Herbert W. Armstrong Audio Sermon Transcripts
The Church of God Faithful Flock brings you transcripts of sermons given by Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong.
The Meaning of The Feast of Tabernacles
Feast of Tabernacles
Sermon Date: October 13, 1981
Greetings, brethren, all over the United States and Canada and Britain (and beside the mainland of the United States) in Alaska and in Hawaii. What a marvelous thing it is that we can all be together and that we have this wonderful setting here at the headquarters of God's Work. That is, the temporary headquarters now; because these headquarters are going to be moved very soon when the real Feast of Tabernacles begins at the Second Coming of Christ over to Jerusalem. And you know this Church has been busy building or rather digging over there in the largest excavation, so far as I know, in archaeological history. Digging down, clearing off the debris of the throne of David where Jesus Christ will soon come and will reign over all the nations of this earth and will bring us finally peace.
But we don't have peace now. Just one week ago today, in a matter of moments, the entire course of modern history was changed with the assassination of President Anwar Sadat of Egypt. I had planned to have another private conversation and talk with President Sadat just next month. I last had a private talk with him in the Giza Palace in Cairo just eleven months ago, in November of last year. You will see some pictures of that during the Feast, if you see the programs that are extra programs scheduled besides the regular services; and I hope that you will all see them. And in that meeting ...
President Sadat, incidentally, had risked his life when he made the extraordinary visit to speak to the Knesset in Jerusalem. And, instead of declaring war as he had previously done on the Holy Day War, he now went over to declare peace. He had changed his mind, and now he started to dedicate his life to peace; and indeed he gave his life for peace — as I sent in a condolence telegram to his widow, the First Lady of Egypt, on the day of the assassination. However, he was not able to bring us peace. No man, no leader, in the world can. They've striven for peace, they've fought for peace, they've worked for peace; but we have no peace and we cannot have peace until we change our way of life.
I've been struck with the average "gospel message" so-called (falsely so-called) preaching about Christ, just about Christ. That's all right in itself, but we need so much more than that. Jesus Christ was the Messenger who brought the message of the Gospel. The Gospel is the message He brought — the message from God the Father; and they ignore God the Father today in the religion known as Christianity. They just say, "If you have heard Christ, if you know that Christ died for you. The Gospel is that Christ died for you. You just accept the fact He died for you, 'hocus pocus', you'll go to heaven when you die."
Oh, how terrible it is, brethren, that the world doesn't know WHY WE ARE HERE! THEY DON'T KNOW THE PURPOSE OF LIFE!! THEY DON'T KNOW THE PURPOSE OF GOD ALMIGHTY. But this Church is beginning to tell them; and we've been telling them now for about forty-eight, forty-nine years. And the only voice in the world that is telling them the real truth of WHO AND WHAT GOD IS, OF THE REAL MESSAGE OF GOD AND THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST which is the Gospel OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, OF WHAT AND WHY MAN IS, HOW DID WE COME TO BE HERE? WHAT"S THE PURPOSE OF LIFE? WHY WERE WE PUT HERE? The world does not know those things.
Oh, it is so much more than just knowing that Christ died for us. Why did He die for us? What was the purpose? What does that have to do with us and our lives? There's something we need to do besides what He did for us. We need to let Him come into our lives and live our lives for us, and that's something else again.
Well, it had seemed in the last several years (the last fifteen years) that God had been holding up the sequence of world events in this world leading to a climax that is prophesied. Some of us who understand the prophecies of the Bible know what is coming, and we expected it to come sooner than it has. It hasn't come yet. But the event that happened a week ago today, I believe, has triggered and is a signal that the time has come. You know, a thousand years is as a day with God and a day is as a thousand years. He doesn't consider time as we do. He has held up events for a little while. But when the time comes, then SUDDENLY things will go to pieces. They'll fall into place in a hurry, and very quickly everything will fall into place; and the end will come. Jesus Christ will come and set up world peace.
Now this assassination of President Anwar Sadat (whom I knew well), on the very heels of the attempted assassinations of President Ronald Reagan of the United States and Pope John Paul II, should be a warning to the world (and I believe it is) that perhaps the holding up of events in the world is about over; and God is going to let things speed up very quickly from here on. If not now, when it does happen it will happen suddenly — so quickly it will take your breath, and the whole world will gasp in awe and wonder when they see the things that are prophesied.
For example, ten nations in Europe — probably five of them in Western Europe and five in Eastern Europe — reviving, resurrecting the so-called Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages; and that is going to happen very soon now. Satan now is sitting on the throne of this world. Now people don't understand that. We have governments all over the world. The different nations have their governments.
President Anwar Sadat governed the nation of Egypt. I talked to him about it. In my talk with him, I told him why we do not have peace. The two ways of life: the one is the way of get and that's the way the world is living; and the other is the way of give. He sat there smoking his pipe (You will see it in television, during this festival.), and nodding, and agreeing with what I said. And I said that we won't bring peace, but the God that we believe in will. The God. We call him God. And I said, "I believe you call him, Allah." And he nodded, "Yes." "He will intervene and bring us peace, and we will yet have the peace that you have been striving for." I gave him that assurance less than a year before he died.
But Satan is sitting on the throne of the earth, and for six thousand years he has been ruling in the governments of this world. He sits on a throne. The world is being governed, and people's lives are being governed. Now in the twelfth chapter of Revelation we read beginning with verse 7, and this is a prophecy that probably has just recently been fulfilled in our time. It's a prophecy for this approximate time right now.
Revelation 12:7-9 And there was war in heaven: Michael [a great archangel]and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels [another great archangel, the dragon] (8) And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. (9) And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
And now in verses 12 and 13: Revelation 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
He knows that he has but a short time. But what is all of that triggering? Satan cast out of heaven, down to earth and beginning to persecute the Church as the next verse said, which I didn't read. And we have been persecuted; and it does show that, after that, we're going to be taken to a Place of Safety. Then there will be another persecution of the remnant Church — known in the Bible, and in the 3rd chapter of the book of Revelation, as the Laodicean Church — a still greater Church but a lukewarm one that will come out of the Great Tribulation, which is now just ahead of us. But notice verses 10 and 11, which I skipped just a moment ago.
Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation...
