Improvement of the Whole

I proceed now to enter upon some improvement of the whole that has been said from this doctrine.

1. Hence we may learn how great a work this work of redemption is. We have now had it in a very imperfect manner set forth before us, in the whole progress of it, from its first beginning after the fall, to the end of the world, when it is finished. We have seen how God has carried on this building from the first foundation of it, by a long succession of wonderful works, advancing it higher and higher from one age to another, till the top-stone is laid at the end of the world. Now let us consider how great a work this is. Do men, when they behold some great palaces or churches, sometimes admire their magnificence, and are almost astonished to consider how great a piece of work it was to build such a house? Then how well may we admire the greatness of this building of God, which he builds up age after age, by a series of such great things which he brings to pass! There are three things that have been exhibited to us in what has been said, which do especially show the greatness of the work of redemption.

1. The greatness of those particular events, and dispensations of providence, by which it is accomplished. How great are those things which God has done, which are but so many parts of this great work! What great things were done in the world to prepare the way for Christ's coming to purchase, and what great things were done in the purchase of redemption! What a wonderful thing was that which was accomplished to put Christ in an immediate capacity for this purchase, namely, his incarnation, that God should become man! What great things were done in that purchase, that a person, who is the eternal Jehovah, should live upon earth four or five and thirty years together, in a mean despised condition, and that he should spend his life in such labors and sufferings, and that at last he should die on the cross! What great things have been done to accomplish the success of Christ's redemption! What great things to put him into a capacity to accomplish this success! For this purpose he rose from the dead, and ascended up into heaven, and all things were made subject to him. How many miracles have been wrought, what mighty revolutions have been brought to pass in the world already, and how much greater shall be brought to pass, in order to it!

2. The number of those great events by which God carries on this work, shows the greatness of the work. Those mighty revolutions are so many as to fill up many ages. The particular wonderful events by which the work of creation was carried on filled up six days: but the great dispensations by which the work of redemption is carried on, are so many, that they fill up six or seven thousand years at least, as we have reason to conclude from the word of God. There were great things wrought in this affair before the flood, and in the flood the world was once destroyed by water, and God's church was so wonderfully preserved from the flood in order to carry on this work. After the flood, what great things did God work relating to the resettling of the world, to the building of Babel, the dispersing of the nations, the shortening of the days of man's life, the calling of Abraham, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and that long series of wonderful providences relating to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, and those wonders in Egypt, and at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness, and in Canaan in Joshua's time, and by a long succession of wonderful providences from age to age towards the nation of the Jews!

What great things were wrought by God, in so often overturning the world before Christ came, to make way for his coming! What great things were done also in Christ's time, and then after that in overturning Satan's kingdom in the Heathen Empire, and in so preserving his church in the dark times of Popery, and in bringing about the Reformation! How many great and wonderful things will be effected in accomplishing the glorious times of the church, and at Christ's last coming on the day of judgment, in the destruction of the world, and in carrying the whole church into heaven.

3. The glorious issue of this whole affair, in the perfect and eternal destruction of the wicked, and in the consummate glory of the righteous. Now let us once more take a view of this building; now all is finished and the top-stone laid. It appeared in a glorious height in the apostles' time, and much more glorious in the time of Constantine, and will appear much more glorious still after the fall of Antichrist; but at the consummation of all things, it appears in an immensely more glorious height than ever before. Now it appears in its greatest magnificence, as a complete lofty structure, whose top reaches to the heaven of heavens; a building worthy of the great God, the King of kings.

From what has been said, one may argue, that the work of redemption is the greatest of all God's works of which we have any notice, and it is the end of all his other works. It appears plainly from what has been said, that this work is the principal of all God's works of providence, and that all other works of providence are reducible hither; they are all subordinate to the great affair of redemption. We see that all the revolutions in the world are to subserve this grand design; so that the work of redemption is, as it were, the sum of God's works of providence.

This shows us how much greater the work of redemption is, than the work of creation: for I have several times observed, that the work of providence is greater than the work of creation, because it is the end of it; as the use of a house is the end of the building of the house. But the work of redemption, as I have just said, is the sum of all God's works of providence; all are subordinate to it: so the work of the new creation is more excellent than the old. So it ever is, that when one thing is removed by God to make way for another, the new one excels the old. Thus the temple excelled the tabernacle; the new covenant the old; the new dispensation of the gospel the dispensation of Moses; the throne of David the throne of Saul; the priesthood of Christ the priesthood of Aaron: the new Jerusalem the old; and so the new creation far excels the old.

God has used the creation which he has made, for no other purpose but to subserve the designs of this affair. To answer this end, he has created and disposed of mankind, to this the angels, to this the earth, to this the highest heavens. God created the world to provide a spouse and kingdom for his Son: and the setting up of the kingdom of Christ, and the spiritual marriage of the spouse to him, is what the whole creation labors and travails in pain to bring to pass. This work of redemption is so much the greatest of all the works of God, that all other works are to be looked upon either as parts of it, or appendages to it, and all are some way reducible to it; and so all the decrees of God do some way or other belong to that eternal covenant of redemption which was between the Father and the Son before the foundation of the world. Every decree of God is some way or other reducible to that covenant.

Seeing this work of redemption is so great a work, hence we need not wonder that the angels desire to look into it. We need not wonder that so much is made of it in scripture, and that it is so much insisted on in the histories, and prophecies, and songs of the Bible; for the work of redemption is the great subject of the whole, of its doctrines, its promises, its types, its songs, its histories, and its prophecies.

2. Hence we may learn how God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and ending of all things. Such are the character, and titles we find often ascribed to God in scripture, in those places, where the scripture speaks of the course of things, and series of events in providence: Isaiah 41:4. Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord the first, and with the last, I am he. And particularly does the scripture ascribe such titles to God, where it speaks of the providence of God, as it relates to, and is summed up in the great work of redemption; as Isaiah 44:6-7 and 48:12 with the context, beginning with the 9th verse. So God eminently appears as the first and the last, by considering the whole scheme of divine providence as we have considered it, namely, as all reducible to that one great work of redemption.

Therefore, when Christ reveals the future great events of providence relating to his church and people, and this affair of redemption, to the end of the world, to his disciple John, he often reveals himself under this character. So Revelation 1:8. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord which, is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." So again, verse 10, 11. "I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." Alpha and Omega are the names of the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, as A and Z are of ours; and therefore it signifies the same as his being the first and the last, and the beginning and the ending.

