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Meeting God the Father and Jesus Christ face-to-face,
then bringing peace and the Kingdom to the Earth
Fred R. Coulter—June 25, 2022
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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services!
We’re going to finish off about the Sea of Glass, but we have cover some ground before so we know what we’re doing, and know exactly what God has done.
Jesus said that we, in the end time, ‘understand things that have been hidden from the foundation of the world.’ Also, things that have been hidden going along as the Bible was written. God did it this way so that those who do not want to obey Him will never understand. Those who partially obey Him will partially understand. But those who are Christ’s, with His Spirit, will understand!
It says in Prov. 25 that it is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of a king to uncover it! Isa. 28 is important because this tells us how we are to understand some of the Scriptures. One of the ways that God conceals something is to first talk about what’s going to happen and then later He gives a sequence of events as to what’s going to happen in timeframe. This is what makes it difficult to try and understand the Scriptures.
The Bible is written in this manner as a blessing for those who have the Spirit of God, because they will be able to understand as God leads them. But, as a concealment for those who won’t obey, and a concealment even for those who are able to understand until the proper time that God wants it understood.
Isa. 28—we gone over this many times, but the most familiar we overlook and never go back there again because we know it.
Isaiah 28:9: “Whom shall He teach knowledge?….”
John 6:45: “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’….”
How are we taught of God? With His Word, Spirit and those who teach, IF they stay close to God, God will be with them and open their mind and give them understanding! That’s been true all the way down through the history of the Church.
Jesus said in Matt. 13 that certain things have been give to us to understand, which have been hidden from the foundation of the world!
- think about that
- think about what we know
What we know is not everything we need to know, because we can’t know everything! But we know what we know!
Isaiah 28:9: “Whom shall He teach knowledge? And whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Those who are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts.”
This means that you have to have a certain grounding and knowledge of the Word of God. Not going to be ‘newbees.’ It’s not going o be someone walking down the street and all of a sudden they open the Bible and think that they are a prophet! They’re not!
Verse 10: “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little.”
That tells us that it’s mixed up deliberately! The human mind likes to have it start to finish! But God didn’t write the Bible that way.
Verse 11: “For with stammering lips and foreign tongue He will speak to this people…. [notice what it’s supposed to do for us]: …To whom He said, ‘This is the rest He gives to the weary,’ and ‘This is the refreshing,’ yet, they were not willing to hear” (vs 11-12).
It’s talking about those of us who have ‘rest’ in keeping the Sabbath. When you really understand Heb. 4 about ‘sabbatismos’ and keeping the Sabbath, that is telling us that that is God’s rest and we are to enter into His rest every week! If we don’t, we’re rejected.
Most people read that…. Do you know what the Protestants say? Jesus keeps the Sabbath for me! Try it with your bills. Just leave them on the table and say that ‘Jack is going to come and pay these next week.’ He already said no, it won’t happen! It serves two purposes:
- it gives understanding to those who love and obey God.
- v 13: “…that they might go, and fall backward…”
Why would God want them to do that? No, He doesn’t want them to do that, but it’s automatic if people come to the Bible and they think they know what it really means when they don’t have a clue! But they rely on it and they: “…fall backward…”
- What’s the greatest example of that? Sunday-keeping!Holiday-keeping!
- What happens?
“…and be broken and snared and taken. Therefore, hear the Word of the LORD, you scornful men who rule this people in Jerusalem” (vs 13-14)—so, they can’t understand!
Let’s look at an example of how this comes about. Isaiah is really written this way, the entire book. Let’s see how this is not written in time sequence:
Isaiah 2:1: “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass, in the last days the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it” (vs 1-2).
We know that is when the Kingdom of God is setup. The same thing is repeated in Micah 4.
Verse 3: “And many people shall go and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (vs 3-4).
What follows is a mixture of current Jerusalem and the Day of the Lord. We have the Millennium right after that current Jerusalem. And right after that the Day of the Lord.
So, if you read those and think that they all follow in natural sequence, one after the other, you’re not going to understand it. That’s why God has done it this way.
