Are We Ready?

Are we ready to meet our Creator?

As we approach the Day of Trumpets, we can see, and I don't have to tell you, we live in a world full of suffering.

I don't want to show you tons and tons of pictures about what's happening in the world, but we really live in a world in which we can really cry and say, Thy kingdom come.

Things have escalated recently, and we really live in difficult times.

And I've come across things that people say, Well, we have already seen heavenly signs, so we're really time short.

And that's just one simple example that we need to be careful and understand the Scriptures and the flow of events so that we are not deceived by what other people say.

Because there is a scripture in Joel 2.31, and we'll turn to it in just a moment.

Joel 2 is actually a very encouraging but also strong warning.

In fact, in Joel 2, starting in verse 12, says, Turn to me with all your heart, range your heart in verse 13.

And then in verse 15 says, Blow the trumpet in Zion fast. But a little later, it's talking about a time when God's Spirit is going to be poured.

We can see that in verse 28.

But then it gives a little bit of a timeline, which is very important for us to understand.

And in verse 31, it says, The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood.

Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And so some people say, when you see these lunar eclipses, the moon turns blood and they say, Oh, well, it's the heavenly sight. And it's so easy to just take a natural event like a solid eclipse and give it a prophetic statement, which is really not what it's talking about. Because it's talking about some very serious events, like the sun will be turning into darkness, the moon into blood. And those are kind of at the same time. And so it's a very special miracle that will happen before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

A lot of people don't understand what the day of the Lord is. And it is important for us to place these into the right sequence. Because we must not just assume, well, if we see an eclipse, that is the coming of the day of the Lord.

And it is important because as we read in Luke 21, let's just turn very briefly to Luke 21.

Luke 21 verse 36.

And so quite often we will refer to watching world events, and clearly that is correct. But it also watching ourselves, because if you read in context of verse 34 of the same chapter, take heed to yourselves. And so, we need to watch both world events and ourselves to make sure that we are ready in ourselves and we are ready so that we may be counted worthy for two things. One, to escape what is coming to pass and to stand in a way to be resurrected at Christ's coming. And that is what we need to do. To be resurrected at Christ's coming. And so, as we are approaching the day of trumpets, it is pretty important to understand this prophetic sequence of events, understand the meaning of the seven trumpets in its context, and that will help us to watch world events with a clear understanding and not being deceived about what people say. And it will help us, therefore, to understand, hey, there are a number of things still to happen before that. And it helps us, therefore, to be prepared and to analyze ourselves so that we may be counted worthy.

Now, as we look at the book of Revelation, we have four horsemen, which are those four seals, which are marked in with those red dots, or like a little seal there. And we know that it's the white horse, the red horse, the black horse, and the pale horse. And they've got different meanings, false religion, but also we've got to be careful that what is happening in the world, we see people being boldly saying certain things, but we've got to be careful that we don't get wrapped into it because some of the things have false religion into it. And so we've got to be very careful with that. We've got to be very careful. That leads to wars and crime and murder. As we've seen, ideologies, some may be right, some a lot of truth mixed with lies. It's just, and it's not just in Christianity, it's in all over. And when there's wars and civil war and troubles, there's going to be hunger and a lot of diseases and death and pestimuses. And so we lived through that time. And we in the church have always said that these things are building up.

And these four horsemen have been riding, but these four horsemen are still riding.

And we've got to be aware of it because we've got to be aware that we don't get involved in the wars, which are religious or ideology, or they get political and things like that. We've got to be careful.

And in the church, we always said there are certain things to watch on the world scene whilst these four horsemen are riding. And we talked about Israel and sacrifices. And I know there are debates about that.

But anyway, we also talked about European unification and ten kings.

It's interesting that we could be on the verge of, for instance, imagine if there is a revolution in Germany and democracy in Germany collapses. What will happen to the European Union? We saw just recently that seven European leaders, in one weekend, suddenly changed their whole agenda and came to the White House. So a lot of things are happening behind the scenes that we really don't understand. And God doesn't tell us all the details, but we need to be aware. Another thing is the King of the South because the European Union is basically the King of the North. Another one we've got to be aware is the King of the South because it talks about the King of the South pushing against the King of the North. You read that in Daniel 11. And so we see a lot of pressure happening in Europe. And the European situation, as for immigrants and things like that, coming from the South, southern part of Europe, or some below the area of Israel, it is worse than the situation in this country. And so these things could be quite explosive at any time. And then we're always told about a watch United States and England and the loss of pride, the loss of your power.

