I would like to read from Psalm 24. We are going to be in Psalm 24 a lot today. This is our topic.
I am just going to read verse 6 together.
Psalm 24:6:
This is the generation of them that seek after Him,
That seek Thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
Read it one more time:
This is the generation of them that seek after Him,
That seek Thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
Or some translations say, “O God of Jacob.” Let’s pray together.
Oh, we tremble before Your Word and really love Your Word. We pray Your Word can be in our hearts and richly dwell, that it would be something real and meaningful to us. We look to You and pray that You would meet us in this time. Open up Your heart to us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Psalm 24 comes after Psalm 23, and Psalm 23 comes after Psalm 22. But in this case, that matters. Sorry.
These three psalms are actually a package of three, like a sandwich or like a set that comes together. Many people say this—many speakers, commentaries, or anyone sharing on these psalms often catch this. It is kind of a known thing that Psalms 22, 23, and 24 go together.
Psalm 24 can be looked at in a few different ways. You have to realize that all three of these psalms were written at a time when Israel was the people of God on the earth, and these psalms were used by God for those people. They were helpful at that time. Even Psalm 23, which many of us are so helped by, was very helpful for Israel too. Psalm 22 was very helpful for them.
But at the same time, all three of these psalms are helpful for us as Christians in this time. Every one of them is current, useful, the Word of God, and edifies us. We read these, and we are built up in the Lord.
One more thing, though, is to look at these three psalms according to time, or according to their prophetic fulfillment. The three psalms go in an order of time. Psalm 22 is a past historical event. Psalm 23 is our time right now. This is why Psalm 23 seems to be our psalm as the church.
How many people have Psalm 23 memorized—or mostly, or something fuzzily memorized? It is usually the first psalm that people memorize. According to our human nature, the first psalm we should memorize is Psalm 117, because it has two verses and we are lazy. We do not memorize Psalm 119; it has 176 verses.
To show you, the second psalm I memorized was Psalm 117, according to my laziness. So Psalm 23 is on our hearts often. We quote it, rehearse it, and know it. The Lord uses it and comforts us. It is really the psalm in the time period of the church.
Psalm 22, though—if we look at some of these verses, you will see this is something that has been accomplished. Turn back to Psalm 22. I want us to see this according to time.
In Psalm 22:1, He says—see if you recognize this:
My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
This is what Jesus said on the cross. He quoted it from this psalm: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,” which is, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” This was fulfilled right then. If you keep on in the psalm, it is the whole explanation of His death on the cross. This is the worst part right here: being forsaken by the Father.
Skip to Psalm 22:6:
But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised of the people.
This is a description of the Lord at the time of the crucifixion. Psalm 22:7–8 says:
All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn:
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
Commit Thyself unto the Lord; let Him deliver Him:
Let Him rescue Him, seeing He delighteth in Him.
Remember, on the cross they were saying, “If You are the Son of God, God will save You from the cross. Let Him rescue Him, if He is the Son of God.” This is the exact part right here—the exact fulfillment.
There are many more passages, but look at Psalm 22:14:
I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint:
My heart is like wax;
It is melted within Me.
Remember, crucifixion is a terrible death. The Romans discovered this cruel treatment in which the bones were not broken. That was a fulfillment of prophecy also concerning the Lord Jesus, that none of His bones would be broken. But the bones are pulled out of joint.
In crucifixion, even with the nails in the hands and feet, the discoveries and history indicate that they were most likely through the wrist area, so that they were more painful and the bones were more and more out of joint. Hanging on the cross, you have to pull yourself up just to breathe. Eventually your shoulders fall out of joint.
So this description, even of bones being out of joint, is a description of the Lord’s death on the cross. And His heart being melted like wax—remember how the soldiers pierced Him in the side, and out came blood and water.
This has a deep spiritual meaning, which is why it was emphasized in John’s Gospel. But at the same time, medical people tell us that if someone dies of a broken heart in this way, there would be some clear liquid coming out as well with the blood. So if He died of a broken heart, this would happen. It is actually a very realistic description.
His mentioning that His heart is melted within Him describes a death on the cross. If you keep going, Psalm 22:15 says:
My strength is dried up like a potsherd;
And My tongue cleaveth to My jaws;
And Thou hast laid Me in the dust of death.
