Well, good afternoon everyone. Saying that to Jekyll Island and, I guess, many other sites in the United States and around the world. I know God must be very pleased to have us all together in one place today. And it’s awe-inspiring to think that we’re all together at this service and at this Feast. I do want to thank the choir for those rousing pieces of music that we just heard. I almost feel like we don’t need a sermon this afternoon. We are here by faith and we are using the faith, and living by faith, as we look at these Holy Days that God has given us and what they picture.

Let me say it’s very good to be here in Jekyll with you. Jekyll has always been a special site, as many of them are, to many of us. It was the very first Feast site that my family attended back in 1964 when my parents came into the Church. I was just very young at that time, comparatively young anyway. So it is the Feast site, as my wife and I were talking, that we’ve attended probably more than any other Feast site. A beautiful place to be. Great to be here with so many people, as I look out over the number of people that are here.

We had the opportunity this year to do something we’ve never done before. We were in Ocean City, Maryland, for the first part of the Feast and it was wonderful to be up there. It’s a wonderful Feast site. Wonderful group of people up there. Wonderful to be here with you. But as I sit and think about two Feast sites that we’ve been able to be at, I can only appreciate what God must do when He looks down every day of the Feast and sees His people together before Him at this Feast of Tabernacles that has such great meaning for all of us. I hope we’re all here and have been drinking in of the words that I know have been said here, about the vision that we all should have for the Kingdom. I know they were said up in Ocean City, Maryland, and I’ve seen that’s been a theme of the Feast, and I hope around the world. That we capture a vision of the Kingdom and that that vision will motivate us and inspire us to become all that God wants us to be as we yield to Him. Especially as we live in a time when we can see, where we can see the world marching forward in a different way than it has in the past.

We’re here on the sixth day of the seven-day of the Feast of Tabernacles. And if we’re going to prorate the millennium at that time, it would be 6/7 of the way through the Millennium, as we’re here today. And by 6/7 of the way through the Millennium, the world has become quite a different place than it was at the beginning. It has come from a place where the people who are gathered before Christ has returned are hopeless. They live in a world that’s been devastated. Everything that they thought that they could count on, everything that they were relying, on has been totally decimated. Cities laid waste, and the world is in a desolate situation. Millions and billions of people have died. And as the Millennium begins, and as Christ returns, as they look at Him, they have no idea really who He is. They’ve heard things, but they don’t want Him to come. They wanted things to continue the way they were. But they’re a humble and afflicted people who stand before Christ as the Millennium begins, and it reminds me of words that Christ said as He began His ministry.

In Matthew and Mark, they talk about the great temptation and words that Christ said at that time, but the first recorded words that He had in those gospels after the great temptation is: Repent! “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Those are timeless words, timeless words that every man, woman, and child will hear. When Christ said them, He was speaking to His generation. “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He was alive. He knew what His mission was. He knew that He would survive and that He would accomplish that mission, and ensure that the Kingdom of God would come to this earth. “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In our lives, we heard those same words, repent, turn back to God with your heart, mind and soul – for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. And we learn that there’s something beyond this physical world, something beyond the physical pursuits that we have, something greater that God has planned for all of mankind.

In the millennium, as it begins and as a shattered humanity stands before Christ, maybe He will say those same words to them “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven really is at hand.” And for those in the White Throne Judgment, who never had a chance – didn’t know who Jesus Christ was, never heard His name – who are resurrected in that time, they too will repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. And so, as we picture the Millennium, and as we picture the time that Christ is on earth, we see those very words come to pass. If you’ll turn with me to Ezekiel 36, we know, by well into the Millennium, the world has become a beautiful place. It’s become a virtual Garden of Eden, but it starts with repentance. It starts with turning to God. If you’ll look at Ezekiel 36, and starting in verse 33, God records this.

Ezekiel 36:33-35  “Thus says the Lord God ‘On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities’” Same thing that happened to us. “‘On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities – when you repent, seek the forgiveness that our Savior brought us – on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will enable you to dwell in the cities and the ruins shall be rebuilt. The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. So, they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’”

What was wasteland, what was devastated, which looked like it was beyond repair, as people turned to God, as they repent, as they look to God and begin to live His ways, out of the ruins come something so beautiful. Repentance and living by God’s way makes such a difference that can’t possibly happen by human might or human will.