And we can see that even though the United States is a powerful country, we see certain moves, for instance, in the BRICS countries, of starting an alternative currency and different things there. So we need to be watching. And these are kind of geopolitical type of things to watch. But then we also said to watch the false church and God's true church.

And some things are going to happen in religion, branded as Christianity, which I normally call it so-called Christianity.

And they could turn out to be quite serious. And we're going to watch through church, God's church.

Some events, I don't know what, but I believe God is going to move the church over time to maybe, maybe be a little bit more, what should I say, forthright in propheticness or just in the way we need to live.

But the seventh thing that we mentioned to watch is morality, moral decline.

You know, transgenders and destruction of marriage and just depravity and lying.

It's just, it's got out of control.

And so as these four horsemen ride, we need to watch these things that are running with those four horses.

And so there are scriptures that also say, okay, then when is the end? Now understand that these four things, once they are sealed and they opened, they remain open. They keep going even into further all the way to Christ's time. You know, there'll be pestilence and hunger and war all the way to Christ's time. So these things will continue.

But there is an interesting scripture or prophecy that Christ gave there on the sermon that he gave just before his death when he was of a few disciples. And they asked him, hey, you know, what will be the sign of your coming? And we know that section, which is in Matthew 24.

And then towards a little bit into that discussion, Christ says on verse 13 of Matthew 24, But he endures to the end, shall be saved. And so there's going to be times where we are going to be under a lot of trials.

Brethren in the church are individually going to go through a lot of difficulties and trials.

But then it says, but he went and this gospel after that, he says, and this gospel of the kingdom of the kingdom of God will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations. And then the end will come.

And so we have to preach the gospel of God's kingdom, of God's government coming on earth.

And yes, preaching about Christ is about it, but there's more to it than just that. And this preaching will be to the world as a witness.

It's not to the world to just save Mosul. It's a witness. That's an important statement about that alone. And then the end will come. So this preaching of the gospel has to occur.

And I was surprised that at the last council meetings, and it was in the recording that was done for the ministry, and I'm sure it was mentioned in the reporter's comments, that we are seeing now a lot of interaction on our website, clicks or whatever it is, not just from the US and other countries, but one of, I think, the third highest ranking countries that we're getting things on our website from. This is kind of likely. It's from China.

Now, I don't know if it's like trying to hack our website or whatever, but it's just interesting that through this medium, and now with the capability of people going to the website in English and in their own country, seeing in their own languages, because it's kind of built into these capabilities to translate into your own language. That is amazing what can be done and how things can accelerate rather quickly.

And so if you put that scripture into this time flow, we have the gospel being preached and then the end.

And so it is important for us to see this in a picture, to see a time flow.

And then a little later in verses 36 through 44, then it says, but in that day, hour, no man knows.

Not even the angels of heaven, but my father only. So when that end, that time of the end comes, no man knows. But it will be as in the days of Noah. So also be the coming of the Son of Man. So this time period which reflects Christ's coming, and it says, as in the days before the flood, we're eating and drinking, marrying, giving marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark. And so we see these things happening. People are eating and drinking and getting into arguments and all these things, until suddenly things will happen. And it says, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away.

So Yah is talking about when events, like a flood, just overrun people suddenly. And then it says, then two men will be in the field, one will be taking the other left. I mean, two women will be grinding at the mill and one will be taking it. And this is, you've got to read it in context, because people will be caught unaware. And some will be taken. Could it be taken by surprise?

Could it be whatever? It's clearly not talking about the rapture. But the point is, watch the thing, because you do not know when these things are going to come. We've got to be very conscientious. And then you've got to put that in context with what Christ said a little earlier. It says, therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand.

And then it says a little later in verse 21, there will be great tribulation. And so what we have is, there's going to be some very abominable thing. Sometimes we have put, it's going to be this or it's going to be that. We've got to be careful that we sometimes draw conclusions, it has to be this. And what if it's not exactly that way? Then you might be caught and aware. That's what I'm just saying.

Let's be careful with that. And then there'll be great tribulation. So what do we have there is, there'll be an abomination of desolation and then great tribulation. I mean, as I mentioned, the other four horsemen keep running, but these things are important for us to understand at time sequence, because that's kind of the end. And that is related, that time of tribulation is related to the sixth seal. I mean, pardon, the fifth seal, the fifth seal, because then he opened the fifth seal.

