As I mentioned, earlier, this morning, we are going to be looking at Jesus's miraculous power. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel? We're in Mark seven and this morning, we will be looking at verses 31 through 37. And while you're turning there, may I remind you that we have a wonderful privilege that we never want to underestimate, the privilege of coming together and worshiping the Lord, and freedom. We must never take that for granted. Moreover, we have the marvelous blessing of being able to look into the Word of the living God. The Psalmist tells us in Psalm 119, beginning in verse one, "How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord, How blessed are those who observed His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart." I know that these are dark days, I've talked with a number of you as I do every week. And it is on everybody's mind. Just the great difficulties that we are facing in our country in our culture, America's military and economic and moral superiority in the world is vanishing under the current administration. Our allies no longer trust us, our enemies no longer fear us. And I hear from many of you every week, about your frustration concerning the left's woke and LGBTQ war against specially our children and our youth. The whole transgender insanity can only be explained by satanic blinding, no rational person could possibly believe these things. Certainly, transgender ideology is fundamentally incompatible with Christianity. And they know that and that's another whole topic. But certainly, many of you are afraid, especially of those of you that have kids in public schools. I've talked with you, you feel helpless. At times, you will ask me, Pastor, what can we do? And I've had those conversations with you. Certainly a number of things that you can do, but one of them that you can do, one of the things that all of us can do, is what we're doing this morning. And that's coming together and worshiping the Lord, submitting our lives to His Word, applying it to our life. In fact, and Psalm 119, verse 23, the Psalmist says this, "even though princes," referring to rulers and officials, "even though princes sit and talk against me, Thy servant meditates on the statutes." Wonderful text. This is a great commentary on how we should respond to our politicians that scheme to do us damage to silence our voices, and so forth. Beloved, if I could put it to you this way, don't march, meditate. All right, don't march, meditate. They don't matter God does. Too often we wring our hands and pace the floor with all of this insanity, all of this wickedness. But our authorities are only doing what spiritually dead people do. You must understand that and God will keep them within the boundaries of his sovereign will and we can relax in that. So let's focus on what the Lord would have us do not what they would have us do. Again, Psalm 119, verse 78, "May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie, but I shall meditate on your precepts." And so let's do that this morning as we look at this amazing historical narrative concerning the power of Jesus. Let me read it to you beginning in verse 31. "Again, He went out from the region of Tyre and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. They brought to Him one who was deaf, and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him. Jesus took him aside from the crowd by himself and put His fingers into his ears. And after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva. And looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, 'Ephphatha!,' that is 'Be opened!' and his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed. And he began speaking plainly. And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. They were utterly astonished, saying, 'He has done all things well, He makes even the deaf to hear, and the mute to speak.'" I never tire of contemplating the tender mercies of Our Lord, His infinite power, as well as his future return and reign. And that's what we have here before us. Let me remind you of the context. Jesus, as you know, posed a serious threat to the Jewish authorities. They were absolutely livid. He confounded them at every turn, every time they tried to confront him or questioned him, he made fools out of them. Moreover, he exposed their hypocrisy, including their ridiculous manmade rules and regulations that they had concocted, especially as they related to what was clean and unclean. And remember, Mark has just recorded the incident where the Jewish leaders confronted Jesus and the disciples for eating their bread with impure or unwashed hands, for not observing the tradition of the elders. And so Jesus excoriated them, exposing their self righteous, moral superiority, calling them quote, "hypocrites." In verse, verses six and following, "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men," verse eight, then he went on to remind them that that which proceeds out of the man that is what defiles the man in chapter seven in verse 20. So in an act of judgment, what we see now is Jesus abandons them, and he goes Northwest, to the region of Tyre, Gentile territory, it's actually in southern Lebanon as we would see it