Behold, I Make All Things New

Good morning, everyone! Good to see all of you, as always, and ask that you do pray about the brethren over there. And Israel, our son and daughter-in-law, are over there. They said Hezbollah launched 2,000 missiles at us, but we're okay. So we were glad to get that note from them. And we really, really thoroughly enjoyed the feast here with you in Estes Park, first time for us.

And I'd like to go for another eight days. How about you? The only thing is, you know, when I go back home, I'm going to have to go on a two-week tic-tac diet. I'll take a tic-tac each day to sort of lose the pounds I gained here at the Feast of Tabernacles. You know, we, of course, are not as physically lively as we used to be. In this physical life, all things wear out.

I think we all discover that eventually. You know, I bought my wife a car, a Cadillac a number of years ago. It was a used Cadillac under 50,000 miles. And I was really happy to have that car. You know, the Cadillac, you just really glide along. And one thing I discovered, though, is that a Cadillac, when you have 50,000 miles on it, becomes a Chevy. I didn't know that, you know, because after that, it's repair, repair, repair.

And so it became a very costly, you know, car to have for us. And so our cars wear out, our homes wear out. You know, of course, being retired now, I work on the home all the time. And as soon as I fix one thing, I find something else goes wrong. And it's just a vicious cycle. I feel like those guys that paint the Golden Gate Bridge, you know, as soon as they get finished painting it, they go back and they start all over again to paint it in order to keep it the beautiful color that it is.

Our clothing wears out and our bodies wear out, don't they? It is an axiom of life that all things physical on this earth, in this physical realm that God has put us in, all things are temporary. You know, that's the way it's just created. And we are acutely aware of this the older we get. You know, when we're young, we are invincible, we think we're going to live forever. And then we begin to realize that when we get a little older, that it finally dawns on us that we're going to go the way of all flesh and we're going to die.

That is the way it's been going since the days of Adam. You know, that's why the most encouraging words ever spoken, I think, on this planet are written in Revelation 21 verse 5. And then it says, He said, He sat upon the throne and said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. You can count on these words. You know, these words, of course, Mr.

Shavey talked about in the opening film of the Feast of Tabernacles, about God's going to make all things new. You know, God is going to make all things, you know, that upon this earth, permanent. But what is it going to be like after the millennium is over? You know, what is it going to be like? I think all of us want to know that.

We want to know what it's going to be like during the millennium. I think we've had a very good picture painted here in the first seven days of this Feast. You know, the word, Behold, is used in the Bible 1500 times. That's quite a number of times be used in the Bible. And, you know, of course, we're also there with Behold the Lamb. You know, Behold the Lamb of God. We know, also, Jesus says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. And even as I go through this sermon, you're going to see this word Behold is used quite a bit.

It is a word that means to observe with care. Pay attention. It draws our attention to something that is very important. It's like was said in the Sermonette. When something is mentioned a lot in the Bible, it's pretty important. Well, when you see this word Behold, you better pay attention to what it says, of what it means. You know, God has a tremendous zeal for what He's trying to accomplish. And, of course, it's pictured by these holy days that they're so important to us that if we don't observe these days, we would forget the plan of God.

We wouldn't understand what God is doing upon this earth. You know, Numbers 29, verse 35 says that on this eighth day, we're supposed to have a sacred assembly, a holy convocation, a commanded assembly. And this eighth day that we're observing here today is so very important because it pictures an ending and a beginning. You know, Mr. Light, in his message yesterday, talked about how that man is going to end eventually. And, of course, the end of the millennium is really the beginning of the end of man, when man will disappear off the face of the earth.

You know, we look at this vast universe that is out there, and it wasn't made for human beings. You know, I know human beings want to travel to the moon. They want to travel to the stars, the distant stars. And, of course, we love, don't we, Star Trek and all the movies that sort of depict what it would be like, you know, to get on a spaceship and travel to another world.

But this universe was not made for mortal man. It was made for someone so much greater than, in fact, that, of course, we are as human beings here.

