Sermon Transcript — September 30, 2006
My wife and I just returned from a rather extended trip to Africa, and to Britain, and we were in Houston for the Feast of Trumpets. We were there for some special ordinations. We ordained several Deacons and Deaconess's and we had an Elder ordained as well. I chided the local Pastor that he ordained more people in one day than I'd ordained in twenty years (as the Pastor of Houston), but there was kind of a pent up need there, and it really worked well. The congregation of Houston North is close to four hundred people, and so the average age of the Elders, I think, was 83, and the average age of the Deacons was about 75, I think. So it was certainly time, and everyone was very happy and very excited to see that, and we were very, very pleased to have been invited to be a part of it, and we enjoyed it very, very much.
The trip to Kenya — I'll make a few comments here in the beginning and then talk more in the course of the sermon about what we experienced there. We did have quite an interesting trip; we spent almost two weeks in Kenya and Tanzania . We did have an opportunity to stand on the shores of Lake Victoria and look across at Uganda , but we didn't get into the country. But we were there very, very close by. If you look at a map, you'll see that, of course, Kenya 's in East Africa . I have a lot of pictures and a lot of slides, and maybe one day we can show some of those, because it's a very interesting part of the world.
Although I've been to Africa several times, this was my first trip to East Africa, and there are some distinct differences from West Africa . You're also — if you are familiar with some of the things going on in the world — when you're in Kenya , you're not all that far from the Sudan . In fact, that's on the North Western border of Kenya, and therefore not all that far from the Darfur, which, of course, is the location of one of the most horrible situations in the history of man, really, when you — when all the details come out, you're going to find out what a horrible, horrible tragedy has occurred in this part of the world. So you're really not that far from that area.
Kenya as a country is quite beautiful. It was amazing to me, you're on the equator, (in fact we crossed the equator several times going back and forth in visiting), and someone asked me, "Well, is it true, does the water go the other direction on either side of the equator?" And I said, "Well, if we'd had water where we were, we might have found out!" But many of the places didn't have those facilities — but, I didn't check that one out. But, you're on the equator and you think, "well it's going to be extremely hot", but Nairobi is 5,000 feet above sea level, and the temperature there was quite nice and quite pleasant. And at times we were actually up in some of the area of the tea plantations; we were at 9,000 feet above sea level. So, it was quite different than what you would expect, if you'd expect, of course, the heat of being along the equator.
During the course of, actually ten days that we were traveling through the country, (we had twelve services in ten days, so in some ways I felt I'd already been to the Feast), I gave twelve sermons. And you don't stop with the sermon, though. After the sermon, and you take a break for about thirty minutes, you sit down for another two and a half hours of questions and answers, because most of the people we were visiting are very new, very new people scattered throughout Kenya.
We met at everything from a mud hut with a thatched roof, and just out in the middle of nowhere, dirt floors, to out underneath the clouds; we had no building to meet in. We had, I think, seventy or eighty people in — well, not quite that many in Tanzania — must have been about thirty in Tanzania , in a mud structure. And then we had about eighty in a place along Lake Victoria , in which there was no building. We sat out among the clouds, and probably — this was toward the end, and we were getting pretty tired. And a cloud came up, and we could see rain coming, so we had to end that session before we went to the full two and a half hours for the question and answer. But, that was the normal course of things.
They had a lot of interesting questions. It was a bit amazing. You're standing, or sitting before a table in a mud hut, and someone is asking you about the prophecies of the tribulation. And, really, it's sort of almost out of place, it seems like. Well, these people are, of course, studying the same Bible we're studying, and they have some of the same questions you and I have, and it was just very enlightening to hear their questions from some of the people.
One of the things that we have in Kenya that has brought a lot of new people into contact with the Church is that they have some of the booklets in the native languages there; I think there are three of the major languages we actually have literature in, in Kenya. So we get a lot of requests. The office in Nairobi receives about, I believe they told me, sixty requests a week, so these are people wanting visits, people wanting contact, people wanting literature, so it's quite an interesting place to visit.
Some places we were, there were no hotels (or places to stay that we would stay in). But there was one particular place called, "Migori", in which we asked to stay at, that's called "Marinas sa Baptist " (well, I don't know if it's Baptist), "Marinas sa Church Camp". It was for Missionaries. This was an interesting place to stay, and I asked Mr. Elliott, (John and Mary Elliott were along with us), "Why don't we just stay in a hotel in the city?" He said, "Well, trust me, you would rather stay here." And, I trusted him, but when we looked at this place where we did stay, it was the first time I'd ever seen in my life — was a bathroom and a shower is one room; the same room. You walk in a bathroom and in the middle of the bathroom ceiling is the shower head. And you know, here's the sink, and here's the commode, and here's the shower head. And you're supposed to go in, and there's the drain in the middle of the floor, you just take your shower right in the middle of the bathroom. Unfortunately, when you turn the shower on, it just drips water; just a drip, drip, drip. So, after a day or two of that, we decided, "Well, this is kind of a flexible pipe that goes up to the shower head, why don't we pull it out and we'll hold the pipe over our heads." And that worked! We were able to get water, and get enough that we actually had an opportunity to take a shower during the days we were there at the Marinas sa Camp, so that was an interesting place. But, all in all, we had a very good visit, came back, as I said, we actually got back to Cincinnati a week ago tomorrow, or actually Monday morning about 1:00 a.m. when we finally arrived. So, it was a good trip, and I'll make mention more of some of the things that happened on this trip during the course of the sermon.
