1 Samuel 5, 6.
The Lord's hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod.
He terrified the people of Ashdod and its territory
and afflicted them with tumors.
When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said,
The Ark of Israel's God must not stay here with us
because his hand is strongly against us and our God Dagon.
So they called all the Philistine rulers together and asked,
What should we do with the Ark of Israel's God?
The Ark of Israel's God should be moved to Gath, they replied.
So they moved the Ark of Israel's God.
And after they moved it, the Lord's hand was against the city of Gath,
causing a great panic.
He afflicted the people of the city from the youngest to the oldest
with an outbreak of tumors.
The people of Gath then sent the Ark of God to Ekron.
But when it got there, the Ekronites called out,
They've moved the Ark of God, Israel's God, to kill us and our people.
The Ekronites called all the Philistine rulers together.
They said, Send the Ark of Israel's God away.
Let it return to its place so it won't kill us and kill our people.
For the fear of death pervaded the city.
God's hand was oppressing them.
Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors,
and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.
When the Ark of the Lord had been in the Philistine territory for seven months,
the Philistines summoned the priests and the diviners and pleaded,
What should we do with the Ark of the Lord?
Tell us how we can send it back to its place.
They replied,
If you send the Ark of Israel's God away,
do not send it without an offering.
Send back a guilt offering to him, and you will be healed.
Then the reason his hand hasn't been removed from you will be revealed.
They asked,
What guilt offering shall we send back to him?
And they answered,
Five gold tumors and five gold mice,
corresponding to the number of Philistine rulers,
since there was one plague for both you and your rulers.
Make images of your tumors and your mice that are destroying the land.
Give glory to Israel's God,
and perhaps he will stop oppressing you,
your gods and your land.
Why harden your hearts as the Egyptians and the pharaohs hardened theirs?
When he afflicted them,
didn't they send Israel away and Israel left?
Now then, prepare one new cart
and two milk cows that had never been yoked.
Hitch the cows to the cart,
but take their calves away and pen them up.
Take the Ark of the Lord,
place it on the cart,
put the gold objects that you're sending him
as a guilt offering in a box beside the Ark.
Send it off and let it go its way.
Then watch.
If it goes up the road to its homeland,
toward Beth Shemesh,
it is the Lord who has made this terrible trouble for us.
However, if it doesn't,
we will know that it was not his hand that punished us.
It was just something that happened by chance.
The men did this.
They took two milk cows,
hitched them to the cart,
and confined their calves to the pen.
Then they put the Ark of the Lord on the cart,
along with a box containing the gold mice
and the images of the tumors.
The cows went straight up the road to Beth Shemesh.
They stayed on that one highway,
lowing as they went.
They never strayed to the right or the left.
The Philistine rulers were walking behind them
to the territory of Beth Shemesh.
The word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of the Lord stands forever.
Luke 1 says,
No word from God shall be void of power.
Would you pray with me?
Father, we trust that in your providence,
you have brought each one here today
to sit under your word
and to hear this difficult text.
We pray, Lord, that your spirit will illumine it to us,
that you'll shine the glory of God
into our minds and our hearts.
We pray that you will help me, Father,
in my weakness.
I pray that you will help our congregation, Father.
Help us to see you truly for who you are.
And I pray, Father,
that those fears inside of our souls
will be settled and put into proper order
before this holy God
as you've revealed yourself to us.
For your glory we ask for Christ's sake.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Natural fear is not a sin.
As human beings, we have natural fears.
For about eight months,
my family and I had to live in Tucson, Arizona
for about eight months.
And Tucson is like a different planet.
It's barely earth.
One thing in Tucson is it seems like everything
in the wilderness and the desert
is trying to kill you and destroy you.
The plants, the bugs, everything wants to kill you.
And when we had to move there,
our little one at the time,
our youngest daughter who's now seven,
she was just born
and would be learning to crawl
in those next eight months.