Ezekiel 36:36  “Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken it, and I will do it.”

Just as sure as you and I are here today, that will happen. When God speaks it, it will happen. Those cities and that world will be rebuilt, and the Garden of Eden will appear again, as God sends Christ back to restore all things.

Turn with me back to the Gospel of Luke. First recorded words in the gospel of Luke, after the great temptation are not “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand,” but a different set of words that apply to this time that we’re in now, as well. Christ, at the time He speaks the words in Luke 4:18, He has been teaching in synagogues. He has been baptized, as an example for all of us. He has been healing the sick. But as He enters the synagogue on the Sabbath day, pictured here in Luke 4, He’s handed the scrolls, it says, and in verse 17.

Luke 4:17-19 “When He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when He opened the book, He found the place where it was written.” words that He specifically wanted to give them,  and He read verse 18. “The spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

He was describing humanity, not just the humanity that would be there at the beginning of the Millennium, but the people sitting there in front of Him that day – the people that you and I are when we come to understand Christ, and when God opens our minds to receive the truth, and we begin to see who we were and understand the potential that God had given all of mankind – that we never understood before. Here these people were poor. They were brokenhearted. They didn’t even know, in many cases, they were brokenhearted. They were captives. They were slaves. They were being held back. They had no real future in life. They were blind and they were oppressed – just like the people in the Millennium will feel as that time begins. But here’s Christ speaking those words. And He says, “I’m here to speak those words.” And verse 20 says.

Luke 4:20-21 “He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’”

“I am here. This is what’s happening. Now, salvation comes.” He is the Savior. Through Him, salvation occurs, He came to set all of us free. He came to make our lives better. He came to unlock the potential that God has for all of mankind. He came, and that was the first coming,  to do all that. Gave His life, sacrificed His life, so that you and I, and all of mankind, because He had that great love for all of us. That that could be who we are, that we would have all that captivity, and all that stuff that holds us back, that we could be free of that, and become this miracle. An almost unimaginable process that God has put us through that we could become His children. In the Kingdom, that will be what the world sees for the first time – when Satan is bound. And the father of falsehood and the father of lies is put away, and mankind is free to be able to live the life that God had intended for all of us to have. It will be a tremendous time.

Jesus Christ, there in Luke 4, He didn’t finish the rest of what He was quoting in Isaiah 61. So, let's go back to Isaiah 61, and look at those verses, because He was talking about Him at that time, and what He had come to do. His second coming, the rest of Isaiah 61, the first three verses and beyond that will be fulfilled. If we look at Isaiah 61:2, we see where Christ ended.

Isaiah 61:2 He said “To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD. Now the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Now He is our Savior. Now we can become or have the opportunity to become who God wants us to become. In the second part of verse 2 there, He talks about the coming day of the LORD.

Isaiah 61:2 “And the day of the vengeance of our God.”

Yet ahead of us, a time when God will exact His vengeance on the world, and bring them to that humility and the affliction that they need to be so that they can receive who God would have them be. The same type of humility and lowliness of spirit that we need and had, I hope had, at the time that God opened our minds and we were baptized and committed to Him – to follow Him for the rest of our lives.

Isaiah 61:2 And then He goes on and He says “To comfort all who mourn.”

Well, at that time there will be a lot of people mourning. I don’t know that I need to turn to Matthew 24:30, but you remember, I think, what the verse says there, As Jesus Christ returns…well, let’s just turn to Matthew 24. I heard yesterday that sometimes we quote these verses, but people would like to actually see what the verse says. So let’s turn to Matthew 24:30. Keep your finger there in Isaiah 61, and we’ll be coming back there. In Matthew 24:30, Christ – of course, in the Olivet prophecy, and He talks about the time He’ll be returning.

Matthew 24:30 Says “The sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn” They don’t want to see Him come back. Who’s this invading? Who’s here to disrupt the world that we have? “All the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

Devastated, distraught, feeling a spirit of heaviness – what’s going to happen next? “Everything we thought was going to happen has just disappeared before our eyes.” You know, in Matthew 5, in the beatitudes, Christ said, “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.” And in that verse, we see a great attribute of our Savior. If we turn to 2 Corinthians 1, we see that He is a God of comfort.