When Satan is cast down, he knows he has but a short time. And how does he know it? Because Jesus Christ (in giving His disciples the sign of the end of this age and of the coming of the World Tomorrow, the coming of Christ and setting up a different world) said, "This GOSPEL of the KINGDOM shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Brethren, THIS CHURCH HAS BEEN PREACHING THAT GOSPEL TO THE WHOLE WORLD, AND NOBODY ELSE HAS DONE IT. NO OTHER CHURCH HAS DONE IT! NO OTHER VOICE HAS DONE IT! I WONDER IF YOU CAN YOU REALIZE IT? It is the FULFILLMENT of the very prophecy of Jesus in Mathew 24. The Gospel of the KINGDOM, THE GOVERMENT OF GOD!
Of course, the Kingdom of God is the divine Family of God. But that Family is a ruling Family. That Family is the Family that will be governing the world with the government of God, instead of the governments of man as they have been influenced and completely led by Satan the Devil. Satan is sitting on the throne of the whole earth. He has many, you might say, puppet leaders sitting on thrones of different nations; and that is the kind of world we're living in. People are governed, and there is government to regulate our lives. Now let's understand this thing. Notice now verses 10 and 11.
Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation...
People think that when you say, "I receive Christ," you have received salvation. The Bible does not teach that, my brethren. The Bible teaches that he that endureth unto the end the same shall be saved. Salvation comes with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and not until then. Oh, how deceived this whole world is. Satan the Devil has deceived them. He is the god of this world. He has his religions, he has his governments, he has his social structure, he has his business and economic structure. He has everything in this world! It's his world. But finally we're becoming...
Revelation 12:10-11 ...the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ [the rulership of Christ]: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. (11) And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved their lives unto death.
That doesn't mean that everybody dies that loves God and has His Word. In fact, this Church is to be protected from that sort of thing. But you have to love God and love peace and love things like that more than your life.
Now President Anwar Sadat didn't know the whole truth of God. I gave him a little bit of it. I'm sure he didn't completely comprehend it; because Jesus Christ said, "No man can come to me except the Father, which sent me, draws him." And God is only drawing a very few — one here, and one over there, and one somewhere else — out of the millions and the billions of the people here on the earth today. Only a very, very few are being drawn by God. But Satan is now wroth, and he is going to stir up the time that we know of as the Great Tribulation. This Church is to be protected from that Great Tribulation — those of us who are faithful especially, and that does not unfortunately include every one of us. I hope it includes you, and you, and you.
But finally I want you to notice in verse 15. I mean Revelation 11 and verse 15. Finally, "the kingdoms of this world" which Satan is ruling in the various presidents and prime ministers and kings and emperors ... And I have known all of the emperors — which only were two, and one of those is now dead. Many of the kings and prime ministers and presidents I have known and visited with them on their own thrones, so to speak, which are the offices where they do their work in the modern world like we live in today. And I've probably visited and talked with more heads of state in their own offices than any other man in the world today. But I can't convert them. I can't. And they can't bring us peace, and I can't bring peace. I can merely tell them that the problems they face are greater than they can handle, and that God Almighty is going to intervene and handle these things and settle them for us and send Jesus Christ to rule and to bring us peace at last.
Revelation 11:15 The kingdoms of this world have been the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall REIGN FOREVER and ever.
That's what you just heard in "The Hallelujah Chorus" sung right here in this building — in the Grand Loggia of this building, in this auditorium.
Brethren, we're here to celebrate the time that will begin with the Second Coming of Christ. That will be a thousand years of peace. Now, just five days ago, we celebrated a time that really signifies and reminds us every year of the fact that this Satan the Devil is going to be cast into a symbolic bottomless pit. In other words, set a seal upon him that he cannot deceive the nations anymore for one thousand years. And there will be a thousand years of peace on this earth. We had a sermon here in Pasadena this morning on peace. I wish that could have been telecast all over the whole world because it did help to set the pattern for this entire festival that we're observing now.
Peace is a state of positive mental tranquility, but it is more than just tranquility. It's a state of confidence, it's a state of love; it's a state of mind, an attitude of mind. And it was explained to those in the local audience here this morning, how (even though we live in a world of great disturbance and of war and of every evil) that we can have peace in our own hearts and our own lives even in such a world. I hope those same scriptures will be given to many of you all over the United States and Canada and Britain in other local sermons.
Today we're living in a SICK, SICK world. A VERY SICK world! A world filled with crime, filled with violence and war, filled with immorality, and filled with starvation and ignorance and suffering and every evil and everything that we don't want — because men are living the way they want to live. Now it all started at the very beginning, and you find that beginning in the beginning of your Bible in Genesis 1 and verse 1.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven[s] and the earth.
And it should be plural "heavens," and is in all translations except the King James; and as Moses wrote those words originally it was plural. God created the heavens at the same time He created this earth, and that may have been thousands or millions of years ago. We don't know. The Bible doesn't state that, and there is nothing in the Bible that contradicts the fact that it might have been that long ago.
But first God had created angels and angel life, before He created the earth and before He created man. He had created angels; and God is, well, God is in the business of creation. Jesus, when He was on earth, said that He worked; and He says, "My Father works." "My Father works and I work;" and we're to work and labor, but we're to work progressively and profitably.
Now we read, in the thirty-eighth chapter of the book of Job, where Job was a very self-righteous man but a very successful and a very wealthy man. Job had built the greatest building on the face of the earth, the Great Pyramid of Giza — the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Not very many know that. He was not the emperor of Egypt. The emperor had had Job do it for him. Job was merely the one who designed and supervised the construction and the building, and doing it for the Pharaoh.
But Job was self-righteous; and God had allowed Satan to take everything from Job, and everything finally except his own life. Job still didn't quite see the truth. He could not see that he was self-righteous. You know, that is the most difficult thing in the world — for anyone who is self-righteous to see it. He can't see it in himself.
You know, a sinner cannot ever have salvation until he realizes he is a sinner and will be willing to repent and change to a different way of life; and he needs to know what sin is. It is a way of life. It is the transgression of God's Law, and God's Law is a way of life. It's the way we ought to live; and it's the way of love, the way of out-flowing love: Love to God. Love to neighbor. It's the way that will bring peace. That will bring happiness and joy and every satisfying thing. It's a way of living. It's a practical thing, and people don't seem to be able to see that. I never could understand why they can't, but they can't. They're blinded.
Job 38:1, 4 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, [verse 4] (4) Where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding.