Thus God is called in the beginning of this book of Revelation, before the course of the prophecy begins; and so again he is called at the end of it, after the course of events is gone through, and the final issue of things is seen: as Revelation 21:6. "And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." And so chapter 22:12-13. "And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."

We have seen how this is true in the course of what I have laid before you upon this subject. We have seen how things were from God in the beginning; on what design God began the course of his providence in the beginning of the generations of upon the earth; and we have seen how it is God that has all along carried things on agreeable to the same designs without ever failing; and how at last the conclusion and final issue of things are to God; and so we have seen how all things are of him, and through him, and to him; and therefore may well now cry out with the apostle, Romans 11:33. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" and verse 36. "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever, Amen."

We have seen how other things came to an end one after another, how states, and kingdoms, and empires, one after another, fell and came to nothing, even the greatest and strongest of them; we have seen how the world has been often overturned, and will be more remarkably overturned than ever it has been yet; we have seen how the world comes to an end, how it was first destroyed by water, and how at last it shall be utterly destroyed by fire: but yet God remains the same through all ages. He was before the beginning of this course of things, and he will be after the end of them, agreeable to Psalm 102:25-26. Thus God is he that is, and that was, and that is to come.

We have seen, in a variety of instances, how all other gods perish: we have seen how the ancient gods of the Heathen in the nations about Canaan, and throughout the Roman empire, are all destroyed, and their worship long since overthrown; we have heard how Antichrist, who has called himself a god on earth, and how Mahomet, who claims religious honors, and how all the gods of the Heathen through the world, will come to an end; and how Satan, the great dragon, that old serpent, who has set up himself as god of this world, will be cast into the lake of fire, there to suffer his complete punishment: but Jehovah remains, and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and of his dominion there is no end. We have seen what mighty changes there have been in the world; but God is unchangeable, "the same yesterday, today, and forever."

We began at the head of the stream of divine providence, and have followed and traced it through its various windings and turnings, till we are come to the end of it, and we see where it issues. As it began in God, so it ends in God. God is the infinite ocean into which it empties itself. Providence is like a mighty wheel, whose circumference is so high that it is dreadful, with the glory of the God of Israel above upon it; as it is represented in Ezekiel's vision. We have seen the revolution of this wheel, and how, as it was from God, so its return has been to God again. All the events of divine providence are like the links of a chain; the first link is from God and the last is to him.

3. We may see by what has been said, how Christ in all things has the pre-eminence. For this great work of redemption is all his work: he is the great Redeemer, and therefore the work of redemption being as it were the sum of God's works of providence, this shows the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, as being above all, and through all, and in all. That God intended the world for his Son's use in the affair of redemption, is one reason that is to be given why he created the world by him, which seems to be intimated by the Apostle in Ephesians 3:9-12. What has been said, shows how all the purposes of God are purposed in Christ, and how he is before all and above all, and all things consist by him, and are governed by him, and are for him, Colossians 1:15, 16, 17, 18. We see by what has been said, how God makes him his firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth, and sets his throne above their thrones; how God has always upheld his kingdom, when the kingdoms of others have come to an end; how that appears at last above all, however greatly opposed for so many ages; how finally all other kingdoms fell, and his kingdom is the last kingdom and is a kingdom that never gives place to any other.

We see, that whatever changes there are, and however highly Christ's enemies exalt themselves, that yet finally all his enemies become his footstool, and he reigns in uncontrolled power and immense glory: in the end his people are all perfectly saved and made happy, and his enemies all become his footstool. And thus God gives the world to his Son for his inheritance.

4. Hence we may see what a consistent thing divine providence is. The consideration of what has been said, may greatly serve to show us the consistency, order, and beauty, of God's works of providence. If we behold the events of providence in any other view than that in which it has been set before us, it will all look like confusion, like a number of jumbled events coming to pass without any order or method, like the tossing of the waves of the sea; things will look as though one confused revolution came to pass after another, merely by blind chance, without any regular or certain end.

But if we consider the events of providence in the light in which they have been set before us under this doctrine, in which the scriptures set them before us, they appear far from being jumbled and confused, an orderly series of events, all wisely ordered and directed in excellent harmony and consistence, tending all to one end. The wheels of providence are not turned round by blind chance, but they are full of eyes round about, as Ezekiel represents, and they are guided by the spirit of God: where the spirit goes, they go: and all God's works of providence through all ages meet in one at last, as so many lines meeting in one center.

It is with God's work of providence, as it is with his work of creation; it is but one work. The events of providence, are not so many distinct, independent, works of providence, but they are rather so many different parts of one work of providence: it is all one work, one regular scheme. God's works of providence are not disunited and jumbled without connection or dependence, but are all united, just as several parts of one building: there are many stones, many pieces of timber, but all are so joined, and fitly formed together, that they make but one building: they have all but one foundation, and are united at last in one topstone.

God's providence may not unfitly be compared to a large and long river, having innumerable branches, beginning in different regions, and at a great distance one from another, and all conspiring to one common issue. After their very diverse and contrary courses which they held for a while, yet they all gather more and more together, the nearer they come to their common end, and all at length discharge themselves at one mouth into the same ocean. The different streams of this river are apt to appear like mere jumble and confusion to us, because of the limitedness of our sight, whereby we cannot see from one branch to another, and cannot see the whole at once, so as to see how all are united in one. A man who sees but one or two streams at a time, cannot tell what their course tends to. Their course seems very crooked, and different streams seem to run for a while different and contrary ways: and if we view things at a distance, there seem to be innumerable obstacles and impediments in the way to hinder their ever uniting, and coming to the ocean, as rocks and mountains, and the like; but yet if we trace them, they all unite at last, and all come to the same issue, disgorging themselves in one into the same great ocean. Not one of all the streams fail of coming hither at last.

5. From the whole that has been said, we may strongly argue, that the scriptures are the word of God, because they alone inform us what God is about, or what he aims at, in these works which he is doing in the world. God doubtless is pursuing some design, and carrying on some scheme, in the various changes and revolutions which from age to age came to pass in the world. It is most reasonable to suppose, that there is some certain great design to which Providence subordinates all the great successive changes in the affairs of the world which God has made. It is reasonable to suppose, that all revolutions, from the beginning of the world to the end of it, are but the various parts of the same scheme, all conspiring to bring to pass that great event which the great creator and governor of the world has ultimately in view: and that the scheme will not be finished, nor the design fully accomplished and the great and ultimate event fully brought to pass, till the end of the world, and the last revolution is brought about.