And we found every single month we lived there
a scorpion in the home.
And you can imagine the mother's instincts.
We had a natural fear for the life of our daughter.
Those little baby scorpions on the counter
that are very poisonous.
And that type of fear is not a sin.
But a phobia, it's a fear disorder.
And fear disorders can be crippling.
Some of you know this very well
from firsthand experience living in this broken world.
What I saw was that one in five adults in America
suffer from some type of fear disorder.
Or anxiety disorder.
One out of five adults in the USA.
Now these are adults in the USA.
A country that does not have the fear of a land war.
Canada's got no plans to invade anytime soon.
It's not hard to find enough calories for survival
in this country.
I think we have the opposite problem.
I do.
Too many calories.
Education is free.
Social mobility is relatively easy now
in this time period of history than it's ever been.
And we have this very important invention
that keeps us going called antibiotics.
Some of us have needed antibiotics this past winter
to survive.
And we have.
We've survived another winter.
But still,
we have so many anxieties and fears
as adults in America.
20% of our nation
with a fear disorder.
Whenever we start to fear something creaturely,
more than we fear the creator,
our fears are out of order.
We have a phobia disorder.
The Puritan John Flabel in the 1600s
saw this exact pattern.
And this is a time of plagues
and a fire that swept across London.
But he pointed out,
sometimes we,
even as Christians,
we fear too soon.
Other times we fear too much.
And still other times we fear for no good reason.
We can relate to that, can't we?
As we read the Bible,
we see more and more a picture of God
as a loving father.
And no loving father wants his children
to be crippled by phobias.
The good news is that God
is the God who heals us.
So beloved congregation
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
I want you to walk through this
difficult passage with me
and with God's help,
we'll see how it is that the Lord
heals the fear disorders
of his people.
Because we have to ask the question,
why was this story told?
And why is this story preserved
in God's word?
Why would God's people
throughout all the generations
and us now have this
as part of our Bible?
We're told every part of the Bible
is for our good,
for our instruction.
And that's the conclusion I've come to
after studying it and meditating it
with you and my hearts
and in my prayers.
So I want you to be ready
as we work through this
to answer the question,
will you let God
heal your fears?
Will you let
our powerful, mighty God
heal your fears?
Put them in proper order
today.
That's my prayer.
Well, I see two steps
to get us going
of how God does this.
First,
the Lord disarms
the power
of lesser fears.
The Lord disarms
the power
of lesser fears.
And he does this
very literally.
So what were the
disordered fears
in our passage
for today?
Well, we know the Israelites,
what did they fear?
Israel feared
the Philistines.
And the Philistines,
we know what they feared.
It was Dagon,
their devil,
demon god.
They had a great temple
to Dagon.
We saw last week
how did the Lord
disarm Dagon.
Well, he did it
by breaking off
the arms of Dagon.
In chapter 4,
verse 3,
they asked the question
the Israelites do
about the Philistines.
They say,
why has the Lord
defeated us today
before the Philistines?
Bring the ark
that it may save us
from the hand
of our enemies.
Listen for that theme,
the hand.
Whose hand
are you afraid of?
The Israelites were afraid
of the hand
of the Philistines.
The Philistines then,
taking this ark captive,
carry it to their temple,
humiliate the Lord of hosts,
they taunt him
over the victory,
the very victory
that he allowed them
to have.
And then in this temple,
we read in chapter 5,
verse 4,
there was Dagon now
as the Philistines
gather around,
fallen with his face
to the ground
before the ark
of the Lord.
Both Dagon's head
and hands
were broken off.
Dagon disarmed,
powerless.
The Philistines
disarmed,
powerless.
And now we read today
in chapter 5,
verse 6,
would you look there
with me?
The hand of the Lord
was heavy
on the people
of Ashdod.
He ravaged them
and struck them
with tumors.
It's the hand
of the Lord.