"Now you built this great pyramid — the biggest, the greatest, building on earth. I BUILT THE WHOLE EARTH! WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I DID THAT? I DID SOMETHING MUCH GREATER THAN YOU DID, JOB!" HE'S NOW WHITTLING JOB DOWN TO SIZE. JOB WAS TOO BIG. They used to have an expression, "to big for his own britches." I guess that would apply to Job. I guess that's the way he was. Then God continued about the creation of the earth.
Job 38:6-7 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof?(7) When [Now get this: at the creation of the earth, laying the cornerstone. When ... ] the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.
The "morning stars" are the archangels, the cherubs; and only three are mentioned in the Bible. Lucifer was one, Gabriel is one, and Michael is the other. "All the sons of God" meaning, in this case, the angels; and it was "the sons of God" that came together up in heaven when Satan came, and God said, "Have you observed my servant, Job?" Satan said, "Well, just let me strike him; and he'll turn to you and curse you to your face" (if you go back and read the beginning of the book of Job). So there were the angels, and why were they shouting for joy? Because the earth was to be their abode, and God made it first for the angels.
Now I said a while ago that God is Creator, but what is God creating? Just what is God creating? God is creating CHARACTER inseparate created entities, which God has created. Separate entities having minds of their own. But now the character — supreme, righteous, perfect character — is something even God cannot, by Himself alone, create automatically by fiat. He cannot do that. It takes also the decision making process and the will of the individual created entity, along with the work of God, to create that character.
Now God has that character dwelling within Him. That means the perfect way of life. It means following as a motive of life and an attitude of mind and heart the way of the Law of God, the way of out-flowing love. A way of living! This world is living just the opposite way, and no wonder we're having troubles. No wonder we have violence and war. No wonder there's trouble between husband and wife, and between parents and children, between neighbors, between groups, capital and labor, black and white. Any little thing that we can find, we get prejudice against someone else; and we get into discrimination, and hatred, and everything wrong. Because the Law of God in your mind and heart is the way of love, the way of tolerance, the way of concern for the good and welfare of others instead of just yourself. But people have self-concern.
So God established government over the angels in order to have a way to enforce His Law, in order to create character in them. Now the angel that He put over all them was one of the archangels — the morning stars, you know "light bringers" — was one called Lucifer.
I'd like to turn to that in Isaiah the fourteenth chapter, and I'll read now just the twelfth to the fifteenth verse. It is speaking primarily here of the king of Babylon, but he was merely a human ruler under the government of Satan. Satan was sitting on the throne of the whole earth, but this king of Babylon was merely a type representing Satan. So beginning with verse twelve, the lower type lifts to the greater anti-type of Satan the Devil; and speaks now of Satan, instead of just King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, beginning with verse twelve, where it says:
Isaiah. 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer...
Lucifer was his name. Now Lucifer means shining star of the dawn, one of the morning stars that sang when God created the earth. In other words, light bringer. He was a glorious archangel as God had created him. (A little more of that in just a moment later.)
Isaiah. 14:12-14 ...son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations. [Or, a better translation, "thou who didst weaken the nations, cut down to the ground."] (13) For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt MY THRONE [You see, he was on a throne. Now where was that throne? Was it in heaven? Was it on earth? Where was it? He said, "I will exalt my throne." Let's read on.] above the stars [or the angels] of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. [That is the only place in the Bible that gives you any hint where the throne of God is — in the far, far north.] (14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most High. [And some translate that "I will be the most high."]
He was going to knock God off His throne. He was going to take over the rulership of the whole world. In other words, jealousy had entered into him and rebellion. He was put on this earth to administer the Government of God. The Government of God was based on a constitution or a basic law, the Law of God, the Law of out-flowing love.
The only difference between that and the Law of God and the Ten Commandments is that we are mortal humans. We are male and female. Angels were not. We have to have in that Law the same principle expressed like adultery and honoring father and mother. They didn't reproduce. They didn't have sex. But the principle of first love to God and love to one another did apply to them just the same. But this archangel rebelled, and he talked all of his angels into a rebellion and into an army to SWOOP on up to heaven and to knock God off the throne and to take over. Now we're talking about the rulership or the government over the lives of people. That's what we're talking about.
Isaiah. 14:14-15 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds [So he was on the earth. He was under the clouds.] I will be like the most High. (15) Yet thou shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit [which really means to the grave. Now it begins after that to talk of the human Nebuchadnezzar.]
Now he was perfect as God had created him in the beginning. We find that in Ezekiel 28, and I'd like to read now just verses 15 through 17, where it says of this same super archangel Lucifer:
Ezekiel 28:15 Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created...
Not the day he was born. He was not a human being. He was not born, as you and I were. He was a created super being, and he was perfect in his ways. Now none of us have been perfect from the day we were born. But here's a super archangel that was perfect from the day God created him. What God created was something very perfect, but character had not been instilled in him yet. He had to make his own decision about that, and he made the wrong decision. He decided on rebellion instead of accepting the Law and living the way of the Law of God and accepting it as a way of life and teaching all of the angels under him that way and ruling their lives by that kind of government.
Ezekiel 28:16-17 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God [or the Government of God, The Nation of God, or the Rulership] and I will destroy thee [meaning "remove thee" is the correct translation there] remove thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. (17) Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty [and so on].
Now, he was one of the covering cherubs whose wings covered the very throne of God. He had been on the very throne of God. It makes me think of some of the ministers in this Church. They have been here at headquarters. They've gone through Ambassador College, and they have been taught and trained in the Law of God and in the Way of God and in the Truth of God; and then they're sent out into ... We call it "out into the field." In other words, to be a minister in charge of a local Church. Now we have had a very few of those, a small minority, who have rebelled and turned the wrong way; and they've turned others wrong with them, just as this Lucifer did. But I'm very happy to say that the majority have gone the right way; and today let me say that I'm happy to report to you that the Church today is in the most perfection condition of love that we have ever been.
In fact, I'm a little frightened about that, brethren, because Satan understands that too; and he's not going to let that stay that way if he can change it. Satan is going to strike this Church some way. I don't know how, but I just know he's not going to rest. He doesn't like to see this Church bound together in love as we are right now. Now he'll strike at any one of you if you will let him. You need to be constantly on your guard because Satan, as a roaring lion, is going about seeking whom he may devour; and he would try to devour any one of you.
Well, when Lucifer rebelled, the Government of God on this earth became inoperative; and the Government of God was no longer being administered. There was no Government of God being administered on the earth.