You know, this day that we're observing is a period that culminates with a new heavens and a new earth. And there's going to be a giant leap into eternity for all people. Again, there will be no more human beings as we know it. And the new normal is going to not be temporary, as it is now, but it's going to be permanent. It's going to be eternal. Everything's going to be eternal. And that is going to be a vast difference in every way. You know, what unspeakable joy is bound up in the incredible meaning of this day, the eighth day that we observe today. And, quite frankly, I know of no church that understands this, at least in the mainstream of Christian theology. They have no understanding of any of these things at all. You know, the Bible says that, I has not seen nor ear heard what God has prepared for those that love Him. And in the Apostle Paul said, we see through a glass darkly. You know, we don't see it crystal clear. We don't have all the answer. We don't understand everything. But let me tell you this. As far as human beings are concerned, we do because of the Holy Spirit, we're able to see into the deep things that are hidden from this world. This world can't understand the things that God's people have been able to see and understand. I know many of the elders and the ministers of the church have done what I have done through the years. I've visited with many people in many different states of this country, in fact, other countries as well. I remember, though, in a visit I had with a gentleman in Phoenix, Arizona. And he was a single man. And then I went over to his home. And it was after, by the way, the discouraging events of 1995 when we had people that rejected the truth. And I walked into this man's house. And I sat down. And he had been reading some of the literature of the church.

And he said, look, I've been reading this Revelation 20 scriptures. And he said, I don't even know what that means. I don't know what it pictures. I don't know what it's about. And I said, I'd be glad to explain it to you. And I opened up the Revelation 20. And I began to read from the scriptures that talk about the first resurrection and the second resurrection. All of you here could sit down with someone and explain it to him, because you've been around long enough, at least most of you have been. But as I began to talk about the things that we take for granted in the Church of God, I noticed that tears were coming down his eyes for what he was hearing.

And I stopped. And I asked him, I said, why are you crying?

And he told me, he said, I've read those scriptures hundreds of times. And I never understood it. He didn't understand what we take for granted.

And that really made a depression on me, because that happened before 1995, or right after 1995. So you can imagine again what I'm talking about here. And maybe I'm a little too emotional about it myself here today. And maybe you should ask me why I feel this way.

But maybe I should tell you in private. You know, our judgment, brethren, is right now.

Because after Adam sinned, God decreed that all men must die, and then the judgment. You know, that was what God determined had to happen. And, you know, let's go to Revelation chapter 20 over here. Revelation chapter 20, as I was speaking about that, we won't go through and explain the whole thing, because that's been done very well during this feast several times. But in verse 7, let's notice this, because after Satan the devil is released, because he's bound at the very outset of the millennium, let's notice here in verse 7. It says, And now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison, and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, and Gog and Magog, and to gather them together to battle, whose number is as a sand of the sea. So here's quite a number of people that Satan will go out and he will deceive. Again, just as he did in this dispensation we're living in, the first six thousand years of man, it's almost total deception upon this world that we're living in. But going on here, it says, and they went up. It says, On the breadth of the earth and surrounded, it says, the camp of the saints, and the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And so they are summarily destroyed here, as it talks about. And the devil who deceived them was cast in the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. And of course we know that that Satan the devil is the one who's going to be tormented day and night forever and ever, and the demons, because they are spirit beings. But the beast and the false prophet will be cast into the lake of fire, and they will be consumed by the fire. They will be burned up in that fire. So Satan is loosed after the thousand years are over, and he foments this rebellion, and God, you know, is able, Jesus Christ is able to totally defeat him. And of course, then after this point in time is what is called the great white throne judgment. We often call it the second resurrection, which is certainly okay as far as that goes because it does call, it refers to the first resurrection. If you have a one, you have a two. If you have an A, you have a B. And so calling it the second resurrection is certainly appropriate. But, you know, during the second resurrection period, you know, people won't have to deal with Satan because he will have been totally put out of commission. And of course, we know that the Day of Atonement pictures that time as well, where Satan is going to be taken out of the picture. Now, he's the one that stirs up the problems. He's stirring up the problems that are going on over in the Middle East right now. That's what he does. You know, he agitates in every way, shape, and form that he can.