Now there is nothing else that informs us what this scheme and design of God in his works is, but only the holy scriptures. Nothing else pretends to set in view the whole scheme of God's works of providence from beginning to end and to inform us how all things were from God at first, and for what end they are made, how they were ordered from the beginning and how they will proceed to the end of the world, what they will come to at last, and how then all end. Nothing else but the scriptures has any appearance of regular scheme or drift in those revolutions when God orders from age to age. Nothing else pretends to show, what God would by the things which he has done, and in doing, and will do; what he seeks and intends by them. Nothing else pretends to show, with any distinctness or certainty, how the world began at first, or to tell us the original of things. Nothing but the scriptures sets forth how God governed the world from the beginning of the generations of men upon earth, in an orderly history; and nothing else sets before us how he will govern it to the end, by an orderly prophecy of future events; agreeable to the challenge which God makes to the gods, and prophets, and teachers of the Heathen, in Isaiah 41:22, 23. "Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods."

Reason shows, that it is fit and requisite, that the intelligent and rational beings of the world should know something of God's scheme and design in his works: for they doubtless are beings that are principally concerned. The thing that is God's great design in his works, is doubtless something concerning his reasonable creatures, rather than brute beasts and lifeless things. The revolutions by which God's great design is brought to pass, are doubtless revolutions chiefly among them, and which concern their state, and not the state of things without life or reason. And therefore surely it is requisite, that they should know something of it; especially seeing that reason teaches, that God has given his rational creatures reason, and a capacity of seeing God in his works; for this end, they see God's glory in them, and give him the glory of them. But how can they see God's glory in his works, if they do not know what God's design in them is, and what he aims at by what he is doing in the world?

Further, it is fit that mankind should be informed something of God's design in the government of the world, because they are made capable of actively falling in with that design, and promoting of it, and acting herein as his friends and subjects; it is therefore reasonable to suppose, that God has given mankind some revelation to inform them of this: but there is nothing else that does it but the Bible. In the Bible this is done. Hence we may learn an account of the first original of things, and an orderly account of the scheme of God's works from the first beginning through those ages that are beyond the reach of all other histories. Here we are told what God aims at in the whole, what is the greater end, how he has contrived the grand design he drives at, and the great things he would accomplish by all. Here we have a most rational excellent account of this matter, worthy of God, and exceedingly showing forth the glory of his perfections, his majesty, his wisdom, his glorious power, and grace, and love, and his exaltation above all, showing how he is the first and the last.

Here we are shown the connection of the various parts of the work of providence, and how all harmonizes, and is connected together in a regular, beautiful, and glorious frame. In the Bible, we have an account of the whole scheme of providence, from the beginning of the world to the end of it, either in history or prophecy, and are told what will become of things at last; how they will be finished off by a great day of judgment, and will issue in the subduing of God's enemies, and in the salvation and glory of his church, and setting up the everlasting kingdom of his Son.

How rational, worthy, and excellent a revelation is this! And how excellent a book is the Bible, which contains so much beyond all other books in the world! And what characters are here of its being indeed a divine book! A book that the great Jehovah has given to mankind for their instruction, without which we should be left in miserable darkness and confusion!

6. From what has been said, we may see the glorious majesty and power of God in this affair of redemption: especially is God glorious in power. His glorious power appears in upholding his church for so long a time, and carrying on this work; upholding it oftentimes when it was but as a little spark of fire, or as smoking flax, in which the fire was almost gone out, and the power of earth and hell were combined to destroy it. Yet God has never suffered them to quench it, and finally will bring judgment forth unto victory. God glorifies his strength in his church's weakness: in causing his people, who are like a number of little infants, finally to triumph over all earth and hell; so that they should tread on the lion and adder; the young lion and dragon shall they trample under foot. The glorious power of God appears in conquering his many and mighty enemies by that person who was once an infant in a manger, and appeared as a poor, weak, despised man. He conquers them, and triumphs over them in their own weapon, the cross.

The glorious majesty of God appears in conquering all those mighty enemies of the church one age after another; in conquering Satan, that proud and strong spirit, and all his hellish host; in bringing him down under foot, long after he had vaunted himself as god of this world, and when he did his utmost to support himself in his kingdom.

God's power gloriously appears in conquering Satan when exalted in that strongest and most potent Heathen kingdom that ever he had, the Roman empire. Christ, our Michael, has overcome him and the devil was cast out, and there was found no more place for him in heaven; but he was cast out unto the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Again, his power gloriously appears in conquering him in that kingdom wherein his pride, and subtlety, and cruelty, above all appears, namely the kingdom of Antichrist. It gloriously appears in conquering him in that greatest and strongest combination and opposition of the devil and his adherents against Christ and his church, just before the fall of Antichrist, wherein his visible kingdom has a fatal blow given it, on which a universal downfall of it follows all over the world.

The glorious power of God appears in thus conquering the devil, and bringing him under foot, time after time, after long time given him to strengthen himself to his utmost, as he was once overthrown in his Heathen Roman empire, after he had been making himself strong in those parts of the world, ever since the building of Babel. It appears also in overthrowing his kingdom more fatally and universally all over the world, after he had again another opportunity given him to strengthen himself to his utmost for many ages, by setting up those two great kingdoms of Antichrist and Mahomet, and to establish his interest in the Heathen world. We have seen how these kingdoms of God's enemies, that, before God appears, look strong, as though it was impossible to overthrow them; yet, time after time, when God appears, they seem to melt away, as the fat of lambs before the fire, and are driven away as the chaff before the whirlwind, or the smoke out of the chimney.

Those mighty kingdoms of Antichrist and Mahomet, which have made such a figure for so many ages together, and have trampled the world under foot, when God comes to appear, will vanish away like a shadow, and will as it were disappear of themselves, and come to nothing as the darkness in a room does, when the light is brought in. What are God's enemies in his hands? How is their greatest strength weakness when he rises up! And how weak will they all appear together at the day of judgment! Thus we may apply those words in the song of Moses, Exodus 15:6. "Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy." How great doth the majesty of God appear in overturning the world from time to time, to accomplish his designs, and at last in causing the earth and heavens to flee away, for the advancement of the glory of his kingdom!