Well, let's begin this morning, by turning to Matthew, Chapter 24. ( Matthew, Chapter 24 , beginning in Verse one .) I'd like to read from the Modern King James translation this little bit of dialogue that takes place between Jesus and the disciples. There's something very interesting and very relevant to us today that took place in this particular episode. It says:
Jesus left the temple and was walking away when His disciples came up to Him to call His attention to its buildings.
So, here they're outside of the temple; later they're going to end up on the Mount of Olives . You go up to the Mount of Olives , you can look back down and you can actually see the temple from there, and so they're headed in that direction. We don't quite know how much time elapses between verses one and two, but we assume this is a continual story. But the building, (the temple), is such a huge part of the civilization, the culture of the Jews at that time. And it was something they looked to with pride, because it was, maybe, the only stabilizing influence of that era, because, you know, they were overrun, they were controlled by the Romans — but the temple was theirs. And Christ had made a lot of comments about the temple, you know. He called it the "house of prayer". He referred to it as being "His Father's house." So there's a lot of attention given to this building. And the disciples draw His attention to it. And He said, " do you see all these things?"
Now, I'm not sure the motivation behind the disciples asking Him if he saw all these things — He had talked about it before; He had obviously been in and out of the temple many times — why this particular time did they draw His attention? I don't quite know. I mean, you could speculate: "Well, you know Christ has been talking quite a bit about the coming Kingdom of God", and they're saying, "Well, look what we have now; look at this, look at where we worship." There was evidently a sense of pride in what they had, and Christ made a statement to them that must have really struck them as out of context. He said:
Verse 2: "I tell you, I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left upon another; everyone will be thrown down."
Now, that had to be a shocking statement. It had to really reverberate throughout their bodies: "This is going to be torn down? Well, surely the Kingdom of God will include the temple; surely whatever Christ is going to do is going to include the temple. How could you not consider the temple a part of anything in the future?" And so, the account sort of ends there, and in the next verse we find as Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives — again, I don't know if anyone knows how much time develops between the two of these. We can assume, that maybe, that they walked from the temple area, walked up to the Mount of Olives ; now they're looking back down toward the temple. You can actually see into the inner — the wall of the temple from the Mount of Olives .
So, in this context, the disciples came to Him privately, just the disciples and Christ. They said:
Verse 3 : "Tell us", (now, how long had this been burning inside them, maybe just the walk up to the Mount of Olives; maybe there was more time involved), but they said, " Tell us, when will this happen? " (when will this happen?) and, "what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?"
The disciples asked two questions: It would seem obvious that they considered His coming and the end of the age to be one event, and the destruction, or yes, His prophecy that the temple would be destroyed, as the other event. Startling words! Jesus Christ had been with them for three and a half years, more than that, obviously, during His life, but in intensive training for three and a half years. He no longer referred to the temple in religious terms (Christ did not). He predicted destruction of the temple. For the disciples, this to them probably spelled the end of their civilization, the end of their civilization as they knew it. Even though they were under the control of the Romans, they still practiced their religion, it would appear, without a lot of opposition around the temple.
But, all of this was about to end. In 70 A.D. the temple was destroyed; the site was leveled. And then, now, almost 2,000 years later there's still not no central place of worship for the Jews as they had during the time of Christ. And that's a real struggle. In fact, many civilizations would have died out if you destroyed their central place of worship. You know, there's a book out called " The History of Civilization". The author of this book says that you could look at all the civilizations that have ever existed, and if you really analyze them, there is a religious fervor at the core of every civilization; now there's a religious fervor. In fact, you know, he even used the example of the Communists, or the Soviet Union ; he said, even though there was no religion (as we would consider religion), their anti—religion was a religion. Now at the core of the civilization, there's something there that we would label as religion, and you take that away, and you destroy the civilization. And that's what this author claims.
Well, if you consider the Jews, their central place of worship was destroyed, there wasn't a stone left upon another, and they continued to survive — now, albeit, through a lot of difficulties over the next 2,000 years — but the civilization survived, and, of course, survives to this day. That's rather remarkable in one sense when you think about it. But that was the first question.
The second question was, "When will you return and the end of the age?" They didn't understand everything, we know that, but they did understand that when Christ returned there would be a new age and a new government; that Christ would bring with Him a new world order. Now they may not have understood that this would be the first time, that in a sense, this new world order would come to the earth, and that the government of God would, in that sense, govern and reign since I guess you could say the time of Adam and Eve, when man chose to go in a different direction.
This is gigantic, this is incredible — absolutely incredible. It's beyond any science fiction's writer, any science fiction writer's ability to imagine, this promise that there is another world, another age that He is coming.
This morning I would like to ask a very simple question: Do you really believe that Christ is coming and that the Kingdom of God will be here on this earth? Do you really believe that? Now that may seem like a rather strange question — "Well, of course we believe that, absolutely. We just celebrated the Feast of Trumpets, which pictures that — absolutely I believe that. We're on our way to the Feast of Tabernacles, which pictures the Millennium and a time when Christ is reigning on earth. Surely, we believe that!" I would simply suggest to you, if you really believe that, then your life must be changing — your life must be changing . If you are not changing your life, if you are not growing as a servant of God, if you are not increasing in your obedience toward God, then I suggest, maybe, you really don't believe it. Because, if you really believe there's a new age coming, your whole life is affected — your whole life is affected. Not simply one aspect of your life, but everything about your life is affected — everything.
