Trumpets - The Culminating Event of World History

That was very nice, very appropriate, and inspiring. Good introduction to the message this afternoon. And I must say I always accept the challenge, keeping you all awake during the afternoon. We'll see how well I do, but I'm gonna do my best, that's for sure. Because what a great feast this is. Now, I admit in high school when I took world history class, I wasn't very impressed by that. A lot of dates to memorize, and those were long ago. I didn't know what it had to do with my life in particular, and I found it pretty boring and meaningless what I took there. But that all changed because of a coincidence that happened in my life at that time. I learned the truth through a classmate of mine in high school. I was a senior at that time, and I actually visited the church for the first time on the day of trumpets. So regardless of what happens to others, to me this feast is my anniversary at the church. 56th anniversary since that time. And guess what? My wife, Cottie, is five years more. So she's actually, this is her 61st year. When she was only 12, when she attended the Feast of Trumpets for the first time in Chile. That's a whole story in itself. How the Church of God Seventh-day sent missionaries down there to Chile in the early 1900s, and they taught them about the Sabbaths and the Feasts and many other truths. And out of that, they went back to the United States. And those Chileans started churches with these teachings. And my wife, Cottie, was part of that group for three years before coming into our church today. But to me, that day 56 years ago changed my whole outlook on life, on my goals, my dreams. Because I learned on that day what the meaning of the Feast of Trumpets was all about. That it symbolized the greatest coming event in world history. So you see, you can learn a lot of world history, but not the greatest culminating event which is going to change world history. That is the return of Jesus Christ. And so I had something, a goal. If He's coming here, well, it's something that I can prepare for. And that it's going to be an active period where we're going to be very busy under Christ one day, teaching the nations what we have learned. And so it changed my outlook and my priorities. What was the priority that Christ gave us? It's found in Matthew 6 33. Matthew 6 33. This was a new priority I had. It says, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these, we're talking about all these physical things shall be added to you. Yes, you'll get married, you'll have a job, you'll have life, physical. But that shouldn't be the priority in life. It should be to put the kingdom of God first and His righteousness. Because you can't go into the kingdom with your own righteousness. It's got to be Christ's righteousness that's being developed in us. And from that time forward, the first thing I pray about after praising God's name, just like Brian did in the prayer, hallowed be your name, yes, that's praising God's name. But the first thing we ask God, as Christ put it, is thy kingdom come. That's the first priority, the theme that we should keep ever in mind. And to spend a great deal of time on that topic. It is my goal, it is my hope, it is my joy, it is my motivator, it is what makes sense out of life and what happens. So everything is centered around that kingdom of God.

The coming of Christ, which the Feast of Trumpets commemorates, is the central event in world history. That's still in the future, but it's coming. Every day is like a grain in that clock of time. That sand timer and each one of those little grains is just like a day. And that is one less day for that kingdom to come. God knows when the last grain is. We don't, but we certainly know the times we are living in now. In Acts chapter 3 and verse 19, it tells us about this central event in world history. Acts chapter 3 verse 19. Peter's giving a sermon here, and he says in verse 19, he says, repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and he may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, the renewal of this earth, the restoration to peace, to abundance, to joy and love, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. So this is the central scripture in the Bible, because it tells us in history it's divided before that second coming of Christ and then after the coming of Christ. So we're going to have to change what is BC before Christ and AD. That has to do with his first coming, but you see world history has continued on. But with the coming of Christ, world history stops for mankind. Christ's history of governing begins afterward. We won't have to worry about all the pain and suffering and this present evil world and how with all this knowledge that has multiplied, we are reaching a final period, which is that man has discovered how to make machines that eventually will be smarter than themselves. And believe me, that's one of the things that you are going to listen to. I talked about that. I wrote an article in the year 2015 about the dangers of artificial intelligence. At that time, hardly anybody listened. But you look at that, you read that, you see all of that has come about. And that's not because of me, but that's because of God's spirit in me, guiding and showing what these trends are and how man is just obsessed with creating it. And as they increase the understanding, now it's not just super intelligent robots, but what's more dangerous is that super intelligent robots that can create an image of themselves, which is even more intelligent. So it's just ratcheting up things. And human beings are going to be left behind in the dust because those machines which are being used today in just about every type of industry, and they are becoming smarter by the hour. It's not like human beings that have to pick up knowledge and study. No, these are supercomputers that are connected to the internet, and it is absorbing all the information from man. And then, as they make a breakthrough, they share it with the rest of the computers that are connected. So it's not science fiction. So anyways, we knew it was going to have to happen.