And of course, even though Satan is going to be put out of commission and the demons as well, that won't mean it's going to be easy for those that are brought up in the second resurrection because they're going to have a little thing called carnal human nature that's already embedded there in them. And they're going to have to understand the truth, and then they're going to have to put it into practice, just like you and me. What we've had to do in our lives in order to change how we are—hopefully we are different people than we were when we first came to the church 70 years ago, or 60, or 50, or how many years you've been in the church.

But our judgment is now again, and God expects us to be doing what we ought to be doing to overcome and to change. And God's going to give, by the way, those in the great white throne judgment, time. All of us need time to prove again whether or not we're going to obey God or not. In verse 11, let's notice this in chapter 20—we didn't cover that—it says, Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. In other words, God, of course, is our great judge and Jesus Christ. Their faces shined like the sun. It'd be like if their faces were, you know, eliminated in this room, the lights that you see here wouldn't be visible. You couldn't see them. They would disappear because of the brilliance and, of course, representing the power of Almighty God and Jesus Christ. But notice here, going on, in chapter 20 now, verse 11, verse 12, And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. You know, this is everybody who has ever existed on this planet. And it says, And the books were open. This word, books, of course, in the Greek, we're all very familiar with, is bibliion, which, again, just being books, it can refer to a scroll as well. But they were open, meaning they were open to people's understanding because people in this world are so confused about what the truth is. They don't know what the Bible says. You know, there's a thousand different explanations for probably most of the verses in the Bible. But there's only one truth.

There is a truth. You know, there are absolutes, as we learned, of course, was taught at Ambassador College and has been taught in the church as well. But the books are open, and another book was open, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. You know, God, of course, is going to judge people based on what they understand. You know, God is not going to bring all of the multiple billions up and to judge them based upon a life where they didn't know what the truth was. He's going to bring them up and teach them the truth and then judge them based on what they do in their lives. And you know, when we think about the millennium, we think of maybe hundreds of millions of people at the outset. There may be billions by the end of the millennium. But would you think the great white throne judgment, brother, think tens of billions of people? You know, sometimes we can't complain about the church. Where's the growth?

You know, we remember the churches when maybe churches had 600, 700 people in them. I know Phoenix used to have 12 or 1400 people that kept the Holy Days. It was like the recent Tabernacles every Holy Day. I'll tell you, we're not going to be worrying about numbers in the world tomorrow. We're not going to be worrying about numbers, I can tell you, in the great white throne judgment. We're not going to worry about that at all. It's going to be so incredible, brethren, how God is going to be able to transform the lives of multiple billions of people.

And you know, all of us here have a great stake in the Second Resurrection, don't we? Every one of us.

All of us here, of course, look forward to the time when we will see our grandparents and our parents, you know, and our brothers and sisters and uncles and aunts and maybe our children. Some of us prematurely lost children. We look forward to the time when they're going to be raised up and we'll be able to see them again in the future. I know I think about my mother and father and I thought about this a thousand times. I visit the grave side of my mother and father in Oklahoma and I stand there and I think I want to be here when the Resurrection takes place.

I want to see them stand up out there in graves. You know, especially I want to see my dad's eyes when I see him because he and I went around and around talking about the Sabbath and sometimes we got into arguments, by the way. I had to get to the point where I said, I told Joan, my wife, I just can't argue with my dad. Because he gets angry, you know, the veins on the there's no discussion of it. It's either his way or the highway. But I almost talked my father into keeping the Sabbath. We got that close. I had hope in my heart. I was sitting there and I was sort of on the edge of my seat waiting for him to say, yeah, you're right. We should keep the Sabbath. But he would always say, you know, he didn't want to do it. And I know why. I fully well understand why. Because my dad likes to fish and hunt on the Sabbath. And he couldn't give that up. But I look forward to seeing his eyes. And he'll, of course, have to acknowledge, you know, Jimmy, you were right. You were right about that. And I'm sure a lot of you have parents or friends that you look forward to be able to be there again to witness the time of the resurrection. But God is going to pour out his Spirit on those who are in the Great White Throne Judgment the way he has done the church. All of us have access to the Holy Spirit. You know, Peter talked about that in Acts 2 when the church was founded in 31 A.D. on Pentecost, that God was pouring his Spirit out on the church. And he has been pouring his Spirit out on the church since that day. But in the millennium, it's going to be poured out even more. And then in the Great White Throne Judgment with the Second Resurrection, period. Everybody's going to have a chance to have God's Spirit. Everybody's going to have the chance to understand this book.