today. And he once again takes the message of the Kingdom, beyond the ethnic and territorial borders of Israel, and brings the gospel to the unclean, to the Gentiles. And remember, Jews were not allowed to even enter into Gentile areas, they were forbidden from purchasing things in their markets, they would never eat food from Gentiles, they would never go into their home. And yet what we see in the Gospel accounts, as many of them as Jesus comes and brings the gospel to them, many of them come to saving faith in Christ, and that has gone on through the years. And that's would apply to most all of us who are Gentiles that have been saved by His grace. And it's really interesting how some of the Gentiles come to faith in Christ. And this becomes, frankly, a rebuke to the Jewish leaders. And Mark does a lot of ironic recording in his Gospel, and this is an irony, is it not? That the people that are unclean are the ones that Jesus saves. So we must remember that many of the people in this region where Jesus is going have heard the gospel message, but yet, they're still unsure who Jesus really is, including some of his own family. And you will recall that those in his hometown wanted to kill him. The scribes and the Pharisees were already scheming to to kill him. They said that he was demon possessed. He was a blasphemer, a false teacher, and even some of his own disciples had lingering questions about who Jesus is. And in the height of irony, what we see is that whenever Jesus confronts the demons, the demons know exactly who he is, that he is the Son of God. And yet the religious leaders refuse to acknowledge that. And I might also add that this journey now up into this region is a priority. Jesus is trying to find some peace and safety and solitude away from Jewish hostility, and he's going to be spending more and more time in discipling his apostles. So this is kind of a necessary calm before the storm that will ensue with his betrayal, his arrest and crucifixion. So Jesus and his disciples now travel about 40 miles northwest of this idolatrous region of Tyre and Sidon on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. And you will also remember that there, Mark records how he encounters this Gentile woman who was willing to risk everything, all of her pagan idolatry, abandon all of that to come and ask this Jewish Messiah, in fact, beg this Jewish Messiah, to deliver her little daughter from an unclean spirit. And clearly she understood Jesus was more than just a miracle worker, She evidently understood the gospel. And as you will recall, Jesus both tested as well as rewarded her faith, delivered the little girl from the demon that possessed her. So once again, proving that the kingdom now is being offered to the Gentiles, as well as to the Jews. And now Jesus and his disciples travel about 20 miles north of Tyre, passing through the region of Sidon, and while there Mark records this miracle. And this is a miracle that the other gospel writers do not record. That is the healing of this deaf man, who was therefore unable to speak. As a footnote, a very important one, he performed many, many other miracles. Don't think that just the ones that we have here are the only ones that he performed. In fact, between this time and throughout the remainder of his time, when he travels then over towards the Sea of Galilee and into the region of Decapolis and then moved south, the crowds continue to grow very large. In fact, Matthew records this, in Matthew 15, beginning in in verse 30, he says, "And large crowds came to him bringing with him, those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others and they laid them down at his feet, and he healed them. So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel." Now, as we come to this text this morning, I would like to draw your attention to three things pertaining to our Lord that I think are most encouraging, as well as instructive. To every believer we're going to see number one, Jesus' tender compassion, secondly, his infinite power. And finally, Jesus' messianic preview. Beloved, I must say that there is no greater act of worship, than contemplating the infinite perfections of the person in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, His unmerited love for his bridal church and the promises that He has given to all of us, and the glory of heaven that awaits us. So let's look at this, verse 31. "Again, he went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon, to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis." Now this was the same vicinity of Gerasa, you will recall where he had delivered a man that was living in the tombs and he was possessed by many demons. Remember, Legion was his name, and he sent them into the swine, you read about that in Mark five. Decapolis, now it means it means 10 cities, deca in Greek is 10 and polis is cities; 10 cities, predominantly Gentile cities, but there were also a significant number of Jews that lived in that region. And this was the center for Hellenistic and Roman culture. It was, those of you that have been with me in Israel, this was the region of Caesarea Philippi, for example. And it was a it was a region governed by Philip rather than