Are We Ready for the Time of the End?

Short. No man knows, but the question I have is, are we ready?

Obviously, we're all going to say, no, we're not. You know, we're not ready. But briefly, look with me, please, in Luke 21, verse 36. Look 21, verse 36.

It says, watch therefore and pray always, that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.

Watch and pray. What are we to watch? Are we to sit and watch in BBC 24 hours a day? Is that what we really need to be watching? Or the CBS 7 o'clock morning news? What are we to watch? Are we to sit and watch in BBC 24 hours a day? Is that what we really need to be watching?

Or the CBS 7 o'clock morning news? Or whatever?

What is it that we watch?

And the question is, it says that we're able to escape. I said that so that we're not going to be in the tribulation. Is that really what it's meant?

Should that be our goal?

Is that our goal?

So, brethren, in light of our big God-given goal, which is basically hinted at us in this wonderful and very appropriate sermon that we had, and also in the special music we had, what shall we do to be ready? Brethren, it is important to always keep in focus what God is doing. I briefly highlighted that last week in the sermon last week. We need to first understand God's plan.

What is God's plan? God's plan is God is procreating. Think about it. God is procreating. In other words, he is building his family of his own children.

Children of God. And that's why we call him our Father.

That is his goal.

And our goal is to be in that royal family.

After all, it's a royal, a royalty. I mean, what royal can you have than being in the family of the King of Kings and the Father of the King of Kings, and being his sons?

The Kingdom of God. And in the end, that is the ultimate, the ultimate peace and rest for all of us in mankind.

And so when it's talking about, where will escape all these things, it's so that we'll be in God's Kingdom. That is the real escape to be in God's Kingdom. Our goal is to be in God's Kingdom.

And so, God has given us a roadmap called his Holy Day plan. The plan of his Holy Day tells us how does he plan to execute that great master plan, that mysterious master plan of creating sons and daughters of God.

And in the end, as we heard in the sermon, he wants all mankind saved. He wants all mankind saved. All! Even though some of us, as we go through certain ages, where we think, oh well, religion is not for me, God is very patient. He's more patient than you and I. Thank God. Thank God. Because he wants everyone to come to protect us. And so, it gives us time. It gives us time. And in the end, he wants the best for everyone. He really wants the best for everyone. He wants to give life, eternal life, without pain. Without suffering. Without headaches. Without migraines. Without stomach pains. Or pains on the side. Or pains of the sinus or whatever it is. None of that. That's what he wants from us. He wants to give us that, eternally, in complete happiness. And isn't that a great rest and great peace? To know that and to have that. So, we have to understand God's plan. And then, we have to understand that part of that plan is executing it through Israel. Now, it's not that Israel is better. It's just that he has made a choice, a decision, to actually work through this person first, and then through that, and then through more, and then spread it out to the whole world.

And therefore, he's working it first through spiritual Israel. Spiritual Israel will be first who will work through. And specifically, publicly, that's the bride, that's the first fruits, that's the spiritual Israel. And then, you'll work through physical Israel. In the wonderful world tomorrow after Christ comes back, there'll be a wonderful world of peace, of paradise, making this earth a paradise through Christ reigning as King of Kings and Lord of Lords on earth for a thousand years, and under him the bride, the first fruits, spiritual Israel, and under them physical Israel, who? And then, through physical Israel, all nations will be blessed. So that, in the end, the whole world will be at peace.

Now, God has given some blessings to physical Israel temporarily, as part of his promises, but, regrettably, physical Israel of which physical Israel includes not only the Jews, but it also includes the other tribes, Ephraim, Manasseh, Reuben, and others besides Judah. Now, the Jews are part of them today in the nation that we call Israel, but that's part of them.

There's Jews for instance in the States, there's Jews in many other countries around the world, as you and I know, but that is not the whole of Israel. As you know, the Judah was only one of the 12 tribes, sons of Ephraim, Asik, Jacob. Jacob had the 12 children, which then he became known as Israel, and he had the 12 tribes of Israel. So, God has blessed Israel temporarily.

And what has Israel done? They failed. They utterly failed. And who are the other nations besides Judah today? A lot of people don't know, but we do have historical proof in our study guide, United States and Britain, and you can study that with your Bible. And we've got historical proof, and we know Reuben is France, we know Ephraim is England, we know Manasseh is the United States, we know, for instance, the nations of Holland and Norway, and those are also part of Israel.

There's many nations around the world which are part of this group of nations that will form Israel in the world tomorrow. The United States and England, basically Ephraim and Manasseh, are the sons of Joseph, and they took the birthright because Reuben messed it up, as you know, and therefore was taken from Reuben was given to Joseph, and therefore England and the United States, Ephraim and Manasseh respectively, have received great blessings.

But those blessings are slowly going away because God is taking the edge or the fence to protect the nations. Why? Because they've just obeyed. You just have to look at the immorality that is spreading out in these countries. I don't have to get into specifics. You know better than I do. And you amongst yourselves can talk about the things that you hear and things people are saying, and all these things of complete immorality, which is a breakdown in the family. And the family is so important because family is what God is building a family, and that's why Satan wants to destroy the family. And so there are blessings for obedience and blessings for disobedience. And you can read them. Leviticus 26 and the Autonomy 28, not going there. But we need to understand the big picture.