Their eyes are going to be open just like yours were. It's like God trying to flashlight in your eye and in your mind you were able to see the truth. The world is going to be able to see just that as well. And they're going to have to put it into practice just like we have. You know, Jesus made this statement. He said, Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come forth those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. Now, you read that last word, condemnation. That makes you wonder whether people are going to be condemned at that time. And the answer is no.

Because the word condemnation in the Greek comes from the Greek word chrisus, which means judgment.

They're going to be judged just like we're being judged right now on how they're putting things into practice, how they're playing things. It's just a matter of understanding. But billions of people are going to be raised from their graves.

And you know, the thing that we need to think about the fact is, and Mr. Woods referred to this as well, but those who are going to be brought up in this great second resurrection are going to be of all races. They're going to be of all periods as well. You know, going back 6,000 years before the flood. They're going to be, of course, of many different cultures, many different religions. And they are going to be bewildered when they first come up.

You know, just what Mike was referred to over in Ezekiel 37 regarding the valley of dry bones over there. Mr. Kester turned to that. I won't. But the valley of dry bones represented as a symbol of Israel, all of Israel. And as he pointed out, they will be as the sands of the sea. They could be into the multiple billions that will be brought up in the second resurrection. And again, with all of the human beings that have existed upon the earth since the time of Adam, you know, think of, again, the multiple billions that are going to be brought up. I looked this up, by the way, prior to the feast, because there are those who are mathematicians that are pretty sharp at being able to figure out how many people existed on this earth from the day of Adam till now. And you know, I was astounded that mathematicians are saying 100 billion people.

I've always thought it was like 50 billion. 100 billion people. Wrap your mind around that. What are we, 7.5 billion people on earth now? Like I said, we're going to have people, many, many people, incredible number of people, a flood of people that the ground is going to spit out. And people, again, are going to come out and they're going to be confused.

You know, the vast majority, quite frankly, of all those who will be resurrected, you know, the first resurrection is a tiny resurrection. Very tiny compared to it. But think about all these people will have never known the true God.

They'll never know the truth, and suddenly they're going to be resurrected, and they'll be upon the earth. I wonder what kind of anticipation you're going to feel at the tail end of the millennium when we know that that many people are going to come out of the ground, and we're going to have to work with them and deal with them. You know, it's going to be an awesome thing to think about in so many, many ways. In Revelation 20 and verse 5, it says, after the first resurrection, the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished.

You don't think about the fact that we as spirit beings, and we'll be a thousand years old by that time, you know, you've been keeping the feast then over a thousand years. And we'll be able to say, how many of you have been keeping the feast for 800 years or 900 years or a thousand years?

Yeah, we might stop asking the question, you know, because the number is going to be too big. But we're going to have to teach them, brethren. And we're going to have to teach them a new leg, which as Zephaniah 3 verse 9 says, you know, they've got to learn about God's law.

And we'll teach them. We'll be adequate to the task of teaching them.

And, you know, we're going to have to teach them how to live in peace. You'll think about the fact that in the Second Resurrection, you've got people like Genghis Khan being brought up in the Resurrection. How are you going to deal with Genghis Khan?

Are you going to deal with others that are going to be resurrected at that time? And again, we don't know who's going to come up.

I feel that God is going to give everyone an opportunity. You know, He may bring Adolf Hitler up in that Resurrection.

You know, he won't get to be a dictator.