So we got the first four seals, which is the four horsemen, and now you've got the fifth seal, which is by serious great tribulation, which you see in Revelation 6 verse 9. Those two tie in with Matthew 24, 21. So that is a correlation between two. And so this great tribulation is the fifth seal. And so what do we have is this abomination of desolation, and then there'll be great tribulation, and that is the fifth seal based, as what we see from the book of Revelation. But within that we see a promise given to those that are Philadelphian, that it says, because you've kept my commandment to persevere, also I'll keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.

And so there will be a time of trial, and it will affect the whole world, but it says some brethren, some members in the church, because they are seven church heroes, but there's also seven, let's call it, attitudes that people could be in.

And so where are we in our own relationship with God? Are we in a Philadelphian, let's call it attitude, that we would be counted with those that are persevering? And those says they will be kept from the hour of trial. Now, I have said before that a part of the church will be protected, provided we're doing the right things, etc., etc., and that's correct. But we also do know that some faithful man that are doing the right thing will be, unfortunately, let's call it martyred. As an example, for instance, you have the two witnesses. They were being killed, and they are then following God.

And we see in Hebrews 11, where some people following God, there were nothing wrong with them, but it says they died in the faith. So, yes, the majority of those that are Philadelphian, a great majority, and families and things like that, will be protected. But there may be some that will not, depends on what God decides and what His thinking is. But the important point I want to focus is that a number of people that are in the church, in the congregation, will be protected because they are persevering to keep God's laws, God's commandments, God's instructions.

And so we have a period of protection of some saints that is somewhere between that abomination of desolation and the beginning of the great tribulation. And that when you look at Daniel and other scriptures, he was talking about a period of about 30 days. And then we'll look further. Now we go beyond that because we know that tribulation will...

And it says, after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be dark and the moon will give its light, not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heavens will be shaken. So sometimes during that tribulation, it says after the tribulation, could imply after it started and reached a certain point.

It doesn't mean that it will complete because, as I mentioned, all these things keep going, all these horsemen keep going. So there will be a time period when there will be these heavenly signs. And that is correlates with the sixth seal in Revelation, verses 12-14, because it says as he opened the sixth seal, and then there is greater earthquake, the sun became black, the moon became black blood. And so it's like saying a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse at the same time.

And obviously it's miraculous intervention, and the stars of heaven fell, because you see, obviously it does not mean that the stars that we see are actually going to fall on earth because they are a huge side, but it will be something that we will see, and then those events from our position on the earth, it will appear like stars of heaven are falling upon us. And so we have that sixth seal as being the heavenly signs. So what do we have? Is the four horsemen arriving? Then there will be abomination, desolation.

There will be protection of some saints. Then the tribulation starts, and sometimes into the great tribulation after it actually started, after the tribulation, because we know it continues, like all of the other seals continue till Christ is coming, then there will be heavenly signs.

And so when people say, oh well, we see a blood moon and things like that, are these heavenly signs that it's referring? No, because we need to understand the sequence of these prophetic events. We're not yet into the great tribulation. And so it is important for us to understand the sequence of events so we are not deceived. So once again, that is a simple descriptive look. We've got the four horsemen, then there will be abomination, desolation. Some saints are protected. The great tribulation starts, and somewhere down the line the heavenly signs occur. And that's where, back to that scripture we read a little earlier on in Joel, which says those heavenly signs occur before the day of the Lord. Before the day of the Lord. All right, so we have the day of the Lord after the heavenly signs. Because the heavenly signs will happen before the day of the Lord. So that all fits in. But there is then a scripture that comes in before the day of the Lord, which is the seventh trumpet, which is Revelation 7 before the seventh trumpet, which is a sealing of God's servants. It talks about 144,000 Israelites and a great multitude that have come out of the great tribulation. And so we see those servants being sealed before the actual seventh seal occurs. And so we have, as we can clearly see in this timing, timeline, let's call it, two sets or two periods of protection, because there is one where people be protected into a place from the face of the serpent. And there's a later one where people remain in their locations, but they will be sealed as we're going to see in some of the trumpets, as it describes, that it says they will not affect those that have been sealed. And so then we have in Revelation 8 when the seventh seal is open.