7. From what has been said, we may see the glorious wisdom of God. It shows the wisdom of God in creating the world, in that he has created it for such an excellent use, to accomplish in it so glorious a work. And it shows the wisdom of divine Providence, that he brings such great good out of such great evil, in making the fall and ruin of mankind, which in itself is so sorrowful and deplorable, an occasion of accomplishing such a glorious work as this work of redemption, and of erecting such a glorious building, whose top should reach unto heaven, and of bringing his elect to a state of such unspeakable happiness. How glorious doth the wisdom of God appear in that long course and series of great changes in the world, in bringing such order out of confusion, in so frustrating the devil, and so wonderfully turning all his most subtle machinations to his own glory, and the glory of his Son Jesus Christ, and in causing the greatest works of Satan, those in which he has most glorified himself, to be wholly turned into occasions of so much the more glorious triumph of his Son Jesus Christ. How wonderful is the wisdom of God, in bringing all such manifold and various changes and overturnings in the world to such a glorious period at last, and in so directing all the wheels of providence by his skilful hand, that every one of them conspires, as the manifold wheels of a most curious machine, at last to strike out such an excellent issue, such a manifestation of the divine glory, such happiness to his people, and such a glorious and everlasting kingdom of his Son!

8. From what has been said, we may see the stability of God's mercy and faithfulness to his people; how he never forsakes his inheritance, and remembers his covenant to them throughout all generations. Now we may see what reason there was for the words of the text, "The moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall endure forever and ever, and my salvation from generation to generation." Now we may see abundant reason for that name of God which he reveals to Moses, Exodus 3:14. "And God said unto Moses, I am that I am:" that is, I am the same that I was when I entered into covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and ever shall be the same: I shall keep covenant forever: I am self-sufficient, all-sufficient, and immutable.

Now we may see the truth of that, Psalm 36:5-6. "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep." If we consider what has been said, we need not wonder that the Psalmist, in the 136th Psalm, so often repeats this, For his mercy endureth for ever; as if he were in an ecstasy at the consideration of the perpetuity of God's mercy to his church, and delighted to think of it, and knew not how but continually to express it. Let us with like pleasure and joy celebrate the everlasting duration of God's mercy and faithfulness to his church and people, and let us be comforted by it under the present dark circumstances of the church of God, and all the uproar and confusions that are in the world; and all the threatenings of the church's enemies. Let us take encouragement earnestly to pray for those glorious things which God has promised to accomplish for his church.

9. Hence we may learn how happy a society the church of Christ is. For all this great work is for them. Christ undertook it for their sakes, and for their sakes he carries it on, from the fall of man to the end of the world; it is because he has loved them with an everlasting love. For their sakes he overturns states and kingdoms. For their sakes he shakes heaven and earth. He gives men for them, and people for their life. Since they have been precious in God's sight, they have been honorable; and therefore he first gives the blood of his own Son to them, and then, for their sakes, gives the blood of all their enemies, many thousands and millions, all nations that stand in their way, as a sacrifice to their good.

For their sakes he made the world, and for their sakes he will destroy it: for their sakes he built heaven, and for their sakes he makes his angels ministering spirits. Therefore the Apostle says as he does, 1 Corinthians 3:21 etc. "All things are yours: whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours." How blessed is this people who are redeemed from among men, and are the first fruits unto God, and to the Lamb; who have God in all ages for their protection and help! Deuteronomy 33:29. "Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places."

Let who will prevail now, let the enemies of the church exalt themselves as much as they will, these are the people that shall finally prevail. The last kingdom shall finally be theirs; the kingdom shall finally be given into their hands, and shall not be left to other people. We have seen what a blessed issue things shall finally be brought to as to them, and what glory they shall arrive at, and remain in possession of, forever and ever, after all the kingdoms of the world are come to an end, and the earth is removed, and the mountains are carried into the depth of the sea, or where the sea was, and this lower earth shall all be dissolved. O happy people, and blessed society! Well may they spend an eternity in praises and hallelujahs to him who loved them from eternity, and will love them to eternity.

10. And, lastly, hence all wicked men, all that are in a Christless condition, may see their exceeding misery. You that are such, whoever you are, you are those who have no part nor lot in this matter. You are never the better for any of those things of which you have heard: yea, your guilt is but so much the greater, and the misery you are exposed to so much the more dreadful. You are some of that sort, against whom God, in the progress of the work, exercises so much manifest wrath; some of those enemies who are liable to be made Christ's footstool, and to be ruled with a rod of iron, and to be dashed in pieces. You are some of the seed of the serpent, to bruise the head of which is one great design of all this work. Whatever glorious things God accomplishes for his church, if you continue in the state you are now in, they will not be glorious to you. The most glorious times of the church are always the most dismal times of the wicked and impenitent. This we are taught in Isaiah 66:14. And so we find, wherever glorious things are foretold concerning the church, there terrible things are foretold concerning the wicked, its enemies. And so it ever has been in fact; in all remarkable deliverances wrought for the church, there has been also a remarkable execution of wrath on its enemies. So it was when God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt; at the same time he remarkably poured out his wrath on Pharaoh and the Egyptians. So when he brought them into Canaan by Joshua, and gave them that good land he remarkably executed wrath upon the Canaanites. So when they were delivered out of the Babylonian captivity, signal vengeance was inflicted on the Babylonians. So when the Gentiles were called, and the elect of God were saved by the preaching of the apostles, Jerusalem and the persecuting Jews were destroyed in a most awful manner. I might observe the same concerning the glory accomplished to the church in the days of Constantine, at the overthrow of Satan's visible kingdom in the downfall of Antichrist, and at the day of judgment. In all these instances, and especially in the last, there have been, or will be, exhibited most awful tokens of the divine wrath against the wicked. And to this class of men you belong:

You are indeed some of that sort that God will make use of in this affair; but it will be for the glory of his justice, and not of his mercy. You are some of those enemies of God who are reserved for the triumph of Christ's glorious power in overcoming and punishing them. You are some of that sort that shall be consumed with this accursed world after the day of judgment, when Christ and his church shall triumphantly and gloriously ascend to heaven.