He might have to take care of toilets at that particular time. Who knows?

But he'll have to prove himself just like everybody else.

Don't think about the fact, too, brethren, we have a thousand years. What do you think we're going to be doing in that thousand years?

You know, the Bible clearly says that we'll be building houses during the millennium.

We're going to be raising up old waste places and ruins, and the populations are going to be growing during that time, as has been pointed out here at the feast. So cities are going to have to be built, and we're going to have to do a lot of building of many different systems in the time that will be ready for those who are going to be coming up in that Resurrection. You know, think about the fact that we're going to need a housing for a hundred billion people. Now, you don't think about that two weeks in advance, right? You're going to need a thousand years to think about it. How do you do this? I don't think God's going to snap things into existence. When I read in the Bible, human beings do it. They build it.

Now, think about the fact as well, brethren, we're going to have to build road systems. In Isaiah 35 verse 8, it talks about a highway. It's called the highway of holiness that God is going to build. So there are going to be highways that will be built in the millennium, and no doubt in the future, in the great white throne judgment. We'll have to have water. We're going to have to have sewage works. We're going to have to have power resources. All of these things are going to need to be built, and the people that are going to use them are going to build them. We're going to have that responsibility. You know, my wife's dad put in septic tanks. He always thought that's what he would do in the world tomorrow. I have a good idea. He'll know more about septic tanks than most people, but God did not call him to be that. He called him to be a king and a priest in the future. In Isaiah 61 in verse 4, it says, "...and they shall rebuild the old ruins, and they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations." And this is going to happen in the millennium, and this is going to happen on end to the Great White Throne Judgment as well. The building's going to have to go on because there's going to be more and more people. Let's go to Isaiah 65. Isaiah 65 over here. Isaiah 65 verse 17.

It says, "...for behold, I create new heavens and a new earth." God's going to create all things new, as we read at the beginning. And down there, verse 20, this is, "...no more shall the infant from there live but a few days." It says, "...nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days. For the child shall die one hundred years old, and the sinner, being one hundred years old, shall be accursed." So that is how God is going to deal with people. He's going to give them an adequate period of time. We've referred to it as a hundred-year period of the Second Resurrection. You know, it could be, give or take, a hundred years. But people are going to have an opportunity to, again, do what we are doing and are going to be judged by how they apply the laws of God. And if you don't repent at the end of a hundred years, old, old, you know, and frankly, if you hadn't gotten the point by a hundred years, you're never going to get it.

If a person does that, they're going to perish, and they'll become ashes under the feet of the righteous. But let me give you this encouragement, brethren. I think 99.9 percent of the people are going to accept it, are going to do what you and I are doing here with this feast in our lives. But, you know, if they don't choose to do it, they will be ashes under the feet of the righteous. So, brethren, don't make an ash of yourself.

But I can tell you, brethren, things are going to keep getting better and better. It's going to be tremendous at the end of the millennium. It's going to be fantastic at the end of the millennium. But when we go over into the great white film judgment, it's even going to be better. It's going to be tremendous, brethren, beyond anything that we can even imagine. And I hope to paint a picture of that by the end of this message. But like was said by Mr. Foster, God always finishes what He starts. You know, He has a plan. He's going to finish it.

And if we don't want to be a part of that plan, that's okay. If God, you know, is going to be okay with that, we don't want to be a part of it. We'd be pretty stupid not to be a part of it.

Hope we will be a part of it. But God's going to finish His plan. But this world's going to be, again, transformed. It's going to be quite different. It will be a world that has been ruled by Christ and the saints for a thousand years, and it will be a utopia at the end of the millennium.