And the big picture again is God is creating a family of children, and He wants all children to have eternal life. The big picture is God is working through specific people, each one in their own time, but ultimately to actually get the whole world to be saved. And then thirdly is that God wants all nations ultimately to be saved, starting obviously first through Israel and Israelites nations, then the nations which are the sons of Abraham, and then the nations that have interactions more directly with the Israelites nations, which include the Syria, which include the nations that developed from Babylon, which God used them in two ways. Number one, to be the first ones that will be blessed through Israel, but secondly, the ones that if Israel did not obey, they would be the ones to punish Israel. But in the world tomorrow, they will be blessed as well. And there's a whole lot of prophecies on that, which I don't want to go into today. That's not my purpose. But what I'm saying is we need to keep in mind these three things that I've mentioned to you. Number one, God's goal for us and for mankind is to have us to be His children. Number two, He's working through Israel, both spiritual and physical Israel. And number three, He wants the whole world to be saved, and therefore He has given the world certain possibilities to kind of ride the bicycle by themselves, but they have messed it up. And therefore, we see some world political implications of that. But the fourth point, and that's the one I want to focus on today, is to keep in mind of who we are and how God is working through us. Because basically, how God is working through and teaching us and working through and working with mankind. And God is working through mankind basically giving us a choice. Giving us a choice. You know, it starts to write down in Adam and Eve. They had a choice. They had two trees and they had a choice. A tree of life. In other words, a tree that God told them what was right and good. Or a tree of death. That is, they made a decision for themselves what is right and good. So it's basically a tree of life that you let God tell you what's right and good. Or a tree of death, which you decide and you make up your mind and you make up your own laws of what is right and good. But in the end, there's some good in there, but there's some bad mixed together and in the end, there's death.

Basically putting it another way. There are two systems.

There are two systems. There's a system which is God's system and there's a system which is Satan's system. Or putting it another way, if you look at the book of Revelation, there's two women.

One is the virtuous woman, which will then become the bride of Christ.

And the other is the great orlet, of which many other orlets follow her.

Or putting it another way, there's the holy Jerusalem and the unholy Babylon.

There's two systems. There's a choice. There's two trees. There's life and death. Choose life that you may be well with you. Or in other words, there's a possibility of us to live our lives under the reign and the guidance of Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God, how we live today under those rules. Or we live under the reign of Satan, the devil. So there's basically two systems. Two dreams, two women, holy Jerusalem or unholy Babylon, the reign of Christ, or submitting to the reign of Satan. Now, we do know that this reign of Satan is temporary. It is temporary. I mean, since the time of Adam till now, it's about 6,000 years. And as you know, with God, a thousand years is like a day. And a day is like a thousand years. It's a pinup. When you look at eternity, a thousand years or 6,000 years is pinups. It's six days in a week of seven, but then there's eternity after that. So it's nothing. And so Satan is allowed to affect us temporarily. Why? Why?

So that you and I may learn. It's like sometimes you and I allow our children to fall. Like we are about the training wheels. Sometimes we allow our children to fall so that then they learn how not to fall.

And it appears hard, but the reward, the glory, the happiness that he has for you and I in the kingdom of God, it's unimaginable. You and I cannot even begin to contemplate to think how great it will be. So therefore, this little thing that God looks at it that we're going through temporarily for a short brief moment in our physical lives, it's like a bad dream and it's gone. But you and I will learn invaluable lessons that afterwards we will never want to go back.

We'll never want to rebel.

And so, in the meantime, as the people of God, the virtuous woman, must endure this assault.

An assault which is political, which is religious, which is educational. Oh, you have to look at what's happening in some of the schools. It is an assault.

And which is economic. The economy of this world is Babylon. It's Babylonian.

You can put all your faith on your 401k and you can manage as good as you can, but it is Babylon.

Because the Bible says they'll be throwing even the gold in the streets one day.

Because God's financial system is very different. You think about it, every seven years there's a yellow release, the debts are wiped away. Imagine if every seven years, whatever debts you have, you don't owe any more. Your house's mortgage is cleared out after seven years. Gone. What? You know, you think about it, it's a very different economic system that God is in mind. After 50 years, people go back to their land. There's liberty in the land. And there's a whole lot of things. Hey, the economic system today is not like that. In fact, if you just start thinking about how you say it's impossible, well, it will not be impossible because that's what it will be implemented under the reign of Jesus Christ on earth.

You see, so you and I, the virtuous woman, are under attack continuously by Satan's system, which is political. I mean, even if you want to vote, who are you going to vote for?

You don't have any good choice. I mean, I wish I had three votes. X, Y, or Jesus Christ. And then I'll vote for Jesus Christ. But He's not in the ballot! That's what I want to vote for. He is our king.