2 Corinthians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.”

All comfort. You know, when God says the word all, He means all. Anyone who needs comforting, anyone who needs that – and the world will need comforting at that time. Just like you and I need comforting at various times in our lives. When we begin to see ourselves as who we are. We mourn. We’re sorry that we’ve lived our lives the way that we have, and thank God immensely for rescuing us, and taking us from who we would have been without Him to who we are today. At times, we lose loved ones. It’s God who comforts us. And we pray for God’s comfort. In times of distress, trial, persecution, God comforts us, He’s there with us.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation.” Teaches us, does that to us because He loves us and cares for us, He knows what our potential is and He is committed to it. “Who comforts us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

He does it to us. We are here. We’re being trained. We’re being prepared for what God would have us be in that Kingdom. I hope, as we’ve been through this Feast, that we visualize: What will we be doing then? What are the things that we need to learn now, so that we can do what God wants us to do, so we can become and give others what God gives us. That’s why we’re here. This is why we’re in the lives that we’re in now. This is why God leads us by His Holy Spirit. This is why He gives us the opportunities to develop the faith, the trust, the reliance on Him. People that are there at the beginning of the Millennium, they’ll need comforting. Jesus Christ will be there to comfort them, if we go back to Isaiah 61, and verse 2. That will be the setting, as it begins in verse 3.

Isaiah 61:3 It says, “To console those who mourn in Zion.”

Now the word console is not a real accurate translation of the Hebrew word that’s there. You probably have in your margin that it says, literally, it says to appoint. To appoint those who mourn in Zion. If you look through the Bible, as you look through the original Hebrew this is translated from, that sentence doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense with the preposition “in” in there and it appears that that may have been added by the translators. But if we use the word appoint – which the original Hebrew means – to appoint those who mourn Zion. Well, let’s just think about Zion for a moment. I know you’ve heard about Zion as you’ve been here at the Feast.

Isaiah 2:2-3 People will go up to the mountain of the Lord. The law will go forth from Zion. Zion is where the law will go forth. “I will appoint to them Zion.” They will have the truth. They will understand the law that will be preached – that will be taught all over the world. But the law will go from Zion and people will go up to Zion to be taught. It will be you and me, if we continue in God’s way, if we yield to Him completely and wholly, as He wants us to, that we’ll be there teaching that. That will be our responsibility. God will have people in those positions that have proven in their lives, we live by every word of God. As our lives develop, and as we go forward, we continue to live and grow closer and closer to God and to live by every word that He gives us. And so they go to Zion.

There will be a temple in Zion – and I want to turn – maybe you’ve already turned here in Jekyll – to Ezekiel 47, because an inspiring set of verses in Ezekiel 47, as we read about the Millennial temple that will be there. And in Ezekiel 47, it talks about waters that come from that temple and those healing waters – because the world is going to be in a situation that they need to be in a healing situation.

 

Ezekiel 47:1 It says, “He brought me back to the door of the temple – that’s there in Zion – and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar.” Drop down to verse 7:

Ezekiel 47:7-8 “When I returned” as they go further and further out into the waters. “When I returned there” Ezekiel records “along the bank of the river were very many trees on one side and the other. And he said to me, ‘This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed.’”

Remember all the plagues that the world has endured? Remember the trumpets, grass burned up, trees burned up, waters poisoned, world decimated? The healing waters that come out of the temple from Zion begin to replenish the earth so that it can become everything that God always intended it to be. This water first goes toward…verse 8…I just read that.

Ezekiel 47:8-9 “When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. It shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish because these waters go there; for they will be healed and everything will live wherever the river goes.”

Healing waters – a time of healing for the earth – not just the physical healing, but a spiritual healing as well. The people that live over into the Millennium – not the saints, but the other rest of humanity – the decimated few, compared to the number that are alive on earth today – live over and they don’t know the truth of God. They have to be taught. They have to be educated. Hope has to come to them, just like it has come to us. They have to come to know God the Father and know that there is purpose to life. And that will happen during that time.  Now, when we talk about waters, when we talk about springs and everything, it probably conjures up the memory of John 7:37 in your mind – when Jesus Christ, on that last day, that last great day of the Feast said:

John 7:37 – “If anyone thirsts, come to Me and I will give him rivers of living water.” Water often is compared to the Spirit in there, and the Spirit will be poured out on all mankind at that time. They’ll have Jesus Christ as their Savior. They’ll know He’s it. He’s the one – that everything resides in Him and that it’s all about Him.