And we go into the great white film judgment period, the second resurrection, it's still going to be a utopia. Except there's going to be more people in that utopia at that time. And we will serve as spirit beings and kings over cities. Throughout the millennium, at the beginning of the millennium, the cities might not be that big. By the end of the millennium, our responsibilities will have grown quite a bit. When we're talking about not 700 million people, we'd be talking about several billion people by the end of the millennium. We will have been spirit beings for a thousand years assisting Christ, teaching, instructing, guiding, and helping people for that entire thousand-year period of time. So we will be more equipped than ever to take care of the great white film judgment people when they are brought up. You know, God, of course, is going to transform this world where there's no poverty, there's no disease, there's no pollution, there's no war, there's no violence. None of that is going to exist. The likes of which no one has ever seen before. That is what it's going to be like in that time. And you know, God has put in man an incredible ability to want to do big things, to do great things. What God is doing is so much greater than man could even imagine. You know, I think he thinks he can compete with God.

Man's got that big of an ego. In Ecclesiastes 3, in verse 11, Solomon wrote, He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity in their hearts.

God put eternity in the hearts of human beings. We measly human beings. Except that no one can find out the work that God does from the beginning to the end. No one can really figure it out. Now, God has revealed deep things to His people. We don't know the whole story, brethren. But God put into man the ability to think big.

But what God fully will do is beyond the grasp, the middle capability in Frank men to understand what God is doing. You know, God will accomplish the work of His hands.

God declares, it says in the Bible, in Isaiah 46, verse 10, God declares the end from the beginning. And from ancient times, things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.

What God is going to do is what He wants to do, what He desires to do. And we need to be able to believe what God is doing is for our good and the ultimate good of everyone. God inhabits eternity, and the future place for us, brethren, is we'll be there with Him.

We'll be with our Father and with our elder brother, Jesus Christ.

You know, and those, of course, that are not willing to submit to God's way in this physical realm are going to perish. The wicked are, again, going to be burnt up, as the Bible says. Eventually, when all are converted to God's way of life, and when Jesus has put down all enemies, including Satan and death, then finally Jesus is going to give the family, yield the family up to the Father in heaven. And the Father then will come and make His abode with us, as we all understand. So no one goes to heaven, but heaven comes to us. This is where heaven is going to be, or God's way. It isn't what we pray in the model of prayer, that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So God's going to accomplish that. He's going to do that. Let's go over to Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21. In Revelation 21 and verse 1, we'll just start there and go to verse 5, He says, Now I saw a new heavens and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea. Now why would that be? No sea? Where did all the water go? The earth is covered by three-quarters water. And it says, There's the word behold there again. You know, pay attention to that. God is saying here, And he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. And God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death. So that last enemy of death is destroyed. And God's going to take away the sorrow, the crying. There shall be no more pain. Think about all the pain that has existed in the physical domain. For the former things have passed away. And then he who sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And again, he said, You could count on this. God is faithful, and it is true. And so these things are going to happen. So with Satan and sin and death defeated, everything is going to then change dramatically. Our great change in the spirit comes at the first resurrection. And all other peoples in the great white throne judgment, they will be given great power to serve God as we have been given great power.

But do we grasp how much we're going to change? All of us. I don't think we can really remotely really grasp it.

You know, man has tried to understand this human mind we have. Why do we have consciousness? You know what consciousness is? Consciousness is just simply being aware.

You know, a cow in South Africa is not aware there is South Africa. We are aware of where we are. At least some people are. Mind it be some that might not know where they are.

But we have an awareness. We have a consciousness. We all know we're on the earth, right? We know we're in a solar system. We're in the Milky Way galaxy. But we don't know much more than that. You know, we don't have a great understanding of that. You know, Dr. Timothy Leary in the 60s, you know, experimented with LSD and he was bad for our society. And of course, during the 60s is when everybody was trying to tune out in this world. And it stuck in this country and all over the world, for that matter. And people do drugs to get high.

And they're searching for their more consciousness. Some of them will tell you.

But let me tell you this. What people do when they start delving into these mind-altering drugs is they damage their brains. They're delving into things that, frankly, they should not be delving into. Some people, again, use drugs, different drugs, hallucinogenic type drugs, and they permanently damage their brains. And it may never be normal again. My encouragement to any person in this room, if you have a problem with that kind of thing, you get on that problem like ugly on ape, and you overcome that problem. Let me tell you what God has for us in the church is much greater in every way than what you could get from any kind of drug. If you're patient and you wait on God, He will show you what true consciousness is. I'm trying to speak in the vernacular of what some of the young people talk about. I've talked to some young people, and the word consciousness always comes up. God has a plan, brethren, to give us complete consciousness when we are changed to spirit beings.