He is our hope. He is the ruler, the captain, the author of our salvation. He is the president that is going to come back and rule the government of God on earth.

So, looking at this, let us look very briefly how Satan has attacked the virtuous woman. Or, in other words, let us look very briefly how Satan has attacked the church of God.

Or, in other words, let's look very briefly how Satan attacks Christians that start to know the truth and how He wants them to go back to the old way. And I want to ask you to please turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, it's sort of an interesting scripture that describes how Satan is working.

So, therefore, verse 1, since we have this ministry, brethren, we have this ministry. What is the ministry of the church of God? It's a ministry of preaching to you about the kingdom of God, the gospel of the kingdom of God. Now, think about what the word gospel means.

Do you know what the word gospel means? It means good news. So, I'm not coming out to tell you this bad news and all the things that are going to happen, bad news so you can have nightmares. No, I'm coming to tell you this good news.

I'm coming to tell you that Christ is more powerful than those bad ones.

Christ is more powerful than Satan. Satan cannot do a thing unless God allows him to. He says, first we have this ministry of good news as we have received mercy.

And so the whole world will receive mercy. We do not lose heart.

Brethren, people nowadays are just saying, well, this is bad. That's bad. That's bad. And then you have nightmares and bad dreams and things like that. And now you get discouraged.

What he's saying, I say, is so that we do not lose heart. Don't be discouraged.

Because God is more powerful. If he's Satan wants to make himself more powerful, so that you become discouraged. But you don't have to be discouraged. God is more powerful and He will protect you. Now think about the knowledge of children.

You were dad and you got your own little children.

Now you know there's going to be a storm. Now what are you going to do with your children? He says, oh, there's a storm. Come on, put the children out there in the storm so they're going to get hurt. Is that what you're going to do as a dad?

Now, what are you going to do? You're going to protect your children. You're going to do everything to protect your children.

Isn't it so? No. So do not lose heart.

Now, what if your children are rebellious and say, I don't want a dad. I don't want a dad coming out to protect me. I don't want to go out. Well, there's a point where you can't do anymore. They get to an age where they want to do this. They say, all right, then you're going to go out. You're going to go out. And then they get the storm and the lightning comes and the hail comes and falls away and then they come back in. And this is yesterday. I should have listened to you.

Well, unfortunately, there'll be some children that will have to go through that. But God does not want that. Do you see what I'm talking about? We've got to understand God's plan that He's a dad, a loving dad. And if you and I are loving parents, do you know what? We can't out-love God.

We can't be as good as He is. We can't.

So, if you don't want to do that to your children, would God want to do that to His spiritual children, which you and I are? No. So, I'm not coming out to give you a gospel of bad news.

It's a gospel. The word gospel means good news, not bad news. Now, the world wants to cram down your face bad news. But not God. That's why we have the good news. It's now called the Beyond Today, and it was looking at Beyond Today, but it's still basically the gospel of the kingdom of God, the good news beyond today. So, continue reading in verse 2. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftness or handling, nor handling the word of God deceitfully. In other words, we are not going to do those things, but by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. So, we're trying to give you a message that says, listen, let's look at our conscience, let's look to God as our father, and let's look at that correctly. Verse 3, but even if our gospel, even if the good news of the kingdom of God, even if our good news is veiled. Now, what do you mean, it's veiled? If you have a veil, you can't see properly, right? You kind of, you got this veil, it just kind of, it's darkened, you can't see it. Even if our good news is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In other words, if you are trying to please God, God will take that veil out of your eyes. But those that are perishing, verse 4, whose minds, the God of this age, you know, was Satan, has blinded. You know, what Satan has put into people, this, all these things that they have today, so they cannot see that they blinded, who do not believe. You know, they don't believe in the good news of the kingdom of God. They, God is more powerful, that God is going to protect us. They don't believe in these things, lest the light, the light, I mean light is beautiful, right? Sun shines, beautiful in this light. You can see, it gives you that hope, you can see things. So, the light of the gospel, of the good news, good news of what? Of the kingdom of God. But the kingdom of God is because we have the glory of Christ. In other words, you and I are going to be like Christ. We're going to have that glory of Christ in us because we're going to be His children and Christ's brothers. So, we're going to have the same glory. And that is good news because we're going to be part of that family. So, that good news of the light, of the gospel, of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. You see, that's what Satan does not want. He doesn't want that good news to shine on people. But think about what we read at the end of verse 1. Do not lose heart. Do not lose heart. Satan wants you to be blinded so you don't see it, but you don't have to be. You don't have to be. And so, let's talk a little bit about how Satan is trying to destroy this virtuous woman. And so, we're going to do a very brief study of that section of scripture that talks about the virtuous woman. And it's not Proverbs 31. We don't know that talks about the virtuous woman. But I want to talk about the book of Revelation, that virtuous woman, which is Revelation chapter 12. Revelation chapter 12.

And I'm going to just briefly go through it. I'm not going to go through every section in detail. I could go into a lot more. But this is not a great sign. Appeared in the heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head, a garland of twelve stars.

