Are You Ready To Meet Your Creator?

Brethren, are we ready to meet our Creator? You know, as we approach the day of trumpets, which symbolizes Christ's coming, and as we think of the lost trumpet, it's always good to remind ourselves of this question, are we ready to meet our Creator?

You know, the moment we're going to meet Jesus, Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Savior, and we will be spirit beings, God willing, we're all there, it will be one of the greatest events ever to occur in the entire universe, the first time that human beings are now spirit beings. And it is going to be quite significant because we live in a world today in which there's only pain. We live in a world of continuous suffering, and you and I pray, thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom come.

And the reason is basically described in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4, where it says that the minds of people have been blinded by the God of this age, so that the glory, the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, will not shine on peoples. Minds.

Today's world is governed by a being described as the God of this age, little g, and quite often we wonder why. Why? Why maybe God hasn't done this or done that or intervened yet in specific situations, which often he does intervene, but we need to understand that there's going to be a day, as we read in Revelation 11 verse 15, Revelation 11 verse 15, when the seventh angel sounded, and then he says, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and it shall reign forevermore.

What we see is a pivot moment in which the rulership in this world changes from Satan to Christ, obviously to God, but he is delegated that rulership to Christ, and as his saints ruling under him. So there's going to be a pivot moment where there will be a change from the rulership of Satan to the rulership of God, and that's why it's called the kingdom of God ruling on earth.

Today we have, in a sense, the kingdom of Satan ruling on earth. And in this very verse 15, it says, when it is that? It is when the seventh angel sounded, at the sound of the seventh angel. Now, the seventh angel is part of a sequence of seven angels that sound, and we can see that in Revelation chapter 8 verse 2.

Right? In Revelation chapter 8 verse 2, it says, when he opened the seventh seal, so there are seven seals in the book of Revelation, and then it says, and then there were seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Now, understand these are not human trumpets that human beings are blowing, for instance, or they did blow during the time of Israel on the Sabbath or on the beginning of the month, or the beginning of the holy days.

Those were not those trumpets. These are seven specific, prophetic trumpets which are symbolized by the day of trumpets which is soon to come. And so, as we see, there are seven trumpets, and at the last one, that will be that pivot moment when the government will change from the government of Satan to God's kingdom, God's government on earth. Now, the Jews quite often asked for a sign. You and I know, remember, we want a sign. And there is a sign that shows when God will start intervening to bring that event of the Lord's day, the day in which God starts intervening, the beginning of events, till he finally encapsulates that with the seventh trumpet.

So, the spirit of God starting to intervene is what we call the seventh seal, and it's got these seven trumpets. So, what is the sign? And the sign we read in Joel chapter 2, verse 31 and 32. And we read there in Joel chapter 2, verse 31 and 32, that 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 it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Here is some very revealing things, because it says, whoever at that time calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. That is very meaningful. And so, what we have is, there's going to be a sign, and that sign is the heavenly signs before when God starts intervening, which is that period of the day of the Lord. And if we turn to Revelation chapter 6, Revelation chapter 6, verse 12 through 17, Revelation chapter 6, verse 12 through 17, we see a section here where it's talking about these heavenly signs.

We can see there's the sixth seal, and then we can see that there was an earthquake. There were these heavenly signs in the sun and the moon. And then towards the end of that, right towards the end of verse 16 and verse 17, it says, the wrath of the Lamb comes, and for the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand? Also, a very interesting statement, who is able to stand?

Now, doesn't that remind you of Luke 21, verse 36? Because 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. And so, the question I have today is, are we ready to meet our Creator? Are we the ones that are going to be counted worthy to stand in words being resurrected and being at the resurrection and stand before the Son of Man at his coming? We do need to stand, brethren, before the Son of Man. And for that, we will look at some prophetic events that will happen in a sequence up to the very last one, which is the trumpet of God, which will signal Christ's Second Coming. And the question is, so what? Why am I going through this?

You see, because indeed it is a little bit technical, and we'll go through a section which is a little technical, but to so what is that we can watch ourselves and be ready so that we may be standing, that we may stand, that we may be counted worthy to escape, and so that as these events develop, and as many false prophets will say, oh, this, that, that, you are not going to be taken astray and says, oh, well, Christ is here, Christ is there, Christ is somewhere else, you're going to be looking at the truth.

