Accepting "i Don't Know"

You might remember that I addressed the question of who or what is the Beast of Revelation. And the answer that I gave, and I think in a satisfying way, was and is the Roman Empire. I should say was, is, and is to be, which sounds somewhat biblical in itself. But trying to answer that question led us to looking at other beasts elsewhere in Revelation and also in the Book of Daniel. And it occurred to me I have to realize that although I think I gave a good answer, I shouldn't say I gave a good answer, we brought it out from the Bible, it might not be entirely satisfying to everyone. And beyond that, also answering one question tends to bring up other questions. Other questions from just that one and every new answer we get has other questions. Of course, one question might be, is there or will there be an individual man who is known as the Beast? And I think I even mentioned that during the sermon that, of course, there could be the leader who is called the Beast and representing his kingdom. But there are other things. And of course, one of the questions you might think of, what about that mysterious mark of the Beast? What's the significance of this number? 666. And many other questions can be associated. And I want to give some attention to answering those the best I can today. But most importantly, I want to bring up a question that I think fits with these that you might not have thought of. And that is, can we be satisfied with the answers that we have? Can we sometimes accept the answer, I don't know? Or I like to qualify it, I don't know, at least not yet. I intend to find out the answer absolutely to all of the questions eventually, but we might have to wait a little while. I can say, fortunately, we usually don't have to accept, I don't know. And I do want to stress that because later on I'm going to be mentioning all the things that we don't know. Well, not all the things we don't know because it'd take a long, long time to list everything we don't know. But I do, while I'm doing that, please keep in mind that I'm asserting we do know a great deal. We know the answer to a lot of these questions. But there are some cases where it's important for us to be willing to be satisfied with not knowing certain things. And look forward to when we can learn more. So if you will, go with me again to Revelation. Revelation chapter 13. And I'll mention here, once again, that if you have a marker or something you want to stick in Revelation, we'll be leaving it and coming back to it a few times during the course of the next hour.

Revelation 13 will begin in verse 16. I'm not going to read all the description of the beast, but you'll remember John had this fantastic vision, this revelation of things to come, given to him from Jesus Christ. And in this one section, he was standing on the beach, and he saw this beast rise up. And then he saw another second beast come up after it. So let's begin reading in verse 16.

And it says, He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell, except one who has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate, or you might say, count the number of the beast, or it's the number of a man. His number is 666.

Now, this can all sound pretty frightening and unusual, am I right? Now, I want to ask this question. This morning, it didn't really get much of a response, because we had a fair bit of homogeneity in the group age-wise, but not so much here. How many of you remember the speculation that came up when UPC codes were first introduced, especially at the grocery store? And here's what I thought. Anybody under 30 is probably saying, what? There haven't always been UPC codes? But we call them barcodes, where you scan it over the laser and peep peep. People start saying, oh, look at this! There's this mark that tells you all about these things. And there is this speculation that perhaps in the near future, we would be required to get a tattoo on our right hand and on our forehead or somewhere. And that would be the mark of the beast. No one would be allowed to buy or sell without it.

Well, as I said, younger people might not be familiar with it. And it was a real controversy. I'm not just kidding. People were concerned. Since then, there has been the thought, what if it's computer chips? Now they can embed a little chip under the skin of your hand, and it can tell everything about you. Maybe that's the identifying mark that will be required to do commerce. And there have probably been similar concerns about different things that may or may not be the mark of the beast since the book of Revelation was, you know, since John put ink to paper. I don't know of all of them. Even after I wrote this, I was reviewing my notes and it occurred to me at one point, I think I remember when I was younger, people talking about credit cards, filling that role. And back when I was that young, only rich people or shady characters had a credit card. And now everybody has one.

And I want to say this, though. Before I get labeled as a Pentecostal or a liberal or someone who's watering down doctrine, somebody who's just saying, all of Revelation is an allegory. You don't have to worry about it. I don't want to say that. My purpose here isn't to analogize away everything in Revelation. I think there are very real prophecies there and I'm going to look at them. I just want to say I'm not entirely sure, and I'll add to this, that there won't be some literal mark of the beast that goes onto our skin or under it. And it could involve computer chips or barcodes or something else. Now, I do have my doubts, though. I really don't expect that to be it. But it turns out that it is. That's okay. I'm not planning on letting them put one of those things in me. Although I don't mind the fact that both of my dogs have them. Anybody else have that? Put something in there and if it runs away, I guess the vet can wave a wand over and get your address.

When I say I don't know for certain that there won't be some end-of-the-age personal identifying mark that could fit this prophecy, I'm not saying that I don't have any idea what the mark of the beast is. People might say, well, he doesn't think it's this. He's not sure what it is. Well, we do have a pretty good idea of what the mark of the beast is, what we think John meant or Jesus Christ when he made this revelation to him. For decades, the church has had an explanation of this. And it fits within the scripture and it fits within history. So let's consider that explanation and move from there. If you will, turn to Revelation 15. Actually, for me, I'm on the same page. I'll begin in the first verse.

Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire. And those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark, and over the number of his name standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God, and they sing the song of Moses. So these seem to be God's people who don't receive the mark of the beast. So we see a distinction. And let's look at the contrary. Cross the page to Revelation 14, beginning in verse 9. It's God's people that have victory over this mark and don't get it. What happens to those who do get it? Revelation 14 in verse 9. Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast in his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their tormentor sends up for ever and ever, and they have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.

So we can see pretty clearly God's people don't receive the mark of the beast, and those who do are going to suffer in the day of the Lord. The day when God's wrath and punishment is set out, those who get that mark are going to feel it.