So, the other woman, and this woman clothed with the sun. So, she had the light of the sun that she was reflecting. You know, it was reflecting the light, which is the glory of Christ, which is reflecting, right? With the moon under her feet. Okay, so that light is also compared to the moon, because sometimes we, it's like a moon, sometimes the light shines, and you've got the full moon, and sometimes you've got the new moon, and you can't see it.

You know, so we all go through these cycles, we're human beings, all right? And on ahead, a garland of twelve stars. And if you compare that with Genesis 37, it shows that the twelve stars are the... You think about the dream of Jacob. Remember the dream of Jacob? And he's... Sorry, Joseph, you're right. The dream of Joseph, that he had, and then he's so well, I'm gonna be...

And the mother, the sun, and the moon will be under me, and the twelve stars will, you know, and it shows very clearly that it's talking about Israel, the twelve tribes of Israel. So yeah, the woman is Israel, initially talking about physical Israel, but then later on it talks about spiritual Israel as well. And then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

So out of physical Israel, there was a birth, a very significant birth, which is the birth of Jesus Christ. So out of physical Israel, Jesus Christ was born. And then in verse 3, and another sign appeared in heaven, we all, a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven dianoms in his head. So yeah, it's Satan, represents seven heads. So you know, if you have an animal with one head, it's kind of easier to shoot him down, but if it's got seven heads, you've got to get all those seven heads to shoot him down.

So it's got a great resilience, but it does not live, does not have that resilience eternally because Satan is under God and God will put him away. But anyway, YAH is talking about Satan. It's red, implying it's a war-making machine. It's a killer, you know, and he is right at the beginning, he's stalking the child. He wants to kill the child, which is Christ. And you know how he tried to kill Christ and send a rat. In fact, you think about it. He tried to kill the Israelites under Egypt.

He tried to kill the children that came from Nazareth and tried to kill Christ. That's why Christ had to flee for a certain period. So he was stalking that child because he wanted to destroy Christ. Imagine if he had been able to destroy Christ, we would have no hope. So he was not allowed to do that, of course. But he says, in verse 4, he style drew a third of the stars of heaven.

So we can see also the stars of heaven represent the angels. And he was so cunning, so clever, so manipulative in his wordings and things like that, that over a period of time, he convinced a third of the angels to follow him. And that's what we call today demons. It's a third of the angels became demons. So he convinced them and he threw them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth and to devour a child as soon as it was born.

And you know, Satan wanted Christ to be destroyed as soon as he was born. Continuing, she, that's Old Testament Israel, through Mary, bore a child, which is Jesus Christ in verse 5, who was to rule all nations. Yes, he will rule all nations with a rod of iron. Now, a rod of iron represents two things.

A rod of iron represents initially those nations that are rebellious, he'll have a rod of iron to put them straight. But you know what? A rod of iron as a shepherd, he guides the sheep lovingly with that rod of iron. He's not there with the rod of iron smacking the sheep, he's just guiding the sheep lovingly with that rod of iron. So it's got both meanings. So he will run all nations, he will rule all nations of rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God and his throne.

And the other is a very synopsis in one verse, how Christ was born and Christ died and he was resurrected and after three days and three nights, he was able to go to heaven and is now sitting at the right hand side of the Father, which the Father is on his throne.

So he says, and caught up to God, the Father and his throne. So there's a very quick synopsis, yeah, what happened to Christ. So now we move to the times after Christ. So you know, you look at it in history. So there, previously, the woman was all Testament Israel, but now was the woman. It's the New Testament Israel, which is the church. And so now we move beyond that, which is the spiritual Israel, which is now the church, and continue therefore in verse 6.

Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God that should feed her their 1260 days. And following Scripture, that a day for a year, and you can read that in Numbers 1434, a day for a year. And that happened for 12, 100, 1260 years, and that happened between 554 AD and 1814 AD, exactly 1260 years. The church sabbath keepers during that, let's call it middle ages, between 554 all the way to 1814. They have to flee and they have to run away. That is prophetic. That has happened.

That is history. Let's move on to verse 7. So up to there, it's all history. But now we move to prophecy. We move to prophecy, because now it's future. Hasn't happened yet from verse 7.

Because it says, And war broke out in heaven, Michael is angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, and they did not prevail, nor was the place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old, called devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world, and is cast onto the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. In other words, Satan today still has the capability to appear before the throne of God. How do we know that? Because you just have to read a book of Job. And Job says, he comes to God, and God says, where you've been? Oh well, walking around to and fro, and I'll just kind of see what trouble I can create. You know, when people are naughty, you ask them, what have you been doing? Oh well, just been walking around, you know, not really doing anything. That's how they answer. When people are up to mischief, you know that's how they answer. And that's exactly how Satan answers to God. And we know that's what happened in Job, and he still has access, and he's still, quote-unquote, messing around, yeah. But his power is limited. But there's going to be a time when there's going to be a war in heaven. And it says, Michael and his angels are going to fight against Satan and his angels, which are called demons, right? They're going to fight. And, of course, Michael is going to win. That's what it says. So Satan is going to be thrown down to earth. Now, when that happens, you know there's very little time.