Therefore let all that are in a Christless condition among us seriously consider these things, and not be like the foolish people of the old world, who would not take warning, when Noah told them, that the Lord was about to bring a flood of waters upon the earth. Or like the people of Sodom, who would not regard, when Lot told them that God would destroy that city, and would not flee from the wrath to come, and so were consumed in that terrible destruction.

I would conclude my whole discourse on this subject, in words like those in the last of the Revelation: "These sayings are faithful and true, and blessed is he that keeps these sayings. Behold, Christ cometh quickly, and his reward is with him, to render to every man according as his work shall be. And he that is unjust, shall be unjust still; and he that is filthy, shall be filthy still; and he that is holy, shall be holy still. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city: for without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. He that testifieth these things, saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen; even so come Lord Jesus."

I will now draw some conclusions from everything that has been said in this doctrine.

1. From what has been said, we can see how great a work this work of redemption is. We have now had it set before us in imperfect outline — the whole course of it, from its beginning after the fall to the end of the world when it is complete. We have seen how God has built this structure from its first foundation, through a long succession of wonderful works, advancing it higher and higher from one age to the next, until the capstone is laid at the end of the world. Let us consider how great a work this is. When people behold some great palace or cathedral, they sometimes marvel at its magnificence and are almost astonished at what a great undertaking it was to build such a structure. How much more should we marvel at this great building of God — which He has been raising age after age through a series of such great accomplishments! There are three things from what has been said that especially demonstrate the greatness of the work of redemption.

1. The greatness of the specific events and providential acts by which it is accomplished. How great the things God has done are — each one a part of this great work! What great things were done in the world to prepare the way for Christ's coming to accomplish the purchase, and what great things were done in the purchase of redemption itself! What a wonderful thing was accomplished to put Christ in immediate position for this purchase: His incarnation — that God should become man! What great things were done in that purchase: that the eternal God should live on earth for thirty-five years in a humble, despised condition, spending His life in labor and suffering, and at last dying on the cross! What great things have been done to bring about the success of Christ's redemption! What great things were done to equip Him to accomplish this success! For this purpose He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, and all things were made subject to Him. How many miracles have been performed, what mighty revolutions have already taken place in the world — and how much greater ones are yet to come!

2. The sheer number of these great events through which God carries on this work also demonstrates its greatness. These mighty revolutions are so numerous that they fill many ages. The specific wonderful events in the work of creation filled six days — but the great acts of providence through which the work of redemption is carried on are so many that they fill at least six or seven thousand years, as we have reason to conclude from God's word. Great things were done in this work before the flood, and in the flood itself the world was destroyed by water while God's church was wonderfully preserved to carry the work forward. After the flood, what great things God did — relating to the resettling of the world, the building of Babel, the dispersing of the nations, the shortening of human lifespans, the calling of Abraham, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and that long series of wonderful providences connected with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, and the wonders in Egypt, at the Red Sea, in the wilderness, in Canaan in Joshua's time, and through a long succession of remarkable providences age after age toward the nation of the Jews!

What great things God did in overturning the world so many times before Christ came, to prepare the way for His coming! What great things were done in Christ's time, and afterward in overthrowing Satan's kingdom in the pagan Roman empire, in preserving His church through the dark times of Roman Catholicism, and in bringing about the Reformation! And how many great and wonderful things will yet be accomplished in bringing in the glorious age of the church, and at Christ's final coming on the day of judgment, in the destruction of this world, and in bringing the entire church into heaven.

3. The glorious outcome of the whole — in the perfect and eternal destruction of the wicked, and in the consummate glory of the righteous. Let us take one final look at this building now that everything is finished and the capstone laid. It appeared at a glorious height in the apostles' time, and far more glorious in the time of Constantine, and will appear more glorious still after the fall of Antichrist — but at the completion of all things it appears in immensely greater glory than ever before. Now it stands in its fullest magnificence — a towering and complete structure whose top reaches to the very heaven of heavens, a building worthy of the great God, the King of kings.

From what has been said, one may conclude that the work of redemption is the greatest of all God's works of which we have any knowledge, and that it is the end toward which all His other works are directed. It is plain from everything said that this work is the central work of all God's providence, and that all other works of providence are subordinate to it. Every revolution in the world serves this great design. In this sense the work of redemption is, as it were, the sum of all God's works of providence.

This shows how much greater the work of redemption is than the work of creation — for I have observed several times that the work of providence exceeds the work of creation because it is creation's purpose, just as the use of a house is the end for which the house is built. But the work of redemption, as I have just said, is the sum of all God's providential works — everything is subordinate to it. So the work of the new creation is more excellent than the old. Whenever God removes one thing to make way for another, the new one surpasses the old. So the temple surpassed the tabernacle; the new covenant surpassed the old; the new dispensation of the Gospel surpassed the dispensation of Moses; the throne of David surpassed the throne of Saul; the priesthood of Christ surpassed the priesthood of Aaron; the new Jerusalem surpasses the old — and so the new creation far surpasses the old.

God has used His creation for no other purpose than to serve this great work. For this end He created and ordered humanity, angels, the earth, and the highest heavens. God created the world to provide a bride and a kingdom for His Son. The establishment of Christ's kingdom and the spiritual marriage of that bride to Him is the goal toward which the entire creation labors and strains. The work of redemption is so far the greatest of all God's works that all other works should be regarded either as parts of it or as appendages to it — and all can in some way be traced back to it. So too all the decrees of God relate in some way to the eternal covenant of redemption that was made between the Father and the Son before the foundation of the world. Every decree of God is in some way reducible to that covenant.

Since the work of redemption is so great, we need not be surprised that the angels long to look into it. Nor need we be surprised that Scripture makes so much of it and returns to it so insistently in the histories, prophecies, and songs of the Bible — for the work of redemption is the great subject of the whole Bible, of its doctrines, promises, types, songs, histories, and prophecies.

2. From what has been said we can also see how God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of all things. These are the titles Scripture frequently gives to God in passages that describe the course of events in God's providence. Isaiah 41:4: "Who has performed and accomplished it, calling forth the generations from the beginning? 'I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last I am He.'" Scripture especially ascribes such titles to God when speaking of His providence as it relates to and is summed up in the great work of redemption — as in Isaiah 44:6-7 and Isaiah 48:12 with the surrounding context beginning at verse 9. God appears most eminently as the first and the last when we view the whole plan of divine providence as we have considered it — as all summing up in the one great work of redemption.