Herod. And it was a an extremely pagan area. Archaeological finds have produced many idols, deities of Zeus and Aphrodite and Artemis and Dionysus and all of these creepy idols that they worshipped in those days. Now, this was a considerable detour to the east and then south, in a largely desert region, and eventually he's going to reach the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee and from there he's going to continue south. Now, the inhabitants of Decapolis were well acquainted with Jesus' claims to deity. I mean, frankly, everybody in the whole region had heard about Jesus, and his healing, his supernatural healing powers. And undoubtedly many of them had come to saving faith in Christ and what's about to happen here is going to astonish them all the more. That doesn't mean that the people that were astonished by His miracles came to faith in Christ, but many of them certainly did. But I want you to notice number one, Jesus tender compassion. Verse 32, "They brought to Him one who was deaf, and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him." Now there's several things that we want to see here. First of all, I want to underscore the word spoke. It is a Greek term that refers to a speech impediment. Someone who cannot utter comprehensible words, they utter incomprehensible sounds. And it is a very rare Greek word. It's used only here in the New Testament. And it appears only once in the Septuagint. The Greek translation of the Old Testament where it is used, with respect to what is going to happen in the Messianic age there is used to describe the Messiah and what he will do in Isaiah 35, beginning in verse five, "Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the death will be unstopped, than the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute, will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah," that is the desert. So he says "and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy." "Mogilalon" in the original language that is the same word that Mark uses here in verse 32. And the rabbinic understanding of this text is explained in the Hebrew Midrash, which means exposition or instruction, an ancient commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures. And the rabbi's believed, and I believe, they are absolutely right, that this will be fulfilled by the Messiah in the Messianic age to come. And we're going to look at that a little bit more closely in a moment. But I want you to notice then that they brought to him this man, the one who is deaf. Obviously, this man is an outcast in society. You must understand that the person with this kind of a problem would be ignored, he would be rejected. And now he's got some family or friends, we're not told really who they are, but they care about him so deeply that they are going to bring him to Jesus. And here we witness both faith and love on the part of these unnamed companions. Perhaps these caretakers had heard the good news of the gospel, they certainly had faith in Israel's Messiah. And what I find here is they they have no desire for reward or applause. They're simply acting here, out of faith and love. And notice, they "implored him to lay his hand on him." Implored in the original language means they begged him. They pleaded with him earnestly, and laying hands on someone was a visible and tangible way of demonstrating his healing power to those that are in need, and to be sure, every one of us as Christians need to do likewise. We need to bring people to the master and we need to plead with Him, to deliver them both physically and spiritually, to offer them the certain promise of eternal life. I will remember as at least one of you will, that was with me, when I was in Uganda with one of our missionary Shannon Hurley. One of the things that we would do is we'd leave the compound and we would be in this, this very remote jungle area, and I remember going with him to one of these little huts and there was a woman there out by a fire. And he began to talk with her and she had a 16 year old daughter, and both of them were dying of AIDS. And he asked them to come and he sat down in front of them and had them sit down and the daughter was lying in the hut and she came out and he looked in their mouth. That's a way of determining AIDS, there is always a fungal infection there called thrush. You see other infections as well. And he examined their mouth and then he showed them the love of Christ by telling them that, and he immediately got on his phone, and amazing, we've got technology in the middle of nowhere. He got on the phone and called for the medical people that work with the mission to come and to give them attention, while at the same time giving them the gospel. You know what a picture of love and that's what we have going on here with these people that bring this dear man to Jesus. And I want you to think about this how accessible Jesus was, throngs of people around him. John MacArthur makes an interesting observation to this. And he said, "Unlike the Pharisees, and scribes, who considered themselves to be above the common people, Jesus gladly mingled with the crowds and willingly extended his touch toward those in need. Doing so displayed his and