Verse 6: “For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, because they have become full of divinations from the east…”
This is one of those things that would repeat over and over. What is ‘divinations’? Seeking after demons! They say that they have ‘Christian’ yoga! But it’s not! They just take the name of Christ and put it out front. But everything to do with yoga eventually comes down to seeking demons!
They won’t all come at once, because they want you to get use to it. They want you to become relaxed, and desire the great feelings that come from yoga, but it’s all to get demons! Of course, they wouldn’t tell you that.
“…and are fortunetellers like the Philistines. And they shake their hands with the children of strangers” (v 6).
Instead of coming to God, they go to strangers and say: How do these people worship their gods?
I saw a short column by someone who was talking to Islamists, and said that they were more Christian than Christians! Why? Because they (those who call themselves Christian) don’t follow the Word of God, and they get all messed up! Look at the world today; it is completely messed up! It’s almost if every day another batch of demons are let loose on the earth! It’s incredible!
Look at this thing with getting rid of Roe vs Wade. They say that it outlaws abortion and a woman doesn’t have choice. Well, they gave it back to the states. You need to read what they said. The states will decide.
But the truth is, it’s not your choice! IF you don’t choose to take protective means so you do not become pregnant, THEN you are responsible for a brand new life. By the time you find that you’re pregnant at six weeks, the fully formed infant is about two inches long: head, arms body, legs and feet. When you are carrying that baby, you have the obligation to love it, take care of it and bring it into this world. You do not have a choice to kill it!
What we can say of all of those who believe in abortion at any time, and infanticide—which they’re going to have here in California and other states—they are the party of Satan the devil. That’s exactly what they are! Satan is angry because he’s not getting his way. So, what does he do? He stirs up all of these ignorant, stupid little brats and sends them out into the street to burn cars, break windows, steal jewelry and tear down businesses!
Remember that the day is coming when the Kingdom of God is going to be here and we will end all of that! Think about how great that will be!
Verse 8: “And their land is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. And men will be brought low, and humbled—forgive them not” (vs 8-9).
This section right in here talks about the people, this is cyclical that happens to the people of Israel down through history. They go through times when they come to God and every is in pretty good shape. Then they come to other times where they’re corrupt and God has to send them off into captivity.
The next one, just so you see how these follow along, but are not in chronological sequence:
Verse 10: “Enter into the rock and hide in the dust for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of His majesty.”
This goes clear forward to Rev. 6. Look at the whole mix of it. This is why you need to have the knowledge of the Sabbath and Holy Days, so you can get the flow of prophecy of how God shows it through the Holy Days. You can’t understand it through anything else. You cannot understand it through any of the teachings of the Protestants.
They may have some understanding of some things, but what happens? Someone else comes along and says, ‘In this country we don’t discriminate.’
- Remember the word discriminate?
- What did they sling around the Christian community with that word?
- Around their necks and tightened it real tight?
They even got the Supreme Court to vote it! Same sex marriage! That didn’t happen in just an instant! That’s a culmination of many other things coming up to this point.
Sidebar: I saw a flash on television about that. Here’s this minister in a church—Sunday-keeping—with a cross behind him and people gathered around. He married two men and said, ‘I now pronounce you ‘husband and husband’!
How can that work? May they be blessed in their Monkey Pox!
Verse 11: “The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the pride of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day, for the Day of the LORD…” (vs 11-12).
Now with the Day of the LORD it jumps ahead a little bit! The Day of the LORD is the last year and four months of the chronology in the book of Revelation before Christ and the Church return back to the earth from the Sea of Glass. All that period!
Verse 12: “For the Day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every proud and haughty one, and upon every exalted one; and they shall be brought low, and it shall be upon all the high and lifted up cedars of Lebanon, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fortified wall; and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasurable craft. And the pride of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols He shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth for fear of the LORD and for the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake terribly the earth” (vs 12-19). All of that is a summary of Rev. 6:12-17!
Matt. 13 is also done somewhat in the same manner. Talking about the wheat and the tares:
Matthew 13:29: “But he said…”
Verse 28: “Then the servants said to him, ‘Do you want us to go out and gather them?’”
“…‘No, lest while you are gathering the tares, you also uproot the wheat with them’” (v 29).
We always have to be alert of false prophets and teachers—always! They are the tares!