The Feast of Tabernacles, of course, pictures the time when Jesus Christ will reign on this earth; the Millennium will be here, there will be the peace, the prosperity, and all of those things. Of course, we know what will happen in the beginning of the Millennium, but after all of that's taken care of there's a time of great peace and great prosperity. I remember, as many of you do, attending the Feast of Tabernacles over the years. Our first Feast of Tabernacles was — as was probably some of you, maybe many of you — was in Big Sandy, Texas. Now, Big Sandy is a very small town in East Texas , and in fact, in the years when we were attending the Feast, we never used the term Big Sandy , we used the term Gladewater . It was the nearest town, really, of any size.
But, the excitement of going to the Feast, the excitement of looking for the metal building as you topped the corner there on Highway 80, or topped the hill on Highway 80 — there's a particular hill as you come over; you can see the glistening of the metal building, the top of it — and you looked for that, because that was exciting, that was thrilling. You know, the Feast of Tabernacles was not simply a physical experience. It wasn't simply that we had a great time, and we, you know, we did all of these wonderful things. I'm not aware of any huge amusements parks or a beach — or, there was a beach near Big Sandy. If there was one there I never found it. Your entertainment was pretty much on the grounds — that was it! For a kid growing up it was a wonderful environment. You could run anywhere and everywhere, and everyone offered you food and drink, no matter where you went. It was a thrilling experience! But I'll tell you, the most exciting part about the Feast was when you came on the opening night, and it was electrifying! The crowd was gathered there; the singing. Everything that went on was just absolutely electrifying. You knew you were in a very special place, and it wasn't because of the facilities, it wasn't because you were going to do something great the next day — means the next day you were coming to church twice! It was the Feast of Tabernacles!
This was to be, and we were told every day during the Feast, "This pictures the Millennium, and you should be living like you were in the Millennium." You know, if something were awry, or something went wrong, we were chided by, "Well", you know, "is this the way it will be in the Millennium? Obviously, you know it won't be this way in the Millennium — you should be living like you are already in the Millennium — this is the way we live during the Feast of Tabernacles." Because, you see, the Millennium was a reality. The coming of Jesus Christ was a reality. And really, the whole focus of what we did during the Fall Holy Days was about that. And I just remember vividly as a child, a young boy, of hearing those messages, day after day, after day: "Can you see the kingdom? Can you understand? This is how we will work together in the Millennium". Everything was related to that particular event, and it was exciting, it was thrilling, it was something that I will always cherish, and it's a very big part, I believe, of who I am, and who probably you are, today. Certainly religious — it was a religious Festival. It was a spiritual experience, and yes we had fun with the physical, but it was spiritual. And that was exciting and that was thrilling.
We need to understand that one of the fundamental beliefs, of not only the United Church of God, but a fundamental belief of Scripture, is in the return of Jesus Christ and the setting up of His kingdom on this earth. That particular teaching is considered, or has been considered through history, a very dangerous doctrine — a very dangerous doctrine . In fact, if you go back to sixteenth century England, there were many Sabbath keepers who were imprisoned, and we often think about, "Oh, they were put in prison because they were keeping the Sabbath." Well, that's partly true, but primarily they were put in prison because they believed in the coming of Jesus Christ to set up another government, and that was a threat to those who were in power.
In fact, in the sixteenth century in England they really got caught (those who were Sabbath keepers and believed in a literal return of Christ and His kingdom on earth); they were caught in a vice, because there was a political movement called the Fifth Monarchist that existed in England in the sixteenth century. And the Fifth Monarchist wanted to take over the throne of England , and they wanted to establish what the Bible referred to, (in their minds), as the Fifth Monarchy. That is, if you look at the image in Daniel, Chapter 2, there are the four world ruling empires — the fifth one, you know, the stone cut out without hands comes and crashes this, and rules the world. Well, we know that's Christ and His return. Well, they looked at it in a physical way that they were the Fifth Monarchy, that God had called them to take over the throne. And there's even an incident where one of them broke into the Queen's chamber one night, sat upon the end of her bed and pronounced himself as the head of the new monarchy. Well, he lasted about five minutes, and I think his head was gone the next day! But, there was a group, the Fifth Monarchist. So, the Sabbatarians who taught that there would be a kingdom on earth — there is a Fifth Monarchy coming — they were rounded up regularly along with the Fifth Monarchists', and they were hauled off to prison, not necessarily because they were keeping the Sabbath, (that was an irritation); but because they could be a threat to the very government in Briton, and they were imprisoned.
In the United States there were Sabbath keepers who were imprisoned, again not solely because they kept the Sabbath, but because they believed in another government. Now, if you think this one through, if you're the head of a government on earth, (whatever government it is), and some of your constituents say "Well, there's another government coming; there's a kingdom coming, and it will rule over you" — not a message you would like to hear. It's not a comforting message, because you know what that says: there's something wrong with this government. And no one in power wants to be told "there's something wrong with your government."
Now, if you think this one through, our belief in the return of Christ and the Kingdom of God on this earth tells us, (tells us explicitly), that we are not a part of this world and its governments. If there is another one coming — if you believe that — then you are not a part of this world's governments. It would be hypocritical to be a part of it, because it won't last. There's another government to come. Now some would say, "Well, okay, Christ is going to return; why doesn't He just adopt a model of one of the governments that's in existence today, don't we have the perfect government?" Now, don't get me wrong, I prefer our government over many places I've been. But why can't Christ just adopt our government? Maybe He could run for President and be elected President. Now, maybe we should do that.