Because this passage
links these tumors
with rats,
scholars have come
to the conclusion
that these may have
been symptoms
of a bubonic plague.
The bubonic plague
or the black plague,
it was transmitted
by mice
and then fleas
that would ride
on the backs
of a mouse
would get onto humans
and bite the humans
and then humans
get the bubonic plague.
What it is
is bacteria
that would be carried
and transmitted
that way
that causes a swelling
of your lymph nodes.
A swollen lymph node
is called a bubos.
That's why it's
the bubonic plague.
These are located
on the neck,
under the armpits,
and the groin
and they're accompanied
by severe headaches,
frequent chills,
shivering,
high fever,
muscle aches,
nausea,
vomiting,
fatigue,
and sometimes confusion.
The swelling
under the skin
turns to a purple
and black
pus-filled boil,
painful tumors
that can erupt
and spread
very contagiously
to others.
A victim
of the bubonic plague
would die
within three
to eight days.
Who is able
to stand
before this
holy Lord God?
Not Dagon's statue
and not the people
of Ashdod.
They're totally powerless
and disarmed.
The hand of the Lord
has stricken them.
Look at verse 7.
There it is again.
The Lord's hand,
they said,
is harsh toward us
and to Dagon
our God.
Now when we have
this reference
to the hand of God,
disarming Dagon
and disarming
the Philistines,
is it God's hand?
Is that really
what it is?
Well let's look
at the rest of Scripture
to shed some light
on this phrase,
the hand of God.
Jesus says
in John 4,
verse 24,
that God is spirit
and Jesus also says
in Luke 24, 39,
that a spirit
does not have flesh
and bones.
So God does not
have flesh and bones
yet it's the hand of God
that's heavy
upon his enemies.
So what is
the hand of God?
It's God acting
in space and time.
It's a display
of God's
sovereign power.
How God will orchestrate
material causes
and effects.
God displays his power
in a specific way
through providence.
God acting
in human history.
Sometimes God acts
with nature,
sometimes he acts
against nature,
and sometimes
above nature
as our confession
puts it.
Today we'll see
two examples.
striking the Philistines
with this plague
carried by rats
causing tumors
on their skins
as God
showing his mighty
sovereign providential
hand on them
with nature
using natural disease.
Why does the Lord
do this?
See,
the Lord is revealing
even to this
lost pagan people,
you and your demon God,
you're not the ones
who have taken
the Lord captive.
The Lord has not
fallen into your hands.
Your hands are cut off.
You've made immobilized
by this plague.
You've fallen
into the hands
of the Lord,
and his hand
is heavy upon you.
This is the Lord of life
showing those
who opposed him
that to fight
the Lord of life
is to choose death.
He's teaching them
to fear
the heavy hand
of God
in order to live.
I say this
with as much love
and sensitivity
as I can.
There may be some here
or those who will
listen to this later
who still
oppose this Lord,
the Lord of life
in your heart
or in your life.
You're opposing him.
I need to lovingly
warn you
the same way
he's warning
the Philistines.
To oppose God
is to invite
his wrath
upon you.
The call
is to wake up.
You don't need
the Lord
to send boils
onto your skin.
You have his word.
You can see him
acting graciously.
Let his spirit
soften you up
to receive
this God
because until you
fear his heavy hand
you and I
can't have
eternal life.
We need to see
first the bad news
of what we deserve
and we deserve
the wrath
of God
for opposing him.
So the Lord
disarms the power
of these lesser
fears.
That's the first
step to healing
and putting our
fears in order.
What's the second
step?
What I see next
is that the Lord
replaces creaturely
fear with the fear
of the creator.
The Lord replaces
the fear.
Instead of fearing
these creaturely
things like
the Philistines
or a demon god
that they made
a statue to
or even a plague
carried by mice,
they need to fear
the creator
of it all.
The holy God.
So the people
of Ashdod then
are going to
pass off the ark.
It's going to go
to two more cities.
