It was a mistake, you know, it shouldn't have been. Well, I never think along that line in the Holy Scriptures, but God tried Abraham in that respect because he knew that Abraham could stand the trial. Abraham believed in God who raises the dead, not in God who would raise the dead, but God who raises the dead, characteristically. Now in the Lord Jesus Christ, you see that blessed person, the antitope of Isaac, the son of his father's love, completely obedient to the will of the Father in all the outgoing of affection, in all the faithfulness, the faithful and true witness as Abraham was. And in the administration of all that in the coming kingdom, you'll find. So that when the Lord Jesus has reigned a thousand years, you remember what he does, he turns the kingdom over to the Father. That's Isaac. In measure, it's Isaac anyway. It's communion, perfect fellowship with God the Father. He turns the kingdom over to the Father, that God might be all in all. Not that the Father might be all in all, but that God might be all in all. The Lord Jesus will still reign. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. And he turns. But there you see the perfect communion. And when I get to heaven, and when you get to heaven, and I do trust you will, if you're a sinner saved by grace you will. I look forward to that moment when the thousand years is over and we're just beginning to see that great transaction of the kingdom, the millennial kingdom being turned over to the Father, that God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit might be all in all. And you see that, of course, in the end of the book of Revelation where God dwells, God's tabernacles with me. So that God is known throughout his universe. But Isaac is not the most colorful by any means. Let's say a word about Joseph. There is the colorful man. There is the person who was dressed in the coat of many colors. Joseph comes on the scene again as the son of his father's love, characteristically. That's how his coat was given to him, as the emblem of his father's undying affection. And there is a day coming when the Lord will administer the kingdom as the gift of his Father in that respect. He has been set on the throne by the Father. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him. He was raised from the dead. Notice the words, by the glory of the Father. Let us to say, God was so well pleased not only with what he had done, but with him. and so expectant regarding the world of glory that is coming, that as it were, he reached down into the tomb and took the Lord Jesus out. Nobody saw him do it. That was the great secret of the universe. He reached down and by the glory of the Father, he took him out of the tomb, raised him up. And as Peter says in his epistle, whom God has raised up and given him glory. You see how the Father is connected with him? That's Joseph. Joseph was the one who was destined to reign over all the known world, over all of Egypt, the land of the stranger, and to bring his brethren, as the Lord will bring Israel in in the last day, bring his brethren into the fullness of blessing when he is Lord among the Gentiles. And so you see Joseph going through all those episodes of experience that are truly bewildering. And you see in it all, not only how strange are the experiences of Joseph, but you see something else. You see what a wonderful man Joseph was. And never let us look at the experiences of our Lord Jesus without fixing our eye upon him. Don't get so occupied with the cross and all the things that it does for us without remembering the Christ of the cross. That's a great fallacy of some of the religions of our age. use the cross as an emblem without keeping the eye upon the Christ who died there. And he's risen again. I went into a little cathedral in France many years ago. And there was a dear woman sitting in one of the niches, the little cornices there in this cathedral, and there was a crucifix and a figure of the Savior on the crucifix and something that looked like blood upon it. I mean, here was this little French woman, an aged woman she was, and she was crying like everything, crying like everything, weeping her heart out. I don't know what she was crying about. But I was a very young lad, but I was a Christian, but I thought, I wonder if it's the cross and the Christ she's crying about. And I went over to her, and in my best mustard French, which wasn't too good. But I said to her, and the Word of God is always good, you know, even in a foreign language. He is not dead. He is risen. She looked up to me through her tears. I don't know yet what she was thinking about. She says, Oh, I forgot. Vé lublier. I have forgotten it. And she got up and walked away. I hope she'll be in heaven. The Lord isn't dead. He's risen. That's a great thought. And then Joseph, he's the one who went down into the pit. But he came up again. He went into the dungeon, but he came out again. He was forgotten by his fellow prisoners, but he was remembered again. Everything about Joseph is again, you see, constantly being raised until finally you find them on the throne