This is why, when Christ reveals to His disciple John the great future events of providence relating to His church, His people, and the whole affair of redemption to the end of the world, He repeatedly identifies Himself by this title. Revelation 1:8: "'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, 'who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.'" And again in verses 10-11: "I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.'" Alpha and Omega are the names of the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, just as A and Z are in ours — so this title means the same as being the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

God is addressed by this title at the beginning of Revelation, before the course of prophecy begins — and again at the end, after the entire course of events has been traced and the final outcome is in view. Revelation 21:6: "Then He said to me, 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.'" And Revelation 22:12-13: "Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

We have seen how this is true in the course of everything I have laid before you. We have seen how things originated with God at the beginning — on what design God set the course of His providence in motion at the very start of human history — and we have seen how God has all along carried everything forward in keeping with those same purposes without ever failing. And at last, the conclusion and final outcome of all things is to God. We have seen how all things are from Him, through Him, and to Him — and so we may well cry out with the apostle in Romans 11:33: "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!" And verse 36: "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen."

We have seen how other things came to an end one after another — how states, kingdoms, and empires fell and came to nothing, even the greatest and strongest of them. We have seen how the world has been overturned many times and will be more remarkably overturned than ever before. We have seen how the world comes to an end — how it was first destroyed by water and how at last it will be utterly destroyed by fire. And yet God remains the same through all ages. He existed before the beginning of this course of events and will remain after its end, as Psalm 102:25-26 declares. Thus God is the One who is, and who was, and who is to come.

We have seen in numerous ways how all other gods perish. We have seen how the ancient gods of the pagans in the nations around Canaan and throughout the Roman empire have all been destroyed and their worship long since overthrown. We have seen how Antichrist — who called himself God on earth — and Muhammad — who claimed religious honor — and all the gods of the pagans throughout the world will come to an end. And we have seen how Satan, the great dragon, that ancient serpent who set himself up as god of this world, will be cast into the lake of fire to receive his complete punishment. But the Lord remains, and His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion has no end. We have seen what mighty changes have swept through the world — but God is unchangeable: "the same yesterday and today and forever."

We began at the headwaters of the river of divine providence and have followed and traced it through all its windings and turns until we have reached its end and seen where it flows out. As it began in God, so it ends in God. God is the infinite ocean into which it pours itself. Providence is like a mighty wheel whose rim reaches so high that it is awe-inspiring, with the glory of the God of Israel above it — as depicted in Ezekiel's vision. We have watched this wheel turn through its full revolution and seen how, as it came from God, so it has returned to God again. All the events of divine providence are like the links of a chain: the first link comes from God and the last link returns to Him.

3. From what has been said, we can see how Christ has preeminence in all things. This great work of redemption is entirely His work — He is the great Redeemer — and therefore, since the work of redemption is as it were the sum of all God's providential works, this displays the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ as the One who is above all, through all, and in all. That God intended the world for His Son's use in the work of redemption is one reason God created the world through Him — which the apostle seems to suggest in Ephesians 3:9-12. What has been said shows how all the purposes of God are purposed in Christ, and how He is before all things and above all things, how all things consist through Him and are governed by Him and are for Him (Colossians 1:15-18). We see from what has been said how God makes Him His firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth, and sets His throne above theirs. God has always upheld Christ's kingdom when the kingdoms of others have come to an end. His kingdom appears at last above all — however fiercely opposed for so many ages. In the end all other kingdoms fell, and His kingdom is the final kingdom, the one that never gives way to any other.

We see that whatever changes occur, and however high Christ's enemies exalt themselves, in the end all His enemies become His footstool, and He reigns with unchallenged power and immense glory. In the end His people are all perfectly saved and made happy, and His enemies all become His footstool. In this way God gives the world to His Son as His inheritance.

4. From what has been said, we can see what a coherent whole divine providence is. Reflecting on what has been said can greatly help us see the consistency, order, and beauty of God's works of providence. If we look at the events of providence from any other angle than the one presented here, it will all appear as confusion — a jumble of events coming about without any order or pattern, like waves tossing on the sea. Things will appear as though one confused upheaval follows another, driven purely by blind chance, with no clear or definite end in view.

But when we consider the events of providence in the light in which they have been presented under this teaching — the light in which Scripture sets them before us — they appear far from confused. They form an orderly series of events, all wisely ordered and directed in excellent harmony and coherence, all moving toward one end. The wheels of providence are not driven by blind chance. As Ezekiel portrays, they are full of eyes all around and are guided by the Spirit of God. Where the Spirit goes, they go. And all God's works of providence across all ages converge at last in one point, as many lines meeting at a single center.

God's work of providence is like His work of creation: it is one single work. The events of providence are not many separate and independent acts — they are many different parts of one single work of providence, one consistent plan. God's works of providence are not disconnected and disordered but are all united, like the various parts of one building. There are many stones and many pieces of timber, but they are all joined and fitted together so that they form one building. They all rest on one foundation and come together at last in one capstone.

God's providence might fittingly be compared to a large and long river with countless tributaries beginning in different regions at great distances from one another, all flowing toward one common destination. After running in very different and at times opposite directions for a while, they all draw closer and closer together as they approach their common end — and at last they all pour out together from one mouth into the same ocean. The different streams of this river naturally appear to be mere confusion because our sight is so limited — we cannot see from one tributary to another, and cannot see the whole at once so as to see how they are all united in one. A person who sees only one or two streams at a time cannot tell where their course is heading. Their path seems very crooked, and different streams appear to run in different and opposing directions for a time. If we observe from a distance, there seem to be countless obstacles in the way preventing them from ever uniting and reaching the ocean — rocks, mountains, and the like. And yet if we trace their full course, they all unite at last, all reach the same destination, all pouring out together into the same great ocean. Not one of all the streams fails to arrive there in the end.

5. From everything that has been said, we have strong grounds to conclude that the Scriptures are the word of God — because they alone tell us what God is doing, and what He is aiming at, in the works He is carrying out in the world. God is without question pursuing some design and executing some plan through the various changes and upheavals that have come to pass in the world from age to age. It is entirely reasonable to conclude that there is one great design to which providence subordinates all the successive great changes in world affairs that God has brought about. It is reasonable to conclude that all the upheavals from the beginning of the world to the end are simply different parts of the same plan — all working together to bring about the great event that the great Creator and Ruler of the world has ultimately in view. And that plan will not be finished, nor the design fully accomplished, nor the great final event fully brought about, until the end of the world when the last revolution takes place.