And so to look at that, you and I know that the Book of Revelation is basically sealed with seven seals. And the first four seals represent the four horsemen, and we read that in Revelation chapter 6, Revelation chapter 6 verses 1 through 8. And you can see in chapter 6 verse 1 opens one of the seals, and then in verse 3 is the second seal, and verse 5 is the third seal, and in verse 7 is the fourth seal. And we know that we have studied this many times with booklets, and we've looked at it at the Bible, we've compared it with Matthew 24, and we can see that the first one, the white horse, represents false religion or false ideologies, or false saviors, could even be political saviors saying, yeah, I'm going to solve the problems of this nation. And so these false ideologies time and time again bring division and war, and the outcome of division and war is hunger, because once you have war, there's not enough food, and the end result is diseases and death. So these are the four horsemen that have been riding years after years, and they're still riding, and they're still riding. And they are, during the period of these four horsemen, we need to be watching specific events. We need to watch situation in Israel and sacrifices to come. We need to watch a change, a major, complete change in Europe, because today it's a democratic Europe, and for it to become a dictator, a dictatorial Europe, and ten kings will hand their power to another leader, it is quite something that we can't see today with Europe, but something has to happen in the European subcontinent with world events that is going to change the complete situation in Europe. We're also going to see the formation of the king of the south, and we're seeing already the loss of the pride of power of Ephraim and Manasseh. In other words, Ephraim will be in England and Manasseh being in the United States. Those are, in a worse geopolitical, things that we got to watch. We also got to watch false religion, as it was mentioned, syncretism, and what is happening, and how that will even syncretize even further, and also God's church, and how Satan is attacking the church and different trials that we go through. And those two are religious, and last but not least are the value system in society. I don't think any of us is blinded to the decadent value system of morality that is prevalent today. So these are things to watch, and that will culminate as things go on. But the important is that we need to be aware, like it says in Matthew 24, verse 13 and 14. Matthew 24, verse 13 and 14. And then we read, but he, we endurest to the end, shall be saved. We have to endure. It's not going to be easy. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations. Now this is interesting because I deal with a lot of people, and probably Mr. Lockhart also, with people that in Jamaica that are coming to the church, and that, well, we're going to preach the whole world to save more souls. Well, that's not what it says. It does not say, preach the gospel to the whole world to save more souls. It says, preach the gospel to the world as a witness to all nations. This is very important little detail, but just let's leave it there. But the key point that I want to ally today is then the end will come. When we are doing this, this has to happen before the end comes, which means in previous times and world wars, this was not being done. But when another world war will come up, this is being done. Therefore, the time is short.

So the end will come. The gospel is preached, and then the end will come. Now, in that context, we read also still in Matthew 24, now in verse 36. Matthew 24 verse 36. And it says, But of that day an hour no man knows. And then it gives that hour. As you know, it will be like people be eating and drinking like during the times of Noah. And nobody knew until he entered the ark.

Now, it's interesting because entering the ark was not when the rain started. That's interesting. Nobody knew it until he entered the ark, which means that when some people were protected. And that is an interesting little detail. And then it says, and two men will be taken, and one and two men will be in the field, one will be taken, the other left, two will be grinding at the mole, one will be taking, the other left. Therefore watch, for you do not know what hour the Lord is coming. And if you look at the example of Noah, it means once that protection of the church occurs, then there is a count as you looked at in Daniel 12 and abomination of desolation and things like that. So that is an interesting additional bit of information in there. You see, because there will be something that will cause people to flee, just like entering the ark. And we read that in Matthew 24 verse 15. And then it says, when the abomination of desolation and spoken by the Daniel the prophet, standing in holy place. And that is a whole new subject, additional subject, but there is going to be an abomination of desolation, which means there's going to have to be sacrifices, which something that is not happening yet. Imagining sacrifices happening in that area. What sort of turmoil which will happen? So that is a point to highlight. And then it says, and then it's the time to flee. And then it, in verse 21, it says, for then will be great tribulation, and no flesh should be saved, but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. So it has been a great tribulation like never been. And otherwise, nobody would be saved alive. So yeah, we have that there will be an abomination of desolation. See, the gospel is preached, and then there will be a time when it's like a switch from the four horsemen to the next major event, which is the great tribulation. And as we are reading in Revelation chapter 6, and we were reading in Revelation chapter 6, and we read the four horsemen. Immediately after the four horsemen, there's a fifth seal. And the fifth seal, it's talking about a time of great tribulation. And that is also described in Matthew 24-21, which I made reference to a moment ago. So that is basically the fifth seal. And so what do we have? The fourth seals, which are the four horsemen. Then there is an abomination of desolation, a time of protection for some people in the church that is also covered in Revelation 12. And then there's the beginning of the great tribulation, the great tribulation, which being the fifth seal. So let's go back to Matthew 24. We see immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened. And so what are we talking about? Is that immediately after the great tribulation? There will be those heavenly signs that I talked about a little earlier. So now it ties in where those heavenly signs fit in. And so those days will be shortened, or the intensity will be shortened, so that for the elect's sake. Now, in Revelation 6 verse 12, it says, and then it opened the sixth seal. So the parallel to that is the sixth seal, a great earthquake, and that is the heavenly signs, which we also referred to a little earlier when we looked at Revelation 6 verse 12. And so putting that into that chart, what do we have in the book of Revelation, which has seven seals? And as you can see, six of those seven seals have been discussed in chapter 6. I mean, Revelation has got, what, 22 chapters? Just in chapter 6 are the first six seals, because basically the rest of Revelation is the seventh seal and what happens beyond. So, as we saw a little early on, these heavenly signs, as we read in Joel, will happen before the Day of the Lord. So the Day of the Lord is after the heavenly signs.

