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All Scripture is keyed to the will of God and is the seed to eternal life
Day 4 FOT 2016—LIVE
Fred R. Coulter—October 20, 2016
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Let's come to Dan. 10. Here's a Scripture that we perhaps should have emphasized more and more through the years.
Daniel 10:18: "Then again, one with the appearance of a man came and touched me, and he strengthened me, and said, 'O man greatly beloved, do not fear…'" (vs 18-19).
Let's understand something here. God has called us because He loves us. God has given His Spirit to us because He loves us. God wants us to overcome and grow because He loves us and He has given His Word and His Spirit, and everything, so we can.
"'…Peace be unto you; be strong; yea, be strong'… [that's what we need to do] …And when he had spoken to me, I was made stronger, and I said, 'Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.' Then he said, 'Do you know why I come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia…'" (v 20). Michael and the demons and the angels fight behind the scenes. I think that describes our unseen election, everybody fighting.
One woman said she liked everything that Trump said up to the point when he got the angry look on his face. I thought, I wonder what my face would look like standing right next to one of the greatest liars of the twenty-first century.
"'…And when I go forth, lo, the prince of Greece shall come. But I will show you that which is written in the Scripture of Truth…'" (vs 20-21).
Pay careful attention to that which is written in the Scripture of Truth. The Hebrew there could be scroll, Scroll of the Truth! How much is written there?
You read all the details of Dan.11. There are a lot of kings that aren't mentioned. That's why all prophecy, unless a specific time period is given, must be calculated by event, not by a set time. That's where everybody misses the mark. They try and set a date.
A lot of us here can look back and see 1968-69 the cities were burning, riots everywhere. Coming out of Pasadena, we're going to a place of safety in 1972. Look at what's happening here, there's drought in different places, flood in different places. Sounds like today's news.
Then after the election, it calmed down. Then, lo and behold, we go 1970-71-72. By that time we're living down in Pasadena, sitting in the auditorium on the week before the Sunday in January that we were to go to a place of safety, to go to Petra.
Sidebar on Petra: There are some real good programs on Petra that's on National Geographic Channel, and so forth. They haven't even discovered one tenth of how big Petra is. There must be some treasures hidden there that they haven't yet discovered. You can't get in there, other than just the tourist events, unless you are taken by a guide and invited to go there.
This is not the Scripture of Truth, but what I'm going to tell you is true. One thing that struck me: there is a constant supply of spring water to Petra. If that's the place of safety, we don't know. But if it is, if we get there we'll know it. If we don't get there, we won't know it. That's how we have to look at it.
Back to 1972: Here we are, the Sabbath and Sunday before the Sunday we were supposed to go. The leader of the Church said, 'Now, we may go to Petra next week or maybe we may not go.' Of course, everybody didn't know what to do with their Petra boxes and bags. There were brethren who actually put goods and food and their Bible and stuff in the trunk of their car in case they had to go to Petra on the Sabbath.
But what did Jesus say? Don't pack your car for the Sabbath. No, He said, 'Don't let your flight be on the Sabbath.' See how people get it all wrong? What was the answer? The substitute fulfillment! Every time there's a false prophecy that comes along that's not fulfilled, they've got a substitute fulfillment. It was: we're advertising in the Readers Digest. That was from the 'scripture of error.'
"…written in the Scripture of Truth…" That's quite a thing when you think about it really. We live a very limited life, in a very small timeframe, probably less than a calculable time, as far as eternity is concerned. Does God have the whole history written down from beginning of creation? Will that be available for us? That's why we have to look at forever, because it will take us that long to read it.
Hebrews 10:5: "For this reason, when He comes into the world… [that's Christ] …He says, 'Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but You have prepared a body for Me. You did not delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin'" (vs 5-6).
As Paul was saying, all of those exterior things that you do, they can't convert the mind. You may be able to learn and do certain things, but only the Holy Spirit of God can convert the mind.
Where is the storehouse of sin for every individual? In the mind! The sin is an action that we do after the thought. Therefore, nothing short of the death of God, which had to be performed in a great miracle in order to do that, can take away the sins of human beings. Nothing exterior.
