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The Year of Last Things

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The Year of Last Things

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The Year of Last Things

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There is going to be 'a year of last things' in this age before the incredibly destructive events of the great tribulation come. Let's start to think this 'year of last things' concept through and what can we do about it in our personal lives? This sermon concludes with three points on living through 'the year of last things' or living through 'our year of last things' because we never know when our time might come as individuals. 

Transcript

 

I want to tell you a story, in fact, about my own Ambassador experience.  This goes back a few years.  My wife and I will be celebrating – I think it's our 39th wedding anniversary here before too long, which meant that we graduated from Ambassador in 1974.  And it was in the fall of '73 that this experience happened.  I attended the English campus.  We had three campuses of Ambassador College as you might remember or have heard.  The main one was in Pasadena, California.  Then the other one in the United States was in Big Sandy, Texas.  But I attended the one that we had near a village called Bricket Wood – in England – and Hertfordshire, not far from St. Albans.  St. Albans – it was, in fact, not very far at all, about 10 miles from St. Albans.  It had been one of the three Roman capitals when Rome ruled Briton way back when.  And we could be – either when we wanted to go sightseeing or what have you – by catching the train that came by the Bricket Wood village, we could be in London within an hour just by taking the trains.  You could be in London if you had a car, too – with the traffic or maybe a little bit more.  But it was a great place to attend Ambassador College for four years, especially having grown up in South Dakota.  It enlarged my horizons quite considerably.

It was a beautiful summer day – a late summer day in England. And the summers there were spectacular – lots of greenery, not unlike what we have here in Ohio when the rains come. And we've had some nice late rains this past summer.  This would have been early September / late August of that year and I had just finished my first day of my senior year of classes – morning classes at Ambassador College.  Freshmen were still going through some orientation sessions that morning.  All of us at Ambassador College in those days had part time jobs on campus or in the college press or something, some aspect of the Work of God at the time.  I worked on the research farm that we had in England.  Most remember, when it comes to agriculture, the research farm – the very large one that we had at the Big Sandy campus.  But we had a companion research farm or agricultural operation there in Bricket Wood as well – fairly significant, in fact. 

So I walked up from the men's dormitory down into the woods and then up onto a sort of small ridge in the middle of the college property where we had our hen houses – four of them.  We had 1,200 hens in each one and supplied all the students' needs and most of the faculty needs as well as far as eggs went.  We were just on the hill above the dairy where we had our own herd of dairy shorthorn cattle.  I was looking for the farm manager because I worked on the farm and at this time of year we were putting up straw and hay.  The hay, of course, was for feed for the cows.  The straw was for bedding because it rained a lot in the wintertime so they had to have bedding in the loafing shed where they spent most of the winter there.  We put up about 10,000 bales of straw.  I drove the tractor for about half of those and then the rest of my time I spent stacking them. 

I was looking for our farm manager whose name was Stan, an Iowa boy – an Iowa man, actually, by that time.  And they came around the side of the building.  He was up on top of the wagon load of straw bales tightening them down so they wouldn't tip over when they drove down the road to the stack that they had to go onto.  And he said, "Where have you been?"  I had just finished class, changed clothes and hiked up there fast, and where was I?  He was always wanting us to be on hand sooner.  And I said, "Well, yesterday we finished orientation and the faculty reception was last night" – which was sort of a welcoming social event for the new students.  It was a dance.  "And then this morning were our first morning of classes."  "Ah," he said, "then you've just begun your 'year of last things'." 

It was a nice, beautiful, warm, sunny day, I really enjoyed the day and I said, "What do you mean 'year of last things'?"  He said, "Well, you just attended your last faculty reception of your Ambassador career, this was your last first day of classes.  You will be attending your last Feast of Tabernacles as an AC student.  You'll go to your last senior dance."  Every class sponsored a dance.  We had a dance band.  We played big band music and some Celtic music that formed the repertoire for those dances.  "You'll have your last winter break, your last sophomore and freshman dances, last Ambassador Club, the last day of classes, last track and field day, last graduation, last Sabbath at Ambassador College.  It's your 'year of last things'." 

And I thought, well it was a nice day - now it feels kind of cloudy.  "Anyway," he said, "take this tractor and go and unload these bales and then get another load as long as you can go until it gets dark."  So off I went and I threw and stacked hundreds of straw bales that day and they were heavy bales because when I was running the baler, I packed them tight so that we would get our load's worth when we loaded them into the wagons and when Stan ran the baler, he did the same thing.  So I threw a lot of heavy bales and I just did what he said while I did that.  I mulled it over in my mind and, you know, before the afternoon was worn out, I decided that's a good thing to know.  It is my 'year of last things' and I'm not going to miss a minute of it.  I'm going to savor everything – every moment, every class, every field trip, every social event, every opportunity to serve, every Ambassador experience.  I'm going to savor it and remember it.  And I made an awful lot of indelible memories that year. 

I didn't have a very good camera, it was what they called a Kodak Instamatic back in the day where you didn't have to know how to roll the film, you just threw this cartridge at it and if it landed right you could take pictures.  But since it didn't take very good pictures, at least not for me, what I did was to pause periodically when I would see a scene and I'd stop and just stare at it, study it for a few seconds, soak up all the details and I could replay those in my head.  I can't email any of them to you, though.  I have to describe them.  Well, I captured a lot of those scenes that year, scenes that I had sort of taken for granted for three years having been there my first, second and third years. 