Verse 30: “Allow both to grow together until the harvest… [the harvest of the righteous and of the wicked] …and at the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers, ‘Gather the tares first, and bind them into bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my granary.’”
Where is the granary? Heb. 12—you have come to Mt. Sion in heaven above, and to the spirits of just men made perfect! Be sure to follow that along. When you die, your spirit goes back to God. If you are faithful to the end, it goes to the place where God stores all the spirits of the perfected. For what? For the resurrection! Everything He needs for the resurrection is contained in the spirit of man, plus the Holy Spirit of God united with it, plus going back to God and stored ready for the resurrection.
Remember that no one goes ahead of the first resurrection, except Christ, Who was the Firstfruit!
Verse 31: “Another parable He presented to them, saying, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a tiny mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; which indeed is very small among all the seeds; but after it is grown, it is greater than all the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of heaven come and roost in its branches’” (vs 31-32)
This is a parable about what it’s going to be like for the Kingdom of God. For those who are converted to then provide for people to come in the Millennium.
Verse 33: “Another parable He spoke to them: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until all was leavened.’”
This is the good work of leaven; leaven is not always compared to sin. Remember that every piece offering had the offering of leavened bread. Only during the days of Unleavened Bread does leaven picture sin. What were they to bring forth on the Feast of Pentecost for a wave offering? Two loaves of fine flour leavened and baked!
That means when the work of the Holy Spirit is finished, and you are completed and ready for the resurrection, you re the same as a baked loaf of bread.
Verse 35: “So that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, ‘I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.’”
We want to stop here and think on this, because this is important! God has blessed us to understand things that even the Prophets didn’t understand. Daniel was denied to understand it, because God told him that it was ‘for the end of the age. The wicked will do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand!’
Then the disciples wanted to know what all of this was about.
Verse 37: “And He answered and said to them, ‘The One Who sows the good seed is the Son of man; and the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one. Now, the enemy who sowed them is the devil…’” (vs 37-39).
Don’t get mad when I say that those who believe in murdering children—whether in the womb or after they are born—belong to the party of Satan the devil, because they are murderers! It says it right here that they are of the devil!
“…and the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore, as the tares are gathered and consumed in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this age. The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His Kingdom all the offenders and those who are practicing lawlessness” (vs 39-41).
Again, all you Protestant ministers out there, if you’re listening, don’t be offended, but you are lawless! If you keep Sunday, you are lawless! You have created a lawless society, because Satan brought that lawlessness into your version of what salvation is in the Bible! You have it all wrong, yet, all of it is right in front of you to do right!
God has a very simple rule: When you understand something to do, and you don’t do it, your mind is closed! So, everyone out there who says that if you’re keeping the Sabbath you’re Judaizing they have no understanding:
- about Judaism
- about the teachings of Jesus Christ
- about how the Bible is put together
This is why I’m going through it the way I am today; so we can see that you have to put it together like a giant puzzle!
Verse 42: “And they shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear” (vs 42-43). That means you:
- listen
- agree with it
- understand it
If you don’t understand all of it, you understand the part that applies to you!
Verse 44: “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to treasure hidden in a field; which when a man finds, he conceals, and for the joy of finding it, goes and sells everything that he has, and buys that field.”
- same way with pearls (vs 45-46)
- same way with fishing (v 47)
Verse 49: “This is the way it will be in the end of the age… [that’s where we want to get to next] …the angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the righteous, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (vs 49-50).
All of this gives us parts of understanding what we need to in the book of Revelation. I might mention our In-Depth Study: Daniel/Revelation. A big transcript book with CDs.
Sidebar on paper: The State of California just said that they are going to cut way back on printing out things on paper, because there’s a shortage of paper. I want you to think on what could happen.
Some people are going to say that that’s great, we don’t need books. You need them more than ever before. If it’s all digital, they can terminate it at anytime with the flip of a switch.
I know there are a lot of people who have almost everything we’ve ever done on their computer. We’ll you’re not going to able to withstand an EMP—Electric Magnetic Pulse. The only way you’re going to protect is that you have everything you need on thumb drive contained in a lead box. You can get lead sheeting from a roofing company and you might make a covering for your computer.