The first one
is called Gath.
The second one
is Ekron.
So look at verse 9
and Gath
there's that theme
one more time.
The hand
of the Lord
was against
the city of Gath.
Also with a
very great destruction
and he struck
look very specifically
who did he strike?
The men
of the city
in Gath.
Flip back
to chapter 4.
1 Samuel chapter 4.
Do you remember
the Philippines
called a battle?
What is it
that they try
to stir up
in their army
to go to war?
1 Samuel chapter 4
verse 9.
They say
be strong
and conduct
yourselves
like men
you Philistines
that you
do not become
slaves to the Hebrews
as they have
become to you.
so here's
these warriors
from the Philistines
behave like a man
you know
be courageous
and fight like a man
so the Lord
shows them
here's who you
really need to fear
you need to fear
the creator
of man
he strikes
the men
of Gath
and what's
the next detail?
Both young
and old
and my translation
in English
puts it both
small
and great
tumors
broke out
on them
well
in a few chapters
we have the most
famous story
of 1 Samuel
and that's the story
of David
and Goliath
do you remember
what city
Goliath is from?
he's from Gath
be a man
come and fight
like a man
that's the same
taunt
Goliath uses
in chapter 17
and we have
this detail
that all the men
of the city
of Gath
small
and great
are stricken
with tumors
now we can't
say for certain
but the best guess
is that there's
20 years
between this
chapter 5
and chapter 17
where Goliath
calls out the nation
of Israel
to fight him
and to send a champion
so MMA fighters
today
it's the closest
we have to
hand-to-hand combat
they're in their
peak years
in their early 30s
if we subtract
20 years off
of that
chances are
that Goliath
was like one
of these young men
sitting here
getting tumors
just like the other
old men
having this message
from the Lord
of hosts
because every man
great and small
in the city
of Gath
had tumors
breaking out
on them
and they say
get rid of this
ark of the Lord
of hosts
and so it goes
to Ekron
in verse 10
in Ekron
they gathered
together
all the lords
of the Philistines
of the entire
empire
there are five
major cities
we only have
three highlighted
in this passage
well these are
the same
lords of the Philistines
the generals
of their great army
that's going to be
plaguing and hunting
Israel
that's going to
come out
and call
this same
God of the Israelites
to call his bluff
see if he'll come
fight us
maybe he can
defeat us
how quickly
they forget
all of their generals
were there
stricken
and seeing
what's happening
the Lord
has shifted
their focus
away now
from Dagon
and the plague
to himself
look at verse 11
send the ark
of the Lord
God of Israel
away
let it go back
to its own place
so that it will
not kill us
or our people
for there was
a deadly destruction
throughout all
the city
and the hand
of God
was very
heavy
there
verse 11
verse 12
those men
who weren't
stricken dead
by the Lord
were stricken
with
inflamed
pussy boils
instead
what would it
have been like
to be in this city
in Ekron
the last place
before it finally
goes away
during the black
plague
they recorded
how
there was a
putrid smell
in the air
the smell
of death
because all
the vapors
from decaying
flesh
set off
a sulfuric
aroma
released by
the decomposing
bodies
so the Lord
of hosts
the commander
of the Lord's
angel army
you see what
he's done
he's invaded
demon land
he's given
them
a foretaste
of hell
there's
weeping
and gnashing
of teeth
it's the same
Lord
in all the
ages
we sang this
in that great
hymn by
Martin Luther
the Lord
of hosts
his name
from age
to age
the same
Hebrews
10 31
we read this
it's a fearful
thing
to fall
into the hands
of the living
God
see that's
the New
Testament
affirming
this same
living God
the Lord
of hosts
you should
have a
healthy
dread
of falling
into his
hands
as his
enemy
it's one
God
from the
old covenant
into the
new covenant
it's one
Lord of hosts
who is able
to stand
before this
holy
Lord God
not the
rulers
of Ekron
or Gath
not Goliath's
family
not the
Philistine
Lord's
the Lord's
message is
this
the same
to them
as it
is to
us
either you
fear God
now
for your
own good
or fear
him in
hell
forever
John
Flabel
made this
helpful
observation
the only
remedy
for sinful
fear
is godly
fear
weak
Christians
fear man
too much
and god
too little
do you see
what he's
saying
he's saying
that the
remedy
for an
unhealthy
fear in
our lives