Now, remember what I first read, talked about how, and that's back in Revelation 13, and verse 17 said, No one may buy or sell except one who has the mark. Now, Scripture doesn't say that the mark is money, but perhaps a person without the mark has trouble making money. You can't get any. Perhaps couldn't earn a paycheck or couldn't operate a business. That would also make sense if we look back to where this mark comes from. Revelation 13 introduces the beast, and I spent the sermon last week describing how that beast represents the Roman Empire and the various resurrections, but it also introduces another beast. I don't want to read all of it, but in Revelation 13, verse 11, there's that second beast, another beast coming out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. We believe that this second beast represents the Roman Catholic Church, what would become the Roman Catholic Church, seeking to appear like a lamb, wanting to say that it's in Christ's place, but saying the words of the dragon, which we know as Satan the Devil.

Now, it created a likeness of the beast in that it adopted the Roman government's style of government and organization. The Roman Catholic Church developed an organization just like that of the Roman Empire, which we remember the beast was a government. Roman Catholic Church also supported and allied with and caused obiocence to the Roman Empire.

I'll mention also, we looked at the corresponding beast in Revelation 17, where that beast had seven heads. We think that the second beast that has the horns like a lamb and speaks like a dragon corresponds to the harlot riding the beast of Revelation 17. Riding the beast, because the Roman Catholic Church has been riding or being in conjunction with and benefiting from the Holy Roman Empire, from AD 554 on, 554 was Justinian's revival. He ruled from Constantinople, but extended westward and encompassed most of the Roman Empire.

Keep in mind, though, from Revelation 13, it's the second beast that causes men who wouldn't worship the first beast to die. Doesn't mean that the second beast will necessarily do the killing, but will cause them to be killed. And that works when you have a church working and cooperating with government. Throughout history, especially in the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church did cause people to be killed. We would say they were martyred, put to death for not accepting, not obeying, God's law.

Not accepting its particular brand of religion. Since we know that it was a false religion that God's true people would not accept, we can look for some distinguishing mark, or we might say a sign that shows God's people as distinct. And here I do want to look at a contrast. Let's, matter of fact, I'm looking up and down at my notes. Let's look at the contrast. We saw what happened in verse 11. The smoke of their torment ascends forever. Those who received the mark of the beast now look at verse 12. Revelation 14 verse 12. Here's the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. So on one hand, you have people with the mark of the beast suffering for it. On the other hand, people who keep the commandments of God and they don't receive the mark.

One of those commandments in particular was designated by God to be what we could call a mark or we could use it synonym, a sign. We're going to come back to Revelation as I mentioned, but let's go up to Exodus. Forward to Exodus. I always wonder if it's back or forward. It's back towards the front. That's kind of like saying back to the future. But Exodus chapter 31, I should give you the chapter. Exodus 31 will begin reading in verse 13.

Once again, letting the Bible interpret the Bible. If there's a mark or a sign of the beast, is there a mark or sign of God's people? I believe the answer is right here. Exodus 13 or Exodus 31 beginning in verse 13. Speak also to the children of Israel saying, Surely my Sabbath you shall keep. It's a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Eternal who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath therefore. It's holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death. For whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among my people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest. Holy to the Eternal. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he'll surely be put to death.

Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. I'll stop there because, as I said, I believe we can make a good case that sign and mark can be synonymous in this case. It's the distinguishing thing, the identifier. Now, there are some who would say, well, this is ancient Israel. What's that got to do with God's people now? We're in the church. And I'm not even going to go to all the Scriptures. There are several. I'll just make a note if you want to jot it down. In Galatians 6, verse 16, the Apostle Paul refers to the church as the Israel of God. And many places were called spiritual children of Abraham. So the church does stand in Israel's place in modern times.

But before we go back to Revelation, let's move towards the front of Exodus to chapter 13, if you will. Exodus 13 will begin in verse 8.

And I want to show that this analogy...

Some people might say, well, one place says mark and one says sign, and you're jumbling together and you can't do that. I think the symbolism does hold up. And as much as it is symbolism, Exodus 13, in verse 8, you shall tell your son in that day, saying, this is done because of what the Eternal did for me when I came up from Egypt. And it shall be a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, between your eyes, meaning your forehead. So God's saying, I've got a sign that goes on your hand and on your forehead, just like the sign the mark of the beast is for the hand and the forehead.

Therefore, you shall keep this ordinance as season forever. So the Seventh-day Sabbath is the sign or the mark of God's people. Symbolically, it's on our hands and on our foreheads, meaning it represents what we do and what we think. And of course, the opposite is the mark of the beast representing what we do and what we think. The false church works to replace that sign with something else. Let me read you an edict that came out of the Council of Laodicea in the year AD 363. So, the year 363, so back when the church was still fairly new, leaders of what became the false church came together, met, and they issued this edict. It says, Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but they must work on that day, resting rather on Sunday. But if any be found to be Judaizing, let them be declared anathema from Christ. And at times in history, this false church has had the power to cause Sabbath keepers to be killed. It certainly has at many times made it very difficult or impossible for Sabbath keepers to hold a job or to operate a business. This is why the church went into hiding for much of that time and lived on the periphery of civilization. It's worth noting also that this particular sign, Sunday keeping, was not something that the Catholic Church originated. It wasn't their idea to start with. Thus, Sunday keeping is the mark not of the second beast, but of the first beast. Because Sunday worship was already a practice of the Roman Empire, their pagan religions. The Romans worshipped on what they called the venerable day of the sun. And the Catholic Church, to avoid looking Jewish and getting persecution because of it, adopted that practice.

And all through the Middle Ages, and going on from there, the Catholic Church partnered with the Holy Roman Empire, became so powerful that it made Sunday keeping almost universal. And those who refused this mark found it very difficult to earn a living, very difficult to buy yourself. So let's turn back now to Revelation 6.

Because you might be saying, yeah, this is all this Middle Ages stuff. Isn't the book of Revelation about the future? You know, we're looking at prophecy. You're talking about the Middle Ages. You know, Mr. Dunkel, this doesn't compute. But it does when we see what's happened in the past will happen again in the future. Revelation 6, beginning in verse 9. We're about to open one of the seals. And if you'll remember, Revelation is laid out in a framework of revealing seven seals, a scroll that's sealed. As each seal is broken, a new aspect of proxy is revealed. The seventh seal would consist of seven trumpets. Those trumpets are blown one at a time, and the seventh trumpet consists of the seven last seals. And that's the last I'll talk about all of that. We've got a piece of trumpets coming up. We can talk about it more. But this fifth seal will be opened here in chapter 6 and verse 9.