Now then, I'm giving you an overview. We heard a sermon on one of the points this morning — a marvelous sermon by the way, a sermon on peace; and the best sermon I've ever heard on that subject. You know, in this Church I leave it to our ministers usually to take the individual subjects (in other words, the branches of the tree); and I keep to the trunk of the tree. I give you the overview, theoverview purpose of it all; and they bring you the many, many individual points that we need to zero in on and focus down on and magnify, and individual subjects. So, you'll excuse me if I stick pretty much to the trunk of the tree, because I believe that is what God has called me to do.
Now this Lucifer became Satan the Devil, and his angels now became demons. And yet the Gospel when Jesus finally came, and the Gospel we preach to the world today, is the Kingdom of God; and that's the Government of God to replace that Government of Satan on this world. Now Satan is not ruling in the Government of God on this earth.
The Government of God is not operative any longer. It's not being administered on this earth except one place; and that is in this Church. And that's a voluntary rule. You have come in voluntarily. I didn't solicit any of you to come into the Church. I didn't ask any of you, I didn't plead with you, "PLEASE GIVE YOUR HEART TO THE LORD, PLEASE COME INTO THE CHURCH, PLEASE BELIEVE THESE DOCTRINES." I never did that. I proclaimed the truth; and I think perhaps the majority of you came into the Church because you heard a broadcast, or you read something I wrote in a magazine or that some other under me had written (one of the students that I had taught).
God had called you. NO MAN CAN COME TO CHRIST, and there is no way to come back to God except through Christ. But no one can come to Him, except the Father draws him. And that is only those that are predestinated, as I said in the message last night that you saw on the screen. And God has picked one here, and one there, and one over here, and one somewhere else all over the world out of the billions of people on the earth. You happen to be one of those people that He has picked.
And think of the responsibility that rests on you, that you were chosen. But you were chosen for a purpose. You were chosen for a service. You were chosen for a big job. You were chosen to change your life. You were chosen to let God come into your life through the power of His Holy Spirit and fill you with the love of God — of love towards others: and love, first of all, towards God; and then towards man — and then to help in getting this message to the world.
God has not called this Church to convert the world. He isn't trying to convert the world at this time. He is calling some for the Church that are the FIRSTFRUITS of God's salvation. The CHURCH IS TO BE MARRIED TO CHRIST when He comes. And we will be turned from human into God, from mortal into immortals, from flesh and blood into divine spirit. And we will then reign and rule UNDER Christ. But we have to be submissive to Him and take orders from Him. We have to be ruled now by Him and through His Church or we'll never be able to do the ruling with Him then.
And, you know, some have gone out of this Church because they've said, "Oh, I hate that Government of God in the Church." Do you hate the Government of God, the Law of God, which is just love towards other? And the Government of God is administered in love, not in ... It's not a stern tyrant ruling over slaves. It is the way Christ rules and the way God rules — in love and in mercy and in wanting to help and in wanting to serve. Jesus came as a servant, and yet He is the head of the Church. And that's the way of the Government in this Church.
Now God's purpose, as I said, is to create character. But now in humans God has another purpose. God's purpose is to REPRODUCE HIMSELF. God is NOT reproducing Himself in angels. They have no reproductive process within themselves. He made human man to have the reproductive process within himself because God is reproducing Himself in and through man. So, way back to Genesis one now once again, and we find that in the very next verse:
Genesis 1:2 And the earth was [or it had become, became]without form, and void;
The Hebrew words are "tohu" and "bohu," meaning a state of decay, a state of waste and emptiness as a result of the sins of the angels. God put the angels here to complete the earth. It had not been finished. It was perfect as far as God created it. He wanted them to go on and beautify it, and instead they ruined it physically. They ruined it physically. Now next, as you read in Psalms 104 and verse 30, what did God do then to a ruined earth? It says here:
Psalms 104:30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou RENEWEST the face of the earth.
The angels had polluted and ruined the surface, the physical surface, of the earth; and God RENEWED the face of the earth for man. He sent forth His SPIRIT. Now in John 1:1 you read there was in the beginning, "the Word, and the Word was with God; but "the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us." you find in verse 14 of John 1. The Word became Jesus Christ. He is the Word of God. But when He came as a human being He said, "I have spoken (He was the Word) but I have spoken only as my Father told me to speak". It ALL came from God the Father. They were of the same, like mind in perfect agreement. Two cannot walk together except they be agreed, and God and Christ were in perfect agreement. God the Father was the boss, and Jesus knew that all along. He was the Word. He spake and it was done, as you read in one of the Psalms.
Now here you read, back in Genesis once again, the earth was in that terrible condition. Darkness was upon the face of the deep. It was all ocean, and it was all dark. Light had gone out. Light represents truth; and now it was error, and evil and, darkness.
Genesis 1:2 ...and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters...
Now notice: I just read in Psalms 104 "Thou sendest forth thy spirit... thou renewest the face of the earth". Christ is the Word who speaks and it is done. Now notice Him speaking.
Genesis 1:3 And God said [The word for God here is "Elohim," meaning more than one person; and that includes the Word and God. That includes Christ as He later became and God the Father. So, Christ is the one who did the speaking or "Yhwh" as He is called in the Old Testament.], Let there be light: and there was light.
Now He began renewing the face of the earth, and finally God [or Elohim] said in verse 26:
Genesis 1:26 Let us make man in OUR image.
God said, "LET US MAKE MEN IN OUR IMAGE, AFTER OUR LIKENESS". Now He had made cattle after the cattle kind, as you read in the verse just before. He had made dogs after the dog kind, elephants after the elephant kind. But He said, "Let Us make man after the God kind." God was going to reproduce Himself! Man was to be made like God. Man was to be made to have a contact then (a fellowship) with God, and to be begotten by God, and finally BORN of God to become SONS and CHILDREN OF GOD until they become God. But we have to have the CHARACTER of God infused within us, and we have to make up our own decision on that; and Adam had to make his own decision.
Now He made a man, but the man wasn't complete. I said He created the earth and it wasn't complete, the angels were to finish it. Now He renewed it, and still it isn't complete. He wanted man to go on and finish it, and all man has done ever since is do the same thing the angels did. We have polluted every physical thing our hands have ever touched on this earth. We have profaned, we have besmirched, we have polluted everything. We have ruined the earth. We've ruined our rivers, our lakes, even our seas. We've ruined the ground out of which our food comes. We have done nothing right!