In Joel 2:28, we’re told He will pour out His Spirit on all flesh. They have, and they begin to recognize, Jesus Christ is the Savior. He is the only name by which man can be saved. They receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is poured out on all people and healing begins. When we have Jesus Christ and recognize Him as our Savior, when we have God’s Holy Spirit, we can begin to learn. It leads us into truth.

So, let’s go back...no, while we’re in Ezekiel 47, let’s go back a few chapters to Ezekiel 43. We talked about the temple that will be there. We talked about Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords. I know you’ve heard about the teachers that, again, if you and I continue and completely commit our hearts, minds and souls to God, that we would be there teaching the law, because we’ve learned to live it in this lifetime. Well, lets read in chapter 43, and verse 10, about the law of the temple that will be there at that time.

Ezekiel 43:10 “Son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities.”

When they see the truth – that they could look at themselves and say, “What have I done? How have I lived my life? What a waste it has been, when it was all about me, and it should have been all about God – all about what His will is.” When we can see the trajectory of our lives without Jesus Christ and realize, what a mess we would have been! What a terrible, terrible thought it is! If you’ve ever taken the time, and you realize, here’s the proclivities that I had, here’s where I was going, and if it wasn’t for God, my life would be so different and in shambles – in ashes – as we’ll read here in a few minutes.

Ezekiel 43:11 “If they are shamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple and its arrangement.” If they repent, if they recognize who they were and where they were going. “Make known to them the design of the temple and its arrangement, make known to them its exits and its entrances, its entire design and all its ordinances, all its forms and all its laws.”

Make known to them everything. Teach them every word of God. Teach them to live by every word of God, His temple – the temple that He’s building in you and me, the temple of the Church that is His body that He’s working with.

Ezekiel 43:11-12 “Write it down in their sight, so they may keep its whole design and all its ordinances, and perform them.” Not enough to just know. Write it all down. Make sure that they know them and they perform them. “This is the law of the temple: The whole area surrounding the mountaintop is most holy. This is the law of the temple.”

It’s God’s law. It’s God’s temple. It’s God’s building. It’s God’s Kingdom. It is the Kingdom of God on earth at that time. And the people who live over into that will be taught those things, and as they go from generation to generation, the world will become more and more beautiful. Satan will be bound, but human nature will still be there at the beginning of the Kingdom. It still has to be rooted out, just like it has to be rooted out for you and me. Just because we’re baptized and receive the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean human nature goes away. It’s the same for them. But the whole world will be living by God’s way at that time – a tremendous blessing for them. God gives them the tools to overcome. God gives them the tools to become the people that He wants them to become, just like He gives us the tools and tells us, as Jesus Christ’s first words during the temptation were, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”

Let’s go back to Isaiah – Isaiah 61, and verse 3. We have Jesus Christ, King of kings, Lord of lords. He is the Savior. They will know in Him is salvation – physically and salvation spiritually. He pours out His Spirit on all humanity alive at that time. Then in the next few verses – the next few phrases, here in Verse 3, we find God, through His will and through His leadership, transforming the world from a complete wasteland to a virtual paradise.

Isaiah 61:3 “To give them beauty for ashes.” Ashes is what their world is as the Millennium begins. “To give them the oil of joy for mourning.” Mourning is what they are doing as the Millennium begins. “The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”

There is a spirit of heaviness on them as they look around and wonder what happened. They are depressed, afflicted, feeling absolutely helpless and hopeless. But out of the ashes, out of the mourning, out of the spirit of heaviness comes something beautiful – to give them beauty for ashes. How do you transform a world of ashes into a world of beauty? Well, certainly Jesus Christ can do it. He could snap His fingers, make one command, and it would all turn the way, in a physical beauty, back to the way it was in the Garden of Eden. But it’s a process that goes on. And there are things God restores during that time.