But, you know, there is going to come – because this is a good lesson for us – there is going to be 'a year of last things' in this age before the incredibly destructive events of the great tribulation come down on the heads of mankind.  You know, I was going to graduate from Ambassador College and ended up going out and serving in the ministry as a ministerial trainee in Montana.  The 'year of last things' for society, for this world of ours is not going to have even that bright a future by any means – at least the near-term future.  Of course, we know there is that fabulous longer term future when Christ does return, but there are some knotholes that the world must go through backwards to get there.  And going through a knothole backwards is not a recommended process. 

Let's turn to Matthew chapter 24 if you would as we start to think this 'year of last things' concept through and what can we do about it?  Matthew 24.  We'll just pick on three verses now.  I want to come back near the end of the sermon and cover several others.  But notice this, as we are nearing the end of the age it says in verse 13:

Matthew 24:13 - He who endures to the end will be saved.

So we are talking about the end.  In fact we know that.  The disciples went out of the Temple Mount area with Jesus and the Temple was magnificent.  It had been overhauled and expanded and enlarged - the Temple Mount complex - by Herod the Great.  He was a great builder.  He was an impressive tyrant, but he was also a great builder, so there was something good about him.  And they walked down into the valley of Kidron which is like a canyon today.  I don't know if it was as deep then as it is now, but probably close.  And then you climb up the other side – there are little roads that go up there and there were undoubtedly roads or trails then, too, because when you get up on the other side to the east, you are standing on the ridge or the peak, which is a ridge, of the Mount of Olives.  The Mount of Olives, twenty-six-hundred-and-some-odd feet above sea level, and the Temple Mount or Mt. Zion, is some twenty-five-hundred-and-some-even feet – you've got some odd feet and some even feet.  In other words, it's lower and so from the Mount of Olives you can look down and see where the Temple complex was.  Today you can do that.  The Temple complex isn't there – the Dome of the Rock is there, the third most holy site in Islam.  The Al-Aqsa Mosque is there and some ruins and em-battlements of what was the wall.  The Temple Mount excavations conducted by Hebrew University for many years are down at the base of the wall that leads up to that Temple Mount so you can see what the city looked like at the time of Christ.  And also some of those excavations show what it looked like at the time of David including the excavation of David's palace, which was just down the slope from the Temple Mount. 

So you can see all that now, but then – in Christ's day – this is in the first few verses, He and the disciples could see this magnificent, freshly quarried limestone – by 'freshly', I mean within the past few years.  Limestone was the building product of choice and when it comes out of the ground it's bright, sort of a bright, creamy color.  And in the bright sunshine it just reflects and shines magnificently.  Cities with beautiful walls like that were admired and even in the Bible the city wall was described as being a beautiful thing, but this was not only the wall, this was the Temple Mount itself and the Temple itself – just magnificent. 

They wanted to know "What's going to be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age."  He said, "Well, first of all, nothing over there is going to be left one rock on another.  It will all be knocked down."  And then He unfolds all these prophecies from verse 4 on.  We are familiar with those and we'll summarize in verse 14,  And on top of all these events that will be transpiring in history leading to the end, the gospel of this kingdom...  in Vs. 14  ...will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Preaching the gospel is a prerequisite prior to the end of the age.  Preaching the gospel will be in full force and at least inasmuch as in full force as we in the church of God are able to make it with God's help, leading up to that 'year of last things'.  And the amazing thing about the 'year of last things' is we don't know when it's going to be.  We don't know if we are in it yet.  We don't know when it's going to start.  And then, of course,  there are what we would call 'years of personal last things'.  The past few weeks in the churches we pastor not far from here at the Home Office, two very, very dear friends died.  In one case, the most recent one, I was up to do the funeral.  His 'year of last things' came when he was approaching 92 years of age – a really long life.  But for the other one, she was only in her early 50's.  But the 'year of last things' came.  And I am happy to report in both those cases, those were brethren that lived life.  They savored, they experienced and remembered things and didn't seem to take things for granted.  A good lesson I guess for us in tying this into this, but there's going to be a 'year of last things'.  In fact, there has to be, otherwise mankind would destroy himself.  When we come down to Vs. 21 it says – For then shall be great tribulation...  and so we are coming right up on the beginning of the great tribulation.  And that's roughly 3 1/2 years in prophetic years of time ...such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be, an unprecedented time of trouble.  Daniel corroborated that with prophecies he was inspired to write in chapter 12 of Daniel.  Vs. 22 - And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.  They will be made short.  So you see the great tribulation is coming and it is cataclysmic in its force. 