And that is silence in heaven for about half an hour, which you could look at it. What is going to come? It's so amazing, so awesome, so great. Because at the end of Revelation 6 said the day of wrath is coming of God's wrath. And so the seventh seal is God's wrath. And so it says even heaven goes still, goes quiet. And then we have the seven angels that are going to blow the seven trumpets ready to blow. And so what do we have is the seventh seal encompasses seven trumpets.

And when we read in Joel, being the day of the Lord, I understand that one of the meanings prophetically is a day for a year prophecy. So that implies that last year of the three and a half years of the Great Tribulation, that will be the day of the Lord.

And so the day of the Lord starts from Yah onwards. From that moment, the day of the Lord is, which basically means is the seventh seal. And the seventh seal encompasses seven trumpets. So the seventh seal encompasses seven trumpets. And those seven trumpets are for a period of a year.

And so when we celebrate the day of trumpets, we yes celebrate Christ's coming, which is the last trumpet, but it also symbolizes that year of those trumpets, because the day of trumpets is not the day of the last trumpet. And so implies, if you're looking at that year, those seven trumpets, which is the day of God's revenge. So the heavenly signs are basically saying, okay, now God is going to start intervening. Now the tribulation has come. A number of people have repented during the period of tribulation, because we've been preaching the gospel. They got Beyond Today magazine. They've heard all this, and they have not really repented. Oh, yeah, we are Christian. Oh, yeah, we're following Christ.

Oh, yeah, I've accepted Jesus. But it's not just accepting Christ. It's a lot more than that. It's a lot more than that. Repentance is not just repenting of past sins. Repentance, true repentance, true conversion, is also repenting of what we are. Changing and understanding that we got to change our nature, our carnal mind, our human nature, to divine nature with the help of God's Holy Spirit.

And so there's a lot to it. So it is important to understand that. But there will be people during the Great Tribulation that will then, in parallel to that, because from that time period when the Great Tribulation starts, we will have, in parallel to that, the two witnesses. Because organized churches today is, what we are, will not be able to continue. Will not be able to continue when that Great Tribulation comes. And the protection of the saints means that some of those faithful members that are serving in the church, in many ways, they'll be moved to another place.

So organized Church of God, as a congregation, will cease. And then the proclaiming will then be done by two witnesses, in parallel, during the time of the Great Tribulation, the heavenly signs, and the second trumpets. So that is important for us to understand when we put all this into context. And so as we already are approaching the day of trumpets, it is important for us to understand the symbolism of this day.

Because it's the day of the Lord. Well, the day of the Lord can be interpreted in more than one way, because it can be interpreted as this whole time, even during the millennium, and even after that, until the pastor-sig and resurrection, when Christ then hands the kingdom back, to all authority to the Father. So it can be interpreted that way as well. But there is, in this context of these events at the time of the end, the day of the Lord is that last year, of the three and a half years of the Great Tribulation. And that is the symbolism there of the day of trumpets, which points us to these seven trumpets.

Now, as we start analyzing the seven trumpets in a little bit more detail, the first four affect various areas of our environment around us. It affects a third of the earth, a third of the sea, a third of rivers and springs of water, and affects the sun, the moon, and stars. They are great, profound effects during these seven trumpets that will affect a lot of people. And then after that, it talks about it and says, okay, now that those are over, then we get what it describes as woe, woe, woe.

It's three woes. And it says, to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet. It was the remaining three trumpets. See, because those, the first four, we talked about a moment ago, and now there are three to go. There are three woes to go. So we had a third of the earth, a third of the sea, a third of rivers and water fountains. That means sea, meaning salt water, and a rivers, it means fresh water, and the whole atmospheric implications. And then after that, we have the three woes.

And in the three woes, we read in Revelation 9, we have the fifth trumpet, which runs for five months, and you read in detail, that's a period of those locusts, and probably some sort of the beast power attacking the nations of the east. And this is where you read that those people that were sealed will not be affected by this. Those that were sealed. So wherever they are, they will not be affected by this. It's like they got immunity.

They got a special spiritual immunity. Then after that, and so it is a period of time. So these seven trumpets is for a year. So we see these first four seals run for a good section of time. But then we got five months further into that, because it is a year. So we got five months after a few months, then that fifth trumpet. But then we have the sixth trumpet, which is like once those five months have abated and those gases, whatever it is, or is afflicting those people, have kind of expired their effect, let's call it that. Then there's a counterattack from the nations of the East to the Beast.