And unfortunately, man has become too smart for itself. Right before the flood, it became that way, too. And so we have this day to give us hope, to focus on that, because everything else is secondary in life. We don't make it when Christ comes back, and then we'll simply not survive. It's not going to be pretty out there with everything that's going to happen in the future. And so the church is a type of Noah's Ark that we can be inside when all of this starts happening.

So let's look through the Bible and follow this main thread about the coming of Christ and His Kingdom to better appreciate how important this Feast of Trumpets truly is and learn the lessons from it. We've already had a number of lessons that have been mentioned, but I have seven points that have to do with the Scriptures of the coming of Jesus Christ. Seven key scriptures about the coming of Christ. So I'd like to just go through them. I'm sure there's something that you will learn from each one of these. Maybe you hadn't heard of them before, or quite in this way. But let's go to the first key scripture about Christ coming. That's Genesis chapter 3 verse 15. Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, after Adam and Eve had sinned and Satan was the one that was guilty of persuading them this way. And so then the one who became Christ, we're talking about here, the word that appeared because he's the one that interacts with God the Father and mankind. He's the mediator between God and mankind. Doesn't mean that God has completely, God the Father has completely washed His hands. He can do certain things, but Jesus Christ is the one He's delegated to carry out that plan of salvation in its great generalities. It says in Genesis 3.15, it says, and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed, and talk about Satan's, because you'll have his people doing his bidding, and her seed, talking about those that are following God, and it says, and her seed has to do with one particular seed that is coming, which it says, he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. And so here is a shortest description of world history that we have, because it talks about Adam and Eve, and then it talks about Jesus Christ, and then afterwards how Jesus Christ would be crucified. Satan would temporarily eliminate him, but then he's resurrected again, and then he's coming back, and he's going to put away Satan and his demons. It's all in one scripture, and the Bible interprets itself.

How do we know this is exactly what it's talking about with Jesus Christ? In Romans 6, verse 20, it says, and the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. So it's talking about the crushing of Satan through Jesus Christ, and those that are of the church will eventually be victorious. So that's the first scripture, that we already have that glimpse, God's promise, that seed that is going to come, it's going to get rid of that serpent, that Satan, and remove him, although Satan will have to do with harming the seed temporarily, as he did with Jesus Christ. The second scripture is also in Genesis. It's Genesis chapter 20 verses 16 through 18.

Genesis 20, verse 16 through 18. Here is where God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac up on Mount Moriah, that one day would be Mount Zion, where Jerusalem would be built.

And after Abraham brought the knife down, and it wasn't slow, it was very fast, and God stopped him at the last minute, before it could penetrate Isaac's throat. And he stopped him. And so God then makes this promise. He says in verse 16, By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is on the seashore, and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. This is in the future. These descendants eventually will become the most powerful nations on the earth, and they have. The United States, England, a lot of the different northwestern countries that are also modern tribes of Israel. They will possess the gates of your enemies. It says, in your seed. Talk about Abraham. Not talking about your seeds, not descendants in the plural. No, in your descendant, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. You have become the father of the faithful. You are willing to give up your precious son to obey my voice. The ultimate test. Now notice again, the Bible interprets itself. We don't have to speculate exactly everything here. What does it mean? You've got a scripture that explains it. And actually two, but I'm just going to mention one. I'll mention the second one in passing. Notice how Galatians 3 16 interprets Genesis 22. Paul is writing here under the inspiration of God. He says, not to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made. He does not say, and to seeds, plural, as of many, but as one, and to your seed, who is Christ?

So who's going to question that the Bible is inspired by God? How can all these pieces of this puzzle fit in so perfectly?