heaven's tender compassion, and personal care. It also demonstrated that he was not afraid of ceremonial defilement. Jesus was never defiled by those whom he touched. Whether it was a leper, a woman with a hemorrhage of blood, a dead body, or a Gentile man who suffered from deafness. Rather than being corrupted by them, they were cleansed and restored by him." Now, I want you to again to notice further the Lord's tender compassion here. It says in verse 33, "Jesus took him aside from the crowd by himself." Now imagine the scene, imagine if you were this man and you were an object of ridicule and mockery in your culture. Now you're in front of this big crowd, your friends have brought you here. How humiliating that would be. Feelings of helplessness, you're unable to hear, you're unable to communicate. But Jesus is fully aware of the desperate nature of his condition and the humiliation that he endured. And remember, a severe speech impediment was considered a symptom of mental handicap among the Gentiles and it was a sign of God's judgment, for exceptional sin amongst the Jews. And so everywhere he turned in that culture, this is how people perceived him. So it would be hard for us to imagine the ridicule and the rejection that this man endured. But Jesus now, in his tender compassion takes him aside. That act alone demonstrates our Lord's tender mercy, and his desire to to personally commune with this man. And this, by the way, would have been something totally foreign to this man. Nobody else would come and do this with him. He probably took him aside into a nearby dwelling, we don't know for sure, but a private place. And it's interesting later on in chapter eight, verses 22 through 26, Jesus will do the same thing when he heals the blind man in Bethsaida. And what a picture of Christ's great saving work, right? I mean, this man had no merit of his own. And yet, Jesus lovingly takes him aside and freely lavishes his love upon him and delivers him from the bondage of his physical limitations and perhaps from his sin. And perhaps Mark's recording of, of this particular act, the man that could not hear, as well as later on, the man who could not see, was symbolic of the disciples who still needed ears to hear and eyes to see who the Messiah really was. So we see, first of all, Jesus tender compassion, but secondly, His infinite power. Verse 33, "Jesus took him aside from the crowd by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva." Now Jesus is touching the specific organs that are in need of healing. And by so doing, he's communicating to this man that cannot hear and cannot speak, that this is what I am about to do. This is where I am going to bring healing. And people in that day believe that saliva had healing properties and so this would be a good way for Jesus to communicate that this is what I am about to do. So when Jesus spat upon his fingers and touched the man's tongue, that man would have understood what Jesus was trying to communicate. And then it we read in verse 34, "and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, he said to him, 'Ephphatha!' that is 'Be opened!'" Jesus looks up to heaven thereby demonstrating to this man and perhaps his friends that were gathered with him or family, demonstrating to them that your help is coming from above. And it says, He "looked up and with a deep sig." The term "sigh" is an interesting term in the original language, it refers to an inarticulate groan. We would understand it as *sigh sound* that type of sigh. And here it is a moan of profound sorrow and sympathy and concern. "And he says to him, 'Ephphatha! that is 'Be opened!' And his ears were open and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly." Impediment, the original language "desmos", comes from that term, it means to be loosed from bonds or from chains. And both his ability to receive and respond were now suddenly freed from the bonds of his disability. And it is noteworthy here that, that there was no need for him to learn the language, no need, and there was no need for speech therapy. In fact, the text says that he began speaking plainly. "Plainly," "orthos" in the original language, meaning straight or right. He began speaking properly in the correct manner, we get our English medical terms, orthopedics and orthodontics from this Greek term, the correction of deformities of bones and muscles or teeth, and jaws and so forth. Now, as I read this, when I contemplate upon it is absolutely astounding to think of what really happened at that moment. Trillions of cells had to be rerouted. What you have here is a physical regeneration that came from the mouth of the Creator that can speak things into existence. In order to understand this a little bit better as a layman, in medical terms, I looked up, how do we hear how does hearing work? From Johns Hopkins and they said this, "First of all, you've got an outer ear, a middle ear and an inner ear. The outer ear," they said, "the Oracle "fin pinnae" is the visible portion of the outer ear. It collects sound waves and channels them into the ear canal, the external auditory meatus where the sound is amplified." We all know that we do this you know, so that we can hear a little