the remedy
for an
anxiety
disorder
is to
fear god
properly
if John
Flabel is
right
this
disorder
that's
become like
a pandemic
across our
nation
it's because
there's
insufficient
fear of
god
we can
even say
that most
pastors
evangelical
and otherwise
are responsible
at least in
part for the
anxiety disorder
in this
nation
for not
opening up
the word
of god
and helping
us to see
by faith
the god
who deserves
to be feared
with reverence
because we've
made god so
small
all these
other fears
in our life
have cripped
up
and they've
crippled us
i don't need
to tell you
you know
this
many people
go to
what they
think is a
christian
church
they don't
encounter
the god
of the
bible
because the
bible
is barely
opened
pastors
true or
otherwise
have turned
their pulpits
into stand
up comedy
routines
philosophy
podcasts
or group
therapy
sessions
for positive
thinking
and the
result is a
pandemic
with fear
disorders
many never
hear about
and never
encounter
the true
god
of the
whole bible
i'm sure
we all have
someone we
love
that does
have a
fear disorder
and suffers
with anxiety
the most
loving thing
we can do
with them
is to
open
our bible
with them
and ask
the holy
spirit to
teach us
to fear
god
properly
john
flavel
again
the only
remedy
for sinful
fear
is godly
fear
a proper
fear
and reverence
for god
because god
replaces
a lesser
creaturely fear
with fear
for the creator
well now comes
the reaction
the response
how will the
philistines
respond
to this
hand of god
that's come so
close among
them
i see that
those enslaved
to sin
they reject
god
because to
reverently
fear him
would change
everything
isn't that a
pattern you
notice
those enslaved
to sin
unless the spirit
awakens them
they will
reject god
because to
reverently fear
god would
change everything
the philistines
rejected yahweh
so that their
life could go
back to the
style they
liked and that
they were used
to but first
they had to
test god and
they even did
this on their
own terms
in chapter 6
verse 2 the
philistines called
for their own
priests and
diviners and
they asked them
what shall we do
with the ark
of the lord
tell us how we
should send it
back to its
place
and these
pagan priests
of dagon
they say
well create
these little
models out of
gold and send
them along as a
guilt offering or
an appeasement
gift to try to
appease yahweh
the number five
because there's
five major
philistine cities
so the whole
philistine empire
will be represented
someone pointed
out how would you
like to be called
in to be the
model for a
tumor you know
hey you got a
good one on your
neck come on
over let's let's
see if we can
sculpt that
well 6 5
perhaps then
yahweh will
lighten his hand
from you there's
the hand of
yahweh one more
time he will
lighten his hand
from you your
gods and your
land they're under
a triple
providential
pressing by the
living god and
it's fearful thing
to fall into his
hands so they
prepare a new
cart so brand new
wood they're not
just repurposing an
old farm one and
they get cows that
have never been
yoked up most
likely these are
both signs of
respect let's not
mess it up by being
disrespectful but
there's also a
twist there's a
little scheme they
want to test out and
try to determine
whether these
plagues were a
coincidence was it
just a bad break or
is it divine
judgment these were
cows who had
suckling calves that
had never been under
a yoke inexperienced
mama cows I grew up
in a rural part in
Brazil and there was
a corral where all
the cattle had to
come through and get
vaccinated well I
remember walking up
one time and there
was this this heifer
in this pen all
alone and everybody
was scared of her
like getting out of
her way and what
it was that had
happened is they had
separated the mother
from the calf and
even these experienced
cowboys were scared
because this mama
without her calf was
going to destroy
something and so
even even city people
know you can't
separate a suckling
calf from a heifer
that's just given
birth so this was
their test was it
Yahweh who struck
and ravaged us or
did this disaster just
happened to us and
it has nothing to do
with Yahweh's hand
we need to know
see they were
providing Yahweh an
opportunity as
someone put it to
write his signature
across their
circumstances and
they made it as
difficult as possible
for God to do so
contrary to nature
the cows go walking
off to Israel as if
they were in the grip