You know, HWA often spoke about the incredible human potential. I don't know that anybody understood what he was talking about. Well, people said, yeah, yeah, incredible human potential. Well, people said, yeah, yeah, incredible human potential. But he wasn't talking about becoming smart like Einstein. We're talking about becoming intelligent like Edison or any of the great people of this world that we live on. That wasn't what he was talking about at all. What he was talking about was the difference between God, the God plane, and the angelic plane, and the human plane. Man was made a little lower than the angels. God's plan in having children and bringing them into his family is to raise the human being, that he was wanting to be his children, to the God plane. And what that means and what that pictures. And God, brethren, is infinitely higher than angels.

And God never promised angels sonship, but he promised us sonship.

And God is going to catapult you and me, brethren, the saints high above angels as his spirit children in his family when Jesus Christ returns. And that's going to be the opportunity not just we have, but everybody's going to have that. Even those brought up in the second resurrection.

Their role might not be what our role will be. We're going to be kings and priests. But they're going to have that kind of mind, that kind of power, however much power God gives to us.

But remember, we are co-heirs with Jesus Christ. We're going to be able to work with Christ for eternity, for that matter. We're going to be like God, and I always say, with a little g. Not a big g. A little g. We'll always be submissive to God, the Father, and Jesus Christ, for that matter. But we will be elevated not to aggrandize ourselves, brethren, but the purpose will be benevolent. It will be to help people, to serve people from the get-go, at the beginning of my name, all the way through to a hundred-year period of the Great One. You know, again, man is experimented on exploring their minds. How many of you have heard of Sir Francis Crick?

Francis Crick unraveled the DNA, and in 1953, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for that. And you know, when he discovered the DNA, it was something that they had known about, but they couldn't unravel it. They couldn't understand it. By the way, there was an American young man that helped him with this, as well, who was not often talking about it. His name was Watson. But he said the odds of cracking the genetic code was 10 to the 260th power. That's a big number.

Put 10, 260, zeros after it. I don't know if that's a Googleplex, but that's a big number. You know, the scientists say that if something is 10 to the 60th power, it's not happenstance. In other words, there was some superior being that had to reveal it.

I do believe God has revealed things to human beings, so we would have some understanding of what he's going to do in the future. You know, if an unraveling DNA with those kinds of statistics, that it was happenstance, you know, it would be like a tornado ripping through a junkyard, and it would go in one side, on the other side. It would come out. There would be a 747 fully assembled, started on the tarmac with two pilots in the front seat. You know, of course, that is not going to happen. We've heard those kind of analogies before.

You know, a crick said that each cell of the human body, and we have many of them, that if you were to put the DNA in the end, that it would extend, you know, two meters. And he said that if you were to do all of the cells in one human body, and you know there are 30 trillion cells in a human body, and you extended it end to end, that the DNA would stretch out 125 billion miles. That's just in your body. That's how special you are. You know, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. There's no question about that. You know, Crick also said this statement he made about DNA, and it so intrigued me, and it is something that does rest on my mind, but he said that it took 5% of the DNA to make a human being. 5%. And scientists call the other 95% junk DNA.

Well, you know what? God doesn't make junk. He really doesn't make junk. Everything he does is for a purpose. What is the 95% meant for in human beings? Well, let's speculate here. Maybe God intends an incredible potential beyond for his saints, beyond anything we can imagine. You know, in the flesh, in the flesh, this human flesh, it's possible, it's possible that we can only handle 5%. You know, the bodies we have.

You know, we can only run so fast. We can only think so much. We can only see so far. You know, you can do all the stuff about human beings. But what if, brethren, that God is a great superior being? You know, when we are changed to spirit, that God's going to kick in the other 95%. Now, think about that. Human beings, if we use 5%, if crickets right, so if we use 100%, that would mean we would be 20 times better.