But God did not make man immortal like the angels. In Genesis 2 and verse 7:
Genesis 2:7 And the [Eternal] God formed man of the dust of the ground, and in breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Not an immortal soul. Man was made of the dust of the ground; and what was made of the dust of the ground is a soul, became a soul. The dust of the ground became a soul. The soul then is dust of the ground. The soul is not spirit. BUT GOD DID PUT A SPIRIT IN MAN. Now let me tell you something. The man God created... God here is Elohim in the Hebrew, which is uniplural and includes both God who later became the Father of Christ and also the Word who became Christ. They said, "Let us (Not let 'Me' make man after 'My' image. Let 'Us.') make man after our image. "
But God did not make man complete. Man was only half there. He made man to reproduce because God was going to reproduce man, and so man must reproduce as a type of what God is doing through us; and man couldn't reproduce himself. You never yet have seen a man reproduce and have a baby all by himself, have you? Neither can a woman have a baby all by herself. It takes a man and woman. And so the man was not complete, and God took a rib out of Adam and made a wife for him to be a help to him.
Today, the woman doesn't want to be a help to a man. She wants to rule over a man. And so Isaiah tells us in the third chapter, "As for my people...women will rule over you;" and they're beginning to do it. There were two women prime ministers in the world up to the time that England came to have a woman prime minister. I knew both of the other two. I have not met Mrs. Thatcher, but I hope to some of these days. Perhaps this fall when I'm over there, next month. I don't know. Nevertheless, women are beginning to rule and now they want the ERA Movement. Do you know who started the ERA Movement? Mother Eve, the one that God had made for Adam. She started the ERA Movement. Women don't want to do what God intended them to do today.
Now women are co-heirs with men to the Kingdom of God. They are not satisfied with that. They can be as much God as man can in the next life. But God made them for one purpose. A man can't bear children, a woman can. But they consider that as beneath them. That is a GREAT GLORY! IT'S A GLORY A MAN CAN'T DO. It's a wonderful thing that a woman can become a mother and bear children. In the eyes of God that is a wonderful thing, but women downgrade that today. They don't want to have children. They want to rule over men. They want equal rights with men. Well, there shouldn't be discrimination. God didn't intend discrimination, but He didn't intend the kind of governments and laws and fighting and bickering, the kind of thing we have in this world today either.
But now here was Adam, and Adam was still incomplete. He had a spirit, but it only gave him half of a mind. He was only half mentally there. He was only half physically there. He needed a wife. Well, God took care of that. God made the wife for him. But in his mind, he had to have a part in that. He had a spirit, a human spirit; but he needed another spirit with it. It was incomplete. And just as the male needed a female, a wife with him — so the one spirit needed another spirit, the Spirit of God, before the MIND even became complete. That's what he needed.
But Adam had to choose this for himself, because character is the ability of a separately created entity having complete mind and ability to comprehend knowledge to evaluate, and to make choice and to make decisions — to choose the right, to see the right, to choose the right even against self-will and desire to go the wrong way; and to use the self-discipline to go the right way instead of the wrong. That is character. That is the character of God. God will not do the wrong thing. God cannot sin, because He will not. As long as He wills that He will not, no one is strong enough to make Him do it. No one is stronger than God. No one can compel God to sin, and God will not. So therefore, He can't.
But Satan's was still on the throne, and Adam had now to decide. Would he take life? Adam, he didn't have life. He had a temporary existence. He was made of the dust of the ground. He was going to live only so long. God put him in the Garden of Eden after He had created him. And there were two trees in the center of that Garden: One the Tree of Life, the other The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Now notice, one would give him life, the other was the knowledge of good and evil. But God said that would give him death, because He said, "If you eat of that tree, you shall surely die." So that was the Tree of Death, but also the tree of knowledge. Now the first tree, The Tree of Life but it also was a Tree of Knowledge. It was tree of revealed knowledge from God through the Holy Spirit of God. Man didn't have full knowledge. His mind was only half there.
How would have God given Adam eternal life if he had chosen the Tree of Life? Did you ever think of that? Most people read right over that. They never talk about the Tree of Life. They go right on and they talk about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; and they ridicule that by calling it "Adam's apple." Adam didn't eat an apple. I don't know what the fruit was. The Bible doesn't tell us. I know what the symbolism was, I know what it meant. It meant taking to themselves the knowledge of what is right and wrong. When Adam took of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he took to himself the knowledge of good and evil, of right and wrong, of what is right and wrong. THE WAY OF LIFE, THE WAY TO LEAD TO LIFEor the way to lead to death. He took that to himself.
Now God has opened the Tree of Life to you and me. Do you get eternal life immediately? Oh, no! First, you repent. Then you have to come to really believe in Christ. Not only believe that He did die for you and that His shed blood paid the penalty of your sins, but you have to first repent of those sins and be willing to turn around and go the other way. Then you have to believe Christ. That is, believe what He said; and believe the Gospel. He said, "the Kingdom is at hand, repent ye and believe the gospel." People don't believe the Gospel because they don't even know what the Gospel is. It isn't being preached except through this Church. Seventh Day Adventists don't preach it. The Sardis Church of God, a true Church of God, they don't preach it because they don't know what the Kingdom of God is; and the Kingdom of God is the Gospel.
NOBODY IS PREACHING THE TRUE GOSPEL but this Church, in the world. I wonder if you knew that and if you understand that. Listen, brethren, this Church is very few in numbers and it is very great in power. This is the only Church that is preaching that Gospel to the world. This Church is worldwide. It's not just local. You're going to see a film during this festival of this Work, and you will see how worldwide it is; and it will compare it with the Work of the Church in the First Century. They had many apostles then. God has only given us one apostle today; and yet one apostle today, because of modern facilities ... and you're seeing some of these technological facilities right now.
You people over in England, it's tonight over there. You're hearing me. You're seeing me. As I speak into this microphone, you hear me. You people all over Canada and all over the other parts of the United States. You people down in St. Petersburg, I expect to speak to you in a couple of days down there. I'm going to come down there about, let me see, I'm going to fly down there tomorrow. You people in Big Sandy, I'm going to talk to you a couple of days after that — or next Sabbath, I believe it will be when I'll talk in Big Sandy.
Oh, what marvelous things we have; and yet all of us (virtually a hundred thousand of us) can be in this one service at this same time. We were all singing the same hymns together. Did you know that while you people right here in Pasadena were singing those hymns, so were the people in England where it is long after dark tonight? We're singing that same hymn right along with you at the same moment! What marvelous facilities we have, and I want you to see that film during the Feast.