of the land of Egypt, so that no hoof can be raised. No one can do anything without Joseph. Moreover, he becomes the great food administrator. That is to say, all the wealth of the land is put in Joseph's hand. Now God has decided that in the day of the Lord's exaltation, everything is in his hand. The word of Pharaoh in that day was, if anyone came hungry, go to Joseph. And if you are hungry here tonight, if you are an unsaved person, I can say to you, go to Christ. Go to the Lord Jesus. He has in his hand the bounty to fill the heart of satisfaction. I am the bread of life. He is the antitope of Joseph. And in the day that is yet to come, in the heavenly kingdom and on the earthly kingdom, everything will be related to the Lord Jesus. All the commerce of the world, all the negotiation of the world. Everything that takes place on this earth in the millennial kingdom with Jerusalem as center will be related to the Lord Jesus. Every. The scripture says so. No one shall say to his neighbor, Know the Lord, for they shall all know him, from the least to the greatest. For the knowledge of his glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. How completely do the waters cover the sea? Absolutely all. It's a marvelous thing. If I were on the earth during the millennium, and I know I won't be, at least I feel rather sure about it. Be in a better place than that. But if I were on the earth in the day of the millennium and think of walking on the streets of Los Angeles, I'm afraid there'll be no city of the angels then, but in any case, think of walking in a city in this world and being able to go up to anyone and say, well, what are you thinking about today? I'm thinking about Christ. Marvel. I wish we could always be that. But that's what it will be in that day. The knowledge of his glory will cover it. That's Joseph. And David, I've mentioned David. You see the color that is in them all. Joseph with his coat of many colors. The worn by the Lord Jesus in the day that's come. And David, as I say, here is a man who was a choice person. He was a man after God's own heart. That is to say in the inner springs of his being he was the kind of person that God delighted in. I wonder if I am that. Oh, you see, as some have said to me, he wasn't such a very good man, he was a very bad man. Well, we're all that. You're a very bad person and so am I. But one of the good things about David was that he repented. And one of the bad things about us sometimes is that we don't repent. And when a man repents, God is pleased with that. God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. But David was a man after God's own heart in his character, and he's a most marvelous person. He's a man who had great skill. He was a marvelous musician. You think in the last psalm all the different instruments that were in his orchestra, read it if you haven't read it later. There were all those, some of the things I don't like at all, the loud sounding things. But they were all in harmony, you see, all in harmony. There were very quiet symbols. David evidently could use them all and put them into their proper place. You see him on his crowning day. tremendous celebration, three days and three nights. When there was ample for everyone to eat and there was joy everywhere throughout all the years, David Mason. Everybody loved him. They all loved David. David says, concerning Jonathan, he loved me as his own soul. His love to me was wonderful, surpassing the love of woman, and woman can love. None of us would have found that out after all. But here was a man who was so attached to David that his love surpassed that of a woman. For you say he didn't leave the things for him, he left a great deal. He was a great friend to David where David was not thought well of. Sometimes that is much more difficult than taking out after a person. But in David you have all the color. Look at him coming on the scene as a shepherd boy. And when I meet the Lord in heaven, I'm going to meet the good shepherd. The good shepherd. Oh, you say to all be so grand will be dazzled by him. That great shepherd of the sheep. That's the Lord Jesus. Pray unto thy day. And all the glory of the shepherd character. We know something of it now. We need it very much, but we shall see him as such, as the one who went out on the mountains and took and found the lost sheep and laid it on his shoulders rejoicing. Listen. And when he came home, when he came home, when he brought the sheep home, he called his friends and neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the sheep that I had lost. Likewise there shall be joy in heaven. Not there is joy, that's already said, but there shall be joy in heaven over one thing or another. When the piece of money is found, there is joy, but in connection with the bringing home of the sheep by the shepherd, there shall be joy. There is going to be an upsurge of joy in heaven in the day that's coming. when the shepherd brings home the sheep. That's at the rapture. Some people don't believe in the rapture anymore. Well, I do believe in the rapture. That's my blessed home. When the