John 1:44-51: "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet!"

This text in John reminds us that Jesus knows all about us, that we should be careful on how we assess others, and that we have much to look forward to in the Kingdom of God.

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“Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org”

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello everyone, this is David Spa, and this is Crosstown, my hometown. And I am glad that you're here with me today at Crosstown, where everyone is welcome, and we focus on the Bible and theology, and we engage in the expository teaching of God's Word, the Bible, with some cultural analysis and apologetics woven in. Here at Crosstown, Jesus Christ is King, and his cross is our town square. Perhaps you're a settled resident here in Crosstown, perhaps not, and you're just passing through. Regardless of why you are here today, welcome aboard. And I trust you enjoy your time with me today. Wherever you might be, I trust the Lord is blessing you with spiritual strength and physical health and providing you with all his good and perfect gifts. But if you should be going through some difficulty, some trial, sorrow, or hardship, loneliness, disappointment, or pain, I hope that you find that God's grace is sufficient for you. And remember, as we read in Psalm 30, verse 5, weeping may endure for a night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning. There isn't a single man or woman of God throughout the centuries that has not gone through some dark night of the soul. But we can take comfort in the fact that we have a Savior, Jesus Christ, who has gone through all the difficulties that we go through, yet without sin, and proved victorious over every difficulty, every time. Not only does he show us that we can overcome the trials of life, but we are reminded that he will never leave us nor forsake us. So be of good cheer. Those of you out there who may be going through trials, you will win the victory because Jesus has already won for us. Now, those of you that have been with me here at Crosstown over the past several weeks know that we are in the Gospel of John, chapter one, making it through this gospel one small section at a time. As the Lord wills, we will eventually make it through all 21 chapters of John's Gospel, but for today we are content to finish up chapter one. Now, in our last podcast, we covered chapters one or chapter one, verses 38 through 43. And after expositing those verses, we made a couple of applications. We noted the activities of Jesus' earliest disciples, and first noted that the way we get to know Jesus is by hanging out with him. We spend time with him in prayer and Bible study and contemplate and meditate on him as a person. In doing that, we get beyond simply knowing Bible verses and understanding theological concepts as important as those are, but we also see Jesus as a friend and companion. And a second application we made last week is that you and I are the best witnesses for Jesus Christ. When we note these first disciples, we see that they sought out others and brought them to Jesus. As good as books and television programs and radio broadcasts might be in terms of evangelistic outreach, the best way for people to come to know Jesus Christ is for you and I to tell them about him. Now, today we're going to look at another episode in the life of these early disciples. And to do that, we're going to read from verses 38 through 51 as we did last week, just to sort of keep everything in context. However, in terms of our lesson today, we are only going to cover verses 44 through 51. Now, for a bit of the backdrop to these verses, remember in the previous section, John the Baptist has pointed out Jesus as being the Lamb of God. At that point, two of John the Baptist's disciples leave him to follow Jesus. One of them is Andrew, and though we can't be certain because he isn't named, the other one is probably the disciple John who wrote this gospel. It is here where we pick up. So hear the word of the Lord, as it is found in John chapter 1, verses 38 through 51. And Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, What do you seek? They said to him, Rabbi, which translated means teacher, where are you staying? He said to them, Come and you will see. So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah, which translated means Christ. He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, You are Simon, the son of John, you shall be called Cephas, which is translated Peter. The next day he purposed to go into Galilee, and he found Philip, and Jesus said to him, Follow me. Now Philip was from Bethseda of the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathanael said to him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit. Nathaniel said to him, How do you know me? Jesus answered and said to him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree I saw you. Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these. And he said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. You know, we've all heard the expression that you can't judge a book by its cover. The point is we shouldn't assess something's value by outward appearance. Of course, that's not a hundred percent accurate. There are a lot of books I would look at, and I could say that they're not worth reading simply by what's on the cover or by the title of the book. There are a lot of places into which I would not go based simply on the condition of the building or the neon sign out front. But generally speaking, as a rule of thumb, the idea that outward appearances are deceiving is certainly true. There are times when we can't judge a book by its cover, and we'll kind of get back to that theme a little bit later on. But we see that right here in our context. We've noted from last week that Andrew went and got his brother Simon and introduced him to Jesus. Andrew then went and got Philip and introduced him to Jesus. Now we'll see how one of Jesus' disciples, Nathaniel, is at first deceived by outward appearances. Let's look at verses 44 and 45 again. Now Philip was from Bethsaida of the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Now, as we noted already from this text, people get to know Jesus because others introduce them to him. And this pattern continues with Philip finding Nathaniel. We are told that Philip was from Beth Seda, a town on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The word Bethseda may be translated house of the fishermen or fisher town. Now Nathanael is not one of the better-known disciples, and some identify him as Bartholomew, who is mentioned in the lists of the disciples in other Gospels. Regardless, Philip tells him that we found Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. He's the Messiah, the one promised in the scriptures, the one that Moses and the prophets wrote about. He is that prophet Moses wrote of in Deuteronomy 18. He is the promised king from 2 Samuel 7 or Isaiah 9, as we looked at those passages already in previous podcasts. Now, as an aside, John is recording things as the disciples see them at the time. So when Philip says that Jesus is the son of Joseph, he's simply referring to him in accordance with how things appear and what he has heard. As of now, he is most likely not aware of Jesus' virgin birth, so it's only natural that Philip would see Jesus as the son of Joseph. He'll be given a more clear understanding of who Jesus is later. Now let's look at verse 46. Nathanael said to him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see. Here is where Nathanael misjudges the book called Jesus. Yeah, Philip, sure, the Messiah is from Nazareth. Nothing good comes from there. Now Nazareth is located in northern Israel, in Galilee, about halfway between the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea. Why Nathaniel's antipathy towards Nazareth, we don't know. Nor is there any other evidence suggesting that Nazareth had a bad reputation. But as we go through this gospel, we will see how those in Jerusalem held the Galileans in contempt, so it's not unusual that there might be some prejudice against people in Nazareth. Anyway, there is an apparent bigotry on the part of Nathaniel against those from Nazareth, but Nathanael is about to get the shock of his life. Look at verse 47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit. Despite the fact that Nathanael holds those from Nazareth in contempt, notice how Jesus compliments him. To say that Nathanael is a man without deceit means that he is upright and honest. He is full of integrity and without guile. In short, Jesus praises Nathanael as a man of honesty and integrity. Since in verse 51, Jesus brings up the patriarch Jacob, who is a deceiver, Jesus may be contrasting Nathanael with him. And we'll discuss Jacob more in just a little bit when we get to verse 51. Now let's look at verse 48. Nathanael said to him, How do you know me? Jesus answered and said to him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathaniel is taken aback by Jesus' comment. How do you know me? He says. To put this simply, Jesus replies, I know all about you. I saw you sitting under a fig tree before Philip even got you. Now that's an interesting remark by Jesus because fig trees were sometimes used by the Jews as places to study God's word or to meditate and pray. So it's quite possible that Nathaniel was a very pious individual. So Jesus notes that as well. Look at verse 49. Nathaniel answered him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel. With Jesus' complete knowledge of Nathaniel's activities, it didn't take long for him to change his tune about Jesus. This is a remarkable confession, though Nathaniel couldn't as of yet understand how right he was in assessing Jesus. Now Jesus being the Son of God, of course, relates back to Psalm 2, verse 6, where the Messiah is referred to as God's son. The Messiah is also referred to the king of Israel in Psalm 2. And of course, there are other passages that refer to Jesus being the king, and we've mentioned those on several occasions. For example, 2 Samuel 7 and again Isaiah chapter 9, verses 6 and 7. Now clearly Nathaniel sees Jesus as the Messiah, but again, as with the other