What does the Bible say? That when Christ returns all the governments of this world will cease to exist. Why? Because there's something fundamentally flawed with the governments of this world, and they will not be the model for the Kingdom of God . The model is defined throughout the Scriptures. Christ will not take one of the governments of this world and simply revamp it, or simply model His leadership after it. His government will be a new government, at least new to man, and it will take over all the governments of this world. Do you really believe that? This is a fundamental question that I really want to get across today as we sit here on the verge of leaving for the Feast of Tabernacles. Do you really believe that? Because, I suggest to you, if you really believe that, your life will be different — your life will be different . That believing in the Kingdom of God is a life—changing and a life—altering doctrine. It isn't simply an academic understanding; it alters your life.
Now, if you look at the Bible, you will find in the New Testament alone, there are three hundred references to the return of Christ; it isn't a minor thing in the Bible. One out of every thirty verses in the New Testament talks about the return of Christ, and in addition to that, there are a hundred and fifty—eight references to the Kingdom of God in the New Testament. And a hundred and twenty—seven of them are found in the four gospels. It isn't even a debate. The topic of Christ's teaching was the Kingdom of God; it is overwhelming, there isn't anything second, there isn't anything else on the radar screen. It's amazing, isn't it, that so little is said today about the coming Kingdom of God and the return of Jesus Christ when it so dominate in Scripture, and especially in Scriptures that tell about Jesus Christ. It may be, even sometimes ourselves, we fail to emphasize enough (now we obviously do it every year at the Feast of Tabernacles) that this is the dominate theme, this is the dominate message. Why is it so dominate? Because if you believe it, it will change your life. It will change the way you see man's government, it will change the way you live and interact with man and his government, it will change you.
You know what the Scriptures say — this sometimes escapes us — over and over again Paul said you should walk how? — " Worthy of the kingdom of God ". He says that on three occasions, twice in the Book of Thessalonians ( the books of Thessalonians) " Walk you worthy of the Kingdom of God ". So, if you believe in that, your life will be different. I submit to you that one of the reasons that maybe we don't change as much as we do is that we kind of believe that; it's still far off into the future, the Feast of Tabernacles is a wonderful time to go and travel the world and do wonderful things we've never done before. But is it truly, truly emphasized in your heart and mind this fundamental belief of the Kingdom of God ? It must, brethren, it really must.
Now sometimes we've thought about this, we've talked about it you know, fairly frequently, that there was a simpler time, even in the Church of God, (and I'm not one that would advocate that we need to go back to that; I think there are things that we need to recapture ), but the Feast of Tabernacles was very simple, very simple. We didn't have to plan, "Well, do I want to go to England ? Do I want to go to Asia?" You know, "I'm going to Big Sandy, Texas!" That was the only choice you had at that time! And it was thrilling to do that. We attended the Feast as poor farmers, back when we did in those days in Big Sandy, on less money than probably most of us will spend for one night now. We went to the Feast on just a couple hundred dollars year after year, for eight days. And we had a camp ground, and we had a tent — our families were growing up on the farm, we're living on the farm — people didn't go on vacation.
You certainly didn't camp — why would you go camping? The houses you lived in were worse than any tent you could live in, see. You were already camping! So, you know, it was silly to tell my family on the farm, "We're going to the Feast." (Well, they didn't understand that.) "Well, we're going camping" — well, they didn't understand that either! But we did, and we did that for many, many years. But it was spiritual; religious. Now, we were physical, we were carnal, and we did all the things that little boys and kids will do. But we knew that this was a spiritual event, we knew that. And it was ingrained in us at a very, very early age.
Jesus Christ mentions often about the Kingdom of God, (here, just a couple of these again), one hundred and twenty—seven references found in the four gospels. And you can pick any topic you want, you know — pick a topic and search it through the gospels. There isn't anything that's even close to the references of the Kingdom of God . There's no close second.
Matthew 16, Verse 28 (I'm just going to run through some of these just to make the point) He refers to " His kingdom". In Matthew 26 He calls it " My Father's kingdom". Now, what's that all about? Well, again, it's the Kingdom of God . Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. The Father, of course, is the Father; He is God. It's the Kingdom of God . So Christ calls it " My kingdom" and He also says it's " My Father's kingdom".
There's an interesting verse in Mark 15, Verse 43, it says:
Joseph of Arimathea (who came and took the body of Christ) — It says he was among those who are waiting for the kingdom of God . And I find it so intriguing. It doesn't say that he was waiting for Christ to return, (obviously the events are the same, I agree with that), but the emphasis was, he was one of those who was waiting for the Kingdom of God . That's how he was identified. I wonder if someone wrote a story of the Church today, could he write that about all of us: He, or she, was one of those who was waiting for the Kingdom of God .
Now, Joseph of Arimathea has long since been dead; he didn't see the kingdom during that period of time, did he? But he waited (as far as we know) his whole life, for what? The Kingdom of God !
Let's look at Luke 4. This verse I find intriguing as well, because it tells us about Christ in a way that most people simply gloss right over. Certainly, if you ask someone today, (someone who professes Christianity), "What was the purpose in Christ coming to this earth?", what would he say? Well, they'd probably give, you know, various answers, not that any of them would be wrong: He came to die for our sins, (He certainly did), He came to be our Savior, ( He certainly did). But look at Verse 42 , in Luke Chapter 4 :
Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; (This is in Galilee )
Verse 43: But he said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also", (notice this), "Because for this purpose I have been sent."