If we turn…I’m not going to turn to Zechariah 8:3. You can write Zechariah 8, verse 3 down. You’ll see where God is talking about Jerusalem. He says Jerusalem will be called the 0ity of Truth – the City of Truth. Now Jerusalem isn’t a city of truth today in any way shape or form. Jerusalem is a confused city. Every single religion claims something about Jerusalem. But then, it will be a City of Truth. Truth will be restored. Jesus Christ is truth.

John 14:6 He says, “I am the Way, I am the Truth, I am the Life.”

Truth will be restored.

Habakkuk 2:14 Says that, “The knowledge of God in those days will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.”

As we look out over the ocean here in Jekyll Island and other places were the Feast are being held on oceans, we see that sea, and how it’s all covered. And it’s amazing and exhilarating to think that one day everyone will know the truth of God. Everyone in this room knows the truth of God. Everyone listening today knows the truth of God. That’s transformed our lives, hasn’t it? Our lives which were in ashes, or headed for ashes, without the knowledge of the truth, now there’s beauty. But you know, beauty isn’t just physical. There’s a beauty in the way people are – when you look at the world at that time, when you look at the way the world will become. The Bible tells us that Jerusalem will become a city that is compact – a city that is unified that means – a city where there is one truth in it, that everyone is together. The love of God is there. The agape is there. People have developed that. And as the agape of God, that the beautiful sentiments that God gives us – the fruits of the Spirit that grow in us as we live God’s way of life, as we listen to the truth, as we perform the truth, as we come to know, as every stage of our life goes through more and more about God’s way of life, we become more and more beautiful to God. We become more and more beautiful to each other. The agape binds us together as one and there is one truth – the one that God wants for all of us, the one that Jesus Christ said on the night that He was arrested, “My will, Father, is that they will be one as You and I are one” – sanctified by truth, becoming beautiful people, a beautiful sight in God’s way, a beautiful spiritual people by the truth, because truth is at the basis. Of course, Jesus Christ is at the foundation of everything, but truth is at the basis of beauty.

You know, we can think back to Genesis 1, as God created the earth, and He said everything He created was good. And Adam and Eve were put on that earth and they were in the Garden of Eden. There are beautiful verses in there, as you see God walking in the midst of the Garden of Eden, and they’re there. It’s a beautiful existence that you and I can’t even imagine. The world we have is still beautiful today, but it’s not the Garden of Eden that it will become. But what was happening in the earth at that time that it was the Garden of Eden? There was only God. There was only man. And there was only truth – only truth. But then, the father of lies came in. Then the father of falsehood came in, and mankind, for some reason, listened to those lies and chose to follow that way, rather than pure unadulterated truth, and they were ushered out of Eden, no longer part of that beautiful existence that God had put them in. They rejected God’s Holy Spirit. They chose the way of good and evil, of truth and error – a mixture that you and I need to be ever so aware of – that we’re not mixing our own ideas, not mixing the statements of the world or the beliefs of the world – but always clinging to pure truth. Now where is the only source of pure truth on earth today? You know. It’s sitting there in your lap – every word of God. Jesus Christ said, “Set them apart. They’re different people. Set them apart by truth. Your Word,” He said, “is truth.”

And so, as we become cleansed, as we live by God’s Word, as we let God’s Holy Spirit live in us, as the people in the Millennium will do, we’re cleansed by the washing of the water of the Word. We’re cleansed by that truth, it tells us in Ephesians 5:26. It’s so important! That’s what will happen in the Millennium, but it will happen on a worldwide basis – everyone alive at that time – and the world will see, and there will be a record for all time. God’s Way works! God’s Way works! There will be peace, unlike anything that we’ve known in our lifetimes. There will be joy, unlike anything that we’ve known in this lifetime, on a worldwide basis. There will be the love – the agape – that’s there. There will be an abundance, unlike anything that the whole world has seen. That will be a beautiful and a wonderful world, as we have seen, and heard, and picture, and have that vision in our mind – truth, beauty – beauty from ashes.

Isaiah 61:3 Says, “The oil of joy for mourning.”

The oil of joy for mourning. Now, we know when we read oil, that’s the Holy Spirit. God gives us His Holy Spirit when we’re baptized. He pours the Spirit out on people there. But what about joy?  They’re mourning when they see Christ return. Where does joy come from? How does it transform from mourning to joy? We know that joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s look at a few scriptures here. Let’s go to Jeremiah 15:15. You know the prophet Jeremiah. He prophesied to Judah for 40 years. He gave God’s words. It was a tough life for him.