Knowing that Christ hasn't been raised from the dead... Oh, no wonder. I'm in the book of Romans. They both begin with R. Funny thing is, I did that earlier this morning, too. Revelation 6 and verse 9. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altars the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God. And for the testimony which they had. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, till you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then a white robe was given to each of them, and it was said to them that they should rest a little longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was complete.

So, as we've seen, true Christians have been martyred and even killed in the past, especially in the Middle Ages. But this passage of Scripture seems to indicate that there's going to be another great period of persecution and martyrdom ahead. This is revealed in this fifth seal, and it's a time that we commonly call the Great Tribulation. And I noted this morning, we didn't make that term up. We'll see where it comes from. But I do want to make the point that this isn't the time of God's wrath, the day of the Lord, the punishment, but this is a time of Satan letting out his wrath before he's restrained. Let's go to Matthew 24. Matthew 24, and we'll begin in verse 9.

And of course, this is part of the Olivet prophecy, which parallels much of Revelation, or the Book of Revelation.

And remember the apostles had asked Jesus when he talked about the temple being destroyed and all these things thrown down and said, well, when is this going to be? When are you going to return? And he gave them a long answer that encompassed most of the next 2000 years. One of the things he told them in verse 9, then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you. You'll be hated by all nations for my namesake. There you go. They'll deliver you up to tribulation. This happened to the original apostles. And there's speculation whether only 11 of them were martyred or all 12. That's John the Baptist may have died of old age, but some traditions say he was boiled in oil. But Jesus was talking to them, but this was also a proxy for the end time, which we can see if we go down to verse 21.

Matthew 24 verse 21 says, For then there will be great tribulation, this is the great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, known or ever shall be, unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. Or we might say no flesh would be saved alive, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. So this last scripture makes it plain that this is at the end of the age, just before Christ's return. There's only one time that's the worst time ever.

We know that obeying God includes keeping the Seventh-day Sabbath.

But that great false religion of the world is marked by keeping another day. And I think it's to me, it's fairly clear that makes Sunday worship fit the mark of the beast. It is the identifying factor of those who are in rebellion to God's way. I think the logic fits together, and I'll freely admit I didn't make this up. It's been our Church's teaching for many years. I don't feel the need to look for something flashier or scarier. But I should also say, I don't necessarily want to say dogmatically, that there won't be something flashier or scarier that's included at the end.

Who's to say that some devices like a computer chip won't be used by the powerful government that we call the beast as a means of enforcing Sunday worship, and restricting anybody who would dare to work on that day or not work on the Sabbath.

So, as I said, we know a lot. I believe we could say confidently, Sunday worship is the mark of the beast. But we could say there's room for another more literal last-day interpretation of that as well.

You might be wondering if this is a guest speaker. I haven't even got the water out yet. Now, now I'm ready. Before I leave talking about the mark of the beast, though, we should also address that number. 666. And I've noticed it's much more frightening when you say it that way. If I say 666, it's just the number that comes after 665, and before 667, but 666. Sounds scary. And there have been so many explanations of that, and I wonder if I start mentioning some of the ones I've heard of, it'll bring to mind many others. I'll bet I could take two hours listing them, but I haven't looked up all of them. I do remember, and I say this, I don't watch scary movies. I've never liked them. So, I saw a section of part of a movie on TV that I didn't watch all of, because I said, oh, this is a scary movie. I don't want to see it. But from what I understand of what I did see, it was about this little boy who was the spawn of Satan, you know, and he was going to grow up and apparently take over the world. And at one point, they revealed, raised his hairline, and he had 666 on his forehead. He's the child of the devil.

When I was younger, I remember hearing rumors that the government had a secret supercomputer that was going to take over everything, and its serial number was 666. Anybody hear that one before? Okay, well, I wonder, because that means there were 665 of them. How many supercomputers do they have?

I've heard and read that there's a Latin inscription inside the crown that the Pope wears, and the numerical version of the Latin letters, as you know Latin or Roman letters, also have a number value, and all those would add up to 666. I heard a silly sermon, and I'll make reference to it again later, given in the early 90s at the time when leaders of the Worldwide Church of God were seeking to distract us and, you know, lead us into apostasy. This minister gave a sermon on prophecy, and he talked about the number of the beast, and he made the proposition that you could add up the numbers, and they spelled out Bernie Schniffert, which some of you might not know. He was a leader in the church at that time, and actually, it was the funniest speaker I've ever heard, and this sermon was rather funny, but it wasn't very enlightening. I'm glad this morning, I didn't get... well, I wasn't shooting for laughter, but I hope people at least know what I was talking about.

When Mr. Herbert Armstrong wrote his booklet, Who or What is a Prophetic Beast?, he said, this whole number thing is not all that... not really as complicated as people want to make it. He said, we already know that the beast is the Roman Empire. The city that founded this empire was Rome. The city of Rome was founded by a man named Romulus. He said, the empire, the city, and the man all have the same name. So, if we're calculating a number, it would fit for all of them. He said, the number of the beast is also the number of a man. Not such a mystery or terrible thing. Now, Mr. Armstrong said, don't worry about the writing that's inside the pope's crown, because it's in Latin. He said, the Bible was written in Greek. If we're going to transpose numbers or letters into numbers, we should think about the Greek. And there is one explanation that fits. The word in Greek for Roman or Roman man is latinos. L-A-T-E-I-N-O-S. I'm giving you that because in the booklet, Mr. Armstrong tabulated the numerical value of all those letters. In the Greek, L is equal to 30, A equals 1, E equals 5, I 10, N 50, 0 70, and S 200. So the word in Greek for Roman adds up to 666. Now, is that all there is? After all that?