The 'year of last things' I am referring to isn't the last year of the great tribulation, I'm talking about the last relatively normal year that we live and that we have to do the work of God and to live our lives before those events of the great tribulation explode on the world scene.  And you think, well why can't you just continue to live and, you know, have a life when the war is going on.  Well, ask the Poles when Germany invaded them and brought to the world a new word, blitzkrieg.  They used the blitzkrieg or lightning war on Poland.  They overran Czechoslovakia.  They had been living regular lives through the 1930's.  It was kind of depressed, but who wasn't back then.  And then suddenly everything came down on their heads.  The stuka is what I think those particular bombers were called if I remember the pronunciation correctly.  They were experimenting with their dive-bombing techniques which they were later to use and hold half the world at bay – the nation of Germany.  Japan held the other half.  You know, the Philippines had a relatively normal time of things and then suddenly in a coordinated effort the Japanese army and navy struck in multiple places.  And the events of World War II disrupted the lives of so many people that were at those scenes of action.  Well, the scene of action of the great tribulation is going to be the entire planet.  There is no escaping it.  You can't run over there or run over here, it's going to involve everything and every nation and everybody.  Sobering times, indeed.

But, our job - back in verse 14 - during that 'year of last things' and all the years leading up to it - however many they are or however many they aren't - our job is to announce the coming of God's kingdom and to plead with people to repent.  And I mean to plead with people to repent.  Let's stop and think about that as far as what we are doing.  In 1 Corinthians chapter 9 the apostle Paul talks about his approach in preaching the gospel, an approach that we are trying to master ourselves and I think are making great progress at it as far as learning how to do that.  And it has to do with motivation and it's in verse 19.  1 Corinthians 9, starting in verse 19 and will run through verse 23.  The apostle Paul said this:

1 Corinthians 9:19 –Though I am free from all men, I have made myself servant to all...  preaching the gospel, promoting the kingdom of God is a service to mankind.  It's not something we have to do.  You know, that's the only thing, a task we are assigned with, we are assigned with it and we have to do it.  No, this is a service.  This is an opportunity to serve all of mankind.  ...I make myself servant to all...  that's an attitude as well, and an approach.  ...that I might win the more...  The more effective he was in preaching, the more people it appears that God would call who would then come to know the truth and truly come to Christ - truly understand the Jesus Christ of the Bible, unlike most of Christianity today doesn't understand.  They would come to understand, certainly know who Jesus was compared to any of the other religions of the world today.  ...That I might win the more...

Vs. 20 - to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews...  he understood their approach.  He was one.  The approach - he talked that language - to explain to them in terms they would understand  ...to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law...  He could talk God's law.  He knew it.  Paul had been a Pharisee before he was called into the faith – a very zealous Pharisee who persecuted the church.  He turned that energy and that dynamism around and he lived his life.  When you go through and read all that Paul was experiencing, all the trauma he went through – that's, by the way, in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 toward the end, a Sabbath reading assignment for you.  He did not have an easy time of it because he was constantly pushing out front, redlining himself in a sense referring back to our sermonette.  Redlining himself to get the gospel of the kingdom of God out.  But he was driven.  You know, he had on his mind the fact that he had persecuted those who believed God's way and now he believed it and he, therefore, felt that he he had a mission beyond what most of us have or are capable of, which was a testament of the remarkable, one of the reasons why he was honored with writing so much of the Bible in the New Testament.  So he could talk the law, the law of God, that "I might win those who are under the law.  I can talk their language.  I can explain it to them."  They can come to understand and God can use that. 

Vs. 21 - to those who are without law...  that would be the Gentiles.  They were without law.  They were without the law of God.  They were without the covenants, without the promises, without the example and the historical impetus of the fathers, meaning the patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - as well as the rest of the history of Israel, the Gentiles and non Israelite nations, which is what Gentile means, non Israelite nations.  They didn't have the heritage of God's word.  The Jews had the heritage of God's word and, frankly, so did the Israelites, but they had mostly forgotten who they were, scattered all around the world just like God said they would be because of their disobedience many centuries earlier.  ...to those who are without the law, as without law (not being without the law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law...  "I can explain the concept of law to them."  And he applied it himself.  

Vs. 22 - to the weak I became as weak...  He could understand those who were struggling with attitude problems or health problems or addictions - you know, that's a great weakness as well.  He understood that.  Now he didn't necessarily have all of those things himself, he did have physical health problems, and so we know about that.  But he understood those who were struggling with any kind of weakness.  He made himself understand.  He asked God for the understanding to help to grasp that.  ...that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men,that I might by all means save some.  Paul was motivated and he was motivating to others.  Now we are striving to capture that spirit of motivation of expounding God's way in such a way that it not only makes it clear and not only announces the coming kingdom of God, but in a sense it pleads with people to change because that's how the prophets of old did it.  Isaiah pleaded with people.  Ezekiel did.  Jeremiah did.  Jeremiah was called 'the weeping prophet' because he cried so much when he saw the trouble that Judah  -  the house of Judah, it was his mission to go to them.  Isaiah had both the house of Israel to begin with and the house of Judah. 

Vs. 23 – Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.   So we want people to repent.  We want them to obey God.  We want them to enjoy the blessings and we need to pray for success in our preaching and writing of the gospel of the kingdom, especially since we know there is coming a 'year of last things' when we can do that and then the doors will close.  There will be a famine of the word probably brought about by legislation.  And then if not that, by the simple realities of warfare stopping all normal transaction and all normal expounding of anything that isn't sanctioned by whoever the tyrant is. 