Jeremiah 15:15-16 He says this, “O LORD, You know. Remember me and visit me and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In Your enduring patience don’t take me away. Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.”

You know, as we look at the world around us, and we see where it’s going, we’re going to be rebuked. I hope none of us have our heads so far buried that we don’t see that the world is a different place today than it was two or three years ago – that you see the elements of what’s going on in our government and the decrees, the things that you hear, and what the will of the people is – not the people of God but the people of this world – where it’s going. And you can draw a direct line to Revelation 13 and the autocratic government that will be extant on the earth at that time. Everything changed in the world back a few years ago. Attitudes that we didn’t see before, at least on a main stream basis, are there. We know where it’s going. And we know it’s not going back. I just heard from someone this morning about something that occurred where another incidence of censorship just took place. And everything the person had accumulated over the last 15 years just got wiped away, because the government didn’t like – and the censors didn’t like – what he was saying. It wasn’t a religious figure at all, but someone who’s just talking about what’s going on in our country today. But here’s Jeremiah, he endured persecution and tribulation. And here he says to God:

Jeremiah 15:15 “In Your enduring patience don’t take Me away, know that for your sake I have suffered rebuke. Your words were found. I ate them.”

Your truth was found. I ate them. I digested them. They became part of me. They motivated me. They set me forward. I marched by them. I counted on You and I believed every word You said.

Jeremiah 15:16 “Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. Your truth is joy, Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart for I am called by Your name O LORD God of hosts.”

Joy in the Millennial period of time will come as people grasp the truth. And that oil – that Holy Spirit – provides that truth and that joy in them as they absolutely have complete trust and reliance and faith on God – on Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords – complete faith in the ones who God will put in positions of responsibility in that time, because they will all be teaching the exact same thing – the same truth – not watered down, not compromised, not of the any private interpretation, but exactly the way that God intended – living by every Word of God.

We go back to Psalm 16. David, a man after God’s own heart, talked about this joy as well.

Psalm 16:11 Says, “You will show me the path of life.” You know God has us on the path of life. That’s what people in the Millennium will learn. “I am the Way,” Christ said, “the truth and the light. You will show me the path of life. In Your presence is fullness of joy.” And they will be in His presence all the time – King of kings, Lord of lords. The knowledge of Him covers the earth as the waters cover the sea. “In Your presence is fullness of joy. At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

It’s all about Christ, all about truth, all about what He would have us do. They are in God’s presence, just like you and I are in God’s presence. We can come before God’s presence every time in prayer. We’re before God’s presence here as we’re assembled here in Jekyll, and Ocean City, Maryland, and every site that’s listening around the world. We are in God’s presence. We are exactly where He wants us to be. And that’s a good thing. In His presence, there is joy. Psalm 51…you know Psalm 51. It’s the prayer of repentance. Christ’s first words: “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” David wandered, sinned, but he repented, and he turned to God with all of his heart.

Psalm 51:12 It says, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,” – forgive me God – “restore to me the joy of Your salvation.”

There will be joy in the Kingdom, but those people…. God is Savior. They know who they are. It will be a beautiful time for them. Up in verse 6…if I can move up to verse 6 of Psalm 51, what does God say – or, what does David say – as God inspired him?

Psalm 51:6 “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts.”

That’s what God wants in our hearts. It’s not enough to just check the box, and say, “I did this,” and, “I did that.” “Yeah, I attended every Sabbath service. Yes, I attended every service during the Feast of Tabernacles” – something we absolutely should do, because God’s appointed time is from sunset on the 15th until the end of The Eighth Day – to be in His presence and learning what He wants us to learn during that time. “But I desired it in the inward part. I want you to do it, but I want it to be you. I want it to become you.” Jesus Christ is truth. Jesus Christ is love. You and I need to become truth. We need to become love. We need to become agape. We need to become like Him. We’re told that.

Back in Isaiah 61, going on, it talks about the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Well, I think, in all our lives we’ve had the spirit of heaviness at one time or another. There can be depression. There can be times that we feel really down. Maybe we feel really disgusted with ourselves. I think David had a spirit of heaviness when he recorded Psalm 51, as he lived that life and came to recognize exactly what it is and who he was.