I'm going through it fairly quickly, just giving you an overall picture so that you can see how we're doing. So we get a view, an overview picture, but not everything in detail, because I just do not have time to cover everything in detail. But the heavenly signs, in other words, is God saying, that is enough, and from now onwards I'm going to start intervening in world affairs. I'm going to start intervening in world affairs, and that's when God starts intervening in world affairs. We have the Day of the Lord. But what have we got before the seventh seal? Because the seventh seal is only discussed in Revelation 8. And so what do we have between Revelation 6 and Revelation 8? We got Revelation 7. And Revelation 7 is before God starts punishing the world. The servants of God are sealed. 144,000 Israelites and a great multitude of all other nations in the words of Gentiles.

You see, these are people that during the period of the Great Tribulation, during that period, they have repented. And so what do we have? After that, then he opens the seventh seal. So there will be some people that will be sealed and protected whatever they are, not in a specific place. They'll be protected wherever they are, and they'll be protected from the punishments that God is going to bring on the seventh seal, which is the Day of the Lord. And that seventh seal is broken down into seven trumpets. And in Revelation 8, verse 2, I went through a little earlier on. And so what do we have? The Day of the Lord and using scriptures like a day for a year of Numbers 14, 34, and Ezekiel 4, verse 5 and 6, a day being one year for that one year, that last year of the three and a half years of the Great Tribulation, because the Day of the Lord, the Great Tribulation, intensity is diminished in that year. But before that, the servants of God that have repented during the time of the Great Tribulation, they would be sealed. Now, this is a beautiful blessing. Think about it. You and I are preaching the gospel to the world as a witness. People nowadays are, well, don't care. Just keep going the way you are. And basically, very few people come to the church and come to follow God. Let's put it that way. But when this really explodes and the Great Tribulation is upon the world, I should have listened it. I should have repented. I should have changed. And there will be some ministers and members of the church that will not be protected. Some will be protected and some will not. That's why it says, watch and pray that you may be counted worthy to escape because some will not escape and will have to go through it. But those that will go through it will be, let's call it, underground. And as this great amount, a multitude of people repent, they have people there to teach them. They have remembered the booklets and the magazines and the sermons on the websites and they will remember that and say, that was right. And in parallel with that, the two witnesses will be telling them, hey, that was right. Because the church as an organized entity will have stopped, will have stopped after the abomination of desolation. And so the two witnesses will be out there and a number of people will repent. And once they repent, after the heavenly signs, as we're reading Revelation 7, they'll be sealed and protected.

There is a blessing. There is the fruit of our work today. Our work today is not in vain. That's why we preach the gospel as a witness to the world. So when this happens, a witness and they can repent. And again, it shows, as we heard in the sermon, it God's mercy, really God's mercy. And that's why it said in Joel 2, when we read it in a moment, is that it said, you know, there'll be those heavenly signs before the day of the Lord and whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. In other words, will be protected, will be sealed. That is very meaningful. You know, when you start putting all these scriptures together, it is very, very exciting. So now we have the seven trumpets. The first four, the first four trumpets in Revelation 8. Revelation 8, you can see from verse 7 is the first trumpet and verse 8 the second trumpet and verse 10 the third trumpet and then in verse 12 the fourth trumpet, which affect a third of the earth, of the sea, of the rivers, and the springs of waters, the sun, the moon, and stars. So those are being affected. Then what do we have? Then we have, as we can see in verse 13, it says, these three woes. Woe, woe, woe. Those are the last three trumpets. You see, the first four we talked about and the last three are woe, woe, woe. You know, it was real bad news.