Remember the Lord Jesus saying, “I thirst.” When a lot of blood is drained out, you are thirsty. His tongue is cleaving to the top of His mouth, and all this thirst accompanies a death on the cross. Here is a description right here.
Psalm 22:16 says:
For dogs have compassed Me:
A company of evil-doers have inclosed Me;
They pierced My hands and My feet.
This way of death was not known at the time Psalm 22 was written. To write something about hands and feet being pierced would not have made as much sense to those reading this in the time period of Israel. They read it and were helped by the psalm, but they did not have the understanding of hindsight that we do, where we can look and see what actually happened.
They literally did pierce His hands and feet. So this psalm is obviously prophetic. It was written at that time, but the time of its fulfillment was at the cross of the Lord Jesus. Psalm 22 has been fulfilled according to prophecy.
Psalm 22:17–18 says:
I may count all My bones;
They look and stare upon Me:
They part My garments among them,
And upon My vesture do they cast lots.
Remember, at the cross, the soldiers divided up His clothes. But there was one garment they did not want to rip up or divide. It was a very nice, complete piece, so they cast lots. They rolled dice, and one of the soldiers got His clothes. This is mentioned right here. It is the prophecy of that, fulfilled at the cross.
I read all that just to show, I guess, from the Scripture, that this is obviously a description of the cross. Psalm 22 is a psalm that had a time period in which it would be fulfilled.
Then comes Psalm 23, after His death on the cross. If you finish reading Psalm 22, there is glory, resurrection, victory, and the Lord being brought through. I am not going to read all of that because of time, and we are not focusing on that psalm. I only mentioned those few because they are obvious prophetic fulfillments.
Then comes Psalm 23. This is our psalm. So many have it memorized. I thought it would be good if we could put it up and read it together, maybe in the King James Version, which most people probably have memorized.
Consider that we are the church—those of us here who are born again. In our time right now, the Lord is our Shepherd; we are His sheep. This is our psalm, prophetically speaking. This psalm is being fulfilled as we live. As we have been born again and become sheep, this is what the Lord is doing today with all of us.
This is a psalm of David:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me;
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
We could just read that together today and I could sit down, because it is so good. We have this assurance even in the last verse: we will dwell in the house of the Lord for eternity. Those who are born again have eternity secured.
The Lord is leading us, laying us down, giving us comfort, nourishment, and refreshing for our souls. He feeds us and gives us drink. Even though we are going through difficult times—the valley of the shadow of death—we do not have to fear because He is with us. We have the life of Christ in us. We have the presence of God. This is our psalm.
He is preparing His table before us. It is an abundant table. According to time, this is going on right now. One psalm is in the past, one is in the present, and Psalm 24 is actually in the future according to prophetic fulfillment.
Psalm 24 is helpful at all times, though. I do not want anyone to think, “Oh, this is a prophecy for the future, and I do not even need to look at it.” This has to do with the future, but it is for us to read, look forward to, and be helped by.
Psalm 24 starts off saying:
The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof;
The world, and they that dwell therein.
For He hath founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the floods.
This is a bold declaration, a declaration of praise. In Scripture, sometimes there is just a bold declaration that God is all, He has all, and it is done. Like, “The whole earth is filled with His glory.” We sing this song.
But specifically, we have to sing some of these things by faith. It is true as far as ownership and authority. Nothing belongs to anybody but God; that is always true. But when we speak about the world, or the habitable part of the world where the people are, and those who dwell therein, like in verse 1, almost all of us are in rebellion against God.
The world as a whole is in rebellion against God. But there will come a time when the whole earth is filled with His glory. Trees are singing and praising the Lord. Animals are nice—all of them. All the people worship God alone and are not in rebellion against God. There is a future time like this.
Actually, you can make this bold statement by faith, because you can see and taste something of the kingdom of the Lord ahead of time. By faith you praise and say this. We can even sing a song that the whole world is filled with His glory. We can sing songs about how everything is crying out and praising God, and all creation is praising Him.
But then we walk out of the building, look around, and see by sight. Yet in our hearts, we see by faith. You can actually touch into a scene, or see in vision, the kingdom age—what we commonly call the kingdom age, or what some call the millennial age, a thousand-year age in which the Lord physically reigns over the earth openly.