Nothing else but the Holy Scriptures tells us what this plan and design of God is. Nothing else even attempts to set before us the whole plan of God's providential works from beginning to end — to inform us how all things came from God at the start, for what purpose they were made, how they were ordered from the beginning, how they will proceed to the end of the world, what they will come to at last, and how everything will conclude. Nothing else has any appearance of a coherent plan or direction in the revolutions God orders from age to age. Nothing else even claims to show what God is after in the things He has done, is doing, and will do — what He seeks and intends by them. Nothing else even attempts to explain with any clarity or certainty how the world began, or to give us the origin of things. Nothing but the Scriptures presents an orderly history of how God governed the world from the beginning of human history on earth — and nothing else presents an orderly prophecy of how He will govern it to the end. This matches the challenge God throws down to the false gods and prophets and teachers of the pagans in Isaiah 41:22-23: "Let them bring forward and declare to us what is going to take place; as for the former events, declare what they were, that we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming;" "declare the things that are going to come afterward, that we may know that you are gods."

Reason itself shows that it is fitting and necessary for the intelligent rational beings of the world to know something of God's plan and design in His works — for they are beyond doubt the beings most directly concerned. Whatever God's great design is in His works, it surely concerns His rational creatures rather than animals and lifeless things. The revolutions through which God's great design is accomplished are revolutions primarily affecting rational beings and their condition — not the condition of things without life or reason. It is therefore fitting that rational creatures should know something of it — especially since reason itself teaches that God gave His rational creatures reason and the capacity to perceive Him in His works so that they might see His glory and give Him glory for it. But how can they see God's glory in His works if they do not know what His design in them is, and what He is aiming at in what He is doing in the world?

Furthermore, it is fitting that humanity should be informed of something about God's design in governing the world, because they are capable of actively aligning themselves with that design, promoting it, and acting in it as His friends and subjects. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that God has given humanity some revelation to inform them of this. And nothing else does this but the Bible. The Bible accomplishes it. From the Bible we can learn about the first origin of things, and an orderly account of God's works from the very beginning — through ages that lie beyond the reach of all other historical records. Here we are told what God aims at in the whole, what the ultimate purpose is, how He has planned the great design He is pursuing, and what great things He intends to accomplish through all of it. Here we find a thoroughly rational and excellent account of this matter — one worthy of God, brilliantly displaying the glory of His perfections: His majesty, His wisdom, His glorious power, His grace and love, and His supremacy over all things — showing how He is the first and the last.

Here we are shown the connections between the various parts of God's work of providence, and how it all harmonizes and fits together in a consistent, beautiful, and glorious whole. In the Bible we have an account of the entire plan of providence — from the beginning of the world to the end — either in history or prophecy. We are told what everything will ultimately come to: how it will be concluded by a great day of judgment, issuing in the defeat of God's enemies and the salvation and glory of His church, and the establishment of the everlasting kingdom of His Son.

How rational, worthy, and excellent a revelation this is! And what an excellent book the Bible is — containing so much that goes beyond all other books in the world! And what evidence here that it truly is a divine book! It is a book that the great God has given to humanity for their instruction — without which we would be left in miserable darkness and confusion!

6. From what has been said, we can see the glorious majesty and power of God in this work of redemption — especially His glorious power. His power appears in sustaining His church for so long and carrying this work forward — often when the church was like a tiny spark of fire, or like smoldering flax in which the flame was nearly extinguished, with all the forces of earth and hell combined to destroy it. Yet God has never allowed them to put it out, and He will ultimately bring justice forward to victory. God glorifies His strength through His church's weakness — causing His people, who are like a company of little children, to ultimately triumph over all of earth and hell, treading on the lion and the snake, trampling the young lion and the dragon underfoot. The glorious power of God appears in conquering His many powerful enemies through the One who was once an infant in a manger — who appeared as a poor, weak, despised man. He conquers them and triumphs over them with the very weapon they used against Him: the cross.

The glorious majesty of God appears in conquering all those powerful enemies of the church one age after another — in conquering Satan, that proud and mighty spirit, and all his demonic forces — in bringing him down under foot long after he had boasted himself as god of this world and done everything in his power to maintain his kingdom.

God's power appears gloriously in conquering Satan when Satan was at his peak in the strongest and most powerful pagan kingdom he ever had — the Roman empire. Christ our Michael overcame him, the devil was cast out, and no place was found for him in heaven anymore. He was cast down to the earth, and his angels with him. God's power also appears gloriously in conquering Satan in the kingdom where Satan's pride, cunning, and cruelty most fully show themselves — the kingdom of Antichrist. And it appears gloriously in defeating that greatest and most determined combined opposition of the devil and his followers against Christ and His church — just before the fall of Antichrist — delivering a fatal blow to Satan's visible kingdom, after which a universal collapse follows across the entire world.

The glorious power of God appears in this repeated defeat of the devil — bringing him down time after time, after long periods in which the devil was given opportunity to strengthen himself to his full extent. This happened once when he was overthrown in his pagan Roman empire after strengthening himself there ever since the building of Babel. It will happen again in the even more thorough and universal overthrow of his kingdom across the entire world, after he was given yet another long opportunity to build up his strength through the two great kingdoms of Antichrist and Muhammad, and to establish his influence in the pagan world. We have seen how these kingdoms of God's enemies — which, before God acts, look so strong that their overthrow seems impossible — when God appears, melt away like fat before fire, and are swept away like chaff before a whirlwind, or like smoke pouring out a chimney.

Those mighty kingdoms of Antichrist and Muhammad, which have cut such a commanding figure for so many centuries and have trampled the world underfoot, will vanish like a shadow when God appears — fading away almost on their own, like darkness in a room when a light is brought in. What are God's enemies in His hands? How does their greatest strength become weakness when He rises up! And how feeble will they all appear together at the day of judgment! We may apply to all of this the words of the Song of Moses in Exodus 15:6: "Your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power; Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy." How great does the majesty of God appear in overturning the world again and again to accomplish His purposes — and at last in causing the earth and heavens to flee away before the advancement of the glory of His kingdom!