You know, in a way I think it's encouraging to see what United Church of God is able to do so far with the kingdom of God seminars.  We are in the process of concluding in some areas our fourth Kingdom of God Seminar series and we've had some – in this particular one – the first Sabbath that it was delivered, we had a phenomenal attendance in some of our South African congregations.  Phenomenal attendance – dozens and dozens of people where we have just a very small congregation.  But dozens and dozens in several different locations and very good attendance in lots of other places in the United States and other countries.  I know that there were some whose attendance was very small.  One or two cases with none at all and we did some experimenting with this in Central Ohio where we pastored a few years ago.  For about three years we experimented with a similar program of seminars - we called them Good News Lectures at the time.  But one of the things that I think we must remember, even if our attendance was small, all the Good News readers in your area - whether it was here or whether it was wherever you are, if you are watching this on the webcast - all the Good News readers in your area saw the advertisement in the magazine and, in most cases, they received a letter of invitation to attend the seminar, the Kingdom of God Seminar, normally in the hall where you meet for church.  They know where you live.  Those people that God has motivated to start reading and learning know that we are in their vicinity, that they can have access to actual people who live this way of life.  And, you know, every one of us in the church has the duty to positively promote the kingdom of God.  And, if you stop and think about it - because some got a little discouraged I think over the past few months - if our pastors and elders weren't preaching the gospel of God's kingdom, then what better thing could they be doing?  The answer is, there isn't anything better that they could be doing.  This is the thing that we need to do and we need to strive to have that attitude that Paul had. 

I kind of like Charlton Heston's attitude.  Remember, he used to be the president of the National Rifle Association here in the United States.  He retired when he realized that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and he died some time here recently, but Charlton Heston had an attitude, "They are only going to pry my guns away from my cold, dead fingers."  Well, we're not into politics and we're not into that aspect of it – our politics that we have are the politics in the sense of the formal use of the word, the leadership and the governance, the politics of the kingdom of God.  That's where we live, you know, within the politics of America or whatever other country.  We thrive on the politics of the kingdom of God.  However, his attitude is what we should have about preaching the gospel.  The only way they can stop the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom is if they pry it from our cold, dead fingers.  Now we have to have a tenaciousness to keep going and that's what will drive us powerfully and effectively through that 'year of last things', to finish God's work powerfully – sprinting, even though we may not know that we are in the last lap of the race, because we won't know exactly when that will be.  We know it's close, though.  It isn't far away.  Too many markers in prophecy are starting to happen. 

But society has attitudes about the entire concept of the end of this age.  Let's look at society's attitudes then we'll look at some attitude challenges that we face ourselves.  2 Peter chapter 3 shows one that society has.  And sometimes it affects us.  We have to beware.  Society, whether it's the politics or the celebrity worship, which is one of the greatest forms of idolatry in our modern era, it affects us.  We have to beware of that.  Music affects us.  Attitudes affect us.  We chart our own course.  We are not to be taking our cues from the world's wrong attitudes. 

2 Peter 3:1 - Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle...  that's right at the beginning of chapter 3  ...(in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder),  Vs. 2 - that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets...  Mindful of the words of the holy prophets.  We're going to look at something Isaiah said and something Ezekiel said next.  ...and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior,   Vs. 3 - knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,  Vs. 4 - saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."   

We have our own modern scoffers.  "Where's the promise of His coming.  We don't even believe in Him or the existence of God or of creation."   I mean, they've taken scoffing to new heights historically.  "What do you mean God's going to have a time of judgment coming?  There is no God.  Things continue as they are, evolving slowly." So there's this attitude of scoffing and ridiculing God.  We saw that at one of the political conventions here in America just a few weeks ago, booing at even the concept of God being a part of the platform of their party.  Go figure.  But not surprising.  Sad, but not surprising.  We see that happening.  Those kinds of attitudes are markers prophetically. 

But what do the holy prophets have to say about this kind of attitude?  Let's look at Isaiah first of all.  Isaiah chapter 8 summarizes it well enough, I think.  Isaiah came to be a prophet while Assyria was wreaking havoc with the house of Israel.  They had been made a vassal kingdom and then about ten years later they rebelled against the Assyrians and they came and invaded the land, thrashed the army and took about half of the nation, or maybe a little more, captive and deported them to the northern borders of the Assyrian empire up toward Armenia and then somewhat over further east near the Caspian Sea.  Then about nine years later because Israelites hate to pay taxes then, even as they do now, they rebelled again.  About half the country had left and they were completely trounced by the Assyrians and they decided, let's rebel again.  You know, just because it didn't work the first time when there were more of us, it's got to work now that there are fewer of us.  The logic is just all too modern, I'm afraid.  So they rebelled again and then the Assyrians came and this time they were not a patient people.  This time they thrashed what was the second army and then deported the entire country and thus we ended up with the lost ten tribes of Israel – lost in the sense that they were gone from their country and people didn't know where they went because they didn't bother to go looking for them, but you can track them and you can find them today because of prophecy as well as their historical tracks.  That's another subject. 