shepherd brings home the sheep, a special occasion. And that's David. Jehovah is my shepherd. And you find that running all through David's life. And here he comes down among his brethren. the unnoticed person, the one who was forgotten. You remember when Samuel came to anoint his father's sons and the seven of them appeared before him and he went over them all. There was none that suited Samuel. The Lord was not pleased with any of them. Then his father suddenly remembered there was an eight. Ah, there was always an eight. There was an eight out in the field looking after the sheep. They brought him in. And as soon as he walked in the room, Samuel said, this is him. Oh, I like that word. No hesitation, no looking him over, no measuring him, no asking about his character or anything like that. Just from the moment as soon as he saw David, this is him. You get destiny written upon that word. And when I see the Savior, when you see him, my beloved Christian, when we see the Lord, we say this is he, this is him. God has said it, and we shall say it. And then David, David goes down, he's not fit for a soldier. He's not chosen as a soldier. He's forgotten again. But when Goliath appears, he happens to be. Can I say happen? In the destiny of God, he comes down. He sees the host of his own people trembling in their shoes. He denounces Goliath in the name of Jehovah. Oh, you know, the pageant of it, we could spend the whole evening speaking about the triumph of this. He shoots them in the forehead with one of five smooth stones. He chose five, but he only used one, you see. I won't go into that. I've heard an eloquent address on the four stones that David didn't use. May God preserve us from all that kind of imagination. David used one stone. He felled the giant. And then everybody lost their head except David. You ever know before? They all became so entranced and so carried away with the thought. Saul has slain his thousands, but David is tens of thousands. And even the women began to sing about him, and I've never met the man yet, and it wouldn't be turned around in that way. That would carry any of us off in pride, that David marched it on, honorable in every respect. And all that David did was blessed of the Lord, and he was kept a humble man, So that when it came to the day of his rejection by Saul, he goes out to the cave of the Dullam yonder, just like the Lord Jesus. He's a marvelous type of the Lord Jesus. He goes out without a murmur, as the man, as the rejected person, and who follow him? The queerest kind of people you ever met. Those that were in debt. Those that were dissatisfied and discontented. Those who had troubles and problems in their lives. Oh, there were a queer lot, just like us, just like you. Don't think you'll ever make Christians. You'll gather Christians from any other source, shall I say, than from the disgruntled and the discontented and those that are in debt and those that can't pay their debt. Oh, you say, I thought a Christian should be a good person. Ah, yes, but the debt has to be settled first. And when the Lord Jesus died on Calvary, he paid my debt in full. And David, his motley song, goes out with him to share his place of rejection without a murmur. And these are the men, these are the men that made up his orchestra and his grand chorus, my friends, that sang the praises of Jehovah with David twanging his harp and beautiful melody before him. And we have them all in this harp. I turn my eyes toward the Lord. There is a day coming when all that is gruntled, those that are in debt, those who are brokenhearted, those who are tired of life, those who have no resource but in God himself, are going to get home. Not to the place of rejection, but to the place of glory. The crowning day will come. Then will all be guarded around the Lord Jesus. Shall I say it, the great orchestra will start. And there will be music in heaven, my friends. Ten thousand times ten thousand. Thousands of thousands. Singing his praise. Will they have a piano there? I don't know and I don't hear. But I do know that I want to be one of the singers there. And I want you to be one of the singers. So you say, I can't sing. You will sing in that day. Yes, you're saying that. When David comes home, we'll always say, gather together in one all things in Christ, both the things which are in heaven and the things that are on the earth, even. Let me say a word about one person. Oh, there are so many of them. Think of Jeremiah with all his weeping. Yet his bright hope of the establishment of Christ's kingdom. You think of Daniel. Daniel. Oh, he's an excellent one. Here is a person in the Old Testament that was in the administration of God on this earth when everything was against him, isn't it? Now, I think if I were in a world where everybody was against me, I would hate to think what I would become. Maybe a sour. God has set us about by friends, Christian friends, family friends. God has blessed us mightily in many ways. Here was Daniel with his two companions, where he had not a friend, so to speak, but was faithful to the Lord. What did he do? He maintained