disciples, and we've said this before, the depth of his knowledge is not nearly what it's going to be after he follows Jesus during his earthly ministry for three to three and a half years. Jesus as the Messiah is the Son of God, but Nathaniel didn't realize that there is more to that than just a title. Nathanael will come to know that Jesus being God's Son means there is an essential oneness between God the Father and God the Son. We might say there is an ontological oneness between the Father and Son. That is to say that Jesus in his very being, in his very nature, is God, co-equal with the Father. And we've already noted that from John chapter 1, verse 1 and following. We talked about Jesus being the Lagos, being with God, and he was God at the beginning. Anyway, let's go and look at verse 50. Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these. Jesus implicitly acknowledges that Nathaniel's assessment of his identity is correct. But Jesus adds, if I may loosely paraphrase, you believe in me because I know all about you? You ain't seen nothing yet. What you've witnessed so far is an anthill in comparison to Mount Everest, a drop of water in comparison to the Pacific Ocean. Look at verse 51. And he said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Now the words tr the word truly is the same word from which we get the word amen. And it means steadfast, it means sure, or it means faithful. This double Amen, the truly, truly, the Amen, Amen, is found only in John's Gospel and is used around 25 times. It is doubled for emphasis to express great validity or trustworthiness regarding a statement. We might say truly, truly means this is certainly true, or this is of the utmost solemn trustworthiness. And also when Jesus says you will see angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man, the word you is plural. In other words, all of you disciples are going to see greater things than what you've already witnessed. Also, the phrase Son of Man in reference to Jesus is used 13 times in the Gospel of John, but I'm going to hold off on discussing that until a later podcast. We'll get to that eventually, but let's leave that for today. What I want to focus on in this verse, verse 51, is Jesus referring to angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man. What does he mean by that? To understand this, we need to go back to the book of Genesis, chapter 28, verses 10 through 22. To set the context, Jacob, whose name means supplanter, or one who through trickery and stealth takes another's place, has stolen both the birthright and the blessing from his brother Esau. Now Esau wants to kill Jacob, so Isaac and Rebekah send Jacob away to Laban's home in Haran to protect him from Esau's vengefulness. On his way to Haran, Jacob spends the night in a place that he subsequently calls Bethel. And while sleeping, he has a dream, and we read these words in Genesis chapter 28, verses 10 through 14. He, that is Jacob, had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of your father, Abraham, and the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Now, if you recall, God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars of the heavens, and that through him all the nations of the world would be blessed. That's called the Abrahamic covenant. Thus, the bottom line of this text from Genesis is that God is confirming the Abrahamic covenant with Abraham's grandson, Jacob. Through Jacob, the promise of salvation would be fulfilled. Now let's take a look again at Jesus' words here in John chapter 1, verse 51. Speaking to the disciples, he said, Truly, truly I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Now the more common understanding of this text is to draw a comparison between Jesus and the latter, back in Genesis 28. Just as Jacob's ladder led to heaven, so Jesus leads to heaven. As an analogy, that interpretation makes perfect sense. The problem with that interpretation is, first of all, that angels are going up and down, not people. So if the latter in Genesis 28 prefigures Jesus as the means by which people get to heaven, the comparison doesn't quite fit. Secondly, an alternate reading for Genesis 28, verse 12 says this: the angels ascended and descended on him, that is to say, on Jacob. If that understanding is correct, the parallel Jesus is making here is not between himself and the latter, but between himself and Jacob. And third, the point of Genesis 28 is not that people get to heaven on the latter, but that God confirms Jacob as the covenant son. He is reaffirming the Abrahamic covenant with Jacob back in Genesis 28. So if this interpretation is correct, and I lean heavily towards it, what Jesus is saying is this just as the angels ascended and descended on Jacob in his dream as a sign that God is fulfilling his covenant with him, so figuratively speaking, the angels will ascend and descend on me, confirming me as the Christ. So taking verses 50 and 51 together, Jesus is saying, Nathaniel, you are amazed by my omniscience, that I know all things about you. I know all about you before we ever met. But that is nothing compared to the messianic confirmation