There are no more governments besides His government. Even America—though we appreciate our country, the Constitution, and other things—they will all be gone. They are not eternal; they are just for this time. At that time, though, the eternal kingdom will be going on.
Just as Hebrews 6 says, Christians can taste or experience now something of the age to come.
In Matthew 16, at the beginning of the chapter, the Pharisees and scribes are trying to test the Lord and want a sign. They want Him to show them something that proves they can see that He is the Messiah, the Son of God.
He tells them, “You are a wicked and perverse generation that wants a sign. You will not get any sign except the sign of Jonah,” who was in the belly of the fish for three days and then was raised. You will not get any sign.
In Matthew 16, Peter confesses concerning the Lord: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Lord talks about His church and about going to the cross. Peter gets rebuked for trying to stop Him.
At the very end, Jesus tells them that some standing there would not die until they saw Him, the Son of Man, coming in His glory and in His kingdom. This is one of the last verses in the chapter. It sounds confusing, because it sounds like somebody is not going to die.
I can imagine the early Christians seeing how old John the apostle became and thinking that he was the one who would stay alive until the Lord actually returned. But it was not true. He ended up passing away, or falling asleep in the Lord.
But in Matthew 17, one week later, they saw Him in all the glory of the kingdom. He took Peter, James, and John up on the mountain, and He was transfigured in front of them. His clothes changed to bright, shining white, and His face shone with glory.
They saw Him as He will be when He returns. It was a real sight, but they saw Him as He would be coming in all His glory. They tasted of it ahead of time, even though He did not actually come during their lifetime.
With us Christians today, with this generation mentioned in Psalm 24:6—the generation that seeks the face of God—we can by faith see Him in this mode, or see the kingdom in this mode. We can see that the whole world is filled with His glory. We can see that the earth is the Lord’s.
It is those in this generation who actually walk that way: the generation that seeks the face of God. In a heavenly and spiritual way, they stand in the reality that this earth belongs to God. Everything in this earth belongs to God, and so do I. This is the situation.
But there is a time actually coming in the future. Taking Psalm 24 from that perspective, there is a point where everything evil is conquered. Satan is locked away for that time. There are no demons, no evil angels, no worldliness. I doubt there will be Facebook. There is no anything. I do not know what there will be, but there is nothing to distract you from the Lord.
There is nothing to pull you away from Christ. Everything is focused on Christ. This is the situation coming.
Then Psalm 24:3 asks:
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in His holy place?
Who is this going to be? He describes them in verse 4:
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;
Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of them that seek after Him,
That seek Thy face, O God of Jacob. Selah.
Who is it that ascends to the mount and goes into the holy place? It is this generation right here. The description talks about them having clean hands and a pure heart. Their souls are not lifted up to anything else except the Lord—no vanity, no idols, no anything. They are real; they are true for God. They receive this blessing or reward. They ascend to the mount.
I am going to mention some prophetic Scriptures, because Psalm 24—or any psalm, actually—is not where you build a doctrine. You do not grab something out of a psalm and make a teaching or doctrine from it, because the psalms are the harp strings of our hearts. They are not teachings necessarily.
There is truth in the psalms, but you cannot build a doctrine out of a psalm. You cannot stand so much on it because it is poetic. Sometimes poetry can lean toward the edges of truth just to show you the feeling of it. But when you match all Scripture, you can come to truth.
We never take any verse out of context, and we never take a verse by itself to try to understand something. As it says in 2 Peter 1, no prophecy or Scripture is interpreted by itself. You have to match all of it.
Talking about ascending to the mount, consider that when the tabernacle was built with the Israelites, Moses was shown a pattern on the mount. He was shown a pattern of what is actually going on in heaven. When he built the tabernacle, it was patterned after something real in the third heaven.
The pattern, or build, was a model of the real thing. Israel could think of the mount and coming up to the temple, but I want to look at it as the real thing: Who will ascend to this throne? Who will ascend to this holy place? Why is it just these who receive this blessing, who are walking this way?
Let’s go to Revelation 12. These two places will probably stick a little bit, because Revelation 12 is kind of like a parallel passage. There are many similarities to Psalm 24.
In Revelation 12, there is a group of people who ascend to the mount. They ascend to the throne. The description is very prophetic—almost scary. But let’s look at it in the light of this comparison.