There is a way around it, but it’s better to have all the books. You have total control of it. No one way off in some strange government city can throw a switch and wipe out everything you have.
Same way with your phone! You’ll have your phone and everything on it and all of a sudden there is nothing on it. You have never memorized one single phone number, so if the phone does come back on, who are you going to call?
Think about it! Did you ever think that the world would come to a point that they could take away all knowledge? That’s an amazing thing!
Rev. 6 is two years into the first three and half. At the end of two years. (tie in Hosea 6:1-2, possibly 3). They go into trouble and are afflicted for two years, and after two years, at the beginning of the third year God will raise them up! In other words, the Tribulation against Israel is two full years! With three and a half remaining, that’s how long it is to the end from this point in Rev. 6.
There are many places where God says, ‘I will arise to shake terribly the earth!’ Shake the heavens! Shake the earth! That’s going to be something!
Revelation 6:12: “And when He opened the sixth seal…”
This probably happens right at Pentecost or maybe just before! Maybe Day 49, we don’t know. But right in there, because Rev. 7 is the 144,000 and great innumerable multitude, and they are saved. This undoubtedly happens on a Pentecost (Rev. 7). Just like the giving of the Holy Spirit happened on Pentecost (Acts 2).
This harvest in Rev. 7 is God’s personal harvest, which I don’t doubt will be more than what the churches have done all the way through history. Let’s see what’s going to happen:
“…I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as the hair of sackcloth, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its untimely figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind” (vs 12-13).
That’s going to ‘scare everybody to death.’ All of us here have been in earthquakes. I remember on right here in Hollister. Out in other places along the fault line there was a lot of destruction. It was at night and I was lying in my bed and you hear a BANG! and then the bed was rocking for about two minutes.
Shake the whole earth; we can’t even comprehend what that’s going to be like. Will there be tsunamis? Everywhere! The whole earth is going to be changed! This is not the last one we will see. Then what happens after the earthquake.
Verse 14: “Then the heaven departed like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.”
Think about what that’s going to do for natural gas line, electric lines, petroleum pipelines! Everything of man is going to be destroyed.
Verse 15: “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the powerful men, and every bondman, and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains… [tie in Isa. 2] …and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him Who sits on the Throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of His wrath has come, and who has the power to stand?’” (vs 15-17). Can anybody resist God?
In part one I said to draw two lines: I’ll draw it for you:
P________________one year_________________P
Pentecost Pentecost
T_________one year____________T
Trumpets Trumpets
This is important in trying to understand it!
Click here for Pentecost-Trumpets Chart
I want to announce the brand new booklet that we have: The Holy Spirit by Steven Greene and Fred R. Coulter. This is the best booklet ever written on the topic to debunk the trinity. You need to get a copy of it. We have it online if you want to download it. Steven Green is an excellent writer and does a very good job and think Scripturally. That’s what’s important. You always have to have someone who is a good writer, who knows the Scriptures and how to put them together. This booklet does it like no other booklet ever written!
*****
Rev. 7—the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude! The 144,000 are the 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. What does this prove? That the 12 tribes were never absorbed into the Gentiles! Every Jew listen up; you’re not the only ‘chosen’ people in the world!
As a matter of fact, until you come to Christ the way He says to come to Christ, you are the rejected and not the chosen! If you don’t believe that, look at your history from the time of Christ until now. If that offends you, take it to God!
Here’s where the great innumerable multitude come from:
Revelation 7:9: “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one was able to number, out of every nation and tribe and people and language, was standing before the Throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and holdingpalms in their hands.”
You read that and it looks like they immediately go to the Throne of God. No! Remember, not everything that is in sequence in the Scriptures necessarily follows in a chronological way.
- Why?
- When are we raised from the death or changed from flesh to spirit? You have to bring other Scriptures into it!
Tie in 1-Thess. 4—the dead in Christ shall be raised first! Then we who are alive shall be caught up into the air for the meeting with the Lord in the air, in the clouds. That’s where the Sea of Glass will be. 1-Thess. 4 does not say a thing about the Sea of Glass; you have to put that in there from the book of Revelation. You’ve got to put it together. It’s like a big puzzle, you must put the right pieces in the right place.