You can have all the sacrifices you want. You can wear all the holy robes you want. You can cut your beard; you can grow your hair long. You can cut your hair short; you can do whatever it is, you can have no children or 10-12 children, whatever it may be.
With the law of sin and death within us, nothing but God can change it. Like Paul said, if the sacrifice of an animal would do away with sin—what does a bull know, or a cow, a sheep, a goat, a pigeon or a turtledove? Nothing!
The reason they are sacrificed is because they don't have the law of sin and death within them in the way that human beings do. They all die, but they don't have the law of sin within them like human beings. So that was a substitute sacrifice.
Verse 7: "Then said I, 'Lo, I come (as it is written of Me in the Scroll of the Book) to do Your will, O God.'" Book in Greek is 'biblios,' so this relates back to Scroll or Scripture of Truth.
What does this tell us? Everything between God the Father and Jesus Christ—because God is a covenant God—they had a covenant. The covenant was that He was slain from the foundation of the world, before human beings were created. This was all planned and written down.
Sidebar: I think one of the great things They're going to do is read some of those writings of the history of what went on. But we have to get there first.
Now you know why Jesus had to come to reveal the Father and doing the will of God. You go back to the model prayer. It starts out, 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name; Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' So, everything in the whole plan of God is keyed to the will of God.
Luke 6:46: "And why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' but you do not practice what I say?.… Greek is 'poieo,' which means to do on a continuous basis, or practice. Then I added a note here, the three words: Obey My voice!
Verse 47: "Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and practices them…" This is interesting because in the Greek, the Greek is a participial language. And here it is practicing. It is a participle meaning a continuous action.
"…I will show you what he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock; and a flood came, and the torrent beat against that house, but could not shake it, because it was founded on the rock. But the one who has heard My words and has not practiced them is like a man who built a house on top of the ground, without a foundation; and when the torrent beat against it, it fell at once, and the ruin of that house was great" (vs 47-49).
Everything in the Word of God is keyed to the will of God. Dan. 10:21 tells us the basis of it is already written down. Figure how great God is.
Hebrews 10:7: "'Then said I, "Lo, I come (as it is written of Me in the Scroll of the Book) to do Your will, O God." In the saying above, He said, 'Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin (which are offered according to the priestly law) You did not desire nor delight in.' Then He said, 'Lo, I come to do Your will, O God.'…" (vs 7-9).
Then he expressly shows that there's a change in the covenant; "…He takes away the first covenant in order that He may establish the second covenant; by Whose will… [God's love, desire; He has desired us, and we need to respond to Him] …we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now, every high priest stands ministering day by day, offering the same sacrifices repeatedly, which are never able toremove sins, but He, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God" (vs 9-12).
Stop and think how great that was. That's why keeping the Feasts of God tells us a lot about what God is doing. Everyone wants to know:
- What about the innocent people who die?
- What about those who were cheering for the Nazis that were bombed to smithereens?
They thought they were doing right!.
- What about those in England, the bombs falling and they were cheering for their side, and the Americans, too? They died!
- What did they do wrong?
- What's going to happen to them?
- What happens if a baby dies?
We have to come to the Last Great Day to hear that.
"…forever, sat down at the right hand of God" (v 12). This is what is so important in our relationship with God. When we pray we go right to the Father, and Christ is at His right hand. He is our sacrifice and He is our High Priest. Jesus said, 'You pray directly to the Father, for the Father Himself loves you.'
Stop and think for a minute. The whole operation of God has got to be so absolutely marvelous and fantastic, written down ahead of time. Like Gabriel told him, he said, 'Written in the Scripture of Truth.'
Here we are 1980 years later from the sacrifice of Christ, and He's dealing with us. That's an amazing thing, brethren. Do you understand that?
When you begin to grasp that that will help you more in your prayers than anything else and will help you in your study.
- you are literally praying to God
- He is literally hearing those prayers
- they are literally going to God, via the power of the Holy Spirit
I'm sure the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8) brings a message to God with utterances that we can't utter. So, all of the collective garbage in our minds that is there and kind of attached to what we say, the Holy Spirit cleans it up. Spiritual filter to take it away.
Verse 11: "Now every high priest stands ministering day by day…" What does this phrase tell us right here? The temple was not yet destroyed! This is present tense.
