And verses seven and eight are very enlightening, and they point forward, undoubtedly, to another and a greater than what is here depicted in verses seven and eight. But the language is from God himself, and he's speaking to the children of Israel, and he says, I will take you to me for a people. He chose them to be his people. And I will be to you a God. and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, the great I am. I am the Lord your God. He was choosing them as a people. He was going to be their God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, where they were made to serve with hard bondage. And I will bring you in unto the land concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you for an heritage I am. I am the Lord, the Lord Jehovah, the omnipotent one, the all-powerful one, the one who does all things after the counsel of his own will, and his great delight, and his great provisions are for the children of men, not only the children of Israel, as here depicted, but for you and for me in this present day, as well as all days heretofore. The children of Israel in hard bondage down in Egypt, and they were to take a lamb, and they were to slay it, and take the blood, and put it on the two-side post, and the lintel over the door, and God was going to have the destroying angel, the angel of death, to pass through that land of Egypt that night, and where there was no bloodshed, where there was no lamb slayed. Then there was going to be the death of the firstborn. So we find they were redeemed by the blood of a lamb. And they were brought out. They were sent out. The Egyptians were glad and happy to get rid of them. And they were delivered across and through the Red Sea. And then into the wilderness, and by and by they got into the promised land, the land that he promised to give to Abram, Isaac, and Jacob, a land flowing with milk and honey. And this, friend, makes us think very much of a similar portion of Scripture, but in the New Testament. where we have the Lord Jesus speaking in John's Gospel, Chapter fourteen, and he speaks there of another place, another place where not only the Jewish folk, but the Gentiles as well, all the peoples of all the earth are involved and provided for, provided they wished to accept the provision that's made. It would have been very foolish for the Israelites, knowing that the blood of the Lamb should be shed and should be put upon the door for safety. It would have been very foolish if they hadn't taken the Lamb. However, If any of them had done so, they would have been cut off, and the oldest of the family would have died. So here's the greatest provision in John chapter fourteen. Let not your heart be troubled. They believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. And then he says, I go to prepare a place for you. for his disciples, for those who believed in him, for those who obeyed his words. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. Here's a place that's prepared, a special place. I go to prepare a place for you. This is the promised land for the people of today. Palestine was a promised land for the Israelites, but here is something greater by far. The Lord Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also. This promised land is what we generally refer to as heaven. Although this verse tells us it is a special place. He is going to prepare a special place for those who accept him as Savior now. And it's your birthright, friend, and it's my birthright to trust the Savior, who shed his blood on the cross, to actually put our sins away, and give us an entrance into the promises. place in heaven where he's gone to prepare a place for us. It's our birthright, my friend, to trust the Savior, so that we may be taken to that place, which he said, If I prepare a place for you, I'll come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also. This is the place he is going to prepare. This is something that's remarkable, friend. In my father's house are many mansions, but he didn't exactly say he was going to take us to those mansions. He says, I go to prepare a place for you, something special, something different, something we don't know that can't describe, it hasn't been described for. We don't know, and we can't conceive of what a place it will be because We don't have that description given us. But he said he's going to prepare it, and all who accept him as Savior, they're going to be there by and by, either through the instrument of death. If they've trusted the Savior for themselves, they know that he died on the cross for their sins. Why, then at death, they'll pass into that place. there immediately they will be present with the Lord, according to what Paul writes in this book of the Corinthians, absent from the body, present with the Lord. That is, the soul goes to be with the Lord, and the body goes to the grave. But then, for all those who are alive and remain at the time that the Lord should come to the air, and with a shout and the voice of the archangel, raise all who are dead in Christ, all who are in the cemeteries, all who have died in Christ, raise them first. And then he says in Thessalonians, the first Thessalonians chapter four, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Here we, the church. All those who are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ have accepted him as their Savior. As sinners, they have repented of their guilt and danger and need, and they have accepted and trusted and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior who died for their sins on Calvary's cross. And by faith we accept him as our Savior. He died for me. He died for you. And we are born again. We're saved by His precious blood, cleansed by His precious blood. We're destined for heaven. That place that's so great, it hasn't been described to us, the promised land was a marvelous place, but it was an earthly place. It was a natural place. There's a place here on this terrestrial wall. Vah! The place that the Lord Jesus has gone to prepare for them that trust Him. Those that love him, those that believe in him, my friends, if he's preparing that place, and if he prepares us, it will undoubtedly be a marvelous place beyond comprehension for you and for me. Oh, my friend, do you know the Savior as you're very old? Have you made him? Yours by accepting Him, by receiving Him, an act of faith. Have you received Him? Have you thanked Him that He died for you? That His precious blood cleansed you from your guilt and sin, and makes you fit for His presence in glory by and by. It's your birthright into this world to be born again through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. your sins forgiven, and you cleanse and made fit for the presence of God the Father through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. We're going to a fair land, a wonderful place, because the Lord Jesus Christ loved us and died for us on the tree at Calvary. Oh, my friend, have you trusted him? Thank the Heavenly Father for the Lord Jesus, who died for us. whose precious blood can cleanse us, and make us white a snow, in thy presence. And he's coming some day for us, that he might take us to be with him in that place he's gone to prepare. And so, Lord, we pray for all men everywhere, and women, boys, and girls, who have not yet accepted him as their Savior, that they may do so now, while they have time, while they have the accepted time, and while at the day of salvation. Again, we pray for our government, our country, And all who are in authority are presidents, the vice presidents, and all the Congress and the courts, and every governor of every state, and the mayors of our cities, and all who are in authority, as our bidness to do, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.