that you're going to see. Whichever one of these interpretations you take, and again I lean heavily towards the second one, the point is very similar. Salvation is found in Jesus Christ. He is the one in whom salvation is found. He is the one through whom we find God's favor. He is the one through whom God fulfills his promises of worldwide salvation and blessing as promised to Abraham, Isaac, and in the context of John chapter 1 to Jacob. Now, having exposited this text, let's see how this might equip us for our own pilgrimage here on earth as we serve the Lord Jesus Christ. The first thing I want you to note about this text is that Jesus knows all about us. Did you ever wonder what it would be like to read other people's minds? In sports, you'd always know what the opposition was thinking and doing and what plays they were going to call or what pitch the pitcher was going to throw next. At work, you could avoid all sorts of problems and use inter-office politics to your advantage. You would be able to know the hand that your opponent was holding in a game of cards. You'd always know exactly what your wife wants for her birthday. All of that sounds great, but if we think about it for just a little bit and use our imaginations, we would probably conclude that we are better off not knowing what other people think. And certainly we should be glad that other people can't read our minds as well. All of us have secrets we keep about ourselves, that if others could read our minds, we'd be embarrassed and ashamed to have them known. And we would so often have hurt feelings because we would find out what people really thought about us. We'd know what people thought about our bad breath, our lousy jokes. We'd find out that they hated the casserole that we made for the church covered dish dinner or our new hairstyle or our new suit of clothes. Yes, friends, certainly we should be glad that we can't read other people's minds, and we should be glad that they can't read ours. But the Lord can read our minds. He knows all of our thoughts, he knows all about us, as our text reveals. Go back and read verse 47. Jesus says that Nathanael is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit. In verse 48, Jesus knew Nathaniel was sitting under a fig tree, again, quite possibly a remark regarding Nathanael's piety. And you can bet your bottom dollar that Jesus knew about Nathaniel's cynical remark regarding the people of Nazareth in verse forty six. But of course the Lord knows all things. He knows all about us. There's no escaping his all seeing eye, nor is there any escaping his all hearing ear. In Psalm 139, starting with verse one, we read these words, O Lord, you have searched me and known me, you know when I sit down and when I rise up. You understand my thought from afar, you scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways, even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is too high I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from your spirit, or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven you are there, if I make my bed in Shaol, that is, the grave, the place of the dead, behold you are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me, if I I say surely, the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night. Even the darkness is not dark to you, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to you. Friends, there is not a thought we can think, not a word we can speak, and not a place we can go where God does not know it all in advance, in absolute flawless detail. Psalm ninety four verse nine says, He who planted the ear shall he not hear, he who formed the eye shall he not see? Proverbs fifteen three, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Proverbs fifteen eleven, Sheol and Abadon, that is again the place of the dead, and also the place of destruction, perhaps the place of judgment. But Sheol and Abaden lie open before the Lord, how much more the hearts of men. Yes, God knows all about us, and we can only marvel that God knows every thought, every act, every word that every person in the face of the world thinks, acts, or says. He knows when every sparrow falls, he knows our every need before we ever mention them in our prayers. Jesus told us that in Matthew chapter 6. The Lord knows what will happen in the future as well as knows everything that happened in the past. As we read in Psalm 139 a few moments ago, this is all too wonderful for us. It is too high, we cannot attain to it. Beloved, the fact that God knows everything is both a blessing and a warning. It's a blessing because Jesus sees your virtuous thoughts and acts and will then reward you for them. God's omniscience is a blessing because Jesus sees your pain and your sorrow and your oppression, your weakness, and thus can assist you in the midst of your struggles. On the other hand, Jesus' omniscience is a warning, because he reads every hateful thought, he sees every lustful glance, he knows about every shady business deal, and he hears every curse that comes forth from our lips. Take heart, friends, God knows about your kindness, your holiness, your