If someone says, 'It was transmitted by oral tradition for decades, the temple was standing when he wrote it. We can narrow it down to when he was in prison in Rome. We can narrow it down even more that this was sent to them before James, the brother of John, was martyred as a warning of what was coming and what they needed to do. The temple was going to be destroyed. For the Jew that was the most unthinkable thing that could happen. This is why he is writing this.
"…offering the same sacrifices repeatedly, which are never able toremove sins" (v 11)—spiritually. Understand this. When it talks about a sin sacrifice in the book of Leviticus, and it says your sin will be forgiven, it was forgiven to the temple. That was it, not forgiven for eternal life.
Verse 12: "But He, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God…. [time past, time future] …Since that time, He is waiting until His enemies are placed as a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has obtained eternal perfection for those who are sanctified" (vs 12-14).
Eternal perfection for us is the ultimate goal. Between now and then we are being perfected (Matt. 5:48). What perfects our character.
Why has God given us goals that extend beyond our physical lives? You can look at it this way with a sports team. Right now we have baseball and they're ready to start the World Series. One team will win the World Series. They will be the champions. That is attainable by any team if they do thus-and-such.
However, human beings, even though we are being perfected, are never perfected in the flesh! Why? Remember the parable of the rich man. He came to Jesus; he was rich, good, obedient. He was an upstanding citizen of the community.
He came and bowed down to Jesus and said, 'Good Master, what must I do to receive eternal life?' Jesus said, 'Why do you call Me good? There is none good but God.' Why didn't Jesus say, 'I'm God in the flesh,' because He was. He said, 'There's none good but God.'
Since there are only two Gods, He was referring to the Father. Why did He say, 'Don't call Me good?' He had the law of sin and death within Him! As long as the law of sin and death is within people, you can never be totally perfected.
1-John 2:3: "And by this standard we know that we know Him: if we keep His commandments." There's another little if. There are 1700 in the Bible, most of them apply to human beings.
Verse 4: "The one who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the Truth is not in him."
Remember that the best lies are given by people who seem sincere and honest. If you watch CNBC about all the con games of the investment people, they convince people with lies, because they're nice and they smile. Does that not describe many of the Protestant ministers who say the Law is done away? And for anyone to call him a liar, 'you're mean and nasty.'
Verse 5: "On the other hand, if anyone is keeping His Word…" Notice how this goes from commandments to Word, because what we do is more than just commandment-keeping. Commandment-keeping is an expression of God's love, but the love of God involves much more than commandment keeping. How are we to love God? With all our heart, with all our mind, all our soul, all our being.
- "…is keeping…"—present tense participle, ongoing
- "…His Word…"—that includes everything that we have in the Bible today
- "...truly in this one the love of God is being perfected.…" (v 5)—a process
There are times you are doing really good and you're thinking good and everything's just fine, and then BANG! something happens. That's the human nature in you. That will happen from time to time because we need to be aware of the fact that we cannot be completely perfect in the flesh, but the process is going on. So, you get rid of that, which you did which was not right by repenting.
"…truly in this one the love of God is being perfected. By this means we know that we are in Him. Anyone who claims to dwell in Him is obligating himself also to walk even as He Himself walked" (vs 5-6)—the perfect model.
Other than Pentecost, Jesus never kept Sunday!
This tells us an awful lot, Hebrews 10:14: "For by one offering He has obtained eternal perfection for those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after He had previously said, '"This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days," says the Lord, "I will give My laws into their hearts, and I will inscribe them in their minds"'" (vs 14-16).
You start with the Ten Commandments, the other commandments. You grow in grace and knowledge.
Verse 17: "And their sins and lawlessness I will not remember ever again." Stop right here for just a minute. It doesn't say we won't remember them, because we still have the law of sin and death in us.
I don't know about you, but I think I'm beginning to understand why the older you get, the more you remember what you did when you were a little kid. I don't know whether my brain is shrinking, so it's getting back to what I did, but stuff I hadn't remembered for years, all of a sudden there it is; it pops up in my mind. Anyone who has never had that happen, raise your hand. That's why it's being perfected!
Every time I see this add for Prevagen, help your memory that they discovered in jellyfish. Then it shows the electricity going through the connections in the brain. Every time I see that I think, that's what needs to be with all of our minds to cleanse them.