This is a sign, a picture, a vision that John sees:
And there was seen a great sign in heaven: a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
And she was with child; and she cried out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered.
Here is a pregnant woman. The vision of this woman and her description are very odd to us. But if you dig into it, the description seems to describe all of God’s people through all time. There are similarities with Israel, there are things with the church, and we could say she represents all of God’s people from all time—even before the church’s time, even before Israel’s time.
She is pregnant and in travail. She is crying out in pain like a woman about to give birth. Then another sign is seen at the same time in heaven: a great red dragon. Later this is described as Satan, having seven heads and ten horns, with seven diadems upon his heads. His tail draws a third part of the stars of heaven, just as we speak of Satan taking a third of the angels with him.
He casts them to the earth. The dragon stands before the woman who is about to bring forth so that, when she brings forth, he can devour her child. He is after this child who is about to come forth. He is not attacking her yet; he is standing there, there is travail going on, and a man-child is about to come out. The dragon is there with his claws, about to kill the baby.
Then Revelation 12:5 says:
And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto His throne.
Then the woman fled, and so on. This male son is also described in Revelation 12:11. After it talks about Satan being the accuser of the brethren, accusing them day and night, it says:
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb,
And because of the word of their testimony;
And they loved not their life even unto death.
This is these people. This son, when it was brought forth, was raptured right away. As soon as the baby was born, it was raptured—taken straight to the throne.
This is the travail of the church right now. It has been going on through all time, because this woman represents all of time. This male son represents those who overcome the enemy, just as Psalm 24 speaks of a generation that seeks the face of God.
Those of us who are born again are in the church. We are called to be this generation, but we have a choice: to seek the face of God or not.
When we read Psalm 23, there is no choice concerning verse 6: “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” If you are born again, you will be there for eternity. This is a free gift. I am His sheep, and He is taking care of me.
But there is something of a blessing for those who have clean hands and a pure heart, who are not lifting up their souls to vanity or going after other things. They receive a blessing from God. They ascend to the mount.
This is what we call the first rapture. You do not have to agree with all these specifics, because this is not my main point. I am going to mention some specifics according to some prophecies, but only to illustrate.
If you have different thoughts about raptures or resurrections, that is not as important, because at some point we are all going to be there. We will probably all find out that we were all wrong. All we can do is go on together with the Lord. We know we are His.
But there seems to be a rapture in Scripture that is according to whether you are walking with the Lord. It is according to what you do. There are warnings telling us to watch and be ready.
In Luke 21:36, I think, it says that we should watch and pray, and be ready so that we can escape all these things that are about to come to pass—speaking of escaping the tribulation that will come upon the earth, which Revelation and other places speak about.
There is this escape rapture, but it has to do with watching. There is a rapture where the Lord takes His saints as a thief in the night. He takes the goods that are ready and snatches them. No one knows when He is coming in that way. There is no date, time, or place announced. It just happens—boom, it is done.
A thief in the night does not warn you ahead of time. The Lord comes like a thief in the night. There is no trumpet sound, because if a thief blows a trumpet, he gets caught. He just comes and snatches.
This is the generation that seeks the face of God. They ascend to the mount—the real mount. They go all the way to the throne of God. This rapture goes all the way up to the throne of God.
There is another rapture mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4. He talks about a rapture with a trumpet sound. He is trying to comfort the saints in Thessalonica, who were a little confused. They were asking, “If we die, do we miss the return of the Lord? Do we miss everything? Is that it?”
He says, “No.” The dead in Christ rise before that final rapture. All the dead in Christ will be raised. Then there will be a resurrection of the rest with a trumpet blast.
It is also mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15: at the last trumpet, we will be raised and our bodies will be transformed. This is certain. There is a rapture that is absolute—all Christians receive it, no matter what your state is. Even if you are left behind, there is another one coming.
In the book of Revelation, for help, it is right at the end. It is the last trumpet. There are seven trumpets; it is the last one. It describes this rapture and speaks of all the saints being brought up.
In Revelation 11, there is something similar to how Psalm 24 starts. The angels are in triumph, joy, and victory because all this is unfolding right in front of mankind.
At the seventh trumpet, Revelation 11:15 says:
And the seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said,
The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ:
And He shall reign for ever and ever.