That's shocking, or it would be shocking to many people today. It's surprising that Christ said " I must preach the kingdom of God ", and again, I thought about it a great deal, do we feel that way? And I mean, all of us in a sense, that we all represent God's Kingdom. Do we look upon it as being a driving force in our lives? You know, Jesus Christ said, " I must preach the kingdom of God ; this is the purpose I have been sent." Again, I'm not arguing or debating that He came to die for our sins, that He came to be our Savior — you know, all of these things are true. But it's also true that He came to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God . That's a profound, powerful message that will change your life, if you really believe it — will change your life.
Look at I Thessalonians, Chapter 2. This is one of the verses that talks about walking worthy of the Kingdom of God . So the Kingdom of God is a reality; the Kingdom of God is coming. The Kingdom of God is a government that we live under today, and this government has rules and regulations; it tells you how to run your life, you know, it really does. And we as members, we as participants, constituents of the Kingdom of God should order our lives in a certain way.
I Thessalonians 2:12: Paul writes, That you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory (walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory). And in II Thessalonians 1, Verse 5, it says this way:
Which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God , for which you also suffer . (Walk worthy of the Kingdom of God , for which you also suffer.)
This is the teaching of Scripture; this is what the Bible says. It's absolutely incredible that one of the most profound, often taught doctrines and beliefs in Scripture, is overlooked by so many. In fact, in most of the world of Christianity today, there is a central doctrine that contradicts this, and that doctrine, of course, is the idea of going to heaven; that when you die, you will go to heaven. I would like for it to be explained to me how you can correlate going to heaven and the Kingdom of God coming to this earth. When you think through those two doctrinal positions, you will find that they are not complimentary. Now there's some that try to make them complimentary, but they're not. And therefore, in the Church of God we don't accept that; we don't accept an immortal soul that will go to heaven when you die. We simply don't believe it. We believe that Christ is coming and will set up His kingdom on earth. That's a profound difference, but yet the majority of the world believes the other — the majority of the world believes different than we do.
There's a story about Billy Graham that took place a number of years ago that kind of emphasizes this point a bit. Billy Graham told this story about himself one time in a crusade. He said, during his early years of his preaching ministry he was due to lead a crusade meeting in South Carolina , and he needed to mail a letter. He asked a little boy on the main street how he could get to the Post Office. After the boy giving him directions, Billy Graham said, "Well, if you come to the Central Baptist church tonight young man, I'll tell you how to get to heaven." The boy replied, "No thanks, you don't even know how to get to the Post Office!"
But that's the theme — going to heaven, you see. And again, I submit to you, analyze that doctrinal position; it is not complimentary, and in fact it is opposite to the belief that the Kingdom of God will come. I believe that because of that belief, the belief that you go to heaven when you die, is the reason, (or a reason), why the Kingdom of God sort of fades into the background. It is a minor part, even to those who believe in the return of Christ. It's a minor part of their theology. You're not going to hear them preaching about the coming of Jesus Christ and setting up His government and kingdom. But you will hear about going to heaven, you see. Again, I believe that's part of the reasons.
The idea of the Kingdom of God, the belief in the Kingdom of God, is so profound that again, we should continue to ask ourselves this question as we approach the Feast, "Do you really believe it?" And, if you do (and I keep repeating this), where is your confidence, and where is your faith? Are you a part of this world and its governments — if so then, how can you believe in the return of Christ, which will take over and these governments will come to an end.
This was emphasized to me on the recent trip to Africa, and on several trips I've made to Africa — I made my first trip to Africa in 1999. Most of my trips have been through the Central part of Africa, or equatorial Africa, as it's called; the nations along the equator stretching across the continent of Africa . From places such as the Ivory Coast, to Ghana, to South — of course, South Africa's further south, — but Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. These are all countries that's spread across that central part of Africa , just either below or above the equator.
When you analyze these countries, and you analyze their government, as I think many have who have made these trips, you realize what a horrendous situation. You look at countries that are rich in natural resources, filled with wealth, I mean just incredible wealth. We saw, you know, many, many acres of tea plantations and beautiful scenery in Kenya . Ghana is the second largest producer of gold in the world. Nigeria is one of the largest producers of oil in the world. I mean, Nigeria takes in billions of dollars — not, you know, the local currency — but dollars, every single year, and they can't even have electricity and running water in most of the countries. Why? And, I asked that many times. I've come to some conclusions, I wouldn't say they're perfect conclusions, but when you look at these areas you'll find that tribalism has virtually destroyed the family structure in many places. It has also prevented any sort of stable government and it continues to incite violence; tribalism, violence from one tribe to another, within many of these countries in Africa. And then, of course, obviously poor government.
Back in the Spring when we traveled to Nigeria, we actually saw as we were driving through the streets of Lagos — when you drive through the streets of Lagos even the drivers (the locals) will say, "Lock your doors, don't put your (you know), don't put anything up in sight, roll the windows up driving through the city." It's a very, very dangerous place, but I mentioned back in the Spring, I believe, when I spoke here, that we actually saw a woman who was on the side of the road completely naked, just crying. And we asked the driver, "What's going on", because you don't dare stop, and he said, "Well, she's been thrown away by her family; she's probably either mentally retarded or there's something wrong with her, and her family's thrown her away, and she's just on the street now." With, I mean, literally nothing, not even clothes on her back, and that was it. Or, there could be some tribal thing going on. You know, this goes on rather consistently as well.