Speaking to Israel and the blessing that He is going to bring them; Isaiah 9:1: "Yet, there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish, as in the former time. He afflicted the land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time He will glorify the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light… [that's what it's going to be when the Millennium begins] … they who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them the light has shined. You have multiplied the nation. You have increased their joy. They rejoice before You according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil, for You have broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his taskmaster, as in the day of Midian; for every warrior's boot used in battle, and every garment rolled in blood shall be burning fuel for the fire" (vs 1-5)—showing how we're going to clean up for the Millennium.
Here's a very interesting thing. This happens in another place, I'll show you. Right here we go, first part is second coming, then we go to first coming. 'Precept upon precept; line upon line.'
Isaiah 50:4: "The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of the learned, to know to help the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as one being taught."
Verses 4 and 5 are a prophecy of how God taught Jesus as an infant. Never went to the rabbi schools. By the time Jesus got into His ministry and what He was preaching, those rabbis would have been executed because of what He taught.
Verse 5: "The Lord GOD has opened My ear, and I was not rebellious, nor turned away backwards." That's from infancy to a child.
Remember when they were up at Jerusalem during Passover and Unleavened Bread (Luke 2). Jesus stayed back at the temple. They were amazed at His knowledge of the Scriptures. Where were they written? In heaven, right before the throne of God!
- How much did He write in there? Don't know!
- How much did the Father write in there? Don't know!
Notice what happens, with the next verse. It goes from His childhood, immediately into the beginning of His sacrifice.
Verse 6: "I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting, for the Lord GOD will help Me; therefore, I have not been disgraced. On account of this I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed" (vs 6-7).
That's how a lot of the Old Testament is written. Now let's see the same thing in Isa. 9; the first five verses talk about the beginning of the Millennium and ending all the oppression and wars that are on the earth. Then it jumps right to the prophecy of Christ coming in the flesh.
As we read some of this, think of what Jesus said in Revelation: 'I am the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega.' He said it in the book of Isaiah as well; three times in the book of Revelation.
Isaiah 9:6: "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulders…" Notice how that is all jumbled together. Right after Jesus was born, He wasn't placed on the throne. So, prophecies can be that way.
I find this in reading and studying the Bible. I've read it, I've studied it, I've gone through translating and all of this. You know, there are times when I come along and read, it's almost like I'm reading it for the first time. Why? Because you've got all of the other knowledge of it in your mind and when you come to the Scriptures, you see a more complete picture with more complete meaning! That's what we have here in these verses.
"…and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (v 6). We explain He'll become an Everlasting Father, all the people coming into the Kingdom of God through the Millennium.
Verse 7: "Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end… [on into eternity] …upon the throne of David, and over His kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with righteousness from henceforth, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this."
Quite amazing how the Bible is put together!
(go to the next track)
Acts 1:6: "So then, when they were assembled together, they asked Him, saying, 'Lord, will You restore the kingdom to Israel at this time?'" Everyone wanted to know 'when are you going to do it, God?' When I'm ready!
Verse 7: "And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has placed in His own authority; but you yourselves shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth'" (vs 7-8).
That has to be a prophecy of the writings of the New Testament, written by the apostles, put together, added to the Old Testament, going to everywhere in the world. Today there are more Bibles in the world, not just physical ones with paper and ink and leather, but the digital ones.
Those who are on top of it, like Jonathan is, he carries the Bible with him all the time. So, when he's looking down there during services he's not texting. He's reading the text of the Bible. We offer that on our website free. You have to have a smart phone.
Think of the physical Bibles, the digital Bibles, all the books written about the Bible, things written in the history about it. Every time they do an archeological something anywhere in the Middle East it always verifies the Word of God. So, to the ends of the earth!
I remember one time I got a letter from Mauritius. It's in the southern Indian Ocean way down. I thought, if that isn't the end of the earth, I don't know what is. That was before we had the whole Bible, so I sent him a New Testament. That was my part in doing it.
Let's see something very interesting. When you get into it you find the whole Bible is interesting. Here's a prophecy of the end-time, a scene that take place right in front of our eyes, right now. Remember we read the prophecy that God said He would draw all nations to Jerusalem. That's referring to the great battle. What armies were just introduced into the Middle East? The Russians!