And that's where I give the answer, I don't know. I don't know for sure. But I don't feel the need to dig up another explanation that wouldn't necessarily be more enlightening or worth more, it would probably be worth less. And that's where I want to say, we could stop and look and see, we know a lot. We understand a lot about Bible prophecy, but there's also quite a bit that we don't know. A lot of these little details, I would say. So can we accept that? And I'll mention, there's another question that comes to mind here fairly soon. I want to go back to Revelation while we're talking about that. But that 666 is a number that pops up. But there's another one that in my lifetime I've heard discussed quite a bit more. That's that mysterious 144,000. If you go to Revelation chapter 14, now remember 13 is all about the beast, the first beast and the second beast and the mark and the number. And we move on to chapter 14. It says, when I looked and behold a lamb standing on the mountain, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000, having his father's name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the voice of many waters, like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who were not defiled with women, nor for they are virgins. They are ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they were without fault before the throne of God. Now, this sounds like a pretty good club to be in. Now, they're with God, they're found without fault. But it's a pretty exclusive club. There's a set number. And once that number is reached, I envision a bouncer with a velvet rope. He puts the clip on and that's it. Only 144,000. So the question is, who are these people? Are they even people? I think there's been some speculation. They must be an angelic army that goes with God.

And there is an inside joke of some of the younger kids from camp. Myter might not appreciate this, but this goes back to camp heritage days when I was a much younger man and a counselor. And some of us used to get together not only at camp, but other times. And there was this time a bunch of us around a campfire on a trip, and there was a lull in the conversation. And you know how that happens. Nobody has anything to say. And one of the girls said, so who are the 144,000? That caused a pause because that's quite a conversation starter. And I don't remember where the discussion went, but it became an inside joke. Any time we'd be written together, and if there'd be a pause, someone would have to say, well, who are the 144,000? Okay, good and well, not so good inside joke. Still a good question. Who are they? Now I'll address one thing. They must not be angels because it says they're redeemed from among men, and they're forgiven. It says they're without fault, but since it says they've been redeemed, that doesn't mean they never had any fault. At one time, they must have had a fault to be redeemed from. And in that, I would say that you could make a case that their condition is the same as every person who's repented and been baptized and had their sins forgiven. And because of that, many have concluded it must be the church. But is it the church?

And if it is the church, is it all of the church ever since the time of Christ? Or is it only those in the church at the end time? And we then break it down. Is it the Philadelphian era or the Laodicean era? Which I haven't even addressed those, and I don't want to go down that road too far just yet. And we could speculate, and we could guess, and we can make arguments for all of these things. But let's look a little further at what the Scripture says before we do so. Because one thing, of course, and many of you might already be thinking, Revelation 14 is not the first place. We hear about 144,000. Let's go a few pages towards the front to Revelation 7. Revelation 7 will begin in verse 1.

Now, if your edition of the Bible is laid out like mine, it's broken out into a different format here. But you have the tribe of Judah 12,000, the tribal Roman 12,000, the tribe of God. I'm not going to read it all, but if you go through, you'll see there's 12 names here.

All of the tribes of Judah, except actually Dan is not listed. And we could go into the birthright being passed to Joseph. Joseph gets a double portion because Joseph is mentioned and Manasseh is mentioned. But I do want to continue through verse 9. After these things I looked and behold a great multitude, which no one could number. I think the old King James uses the term innumerable multitude of all nations, tribes, and people, not just Israel, and tongues standing before the lamb, clothed with white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice saying, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. I'm gonna stop there because I'm out of breath.

So now we can ask again, who are these people? Well, we've gotten some answers. At least this 144,000 it seems to be physically Israelites descended from these different tribes. Now you might say, well, wait a minute. You said a little bit ago that the church represents Israel. And we do speak of us being the Israel of God. But when we talk about the church, we never say, well, I'm of the tribe of Zebulon and Mr. Shoemaker must be Asher. And we don't break it down like that because it's a spiritual thing. When it lists all these 12 tribes, it seems that they're talking about literally descendants of Israel. That they are men, or men and women. It doesn't say that they're male, but they're physically Israelites. Now beyond that, we can stop. Well, we won't stop speculating because there's plenty of room, but we do get some more answers. Let's look ahead to verse 13. Because if I've been asking the question, who are these people? Someone else is about to ask. One of the elders answered saying to me, who are these arrayed in white robes? Where did they come from? And John didn't speculate. He said, well, sir, you know. And sort of in modern language, might say, well, why don't you tell me? And he said, these are the ones who come out of great, out of the great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will dwell among them, and they shall neither hunger anymore, nor thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them, nor any heat. For the lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to the living fountains of waters. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. This indicates to me that their spirit beams never hunger or thirst, never get hot. They've drank the water of life. But they weren't always that way. We see that they were men. We know the other passage said they were redeemed from men. And it says here that they came out of the great tribulation. Now, in order to come out of the tribulation, you have to have been in the tribulation. I think that's the way Mr. Herbert Armstrong used to say that. So, is this the church as we know the church today? I think that it's not. And there's some reason for that. Remember, Revelation, at the beginning of this verse, Revelation 7 and verse 1, says, after these things, all this he saw. Well, what is the after? Let me back up and say it again. What things is this after? Well, if we go back to chapter 6, we see the description of the six of the seven seals. And we could sum those up as being the four horsemen of the apocalypse with which Jesus also described in Matthew 24. You've got a false religion, war, disease, famine. Then you have great tribulation, and you have heavenly signs. And after that, the seventh seal will consist of seven trumpets. And I know Mr. Armstrong speculated when it said the four angels withhold the wind that the wind was going to blow the trumpets to make them sound. I don't know that we have to make that case that it's the wind blowing, but trumpets were going to blow, but they held up. And this leads us again to realize the 144,000 were in the great tribulation. And apparently, that's when, or apparently they were in that, and saw the heavenly signs. Perhaps that led to repentance. That's what caused them to repent, have their robes washed in the blood.