Even at the time of Abraham, it was still, the plan was being carried out. That seed that was mentioned in the Garden of Eden, that seed is going to one day appear. And so we come to the fourth scripture, which is Genesis chapter 49. Just a couple of chapters further, verse 10. Here are the blessings that Jacob gave his different sons. And so he focuses on Judah, about the prophecies of what Judah was going to carry out in the future. It says, the scepter, which means the kingly rule, shall not depart from Judah. That's where the kings came from, King David and others, all the way to Jesus Christ. It says, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, in other words, descendant, until Shiloh, which is a Hebrew term that has to do with the Messiah, until Shiloh comes, and to him, notice it's capitalized, talk about Christ, and to him shall be the obedience of the people. So again, this has to do with the Feast of Trumpets. The promise that Christ is going to appear. He's going to be part of the descendant of the house of Judah. So that's a long-term prophecy. Let's go to the fourth, which is in Genesis. Let's see. Go to Deuteronomy 18, verse 15. Deuteronomy 18, verse 15. Now we're going from Genesis all the way to Deuteronomy, the time of Moses. In Deuteronomy 18, verse 15, there's another prophecy about the coming of Christ.

This is what Moses heard from God. It says, verse 15, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet, and in capital P for God, a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren, him you shall hear, according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire, any more or less I die. And the Lord said to me, what they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear my words, which he speaks in my name, I will require it of him. So again, a prophecy of that coming Messiah would be a prophet like Moses, and this is also fulfilled in the New Testament. Again, interpretation is right here in the Bible. We don't have to speculate. Acts chapter 3 verse 22. Acts chapter 3 verse 22. It says, for Moses truly said to the fathers, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever he says to you, and it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. And then it goes on to say verse 26. To you first, God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from your iniquities. So again, that prophet is Jesus Christ.

And then we have the fifth key scripture, which is in Zechariah 14. Here in the Old Testament, it makes very clear the importance of all of these feast days. Again, we have knowledge because we keep the things that God tells us to keep. We observe those things, and God gives us that understanding about things. It's not just head knowledge, it's heart knowledge. It's will knowledge, will power to obey God no matter what.

Zechariah 14 verse 1. Notice the description of Christ's coming. This happens during the symbolic of the Feast of Trumpets. This is what it symbolizes. Verse 1, Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. So Christ is coming, and he means business. He doesn't care about all the AI. He doesn't care about atomic bombs or of the armies of the people. He can just, with his breath, destroy anything that comes against him. It says in verse 4, And in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east.

If you look at a map, you can see the Mount of Olives to the east of the Temple Mount, and it tells us exactly where Christ's feet will land. So again, this isn't some type of spiritual type of image. No, it's a real thing. His feet are going to stand on the Mount of Olives. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west, making a very large valley.

When Christ returns in verse 9, it says, And the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day it shall be, talk about it, that's what it will be said, the Lord is one, and his name one. So Christ is not going to have any more of these counterfeit saviors or religious leaders, no Buddhas, no type of alas or anything else. It will be, the Lord is one, and his name one. This is the one religion for the world.

And then it goes on to say in verse 16, It is, And it shall come to pass, that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feasts of tabernacles. So once Christ is established in Jerusalem, Satan has been bound along with his demons for a thousand years.

People will change slowly, not everybody right away, but this is what they will do. They will go to the feast! There won't be any alternatives. Now we can do it voluntarily or not. But in those days, it's going to be one law. It's going to be one way. It says in verse 17, And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the king, the Lord of hosts. So there are a lot of countries out there, you know, the Chinese, the Muslims, the Hindu people, they're very dedicated to their own gods, the Japanese too, they're very dedicated to emperor worship.

That's how the World War II ended when the allied nations told the Japanese headquarters that they were not going to touch the emperor. They were not going to be putting him in judgment. He was not going to be held responsible for anything that happened. He's going to stay in his palace, and he's going to be protected. And then the Japanese people say, now we can surrender. But if you touch that emperor, we will go after you, even if it means the suicide of the entire Japanese people.