Zechariah 12:2: "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people all around… [all around and also every session of the United Nations. All nations are gathered there] …when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem."
That happened in 586B.C. Happened in 70A.D. It's going to happen in our day again. Here we have multiple fulfillments of one prophecy. Every time works out this way.
Verse 3: "And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people…."
- Was it a problem for the Roman Empire? Yes, it was!
- Was it a problem for the Babylonian Empire? Yes, it was!
- Is it a problem for the world today? Yes!
"…All who burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces… [Is that partially happening today in the Middle East? That's going to happen] …though all the nations of the earth be gathered together against it."
Verse 6: "In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood… [v 7]: The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first…'" He also did that with the Jews. They went into Babylon, came back, so He brought them back. You could say that's a type of salvation.
That happened when the Gospel was being preached (Acts 2-3). What was one of the first things that Peter said was going to happen? Christ went up to heaven until the restitution of all things. Now we have the prophecy to be fulfilled in the end-time.
Look at it this way. Who is the Gospel preached to first? The Jews! All the first Christians for the first twelve years were Jews. 'I will save the tents of Judah first.' That's going to happen again with the 144,000 (Rev. 7). What is the first tribe listed? Judah. Where will the two witnesses be? Jerusalem.
It's going to become a burdensome stone for all people. Can you imagine what it's going to be like when the two witnesses come on the scene? We don't know who they are going to be. Dolores thinks that the governor of Judea is going to be someone like Netanyahu. We thought it would be others in the past, but they have all died. It would be interesting if it were. Is he resolute? Yes! He's actually had Bible studies in his house every week. I don't know how much of the New Testament they read, if they read any. But sooner or later God is going to intervene with the Jews and the two witnesses will come on the scene.
Can you imagine the zeal of the Jews repenting? That's going to be quite a thing! What it appears to happen is they will build the temple where it should be built.
People have asked: 'Why is God going to let them build a third temple?' The reason is to show and prove that a physical temple can never cure human nature! You can have all the sacrifices you want. Go to the Temple Institute {templeinstitute.org} to look it up. They have a lot of things. They are getting ready.
Now the United Nations has a resolution that the Mosque of Omar, it's on the area where used to be Fort Antonia, that's not the place of the temple. So, the Jews are going to eventually find it. They will build it. They say when they complete the temple that Messiah will come. That's somewhat of a true statement. He's coming and prophesied long before when He would come. That's why there's going to be the pitch battle between the two witnesses and the beast and the false prophet.
Imagine with all the television we have today—something happens in Jerusalem, in a minute and a half we have it on news around the world. Think what it's going to be when the two witnesses come on the scene.
Zech. 3 shows one of them will be the priest of the high temple. Zech. 4 shows that it will be the governor of Judea, selected by God, directly! Won't be anyone from the Church. Can you imagine someone from the Church going over to the Jews and saying, 'Hey, I'm one of the two witnesses here. The other one's my wife.' The Jews have a special psychiatric ward for all of those who come saying they're prophets. I heard of this account. I have to tell you about it.
They have special agents which deal with them. People come in saying, 'I'm Jeremiah.' Different ones come in saying, 'I'm Elijah. Elijah has come; I'm here.' (Mal. 4). One of them came in and said he was Elijah. They had their agent come out and talk to him. I don't know what they did with him that day, but the next day they got another call. This guy said he was Elijah, a different person.
The third day he invited both of them to breakfast. They sat down to eat and said, 'Elijah, I'd like you to meet Elijah.' Men are not going to, of their own volition, fulfill the prophecies of God.
There is one man who is a Church of God minister who says he's the apostle for the 21st century and he will appoint the two witnesses. People follow him. People sell their houses and give him the money—today!
Verse 7: "The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the people of Jerusalem may not be magnified above Judah."
Isaiah 12:1: "And in that day you shall say, 'I will give thanks to You O LORD; though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You do comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid…'"
The reason it's going to get so bad at the end-time is because men will still cling to the idea that they will be able to save themselves and the human race. That's why it's going to get so bad. They will learn that unless God returned in the person of Christ, and the resurrection of all the saints, there would be no flesh saved alive. That's not human flesh, that's all flesh. Human beings do not have the ability to save themselves.