Technically speaking, everything had not completely unfolded, but the whole church was now raptured up. This is it. So they make that proclamation, just like Psalm 24: “The earth is the Lord’s.” This is the declaration of victory.
This rapture mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4 is free. You do not have to have clean hands or a pure heart. You will, though, because if we are there, we will be going through tribulation. When the Lord presses us with trials and persecution, the church turns to Him because we need Him.
It is even a mercy of God to prepare you to meet Him. So even if we miss one, there is the merciful second rapture, where you are brought to the clouds. The descriptions of that rapture are that we are taken to the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
So this question, “Who shall ascend to the mount?” has to do with being taken to the throne. There is something special there.
In Revelation 12, after the rapture of the man-child happens, they have pierced through the air where the god of this world—Satan—is dwelling. He is the prince of the air; that is his domain right now. But these overcomers have overcome him and pierced through the sky, through the second heaven, all the way to the throne.
At that point, Michael and his angels come and fight with Satan and his angels. There is a big battle in the sky. All the angels are openly fighting each other in the sky.
The finishing point of the battle is that Satan is cast down to the earth. He is no longer in the sky. He and all his angels are cast out of the clouds, cast out of the second heaven, and cast down.
Then it says, “Woe to the earth,” because now the dragon is actually on the earth. Revelation 12 also mentions three and a half years. This is what we call the Great Tribulation.
This is when there is no manipulation, no pretending to be nice by the Antichrist. It is all open. Christians and Jews are openly persecuted. In the Old Testament it is called Jacob’s trouble; in the New Testament we call it the Great Tribulation, for three and a half years.
But the victory of the overcomers flies through the sky all the way to the throne. Those with clean hands and a pure heart, whose hearts are after only the Lord, are a generation that seeks His face. They are pursuing Him with their whole heart. This generation ascends to the mount. They go directly into the holy place.
Then the Lord sends the angels to battle. From the mount, from the holy place, from the throne of God, Christ and those overcomers come down to the sky.
At the skies, the rest of the saints are raptured there, and then there is the judgment seat of Christ. He takes the family of God, and there is either reward or loss. It is not a matter of salvation, but of who enters into the kingdom.
This man-child, or this generation, is not only connected to our time period. It spans all of time. But specifically, in our time period, it is possible that we may be at the end of it. There seem to be so many things unfolding that it is time for the Lord to rapture the saints.
That is why many people are looking at everything. Even unbelievers are looking at everything. The enemy is bringing in other things, and Muslims are looking for their antichrist to come, whom they think of as a messiah. Everyone is looking for something to happen. There is a feeling all around.
Those who are studying prophecy are saying there is nothing left except the rapture of the saints. We are at the point of the final birth, but the man-child has been in the womb for a long time.
For example, the apostle Paul wanted to be in this generation, and he sought after it. When you read his writings and occasionally see him unfold his heart, it touches your heart. This is a man pursuing the face of God.
In Philippians 3, he says, “I want to know Him. I have considered everything else loss. I cast it all aside so that I can gain Christ. I want to know Him. I want to know Him—the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings. I want to be conformed to His death.”
Then he says, “If I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.” This is not secured right there. Technically, there is a word meaning “out” in front of resurrection. Some translations say, “from among the dead,” but there is an out-resurrection.
In Revelation 20, it is called the first resurrection. It says, “Blessed are those who attain to the first resurrection.” They will be in the thousand years. It actually mentions the thousand years there in Revelation 20.
This first resurrection is for Christians who have fallen asleep. It is for the apostle Paul, who had fallen asleep. He said, “I want to attain this resurrection.”
Now, to be clear, all Christians will be raised. All Christians will meet the Lord. All Christians have resurrection life in them. It is secured. But there is one resurrection from among the saints. It is for those of the generation that seeks His face.
Just like the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy, at the very end when he writes Timothy—his last letter—he urgently tells him, “Come before winter,” because he expects to be martyred by then. He expects to have his head cut off before then.
He is in prison, urging Timothy to come. He says, “I fought the fight. I finished the race. There is a crown laid up for me. There is a reward.” Then he says it is not just for him; it is for all who love His appearing.
That is something. That is the heart of it. This generation seeks the face of God. They love His appearing. That is the difference. It is not so much how many good things you pile up. It is: where is your heart? Are you after Him or not? That is the generation.