So Isaiah began his ministry in about 740 B.C.  And by 720 B.C., the northern house of Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel, was gone and all that was left was the Jews, the house of Judah.  There were two nations.  The single nation of Israel under David and Solomon had been formed into two nations:  the northern Israelites and the southern Jews.  The Israelites were gone and the Jews were left.  And Isaiah's prophecies then focused on them after a time.  But here, it's earlier in his ministry, so he says in verse 1:

Isaiah 8:1 - Moreover the LORD said to me, "Take a large scroll, and write on it with a man's pen concerning Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.   Now, how long does it take to write that in Hebrew and have it witnessed?  It goes on about witnessing the writing of Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, which means literally 'speed the spoil, hasten the booty', booty meaning the loot.  In the ancient world, you usually paid your armies by letting them loot the bodies and the stores of the army that they vanquished in battle.  And if they didn't win, they didn't get paid.  Sort of a motivational thing, you know?  So they had to win first to get paid.  So he wrote this unusual name which has a sense of urgency and drama to it.  Vs. 3 –Then I went to the prophetess...  his wife  ...and she conceived...  and then they had a second son.  They had a first son.  His first son's name was Shear-Jashub, which means a remnant shall return.  That's the good news.  All of Israel would not be destroyed.  There would be a remnant that would return.  ...Then the LORD said to me, "Call his name...  the second son  ...Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz;   Can you imagine when Maher got to kindergarten how much trouble he had learning to write his own name?   Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.  Vs. 4 - for before the child shall have knowledge to cry 'My father' and 'My mother,' the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria...  Damascus was the capitol of the ancient Syrians and Samaria was the capitol of the ten tribes of Israel, the house of Israel.  ...the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be taken away before the king of Assyria."   He will come, conquer them and be gone before Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz is old enough to, you know, have the knowledge to say 'My mother" and "My father".  Vs. 5 –And the LORD spoke to me again, saying:   So he goes on talking about what a terrible time this will be. 

Vs. 6 - "Inasmuch as these people refused The waters of Shiloah that flow softly...  God had supplied them with a water supply in Jerusalem even  ...And rejoice in Rezin...  Rezin was the name the leader of Syrians there in Damascus  ...and in Remaliah's son...  Remaliah's son – King Remaliah of the house of Israel, whose son's name was Pekah.  Pekah was the current king.  Vs. 8 - Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them The waters of the River, strong and mighty...  when it says 'the river' in the prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah, it means the Euphrates.  It was the largest large river near to Israel.  ...The king of Assyria and all his glory...  the river is like him, the King of Assyria and all of his glory  ...He will go up over his channels And go over the banks.  Vs. 8 - He will pass through Judah, overflow and pass over, reach up to the neck; stretching out his wings and will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.   Vs. 9 - "Be shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Give ear, all you countries. Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces...  you know, you can try to fight, but it won't help.  ...Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces.  It is repeated for emphasis.  Vs. 10 - Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing...  You can't stop him.  ...Speak the word, but it will not stand, For God is with us."  I am with the Assyrians to punish you in that sense.  Vs. 11 - For the LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying:   Vs. 12 - "Do not say, 'A conspiracy,' Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.   Vs. 13 - The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Him you shall fear, And let Him be your dread.   Vs. 14 – And He will be your sanctuary.   And it goes on, then talking the famous prophecy how Christ would be a stumbling block of offense to both houses of Israel. 

So Isaiah was talking about impending doom coming on the Israelites, the northern kingdom.   And then later there was going to be an invasion of Assyria on the house of Judah about twenty years after that that would threaten the Jews.  In fact, about 200,000 of them, according to Syrian records, were taken captive from their fortified cities.  When they besieged Jerusalem, however, that's when Hezekiah gave a very powerful prayer and God intervened and wiped out the entire Assyrian expeditionary force.  That was twenty years later. 

But do not say a conspiracy.  You know, we have conspiracy theories that go around right now, you know, the Bilderbergers and the Illuminati and  - what's the other group – the Trilateral Commission.  They all play three-way chess together so I've heard.  So there are all kinds of conspiracy theories and I think it's important to have caution.  You know, mankind conspires to do things.  Some do that.  Some of these guys probably do.  A lot of them are the super financiers of the world.  They have conspiracies, but when I hear the conspiracy theorists theorize, they are saying that these people cooperate at a level of cooperation that selfish men do not attain.  They can't do that.  They are just as selfish and self seeking as they can be.  That's why they have gotten where they are.  And we can get distracted by focusing too much on human conspiracies or possible conspiracies – some of them are just possible ones that aren't really based in fact. 

There is a greater conspiracy that we are distracted from when we do that.  And that is the demonic conspiracy of Satan the devil.  He is going to destroy all that he can.  He is a destroyer.  Destruction is his game - that's what it says in Revelation.  We need to be aware of the real adversary and the real conspiracy.  The others may have some basis, but they are simply pawns in the hands of the prince of the power of the air.  And our protector, our sanctuary is Christ against that.  Now I think it's important that we keep focused as we are realizing the impending doom really that is coming upon our world.  That's what Bible prophecy is all pointing to and the fact that there is going to be 'a year of last things' and then everything comes apart at the seams after that - that we stay focused on who our enemy is and who our strength is and not get carried away too much with these other things.  There probably is some basis to some of them, and that's human nature, but beware of the demonic nature.  That's much more dangerous.  So Isaiah talked about urgency. 