Verse 3: "And with joy you shall draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day you shall say, 'Praise the LORD! Call upon His name; declare His doings among the people, make mention that His name is exalted. Sing to the LORD; for He has done gloriously; this is known in all the earth'" (vs 3-5).
Now we start out with the beginning of the Millennium. Then it stretches out all the earth; v 6: "Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst."
Isaiah 11:1: "And there shall come forth a shoot out from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him… [this applies to first coming, second coming] …the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. And He shall not judge according to the sight of His eyes, nor after the hearing of His ears. But with righteousness He shall judge the poor…" [note sermon series: Judge Righteous Judgment] …and shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth… [just speak the word and it happens] …and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked" (vs 1-4). That's going to teach a lot of people they're not very mighty.
Remember what it says there in Rev. 19 that the sword goes out of his mouth, flesh falls off of them (Zech. 14). That's going to be a sight to see.
I remember when Dolores and I saw for the first time the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie. Right there at the end he looked into the Ark and his flesh fell off. We were right there in the theatre and Dolores says that that's the way it's going to be when Christ returns. 'I'm big and strong and tough and I have all of this armor on me and I've been trained and I know all of this.' Then here's this skeleton. That will be something!
Verse 5: "And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins."
Here's what's going to happen to the earth. Everything's going to be changed. God is going to bring about climate and environmental change that Obama doesn't know anything about. Think of that!
About three years ago they had this big meeting in Denmark, all of them gathering for the summit on global warming. What did God do? He caused a snow storm to come right down on Denmark and dump three feet of snow right on Denmark, when they had their conference! It was on global warming. 'Hello, this is nice warm snow. Thank you.'
I bet there was a lot of laughter going on, here they are, all sanctimonious, and the powerful and the elite. They're all getting together. 'We are the ones who run the world. We're going to bring in a world government and what we're going to do is save the world from global warming.' Then God sends three feet of snow.
Verse 6: "Also the wolf shall dwell with the lamb… [that's a change] …and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the cub lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them."
Think of this: If you had a tame lion, small enough for a child, and you had a plastic toy over here and you brought a child and said, 'Which toy would you rather have? The lion? or the plastic toy?' I think they would choose the lion first!
You can try today with rabbits. Bring some rabbits in. 'How would you like to have a rabbit?' I saw the other day a dog and a rabbit were the best of friends.
Verse 7: "And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox."
That's the one that gets me. I haven't been able to figure out how that's going to be. On the cartoons they have this lion when it smiles, he's got all human teeth in there. Is that what's going to happen? Instant dental replacement? I don't know! God is going to do some terrific things.
When did all of this get upset? Garden of Eden after the sin! Changed the environment, changed the animals and everything. What's that going to be like? This is the one that really gets to me:
Verse 8: "And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the viper's den." I still can't figure out how that's going to be.
Jonathan will remember this. We went down to the San Diego Zoo. When we lived in Pasadena we'd go down there several times. He and David and Steven loved taking me through where the reptiles were and the snakes were. They'd walk along and look at the glass and say, 'Oh, look at this Dad.' I'm six-feet away and say 'Uh um.'
I did get a close look at a Palestinian viper. What a snake that is! The one I saw was a little longer than this desk and it was about as big around as a small soccer ball. The whole length of its body was big and fat and then right at the end it went quickly into a little tail. Its head is where all the venom is. This Scripture came to mind when I saw that. I said, 'How is that going to be?' That's going to be something and we'll be part of changing it.
Notice v 9, end of crime; pay attention, Chicago. "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My Holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." There are still places they haven't gotten to the bottom of the ocean.
This is all we have today, the Bible. What's it going to be like? That means we have a lot of learning to do. When we're resurrected, I think we're going to be on a learning curve.
How do we grow? Think about it. God causes everything for us as human beings from conception. Even today all of our cells, right while we're sitting here, are still working and processing, creating new cells, replacing the old cells, getting rid of them through the waste avenues that we have in our body. That's going on all the time.
- our mind is working
- our eyes are working
- our ears are working
How do all of those work? God has done all of that. Amazing! What's it going to be like to become a spirit being?