I've categorized many of the governments in this part of the world with what I call the "Four C's": Chaos, confusion, crime and corruption. ( Chaos, confusion, crime and corruption , leading to, of course, where things are today).
Ghana had some of the same problems; there are three hundred tribes in Ghana , and many of them simply don't get along. Kenya is similar in many ways; they have major tribes and they have difficulty among the various tribes. One of the big problems in Kenya that we learned on this trip, is that HIV infection is the official figure, (the official figure ): forty—two percent of the population of Kenya , ( forty—two percent of the population of Kenya ). One particular place that we held a service, (in fact it was the first service we held in Kenya), we drove out into, really a — we flew from Nairobi to a place called Kisumu, which is in Kisii City, as an area — that's also part of "Goosie Land" — so Kisii is in "Goosie Land", which is in the western part of Kenya — and we went to this particular place for the first service that we held on Friday, after we arrived on Thursday. And we had a service out in the middle of just virtually nowhere, and it was a mud hut.
Now the mud huts aren't made of strictly mud; in order for the mud to work well together it must be mixed with cow dung, so that's what they make them with. I didn't test it — I didn't touch it — but that's what they told us. They make the structures out of that. That's where we held services — a dirt floor. Well, while we were there a gentleman just showed up and had all these little kids with him, and he was running an orphanage next door, and he heard we were going to be there. So he brought the children over to perform for us. So I actually have a bit of video of these forty—two orphan children singing for us outside this mud hut. I mean, just a surreal experience in Western Kenya . And we asked him about these orphans. He said, "Well they're all orphans because their parents died of AIDS." There are hundreds and thousands of orphans, little children throughout the country, and it's expected that half of them will also have the HIV virus, which means they will have a life expectancy of about twenty—five years, maybe, because of that.
So it's just an incredibly sad thing. But they came and they performed for us here in the middle, as I said, of nowhere; these are the orphans of the AIDS victims. Disease is rampant. Malaria and yellow fever, which spread from the mosquito, are epidemic in equatorial Africa . We slept under mosquito nets for most of the time we were there. I'm not real sure how effective they were, since often they had big holes in them — and other things. But we had them, because you don't want to get sick, and we've had, of course, individuals that have.
One of the greatest disease problems for children is typhoid fever. Now typhoid is an easily resolved problem. It is strictly tied to contaminated drinking water, and all around the area in Tanzania where we held a service. We anointed a five—month old boy whose name is Sabado. He was named Sabado because he was born on the Sabbath. They often name their children for the day of the week they were born on; in fact, that is pretty typical through that part of Africa. Kofi Annan, who is the Secretary—General of the United Nations — Kofi means Friday, and Annan means eighth. He was the eighth child born to that family and he was born on Friday. And that's where they come up with so many of their African names.
But this little boy was Sabado, and he was running a high fever; five months old. You know, they don't know, (they don't have him checked out), but most likely he had typhoid fever; which means that more than half of them will die, once they get typhoid fever. The difficulty with the water is that the watering hole is going to be on a low part of the property, which means all the waste from all the animals and all the humans around there flows right down into that water, and that's what they drink. And typhoid fever is just wild, it's epidemic. And it could be easily solved by digging a well. It's incredible. And you just think — a government that sees that and watches its children die without doing what they could, which would be very simple to resolve the problem. And you begin to see that life is not as significant in these areas of the world as it is to us. People die — that's the way it is. And it's just an incredible view of life, when you go to these parts of the world. So, there's no real pressure for the government or anyone else to dig a well, and yet it's incredibly easy to solve this problem.
Tribalism, poor government, lack of a cohesive family structure, have caused the destruction of country after country in the world, and certainly in Central Africa, but it's very sad to see it first hand. Turn with me to Romans, Chapter 8. Having come back from this, I was struck by this particular Scripture, and in preparing this sermon last Sabbath on Trumpets and going through some of our experiences in Africa , this Scripture just kept coming to mind, Romans 8, beginning in Verse 22. Now Romans 8 is an interesting chapter, because Paul introduces son—ship. Paul introduces the idea of becoming, you know: the glorification of our bodies, we become immortal, we enter the family of God, and all those things are here. He talks about the Holy Spirit — but he talks about this groaning that takes place. Look what he says:
Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
The whole creation. Now the word creation there can be creature or creation, either one — it makes sense — you can make it make sense. The creation itself is groaning. The creation itself is suffering. Now I haven't seen the statistics lately, but at one point in time, there were so many animals every year that are becoming extinct, simply because of the environment and the way we deal with them. And if you go into Africa and see all of these different animals, and you realize that so many of them would have been extinct had someone not preserved them. I mean, they got down in some cases, to some animals to just a hand full, and many of them they brought back, but there's still others that's disappearing — disappearing.
And the whole creation groans. Now you think of the word groan, you know — there are times when you are so sad, you are overcome with emotion, you can't cry, but you just sort of groan. You know, I've seen that — I've seen individuals, especially where a child has been involved, and in the death of a child, and seen where parents are just in a state of shock. You sort of groan, you know, you can't cry, you can't do anything, you're so helpless.