And it talks about a military army of 200 million people. That is the sixth trumpet. And so it's like a counterattack. And when you read it, a huge amount of population will die in one single sweep. So it probably means there will be some type of atomic warfare and an army of 200 million attacking the King of the North. Now the outcome of this is like typical human nature. I hit you, and then you hit me, and now it says, okay, I am now going to hit you and destroy you, or you're going to hit me and destroy you.

And that means the end result is it will be the end of the physical world because mankind will wipe themselves out. And that is the time when Christ has to come in. That's the last trumpet, the seventh trumpet, where God sends Christ and says, right, now is the time.

Stop it! That's enough! That is enough! And so these seven trumpets are God's judgment on earth, allowing consequences of what we have created. But then it gets to the very last moment where God says, that's enough. And so we read where it says, The angel, whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land, raised up his hand to heaven and swore by him, who lives forever and ever.

That's Revelation 10, verse 5 through 7, who created heaven and all the things that are in it, and the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in there, that should be delayed no longer. That's it! There is no further delay. That is it! And therefore, in the days of the sounding of that seven trumpet, when he's about to shout, the mystery of God will be finished, as he declared to his servants and prophets.

And the mystery of God is that human beings will now be transformed into God beings. Spirit beings. That's the mystery of God, will be finished. Wow! Because that's resurrection. That's Christ's coming. That's the resurrection, as it was declared or prophesied. And that it's a good time for us to consider, because as we go through trials and difficulties and sufferings today, they're not worthy to be compared with the glory that we'll receive, which will be revealed to us.

It's not to be compared. Not to be compared. And because this expectation of creation, of the mystery of God being revealed, which is basically the revealing of the sons of God, when we will be revealed as really children of God in the glory. In God's glory, of course, in much inferior, but will be of the same kind, God kind, of the same family.

And therefore, it says not only that, but we also have the fruits of the Spirit. That's in verse 23. Even we ourselves ground within ourselves eagerly waiting for the sonship, for us to become sons and daughters, which is when our bodies will be redeemed into spiritual bodies. We wait eagerly for that day. And as it says, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared. And that is a great hope we all have at Christ's coming.

And that's when the seventh angel sounds. And you can see this is moving ahead into different, further and further, later chapters in the book of Revelation. And this is in Revelation 11. When the seventh angel sounds, and there were 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 in heaven. The governments of this world will then be controlled by God, by Christ, under God's authority. But they don't like it. They're going to reject it. And they're going to try and fight. And we know there is a time when they will get together for the battle of Armageddon, as after the resurrection, there will be a time that they will get together to fight Christ. It's as if they see this invasion from outer space, the saints are changed or resurrected and go up into the clouds. And it is as if human beings on planet Earth will see this cloud thing as attributed as invasion from outer space. And they want to fight it. And we see that they were angry. And then he says, and this is the time. And there's three specific events mentioned in verse 18 of Revelation 11. It says, the time of the dead that they should be judged. What is that? That means some dead will be judged to be in the first resurrection, and some dead will be judged to remain sleeping till a thousand years later. That will be a judgment of the dead. And so some dead will be judged, okay, you will be in the first resurrection, and some dead will be judged, no, you will not. And as we're resurrected and given eternal life, that's a gift. There are many bad animals that talk about rewards that will be given different rewards. Some of them are ten cities, some of them are five, etc. And it says, time that you reward is saved. So it appears as you're resurrected, you say, hey, you have to reward ten cities. You will have this responsibility. And it looks like it's not only the marriage supper, but it looks like to me, and I may be wrong, please forgive me, it's the giving of the rewards. It says, giving, you will have this responsibility. This is your job. That's your job. At least for the millennium, these are the different areas that you have a responsibility of.

And then the third event is that those that destroy the earth will be destroyed. And so there's three important things that Christ's coming, and these are things that happen over probably a couple of days, but it's things that happen during that big thing of Christ's coming.