And unfortunately, with such a talented and dedicated people, they're still deceived by this emperor worship cult that they have. And so it says that a lot of powerful nations, they're not going to want to go and accept the true religion. That means keeping the feasts, keeping the Sabbaths. And so what will happen? He says, on them there will be no rain. So no rain means that the streams are all going to dry up.

There's not going to be any portable water, any drinking water, and crops start dying, and people are starting to wither. And because no water to drink, the thirst will be so horrible. It's as if the family of Egypt today, about 90% of the Egyptian population is Muslim. And again, 10% are Coptic Jews. We were talking about that a short time ago. These were a group of Catholics that broke away, and now they're called Coptic. But they've got their own ideas. It's very much like the Catholic Church.

It says that the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in. They don't want to keep the feasts. Why is it people don't want to keep the feasts? They can keep Christmas, they can keep all Halloween is coming up, and all the demonic type of things. Oh, well let's have a good time with that, but then keep God's feasts. Oh, no, no, no, that's not going to be right. We can't have drunkenness at that time. We can't just have all the partying going on. Oh, we got to get serious about God.

So it says here, they shall have no rain. They shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the feast of tabernacles. Well, you've been pretty hot during this week, hasn't it? You've gotten a little bit thirsty and the temperatures just go up some. How do you like it for the temperature to go up to about 120 degrees and no water?

How long are you going to be stubborn about this? And these nations be stubborn? Not for long. It says in verse 19, I'd like to read it in the God's Word version, it says, this will be the punishment for Egypt's sin and for the sin of all the nations that won't celebrate the feast of tabernacles. And so it is a sin to not keep it. And of course, these people in their ignorance, they don't know that. But one day they will have to repent of not keeping it.

So we have this, this is the fifth scripture. Why this day is so significant, because his feast, his feet are going to land that day on the Mount of Zion. It doesn't mean exactly it has to be the feast of trumpets, but that's what the feast of trumpets symbolizes, the coming of Christ.

That takes us to the sixth scripture, Revelation 11, verse 15 through 19, which was mentioned briefly in the first message this morning. Revelation 11, 15 through 19 has to do again with Christ coming. It says, then the seventh angel 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. And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their throne fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord, God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come, because you have taken your great power and reign. The nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth. And many are destroying the earth.

In verse 19, it says, Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple. So that ark that has to do with God's covenant with mankind is open It is going to be carried out, and there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. What happened afterwards here?

So this is the description of the coming central event in world history. I'd like to read what the Bible Knowledge Commentary mentions about these verses. It says, Though the full results from the sounding of the seventh trumpet is only introduced here and not brought to finality. So yes, it's talking about, okay, the trumpet is going to sound, but there are events that are included in this trumpet. It says, the introduction of the seventh trumpet itself is not brought to finality.

The fact that this will be fulfilled at the second coming makes it clear that the period of the seventh trumpet chronologically reaches to Christ's return. It tells us in the last trumpet Christ is going to come. But that has seven bowls that are poured out during that seventh trumpet. It's an event that encompasses these events of the seven bowls, and Christ finally returns. It says, Therefore the seventh trumpet introduces and includes the seven bowl judgments of the wrath of God revealed in Revelation 16, 1 through 21. Those are the seven bowls. Just like you have seven seals, and the seventh seal has the seven trumpets, the seventh trumpet has the seven bowls to carry it out. And so, in 1 John chapter 2 verse 28, and this is the seventh scripture, it tells us about preparing ourselves for that coming of Jesus Christ. 1 John chapter 2 verse 28, 1 John chapter 2 verse 29, it says, And now little children abide in him, that when he appears, talking about Christ, we may have confidence. Of course, our confidence is not in us. Our confidence is in our relationship. And so, we may not be in the relationship with God and His grace and His help and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. And that we end up not being resurrected at that time and having the shame to that. So, for us, we have to be faithful to the end and not end up being ashamed.

So, brethren, that covers this section about the coming of Jesus Christ and how it is the greatest event in world history. That's why it's so wonderful to celebrate it ahead of time.

Have a wonderful rest of the Feast of Trumpets.