And so the fifth trumpet is Revelation 9, which is this description of locusts for five months, which we believe to be the beast power, or in other words, the king of the north, that will be attacking the nations of the northeast, the nations in the north and the eastern area. In other words, the beast power being combined Europe, and the nations the northeast being nations like China, Russia, Korea, and many others that will probably join them as well, even including most probably Iran. And so we see those that attack for five months with some sort of a gas or something like that, and when that gas kind of wears out, because the land is not destroyed, and you can see there as well that the people that have the seal that have been sealed are not being affected. You read that in Revelation 9, verse 4, and it says, those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads are impacted, but that according to Revelation 7, they will not be impacted. They'll be protected. So those are living human beings on earth that have repented during the Great Tribulation, and they will be protected. And then we have in Revelation 9, verse 13 to 21, which is we know is that army of 200 million, which is basically those nations of the northeast counterattacking power, and they will destroy very large populations. As we read there in verse 16 in Revelation 9, an army of 200 million, and we read that a great percentage of mankind will be destroyed, probably meaning atomic bombs or something like that. So we can see the whole world will be in absolutely disaster, absolute disaster. And understand that these seven trumpets is what the Bible calls the Day of the Lord for a period of one year. Now, the beast is not going to stand, so these two world powers will say, all right, we now are going to kill you and or you're going to kill us and we'll just wipe one another out. They will end the end of the world, but there'll be no end of the world because the seven trumpets blow and Christ comes to stop it at the exact time, at the right time, to stop it. And that is, as you can see, at the end of chapter 11, the second world is passed, and that means now the third world at the end of chapter 11 verse 14, I'll be a part of verse 14, the second world is passed, and then in verse, and then it says the third world is now coming quickly, and that is the seventh angel.

In the middle, in chapter 10, we've got another interesting thing between during the last part of that second wall of the sixth trumpet, there is a section of a little book and the seven funders and how that book is not revealed, but there is a statement there that it says in verse 6, and that actually is between verse 5 and 7, but specifically in verse 6 says there should be delay no longer, which means that it's come to a time now that God has given the warning, God has brought a series of punishments to the world, and now there's no and now there's no because now is going to be the seventh trumpet and the mystery of God would be finished. The mystery of God would be finished. Now, what is that? Well, you and I can turn to Romans 8. Romans 8. Let's just go there. Romans 8 verse 18. Romans 8 verse 18.

Now I consider the sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared to the glory which will be revealed in us for the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. That is when the mystery of God will be revealed, the revealing of the sons of God. We will be resurrected as spirit beings. That is the time of the seventh trumpet and that when that's why it says there'll be delay no longer because finally that will happen.

And then it says also as we read verse 23, and not only that but we also who have the firstfruits of the spirit. We now have the firstfruits of the spirit. In other words, we now are the firstfruits but we are the firstfruits of the spirit. We've got to understand that we have given God's holy spirit symbolized by the diopentacost and from that moment onwards we are the firstfruits of the spirit. We're not yet resurrected. Then he says, he says we have the firstfruits of the spirit even we ourselves ground within ourselves eagerly waiting for the adoption.

Heal thesia, or in other words the sonship, the redemption of our body. We still, our bodies will be changed from physical to spiritual. So yes, today you and I are the firstfruits of the spirit. But you and I have to be overcoming till the end and then if we are faithful at the end we will stand with Christ. Those with him are called, chosen, and faithful. And so what do we have is in Revelation 11, so let's go back to Revelation 11 which we read a little earlier just briefly.

Revelation 11 verse 15. It says, and then the seventh angel sounded and there were loud voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of the swole have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forevermore. That is the perfect point, as I mentioned at the beginning where the God of the swole is now basically losing his position.

And yes, there's going to be a war and yes, he's going to be put in jail. From that moment, Christ comes as King of Kings to rule on earth. And when he comes, the war is going to be angry. Number one, they're kind of fighting against another. He's like two dogs and you go and you go and you go and you go and you go and you go. Those two dogs and what happens? They turn against you and that comes and so the nation says, well, we have an invader from outer space. Let's turn against the invader, which is actually Christ with his army of angels and we then being resurrected joining them and coming down with them.