Through all time, when the first rapture happens, so does the first resurrection. All of those overcomers are caught up to the sky, to the throne—this whole generation that seeks His face.
Even if we think, “Well, I am too old, and I am probably not going to be around when the Lord returns anyway,” it does not matter. If you fall asleep in the Lord, you are either part of that generation or not.
There is a wicked and perverse generation, and there is the generation that seeks His face. As Christians, we are called to be the generation that seeks His face. We are not called to be a wicked generation that turns from Him. But we have our choice.
Unbelievers will naturally be away from God. Without Christ, all of us are hopeless. But this is our choice.
Back to Psalm 24:6:
This is the generation of them that seek after Him,
That seek Thy face, O God of Jacob. Selah.
After that, what happens prophetically? Once the Lord has His family judgment with the saints, He comes with His saints down to the earth. That is when the whole world can see Him. No one can miss it.
The rest of this psalm is overflow after this generation has been taken up to the mount. After everything is going on, what is next? Psalm 24:7–10 says:
Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors:
And the King of glory will come in.
Who is the King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
The Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
Yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors:
And the King of glory will come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory. Selah.
Do you see this victory shout? When I read this part, I have a picture in my mind of congregations I have been in, in Israel, singing this song among the Jews—even non-Christian Jews. They sing this often.
I have this picture of them dancing, shouting, and being joyful. They say they are singing about the Messiah to come. This is when the Messiah actually comes, breaks through the gate, and rescues them.
According to the Jews, this is a future fulfillment. I think there can be other thoughts on this, and I would not argue with anybody. But it seems to me that this is an overflow after the overcomers have been raptured. After this has gone on, the Lord comes down in His glory with that generation that sought His face through all time.
There is a gate in Jerusalem right now that has been walled up. It is the Golden Gate. When the Muslims came and took over the city in the eight hundreds—around 810 or something like that—they walled up this gate. It is still walled up.
It is the gate that faces the Mount of Olives. There is the Mount of Olives; if you go down the hill and come into the Old City, the original Jerusalem city, there is a gate right there with stones in front of it. No one can walk through it right now.
The ground in front of that gate is full of graves. There is a graveyard there. The closest graves to the doors are Muslim graves. A little lower, in a more respectful spot, are Jewish graves and Christian graves.
Christians and Jews in the past wanted to be buried there. It may be the most expensive plot of land to be buried on earth; I do not know. Now there is really no room. They said something like fifty thousand dollars for a plot, according to our time.
But the Jews and Christians wanted to be buried near that area—not close to the gate, but near the area—because they said that when the Messiah comes through, the dead will be raised, and they wanted to be closest to where He is.
According to the prophecies in Zechariah, the Lord will be on the Mount of Olives. I want to show this because sometimes people say that is not in the Bible. So I had better show you.
First, look at Zechariah 12. This is a description of the Lord physically returning. Remember, the church has already been taken up in the raptures. Before the seven bowls of wrath in Revelation, the wrath of God comes down after the church is no longer there.
After the wrath of God, Jesus comes down to the earth to wipe out the Antichrist and his armies, who are about to kill all the Jews.
In Revelation 7, Jews are sealed to protect them during this tribulation. It mentions 144,000—twelve thousand from each tribe. People do not know if that is a literal number or representative, but there is a remnant of Jews who are sealed.
These seem to be Jews who have a heart and zeal for God and keep His commandments. But it is like Romans 10: they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. They do not understand; they do not know Jesus.
But they are zealous, just like Saul of Tarsus, the apostle Paul. Before he was saved, he was zealous for God, but confused. It is just like that. Some modern Jews are very zealous for God. Some are probably hypocritical, because we are human, but some are genuinely zealous for God without knowledge.
When I used to walk around in the city, I would look at some of them and think, “Is that one of them?” But who knows?
Let’s read Zechariah 12:9–10. This is right at the time when Jesus physically comes and Israel is about to be wiped out:
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication;
And they shall look unto Me whom they have pierced;
And they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son,
And shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.
This is what Romans 11 speaks about when it says there is a mystery concerning Israel. Right now, their hearts are hardened, but there will be a time when all Israel will be saved. This is what it is talking about. They actually look upon Him whom they pierced.