Ezekiel, chapter 12 of Ezekiel talks about something similar.  Ezekiel was always given these strange things to do and one of the strange things that he was given to do was - in this instance was to eat his bread with quaking in Vs. 18 and drink your water with trembling and anxiety.   So he would eat his bread and he would be shaking and look fearfully around.  He had to act the part.  And then he would be trembling while he would drink his water, sloshing it like he might be a man of great age – the nerves and the muscles weren't behaving themselves and he would have that little bit of a tremor in the hand.  Well, he had to do it, he had to put on that as a display of anxiety and of fear of the danger.

'Thus says the Lord GOD to the inhabitants of Jerusalem...  this is in Vs. 19  ...to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the land of Israel...  The land of Israel was already gone, a long time taken captive by the time of Ezekiel.  Ezekiel's ministry took place in the years leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem and those immediately following.  But he wasn't anywhere near Jerusalem because he was among the Jews who were taken captive early – a few years earlier by King Nebuchadnezzar and that included Daniel and his three friends.  They were also taken captive earlier and Ezekiel was over in captivity in Babylon.  But God had him send a message, write a message that was aimed for the Jews and the Ten Tribes.  ...They shall eat their bread with anxiety, and drink their water with dread, so that her land may be emptied of all who are in it, because...  there is a great war coming because  ...of the violence of all those who dwell in it.   It is a very sad time. 

And then in Vs. 21 we start a new paragraph. - And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,  Vs. 22 - "Son of man, what is this proverb that you people have about the land of Israel, which says, 'The days are prolonged, and every vision fails'?"  That was a proverb, a popular saying.  Everything's going fine.  You know, the prophecies, those visions, they don't mean anything.  That's what was being said apparently in Jerusalem by some.  

Well, God goes on to Ezekiel.  He says in Vs. 23, Tell them therefore, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "I will lay this proverb to rest, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel." But say to them this, "The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision.'   Everything that has been prophesied will happen.  Vs. 24 - For no more shall there be any false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel.   Vs. 25-  For I am the LORD. I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass...  There isn't any question like it might.  No, it will.  ...it will no more be postponed; for in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and perform it," says the Lord GOD.' "   Vs. 26 – And again...  as if that wasn't enough  ...the word of the LORD came to me, saying,   Vs. 27 - "Son of man, look, the house of Israel is saying, 'The vision that he sees is for many days from now, and he prophesies of times far off.'   Now we talk about the end of the age, you know society doesn't want to think about that.  Frankly, sometimes we don't want to think about that.  'It can't be now.'  Vs. 28 - Therefore say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "None of My words will be postponed any more, but the word which I speak will be done."

We've read the prophecies.  We know what's ahead for the world that we live in now and there will be a time when God's will is no longer postponed.  It's the time leading up to that that we are thinking about - that 'year of last things'.  Now there are attitude challenges, I think, that we face within the church with the knowledge that we have that we have to avoid these two extremes. 

Let's look at the first extreme in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.  Society can scoff at the idea of God at all and the idea of prophecy.  It's going to happen.  It's going to come to pass.  So Paul is teaching prophecy – the most wonderful prophecy.  We commemorated this prophecy just the other day on the Feast of Trumpets which foreshadows the second coming of Christ.  And in that sense, I suppose it foreshadows the first coming of Christ, too, because Christ had to come the first time in order to be the Messiah to come the second time. 

But I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep...  this is in verse 13 of 1 Thessalonians 4.  I don't want you to be ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep...  which is the Bible way of saying those who have died  ...lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.   And our grieving is different.  We know we are going to see our loved one again.  It's a matter of time.  The resurrection will occur.  We'll see them.  Vs. 14 - For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.   Vs. 15 - For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord...  Paul assumed he might be included in that. Leading the dangerous life that he lived, I don't know why he thought he might be included in it, but he thought Christ would return in his day.  So did Peter.  That's a good thing.  It kept them on their toes.  They were constantly living their 'year of last things'.  That's just the way they lived from year to year to year.  And they had 'a year of last things' personally when they finally came to their end and they realized - no, it's not going to happen now, but it will happen.  It will no longer be postponed at a certain point.  ...we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.   Vs. 16 - For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God...  That corresponds to the seventh trumpet in the book of Revelation and thus the Feast of Trumpets pictures this because it is a memorial of the blowing of trumpets and what more dramatic trumpets are there than the seven trumpets of the book of Revelation and all that they prefigure and all that they announce.  ...the dead in Christ will rise first.   Vs. 17 - Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds and meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord.   Not in the air, of course, because He goes down on the Mount of Olives, so we've got to go down there.  That's Zechariah chapter 14.   Vs. 18 - Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Then he continues.  We have chapter breaks, but he continues with the thought in another paragraph in chapter 5. 

1 Thessalonians 5:1 - But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.   Vs. 2 - For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.   Vs. 3 - For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.   Vs. 4 - But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.   Vs. 5 - You are all sons of light and sons of the day.