better. "The sound waves then travel toward a flexible, oval membrane at the end of the ear canal called the eardrum, or tympanic membrane. Sound waves cause the eardrum to vibrate. Then you have the middle ear. The vibrations from the eardrum, set the ossicles into motion. The ossicles are actually tiny bones, the smallest in the human body. The three bones are named after their shapes, the malleus, which is the hammer, the incus, the anvil, and stapes, which is the stirrup. The ossicles further amplify the sound. The tiny stapes bone attaches to the oval window that connects the middle ear to the inner ear. The eustachian tube, which opens into the middle ear is responsible for equalizing the pressure between the air outside the ear and that within the middle ear. Then we have the inner ear. The sound waves enter the inner ear and then into the cochlea, a snail shaped organ. The cochlea is filled with fluid that moves in response to the vibrations from the oval window. As the fluid moves 25,000 nerve endings are set into motion. These nerve endings transform the vibrations into electrical impulses that then travel along the eighth cranial nerve which is the auditory nerve to the brain. Signals from the right ear travel to the auditory cortex located in the temporal lobe on the left side of the brain. Signals from the left ear traveled to the right auditory cortex. The auditory cortices sort, process, interpret and file information about the sound." They also said the "inner ear also contains the vestibular organ that is responsible for balance." And in an instant all of those things are working perfectly. And that's not to mention all of the aspects of language skills and everything else that would work in the brain. My mind went to Psalm 139:14, "I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works in my soul knows it forever, knows it very well." I marvel at God's omnipotence. And this is what we see here, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Creator, to see his ability in his power to do whatever he pleases. That's who the Lord is. In fact, one of the Old Testament terms for God is El Shaddai. El means God and Shaddai means Almighty. The apostle John exclaimed in Revelation 19 Verse six, "Hallelujah for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns." Dear friends, we can find great comfort in these days of uncertainty and fear, and even death. Stephen Charnock, one of the great Puritans of the 17th century said this about the omnipotence of God. "The omnipotence of God is his ability and strength to bring to pass whatsoever he pleases. Our desires may be, and are, more extensive than our power, but with God," quote, 'His counsel shall stand and he will do all his pleasure.' Isaiah 46:10. You must, in your conception of divine power, enlarge it further than to think God can do only what he resolves to do. In truth, he has an infinite capacity of power to act, as he has an infinite capacity of will to resolve. His power is such that he can do whatever he pleases, without difficulty or resistance. He cannot be checked, restrained or frustrated. How worthless His eternal councils would be, if his power could not execute them. His mercy would be a feeble pity if he were destitute of power to relieve. His justice, a slided scarecrow without power to punish, and his promises an empty sound without the strength to accomplish them." Oh, dear Christian, the tender compassion and the infinite power of Jesus, and aren't you thankful that we have a Savior that can identify with our weaknesses and actually feel what we feel? So often, when we try to comfort someone, we will say, I know what you feel. Well, you know, we really don't, we may have some idea but none of us can really feel exactly what another person feels, but Jesus can. In fact, in Hebrews four, verse 15, the Spirit of God speaks through his writer and says, "For we do not have a high priest, who cannot sympathize." By the way, the word means to suffer together with someone. "We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses." I like the King James rendering it says "For we have not a high priest, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. But one who has been tempted at all things as we are yet without sin." It's absolutely astounding. Jesus experienced the full range of temptation and sorrow that we could ever imagine. Mental exhaustion, physical fatigue, hunger, thirst, excruciating pain, tears, heartache, slander, mocking persecution and suffering beyond anything that we can comprehend, the worst of which was being forsaken by the Father. All of the pressures of hell were released upon the Lord Jesus, sorrow and suffering, beyond anything that we could ever think of. Therefore, think about this, no matter what we experience. No matter the pain, the pressure, the sorrow, the weakness, Jesus has experienced it, yet without sin He understands it. And like no one else, he is actually able to enter into it with us. And that's what happened here with this dear man. Jesus cared deeply for him, as he does for all men and women in the world, evidenced by his common grace, even those that hate him. So again, in verse 35, we read "And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly." Then