1-Corinthians 15:20: “But now Christ has been raised from the dead; He has become the Firstfruit… [singular] …of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. But each in his own order:Christ the Firstfruit…” (vs 20-23). There’s an order: What do we know?
- The first resurrection when Christ returns! That all of those who have the Holy Spirit now, whether they’re in the ground dead, or whether they’re alive.
- The second resurrection after the Millennium! That’s the order for those lived lives, but did not know God, were not called by God and did not commit the unpardonable sin. Their order is at the end of the Millennium (Rev. 20; Ezek. 37).
In Ezek. 37 it talks about David and the two sticks has nothing to do with the first part about the second resurrection. It doesn’t follow in chronological sequence, so people get mixed up with that.
“…then those who are Christ’s at His coming” (v 23).
It’s not going to be before, because when the sky rolls back and the sign of the Son of man—which is like the sun shinning from the east to the west—will be doing that for a whole year from Pentecost to Pentecost. That’s why the people will change their minds and say that that’s not the return of Christ because it hasn’t come to the earth. You have to wait a year, it’s coming!
Verse 46: “However, the spiritual was not first, but the natural—then the spiritual. The first man is of the earth—made of dust. The second Man is the Lord from heaven. As is the one made of dust, so also are all those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly One, so also are all those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly One” (vs 46-49).
When? There’s only one point in the time of the history of God’s plan that this will take place! Those in Rev. 7 are not immediately taken to the Throne of God, because no one goes to the Throne of God before they are raised from the dead. When are the raised from the dead?
Verse 50: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery: we shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed, in an instant…” (vs 50-52).
This tells us when! When you have trouble figuring out things, you need to look for the Scriptures that tell us when. Many times the Scriptures do not tell us when, like in Rev. 7 that they all appear before the Throne of Christ. That doesn’t tell us when that takes place. It doesn’t take place immediately, because then they would come even before the first trumpet was sounded. So, that can’t be!
“…in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet…” (v 52).
The only place in the whole Bible that you have the first trumpet and the last trumpet is the book of Revelation. We will see that the last trumpet is sounded (Rev. 11). That comes on Pentecost, and that ends the age of this world and becomes the Kingdom of Christ at the moment of the resurrection at the last trumpet.
“…for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruptibility, and this mortal must put on immortality” (vs 52-53).
- Rev. 7 we have a trumpet sound, the last trumpet
- Rev. 6 & 7 is Pentecost
- Rev. 8 begins with Trumpets
You have one line going this way, the other line going the same way, they begin at different points and end at different points. Each period is one year.
The difference between Pentecost of Rev. 7 and Trumpets of Rev. 8 is a little over four months. What happens? All the nations clean up the mess from the earthquakes, the fighting and all that sort of thing!
This has to happen on the Feast of Trumpets; Revelation 8:1: “Now, when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar; and much incense was given to him, so that he might offer itwith the prayers of all the saints…” (vs 1-3).
This shows that the saints are resurrected, yet; these are the 144,000 and great innumerable multitude, the last of the saints to be sealed. Don’t you think that they’ll be doing a lot of praying after all they have experienced? Of course!
“…on the golden altar that was before the Throne. And the smoke of the incense went up before God from the hand of the angel, ascending with the prayers of the saints. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire from the altar, and cast it into the earth; and there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and an earthquake” (vs 3-5).
Go through Revelation and mark the earthquakes. The first big one is Rev. 6, the whole earth. Shake the heavens and shake the earth!
Verse 6[transcriber’s correction]: “Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound their trumpets. And the first angel… [the only place in the Bible where you count the trumpets] …sounded his trumpet…” (vs 6-7).
Verse 8: “Then the second angel sounded his trumpet…”
Verse 10: “And the third angel sounded his trumpet…”
Verse 12: “Then the fourth angel sounded his trumpet…”
How many trumpets are left? Three!
Revelation 9:1: “And the fifth angel sounded his trumpet…” That begins a whole new round of war.
Verse 14: “And it said to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet…” Seven minus six leaves one! The one is the last trump!
How can you figure out what the last trump is if the resurrection is on trumpets? Trumpets were to be blown all day long. These are distinct trumpets in distinct events that God is going to bring upon the earth!