Could well be, now I'm speculating, could well relate to that prophecy of Daniel 12 to 13, 35 days.

Right? And then it'll be 45 days till the 1290, and then another 30 days to the 1260. That's speculative. We don't know, but we will wait and see. But it's still to come. And it says that Great Dragon was cost out to the world, which it receives the whole world. I mean, when it says the whole world, I mean, I think the whole means more than just 10%. I think more than 20%. I think it means more than 90%. I think it means more than 99%. It means practically 100%. The whole world has been deceived. That's what it means. And it was cast onto the earth. We see that in verse 9.

So what we have is Satan handling systems. Remember I told you there were two systems. A system of God and a system of Satan. A system of the tree of life and a system of the tree of death. A system of the rain and the Christ and a system of the rain and the Satan. This system of the rain and the Satan is raining on earth today and is deceiving the whole world. And people say, oh well, how can the whole world be wrong? All that's what it says, it seems the whole world.

You see, but for the grace of God we have some good news.

Because Christ is going to come back and He's going to reverse this. He's going to clean it up.

Thank God.

Then we continue Yah in verse 10. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night as in Costa. Do you know what happens? Say for instance, you do some little thing and it's wrong and you feel guilty and you feel bad. Do you know what happens?

Immediately the accuser goes to God's throne and says, look, George, look, look at what He's done. Look at Him. So what I need to do and we all need to do is say, get on our knees before that throne, repent. And before Christ say, God, I repent. I want to change. I want to become better. I don't want to regain. And in Jesus Christ's name by His authority as our defense attorney. Jesus Christ is our defense attorney. Right next to the Father and then Jesus Christ says to the Father of our Satan is accusing us. He says, look, George is actually trying. He's already repented.

He's not perfect. He's trying, but it is. Let's forgive it. And that accusation is gone.

Because Jesus Christ is our high priest.

But He's accuser of our brethren and is accusing us day and night. It means all the time is right there. But thank God you and I have a high priest that is there all the time to defend us. And you have access to that high priest through a new and living way as you read that in Hebrews chapter 10. This is a new and living way and we go through Christ and ask for mercy and He forgives us and intervenes for us. What a great blessing we do have. Let's continue then. Verse 11. And they overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the water of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to death.

In other words, we overcame Christ. I beg your pardon. We overcame Satan with Christ's help with the blood of the Lamb. We overcame that because of the blood of the Lamb. He forgives us. And by the water of their testimony. This is the word that we have in the Bible and it's Christ's testimony and the apostles' testimony. But it's also because of this word we testify by the way we live and we practice and we're overcoming. And it says, and they do not love their lives to the death. In other words, we are prepared to go regardless. Not only are we going to have to die because it says, Romans 12, God wants a living sacrifice, not a dead sacrifice. He wants us to train His children. Yes, there will be a few that will die. But God does not want His children to die. He wants to train us to be better children so you and I can roll in the world tomorrow. So we overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of the testimony of Christ and our testimony. And because we are committed and we are prepared to put our lives on the block and He says, no, I'm not going to do that. And then we say, no, I'm not going to do that. And then when people say that you're really committed, then they say, okay, fine, you know. But people, you need to, and we all need to, make a commitment and stand up and not waver. That's what it means. We've got to stand up.

And that's how we overcome. All right, let's continue then. Verse 12. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath, because he knows he has but a short time. When that happens, he knows it's tickets. You know, time is very short, because then he knows prophecy as well as I know. And that's probably, as I mentioned earlier on, that prophecy of Daniel 12, the 13 and 35 days, because he knows he has 13 and 35 days. Now he knows.

If that is true, if that is correct. As I said, that is speculative, so I could be wrong on that, so don't take that as factual. But the point is, he knows he has a short time.

And what he does next, verse 13. Because he knows he has a short time, the very first thing he's gonna do immediately, he's not gonna waste time, he says, oh well, I'm not going on vacation now. He says, well, now if I'm short, I better attack now. And that's what he says. Now, when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the woman now, remember, is Israel, but now obviously is spiritual Israel. First, but also applies to physical Israel. But first he's gonna attack spiritual Israel. And if you can't attack spiritual Israel, then you'll attack physical Israel to try and get the rest, as I'll explain to you in a moment. So he's gonna attack spiritual Israel. He persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. You know, the woman that represents the church now. But the woman, verse 14, was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to a place where she's nourished for a time, times, and oftentimes. So the woman miraculously will be protected and somehow God will intervene just like these are lights. When these are lights left Egypt. You think about these are lights left Egypt. And they went through the Dead Sea. It says, God brought them out of Egypt by the wings of an eagle. Now they didn't go on airplanes. They walked. They walked. But the analogy is that how God intervened miraculously and swooped there and intervened. At that time they went through the Red Sea and then the army came behind them and the sea closed and wiped out all of them. So this appears to be that it is a period of those 45 days between 1335 and 1290 where this will happen. Again, this is speculative. So it's just a possibility. As time gets nearby we'll see it clearer. And then it says, but the woman, okay we read that. Verse 15, so the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. So the earth, I mean the Satan will then cause this flood to come. And this flood will be a military power. You can read that for instance in Isaiah 5919, like a flood or which is a military like a flood or in Daniel 1122, a flood is the force of a flood. So it's a military force there. So it could well be during that sort of period that that will happen. And so the serpent spewed out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. In other words, a military army, just like when the Israelites left Egypt, an army followed them to destroy them.