You know, from time to time, it’s not bad for us to take stock of ourselves. It dawned on me earlier in the Feast that, as a baptized member of the Church – this is my 40th Feast of Tabernacles – and as I thought about my life – and I wasn’t baptized when I very, very young or anything like that – when I was baptized, I knew it was God’s truth. I absolutely knew I had to follow Him. There was no choice. Well, there was a choice, but the only choice was to follow God and yield to Him. But I look back at who I was then and, as the years have gone by, I know myself now better than I did then. I look at some of the things and the attitudes that I had back then, and I realize, if God had not called – or if I had rejected Him – my life was going to be nothing but ashes – literally ashes – because who I was or who I could have become without God, would have been miserable – no joy, no happiness, no purpose, no meaning.

 I think, if we would take the time to realize who we are, and to look at things, and not take what God has given us for granted, and we see who we are, we would praise God more. I find myself thanking God every day that He didn’t give up on me, that He was patient with me, and He didn’t give up and say, “Not worth the effort. He’s not paying any attention.” I thank Him every day. And you  know what? Every one of us should do that. Be thankful for what God has given us. Be thankful for the calling He’s given us. He’s given us life. He’s given us purpose. He’s given us beauty instead of ashes – and I mean literally ashes – because you and I are faced with the choice in this life.

We talk about people in the Millennium and their time is then. Yours and my time is now. Judgment is now on the house of God. God has given you and me everything that He will give to the people in the Millennium. We know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. We know that He loves us. We know that He wants us to be in His Kingdom. He’s given us His Spirit, if we have truly repented, and we come before Him and are baptized, have hands laid on us – His Holy Spirit. He gives us the truth. His Spirit leads us into truth. He’s put us in a body. We can be with each other. We can encourage each other. We have to develop that. It has to happen through His temple on earth today – through His Church. That’s the only way. Our time is now. If we take it for granted, if we water things down, if we aren’t paying attention to every word that God said, and if our lives aren’t becoming closer and closer to God with each and every passing year, you know what is in store for us? It’s either life or death in the resurrection. God isn’t going to have people in His Kingdom that He isn’t absolutely sure where their hearts are – that He isn’t absolutely sure what they will teach others by their examples. And we show God what we are and who we are by the way we live our lives today.

What choices do we make? What do we justify? How much of God’s word do we really pay attention to? Are we really getting closer and closer to what God would have us be? Because the time is getting shorter and shorter. The Kingdom of heaven, Christ said 2,000 years ago, is at hand, and today it’s at hand a little more than it was a year ago – certainly more than two or three years ago. Only God knows when Jesus Christ returns, but when He returns, you and I will be judged. What did we do with the gifts He gave us? What did we do with the Spirit He put in us? What did we do with the truth that He taught us? Will we be…will He look down and say, “Yes, I can trust this person to teach My way and to lead the people in the Millennium in exactly the way that I want him to?”

Turn with me to 1 John 3, and verse 3. Do you have the hope of the Kingdom? Do I have the hope of the Kingdom? Is it just a nice story and something that we do? Or, do we realize this is the time that we look to God and we ask God to mold us into who He wants us to be? 1 John 3, verse 2:

I John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God.”

He sees us as His children. He’s put His Holy Spirit in us. It’s certain. It’s absolutely certain that, in the Millennium, the world will become a veritable Garden of Eden. What’s not certain yet is that you and I will be there. It is certain that God wants us there. It’s certain that He does. And He gives us everything and every opportunity to do it. But it’s not certain, because that certainty is up to us. What do we do with what we’re given? 

1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we will be, but we know that when He is revealed, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him.”

If we have that hope, if we’ve caught the vision of what the Kingdom will be like – beauty for ashes, oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, Jesus Christ as Savior – if we’ve caught that vision, and if that motivates us – and it should motivate us – everyone who has this hope in Him, what does he do? He purifies himself just as He is pure – pure truth – living it the way God called us to live it, living it just the way that Jesus Christ did and set the example for us.

Turn with me to Revelation 14. You and I, God has called us firstfruits. Go back to the Feast of Pentecost. We talk about firstfruits. That’s what God has called us to be. This is our time. This is our day of salvation. When you look at the firstfruits – who you and I are – if we look down in verse 4, it tells us what firstfruits do – what they become – not instantaneously at baptism, but growing ever and ever closer to God as the time goes on.