Two of the worst wars in the history of the world conducted by men and demons is going to be Rev. 8 & 9—the fifth and sixth trumpet.
Revelation 10:4: “And when the seven thunders spoke with their voices, I was about to write….”
John was told to write everything he saw and heard. Notice what the angel told him:
“…But I heard a voice from heaven say to me, ‘Seal what the seven thunders spoke, and do not write them’” (v 4).
What does this mean? No man knows what they are! Some smart aleck minister in one of the Churches of God is claming that he and his wife are the two witnesses says that he knows what the seven thunders are. And Gerald Flurry says he knows what the seven thunders are. How do they know? Nothing was written down and you can’t compare it to anything else, because you don’t know what they do!
It shows the arrogance of ministers who brethren do not like! David Pack says that he’s going to supervise the two witnesses. REALLY? God’s going to supervise them! They’re connected directly to God! It has nothing to do with the Church! God is going to raise up the high priest of the coming temple in Jerusalem, and the governor of Judea at that time, and He’s going empower them (Zech. 3 & 4). They are called the two olive trees that stand before the God of the whole earth!
So, if you want to make it into the Kingdom of God, you better forget what you said concerning what I just spoke about.
Revelation 11:11: “Then after the three and a half days, the spirit of life from God entered into them and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. And they heard a great voice from heaven, say, ‘Come up here!’….” (vs 11-12).
Did we read that in Rev. 7 about the 144,000 and great innumerable multitude? No, because they didn’t go at that time! The two witnesses are the first two. The last two martyred are the first two raised. That honor belongs to them because they were witnesses direct from God.
Think about this: The whole world, with all of their armies, with all of the things that they have, and there are two men standing in the way! Two men! The beast and false prophet can’t do anything about it for three and a half years until just right at the end, and God raises them after three and a half days!
“…And they ascended into heaven in a cloud; and their enemies saw them rise. And in that hour there was a great earthquake… [another earthquake] …and a tenth of the city fell; and seven thousand men were killed in the earthquake. And the rest were filled with fear, and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming immediately” (vs 12-14).
These things are like Bang! Bang! The two witnesses are raised, this is declared and then:
Verse 15: “Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet…”
The seventh angel and trumpet is the last one. That’s not hard to figure. Here is when Christ becomes Ruler of the world. This is resurrecting the saints at the seventh trumpet!
“…and there were great voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and He shall reign into the ages of eternity.’ And the twenty-four elders, who sit before God on their thrones, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, ‘We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come; for You have taken to Yourself Your great power, and have reigned’” (vs 15-17)—starting to reign! Complete control by God!
Verse 18: “For the nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time for the dead to be judged…” That means that they’re to be raised!
- When are they to be raised?
- What did we find out in 1-Cor. 15? At the last trump!
- Where is the last trump? The seventh trump, right here!
“‘…and to give reward to Your servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to all those who fear Your name, the small and the great; and to destroy those who destroy the earth.’ And the Temple of God in heaven was opened, and the Ark of His Covenant was seen in His temple; and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake and great hail” (vs 18-19).
Rev. 12 & 13 are inset chapters. Remember that not everything is in chronological sequence. The Bible also gives a description of what is going to happen before it happens. Always remember that.
Revelation 14:15: “And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him Who was sitting on the cloud, ‘Thrust in your sickle and reap, because the time has come for You to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.’”
Like a big harvest Exactly how that’s going to be with the trumpets sounding… The resurrection begins in Jerusalem with the two witnesses. Everything else follows from there. Angels are involved in it. The angels are going to carry us up and meet Christ in the air (Matt. 24).
Verse 16: “And He Who was sitting on the cloud thrust forth His sickle upon the earth, and the earth was reaped.”
It looks like v 17 happens immediately after, but it doesn’t, because the resurrection of the saints must be accomplished first before v 17 can take place. This refers to the seven last plagues! Tie in Joel 3.
Verse 17: “Then another angel, who also had a sharp sickle, came out of the Temple that is in heaven. And out from the altar came another angel, who had authority over fire; and he called with a loud cry to the one who had the sharp sickle, saying, ‘Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the earth, because her grapes are fully ripe’” (vs 17-18).