purity, your honesty and devotion. But friends, if we would be embarrassed or ashamed if our fellow man knew about our darkest secrets, how much more should we be ashamed before God when we fall short of his holiness, when he knows all about it? But even then there is great consolation because though God knows every bone of every skeleton in your closet, for the repentant it is all under the blood of Jesus Christ, and he loves us regardless of our sin, our past, and those skeletons. Praise be to God. Now, a second application we can make here is we should look for what we see in a person's heart. When I was a senior in high school, I did a project for my psychology class. I wanted to see at what point in someone's life he begins to stereotype people to show that assumptions and prejudice about people are learned and not inherent character traits. So I came up with a bunch of questions and started out with first graders. I made my way through all of the grades until I got to seniors in high school, and then I asked the same questions of some of the teachers. My questions were things like this blank, you you fill in the blank. Blank make good fighters. Blank are lazy. Blank can't be trusted. Blank makes a lot of money. Blank are smart, and a variety of other questions where the survey taker would fill in the blank. The elementary children usually would say things like my daddy drives a big car, or my dog is lazy, or my teacher is smart, or something like that. But as I went through the grades, and especially when I got to teenagers, the answers began to change. And as you can imagine, a lot of the answers were merely racial or ethnic stereotypes. In our text, Nathaniel expresses a stereotype in response to Philip's announcement regarding Jesus of Nazareth being the Messiah. He dismisses the thought, asking if anything can come out of Nazareth that's any good. As we noted a bit ago, we don't know why this prejudice existed, but it's clear that Nathaniel had a low view of Nazareth and its inhabitants. But lo and behold, God's Son, the Christ, the Savior of the world, is from Nazareth. Are we much different than Nathaniel in this regard? Isn't it easy to look at someone from a different race or culture or socioeconomic group or a different region of the country, even if he's a Christian brother, and see them somehow as substandard? But like with Nathaniel, our assumptions about people are often wrong, aren't they? Have you ever seen someone who looks very rough or unkempt or who seems uneducated? And then you're surprised when this person manifests a great depth of Christian maturity and godliness. In 1 Samuel 16, God sends Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint a new king to replace Saul. And when Samuel is introduced to Jesse's oldest son Eliab, he thinks, surely this is the one God has chosen to be the new king. Eliab was apparently a very large and powerfully built regal figure, but God tells Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. After Samuel meets all of Jesse's sons, God picks the youngest, a shepherd boy, David, who didn't look the part of king, but was God's choice because of his inner heart qualities. In other words, as we noted when we be when we began, we shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Therefore, friends, let's assess people in accordance with what's on the inside and not what's on the outside. So our first application application here was we must remember that Jesus knows all about us. Secondly, we made an application that we are to look at people's hearts, not outward appearance. Now note that we have much to look forward to. Much to look forward to. You all remember Ray Popeil and the Ronco Corporation. Maybe not all of you remember, but you've seen commercials like his. Ray Popeel and the Ronco Corporation made the Vegematic, the Inside the Egg Shell Scrambler, Mr. Microphone, the Pocket Fisherman, and so on, inexpensive gadgets that were sort of novelties to use for recreation and kitchen chores and other uses. Others have followed in the same tradition. They sell jammy jeans and chia pets and ginsu knives, KTEL Records, the Sham Wow Flex Seal, and all sorts of other stuff. And if you watch those commercials, they always say something like this, but wait, there's more. These products cost $19.95, but if you order within the next 10 minutes, we'll send you a second one absolutely free. Just pay separate shipping charges. We've all seen these commercials. But wait, there's more. In these commercials, there's always more. A better deal, additional products or discounts on second orders. The deal just gets better and better. If you go back and look at verses 47 through 49, Nathanael is deeply impressed that Jesus knew all about him. But Jesus said, You will see greater things than these. If we can paraphrase, Jesus said, But wait, there's more, the deal gets better and better. Nathanael's going to see water turned into wine. He's going to see lepers healed, the lame walk, the blind see, five thousand miraculously fed, tempests stilled, demons cast out, the dead raised, and he's going to see Jesus' own resurrection from