You'll see it on your screen of what this Work is today. You will see how your dollars — not your dollars, God's tithe money — is being spent. It isn't your money. It's God's anyway, and it is how God is having it spent. If you want to know where does that money go, you'll want to see that film. It will show you how we take advantage of these facilities and get this message around the whole world; and this is now a worldwide Church, small in numbers but MIGHTY IN POWER.
Do you know that, in magazines and printed literature and the power of the press, this Church has more printing and does more printing than any other church (even though other churches have millions of members) than any other church on the face of the earth. And the printed word has done more to bring you brethren into the Church than any other kind of preaching. The printed word! It's a marvelous thing. There wasn't any printing press invented yet in the days of the first of apostles when the Church first started it.
Anyway, we turn to Genesis 3 and verse 1. I want you to notice what happened now in the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field...
I read to you, in the book of Revelation in the twelfth chapter, how the serpent is Satan the Devil. And so Satan was appearing in the form of a serpent here, although he is an invisible immortal spirit being.
Genesis 3:1 ...of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman...
Now he got to Adam's wife. He wanted to see if she would try to rule her husband — when God made Christ the head of the Church, and He made man the head of the woman, and God the head of Christ. That is God's order. People don't like that today. They want to reverse it. They know better, more than God. I hope you women of this Church understand what a wonderful position God has given you. I think in some ways maybe a woman's position is higher than that of a man, but she doesn't want that. She wants to throw that away, what God has given her, and take something that God forbade. She just wants to rule over a man. Oh, women, give that up. We all have to submit ourselves to God and to follow His way. Now the serpent said:
Genesis 3:1-3 Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (2) And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: (3) But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
But the serpent said: "Ah," he said, "Now, God is a liar. God is deceiving you. Look, I'm the real god of the world. You want to believe me, don't believe her. You will not surely die. God said, you're only mortal. I say you're an immortal soul. You'll never, never die."
And, you know, even the religion of Christianity still believes the serpent. They still believe that today. Brethren, human beings are not immortal. YOU ONLY HAVE TEMPORARY LIFE. THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE. YOU'RE ONLY HERE FOR A LITTLE WHILE; AND YOU'RE HERE TO LEARN A LESSON, AND YOU'RE HERE TO LEARN HOW TO GET INTO AN IMMORTAL LIFE.
WOMEN THAT WANT TO RULE OVER MAN, how much satisfaction is it going to get them and how long is it going to last? What are they going to do in the next life? And that's coming very soon! This whole world is about done. We're all going to come short before God if we don't wake up and follow the way of and the knowledge of God.
So she took of the Tree of Life — I mean the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which is really the Tree of Death. She gave to her husband, and he also followed her as a weakling; and that's the way men are today. Many of our students in Ambassador College, the girl students, say, " Well, you know, we can't find men that are really men to marry. These boys today and these young men students are all sissies. They're weaklings, like girls." So, some of the girls wanted to marry older men that are more like men.
My father had a very deep bass voice. He could go clear down to Low C. I can't do that. My voice is a little lower than some of the younger men today. Men are becoming feminine. Women are becoming masculine. We don't want to be like God made us. Why should the clay say to the potter, "Why did you fashion me this way?" God is the Potter and we're the clay, and we better let Him mold and fashion the way He wants to fashion us.
Anyway, God finally cast them out of the Garden of Eden (as you read in Genesis 3 and the last three verses of the third chapter of Genesis) after they had sinned. And God CLOSED UP THE HOLY SPIRIT AND SHUT IT OFF FROM HUMAN BEINGS SO THAT NO HUMAN BEING COULD GET IN TO GET THE TREE OF LIFE.
If Adam had taken the Tree of Life, he would have only have taken the Holy Spirit. That's all we get. We don't get immortal life right away. We get the Holy Spirit; and, if we're led by the Holy Spirit, it gives us knowledge, the revealed knowledge of God. Men don't have that kind of knowledge. Adam only had the ability to acquire physical and materialistic knowledge. He did not have ability to acquire spiritual knowledge. His mind was only half there, and Adam never took of the Tree of Life. He would have received the Holy Spirit of God if he had. His mind would then have been full and complete. It never was. And so, let's notice now what happened. The Tree of Life was shut up.
Now God is reproducing Himself, and it is a matter of character development — of developing our character until we become of the same character as God. Then He will give us immortal life, and we will be composed of spirit. We'll have life inherent then. We'll have immortal life, life within ourselves. We won't have to breathe air to live. We won't have to have a heart pumping blood to live.
My heart completely stopped. I was dead. By mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, they brought me back before the spirit in me had left; and my mind remained complete and good, because God had something more for me to do. That was over four years ago. I don't know how much longer God will keep me here, brethren. But whatever His will is, that will be done. I will keep on trying as long as God makes it possible. That's all I can say.
Adam had to make a choice. We today have a chance to make that same choice, because God has called us. But Adam took to himself the knowledge of what is good and what is evil, and then God shut off the Tree of Life. In other words, people cannot get the Spirit of God. They cannot come to have revealed knowledge of God. They can only have the knowledge of physical and material things. That's why ALL EDUCATION in this world is MATERIALISTIC. WHY IS IT, MY BRETHREN, THAT TODAY YOU SEE MARVELOUS PROGRESS IN TECHNOLOGY and in science and in materialistic development of science and technology and government and the things that are being done? But you see nothing but war and violence and decay in society, and government fighting against government. Spiritually, everything is WRONG.
Physically and materially there is advancement, but it's only part of the world that is advancing. One half of the world is illiterate. One half of the world is so poor that many of them are starving to death. Why that paradox? Because man only has the ability to acquire physical, materialistic knowledge! He has not acquired the spiritual knowledge that can only come by revelation from God. So God shut up the Tree of Life.
Now I want to turn to the thirteenth chapter of the book of Revelation. Revelation thirteen and verse eight, where it speaks of Christ as the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of world. In the mind of God and the Word, or who became Christ ... Christ had offered Himself to come and be born as a human being, live a perfect life above sin, not bringing the penalty of death on Himself, and then take the penalty that you brought on yourself and that I brought on myself and pay that penalty for us by dying in our place. And that was all arranged from the time that Adam took the wrong tree and before the foundation of this world.