Verse 18 is very significant because it says at that moment the nations are angry and it says three major events here on verse 18. The first one is the time of the dead that they should be judged. In other words, some of the dead are judged to be resurrected at the first resurrection and some of the dead are judged to remain sleeping for at least another thousand years. So some of the dead will be judged at the second major event to happen is that you should reward your servants, whether they were the prophets, whether they were apostles, whether they were people living in today's age, wherever they are, whether they be or small, important or whatever, rich or poor, but it's God's servants.

They will be rewarded. So they're resurrected and they're rewarded. Some will be given, you know, like responsibility, your rule of intensities, your rule of five, whatever it is, you're going to have rewards and those rewards will continue even greater, but each one, God will place each one in a responsibility that is ideally suited for that person. For instance, think of it like a body. Some is a shoulder, some is an elbow, some are a hand, some are a foot. So you, as a spirit being, will be given a job description, which obviously will grow as time goes on, as we go into eternity, but a position in the kingdom that will grow based on your talents and your loyalty and faithfulness.

And the third major event is that those that destroy the earth, that they're now turning to Christ and the angels as they've resurrected at this moment, all at this moment, I'm not saying it'll be in one second or in five minutes or in 24 hours, because these events could be more than 24 hours. It doesn't say how long, but the point is these events will be quite quick one after another at that specific period of time. And those people that destroy the earth will be destroyed.

So, brethren, as I mentioned to you, this is very technical stuff.

And the question is, you and I can have all the knowledge, but if we have no love, it's just an empty symbol. It's just making noise. And in Micah chapter 6 verse 8 says, What does the Lord require of you? It was, we read in Luke 21, watching, praying, to escape. What does God require of you to be counted and before the Son of Man? To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before your God.

Look, doctrine is important. Right. We've got to believe the right doctrine, of course. But if we have all the doctrine, and we don't show love, and we don't show mercy, and we're not walking humbly, in the words, faithfully, towards God, in absolute faith to Him, if we are not being the people of the Spirit, showing that love, joy, peace, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, etc., all that knowledge is in vain. And that is very similar to when Christ said to the Pharisees and Sadducees, you know, you, you know, justice, mercy, and faith. It's exactly a parallel to Micah 6 verse 8. By faith means walking humbly before God in absolute trust that what God says will be, will be.

So, brethren, there'll be a time when God will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, which you and I know is that trumpet of God. It's those seven prophetic trumpets. It's not trumpets that are played every month, every year, whatever. No, it's those specific seven trumpets. The day of trumpets in the God's plan of salvation. And at that time, you'll gather His elect. At that seventh trumpet, we'll be resurrected, and the nations are angry, and there'll be also a time of war, but it'll be a time of joy for us as well, because Christ is coming to rule on the earth. So the question I started with, and I'm asking now, are we ready to meet our Creator? You see, our mission as a body, we do need to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God as a witness. But there is a protection, and we've seen in two phases protection. Those in the church now, before the Great Tribulation, and towards the end of the Great Tribulation, those that repent during the Great Tribulation. After that, during the day of the Lord, the others don't repent. So the point is, there is hope, brethren. There is hope for us, and for those beloved friends of ours that are not repenting today, they will, God willing, repent during the Great Tribulation. Well, they probably will say, oh well, I wish I had repented earlier, but at least God in His mercy and His loving judgment is giving them an opportunity to repent. The fruits of our labor today will be shown tomorrow. And the other good news, the other good hope, is that Christ will come to save the world from those that destroy the earth. And let's not forget that our mission is also God's work in us. You see, it's not just preaching the gospel to the world as a witness, but it is for us to change ourselves, that old man to become a new man, for us to become more like Christ, for us to be prepared to be kings and priests under Christ to save the world.

So the question goes back.

Are we ready to rule and serve under our Creator, executing justice, being merciful, and faithfully walking? There's one scripture that I want you to remember, and that's in 2 Peter chapter 3, 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 10, 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 10. And it says, the day of the Lord will come, and then it says, therefore, and what I want you to focus is, therefore, all these things will disappear. What manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? Do you know, brethren, that's the purpose of prophecy. The purpose of prophecy is not for you and I to have a big head that are not things that are going to happen. The purpose of prophecy is for us to change ourselves and to have justice, mercy, and faith, in other words, having a holy conduct in our behavior and in godliness. And then we need to grow in grace, being like Christ is, knowing what Christ is like, imitating Him, and grow in that loving kindness that God has, because the day will come that Christ will say, come, you blessed are my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.