Those are the armies that Christ and the saints fight when we come back to the earth.
So, these do not follow one after the other. The first one is where the resurrection applies to Rev. 11 & 15. The other one referring to the grapes is Rev. 16, the seven last plagues.
Revelation 15:1: “Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and awesome: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is filled up…. [but something else has to happen first]: …And I saw a Sea of Glass mingled with fire, and those who had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, standing on the Sea of Glass, having the lyres of God” (vs 1-2).
How does that get there? Remember in part one about the Sun of Righteousness! That’s the sign of the coming of the Son of man, and that ran from Pentecost to Pentecost. It shines forth from the east to the west. So, for that whole year, from Pentecost—of the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude—to Pentecost: the resurrection (Rev. 11) is one year. That looked like this additional ‘sun’ was out there and it wasn’t going to bother the Earth at all anymore.
This is when the earth (the people of the earth) rejects the idea that it has to do with the coming of the Son of man, and believes—because of Satan’s deception—that this is aliens from outer space coming to conquer the Earth!
Verse 3: “And they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, ‘Great and awesome are Your works, Lord God Almighty; righteous and true are Your ways, King of the saints. Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You only are Holy; and all the nations shall come and worship before You, for Your judgments have been revealed’” (vs 3-4).
The last part of v 4 strings out into the Millennium! The first thing they’re going to do is fight Christ and the saints coming down from the Sea of Glass. How big is the Sea of Glass? Don’t know, but it may cover the whole area right over the Middle East!
Think about that! Think about what it’s going to be with the world when they see that Sea of Glass! That’s why you read about the armies coming from the east. Every nation and every army, they’re all going to come and try to save the world. China is going to look like the greatest nation in the world, with the greatest army, and it’s going to come and rescue the world from this invasion of outer space.
While all of that is going on, we are going to be having some events take place on the Sea of Glass.
- we’re going to be clothed in white and bright linen (Rev. 19 and other places)
You don’t come to the wedding without the proper wedding clothes (Matt. 22). We’re to be clothed, because when we’re raised from the dead we don’t have spiritual clothes. You might have a thread or two left on you from you being in the grave, but the ants get in there and take away a little flesh and the cloth and build themselves an anthill.
- we shall see Jesus Christ as He is because we’ll be like Him (1-John 3)
We will be completely changed!
Psalm 17:15: “…when I awake, with Your likeness.” And we will see Him face-to-face (1-Cor. 13). That’s the first thing that’s going to happen.
- we’re going to see God the Father
The Temple of God is going to come down just a little above the Sea of Glass. It has to come down, because the seventh angel with the seven last plagues get them from the Temple. Who is in the Temple? God the Father!
This is going to be quite a thing, a tremendous ceremony. Think about all the saints there, all the Prophets there, all of the Patriarchs there. Everybody all together, spirit being and we have on our spirit clothes. We see Jesus Christ and God the Father.
This will be a formal wonderful presentation! Whose children are we? God the Father’s, children of the Father!
Hebrews 2:12: saying, ‘I will declare Your name to My brethren… [we will know the Name of God perfectly] …in the midst of the Church … [all resurrected on the Sea of Glass] …I will sing praise to You.’ And again, ‘I will be trusting in Him.’ And again, ‘Behold…’” (vs 12-13). Jesus speaking to the Father!
Here’s Jesus standing up there right in front of all of the saints. We’re on the Sea of Glass looking up at the Temple and there’s God the Father and Christ comes up and presents us to God this way:
“…‘Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me’” (v 13).
That’s quite a statement! Isn’t that something? Tie in Psa. 22. What’s going to happen after that?
- we’re going to receive a new name(Rev. 2 & 3)
What will that be?
- the marriage supper of the Lamb will take place
I don’t know what it’s going to be like to eat spiritual food. There are a lot of questions that you may have concerning that. When you eat it, how is it absorbed in your system? We don’t know! But we’re made in the image and likeness of God, ‘a little lower than God.’
Revelation 19:3: “And they said a second time, ‘Hallelujah! And her smoke… [Babylon the Great and things on the earth] …shall ascend upward into the ages of eternity.’ And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God…” (vs 3-4).