But then the waters opened up and destroyed the army. Now look at it, but the earth helped the woman, verse 16, and the earth opened up its mouth and swallowed up the flood. Now it'll be the earth, like maybe a big whatever hole that will open up and that military army will be swallowed and disappear. Everything's possible with God. But that is a possibility of what could happen. And it says and the earth helped the woman and the earth opened up its mouth and swallowed up the flood with the dragon and spewed out his mouth. So brethren, if you and I are the children of God, if you and I are children which are obedient, we're pleasing God, we're obeying His laws, we're doing the things that are pleasing in His sight, we do not need to fear. He protects His children. He says He will. And you and I need not worry.

He protected Israelites and they were rebellious. Let me protect them out of Egypt. Why wouldn't He protect the Church of God today when Satan is going to be thrown onto the earth and then it's going to be the Great Tribulation? You're going to be protected. Do not fear. Do not lose the heart. There's good news. There's good news. However, look at verse 17.

And the dragon was enraged with the woman and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. You see, you have children, but some children are obedient and some children are not. Even though they keep the commandments, they come to church, etc., but behind the scenes they're doing a few things and not quite right. And God knows who they are.

And they're rebellious. Those will be left behind.

You read a lot of scriptures, like for instance, you read Matthew 25. The 10 versions.

10 versions. Now, what is a version? It's a virtuous woman, isn't it?

A virgin is a virtuous woman. Represents, therefore, the Church of God. But five were wise and five were foolish. Does it mean that half of the Church of God are wide awake? I mean, it says they were always sleeping, but then they woke up and they had oil, etc. They had enough of God's spirit. They were close to God, but others were forced to sleep. And they didn't have enough oil. They did not have enough of God's only spirit. They would be rebellious. And it says they went to buy more oil, but when they came back, they were too late.

There's also scriptures that says there were two in the field, and one was taken, the other one not. Again, implying like half-50-50. Nobody knows exactly. But the point is, we are in God's Church.

We are amongst those that keep the commandments and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

But the question is, are we really pleasing God? Are we really doing the right things?

Or are we just coming to church to warm up a seat?

You see, if we are really trying to please God, we have nothing to fear.

We have nothing to fear. Now I want to go back to where I left a little earlier on in 2 Corinthians 4.

Now that we see there is the Church of God, a portion of the Church will be protected, and a portion will not. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians 4.

2 Corinthians 4.

And we will read in verse 1, Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, do not lose heart.

It was not pretty discouraged. But look a little lighter in verse 16.

Look at it a little lighter in verse 16 of the same chapter. It says, Therefore, we do not lose heart.

It was, therefore, we're not discouraged. We have this hope.

Even though our outward man is perishing, yes, we're getting older, we're getting weaker, you know, we're getting things in, our outward man is perishing, our inward man is being renewed day by day. So quite often people when come to me and I go to the ROM office and say, how are you today? It says, one day younger. They all offer me, but spiritually we should be renewed and we should be, I'm just joking, but you know, we should be renewed and we should be becoming closer and closer to God.

So that's what it says. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, our little aches and pains that we have, which are but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Our little problems we have, our little challenges we have, are nothing compared with the glory that we're going to have in the world tomorrow. Nothing.

While we do not look at the things we're not seeing, but at the things that are not seen, for the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal. So we have a hope and we have to be renewed daily. So, what is it that you and I need to be doing to be accounted worthy, to escape? Yes, all these things, but really to escape the swole and go and look to our goal, which is to be in the kingdom of God. What is it that we need to be doing?

So let's go back to Luke 21, when we read a little earlier on. Luke 21 verse 36.

Luke 21 verse 36.

Watch therefore and pray aways that you may be counted worthy to escape. Yes, some, maybe half, will not escape of the Church of God. And I'm not talking about this group or that group or that group. It could be in the same congregation, some will escape and some will not. So what is it that you and I must be doing to be counted worthy? Because we might not be in the kingdom of God, at least amongst the first fruits.

Even though we're in the Church today, even though we are today, some might be amongst the first fruits and some not. What is it that we must do? What is our part?

He says, yeah, watch and pray always. So we gotta watch and we're gonna pray. What are we to watch?

What are we to watch?

Look at verse 34. You see, we're gonna read the context. And so let's just go back two verses to read a little bit into the context of Luke 21, verse 34. But take heed to yourselves. What is take heed to yourselves? It's watch yourselves. That's what they need. Take heed to yourselves. It's watch yourself. In other words, hey, how are you doing? Are you watching yourself? Let your heart be weighed down with carousing. What is that? Squander, wasteful, wasting things, dissipation. That's what carousing is. Drunkenness and the cares of this life.

