A.                 A Distant Enemy

When the Babylonian Empire of the Old Testament faced predicted doom Isaiah described part of it like this: “They come from a far country, from the end of the heavens, Jehovah and the weapons of His indignation, to destroy all the land.” From the end of the heavens is translated in the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, “from the extreme foundation of the heaven.” It is an expression that means “from the end, the distant horizon by which the earth appears to be bounded, where the sky and the land seem to meet. Psalm 19:6 defines the similar statement, “from the end of the heaven”, as describing an area to the east from which the sun rises.

My friend, there are forces of the East that hate the West. They want to cripple our finances, replace our faith, and destroy our families. So, my friend we need the help of the One who came from even farther away, Jesus Christ. He was God manifest in the flesh. He came from Heaven to save us from Hell. He stepped off the throne of glory to carry a cross of indignity. He suffered as a man while he was sovereign as God. My friend, the only real hope of the world has never changed, has never faded with the seasons of time, has never lost its gleam in the galaxy of Preeminence; for He is the Daystar of deliverance; and you can follow his star out of the darkness of your terror; out of the traps of your mind; out of the hopeless, twisting caves of endless descent.

B.                 A doomed economy

Rev 18:15  The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,

Rev 18:16  And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!

What are you buying into? IF your only hope is placed in the economic mountains peaked with sure investments and golden opportunities, you will end up disappointed. Don’t buy into the sloping promises of technology peaking toward summits of new and greater intelligence and think that it is safe. Safety is not in what you buy from the world, but in what you gain from God’s Word. The grass will wither. The flowers of the field will fade. But the Word of God will stand forever. My friend you have to think beyond the merchant-customer relationship.

The merchants come and go. They buy and sell. They drift in and out your life with no concern for your personal well being; they merely want your dollars and cents with no thought for your soul; they want your credit transactions with no thought for you sin-debt. You are just a receipt waiting to happen. But all that will come to an end; only what you have from the God of salvation will last forever.

My friend, in that hour you don’t need another merchant selling you the latest version of the I-phone; you don’t need another set of costly silverware to store in your kitchen cabinets; you don’t need the fashion-watch everyone with any kind of prestige is wearing; you don’t need a merchant to sell you something; you need a Messiah who has already bought you. He paid blood for you. In the end you won’t need the prizes, pleasures, and performances of a Great city; you will need the help, the hope, and the healing of a Great Savior.