Well, that leads to question the idea that they could be the church. Because we have an understanding, and we have for many years, that there are different prophecies that apply to the church for that particular time. Those who are in the church now and have already repented, we believe, will be protected from the great tribulation, not in it. Let's go to Revelation chapter 3 while we're here. I want to look at just a few scriptures to describe that protection from the tribulation. Revelation 3, beginning in verse 10. Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which will come on the whole earth to test those who dwell on the earth. It's a promise of protection from the trial, not suffering in it and then having to be redeemed. Let's go to Matthew 24. I'm going to be coming back to Revelation in a moment if you want to hold on here, but Matthew 24 will begin in verse 15.

Matthew 24 and verse 15. This is, once again, part of that all-of-it prophecy. Jesus says, Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand, let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, get out of Judah, go to the mountains that are around Judah. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house and let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days and pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on the Sabbath, because it sounds like it's going to be pretty raw. You've got to get going fast. He said, For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, known to wherever shall be. But both of these scriptures indicate that if you do see the sign and flee, you're going to flee to have protection. Now I want to go back to Revelation chapter 12. I know I'm covering this fairly quickly, but bear with me on that, if you will. Revelation 12 and verse 1. Another prophecy with a lot of symbolism.

Here it says, Now a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. And being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven, Behold, a great fiery red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems. His tail drew a third of the stars to heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God and his throne. And here's what I wanted to get to this part. And then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1260 days. So the woman, we believe, represents the church. And God says, I'm going to have a place of protection 1260 days, which adds up to three and a half years. Now this has been interpreted one of, well, two different ways. I wasn't going to say one of two because they're not necessarily mutually exclusive. One says, the church largely went into hiding starting from the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325 until 1260 years later, using the day for a year principle, when the English navy defeated the Spanish Armada in 1585, and freedom of religion would begin to flourish in the British Empire. It's also been interpreted, though, as God's church during the time of the Great Tribulation fleeing to a place prepared, a place of safety, where they'll be for three and a half years. Many people believe that this is a dual prophecy that applies to both, and it shouldn't be that hard to see how it could. History seems to fit, and what we think is coming seems to fit. We've looked at other scriptures talking of fleeing and having protection. I'm only hitting the highlights here because I want to come back to the subject in a moment, but there's certainly biblical indication for God's church being protected during the time of the Great Tribulation, during that three and a half years, and that would make them not the 144,000 who are in the Great Tribulation and repent during that time.

Now, a clue of who they might be can be found if we think of there's something else going on during a three and a half year period. Revelation 11, verse 3. When I'm putting this down on paper, it's kind of easier to see the pieces.

But, I think for many of you, this will be familiar. You've read it even if not recently. Revelation 11, verse 3, I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy how long? 1,260 days, clothes and sackcloth. And it goes on to talk about how these are the two olive trees and the lampstands, which are described in the book of Zechariah. And how they'll have power to bring fire down from heaven, and no one can harm them until their work is done, and then God will let them be killed, and then they'll be resurrected. Matter of fact, I want to look at the time of the resurrection. It says, after the three and a half... on verse 11, sorry. After the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. They heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Come up here. And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. In that same hour, there was a great earthquake, an attempt of the city fell because of this earthquake. That made me think there's another place where it mentions an earthquake. As part of the heavenly signs back in Revelation 6 and verse 14, I won't turn there, but an earthquake happens in it. It talks about all the islands and the mountains being moved out of their place. Well, let me make a proposition, or say, perhaps, perhaps while the church is protected in a place of safety for three and a half years, the two witnesses are then doing their work. And perhaps, as a result of them doing that work, and the great tribulation happening, and then the heavenly signs, 144,000 Israelites and an innumerable multitude from other nations repent and are redeemed from God. Now, that's not to say that some won't be martyred, not only of those who are repenting, but those in the true church. But that seems to fit. Who are the 144,000? Perhaps, as I said, people who repent. But I can ask some questions still, some that aren't as easy to answer, and here's where I'm going to muddy my own water, but I'm doing it for a purpose. The promise of protection in Revelation 3 was given to the church of Philadelphia. Does that mean no other church members would be represented? What about the last era that's, I say, the last era, and I'm not, I haven't got into the whole issue of eras, but what about the church of Laodicea? Could the 144,000 be them? Well, the one thing I'd say, if so, boy, that's going to be a much larger era of the church than we've had so far. Just think, if we'd go all the way back to the 1930s, we'd be hard pressed to count 144,000 true Christians that have been baptized in that whole time. Now, I think at one point at the Feast of Tabernacles, we got near 144,000, and we were kind of watching that number. But think how many of those were family members who weren't baptized. So, I don't know, to have 144,000 in one era all at once, not impossible, but the question comes up. Could it, is it really there? And then what about that innumerable multitude? That's, we don't know how many there are, and now I'm going to make it even worse. You know, are we sure that the, everything that applies to the innumerable, that's harder to say. That, that bunch of people is the same as 144,000. If you go back to Revelation 14, I'll make sure I'm looking at the right part here.