You see, we get too wrapped up with the daily things we have to do daily. Which, yeah, we have to do those things. But are we putting the right priorities in our life? And putting God first. Are we doing that?

It says, and that they come on you unexpectedly. In other words, you're not the wise virgin, but you're a foolish virgin. You're not ready. So watch. Take heed of yourselves. So it's not watching the BBC every day, but it's watching ourselves. Yes, sure, we need to know what's happening in the world, but the main focus here is watching ourselves.

Are we keeping the right priorities? That we are renewing ourselves daily with God's Holy Spirit. That's what we're going to be doing.

Let's look at another example of this.

When Christ gave a parable, Matthew 13. It's just another example. Matthew 13. I'm not going to read this whole parable, I'm just going to paraphrase it, because you know this parable.

But it's basically a parable of the sower, and you know that a sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured the seed. And then, you know, it explains what that means a little later in verse 19.

And then there's one about the stony places. But then there's one in verse 7 that fell among thorns.

The first two kind of, they heard the gospel, and it kind of them sinking. But number, verse 7, which is the third, it implies that it's somebody actually coming to the church.

Because look at the explanation of that, and it's in verse 22. He says, Now ye who receive seed amongst the thorns, seed is the gospel of the good news, it's the understanding of the truth, and an easy one who hears the word. Yes, he hears it. It's just a kind of, kind of pass-by. It actually absorbed. He heard it. It came in.

He came into the church. But now, he says, And the cares of this world and the seedfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes untruthful. So you're coming to the church, but you're too wrapped up with the things around the world. The cares of this world, the seedfulness of riches. And then, that chokes the truth. You put more time on that. That becomes, quote-unquote, like an idol, like a god. It becomes the first priority in your life. And you are not renewing yourself daily with the new man.

You're lying. He seems to choke the word.

And we all have to be very careful about ourselves. But as a minister, you end up seeing, and people tell you things and things like that, and you see it. And you see in other people things. And I look at myself and say, I've got to be careful.

But you know, brethren, it seems to happen more and more.

That people are getting caught up with things of the world today.

And it pains me. And I feel sad.

Because I love you all. And we all have to be working on ourselves. And when I see that some of us sometimes are getting caught up on these things, I get really sad and upright with you.

And I hope that's not the case. But then it says, then is the one in verse 22, I mean verse 23, But he receives the seed on good ground. He takes those weeds out and allows that seed to grow and understands it, hears it, understands it, and he bears fruit. A hundredfold and sixtyfold and thirtyfold, etc. And that's what we need to be doing. That's what we need to be doing.

We need to bear fruit. So what is that fruit? Is that fruit being a preacher and giving some an edge? No. No.

That fruit is renewing ourselves inside. That is the fruit.

The fruit is not giving you hell and fire sermons and frighten you, you know, like to death out of your seeds. But to help you to work on the weightier matters of the Lord. You know Matthew 23, 23, right? Justice, mercy, and faith. There's another scripture that covers it that you may just want to write down, which is Micah 6 verse 8. What does it say? It's justice, mercy, and walk humbly with God, oppositely in faith. Justice, mercy, and faith. What does God require of you? Justice, mercy, and faith. We renew ourselves inwardly by doing what is right, by showing mercy to other people.

Oh, it's so easy for me to be critical to other people. It's so easy for me to say, he or she is doing this wrong and doing that wrong. Doesn't God give us time? Isn't God patient with us? So, shouldn't we be patient with others? And if others are still not quite right doing the things in the church, let's be patient with them and help them and encourage them.

So, that hopefully by giving time, and you and I still have time to change and become a wise woman.

And that's what's important. There's a wonderful scripture that summarizes, which is in 2 Peter. In 2 Peter. And I've mentioned the scripture before, but I want to emphasize it again under this context, which is in 2 Peter. And we're going to start in verse 3. In 2 Peter, verse 3. And it's talking about Jesus Christ and God, and that they give us His divine power that's given to us, as His divine power as given to us all things that pertain to life and Godness. You know what's God's Holy Spirit? God gives us His Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit, 2 Peter chapter 1, God's Holy Spirit gives us everything that you and I need in this physical battle.