Remember that the temple is there where you can see it. So, not only do you see the Father, but you see the 24 elders.
“…Who sits on the Throne, saying, ‘Amen. Hallelujah!’ And a voice came forth from the Throne, saying, ‘Praise our God, all His servants… [we were just presented with our new names, all clothed and ready to go] …and all who fear Him, both small and great.’ And I heard a voice like that of a great multitude…” (vs 4-6).
All of us together on the Sea of Glass, and we’re going to respond back to God. Think about what that’s going to be like. That makes all of our hymnal look like pipsqueak!
“…and like the sound of many waters, and the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord God Almighty has reigned. Let us be glad and shout with joy; and let us give glory to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready’” (vs 6-7).
That’s what we need to do. That’s what we’re preparing for. Then the final preparations will be done when we’re clothed on the Sea of Glass.
Verse 8: “And it was granted to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, pure and bright; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he said to me, ‘Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the true words of God’” (vs 8-9).
The angel said, ‘Don’t worship me, worship God!’ Then it shows Christ.
Verse 11: “And I saw heaven open; and behold, a white horse; and He Who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He does judge and make war. And His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written that no one knows except Him…. [that was given to Him by the Father] …And He was clothed with a garment dipped in blood; and His name is The Word of God. And the armies in heaven were following Him on white horses… [which we’re going to get] …and they were clothed in fine linen, white and pure. And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He might smite the nations; and He shall shepherd them with an iron rod…” (vs 11-15).
- we all get our assignments
We have to know who we are, get a new name. We have to know:
- What do we do?
- Where do we go?
- Are we a priest?
- Are we a king?
- Are we an administrator?
- Do we go over a city?
- Do we go over a country?
- Do we serve special needs?
All of that will be known!
- last seven plagues poured out
- we come down off the Sea of Glass to the earth
- we setup starting the Kingdom of God
And the last culprit to be gotten rid of is Satan the devil and his demons who are cast into the abyss for the whole Millennium!
So, when we’re up there on the Sea of Glass, this is going to be the greatest time in our lives! Think about it! To see God the Father and Jesus Christ, all the angels, all the saints, all the patriarchs, all the apostles, all the prophets. To be there at the wedding supper! I wonder what that’s going to be like at the wedding supper? It’s going to have to be the best food possible, because these are the children of God!
I wonder what it’s going to be like to drink the spiritual wine, which Jesus said that He wouldn’t drink it until He was in the Kingdom of God. The first part of the Kingdom of God is on the Sea of Glass! I wonder what the toast of Christ will be for us?
All raise your glasses, all of you who have overcome and have attained the first resurrection! Now as you’re Savior, High Priest and King, and all of us together, we will bring peace to the earth! May you sip this wonderful truly spiritual lovely wine!
That will be a time! There’s going to be a lot happen on the Sea of Glass, and that’s going to be a tremendous thing indeed! It’s going to startle the whole world!
Scriptural References:
- Isaiah 28:9
- John 6:45
- Isaiah 28:9-14
- Isaiah 2:1-4, 6, 8-19
- Matthew 13:29, 28, 29-33, 35, 37-44, 49-50
- Revelation 6:12-17
- Revelation 7:7-9
- 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, 46-53
- Revelation 8:1-8, 10, 12
- Revelation 9:1, 14
- Revelation 10:4
- Revelation 11:11-19
- Revelation 14:15-18
- Revelation 15:1-4
- Psalm 17:15
- Hebrews 2:12-13
- Revelation 19:3-9, 11-15
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Proverbs 25
- Matthew 13
- Hebrews 4
- Micah 4
- Hebrews 12
- Matthew 13:45-47
- Hosea 6:1-3
- Acts 2
- 1 Thessalonians 4
- Revelation 20
- Ezekiel 37
- Zechariah 3; 4
- Revelation 12; 13
- Matthew 24
- Joel 3
- Revelation 16
- Matthew 22
- 1 John 3
- 1 Corinthians 13
- Psalm 22
- Revelation 2; 3
Also referenced:
- In-Depth Study: Daniel/Revelation
- Booklet: The Holy Spiritby Steven Greene and Fred R. Coulter
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 6/29/22
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