And that ties in with what it's called in the Bible, the seven lost plagues. Because during that period, there will be very serious plagues on the earth, and then one of them is that those nations will gather at Armageddon. That is part of the seven lost plagues, and then they move to Jerusalem to fight Christ. And those plagues are described in Revelation 15 and 16. And then we see as they get ready to fight Christ, then Christ comes down from the clouds and you see His angelic army and the resurrected saints will come down. And those that destroy the earth will be destroyed. And you read about how in Zechariah, if I remember correctly, how their tongues will just wipe out so quickly. They have no time to do anything. And after that, we know we get into Revelation 20, the first few verses, where Satan is finally put away, which then typifies the day of Atonement. So we do have a period between when Christ comes in the seventh trumpet, the day of trumpet, symbolized by the day of trumpets, and a period of a few days until Satan is destroyed. And so if everything happens at its time, like in the past, this happened and God is a master of timing, we're talking about just a few days. So let's put all this into one little picture to understand the day of trumpets. What we have is, we have the four horsemen, we have a number of things, and they're riding up to a climax. We have different things to watch in world events, and then there will be an abomination of desolation. Then there will be a great tribulation, which is Satan's wrath, which will continue like the four horsemen will continue until Christ is coming. And then we have the heavenly signs, we have the servants of God being sealed. Then we have the seven trumpets, which symbolizes the day of the Lord for one year. And then on the last trumpet, as lightning, Christ will come, and then which is Christ's second coming. And a series of events follow that, which is the seven lost plagues, the wedding and Armageddon, and all those events. Satan is put away, and then the kingdom of God is established and running, and there's peace on earth. And obviously, there will be rebellion and things like that initially, because as you know, there's a lot of demonstrations. The spirit is wrong all over, but Christ will rebuke many a people as we read in Isaiah. And so that puts it all into one simple picture. And when people say, well, we are now in the heavenly signs, don't be deceived. You've got to understand the sequence of events so that you're not deceived. And you and I may have all this knowledge. You may have all this knowledge. You may know all scripture. But if you don't apply it with justice, mercy, and faith, it's all in vain.

It's a matter of the heart. It's a matter of the heart. And so, yes, you'll send these angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather his elect as you read in Matthew 24. But then Christ gives us examples of various parables as we are preparing for that of the fig tree.

It's the time of summer, of two servants, and of the ten virgins. Some are ready, some are not, and rewards. So it's very important for us to then understand these parables in this flow to determine, are we ready?

Because Christ in Matthew 24 said, okay, then all these are events that Christ comes back second coming, but understand from these parables you and I have lessons to learn.

And so there is a lot of hope that we have. That's why we need to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

It is more just than the Gospel of Christ. Now there's nothing wrong to preach about Christ the person, but there's much more than just Christ the person.

And so it's not just preaching the Gospel, but it's also, and what? What about the work of God in us?

What about the work of God in us?

And so we need to prepare, to be prepared, right, to rule under Christ, kings and priests.

And then, then, not now, then when Christ comes, we will save the world. Not now, not now. Our demonstrations and whatever it is, it will not save the world.

And we read in Obadiah, then saviors will come to Mount Zion to judge. That will be you and I.

Under Christ, there will be in Mount Zion to judge the world.

And then the Kingdom of God will reign on earth for a thousand years. That applies to the Millennium, to the Feast of Tabernacles.

And also, then after the Millennium, the Lost Great Day, the Eighth Day, which symbolizes or explains, or is explained by the Great White Throne Judgment, those first two verses.

So the question is, are we ready to meet our Creator? We must not be misled by what people say. We've got to understand the flow, but we've got to understand the very important thing is, are we ready?

Are we ready to rule with Christ? That's the question that I'll leave with you.

Because the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but His long suffering towards us.

That we all should come to repentance, as we read in 2 Peter 3.

But the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.

And this is where the Day of the Lord is extended beyond just one day, but to all that period beyond that first day, but into the Millennium and after the second resurrection.

That it says, all that period in which then the heavens will pass away the great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat above the earth and the works that are in it will be burnt up.

And after that, there will be a time that there will be a new heaven and new earth.

But the point, the importance, the nuts and bolts of this, as we understand these things and everything will be wiped out and will be a new heaven and new earth.

How are we changing ourselves in our conduct? How we treat one another? Are we becoming very true followers of Christ?

Therefore, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We can't quite often read over that, but we've got to understand how Christ was and how gracious He was towards us.

And we, as He follows us, as He's the disciples, need to learn to be equally gracious towards others how we treat others, just like Christ treats us as His brothers and sisters. And so, we have this great hope, and the glory goes to God, His great plan that He has for us. That's, we thank God for that.