There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.—HEB. 4:9.

There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest. There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; they . . . rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

Our friend Lazarus sleepeth . . . Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened.—Ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope . . . But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Job 3:17,18.Rev. 14:13.John 11:11,13.II Cor. 5:4. -Rom. 8:23-25.

Ephesians 3:8

The apostle Paul felt it a great privilege to be allowed to preach the gospel. He did not look upon his calling as a drudgery, but he entered upon it with intense delight. Yet while Paul was thus thankful for his office, his success in it greatly humbled him. The fuller a vessel becomes, the deeper it sinks in the water. Idlers may indulge a fond conceit of their abilities, because they are untried; but the earnest worker soon learns his own weakness. If you seek humility, try hard work; if you would know your nothingness, attempt some great thing for Jesus. If you would feel how utterly powerless you are apart from the living God, attempt especially the great work of proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ, and you will know, as you never knew before, what a weak unworthy thing you are. Although the apostle thus knew and confessed his weakness, he was never perplexed as to the subject of his ministry. From his first sermon to his last, Paul preached Christ, and nothing but Christ. He lifted up the cross, and extolled the Son of God who bled thereon. Follow his example in all your personal efforts to spread the glad tidings of salvation, and let “Christ and him crucified” be your ever recurring theme. The Christian should be like those lovely spring flowers which, when the sun is shining, open their golden cups, as if saying, “Fill us with thy beams!” but when the sun is hidden behind a cloud, they close their cups and droop their heads. So should the Christian feel the sweet influence of Jesus; Jesus must be his sun, and he must be the flower which yields itself to the Sun of Righteousness. Oh! to speak of Christ alone, this is the subject which is both “seed for the sower, and bread for the eater.” This is the live coal for the lip of the speaker, and the master-key to the heart of the hearer.

Prophecy Against Gog

¹The word of the Lord came to me: ²“Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech¹¹Or Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him ³and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech²²Or Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. ⁴And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. ⁵Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; ⁶Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes—many peoples are with you.

⁷“Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. ⁸After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. ⁹You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.

¹⁰“Thus says the Lord God: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme ¹¹and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ ¹²to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth. ¹³Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders³³Hebrew young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’

¹⁴“Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? ¹⁵You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. ¹⁶You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

¹⁷“Thus says the Lord God: Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them? ¹⁸But on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the Lord God, my wrath will be roused in my anger. ¹⁹For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. ²⁰The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. ²¹I will summon a sword against Gog⁴⁴Hebrew against him on all my mountains, declares the Lord God. Every man's sword will be against his brother. ²²With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him, and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur. ²³So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Why Should I Fear in Times of Trouble?

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

¹Hear this, all peoples!
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
²both low and high,
rich and poor together!
³My mouth shall speak wisdom;
the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
⁴I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre.

⁵Why should I fear in times of trouble,
when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,
⁶those who trust in their wealth
and boast of the abundance of their riches?
⁷Truly no man can ransom another,
or give to God the price of his life,
⁸for the ransom of their life is costly
and can never suffice,
⁹that he should live on forever
and never see the pit.

¹⁰For he sees that even the wise die;
the fool and the stupid alike must perish
and leave their wealth to others.
¹¹Their graves are their homes forever,¹¹Septuagint, Syriac, Targum; Hebrew Their inward thought was that their homes were forever
their dwelling places to all generations,
though they called lands by their own names.
¹²Man in his pomp will not remain;
he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³This is the path of those who have foolish confidence;
yet after them people approve of their boasts.²²Or and of those after them who approve of their boasts Selah
¹⁴Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
death shall be their shepherd,
and the upright shall rule over them in the morning.
Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.
¹⁵But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
for he will receive me. Selah

¹⁶Be not afraid when a man becomes rich,
when the glory of his house increases.
¹⁷For when he dies he will carry nothing away;
his glory will not go down after him.
¹⁸For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed
—and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—
¹⁹his soul will go to the generation of his fathers,
who will never again see light.
²⁰Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.