Even in Psalm 22, we saw the One whom they pierced. It is the Lord Jesus. They actually look upon Him. They see Him with their eyes. Revelation 1 says that all the tribes will see Him and wail because of Him.
There is a time when the Jews actually see Him, and God grants them repentance. Their salvation at that point is by sight; our salvation is by faith. So it is different. But they are saved. All Israel is saved—this remnant of 144,000 that is about to be destroyed.
Look at Zechariah 14:1–5:
Behold, a day of the Lord cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle;
And the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished;
And half of the city shall go forth into captivity,
And the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations,
As when He fought in the day of battle.
And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives,
Which is before Jerusalem on the east.
This has not happened yet. If you look at the Mount of Olives, it is east of Jerusalem.
The passage continues:
And the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west by a very great valley;
And half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
And ye shall flee by the valley of My mountains.
So the valley created when the Mount of Olives is split in two becomes the way the Jews escape. This Golden Gate points directly toward the middle of the Mount of Olives. If they escape, that would be the escape path.
Zechariah continues:
And the Lord my God shall come, and all the holy ones with Thee.
That is His army of overcomers with Him. You see this picture of the Lord returning in His glory, saving Israel and snatching them out.
In Revelation, it speaks of the Antichrist coming with this battle, and the Lord speaks a word. His tongue is like a two-edged sword. He speaks the word, and the Antichrist is gone. He and the false prophet are cast alive into the lake of fire.
The battle belongs to the Lord, and He defeats them.
Why did the Muslims put graves there? They thought that, with the Messiah coming, He would probably be a Levite, and Levites cannot be around a bunch of dead bodies. So they put a bunch of graves right next to the gate.
This would not stop Christ. First, He is not a Levite. But also, He is the resurrection. All these graves in the way are nothing to Him. He said, “I am the resurrection.” There is no holding Him there.
The wall of stones built up to stop Him from coming into the city victoriously as the King of the Jews would not stop Him. The shout at the end is, “Lift up your heads, O you gates. The King is coming through.” The One strong in battle, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of the armies, is coming through in victory.
This will not happen until that generation that seeks His face is finally birthed. What is God waiting for?
Even when I read this and it says, “Who shall ascend to the mount?” you can read it and think, as a curious person, “Who is it technically? Who is going to ascend to the mount?” He explains it.
But what seems to be on the Lord’s heart is, “Who will it be?” It is like a call to the saints.
Throughout the book of Revelation, there is a call to us Christians in our time. He says, “Who has an ear that can hear Me? To him that overcomes, I will give this reward. Who has an ear to hear Me? Who are My bondservants?”
There is a call for this generation that seeks the face of God. Even in our current time, if you look at the songs being created, most of them are very devotional. They are very much, “I want to seek the face of God.”
Many of the new songs are very good. Some are beyond our real heart’s cry, though. But others touch the heart, and it is the cry.
There are songs in our time—even the song we sang, connected with Psalm 24—that say, “God, let us be the generation that seeks Your face.”
There was a song last night that we sang with the youth, called “The Stand.” It is a good song. Sometimes you are singing and you feel, “Can I say this? Can I make this declaration?” I think this is where we get stuck and overwhelmed.
But what is needed is a heart that seeks His face. Look, today I do not even want to speak about those who are accomplishing all the overcoming. God willing, next week, if we live, we can look at actually having clean hands, a pure heart, and not lifting our souls up to vanity.
There is a generation all of us are called to be. Deep down, this generation is seeking God’s face.
The call is not for you to always win. The call is for you to get back up and seek His face.
Sometimes we are afraid of His face. In the Old Testament, “face” means “presence.” Think about it: when someone is in front of you but looking down at their feet, you do not really sense that you have their presence or attention.
But if their eyes are looking at you, sometimes you are overwhelmed. You are even a little scared to talk. But when you find their face, you have found them. You have got them.
Their eyes are the window to the heart. When you can see someone in their eyes, you see their heart. When you seek their face, you are seeking the person.
Who is the generation that seeks His face? It is not those who always win. It is those who always call out to Him.
It is not those who always overcome by the word of their testimony. It is us who seem to always overcome by the blood of the Lamb.
It is not that you will go this week and win twenty times. It is that, in every failure, you call out and say, “I want You, Lord. I come by the blood of Jesus. I confess my sins and come by the blood of Jesus.”
