption will be complete and it shows forth the greatness of this event all the work that went into it in order to accomplish this end when the fullness of time has come and he shall gather together all things in heaven and on earth even in him and even and only then shall he see the travel of his soul and be satisfied let us pray we pray most holy God that our hearts and minds would truly focus on the risen
[39:58] Jesus he who loved us and gave himself for us the father is spared not his own son but delivered them up for us all so bless all of us we pray this morning may the Lord indeed be our portion and may his joy be our strength for we ask it all in his name and for his sake amen