it says, "And he gave them orders not to tell anyone." Now bear in mind by this time, in Jesus ministry, the crowds were enormous, it had reached a fever pitch here. And as we will see, in the next chapter, in chapter eight, massive crowds are coming to him. But unfortunately, they saw him primarily as a miracle worker, not as the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel, who came to save, both Jews and Gentiles from their sins, that we might be reconciled to God through faith in Him, and His sacrifice on our behalf. So they didn't understand the full scope of his earthly mission. The disciples struggled with all of this as well. In fact, Paul would later on write to the Corinthians in First Corinthians 15, three, "For I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received," here it is, "that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures." So back to our text, it says that Jesus gave this man and his friends or family orders not to tell anyone. And the reason he did this is he didn't want the people to basically take him by force and make him king and ultimately hinder his mission. And Mark helps us understand this reasoning better. In Mark eight beginning in verse 30. "And Jesus warned them to tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again." So that's Jesus mindset here. Of course, they don't understand this. Verse 36, again, it says, "but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continue to proclaim it." More irony, by the way, God gave him ears to hear but he doesn't listen. Right? You know, I'm sure I would have been the same way. I mean, all you can do is think man, I'm hearing and I can speak. He truly found his voice, right? I mean talk about being elated. In verse 37, it says "They were utterly astonished." Astonished carries the idea of being absolutely overcome with awe. And here's what they said, "He has done all things well, he makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak." So we've seen his tender compassion and his infinite power. And I'm going to close with Jesus messianic preview, because we see this in this text that I just read. This last phrase speaks to this, as did verse 32, that I mentioned earlier. The last phrase, notice again, "they were utterly astonished." And here's what they're saying, "He has done all things well, and he makes even the deaf to hear, and the mute to speak." The term mute in the Hebrew "illem", which is translated from the Greek word that I mentioned earlier, "mogilalos" that we read in the Septuagint. And again, you will recall "They brought to him the one who was death and spoke," and there's that term, "spoke with difficulty and they implored him to lay on His lay his hand on him." And that term was the one that I mentioned earlier was used in the Septuagint with respect to the Messianic age and Isaiah 35, verses five and six, let me read that to you again. "Then the eyes of the blind will be open and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute there it is "mogilalon", the same term, "the mute will shout for joy." So here, I believe Mark is giving us a preview of the conditions of the Messianic Kingdom and then please understand, Christ's stunning miracles during his incarnation, especially those in the physical realm, were performed to do much more than just alleviate physical suffering. They were proof of Jesus regal Messiahship in the imminency of the kingdom that he had announced that had come upon them. Let me give you a little example. Remember Matthew 11, John the Baptist is languishing in prison. Here he was the herald of the king and he expected Jesus to judge the wicked and establish His earthly kingdom as the prophets had said, as the prophets had promised. And yet here he is in a prison, about to have his head severed from his body. And Matthew 11, verse two we read, "Now when John while in prison heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, 'Are you the expected one? Or shall we look for someone else?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'Go and report to John what you hear and see. The blind receive sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.'" So the point is no, John's not mistaken. Jesus is saying, I am the promised mediatorial king of Old Testament prophecy. And he was right about the nature of the kingdom, it is going to be established on Earth. And it would be a literal kingdom, manifesting all the physical aspects of the Old Testament prophets. And obviously, it was not merely some spiritual kingdom, otherwise, Jesus would have explained that to John. Instead, Jesus wanted John to consider his physical miracles in the context of Old Testament prophecy. And some of what Jesus has quoted here is out of Isaiah 29, verses 18 and 19, is certainly Isaiah 35, five and six that I just read Isaiah 61, in verse one. But what John did not understand is that the Jewish opposition to Jesus as their Messiah would result in total rejection of him as their king, they would not have this man reign over them right? And therefore, the complete establishment of the earthly messianic millennial kingdom was going to be delayed until his second coming. He didn't