It's like a toolbox with all the little tools, the different screwdrivers and the spammers and whatever it is, all the right tools, spiritual tools for us to overcome ourselves. So all the tools there in that spiritual box that God gives us through His Holy Spirit, all the tools that pertain to life, eternal life, and Godness, which means to be like God, through the knowledge of Him, which is Christ, who called us by glory and virtue. So through the knowledge of Christ, we've got all the power by which, verse 4, has been given to us exceeding in great precious promise. What is exceeding in great precious promise is to be in the Kingdom of God. That through these, you may be partakers of the divine nature. In other words, you and I renewed internally daily, so we actually changed through the help of God's Holy Spirit, and using those Holy Spirit, we changed from the corrupt carnal human nature, to become more and more God's divine nature. Becoming more and more like God's children. In other words, these are the wise virgins. That's what we need to be doing. Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through us. In other words, we are avoiding this human nature, which is corrupt, and we're changing that. Verse 5, but also, for this very reason, because of this, for this reason, give all their riches. In other words, make every single effort. Make it really an effort. Add to your faith. It was your belief, your trust in God. Virtue. Virtue is all the good, virtuous Christian characteristics that we need. And to virtue knowledge. Knowledge of Christ, to be like Christ, so we need to understand what Christ is, so we can be like Him. So add to that. And then, to that knowledge, self-control. It was the self-discipline to do what we know we need to do. And then, to that self-discipline, we've got to stick to it till the end. Persevere till the end. And to that, perseveres, then we add Godliness. It was to become more and more like God is, like Christ is. And to that, Godness, brotherly kindness. In other words, we show love to our brothers and sisters. And to brotherly kindness, we show Godly agape love, which is the love of God that God has, that we need to grow.

For if these things are yours and abound, you'll be neither barren nor unfruitful. In other words, you'll bear that fruit in good ground.

You'll be a wise virgin. And you will be amongst those that will be in the kingdom of God, escaping these things. Because you're not getting caught up by the corrupt things and the weeds and all the things of this world, the cares of the world.

It says, you'll be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look, it's not the knowledge of how to manage your finances in 401Ks. It's not the knowledge of how to work out the greatest chemistry lesson. But it's the knowledge of Jesus Christ. In other words, what does Christ want us to be and get to know Him and be an image, a light, a reflector, a mirror? In other words, allow the glory of Christ to shine in us, as we saw in 2 Corinthians 4. That's what we need. That's that knowledge. We need to allow that to shine in us. Verse 9, for He who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness. In other words, it's veiled. Think about how Satan veils us. And as forgotten, there were plans from his old sins. Therefore, verse 10, brethren, be even more diligent. Make every hard effort to make your call and election sure. In other words, God has called us to be children of God. Make that sure. For if you do these things, you'll never stumble. In other words, if you do these things, you'll never leave the church. If you do these things, God will protect you and put you in the kingdom of God. That's what it says there.

So what is it that you and I must do? I think it's very clear. I think it's very clear.

Verse 11, for so, this is the way that you'll be given an entrance. You know, the entrance will be supplied. That's how you will enter the kingdom of God. That's how you'll escape the things that are coming ahead, and therefore you'll enter the kingdom of God. That's how you will enter the kingdom of God. So the entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of God. It is the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

Brethren, I don't have to give you bad news, and I hope it's not coming across as bad news.

How bad coming across is encouraging, because we do have a hope. We do have a hope.

And the choice is in our hands, where do we choose this tree or that tree?

Where do we choose this system or that system?

Where do we choose the divine nature or the corrupt nature?

The choice is... the ball is in our court!

And you and I have all the tools that we need through God's Holy Spirit to do what's right.

I hope... I'm not discouraging, please, brethren. I hope... I hope you can see there's a hope.

I hope that we all can see that we can repent. Sure, we're not there. I mean, I'm not there. I'm not speaking to you. I'm speaking to myself. I need to work on all these things as well. But we've got time to change.

You know, it says the 10 virgins, they're all where asleep. You read that in Matthew 25. They were all sleeping. But it says, hey, the bride's coming, oh, I can't! And some of them got themselves ready. I just didn't.

That's the point. We've got to ready ourselves now while there is a bit of time.

Look at... to conclude, I want you to look at Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13.

Romans chapter 13. We're going to start reading verse 8.

Oh, no man! Anything except to love one another.

You know, in the end of that building up thing, starting all diligence, start with faith, the last one was a copy. Love is the love of God. So, oh, no man except to love one another. For he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandment, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not pay false witness, you shall not covet. And whatever the commandment may be, they all sum it up in this thing. Love God first and love your neighbor second, but equally, love. Love does not harm your neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Brethren, we need to pray and ask for more love. I need to pray and ask for more love. I know some of you have got a lot more love than what I do. I've looked at myself and I say things and Father says, George, you're a long way off the road. I've got to be more caring and loving. We all left. We all left to do more of this. So, God is the plan of salvation for us, for us to be the children of God, in the kingdom of God, ruling with Him as kings and priests, as part of spiritual Israel, to work through them, physical Israel, to reach all nations. God has given us now an opportunity to be trained now to live justly, to have mercy, and to walk with Him in faith, as through the disciples of Jesus Christ, reflecting the light of Jesus Christ, the glory. You know what's been a light in our lives. So that, one day, we can teach others to live justly, to have mercy, and to also walk humbly in faith in the world tomorrow. And so, let's read, then, Romans 13, verse 11, to continue this section of Scripture. And do this, brethren, knowing the time that now is high time to wake up out of sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. How true, brethren! How true! The night is fast spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let's cast out of the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in the revelry and drunkenness, nor in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. You know what? Let's put the right fruit, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ. It was renew ourselves daily of Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fall for its lusts. Amen.