Our pursuit is a pursuit of failures, but we get back up. Our call is: do you want Him? Do you have the heart to seek His face? The call on us is a matter of your heart, not a matter of your abilities.
Sometimes you do not want to get up because you say, “I may fail again, though. What is the point?” The point is that God is after your heart. Do you seek His face?
Deep down in every Christian, there is a little place that wants to seek His face. We have been clouding it over and covering it up with wrong ideas.
Sometimes we think our God is an angry God. We see descriptions of His face: His eyes are flames of fire, and His tongue is a two-edged sword. “Do I want to seek His face? I am afraid of Him. Me and my filth and sins—I seem to love the world, and I seem to keep failing at this thing or that thing.”
That is not it. Come to the One with fire in His eyes, who can judge you completely, and you will see the tears in His eyes, where Jesus wept.
Come to the One with the sword in His mouth, the two-edged sword, and you will see that it is the same mouth that said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
This is the One who was the Lamb that was slain. He is the Lion as well, but He is the Lamb who was slain for us.
When we come to Him to seek His face, we find Him. We find that He loves us and is pulling us through. The call of God is for those who have a heart to know Him more.
He is not looking for those who can do it. He is looking for those who want Him. He is not looking for those who are going to do great things. He is looking for those who will cling to Him.
Even with Peter in John’s Gospel, Jesus asked him, “Do you really love Me? Do you love Me?”
Remember, Peter had just failed. Peter had denied Jesus at the cross. People asked him, “Are you one of His disciples?” and he said, “No, I do not even know Him.” This is the biggest failure right here. He failed so badly.
When Jesus found the disciples after being raised, He said, “Tell Peter also.” It must have touched Peter’s heart, because it is mentioned in Mark’s Gospel. Mark probably wrote with Peter.
When Jesus talked to Peter, He said, “Do you love Me?” Remember, this is Peter in the Gospels who had said, “Lord, if everyone fails, I will never fail.” But he failed.
“Lord, I love You.” But he showed that he did not love Him. What is God after, though? He is after somebody who seeks His face.
He said, “Peter, do you love Me?” Peter said, “I am attached to You. I am stuck with You.” He said, “Peter, do you love Me?” He said, “I am attached to You. I am stuck with You.”
Then He said, “Peter, are you really attached to Me? Are you really stuck with Me?” Peter started to cry. He said, “Lord, You know. You know.”
“It may often seem that I am not even attached to You, but You know that I really am. Deep down in my heart, even with all my other pursuits and all my other things, even though I try to go back to fishing, I try to stop serving the Lord—Lord, You know I am at least stuck with You.”
“I may not overcome to where I can say I love You, but I am at least stuck with You.”
I believe this is God’s heart for this generation. I have a heart for the younger generation especially, because I feel they are in the time, for sure, when the Lord will return.
It is up to the saints of God right now to finish out this travail for the church, to finish out the travail for the man-child to be birthed. The Lord is waiting to come for His bride, and He is waiting on us because we are not seeking His face.
The heart of the Lord is, “Just come and seek Me. I will help you to overcome. I will help you through all these other things. But where is the generation that seeks My face?”
I believe many among us in this room want to seek His face. I wanted to share this morning that God is for us. If we just turn to Him, He is bringing us on. This is a joyful thing.
He is our Shepherd. This is the Lord whose hands and feet were pierced. This is the Lord whose bones were out of joint. This is the Lord who cried, “My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” For our sakes, He became sin. This is our Lord.
So we do not stay down. We do not look at the impossible. We want to look at His face today. We want to look and discover—find—His face. He is not far from us.
This is the generation that seeks His face. By faith, I see the generation rising up—old and young, many of the saints, the remnant among them—rising up and being that generation, that final generation, the final part of the generation that brings in the Lord’s return.
This is on the Lord’s heart. Let us commit ourselves to Him.
Dear Lord, we just want to repent and confess our turning from You and our following after other things. We pray, wash us clean with the precious blood.
We come by the blood to the holy of holies, just to be in Your presence.
Lord, we want to tell You that we are attached to You. We cling to You. We want to seek Your face together. All these other vain things are nothing.
Thank You for loving us. Thank You for calling us to such a glorious walk. In Jesus’ name, amen.