Oh, I'm sorry, it's Revelation 7. That's why I wasn't seeing it. You know, he, we start the chapter and it says, I saw these, these people 144,000. And then in verse 9 it says, after these things, I looked and behold a great multitude. Is it possible that John described one thing and now he's moving on to a entirely different subject and the two aren't related? Well, I think grammatically it's possible. I mean, the grammar, the way it's written, could make that possible, but I don't think it's likely. I think the two are connected. I think it's 144,000 Israelites and a whole bunch of other people. But there's another question. I just showed there's 144,000 here in Revelation 7, 144,000 in Revelation 14. Are we sure that they're the same 144,000? Could they be two entirely different groups? Everybody's looking at me like, you know, personally, I don't think that's likely. I think it's one group, but I couldn't say absolutely dogmatically that I know for certain. As I said, it seems to me it must be the same group, but when I say it seems it must be, I can't absolutely prove it. I think they are. And you might say, well, these are silly questions. But just think, major disputes have risen in church organizations over questions like this. Splits and factions have developed. Whole new branches of the Church of God have been formed because they can't agree on a question like this. And the point I want to make is that we don't have to know the answer to these, you know, perhaps silly questions I'm asking. We can leave it be and say, well, maybe they're two separate groups. I think they're one, but I don't have to know. There are some questions that we do have to know the answer to. Which day is the Sabbath? We need to know that. Do we still have to keep it holy? Yeah, we need to know the answer to that question, but your salvation doesn't depend on whether you know for sure who the 144,000 are. Now, I'll tell you what I think. I think that it probably is that there's a good many people out there who are getting the gospel, hearing the gospel preached. Maybe they're watching Beyond Today program. Maybe they're plain truth subscribers from years ago. I mean, there could be a lot of people. And when they see the prophecies being fulfilled, when the Great Tribulation comes, when they see the heavenly signs, they'll repent. They'll say, what do you know? That was right all along. You know, it could be some of our family members. I think, you know, my sister, she came in the church and attended with me. And when she became a young adult said, that's not for me. You know, and but maybe she'll say, oh, I think that is for me when the time comes. And here I'm speculating. This is not church teaching. But there could be others who aren't that closely associated. But no, we teach certain things. I think of my brother-in-law, who's never been affiliated with the church. But I remember years ago, he told me, Frank, if I ever do join a church, I'll join yours, because you guys do what you say.

And I can imagine, as I said, Great Tribulation, heavenly signs, you might say, yeah, they do what they say, and they were right. You know, I'm willing to go through, you know, I want to be part of that.

Now, that won't necessarily save suffering in the Tribulation or of martyrdom. And that's where it's important for all of us to remember, not every true Christian will necessarily be protected. At least two witnesses are going to be killed for their belief and work, and maybe some others as a witness and an example. But God does promise that He won't let anything come on us that's greater than we can bear. One thing I'll say is, sorry, I bypassed it, but whoever the 144,000 are, we need to be ready to welcome them, because God is going to be ready. Remember the parable of the workers in the vineyard? Some were hired at the beginning of the day and said, I'll give you a denarius if you go work all day in my vineyard. That sounds good. I want that denarius. They work all day. And then with one hour left to work, they see some other people coming in. They work for an hour. Now it's pay time. What do you mean they're getting a denarius? We worked all day. It could be like that if 144,000 come walking into the kingdom of God and we've been here all along, but we should welcome them with open arms and be glad because Jesus Christ is going to.

Okay, I'm getting preachy. I guess that's kind of my job, though.

Some of you might have been thinking, he skimmed over that whole place of safety subject, skated over without saying much. And I did, partly because I do want to come back and look at it a little bit more. We read several scriptures that indicate that God's people, or at least some of God's people, I hope a large percentage, will be protected during the great tribulation that's prophesied to come. So how is that going to happen? Where will the place of safety be? And how will God's people get there? Now, if we can glean some things from scripture, we read in Matthew 24 verses 15 to 21, and I'm not going to go back and read it again, but it said, those in Judea flee to the mountains. I don't think it just means any mountain in the world. If you're fleeing and you're right there on foot, it's probably the mountainous region around Judea. Does that mean the place of safety will be somewhere in the mountains surrounding Jerusalem? Well, there's a scripture in Daniel 11 that might make us think that. Daniel 11 will begin in verse 40.

Remember, Daniel 11 is the longest continuous prophecy in the Bible, picks up with the remainders of Alexander the Great's conquest when the Greek Empire was divided into four parts, and two became prominent, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. And it stretches on for quite a while and picks up near the end of the age. In verse 40, that's where we'll see. "...at the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen and many ships, and he'll enter countries and overwhelm them and pass through." So you don't want to get the king of the north upset with you. And who that is is a whole other story, but we commonly believe that it's almost certainly the same as the beast, the Roman Empire. It says, "...he'll also enter the glorious land, what we would know now as the modern nation of Israel, or what was Palestine, and many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape his hand, Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon." Moab and Ammon were lots children, and they continued to live in that area. Of course, they fought with the ancient Israel for a long time. We believe that they're centered now in the modern nation of Jordan. Now, if there are countries that control the mountainous regions around Jerusalem, and if the place of safety were there, it would make sense to not let the king of the north conquer those particular areas. You'd want to keep them out. It doesn't say why they would escape, but there must be a reason. Let's go to Isaiah 16. Isaiah 16 and verse 4. I'm not going to make the strongest case possible here, but I want to look at enough scriptures to show that it's not just out of nowhere that people came up with this idea. Isaiah 16 and verse 4.

Once again, remember the descendants of Moab live primarily, we believe, in what is now the modern nation of Jordan. Here it says, "'Let my outcast dwell with you, O Moab! Be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler. For extortion, for the extortioner it is, and in devastation ceases, the oppressors are consumed.'" I don't want to keep going, but, "'Be a shelter for them, Moab.' Let's also turn to Jeremiah 48. One more scripture before I give some talk, some explanation. Jeremiah 48 and verse 40.

"'For thus says the eternal, Behold, one shall fly like an eagle, and spread his wings over Moab.'" Now, when we were doing the in-home Bible studies, we looked at this, and we mentioned commentaries look at this a couple different ways. When an eagle comes down and is about to snatch a rodent off the ground and attack, it spreads its wings. But spreading wings can also be a mark of protection when it's protecting its hatchlings. And one of the best examples doesn't have to do with an eagle, but remember when Jesus, shortly before he was crucified, came, he saw Jerusalem and wept, and he said, "'How many times I would have gathered you under my wings, like a hen does its brood, and you wouldn't.'" So that spreading wings could be a mark of protection.