That's sort of the way the world is described here; there's no hope, it's helpless, you know, if things continue in the direction they are. The whole world groans. We understand that; we see that. But notice Verse 23. This is what really struck me:
Verse 23 : And not only that, (Paul says), but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. ( Eagerly waiting)
Is that the way we feel when we go to the Feast of Tabernacles, we're eagerly waiting, we want the Kingdom to come? You know, we live in such luxury, I mean all of us. Even the poorest of the poor in our country live in a manner that those people can only dream about, or have someone show them pictures about. We have so much. Is it easy for us, or is it easier for us, or is it harder for us — I mean it's a question I'm asking, to envision the Kingdom of God and really want it to come. In order to really want it to come when you're living a comfortable life, is that you have to put yourself into the rest of the world. You know, the average person in this world doesn't have anywhere near what you and I have. Now, that doesn't make us better or worse that they are. You know, you're not a better Christian because you have nothing than you are if you have a lot of things. But, I do believe it's a bit harder sometimes for us, to really, really desire the Kingdom, because we can have so much today.
Look at II Corinthians, Chapter 5. Paul says it again, a slightly different way, but he talks about the same feeling within a Christian.
II Corinthians 5:2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,
Verse 3 : if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked .
Verse 4: For we who are in this tent groan, (groan), being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed , (we don't want to give up life ), but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
You know, Paul is saying something here that's so profound — he talks about, we really don't even have life, you know. Real life is in the future. We have a mortal existence that will not continue forever. We don't want to give it up; that's natural, normal, I mean it's not normal to want to die, I don't think. You want to hold onto life, but Paul says, "Okay, that's fine, but why can't you groan for the new life that is to come. Why can't you anticipate it, why can't you be excited about it; why can't you be thrilled for it." And you can hurt inwardly for all of the people in this world.
You know, the Scriptures tell us that God gave His Son to die because, you know, He so loved the world. He's not talking about this physical structure. All humanity, created in the image of God, are loved by God, and it's God's great desire they all be in His Kingdom.
Look at the headlines today and tell me if we aren't living in a world that is extremely sad; very, very sad. Darfur , (I mentioned that earlier), it's called a genocide and it continues to happen. I read an article this past week that said, "You know, it's really odd" (in fact, I have a copy of the article), says "it's really odd that in the past we've made the claim that we didn't know that genocide was occurring." That's how we, you know, we got around the world doing much about it. But he said, "You know, that really doesn't hold up here, because that's not true." (Says an editorial that appeared in — I actually don't have the name of the paper, but I read it on the Internet). Says, "Traditionally, our best excuse for inaction in the face of genocide was that we didn't fully know what was going on until too late."
During the Holocaust, reports trickled out of Nazi areas of atrocities and extermination camps, but they encountered wide—spread skepticism. "I don't believe you", Felix Frankfurter of the Supreme Court Justice told Jan Karski, a Polish Catholic, who at extraordinary risk had visited a Nazi death camp as well as the Warsaw Ghetto, and finally escaped with hundreds of documents. Likewise, the Turks, mostly barred access to the scene as they industriously killed off Armenians. Cambodia sealed itself off during Pol Pot's rule, and when Westerners evacuated from Rwanda in 1994, the French air—lifted out (this is a parenthetical statement) says "The French air—lifted out their Embassy dog, while leaving behind local employees to be butchered."
Few witnesses were left to chronicle the savagery day by day. That's what makes Darfur so unusual in the history of genocide. The savagery is unfolding in plain view, and yet this was during the time the world leaders gathered in Russia for the Group Eight Summit meeting. And it continues on. The estimates for those that have been killed in Darfur range from 70,000 (that's the low) to 320,000, and no one knows for sure. And the government turns a deaf ear in Sudan . Darfur is a part of Western Sudan . It's the three different ethnic groups in Western Sudan , and they're essentially killing off the Africans; The Arabs are killing off the Africans. It's not religious, because they're all Muslins. But the Arabs are killing off the Africans because they moved there to raise their crops, because they can farm there. Huge groups of Africans had moved into the Western part of Sudan . The Arabs liked it for awhile, but then they didn't want it anymore, and so now they ravaged the camps of these people in the Villages and burned them down.
There are six million people in Darfur (who live in Darfur), two million of them have fled their homes — two million refugees, and maybe three hundred thousand have already been killed. And there it is, you know, that's the world, that's the way they live. They're flooding into Chad — Kenya borders also on Sudan — but that's what's happening there.
If you look at what's happening in the world, there are now eight major wars going on as I speak today — eight major wars. The United Nations defines a major war, or a major battle, as one thousand or more deaths in a year. That's considered a major war. There are eight of those going on right now. There are twenty—four lesser conflicts going on. There are thirty—two wars going on now. The list of the places where wars are occurring takes almost a full page: Algeria, Angola, Burma, China, Columbia, India, Indonesia, Israel, Ivory Coast, Korea, Laos, Moldavia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Somalia, Spain, Sudan, Thailand, Turkey, obviously Iraq, Uzbekistan, Yemen; this is where war is going on right now. People are being killed.
You know what's happening? It's unique (or it's unusual, I should say), that up until World War II most of the deaths in war occurred by the combatants, you know. War was kind of fought sort of "gentlemanly". You know, you put two armies out on the field, they would fight each other; civilians could even watch the battle, everything go on, it was almost like entertainment. World War II was the first war in which more civilians died than combatants — the first war, at least as far as figures were kept, that more civilians died than combatants. You know what? Since World War II, every war since then, more civilians have died than combatants. There's a nasty turn to war that's occurred in which civilians become targets for the armies, or for those who are fighting. And it has not been until World War II, and it's absolutely incredible where we live.