and being led by the
invisible hand of God
the Philistines got
to witness God
miraculously revealing
himself to them
see earlier with the
disease he was working
with nature now he's
working against nature
making it even more
clear this is the hand
of God he had spoken
to these Philistines
now through their cowl
Yahweh had stooped
down and showed
himself even on terms
that they could
understand he is the
true and living God
he confirmed to the
Philistines it was I
who struck your God
your land and even
your bodies but now
what will they do with
this revelation how
will they respond
well the only right
response would be for
them to fear God
to learn we have to
worship you you are the
true and living God
we will humble
ourselves before you
we will go to your
land and learn from
your people we will do
whatever your law
requires for us to
become your people
with Israel but that's
not what the Philistines
wanted they wanted
their own comfortable
lifestyle they wanted
their own power and
dominance perhaps the
majority simply said
well I'm glad that's
over now back to life
as usual Dale Ralph
Davis made this
observation it's so
easy for us sinners
Philistine or otherwise
to respond only to the
pain and not to the
truth about God in a
circumstance once our
immediate fears are
alleviated our heads are
no wiser and our hearts
are no softer Yahweh
stoops to reveal himself
even to enemies of his
people this is the same
Yahweh who will one day
draw near those who are
far off and he'll do this
by the blood of his own
son so they reject God
because they don't want to
reverently fear him and
have to change everything
but I think what the Lord is
doing for his people who have
his word and who get to read
this wonderful account of God's
mighty hand in providence he is
healing and he's showing them his
redemption foreshadowed once
again the Lord will heal again
here through reversal what's the
reversal that just took place
it's the enslaved deliverer
turning exile into exodus see the
ark of the Lord that the ark of
the presence of God the one who can
deliver his people taken into
exile on their behalf and then
turning that exile into a great
exodus see this exodus theme even
the Philistines point this out
they remember God's mighty hand on
Jericho and on Egypt look at
chapter 6 verse 6 they point out
this connection why then do you
harden your hearts as the
Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their
hearts they see the parallel God is
doing to us what he's already done to
any who have opposed him and the
ark is described as a prisoner of war
remember in chapter 4 22 it was
captured as if God had been
enslaved and allowing himself to
become that we read in chapter 6
now look at verse 1 the ark of the
Lord was in the country of the
Philistines seven months in Deuteronomy
15 12 and 14 we read that a slave in
the seventh year shall be set free and
and that slave shall not go empty
handed you were to put in the hands
of that slave generously from what God
has blessed you with and so that slave
shall go free why did God allow it to
take seven months for the ark to remain
captive to the Philistines in the
fullness of time he would bring
deliverance from slavery deliverance from
captivity it's the principle of Jubilee
there will be a day the fullness of
time where the captives will be released
and it'll be by the mighty work of the
one who can deliver them who put himself
into exile to lead this great exodus of
his people the the parallels with the
exodus are so strong here in Egypt the
Lord killed and struck them with the plague
and we read in Exodus 9 3 the hand of the
Lord is what brought severe plagues to
the Egyptians just as it did to the
Philistines now in chapter 6 verse 12 a
cry went up to heaven remember when the
firstborn of all the Egyptians their
sons were strucken down by the Lord that
great first Passover there was also a
great a great cry and now the
Philistines are wanting to send the
ark of the Lord away just like in Exodus
10 7 the message was to let Israel go
before all of Egypt is completely
destroyed
see this exodus of the ark leaving the
captivity returning to Israel it was
revealing to the Philistines the same
thing that God revealed to the
Egyptians with that exodus it's exposing
them to the true God to his name to his
glory to his power and to his character