Now, Paul wrote that letter and if people would have had email access to him or if he had carried a Blackberry like I sometimes do when I remember to have it on me – not for eating, but one of those telephone Blackberries, or any other brand you can care to mention, there are plenty.  You go out and you could have called Paul and said, "What exactly did you mean by that?  Do you think that Christ is going to be here in a few months?"   And then he would clarify, "No."  But, you see, he didn't.  In fact, he didn't even have the U.S. Postal Service.  You know, God created creeping things and sometimes that's where they qualify.  He didn't have that.  If they had a question, they had to write it in a letter and then they had to give it to somebody and somebody carried it to him and found him and gave him the letter and he was awful hard to find.  And then he would write and answer back and that person had to travel all the way back.  It could take weeks and weeks and weeks or months and months and months to catch up with the apostle Paul.  Grass did not grow under his feet.  So they didn't get the clarification.  Thus some, who I would describe as being a bit of hyper-prophecy buffs, you know, they feed on prophecy and not on actually living God's way.  They think knowledge is more powerful than loving God and loving others which is a fallacy.  The hyper-prophecy self-righteous syndrome sets in and then you get false teachings that rise up.  And so some were actually beginning to teach that Christ had already returned.  "If Christ has already returned, then we should expect to be turned into spirit any minute now so I don't need to go to work tomorrow" - exactly that kind of thing happened.  And 2 Thessalonians had to be written to deal with that once the letter got to Paul.  So we go to chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians.

2 Thessalonians 2:Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ...  you know, now brethren, okay, now we're going to deal with something.  He had this greeting and everything in chapter 1.  Now we're going to get into the main reason for the letter.  ...Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him...  through a resurrection obviously  ...we ask you,   Vs. 2 - not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us...  see, in those days it was popular to forge a letter and say it was from Paul and then you could write whatever heresy you wanted and if you claimed it was from Paul then some people would believe it.  It makes you think that some people would believe anything.  Yep.  And we haven't changed a bit.  Still the same human nature that existed then.  We have to avoid the gullibility, the trap and that was what others prey upon – the gullibility trap.  ...as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come...it would be like he had already returned.  Vs. 3 - Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away...  we call it the great falling away because of this reference here.  ...comes first...  so there has to be a falling away.  Has there been a falling away from the truth?  Yes.  How do we explain 1995.  That's an in-house term to those of us who lived through that, but if you aren't familiar with it, ask someone who has been around since then or before.  That was a great falling away within the church and we see society falling further and further away from what limited understanding it has had of the principles and the teachings of God's law and word – rapidly falling away.  And another thing has to happen   ...and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,   Vs. 4 - who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.   You can correspond that to Daniel chapter 11, about verses 44 and 45 where it talks about the king of the north - also identified from the principle in Revelation as what we refer to as the beast or the beast power - will overrun the Middle East and he will plant his palace between the seas – the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.  And you know what's there?  Jerusalem is there.  And he will, then, be claiming that he is God.  It's not surprising.  I mean, we've got rock stars who proclaim that.  And this guy is going to be a war star which is worse than a rock star. 

So he said there are things that have to happen first.  The problem here is – and this danger we have to be aware of – is that although Christ is going to come, and it is going to happen rapidly and catch the world unawares, it isn't going to catch us unawares if we are watchful because we know what the markers are.  The great falling away was one of them and the man of sin being revealed.  And there are other ones, too, that have to happen first.  So we ought to avoid this hyper-prophecy focus and concentrate on living God's way and doing God's work. 

In chapter 3, there are a couple of verses that I want to share with you, verses 10 through 12.  This dealt with the aftermath where we had people acting on prophecy and thinking about prophecy more than thinking about the entire expanse of God's word. 

2 Thessalonians 3:10 - For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.   Vs. 11 - For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies.   Vs. 12 - Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread.

Whose bread were they eating?  Everybody else's.  "Oh, well, Christ has returned.  I don't need to work so you need to feed me."  I don't follow your logic.  I have to work so I can feed you because you don't need to work because Christ has returned?  Some people are not strong on logic and when they focus too much on just prophecy and not enough on the balance of the meat and potatoes of God's way of life, it sets them off.  It makes them odd.  That's a danger so we need to avoid that challenge that is always thrown at us. 

Back in Matthew chapter 24 now we look at the other challenge that we need to face and to avoid as well.  And this one, it sadly has a great pull for those who are of the faith if they aren't careful.   This is toward the end of Matthew 24.  Christ is giving a parable.  It says,

Matthew 24:45 - "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?   Vs. 46 - Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.   Doing what he has given him to do.   Vs. 47 – But assuredly, I say to you that he will make him a ruler over all his goods.   Vs. 48 - But if that evil servant says in his heart...  so you could be a good servant or you could be an evil servant.  Which is better?  It doesn't take long to think that one through.  ...But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,'...   Aw, it isn't going to happen now.  You know, this is the way it has always been.   Vs. 49 – and then he begins to beat his fellow servants...  you know, treat people cruelly  ...and to eat and drink with the drunkards,   Vs. 50 - the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,   Vs. 51 - and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

You know it would be intensely foolish for those of us who understand the truth to begin to think that Christ is not coming soon and the end of this age is not soon upon us – however soon that soon is - however soon the 'year of last things' before everything goes to the dogs, the great tribulation. 

So there are three points I have to conclude here.  Three points on living through 'the year of last things' or living through 'our year of last things' because we never know when our time might come as individuals. 

First of all, savor and live life faithfully.  Savor and live life faithfully.  Make reasonable plans.  Work hard.  Do well.  Ecclesiastes 9:10 comes to mind.  Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might...  While it is yet day, let us do the work of God and let us do the work that we need to do providing for our family.  And even if it's that last year, enjoy, savor, savor every moment of life itself, but certainly savor it thinking it could be that final year.  I knew when my last year at Ambassador College came.  I was a senior.  It was a countdown.  We don't know when our 'year of last things' is going to start. 