Verse 10: "And in that day there shall be the Root of Jesse standing as a banner for the people; to Him the nations shall seek; and His rest shall be glorious." That's going to be a tough one to try and figure out how that's going to be.
Isaiah 14:3: "And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear, and from the hard bondage, which was imposed on you. You shall take up this song against the king of Babylon and say, 'How the oppressor has ceased! How his fury has ceased!" (vs 3-4). That's going to be an amazing thing.
When I read the last part of Rev. 19, the beast and the false prophet kept alive to be thrown in the lake of fire, once in a while I pretend like I'm that angel, in my mind. 'Come here. I have a surprise for you.' That's going to be remembered.
Verse 5: "The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers." Only God can bring the right government. That's why He's dealing with us:
- to teach us
- to train us
- to convert us
That's why it's important that we keep all the Feasts of God, like here now with the Feast of Tabernacles. We understand that everything about the world we live in is temporary and even we are. But it is the seed to eternal life. That's an amazing thing!
Verse 6: "Who struck people in wrath, with unceasing blows, ruling the nations in anger, with an unrelenting persecution." That's the way it's going to be when the Tribulation is unleashed.
Verse 7: "'All the earth is at rest…'"—and His rest shall be glorious. What is that going to be like? We'll find out because we're going to help carry it out. What part of it might you want to work in? Not everybody can be a priest. Not everybody can be a king. There have to be those who are over cities. There have to be those who do whatever there is to run the whole government. So whatever it is, it's going to be fantastic.
Verse 7: "All the earth is at rest and is quiet; they break out into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you have fallen, no woodcutter will come up against us'" (vs 7-8).
Think of what those who don't keep the Feast of Tabernacles are missing. Amazing.
Psalm 45:1: "My heart overflows with a goodly matter; I speak of my works to the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. You are more excellent than the children of men; grace is poured upon Your lips; therefore, God has blessed You forever. Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One, with Your glory and Your majesty. And ride victoriously in Your majesty in behalf of truth and meekness and righteousness; and let Your right hand teach You awesome things" (vs 1-4).
Verse 9: "Kings' daughters are among Your honorable women; on Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir. Hearken, O daughter, and consider and incline your ear; and forget also your own people and your father's house. Then the King will greatly desire your beauty; for He is your Lord, so honor Him" (vs 9-11). This is the marriage of the Lamb. That's going to be quite a thing!
Once you put all of these things together, it gets so exciting, you can hardly stand it.
Psalm 85:6: "Will You not give us life again, so that Your people may rejoice in You?... [answer is yes] …Show us Your mercy, O LORD, and grant us Your salvation. I will hear what God the LORD will speak; for He will speak peace to His people, and to His saints, but let them not turn again to folly. Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, so that glory may dwell in our land" (vs 6-9).
These next couple of verses are really wonderful verses, a couple of my very favorite in the Bible:
Verse 10: "Mercy and Truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven" (vs 10-11).
That's how it's going to be all during the Millennium. With all of what's going to happen to the weakness of human nature down through time, with everything on the earth run by Christ and the saints. All the physical earth and everything on it physically, is restored to what it should be and greater than that.
- How will human nature work?
- How can it be that some people may reject salvation during the Millennium?
From where we sit today and read all of these things living in the world, we think that's an impossibility.
Scriptural References:
- Daniel 10:18-21
- Hebrews 10:5-7
- Luke 6:46-49
- Hebrews 10:7-12, 11-14
- 1-John 2:3-6
- Hebrews 10:14-17
- Isaiah 9:1-5
- Isaiah 50:4-7
- Isaiah 9:6-7
- Acts 1:6-8
- Zechariah 12:2-3, 6-7
- Isaiah 12:1-6
- Isaiah 11:1-10
- Isaiah 14:3-8
- Psalm 45:1-4, 9-11
- Psalm 85:6-11
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Daniel 11
- Romans 8
- Matthew 5:48
- Luke 2
- Acts 2; 3
- Revelation 7
- Zechariah 3; 4
- Malachi 4
- Revelation 19
- Zechariah 14
Also referenced: Sermon Series: Judge Righteous Judgment
FRC:lp
Transcribed: 12/3/16
Formatted: bo—12/4/16
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