And there are other possible interpretations. I'm not going there. There's one scripture that can be interpreted as saying, "'The place of safety will be within a fortress of rock in the region of Moab.'" In the past, we've taken all these scriptures together and said, "'God is going to miraculously transport his people to the stronghold of Petra,'" that's now in the modern nation of Jordan. "'There he'll protect them from the ravages going on in the world for three and a half years, all the while two witnesses will carry on their work. Christians will be martyred, some of them, but some people will repent and be redeemed, probably 144,000 Israelites and an innumerable multitude of others.'" Look, it does fit together. Now, why don't we talk about this more in the church today? Now, we used to talk about it a great deal, and I see some nods, and I'm looking in the back. I don't see nods in the back row, but we don't talk about it so little that even the younger ones haven't heard of it. But I'll mention one reason I think we don't discuss it a bit more is that none of the scriptures I've read say specifically that in the Great Tribulation, God's people will be brought to Petra, and Petra is the place of safety. It doesn't say that. We can put pieces together to indicate that, but the words place of safety aren't in the Bible. There's a, you know, I've read a scripture that says, I prepare a place. We talk about protection. I don't think it's wrong to say place of safety. Petra isn't in the Bible at all, but Moab and the mountains around Judea are mentioned. So what I want to say is we've gotten in trouble enough in the past, pitting things down, saying it's exactly this. You know, the Tribulation is going to begin in 1972, and 1972 came and went. We said, well, maybe it'll start in 75, or maybe it was 82. And we said, let's not get ourselves into trouble being so specific. Now, I'm not saying that there isn't a place of safety, and I'm not saying that it isn't Petra. Matter of fact, we've backed off enough that I suspect I think God's got a good sense of ironic humor. I wouldn't be surprised if he loaded us on jet planes and took us to Petra, and he'd say, see, those guys back in the 50s were right.

And I wouldn't mind that. But I do want to note that there have been prominent ministers that have interpreted these things differently. And I'll mention one that you've probably heard the name Garner Ted Armstrong. I quote Herbert W. quite a bit because he was the leader for so long, but his son Garner Ted had an interpretation of these scriptures that was a bit different, and he had some scriptures to back it up. He said that God would protect his people during the Great Tribulation, not in one place, but in people's various homes. He'd like to turn to Isaiah 26. I'd say he'd like to say, or like to turn to Isaiah 26. I should say, I didn't hang out with him and discuss this, but I've read some of his writings. Isaiah 26 in verse 20. Oh, I'm right there. This passage says, Come, my people, enter your chambers, shut your door behind you, hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment until the indignation is passed. That's one of those words Mr. Call, indignation. For behold, the Eternal comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will also disclose her blood, and will no more cover the slain. That sounds like it could be the Great Tribulation, and God's saying, Go into your home and shut the door. Mr. Armstrong taught that God would protect his people during the Tribulation in the same way he did the ancient Israelites in Egypt, and that first passover. Remember, he told him, Slay the Lamb, splash some of the blood on the doorpost in the lintel, and go inside and don't come out until the time is over. Now, that's one possible interpretation. I'd say, you know, an all-powerful God could protect us in a bunch of different places, as well as he could one place, but I don't know if, you know, there are advantages to being together if it's three and a half years. For one thing, I don't have three and a half years of food stocked up in my house. I've been told by some that I should. You know, we sometimes refer to the place of safety as the place of final training, based on speculation of what are we going to do there for three and a half years. And I'm not trying to disprove that at all. I'm just saying, as I said, some different interpretations. Let's go to Exodus chapter 19, another scripture that Mr. Armstrong quoted sometimes to support this thought.

Because there was that interpretation talking about coming on the wings of eagles, we did have the speculation that passenger planes would take us. And I've heard a lot of other speculations how we'll get to that place of safety. And that's one word. When we know, we'll know. But here, God is talking to the Israelites after he brought them out of Egypt. They're coming to Mount Sinai. He's about to speak the Ten Commandments to them. And here in 19 verse 4, he says, you've seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Symbolically, he bore them on eagles' wings. But how did they actually get to Mount Sinai? They walked on their feet. Now, maybe we're going to walk to Petra or to wherever it is.

And as I said, when I say whatever it is, I'm not trying to disprove Petra. That same sermon I mentioned about the title of the sermon back in 1991-92, I think it was titled, Fun with Prophecy. It was, I believe, Ron Kelly gave it. And his goal was to make us not take prophecy so seriously. He put together a lot of scriptures to try to dogmatically prove that the place of safety is Vail, Colorado.

You know, when Bernie snippets the beast, he said, well, Vail is a much better place than Petra. It's pretty in the summer and you can ski in the winter. And if we're going to have final training, why not stay in those nice condos? Now, I'm in favor of it being Vail if I get a choice. I don't think I get a choice. But as I said, the purpose of that sermon was to get people to not take prophecy too seriously. That's not my goal today.

I do want us to take prophecy seriously. I want to say that God's word indicates that God will protect people during the Great Tribulation, even though some will be martyrs. And once again, I remind you, it's 1 Corinthians 10, 13 says that we will never be given a trial greater than we can bear.

I always thought, well, if I'm prepared to be one of the martyrs, if I end up in a place of safety, that's not a bad consolation prize. And there's it. Matter of fact, I think I wrote part of it down for a sermon I'm working on in the future. But Winston Churchill had a quote about martyrdom, and it goes something like, I am always prepared to be a martyr for my country.

However, I do prefer that it be postponed, if possible. I think we could have that attitude. If God wants to let us die for our beliefs, we want to be willing and ready to do that. But if God wants to miraculously protect us, I don't think anybody here would object to that. Do we need to know exactly where and how God will provide protection during the Tribulation? I think we don't need to know, at least not now.

So I say, if we needed to know, we would know. If you will, turn with me to Luke 17. Luke 17 will read verse 33 through 37. As far as seeking that place of safety, and I've heard interesting stories about people figuring out where it is, and some, I'm going to sell all my stuff and go move there, so I'll be sure I'm there.

Here Jesus said, whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you that in that night, there will be two men and one dead, one taken, and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding together. One will be taken, the other left. Two men in the field, one taken, and the other left. Some people say that this is proof of the rapture, and it's not. But they answered and said to them, where, Lord? They might have said, that's a question we have. It's a place of safety. Where?