think about how even that work of
Christ is foreshadowed how tumors and
rats are two of the most unclean things
and this is the ark of the Lord that was
placed in the Holy of Holies think of
all the ritual cleansings that it would
have had to gone before you can even be
close to the ark of the presence of the
Holy God a person had a spot on their
skin and a blemish they had to be far
away outside of the tent and they had to
be clean and then be inspected by a
priest before they could approach and
come close and it wasn't any animal that
could be brought to the Lord it had to
be only the animals God said were clean
and unblemished and perfect at that so
the opposite of that would be a rat
that's infected with a deadly plague you
see how those were put there right next to
the ark of the Lord
unclean animals unclean skin being carried
away by the holiest peace in the
tabernacle of the Holy God it's a shadow
of the most Holy God touching our sinful
diseases yet remaining unblemished
himself this is a shadow of the great
exodus that God himself would accomplish
through Jesus Christ our great deliverer
before I let you go today I need you to
see that accomplished by the Lord Jesus
we've seen now the heavy hand of the
Lord on his enemies for their wickedness
for opposing him but the reason we can
have access to the Holy God is because the
heavy hand of the Lord it's that same hand
that struck Jesus Christ in your place and
in mine and he did this to put our fears in
order that we would have a fear for God the
beginning of wisdom that no other fears
would compete with our fear for this
reverence of the Holy God Hebrews 8 verses
8 and 10 say behold the days are coming
says the Lord when I will make a new
covenant not according to the covenant I
made when I took Israel by the hand and led
them out of Egypt in this new covenant I
will put my laws in their minds and write
them on their hearts see there's the hand
of God graciously putting his law inside
his people it's an inward seal of the new
covenant by the hand of God I will be your
God and you shall be my people well how
would this new covenant happen Isaiah 53 had
to be fulfilled it was the will of the Lord
to crush his own servant the heavy hand of
the Lord upon Jesus Christ for sin for evil
for uncleanliness why did the Lord allow
himself to be exiled enslaved to be crushed
by the heavy hand of the Lord for his
enemies so that he could invade hell and set
many captives free we sing of this great
truth we have been set free from captivity
to sin long my imprisoned spirit lay there I
was fast bound in sin and nature's night but
thine I diffused a quickening way rain I
woke my dungeon flamed with light my chains
fell off my heart was free I rose went forth
and followed thee captives set free following
the great deliverer so who is it that's able
to stand before this holy Lord God there's
one man who can stand before the holy God
and it's the deliverer the Lord Jesus
Christ Hebrews 1 8 says Jesus Christ is
seated at the right hand of the throne of the
majesty of the heavens that same right hand that
strikes down his enemies that's heavy upon sin and
that crushed the sin of God's people by crushing
Jesus in our place he's now seated exalted at the
right hand of God he can stand before the holy Lord
Ephesians 2 13 makes this good news of the finished work of
Christ gospel news for you and me now in Christ Jesus you who
once were far off you have been brought near by the blood of
Christ you can stand in the presence of the holy God in
Christ Jesus by grace you can stand before this holy Lord God because Jesus
Christ is the one who has brought you near and it's possible because of his
precious blood shed for you and me so we can sing arise my soul arise shake off
your guilty fears my God is reconciled his pardoning voice I hear he owns me for his
child I can no longer fear will you let the Lord heal your fear disorder
this is the work Jesus came to do for you and for me by his wounds we are healed
how does he do this what's your response first Peter 5 6 and 7 tells us humble yourself
under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time casting all your cares
upon him for he cares for you he's proved that he cares for you in the work of his son Jesus
it was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved respond to this mighty Lord today
thanks