Revelation 14:4 “These are the ones who are not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.”

Wherever – complete faith in Him. If it’s considered dangerous, complete faith in Him to see us through whatever trial or whatever comes our way. 

Revelation 14:5 “Who follow Him wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth is found no deceit.”

No falsehood. These are people of pure truth. These are people in whom all that falsehood is gone. In the Millennium, Satan is bound – the father of lies, the father of all that half-truths, the father of compromise, the father of hypocrisy, the father of politics, and what we can do to get ourselves ahead, rather than completely yielding to God. All that’s gone. And that’s what He said to the firstfruits – no more game playing, being serious about what God called us to. …in their mouth was found no guile – no deceit, no falsehood – for they are people of truth – people of truth – for they are without fault before the throne of God. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a ways to go before God can say that about me.

I think we have some work to do between now and the time that Jesus Christ returns – when He decides. Can I become a king and priest under Him, and can He have absolute faith that I will teach His way in the way He wants it taught? Does He see that in the way I’m living my life now? Because the choices I make now reflect to Him the choices I would make in the Kingdom. None of us are there. He called us to become people who He wants us to become.

We go forward in Revelation 21, and verse 8. He talks about people that won’t be in that Kingdom. I don’t mean to be negative. What I mean to be here is motivating, and open our eyes, get our attention – that as we celebrate the rest of this Feast together, as we embrace the vision, as we really want to be in that Kingdom, there’s something we have to be doing now. We can’t just coast. We can’t be the same people a year from now than we were today.

Revelation 21:8 “Cowardly, unbelieving.”  people who don’t really have faith, who are just kind of whatever. “The cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Literally ashes. If we don’t become people of truth – living it, knowing it, performing it in our hearts, that God can safely trust us – that’s where we would be. That shouldn’t scare you. It should give you the fear of God. It should make you appreciate the Holy Spirit of God, because with His Spirit, we can overcome anything. It should give you the motivation to start saying, “No” to what you know isn’t right and, “Yes” to what you know is. And as we do that, individually, collectively as His Church, those beautiful pictures that we have of the people in the Millennium, that will become us. That will become His people – His church – united in purpose with Him – at one with Him – teaching, believing, living the same way and encouraging each other, because we all pray for each other. Just as God wants you and me in His Kingdom, we want each other in His Kingdom, because we love each other that much and we’re willing to pray for each other, and help each other, and encourage each other.

One last thought…turn with me back to Proverbs 31. As we look at our futures, which are different than the people in the Millennium – the firstfruits will become the bride of Christ, we’re told in Revelation 19. And in Proverbs 31, we have, of course, the proverb of the virtuous wife. And of course, that chapter begins: “Who can find a virtuous wife? Her worth is more than rubies….” And I just want to draw your attention to the very first thing God says about the wife, knowing that you and I…. And as men, don’t look at that and say, “Well, our wives aren’t that way,” but looking at Proverbs 31 as this is our job description. When God looks for a virtuous wife, He’s looking at you and me, saying, “Are these the people? Is this the bride for My Son? Will I choose them?” Proverbs 31, and verse 11 – just the very first thing He says is:

Proverbs 31:11 “The heart of her husband safely trusts her, so he will have no lack of gain.”

That’s a wonderful thing. If you’re in a marriage where you can safely trust your wife, and you’ve grown to that, and you know that you’re one, you have the same purpose, you understand each other, you’re marching in the same direction, and you have the blessing of both being in the Church, and everything going that way, what a blessing and what a peaceful time that is! As God looks at me, as God looks at us, as God looks at His Church and what we’re doing today, would He say, “I safely trust her? I safely trust that they are teaching the Word of God implicitly and they are learning and striving to keep it diligently and carefully?” as God says over and over in the Old Testament. “Can I safely trust them?” We can do it. We can become people that God safely trusts so that we will be there in that Millennium – that we will be there to teach and to share in the joy of seeing so many people come to know Jesus Christ and to live their lives in accordance with His will, and see the happiness, the joy, the abundance in every good thing in their lives, just as you should be in our lives now. Let’s let God lead us. Let’s let God take us and mold us into people that He can safely entrust with those positions that He wants to give us in His Kingdom.