an excellent spirit. The scripture says so. He was of an excellent spirit. There's nothing better than excellence. And then you see him, oh, I love the sense of Daniel. Because he's the type of the Lord, you see. You see him in the Lion's Day. In the Lion's Day. What are they doing? Well, he seems to be rather troubled about the man outside the Lion's Day, the king. Very strange thing. The king comes, you know, after tossing on his bed all night, he comes to the the mouth of the cave where Daniel was in there with the lion. And he in a kind of a peevish voice, shall I say, timorous voice, he calls into Daniel and asks if it's well with him. You know what Daniel says to him? Now get this. Here is Daniel, that man of excellent spirit, in the lion's den. where you and I would have trembled for fear in a corner. But the response he gets, the king gets, from Daniel says, O king, live forever. I think that's the height of irony. Here's the man in the lion's den, hoping that the man outside will live forever. See how incongruous it is. But to me it bespeaks this, that here is a person who, when faced by the power of Satan, by the power of the enemy in its utmost omnipotence, shall I say, is fearless, cast upon God, and has the power to withstand it to the limit. And that's what I will see in the Lord Jesus Christ. When he sets up his kingdom, he will be omnipotent. His name shall be called Wonderful, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And of his kingdom there shall be no end. Why? Because it's an everlasting kingdom. The Lord is coming soon. I do believe that. Everything seems to indicate. will turn our backs upon this world, and I do trust that our record may show every one of us that we have done service for the King, for the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we arrive there, it will be joy and beauty forever. Why? Because the populace of God has determined that nothing will frustrate us, that he will gather together in one, all things in one. I haven't spoken of the other passages what they use. It's just one thing after another in the Epistle, ever extolling the person who is far above all heavens, the one who has ascended up on high, passed through the heavens. head over all things to the church. For how long? And to all ages. World of him. The dear man in Los Angeles that I know very well, and he belongs to a certain type of religious society that believes in aeons. Well, I believe in aeons, too, but he seems to think it's smart or something like that. Aeons is a Greek word, you know, that means a section of time. And here's some idea and circulates literature to that effect that in this particular aeon we're going to be blessed in Christ, but there may come another aeon pretty soon when the Lord's going to change his mind and he's going to take up angels or somebody else. And so we'll be set aside and... So he came to my office one day, his name is Man, M-A-N-N. He's well named. He used to be amongst the brethren, if you'll permit me to say that. And maybe it was the fault of some heart-hearted brethren that made him go away. But anyway, he's got into this kind of doctrine. And I opened the book to the third chapter of Ephesians which we have read tonight. And I read to him this passage. And I took my Greek testament, and I read it to him. Therein it tells us that glory is going to be to the Lord Jesus in the church unto the age of ages, unto the age of aeons, aeons. Oh, he said, I didn't know that was in the Bible. Well, you know it now. There's nothing can change now. There's no other company coming into view when we part of the Lord Jesus Christ. the Son of the Father, the object of the adoration of angels, the object of the Father's love, the object of our worship forever. May God keep us at His feet always. And again I say, if there be any here in this room tonight, and if you don't know the Lord as your own Savior, you can't enjoy what I've been speaking about, you have no title to heaven. You have to take the words of the man I've been speaking about, David himself. David said then, The Lord is my shepherd, my shepherd. He didn't say the Lord is our shepherd. That was true. But David said, There's something I want to tell you. The Lord is my shepherd. And if you say that tonight, for the good shepherd gave his life for the future, if you say that tonight, you'll be saved for time and eternity. For the good shepherd said that. I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone pluck them out of my heart. That is his promise. Take it for your own this evening, and you will be saved forever. So we pray together. Blessed God, we turn to thee now, and we thank thee for these things that we have been meditating upon from thy word. We thank thee for the glory of the Lord Jesus. We thank thee for his pathway of shame and sorrow. We thank thee for the cross, which he bore in order that we might never come into judgment. We thank thee for his burial in the tomb, for his wonderful resurrection, for his ascension to the highest pinnacle of glory. We bless thee for our Lord Jesus Christ, in his fearless name.