Now in Hebrews 9:27 you read: Hebrews 9:27 "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment"
It's appointed to men once to DIE! All DIE IN ADAM. But you read in I Corinthians 15, verse 22, "As in Adam ALL DIE". They've all been dying ever since Adam.
Here was a man who was trying to bring peace. He couldn't bring peace. His effort was noteworthy. He was doing all he knew to do. I hope that I will see President Sadat again in the Great White Throne Judgment, and then I will be able to teach him what he didn't know; and he will sit there and nod just like he did, smoking his pipe — only this time he won't be smoking a pipe. (And you'll see it in the televised picture that you will see during the Feast.) My heart went out to that man. I had to love him. He risked his life for peace.
He was doing the best he knew. He didn't know any better. He didn't have the knowledge. That wasn't his fault. He didn't ask to be born. He was born of the Muslim Religion. He didn't know anything else. You wouldn't know anything else if God hadn't called you, brethren. You have to give all thanks and praise to God, not to yourself. It's not because of your worthiness that you're here, that you're sitting here in this auditorium or you people are listening all around the United States and Canada and England. Oh no, it's not because of any worthiness of our own at all.
Hebrews 9:27 It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
Now the judgment we're going to learn about a week from today — The Great White Throne Judgment — the Last Great Day of the Feast. And I hope to speak to you again then and make that very plain then. I'm going to leave that until then.
I Corinthians 15:22-23 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (23) But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits...
Jesus was the first to be born again, He had never sinned, but He DIED. And He was born again by a RESURRECTION, making possible our being born by a resurrection, being born again. Now the people of the so-called Christian religion believe they're already born again if they just say, "All right, I profess Christ, I believe Jesus died for my sins." That's all they need to have. They don't know what repentance is. They don't believe in keeping the Law of God. They say that Christ was a smart aleck young man that knew more than His Father and did away with His Father's Law. "We don't have to keep that Law." Oh, they think that Law is a terrible thing.
That Law is love. That Law is the way to peace. That Law is the way to happiness and to mutual well-being and cooperation all together. And yet the world hates that Law of God. Well, God loves that Law and He didn't compromise with it.
Now in Isaiah 9 and verses 6 and 7, I'm going to just quote some of these now and hurry right along because time is slipping up on us. It says in Ancient Israel:
Isaiah9:6-7 For unto us a child is born...and the government shall be upon his shoulders, [Speaking of the prophecy of the coming of Christ] and His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (7) Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end...
He was coming as a RULER to establish the Government of God in the Kingdom of God. Now the Kingdom of God is the born Family of God. Christ was the first born of many brethren into that Kingdom. You and I can be born by a resurrection the same way. We can be begotten in this life, but we're not yet born. You know, an embryo in a mother's womb in the first four months of the pregnancy is not yet born. It's only begotten, and that's all we are spiritually. Physical birth is the precise exact example and type of our being spiritually born of God, exactly. But Jesus came and He said, " I will build My Church". Now then, He was going to call out certain ones. And so we read in Joel, the second chapter of Joel and verse twenty-eight:
Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon ALL flesh;
God prophesied through Joel that the time would come when the Holy Spirit would not be locked up. Now He closed the Tree of Life in the time of Adam, but He said the time will come when He would open the Tree of Life (and it comes through the Holy Spirit) to all flesh. Well, on the Day of Pentecost, when the Church was founded, Peter said this is what Joel prophesied. But this is only the beginning. We're only the firstfruits. God has not poured out His Spirit ALL flesh yet, only the firstfruits because JESUS said in John (let me turn to that), John 6:44. Jesus said:
John 6:44 No man CAN come to me, except the Father which hath sent me DRAW him.
The whole world cannot COME to Christ now. THEY COULDN'T COME TO CHRIST IF THEY WANTED TOO. Well, maybe if they wanted to badly enough, God would call them. But they can't come unless God calls them. I think if anyone thirsted for it and hungered for it enough and sought it enough, I believe God would call them. But if God doesn't call them, they can't come.
That's why some of you, when you were converted in that first flush of romance, spiritual romance with Christ, you wanted to get all of your family and your relatives converted. You wanted them to get this wonderful good news; and they just laughed at you, and they thought you were crazy. I think most of you had that experience. I have. I did when I was first converted fifty-five years ago. My relatives just laughed at me. They thought I was a crackpot. They didn't want any of this kind of religion. If God the Father doesn't call, they cannot come now.
"It's appointed to men now to die, after this the judgment". We're going to learn about that a week from today, the Last Great Day of this festival. Now then, in the present time, Satan has blinded the world. You read of it in II Corinthians chapter 4 beginning with verse 3, where it says:
II Corinthians 4:3 But if our gospel be hid [And that's about the Kingdom of God and getting into the Family of God. "IF our gospel be hid"], it is hid to them that our lost;
Now lost doesn't mean condemned. Jesus came to save those that were lost, didn't He? We're to go after those that were lost.
II Corinthians 4:4 In whom [those that are lost] the god of this world [Satan the Devil] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
It isn't given to them to know now. You know, Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God in parables; and His disciples came and said, "Why do You speak in parables"? "Well", He said, " I speak in parables so that the people in hearing would hear but would not understand. I didn't speak in parables to make the meaning more clear. I spoke in parables so they couldn't understand." It isn't given to them to understand. It is given them to die and after this the judgment. But every one who ever lived is going to come back in that judgment and have his chance of salvation. Oh, God is not going to pass up anybody. You'll find out in the end that God is so much more fair than the way Satan has the world believing. There's no comparison between the two.
Now to us that are called and are in the Church, here's a message just to us that is in Revelation, the third chapter and verse 21. Revelation 3:21:
Revelation 3:21 To him the overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne [Jesus said].
He's coming to sit on the throne of the earth and take the place of Satan who is on that throne now. Now I started this message by telling you Satan is sitting on that throne of the whole earth. Christ has qualified to replace Satan on that throne. But He didn't sit on that throne yet. He went to heaven as our High Priest to TRAIN YOU AND ME to be kings and priests to sit on that throne with Him. And WE will sit on that throne IF WE OVERCOME and if we GROW in grace and knowledge AND something else, if we ENDURE until the very end. You can't give up and quit. Now we have to understand those things.