understand that and we must understand, and we can look back and see this now that the rejection of the king and the removal of his bodily presence meant the removal of the kingdom, albeit temporarily, his physical return will usher in the arrival of the kingdom. Peter spoke of this in his sermon in Acts three, beginning in verse 19. He says, "Therefore, repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time." Now, to be sure, the prophetic Scriptures describe conditions of the Messianic age. And these conditions are utterly irreconcilable with the conditions in which we live today. Which therefore, is another refutation of the idea that we're living in the kingdom now that the kingdom is on earth now. And I might also add, if, as some will argue, the kingdom is narrowly spiritual. Why did Jesus performed so many physical miracles in both kind and in number? Moreover, if physical miracles properly belong to a spiritual kingdom on earth, as we witnessed in Jesus's ministry in his own incarnation, why do we not witness them still today? Well, the answer is that these miracles now await the inauguration of the Messianic millennial kingdom on earth, which will be the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state. May I whet your appetite a bit more With respect to even the physical blessings to come, of which we get a little taste of here, and this gospel narrative, Albert J. McClain said this quote, "As to the conditions in the coming Kingdom, it should be noted first that the prophets envision human life as continuing through the natural processes of procreation, birth and growth. The rejoicing of the bride and the bridegroom is heard, Jeremiah 33:11. The children play in the streets of the cities, Zechariah eight, five, the little one shall become quote, 1000, Isaiah 60 and verse 22. But the accidents and deviations of nature, often so appalling in character, will be dealt with by divine power. All physical infirmity and deformity will be rectified." And then he quotes Isaiah 35 Five and six that I just read "and the eyes of the blind shall be open and the ears of the death shall be unstopped, then shall the lame leap as an hart and the tongue of the dumb sing." MacLean goes on to say, "Disease which is distinguished from deformity (Malachi one eight) will likewise be controlled by divine power, perhaps through both prevention and cure. At any rate, quote, 'the inhabitant shall not say I am sick,' Isaiah 33:24. The manner in which these happy results will be accomplished is not precisely stated. But as we have suggested above, there are intimations that in some cases tangible means may be used." And then he gives Ezekiel 47:12, as a reference where it says, quote, "The fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for healing." "For any who may regard such prophecies is wholly implausible, a sufficient answer may be found in the amazing progress in the chemistry of food and medicine. Investigators of high imminence are even seriously suggesting today." By the way, this would have been written back, I think back in the 50s, or 60s. "They're suggesting today that the final answer to the scourge of cancer may be found in the field of internal medicine, rather than in surgery. With physical ills under divine control, it follows that long life will again become the rule." And then he quotes Isaiah 65:22. "For as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands." "For longevity, no more appropriate comparison can be suggested than a tree. Infancy will be measured by years instead of days. And there will be no more quote 'an old man that hath not filled his days.' In fact, Isaiah suggest that the crisis of physical death will be experienced only by those incorrigible individualists who rebel against the laws of the kingdom. And even in such cases, the gracious probation will be a century in length, Isaiah 65:20." And on and on it goes. Dear friends, this is the glorious hope of the redeemed. And I long for that day, when the Lord returns in all of his glory, judges the nations, establishes His kingdom, and we will be there to reign with him. That day when the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. May I challenge you to contemplate these glorious truths with respect to Jesus tender compassion, his infinite power and his messianic preview. And may we all live in light of his return? I believe it could be very soon. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for the truths of your word. My where would we be without them? Thank you for saving us by your grace. Thank you for changing our hearts in such a way that not only can we understand the scriptures, but we can do so savingly and be transformed by them. Or if there be one here today that knows nothing of what it means to truly be reconciled to you through faith in our beloved Savior and King, may you speak to that person, overwhelm them with the reality of their sin and help them to see that their only hope is in Christ. That today would be the day of their salvation that today would be the day when they experienced the miracle of the new birth. We thank you We give you praise and ask that you will come quickly. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.