HIV and AIDS, at the end of 2004 it was estimated that 37.2 million adults — 37 million adults — have the HIV virus. That's estimated, 2004. 2.2 million children are living with HIV. This is more than 50% higher than the figures that were projected by the World Health Organization in 1991. In 2004 there were 3.1 million deaths worldwide to AIDS. Around one—half of the people who acquire HIV become infected before they turn twenty—five — one—half before they turn 25. They typically die of AIDS before reaching thirty—five. Most of these cases now are happening in developing countries, especially in Africa — especially in Africa ; a whole generation.
It was estimated a few years ago that Lagos, in Nigeria, was on its way to becoming the largest city in the world. They had like fifty million people twenty years ago, or fifteen years ago. So they projected at that rate it would be the largest city in the world. Then came AIDS — their population today is about the same as it was fifteen years ago, because that so many people have died. Absolutely incredible world that we live in; a world that does not reflect the Kingdom of God .
Look at Revelation, Chapter 11. I ask you again, do you really believe, do you truly believe, is it fundamental in the very core of your being that Jesus Christ will return and that there is the government and the Kingdom of God that will come?
Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!"
The disciples understood when they asked the question of Christ's return and the end of the age, that was one and the same event. That when Jesus Christ returns, the governments of this world will be put down; they will be overwhelmed, and there will be one government in the world at that time.
Christ also made a very profound statement in John 18, Verse 36, a verse that we believe says very clearly what the Church's position should be on Military service and war.
John 18: 36 "My kingdom is not of this world.(My government cannot be found in this world today, is what Christ said.) If my kingdom were in this world today, then would my servants fight, but My kingdom is not from hence ."
The Kingdom of God will not be modeled after another government on this earth. The Kingdom of God will bring a new world order. We're not a part of this current world order; we are a part of the Kingdom of God.
Isaiah, Chapter 9 prophecies that the government will be on the shoulders of this child that was born. We know, again, that this is God in the flesh; Jesus Christ will come to the earth as Savior and there will be no end to the increase of His government. That government will never end. And Zechariah 14 tells us that He will come and set foot on this earth.
So it's all there, it's all laid out in the Bible, and every year we relive it all. We go through the Holy Days from Trumpets and the return of Christ, to Atonement and the binding of Satan, to the Feast of Tabernacles and the Millennium, and the Great White Throne judgment beyond that. Again, brethren, it's so incredible, such a special opportunity. And again, always, even as a child — and as I said, as a child you do many childish things — you don't always understand things, you're not mature enough — but I'll tell you, this idea of the Holy Days and the Plan of God was made so clear to me as a child, (I mean five and six years old), and it was presented to me as I heard it taught, you know, by many, many people, it was presented as "This is the answer!"
I cannot solve the problems of the world today. Now, that doesn't mean we can't help, but we can't solve them. We could take every single nickel that everyone of us has, and we could not even solve the problems of the members in Africa. It won't happen in our lifetime, it won't happen in the next lifetime if time goes on; it is truly the Kingdom of God . I understood that as a child, I understand that today, and the Feast of Tabernacles is a Spiritual Festival to reinforce in our minds and heart: there's only one answer , and that is the Kingdom of God . It is not an excuse, it is not a "lame duck" argument, it is not sort of some idea that, "Well, you don't have to go out then and help people"; we don't feel that way, but we know what the answer is, and it's truly the answer if we really believe it.
In Matthew 24 Christ was asked about the end of the age and His return to this earth. This is not going to be some secret event, but it will be a time of great destruction. The world has teetered on the brink of these events for the past several years; it seems to teeter for awhile and then it pulls back. You know, events slow down, but there's an overwhelming pull in the world today, because of all these thing that I've mentioned today, there's an overwhelming pull and push for there to be one world civilization. This idea goes all the way back to the Tower of Babel there. I mentioned earlier the book,
"A History of Civilization", by Fernand Braudel, and he says this: He says, "We have reached a phase where we are discovering both the limited validity of the concept of civilization, and the need to transcend that concept. The phase of civilizations is coming to an end, and for good or ill, humanity is embarking on a new phase, that of a single civilization which could become universal."
Mankind sees the problems; he sees the governmental issues. There is a pull for, you know, "What is going to be the religion of the world? What is going to be the government of the world?" The world is shrinking, you know. We know all of these things. Well, in the midst of that atmosphere, the Bible tells us that's when Jesus Christ will return, and He will stop mankind from destroying himself. The idea of one civilization will eventually lead to Armageddon. Which civilization will control the world? Which religion will control the world? Which system of values? This is the ultimate struggle and the return of Jesus Christ is the only thing that will resolve the question.
Are you groaning for that day? Do you really believe it will happen? The whole world groans today — it's actually quite an interesting word, groan. Well, where is our focus of attention as we sit here on the eve, virtually, of the Feast of Tabernacles? I think we all want you — I mean, I'm sure you do as well — for all of us to have a wonderful Feast. I want you to enjoy every physical thing that you possibly can, and in moderation, as God tells us. But you know, more than that, I want you to experience the spiritual meaning of the Feast. I want you to groan for the coming Kingdom of God . I want you to ache for that day. I want you to feel it, I want you to see it, I want you to understand it, and I want you to pray every day, as Christ told us to do: "Your Kingdom come." I wish all of you a wonderful Day of Atonement and a wonderful Feast of Tabernacles.