the dead. I think too often we take these Bible stories for granted, including Jesus' miracles. Can you imagine what it was like to see a leper cleansed before your very eyes? Can you imagine what it must have been like to see Jesus take five little loaves of bread and two little fish and turn them into enough food for a multitude? Can you imagine what it must have been like to see Jesus walk on water? Or how about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead by merely speaking the word? I think the reason we take these stories for granted is because we've heard them so many times. We've been inured to them. They've just been old, they've become old hat. But put yourself in the place of Nathanael and the other disciples, and they were overawed at what Jesus did. At any rate, if Nathaniel's mouth was left hanging wide open because Jesus could read his thoughts and knew his character, then what he and the others will see Jesus do will leave them absolutely dumbfounded. And friends, what we are going to see in heaven in comparison to what we experience now is going to leave us dumbfounded. Imagine bringing Abraham and Sarah to the 21st century. What wonders would they see? Spaceflight, cell phones, electric lights, automobiles, computer technology, drones, air travel, and so on. Their minds would be boggled by the things that man has created through God-given skill, ingenuity, and creativity. Now multiply that 10,000 times, and that will give us an idea of what heaven must be like when we see God in all his glory and see what wonders he has in store for those who love him. In an earlier podcast some weeks ago, I referred to the book of Job, chapter 26, verse 5, verses 5 through 14. There we are told that the mighty deeds that God does on this earth are the mere fringes of his ways, his mere whispers. But friends, the day is coming in which we will see all of his glory and hear his mighty thunder. How much greater things we're going to see than what we could ever see on this earth, how true that is. I recently read a quote attributed to Saint John Chrysostom. He was a bishop in the fourth century church. And he is attributed this quote If you knew how quickly people would forget you after your death, you would not seek in your life to please anyone but God. Friends, we can contextualize that quote for this message. If we truly understood how worthless Earth's treasures are and how magnificent are the things of heaven, then we'd stop wasting our time scrambling for this world's loose change, and we'd spend more time looking for and striving toward that which is above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. If you could get a glimpse of heaven for 30 seconds, you'd pack your bags, you'd spit on this world, and eagerly wait for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, as we read in Titus chapter 2, verse 13. And of course, I'm speaking somewhat rhetorically. Clearly, God has put us on this earth to serve him and also to enjoy all of his blessings, and he has given us so many good things. And also we should be awed by his splendor and his majesty on this earth, seen in his glorious works. But when we enjoy the most wonderful blessings and see God's glorious displays of power and beauty on this earth, when we see snow-capped mountains and majestic oceans and glorious sunsets, then be reminded that on that day when we see the real peace of the kingdom of God, the shalom of the Bible, where everything is made right and all is as it should be in its perfection and joy, then the most spectacular display this world affords is nothing compared to what God has in store for us. Friends, continue to look up because our redemption draws near and look forward with joy to joys inexpressible, to joys inconceivable, to joys unimaginable, and give thanks to our great and powerful God who through his Son Jesus Christ made such joy available to us. Well, friends, that pretty much wraps up our time today. I certainly hope you enjoyed this podcast, but more importantly, I certainly hope your life has been changed so that you are just a little bit more like the Lord Jesus Christ. If in any way this time at Crosstown has given you a deeper appreciation of God's love and mercy and power, if in any way you've been convicted of some shortcoming, if you've been encouraged to serve the Lord with greater vigor and steadfastness, if you've been given increased hope in the midst of some struggle or trial, then I have accomplished my task. And of course, my greatest desire is that God be glorified through Crosstown. And if you have been convicted, if you have been encouraged, if you have been filled with greater hope and a greater understanding of God's word, then he has been glorified, I trust. Thank you so much for being with me today at Crosstown. If you enjoyed this podcast, please pass it along to your friends and loved ones, and perhaps they would be blessed by it as well. Until next time, may God sanctify you through and through, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful as he who called you, he will also do it. So farewell for now. See you next week in Cross Time.