That we, of course, have all of the attributes of those DNA that was intended. You know, what if, for instance, your IQ was increased 20%?

You know, say you're a smart person. You're 135, 40. What if your IQ was 2,700?

Or 2,800? Or 3,000? What if you could see 20 times further? What if he could jump 25 times higher? You know, all of these things we can imagine again. What God may be planning to do. Imagine if music, brethren, was 20 times better. Imagine, imagine if you will, brethren, literature 20 times better. Things that people write, and they would be righteous. Imagine perfection in everything that you do. Everything you do. There are no mistakes. There are no errors that you ever do.

Imagine, brethren, what you could do, working with Jesus Christ, for eternity, with that kind of ability. And maybe that's lower than what God is going to do. I'm just throwing this out as what we may be like in that time, and what God has planned for, you know, those who are going to be in His kingdom and in His family. You know, the Apostle John must have been thinking about all these things as well. In 1 John 3, verse 2, he said, it doesn't appear what we're going to be, but we will be like Christ because we will see Him as He is. And again, we're going to be co-heirs with Jesus Christ.

Jesus walked through walls. We're all amazed by that, aren't we? You know, Jesus walked on water.

He shapeshifted.

You know, remember, He appeared as a gardener on the road to Emmaus. The disciples didn't even recognize Him. He was somebody else. He was able to shapeshift to someone else.

You know, He healed the sick.

He raised the dead.

And right before His disciples, as they stood watching and gazing at Him, He levitated. He ascended into the heavens right from them, from the sight of the clouds and on up into heaven.

Think about that, brethren.

What an incredible thing to think about. Let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

You know, I read this scripture over here before the feast, and I thought, this goes with this message.

Because, you know, people thought that Paul was crazy. And, no, some people probably think you're crazy.

I know I've had people who thought I was crazy, and I may be a little crazy, you know? But I hope it's in a good sense.

But here, let's notice in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 13, we'll go down to verse 17. But it says, For if we're beside ourselves, here Paul was again getting that, to be beside yourself is almost like you're out of touch. You're kind of crazy. You know? But what Paul was trying to get across was so great, far beyond what anybody ever thought.

It would sound a little crazy, wouldn't it?

It is for God, Paul says. Or if we are sound-minded, it is for you.

For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died.

And you know, it's like the scripture there in Galatians 2.20.

That we died with Christ. That Paul said, Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. But we all died.

And then going on, verse 15, And he died for all, that those who lived should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. The Jesus that walked the streets of Jerusalem and preached and taught does not exist anymore.

That's what Paul's saying.

Jesus doesn't exist anymore. The Jesus that you and I know is Jesus who was ascended to heaven, who is all-powerful. And when he comes back, he's going to demonstrate that. He came as a lamb. He will come back as a warrior.

And he's going to do awesome things.

And that's what Paul is saying here. The Jesus we knew, we know no more. And you and I, when we are converted and when we're eventually changed, the old you will not exist anymore.

He goes on to say here, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

So God is creating out of you and me and all of us, brethren, something entirely different. Tremendously powerful.

Awesome, in fact, of what God is doing. We're a new creation. Old things have passed away. And I saw this little last scripture here. Behold, all things have become new.

We're going to change in every way and in every sense. Again, the old you will not be existing, but you will be glorified like Christ.

And we will serve with Jesus Christ and God the Father forevermore. And all people will have this great opportunity to take this giant leap into eternity. I love what King David expressed in his feelings about God and being with God.

In Psalm 16, verse 11, he wrote, You will show me the path of life. In your presence and fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures evermore.

You know, this paints a wonderful picture of what is ahead for us, brethren, in all humanity. In eternity, the fullness of joy means that we experience the ultimate, the ultimate in every part of our existence.

And we're going to do that forever.

As I said at the beginning of this sermon, God says, Behold, pay attention to this. I make all things new. And my words are faithful, and they are true.