And he gives them a fairly cryptic answer. He doesn't say it's over in Petro or it's in Colorado. He says, wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together. And I wonder if they stop and said, oh yeah, that's good. What does that mean?

There's not a record of that. Now, what's interesting, well, I find interesting, looked into this, you know, it sounds very dramatic, where the body is, the eagles will be gathered, but it turns out in Greek, it's the word that's translated eagles actually would be better rendered as buzzards or vultures. And the body could be interpreted corpse. You know, sort of what Jesus is saying, where?

And he says, well, wherever there's a dead body, the vultures will show up. And you're like, hmm, that's still kind of cryptic. But how do buzzards find a dead body? And I'm not sure if it's everywhere in southern Ohio, near Lake White, where I live.

I see buzzards all the time. It's, oh, there's a dead body around. I just kind of know. How do they do it? I'm guessing God gave them the ability. I don't know if they're seeing or their superior sense of smell. But I'm sure they don't study the Scripture to figure it out in advance.

And the place of safety could be like that. My thought is, knowing where it is in advance won't necessarily put you in it. And not knowing where it is won't prevent you from being in it, if that's God's intention. And that's where I say there needs to be a balance in studying prophecy. And I'm, as I said, I'm not at all trying to say, prophecy doesn't matter. We don't need to know. We do need to have it in balance. God gave us prophecy for a number of reasons. One of the foremost, I think, is to encourage people to repent. Knowing what's coming. In 2 Peter, and I'm not going to turn there, 2 Peter 3 verse 11, he describes how the devastation will happen in the day of the Lord. And Peter says, therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner a person sought you to be, knowing what you know is coming, how should you act?

And that's a good reason for studying prophecy, to motivate us to live godly and righteous lives. Being godly and righteous is the way to be in the place of safety. Understanding prophecy is not bad, but it's not the main way. Prophecies can also be a powerful evidence of who and what God is. He plainly says, only I can do this. I can tell what's going to happen in the end and then make it happen.

Let's turn to a prophecy in Revelation that I think God put there. I'm going to speculate on why it's there. Revelation chapter 10 verses 3 through 3 and 4.

Revelation 10, 3 and 4. As I said, this is one that I think it's interesting and perhaps even funny. Although I was telling today someone says they've already figured this out, which mystifies me. It says, and cried with a loud voice when the lion roared. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write. John gets out the stenal pad. I'm going to write it down. And I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, seal up the things with the seven. I heard a voice that said to me, seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered and don't write them. Now what did they say? If you're like me, you want to know that almost more than anything else in this book. Because it's the one thing that says, don't tell them, you know, and what we're not going to know. Now I suspect now if this is the end generation and we're still alive, at some point we'll hear it and we'll go, oh, that's what it is. You know, and you know, you could be facetious or whatever. You think maybe it's going to tell us where the place of safety is. Maybe it's going to tell us who the new judge will be on American Idol. It's, you know, something. Now we could speculate all day on what they say, but I want to instead speculate on why this is in the Bible. You know, since we don't get to know, was it an accident that John heard him speak? Did God say, oh, you weren't supposed to hear that?

That doesn't make sense. God worked a miracle to show him all these things and carefully made sure he saw and heard certain things. So God must have wanted him to hear it. My thought is perhaps God caused this to happen and caused John to write it down. He said, I heard it. I was going to write it down. He told me not to write it down, just to show that God knows certain things that we're not going to get to know. You know, perhaps, you know, he's showing us there are things he could reveal, but we don't need to know and he wants us to know that we don't need to know. Because if we didn't know that we didn't need to know, we wouldn't know in the first place. Do you follow that?

I was saying, if it was never there in the... if there's no mention of seven thunders, we wouldn't know what they said, but we wouldn't know that we didn't know. And now we know that we don't know.

And we can say, well, maybe we need to accept that we can't know some things. That's what a bottom line I'm getting, as a matter of fact, if you're looking for a title, I don't know if you're recording this, Luke, I call it accepting I don't know. That's sometimes we have to be able to accept I don't know. Because I said, there's a classic example that God made sure that there's one thing that we understood we weren't going to know. Now, eventually we're going to know. I'm not going to say there's some things that we'll never ever know. Eventually those seven thunders are going to utter their voices and human beings will hear them. And maybe that'll include us here.

The Apostle Paul knew and understood a lot about prophecy. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And by the way, I am nearly done. 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 1. As I said, the Apostle Paul had things revealed to him and he talked about prophecy, but he focused on something else. 1 Corinthians 2 says, And I, brethren, when I came to you, didn't come with excellence of speech or with wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul said, if I've got to get down to the crux of the matter, the most important thing, I want you to understand the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Let's look at what Jesus himself said was most important in Matthew chapter 19. I find myself going to this section of Scripture a lot because I think it's good at focusing on what our priorities need to be. Matthew 19 beginning in verse 16.

Matthew 19 verse 16. 1 came and said to him, Good teacher, what thing do I have to do that I might inherit eternal life? And Jesus said, Well, you need to understand the 70 weeks prophecy, and you've got to know the difference between the Philadelphia and the Laodicean Church, and you'd better find and figure out the truth of the place of safety. Oh, he didn't say that. So what do I have to do to have eternal life? Well, I corrected him on calling him good because he wanted to stress that the father was good. He said, If you want to enter life, keep the commandments. Which ones? Well, and he listed several of the 10 commandments. And the fellas said, Well, I've been doing that all my life. I'm already doing that. What else do I have to do? And Jesus didn't say, Well, now it's time to focus on prophecy. No, he said, sell all the stuff you have and give it to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven. That's what he said is most important. Now, Jesus never says don't care about prophecy, don't focus. Jesus gave a lot of prophecy. Certainly wants us to study and understand it, but he wants to wants us to have balance and perspective. All scripture is inspired by God. It's profitable for doctrine, instruction, reproof. I'm getting that out of order, but it's in 2nd Timothy. And we need to keep it all in balance and in perspective. And we need to be willing to have some questions and sometimes accept the answer that I don't know, at least not yet, but I'm going to find out.