7. From what has been said, we can see the glorious wisdom of God. It shows God's wisdom in creating the world that He created it for such an excellent purpose — to accomplish within it such a glorious work. It shows the wisdom of divine providence that He brings such great good out of such great evil — making the fall and ruin of humanity, which in itself is so sorrowful and tragic, the occasion for accomplishing such a glorious work as this work of redemption. Out of it He has raised a glorious structure whose top reaches to heaven and brought His elect into a state of unspeakable happiness. How gloriously God's wisdom appears in that long course and series of great changes in the world — in bringing such order out of confusion, in so completely foiling the devil, in so wonderfully turning all his most cunning schemes into occasions for God's own glory and the glory of His Son Jesus Christ, and in causing the very greatest works of Satan — the ones in which he glorified himself most — to become occasions of all the more glorious triumph for Jesus Christ. How wonderful is God's wisdom in bringing all these countless changes and upheavals in the world to such a glorious conclusion — directing all the wheels of providence with such skill that every single one of them works together, like the many wheels of a finely crafted machine, to produce at last such an excellent outcome: such a display of divine glory, such happiness for His people, and such a glorious and everlasting kingdom for His Son!

8. From what has been said, we can see the steadiness of God's mercy and faithfulness to His people — how He never abandons His inheritance and never forgets His covenant with them across all generations. Now we can see the full weight of the words of the text: "The moth will eat them like a garment and the worm will eat them like wool, but My righteousness will be forever and My salvation to all generations." Now we can see abundant reason for the name God revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14: "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM'" — meaning: I am the same as I was when I entered into covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will always be the same. I will keep my covenant forever. I am self-sufficient, all-sufficient, and unchanging.

We can now see the truth of Psalm 36:5-6: "Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; Your judgments are like a great deep." Reflecting on what has been said, we need not wonder that the psalmist in Psalm 136 so repeatedly returns to the refrain "for His lovingkindness is everlasting" — as though he were overcome with wonder at the enduring nature of God's mercy to His church, delighting to dwell on it and unable to stop expressing it. Let us with the same pleasure and joy celebrate the everlasting mercy and faithfulness of God to His church and people. Let us be comforted by it in the present dark circumstances of the church, amid all the upheaval and confusion in the world and all the threats from the church's enemies. Let it stir us to pray with earnest faith for those glorious things God has promised to accomplish for His church.

9. From what has been said, we can see what a blessed society the church of Christ is. All this great work is done for them. Christ undertook it for their sake, and for their sake He carries it on from the fall of humanity to the end of the world — because He has loved them with an everlasting love. For their sake He overturns states and kingdoms. For their sake He shakes heaven and earth. He gives up whole nations for them, peoples in exchange for their lives. Because they are precious in God's sight, they have been honored — and so He first gives the blood of His own Son for them, and then for their sake offers up the blood of all their enemies, many thousands and millions, all the nations that stand in their way, as a sacrifice for their good.

For their sake He made the world, and for their sake He will destroy it. For their sake He built heaven, and for their sake He makes His angels ministering spirits. This is why the apostle says what he does in 1 Corinthians 3:21 and following: "All things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you." How blessed are this people — redeemed from among humanity, firstfruits to God and to the Lamb, who have God in every age for their protection and help! Deuteronomy 33:29: "Blessed are you, O Israel; who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, who is the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty! So your enemies will cringe before you, and you will tread upon their high places."

No matter who prevails now, no matter how high the enemies of the church exalt themselves — these are the people who will finally prevail. The final kingdom will ultimately be theirs. The kingdom will at last be given into their hands and not left to others. We have seen what a blessed outcome things will finally reach for them, what glory they will arrive at and remain in possession of forever — after all the kingdoms of the world have come to an end, the earth has been removed, the mountains have been carried into the depths, and this lower earth has been entirely dissolved. O happy people, and blessed society! How fitting that they should spend eternity in praise and worship of the One who loved them from eternity and will love them through eternity.

10. Finally, from what has been said, all wicked people — all who are without Christ — may see their extreme misery. If you are among them — whoever you are — you have no part or share in any of this. None of the things you have heard benefit you in the least. Indeed, your guilt is all the greater, and the misery you are exposed to all the more dreadful. You are among those against whom God, in advancing this work, exercises such plain and manifest wrath — among those enemies who are liable to be made Christ's footstool, to be ruled with a rod of iron, to be shattered to pieces. You are among the seed of the serpent, whose defeat is one of the great purposes of this entire work. Whatever glorious things God accomplishes for His church, if you remain in the condition you are in now, they will not be glorious for you. The most glorious times for the church are always the most dreadful times for the wicked and unrepentant. This is what Isaiah 66:14 teaches. And so we find it throughout Scripture: wherever glorious things are foretold for the church, terrible things are foretold for the wicked who are its enemies. And so it has always proved in history: in every remarkable deliverance for the church, there has been a remarkable outpouring of wrath on its enemies. When God delivered the children of Israel from Egypt, He poured out remarkable judgment on Pharaoh and the Egyptians at the same time. When He brought them into Canaan through Joshua and gave them that good land, He executed remarkable judgment on the Canaanites. When they were delivered from Babylonian captivity, striking vengeance was inflicted on the Babylonians. When the Gentiles were called and God's elect were saved through the apostles' preaching, Jerusalem and the persecuting Jews were destroyed in the most awful manner. The same pattern held in the glory accomplished for the church in the days of Constantine, at the overthrow of Satan's visible kingdom in the fall of Antichrist, and will hold at the day of judgment. In all these instances — and especially the last — there have been, or will be, the most terrible displays of divine wrath against the wicked. And to that class of people you belong:

You are indeed among those God will make use of in this work — but it will be for the glory of His justice, not of His mercy. You are among those enemies of God reserved for the display of Christ's glorious power in overcoming and punishing them. You are among those who will be consumed along with this cursed world after the day of judgment, when Christ and His church will triumphantly and gloriously ascend to heaven.

Therefore let all who are without Christ among us seriously take these things to heart, and not be like the foolish people of the ancient world who refused to take warning when Noah told them that the Lord was about to bring a flood of waters upon the earth. Nor like the people of Sodom, who paid no attention when Lot told them that God would destroy that city, and who would not flee from the coming wrath — and were consumed in that terrible destruction.

I will conclude my entire study of this subject with words like those at the close of Revelation: "These words are faithful and true. Blessed is he who heeds the words of this book." "Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done." "Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy." "Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying." "He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming quickly.'" "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."