Number two, so savor and live life faithfully.  #2, Immerse yourself in God's way and God's work.  Immerse yourself in God's way and God's work.  Soak up all that you can from God's word.  Pray.  Fast regularly.  Study the Bible.  Meditate.  It isn't good enough just to read the Bible.  Think about it.  You know, you can extend your Bible study by meditating.  You read it and then you are thinking about it.  Well, that's essentially extending your Bible study.  You can quote certain things, phrases and statements in your mind and you know what it says and then you think it through.  When you say 'Bible study', we don't mean just Bible reading.  We mean read it and think about it.  That's Bible study.  Meditation is just a deeper element of that, carrying it on after you actually have put the Bible off your lap and back on to the shelf where you keep it handy so you can find it the next time. 

So pray, fast, study, meditate, serve others.  Christ said, I am among you as one who serves and He said that only a week or so before His crucifixion.  He knew His time was coming, His 'year of last things' began.  He knew that His ministry would be short even though it was His last 3 ½ years.  He served others.  We need to look outward rather than inward.  Instead of pleasing self, how can we help others - our families first, and other brethren and other people.  And then, likewise, in immersing yourself in God's way and work, promote the gospel of the kingdom in your conduct, your example and conversation – what we talk about with people.  There are people who worry about what's going on in the world.  Don't shy from those discussions in the check out counter line in a grocery store or wherever it happens to take place, maybe with a co-worker.  Tell people what you think because what you think is drawn from God's word. 

And then we go to Luke, chapter 21 for our final point.  Now, chapter 21 of Luke is a companion chapter to Matthew 24.  It is a prophecy given from the Mount of Olives.  And here Jesus is summarizing things.

Luke 21:34 - "Take heed to yourselves...  in verse 34 we start and we'll end in verse 36.  Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and that Day come upon you unexpectedly.   Just exactly what we were warned against in the worldly 'I'll repent later' or the self-unrighteous syndrome of those two pitfalls that we must avoid within the faith.    Vs. 22 - For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.   Now finally verse 36 which gives us the title for our point:  watch and pray always.  -  Watch therefore, and pray always...  watch and pray always.  Be watchful and be in contact with God constantly in that sense.   ...that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."   Watch and pray always.

So those are the three points that we need to be employing or summarizing in our thinking in order to live successfully through 'the year of last things' or our personal 'year of last things', whichever it is.  Savor and live life faithfully.  Immerse yourself in God's way and God's work.  And watch and pray always.  It sounds like they overlap and they do which is good for emphasis. 

So what will happen in a 'year of last things' when it does come?  You know, this is not a light-weight subject for a sermon, but it's a good one.  It is a little bit sobering, and I understand that.  We sometimes need to be a little bit sobered.  Certainly this world is a sobering time. 

But if it started now, we will keep our last Day of Atonement, we will contemplate the victory ultimately over our great adversary, our evil adversary.  He is great, but evil great. 

We will go to our last Feast of Tabernacles in this age.  We will go to the Feast for the last time, enjoy all of the fellowship, the meals together, the conversations, the messages and discussions about the same. 

We'll harvest our gardens and our fields for the last time – whatever it is that you have growing. If you haven't already harvested it, you will harvest it for the last time. 

We'll experience ultimately our last winter and because we have had a tradition over the past few years it is a good time for gathering people during winter break, our last Winter Family Weekend, our last Winter Camp for our youth. 

And then as that last winter proceeds, we'll see the budding of spring for the last time – the dogwood flowers in the woods around here in Ohio and lots of other places will sparkle into bloom long before there are any leaves on the other trees.  And that will be spectacular.  The daffodils will come out.  We will see those for the last time. 

We'll plant gardens and fields for the last time because we will continue to work.  We don't know necessarily that it is the last spring. 

We'll deleaven our homes and keep the Passover for the last time contemplating what Christ went through for us.  He is our victory and He is our guide and master and Lord. 

We will savor the conversations over our last meal of the Night To Be Much Remembered with the brethren in attending the Days of Unleavened Bread and making our favorite unleavened recipes to share with others. 

For our youngsters - younger folks - they will be attending their last teen proms sponsored by various congregations in the church.  The last day of school, the last graduations including the last graduation of ABC.  You know, now that I think about it, at Ambassador Bible Center it is only a one year program so your 'year of first things' is also your 'year of last things'.  Wrap your head around that one.  A double whammy. 

We'll go to our last Pentecost Holy day. 

We'll have our last round of summer camps and family vacations. 

We'll be watching and seeing things getting more and more serious on the world scene all that time. 

Our last ripe tomato or melon will be plucked from our garden. 

And the last Sabbath service before the world descends into a deadly spiral of destruction which will take place as we come to the end of our 'year of last things' – something to savor. 

We'll go through this 'year of last things' just like those who die go through their 'year of last things'.  We don't know when it will begin, but we do know that eventually it will begin.  And it will come to its end.  As I said, because of the advise I was given all those years ago, I savored that last year of Ambassador College and I have all of those indelible memories, sort of mental snapshots.  Likewise, we need to savor life, love God, love the brotherhood and let's live our last year in this age powerfully and well.