Then finally Christ will come, and you read of that in the nineteenth chapter of the book of Revelation. Beginning with verse 6, it says:
Revelation 19:6-7 And I heard [And John is speaking here of what he heard and saw in this vision looking into the far future. "I heard"] it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters [like Niagara Falls rolling down, if you've ever been right at Niagara Falls or down below it and hear the roar of the waters] and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, ALLELUIA: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. (7) Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the MARRIAGE of the Lamb is come, and his WIFE hath made herself ready.
Who is His wife? Brethren, you are that wife! And you people all over the United States and Canada and England and the others who are not able to hear this but will hear it later (won't be able to hear it today simultaneously with us, but will hear it later). We in this Church are that wife; and it says, "That the Church will have made Herself READY". BUT, BRETHREN, THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU WILL BE READY! IT DOESN'T MEAN EVERY INDIVIDUAL IN THE CHURCH IS GOING TO BE READY. The question is ARE YOU READY NOW if Christ should come tomorrow?
Now, I think I can tell you He's not going to come tomorrow. Some people that don't understand say He might come any minute. That is not true. Certain other events have to happen first. But events can speed up very rapidly from this minute on, and it can come a lot quicker than you think, and it can come very, very quickly.
But after He comes, Satan is going to be put into the bottomless pit (as you read in the twentieth chapter and the first three verses). But now beginning with verse four in the twentieth chapter of Revelation:
Revelation 19:4-5, 6-7 The four and twenty elders [That's up in heaven, and speaking of angelic beings.] and the four ["living creatures" it should be] fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. (5) And a voice came ... (6) for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. (7) Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
No, I wanted to read in the twentieth chapter (I did read that. Excuse me.) and beginning with verse 4.
Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones ...
That's after the Devil was put away. That was pictured ten days ago, no five days ago, at the Day of Atonement. And now we come to the beginning of the Millennium that we're celebrating here, and this is the first Holy Day of that celebration.
Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones and they sat upon them...
We're to reign with Christ on His Throne, ruling this earth and the Government of this earth. I have talked with many of the kings, the emperors, the prime ministers, the presidents over nations. They're just human beings like you and I. That's all. But you and I are going to be sitting on those thrones ruling, brethren (Do you realize that?) if we are preparing, if we are spending our time in prayer and in Bible reading, if we're growing closer to God.
Have you gained knowledge of the things of God since last Feast of Tabernacles a year ago? I have. Have you? I'm in my ninetieth year now, but I've learned a lot in this last year. I try to pass on to you what I've learned, and I'm passing on some of that to you today that I did not know a year ago. Are you closer to God than you were a year ago? Just where do you stand? The Church is going to be ready, but are you going to be ready? That doesn't mean everybody in Church, brethren. You need to realize that.
Revelation 20:4 ...And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus [They'd given up their lives in martyrdom.], and the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads.
And those are things we're going to have to cover very soon all over again. I was covering things like that some fifty years ago, about the Mark of the Beast and the Image of the Beast and the Beast and so on. Well, the time is coming now when we're going to have to get back to those things again.
Revelation 20:5-6 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. [You see, it's appointed men once to die and after this the judgment; and that judgment is coming a thousand years later.] This is the first resurrection. (6) Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Now let's see. It's Revelation chapter 10 and verse 5, I believe.
Revelation 10:5 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign ON THE EARTH.
Seventh Day Adventists, please listen. We're not going to reign up in heaven. We're going to reign ON THE EARTH! THIS IS THE ONLY CHURCH that understands about the Kingdom of God, brethren. The Methodists don't understand it, the Catholics don't understand it, the Presbyterians... Oh, they're all fine people. I'm not saying anything against them as human beings. But they don't understand this truth; and they are dying one by one, but after this the judgment. YOU AND I ARE BEING CALLED TO A VERY IMPORTANT CALLING THAT WE CAN LEARN THESE TRUTHS, THAT WE CAN GROW IN GRACE AND THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, THAT WE CAN ENDURE, THAT WE CAN OVERCOME and that we can then be teaching them and ruling and reigning them until God's final Work is finally accomplished. There going to be BILLIONS in the Church ultimately, but not in this life or this time. Not in this life or this time, it's going to be.
Now those that are alive and remain at the Second Coming of Christ will not precede those that are dead. I just read you those that are dead will be resurrected. Those of us that are still alive will be caught up together with Him in the air.
Now some have been preaching around over the world that I have said that I expect to live until the Second Coming of Christ. I HAVE NEVER SAID THAT! Did you hear me, brethren? I HAVE NEVER said that, and I don't BELIEVE that. I now believe that in ALL probability that I will NOT be living until the Second Coming of Christ. I don't know why some people, and why ...
It's because God has used me. I haven't done anything, brethren. It is Christ in me that has done something. Christ has done it. Give Him the praise and glory, not me. But some people want to deify ME. I find that most Protestants want to worship a human Jesus; and they have a false Jesus, a Jesus that was a smart aleck young man that did away with His Father's Law and knew more than His Father.
Well, I knew more than my father when I was nineteen and twenty years of age. When I was thirty-four I learned something different. I learned that my father by that time had learned a whole lot. He knew more than I did by that time. But when I was nineteen and twenty, I knew more than my father. I wonder if a lot of you didn't know more than your fathers the same way. So many of you who are teens, don't think you know it all yet. You got a lot to learn yet. I still have a lot to learn. As I said, I'm in my ninetieth year, and that's a little older than most of you are.
Well, brethren, that's about it. We're here to celebrate that time of that thousand years. But in that thousand years we're going to save those...and the salvation will be open to everybody then that is still living. Of those who have died, they will come up in the Great White Throne Judgment after that thousand years is completed. But that time is not very far off now, and we're celebrating that time.
Now, we've had a good beginning of this festival. Let's go on and enjoy it and rejoice; but let's also remember that we need to get closer to God, everyone of us. And, during this festival, don't just think of fun in the physical sense. Think of it in the spiritual sense and of a festival that will bring us CLOSER TO GOD. NOT CLOSER TO PHYSICAL and material things.
I know the Bible says, "bring your money that you saved up all year and spend it on whatever your soul lusted for." I think that "lusting " is a wrong translation in the English language. "Whatever you desire." But you should only desire those things that are right in God's sight. Let this festival be something that brings us all closer to God. That's the way to rejoice, and it is A TIME OF REJOICING.! So let's go on rejoicing and rejoicing in that way. Thank you all, brethren! And all of you over in England, all of you, good night in England. And good night and good bye to all of you in Canada and on the East Coast of the United States and all over, and out in Hawaii, up in Alaska. Goodbye for now, everybody.